16. Axel

Over the next two weeks, my construction crew and I turned from building log cabins to crafting our recreational spaces. We planted numerous removable pole bases in the ground, measured the different field sizes, chalked lines, and crafted a pavilion from scratch based on the poetic ramblings of a dragon.

While we worked, I got to watch Tuft in action. He was a master manipulator in the best possible way. He had terrific rapport with everyone, bordering on cultish. When I questioned whether it was Tuft"s influence or an overzealous desire to play team sports, I would overhear the kobold say, "I don"t even like sports."

"How do you do it?" I asked him one night while we ate in the cafeteria. I was covered in sand from moving so much of it to the new volleyball courts, and he was counting the new signatures he"d received.

"Twenty more since lunch," he confirmed.

"Lunch." I didn"t know whether to be proud or offended. I"d gotten all of two sign-ups, period, from my coworkers. After Tuft had knocked on all the doors in the omega wing, and he"d gotten lost one too many times in the grotto, I"d suggested he speak to the construction crews while they worked. Twenty of those same fickle cowards who had turned me down were now happy to sign up for Tuft"s leagues.

"I didn"t really do anything," he said. "I asked questions about what they wished we had here that they had on Earth. When they said they missed watching football or baseball, I suggested we could add some bleachers around the different fields for spectators, but it might be more fun to play themselves."

"I said the same thing, but no, they didn"t sign up for me."

He laughed. "Are you jealous over a few signatures?"

"No. I"m glad you"re doing so well." I meant it. This wasn"t a competition. Tuft was in charge, and he took his new career seriously.

On our way to his room in the omega wing that night, I politely waited in the hallway as he knocked on the few doors he"d missed. He had three more signatures before we made it to his room.

"I would invite you in, but I have too much work to do," he said. "Tomorrow"s already Friday, and I meet with Priestess Alma on Monday to show her the lists before I post them to our website."

I kissed him goodbye and turned to go, but he called me back.

"Tomorrow"s Friday," he said again.

"It is."

"Aren"t you going to ask me out on a date, or invite me over?"

"You"re a strong, independent omega," I teased. "You could invite yourself over."

He shook his head. "What if you"re tired of spending time with me?"

"Then I would say no."

"Is that a no?"

"It"s a yes." I kissed him again. "Yes, you should come over for dinner, unless you want to meet in the cafeteria."

He flattened his ears to the sides of his head and shook in the negative. "We spend too much time in the cafeteria. Too many kobolds want to talk to us."

They didn"t want to talk to me. They wanted to say hello to Tuft and ask him how the schedule was coming, or some other mundane sports question. When Tuft didn"t know the answer, he knew another kobold they could ask.

"I"ll use magic to bring the food from the cafeteria, and we can watch movies or listen to one of your books."

"I have a better idea," Tuft said. "We"ll play a game over dinner, and then we can cross another of those pesky firsts off our list, for you anyway."

I didn"t need to ask. He meant the act I"d been dreaming about ever since the night he"d fucked me. I wanted to be the one doing the fucking, the knotting, the claiming. I couldn"t wait.

I had a hard Friday, literally. It was not easy to work construction with a perpetual boner. I accidentally sat on my balls while testing the sturdiness of a set of bleachers, and then I racked myself on a tennis post one of my coworkers had already set up while I was staring at Tuft.

Oblivious, Tuft made the rounds to my coworkers, onlookers, and passersby. He handed everyone a sheet of rules for our recreation facility. He even added some last-minute sign-ups to his list.

We didn"t finish until the suns hovered low on the horizon. We still had a long way to go to trace the remaining field lines, but the hardware was all in place. Base plates for the ball fields were back-ordered until the following week, and then we would be ready for our grand opening.

Tuft walked me back to my cabin with a spring in his step. He chattered about his spreadsheet system and the new algorithm he used to set up the team matchups each session, so nobody played the same team twice.

Once we sat at the kitchen table, I requested our meal from the cafeteria. They sent us a pizza and breadsticks, which meant someone had run to Earth for supplies and brought back pizza for everyone. I also requested a side salad for each of us, to try to balance out all the grease.

Before we moved to the bedroom, we played another round of what Tuft coined, "Strip Twenty Questions." Instead of asking questions as they came to mind, he provided a deck of cards with three choices each. We could skip, but we had to answer at least one from each card before removing an item of clothing.

"Where did you get these?" I asked after I answered all the questions on his card and took off my shirt.

"Therapy." He ran his finger over an address label on the box. "I didn"t steal them, I swear. I had a hard time opening up to my therapist. I"d spend a half-hour dodging questions and giving half-truths. Then, she had me run through a card or two at the beginning of each session. It worked just like an icebreaker for a group project."

"I"m sorry if the game brought back bad memories."

He grinned. "I took it as another sign you"re my perfect mate. The first time we played Strip Twenty Questions, you seemed to know I wanted to open up to you but didn"t know how."

"I"m glad the questions helped." I hadn"t intended anything more than getting to know my mate, but I was glad I gave him an extra level of comfort.

As we continued through the cards, I was surprised by how similarly we viewed the world. I had considered myself and my small-town conservative, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized my parents had been raising me to be their liberal gay son. I laughed out loud at the realization.

Tuft glanced up from peeling off his sock. "What"s so funny?"

"I have been fucking clueless my entire life. My poor parents must have been so confused." Some of their comments made a lot more sense now, like all the times they"d told me to be myself no matter what, and to let them know if anyone bullied me. If anyone had harassed me, I was too oblivious to know it.

"There"s nothing wrong with being clueless," Tuft said. "I kinda like celebrating your firsts with you."

"I liked that, too." Talk of first times reminded me of our goal. I was still wearing my underwear, which was too many clothes.

"Answer your final question," Tuft said. "I"ll read it to you. "What personal quality do people appreciate about you?""

I wasn"t used to thinking about how others saw me, so I didn"t know how to answer. "That"s a hard question." Especially with my cock once again stealing all my blood. "I think they like my dependability. When I say I"m going to do something, I do it."

"I certainly like that about you," Tuft said. "My turn. I"m going to answer the same question."

"On the way to the bedroom?" I rose from the table and pulled his chair out for him, and he followed me while he talked.

"On Earth, people liked how gullible I am. I was an easy sell for anything my friends wanted to do, especially if they wanted to fool around. I guess I was pretty easy here, too, with Weld."

"Don"t." I took both his hands in mine and pulled him close enough to kiss. "There"s nothing wrong with wanting to believe in someone. Those who take advantage of it are the ones who suck. And no, I don"t think Weld is one of those guys. You both tried to make the best of a bad situation, and it didn"t work out, which is good because it gave me a chance."

"I"m no catch," he said.

"You"re mine." I kissed a wet trail over the scales at his neck, the ones I would soon be marking to show the rest of kobold society we were mates.

"You"re approachable," I said, answering the question for him. "That"s what other kobolds like most about you. All that therapy paid off."

"Being with you has helped, too." He pulled back so he could grin at me. "I was brave as a child because I knew I had a family who loved me. Here, I was lost until I met you. You give me the same feeling, like I can do anything because you"re here with me."

I couldn"t wait another moment. I fell on top of him on the bed, kissing and nipping at his lips until he opened for me. I didn"t deserve his praise, but I couldn"t stop worshiping his gorgeous body with my mouth and hands. I wanted him to know I felt the same way. He was my family and my home here on Ignitas.

Was I already in love with him?

Instead of overwhelming dread, my body filled with heat as I lost myself in his kiss. If this was love, I wanted all of this and more. I wanted to fill him with my cum, my knot, and our eggs. I wanted everything with him, including the family he so desperately desired.

I nudged his legs apart with mine and ran my hands up his thighs, scooping up a thick coating of slick. I didn"t want to tease him, so I started with two fingers, working him open for me and inserting a third.

"Need you now." His pupils almost covered his golden irises in the low light.

I covered his cock with the leftover slick and gave it a couple of tugs.

"Gods, are you trying to murder me? Get in me already!"

I chuckled as I lowered myself on top of him, letting our cocks slide against each other until he hiked up his knees and tried to impale himself on my cock.

He missed, and we both laughed. I guided my cock to his entrance and inside in one smooth motion.

"Mate," he sighed in my ear. "Now I know why everyone says it"s better. You fit inside me perfectly. No one else could compare."

I wiggled my hips to show him I felt the same way. The sexy grunts he made only encouraged me more until we moved together as one.

I wasn"t going to last. I reached between us and tugged on his still-slick cock, now drooling precome. I"d all but given up on making my other partners come before I did, but with Tuft already shaking beneath me, so close, it only took a few pulls before he cried out and latched onto my neck with his teeth.

We"d talked about it, but I still wasn"t prepared for the pain and pleasure of his bite. Paired with the way he pulsated around my cock, I came so hard I almost forgot I was supposed to reciprocate.

I bit him at that spot where the neck rises from the shoulder, just above the collar bone, and my knot swelled. I licked the blood from his neck and our magic sealed the mark for all to see.