Chapter Fourteen

Tritus

Casimir was a Starscale now, but we had no record of his current family in the Star Room. I didn’t have to go there to double check. I’d have remembered because I’d have found something when Castor wanted me to check for his. They were cousins after all. I didn’t want to pry into his business, but I wanted to help him. I wanted to soothe away those ragged edges that made him lock everyone, including me, out.

We spent the next few days decompressing from all the excitement of Baby Casalona hatching and from all the time we spent around others. The magic of the true-mate response played with everyone’s head when they were under its spell. Being alone with Casimir was the only time the world felt right. We alternated between talking for hours and foreplay. Well, more than foreplay. We always came. Sometimes even more than once. Still everything inside me wanted more and it smelled like he did too.

The claiming gland that lived on my shoulder ached a little more with each passing day. It filled up with all the clear magical fluid that held everything the magic wanted Casimir to know about me. I took to trying to sneak a peek of his without being obvious. Mine was a clear bulge on my shoulder. His was almost invisible. I wanted to poke and prod it to see if the clear magical fluid sloshed around under his skin too but didn’t want him to think I was trying to push him into anything. Because even without the romping, our lives were good together. We enjoyed the same books and both liked to spend time in nature. Much to my surprise, Casimir enjoyed talking cosmic ‘what-ifs’ in circles too. We talked about past lives and what our future might look like. Sure there was a sword of memory hanging above our heads but that was life. There was always some big-bad thing on the horizon waiting for you to trip over it or to jump out from the shadows and gobble you up. That was life. That was the unknown future and the future was always evolving and changing. Not even the best oracles and seers predicted the future with perfect accuracy. At least we knew what the big-bad thing was. Well, I knew more or less. He was an extra protective daddy.

That wasn’t the turn off some omegas might’ve found it to be. The Starscale worlds were safe but our flight wasn’t always safe. That’s why we left Earthside and built worlds in the middle of nowhere. I wanted a mate who wanted to keep our future children safe. I wanted a mate who would eat those who dared to trespass in our nest. Maybe I was the cave-dragon.

A week passed and it was time for the guides’ annual post-harvest camping trip. With all the food tucked away safely for winter we all would gather together and camp on one of the mountains not far from the Star Room. We brought our family and kids. Some people brought a friend. Usually, I had a tent all to myself. This year, I looked forward to sharing it. I looked forward to cuddling up with Casimir after a long evening of roasting edible treats over a bonfire. I didn’t look forward to the questioning looks we got when the other guides realized Casimir and I still hadn’t exchanged our claiming vows but as we all gathered in front of the Star Room to lock up no one brought it up. We all studied enough of the past to know each and every relationship moved at its own pace. Still, they had questions.

“What happens if someone needs guidance while you’re camping?” Casimir asked as the group set out.

“They wait until we get back. This is an important time for us. Back in the old days we’d make elaborate plans for what the next year needed to hold. We’d figure out how to handle council members and world leaders. Sometimes that still happens but not as often as it did with our predecessors. The worlds are more stable now. We uphold the tradition in case we ever have need of it again. Hush is good about listening to our suggestions but we can’t guarantee it will stay that way forever and we are in the unique position of studying the past and protecting the future of the flight.”

“And they all know when it’s gonna happen,” Roary added on.

Taza their youngest sat on their shoulder, with her arms and wings out to the sides as if she were flying up the mountain instead of being carried by her parent.

“So they can plan to ask their questions now or later,” I said. “Believe it or not, there aren’t very many pressing questions these days. Before the whole Other World gateway thing we had peaceful jobs more or less.”

“That’s going to be all anyone can talk about this time around,” Roary said. “I swear I’ve started to dream about scrolls.”

“It’s like university all over again,” I laughed and gave Casimir’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“You two should sneak away when we get there. Set up further out,” Breezie, Roary’s mate, chimed in. “We did the first trip after we met.”

“Maybe,” I shrugged, not looking at Casimir.

Roary changed the subject to the nameless woman who gave away the magic to create portals between worlds and I was silently grateful. I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. I’d felt Casimir’s body tremble against mine as I sucked and milked the pleasure from him. He wanted me too. Sometimes what you wanted and what you could give yourself weren’t always the same thing.

The mood was boisterous when we arrived at the camping grounds. Roary and a few of the other alphas did a quick security sweep of the area. There were more kids with us than ever before. The only ‘threat’ to be found was a stink cat. A purple animal with a black stripe down its middle who produced a noxious cloud of purple smoke whenever it was startled. To the best of our knowledge the stink cat was vaguely related to the Earthside skunk but what the Earthside mammal crossed with, we might never know.

“Do you want to pitch further out?” Casimir asked, holding our tent on his shoulder.

“Do you?”

“Might not be a bad idea in case we want some alone time or not to be woken at the crack of dawn by giggling tiny people.”

I nodded and headed off to the edge of the clearing with him following on my heels. A crisp, cool breeze played at our hair and Casimir glanced at me. A thought of offering me his jacket crossed his mind before everything slammed shut again.

“I’m not cold but I’ll wear it to smell like you. You’re still dressing like a Moony. You don’t have to do that to blend in here.”

“It has pockets,” he shrugged as we set to work on the tent. “When you all run around mostly naked, I don’t know where you carry stuff.”

“Wherever,” I shrugged. “Not that much to carry. I know Earthside has money and identification papers and stuff like that but we don’t need that stuff here and if I go shopping I’m not going to stuff my pockets full of stuff. That would be awkward.”

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Maybe I’ll fill mine up with snacks.”

“You don’t have to hide your snacks here either, mate,” I teased him.

“Might. Those kids look ready to swarm on the first bag of marshmallows they notice.”

We fell quiet as we staked the tent loops down. He paused and glanced skyward as if listening to something.

“Castor?” I asked him, walking up to hug him from behind.

“Casalona is eating,” he shook his head as I buried my face between his shoulder blades to take in his scent. “She’s thinking something that sounds like ‘zoink’ over and over.”

“Maybe that’s what she calls milk,” I said, nuzzling him.

“I can’t wait until she’s old enough to bring out here too. I almost asked Melon if we could bring her but didn’t want to push my luck. It’s one thing to take her to your house or the Star Room but out in the middle of nowhere.”

“We’re not in the middle of nowhere. I know where we are and there’s a little cabin back there for kid stuff if it’s needed. Still, I can’t say I’m sorry to have you all to myself out here in the wild.”

The others gathered up and organized how to start the bonfire. Usually, I loved helping to light it up but that evening I wanted to stay connected at the hip with Casimir. He turned to face me and rested his forehead against mine. His gaze was soft and only a little horny. His heart thrummed in time with mine and for a moment I thought he’d kiss me right there in front of all the world. Picking up my stray thoughts over the flight link, he grinned.

“We are not at the purple district, mate,” he teased me, but his words were soft and thick.

Tonight was going to be the night. It was as if leaving the city behind, freed something inside Casimir. His muscles weren’t as tense and his words not quite as guarded as they usually were.

“The fresh air suits you,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Suits you very well.”

“Are you two coming to roast weenies or not?” Roary called out to us.

Most likely, someone volunteered them to be the one to interrupt our ‘love birds’ moment. Grinning, I stole one quick kiss from Casimir before sprinting off toward the now roaring fire. He jogged at my heels. I waited for him to catch me and carry me off back to our tent, but he didn’t. I plopped down near Roary, Breezie, and their brood of hatchlings and Casimir sat down behind me. I leaned back against him as snacks were passed this way and that and children giggled about how much they were going to eat. Breezie and a few other carriers forbade any eating contests but I wasn’t sure they would succeed in keeping ‘illegal’ contests from happening.

As the sun sank low, and the mountains swallowed up its light the kids started to doze off and the conversation turned to the nameless woman we’d all researched so much. At least, had tried to research. It was as if by giving her magic and her name away she erased herself from the very memory of history.

“What if we start looking into magical commands that mean open, door, or adjacent things?” Roary was the first to offer up an idea that shut the rest of us up long enough to hear them out.

“Then what?” someone else asked.

“We start cross referencing anyone with anything similar to any of those words for a name,” Roary shrugged. “I’m not gonna lie. It will take a long ass time to do it that way and it might not even pay off in the end but it’s all we have unless someone else has a better idea. We can’t keep randomly reading things and hoping to find what we’re looking for.”

We could keep doing things that way. I’d stumbled across a lot of interesting things along the way. It wasn’t like anyone was dying to get back to Earthside. No one that I knew of anyway. Sure, some folks would probably find their mates if they could but this was one of those projects where things took as long as they took.

“I think we go for it,” someone else shrugged. “It at least points us in some direction.”

Casimir kissed my cheek and inched back from the fire. I inched with him until we were nearly in the trees. Only then did he stand up and pull me to my feet. He stole a quick kiss, and we took the long way back to our tent. In the dark, it seemed further away than it had before sunset. I held onto his hand tight, and my dragon shifted my eyes to his so that I might borrow his night vision.

The scents of the forest crawled under my skin – trees and flowers, both alive and half-dead. Little animals and birds nearby. The ground itself, rich with the nutrients that nurtured the lives of the forest. Then there was Casimir. He smelled of scales and seduction. I fought off the urge to pat his crotch and check for a hard-on. I didn’t need to. My mate smelled hard as he led me back to the tent.

He unzipped the flap without letting go of my hand and held it open. I crawled inside wiggling my hips at him as I went. A second later, he was inside with me and the tent was all zipped up tight. He shrugged off his jacket and spread it over the blanket. Then he took off his shoes before stealing mine and placing them in the far corner of the tent. Glancing down told me he was as hard as I suspected. I swallowed down the anticipation creeping into the back of my throat. Was I reading him wrong? Was this our normal romping around or were we going to go all the way?

Pulling me close, with both of us on our knees, he claimed my mouth in a long, drawn-out kiss before I could ask. I gave in to his lips parting mine so that his tongue slid into my mouth. I savored the taste of him – metallic like a dragon and sweet and burnt like the marshmallows we ate around the fire. His hands slid up and down my bare sides and I tugged at the hem of his shirt until he backed up just enough for me to pull it over his head. I kissed his neck and his shoulder, avoiding his claiming gland. If he wanted my mouth there, he’d put it there himself.

We alternated kissing and shedding clothes until we were as naked as the day we were born.

“We’re far enough away from the others, right?” Casimir double-checked.

I cocked my head to the side and homed in on the closest of the guides. While there were some chuckles that we snuck off no one heard all the heavy breathing already happening inside our tent.

“We’re good. We have enough space. Most of them are starting to fall asleep anyway,” I reassured him.

We kissed again, drawing out the moment. I ran my hands up and down his stomach and sides, touching him everywhere I could. I traced the lines between his abs with the tips of my fingers, reveling in his strength. Casimir sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. I moaned and swallowed down the sound before it amplified.

“I know things have been messy,” Casimir whispered between kisses.

“I like you messy. I really like when you make me messy,” I said, missing his point until his scent shifted.

“It hasn’t,” I shook my head. “Taking our time isn’t messy. Even if it was, life is fucking messy, mate.”

“It’s been messy, but I want you. I don’t want you to see any of it – but I want you.”

“No one can control what the magic shows. It’s a life force all its own,” I said and kissed him again before he could overthink it too much. “I want you.” I kissed him again. “I need you, Casimir. I need you. I think about you all the time. It’s not always sex but it’s always you. If it’s not now or soon --- it’s going to be me in heat. I can wait. We can research more about claiming vows, but I trust who we’ve been since the beginning. Nothing will send me running for the hills without you.”

He kissed me again, harder this time. His teeth scraped against my lip and a dot of blood rose there. I licked it away and kissed him harder. His fingers ran through my hair, tugging it as he went as if I might pull away from him. I leaned into his body and his hard cock brushed against my belly. I drew in a sharp breath that stuck in my chest. I ached with need – I wanted this dragon so badly that every atom inside me ached for him. He traced my jaw with his thumb, and I leaned into his warmth.

“I did what I did because I had to. I hope you understand,” Casimir whispered.

He didn’t leave me even a second to ask what he meant. Instead, he kissed me hard, slipping his glorious tongue back into my mouth. I surrendered to the kiss and his hands sliding all over my body. I was hard and slick – more than a little ready for him.

I wiggled around until I was on my back and pulled Casimir down on top of me. The star scale on my chest glowed hot and ready. He kissed it over and over as he nudged my thighs apart with his knees, making room for himself. His long, nimble fingers found their way between my cheeks and coated themselves with my slick arousal. I watched between our bodies as he coated his hard, throbbing cock with the good stuff. His nostrils flared and a smoke ring wafted from one of them.

I drew my knees up, giving him room to work. My fingers trembled. We were so close. We’d known each other for a small eternity and now it was all coming together. We were finally coming together the way we agreed to back before everything went on – back before Earthside or Starscale 1 affected our lives at all. My heart pounded against my ribs as the bulbous, mushroom-shaped head of his cock brushed against my omegahole. I held my breath as he pressed inside me. He slid the first few inches of him in easily, aided by how ready I was for him. I bit my lip and swallowed down a moan as a fresh wave of longing washed over me.

“Casimir,” his name danced off my tongue.

“Right here, mate,” he said and thrust forward.

“Fuck,” I said, the air whooshing out of me as he sank further in. “Fuck in the best possible way.”

When he was balls deep inside me, our eyes met. We were doing this. We were coming together once and for all. This was the beginning of forever. This was the man I’d spent my life waiting to meet. Reaching up, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down close to me. I needed him there – right there – touching every inch of my body with his naked flesh.

“You’re so slick. So warm,” Casimir whispered against my throat.

He rocked his hips forward and I held onto him, meeting his thrust. All the nerve endings inside my body stood up to greet him. I clung to him, letting go of my thoughts and worries. All that mattered was this moment with him. The tent faded and the smell of nature was overtaken by the smell of our pleasure. His scent surrounded me as he thrust into me. I wrapped my legs around him, urging him on to build up the warmth inside my body.

He kissed my shoulder, searching out and finding my squishy claiming gland. I hissed in pain, but it fled as soon as it flashed through my nerves. How could anything hurt for long with how good it felt to have Casimir throbbing inside me? He hesitated just a second before placing a firm kiss on the gland. The clear magical fluid inside it sloshed around and I bit my lip. That was the stuff magic was made of. It held just enough of my memories and personality so that Casimir could love me as he loved me from the beginning without feeling as if he was losing his mind.

Teasing me, he grazed the edges of his teeth over my gland. I squeezed his cock hard, and he huffed against my shoulder, his whole body tensing against me. His thrusting sped up for a minute before he resumed his affectionate teasing of my gland. He glanced at me, his eyes that of his dragon, and I nodded. I was ready for whatever my mate had on his mind. One of his canines elongated – borrowed from his inner beast. Then came the bite – quick and warm.

Casimir chased down the clear magical fluid, lapping it up from my flesh. My life wasn’t that interesting. Well, maybe it was to him. He wasn’t a guide, and he hadn’t grown up here either.

“It’s you. It’s more than interesting,” he said, barely lifting his tongue from my damp skin.

I rocked my hips, gliding over his thick shaft, as his tongue chased down the streams and rivulets across my flesh. His thrust slowly, matching my pace. My toes curled into his back, digging in to hold on as a fresh wave of pleasure wrapped around me. Reaching between our bodies, Casimir took my dick in his hand and gave it a promising squeeze. He stroked me in time with our rocking until I was nothing except a big ball of pleasure and need – both satisfied and hungry.

We were close to the edge of desire and relief. I didn’t need to hear what was going on inside my mate’s head to know that. His thrusts came harder and faster, and I clung to him. I licked his shoulder, struggling to raise up on my elbows. He lifted his weight just enough as I trembled from head to toe. I came hard into his fist and he kept pumping. He was close too. Everything inside our tent smelled like pleasure and opportunity. I waited until his breathing told me he was so fucking close and then I bit him – only I was the one who squeaked.

The gland didn’t give. Instead, something cracked inside my mouth as he came inside omegahole in warm, sticky streams.

“Mate?” Casimir gasped the word.

“It didn’t --- Ouch!” I said as he pulled away from me and out of my body. “It wouldn’t let me.”

He touched his shoulder finding the scale there over his gland.

“Mate?” His scent morphed to complete confusion. “Your tooth!”

“The healers can fix it,” I blinked, prodding the tooth in question with the tip of my tongue.

It had cracked the edge.

“I didn’t--- I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know it was going to happen,” Casimir said, distress and misery flooding over his scent.

“I know you didn’t. I’m not even sure--- Ouch! Give me a minute.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Grab my phone and text Roary we need a dentist, please,” I thought at him and prayed it worked. Our mating link was at least half open, after all.

I sighed in relief when he grabbed my phone and sent out the text. I grabbed a towel I packed just for this occasion and cleaned us both up as well as I could.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” I said, handing him his pants. “Trauma is a mother fucker but we’re going to figure this out. Whatever and whoever hurt you doesn’t get to win. There’s one more thing we can try. One more thing I think might work. We’ll need Roary’s help, though. I can’t participate and be part of the ritual.”

“Ritual?”

“I’ll explain later. We’ll talk it all through later.”

“Your tooth,” he frowned at me, his eyes misting over.

“Trauma spreads but it stops with us,” I squeezed his arm as someone tapped on the tent flap. “I love you. I’ll be okay. It’s just a tooth.”