I must have passed out because when my eyes next opened the light entering the room from the window behind me was closer to orange than yellow. Not that that was what woke me up. A combination of a growling stomach and cramping brought me out of my dream. A dream that I had mixed feelings about.
It was a continuation of the scenes my mind had conjured up only these came with additional sensations. I could feel Xander’s hand as it caressed me. His lips as he kissed and sucked at my body. Everything he said and did during the dream was enough to convince me to take the plunge with him.
And of course that was where the dream ended. I wanted to scream at the cruelty of whatever force decided to end the dream there. If they had waited just another few minutes I was sure that I would have at least orgasmed once. Instead, I was forced to suffer being edged. Something that I had done enough as a man thank you very much.
With a growl, I moved my hand down to at least take the edge off. My fingers were met with liquid as they connected with my opening. Almost as soon as I started working myself, I found that my body refused to come no matter what I tried. The pleasure built but it never crested before slowly ebbing away.
My grumbling curses were low and filled with sexual frustration as I gripped a nearby chair and used it to help me stand. While I wanted to go out and find Ginger and demand help, I also needed to take a shower. Sweat and other liquids that I didn’t want to identify clung to my skin. Given how wet the bed looked, I wasn’t the only thing that needed washing. I didn’t even want to know why most of it was centered around the lower portion of the bed.
With wobbly legs, I made my way back into the bathroom. The tub was still full and no longer steamed. Which made sense given that the water inside had been sitting there for quite a bit of time. It took me a moment to locate the shower. It was to the left of the door and seemed to take up quite a bit of the wall.
Of course, I wasn’t looking in that direction when I found it. I caught a glimpse of it through the mirror on the other side. The one that showed just how mussed up my hair was. Never in my entire life had I had bedhead this bad. Then again, I also never had hair that was this long. Even my ears didn’t seem to escape the fiasco that was my hair. Bunches of it clumped around each, almost as if they were playing at ear muffs.
Then there was my tail. If I thought my head was bad it had nothing on my tail. The long hairs were just as twisted and knotted as my hair. Unlike my hair, however, liquid had matted my hair. Some of it was dry while other parts still seemed wet.
With a resigned sigh, I turned and made for the shower. Hopefully, there was a brush or something in there to help me deal with this because otherwise I was fucked, and not in the way my body craved.
Nearly thirty aggravating minutes later I had managed to get my hair into a semblance of order. My tail, not so much. While I could use my fingers on my tail hairs as I had with my head, there was quite a bit more there and my stomach’s protests grew to the point that I could no longer ignore it.
The soft towel felt amazing against my skin as I used it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what my body craved as a frustrating lack of release continued to elude me. I debated putting on my dress but found that I didn’t want to. Hell, it was probably a bad idea to leave this room given that I was still in my heat cycle. Still, I needed food and advice.
Dressed in nothing but a pair of pants and a soft shirt, I walked out of the room and into the empty entry area. For some reason I had expected at least someone to be here, watching to make sure that no one came in and tried to do something to me. Then again, it wasn’t like I was the center of the universe or something. I was one girl going through a heat cycle.
With a shrug, I continued out into the hall. Doors were interspersed through the hallway. They almost seemed closer than they should have been given how big the rooms beyond were. Almost as if the building was similar to the TARDIS. Bigger on the inside and all. But the amount of magic that would be required to build such a structure was stupid, right? I mean, bags using spatial magic to increase their size were more expensive depending on how big they were. I had to assume that was because the spell was harder to do the larger you went. Surely it was the same when it came to buildings.
A soft growl growl-filled moan broke me from my wandering thoughts. Curious, I followed the sound to a room with its door propped ever so slightly open. It wasn’t enough for me to enter but it was enough to see most of the room on the other side. Enough that I could see Liam’s back. His hands were splayed out behind him as he used the large desk to support himself.
His face was tilted toward the ceiling. Even from here, I could tell that his expression was one filled with pleasure. Of course, the sound of his low moans and grunts would have told me the same thing.
Confused, my eyes traveled down his body. While his shirt was still in place, his pants were missing which didn’t make sense. At least, not until I heard a loud slurping-sucking sound between his moans.
“That’s it.” He groaned. “Do that again.”
Instead, a soft popping sound filled the room as a woman growled. “I want you to come inside me this time.” For some reason, while I recognized her voice, I couldn’t quite place it.
“Fine,” Liam grunted back as his hands reached around to help the woman up. I didn’t understand what I was seeing. A flushed Brandi stood in front of him. Her eyes were locked on his as she reached for his shirt. As he did the same, I found myself turning away as my entire body grew warm.
It wasn’t like I liked the guy or anything. It was more of the fact that I didn’t need to see the fucker fucking someone else, let alone someone I knew. Now I had a choice to make, continue looking for Ginger and some source of food, or interrupt the two idiots who happened to leave their door open.
Yeah, it wasn’t hard to choose. I was going to leave the two to their…fun. Still, the open door presented such a tempting target. No one could fault me for what I was about to do, right?
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As I crept as close as I dared, I pulled earth from the air. Using the very dust that floated in the currents to form a decently sized bowl. Sure, the bowl was thin and shallow, but it was wide enough to be too big to fit through the door. Since it was on the other side of the door, the two of them would have to move it before they could get out.
A bit more work and the stone bowl had a top made of yet more stone. I made sure that it was close enough to prevent much of the air from bypassing it while not touching the bowl itself. For what I wanted, I needed the hot vapor to pass through the multitude of holes this top had punched through it.
Wrung from the air until there was nothing left, water filled the bowl to the brim. Now all that was left was a bit of heat. It couldn’t be overly hot or I would be creating a steam bomb rather than my goal. The heat also couldn’t be too cold lest the water cool it down before anything happened.
With a bit of finesse, I heated the water until it was teetering on the edge of boiling. Then I heated the bowl itself to push it the last little bit. Sure, the bowl was thin, but there was still enough thermal mass for what I needed it to do. That and it wasn’t full of holes and cracks. Something that would have turned my prank into a claymore. And while there was a time and a place for those, this was not one of them.
As my mana poured into the stone until it gave off a slight glow, the water started to roll as bubbles emerged from it. The whole contraption was heavy enough that the fierce rolling bubbles were unable to move it and give itself away.
The next part was the hardest. I needed to create dry ice. Something that I had never attempted but if I could do it – so many ideas would be possible if I could pull this off. Only one problem, I didn’t have access to the Air Element. If I did then this would have been easy. While I could buy the element with what points I had saved up, it would take too long and I would likely pass out from the pain.
No, I needed to do it with the three elements I currently had, well four but I doubted the Dark Element would help. Wait, would it help? Could I use the Dark Element to create a cold spot? A few experiments later I found that I could, it would just take a ton of my mana reserves to do it and keep the spell going for any length of time. Welp, good thing I have a bunch of spare mana sitting in my collar. God, I needed to take the time to fill the fucker up because this would about drain it. Still, this would be worth it, maybe.
As the spell finished, its structure shivered violently. Almost looking as if it was about to explode into pieces. Maybe it would. If it did, what would that mean? It wasn’t like a fireball where the spells failure could send fire flying in every direction. Being made of shadow and cold, what would the failed spell fling outward? Cold? Shadows? Maybe I didn’t want to know.
Thankfully, the spell settled down a few moments later. As I watched, warm, moisture-laden steamy air rose and hit the cooled space. The air went from being able to hold a ton of water to nothing. A veritable cloud of water billowed out of the contraption. Seeing this, I quickly closed the door the last inch.
The moment I stood up to run, my core gave a slight twinge of need. Sure, I could return to my room and attempt to satisfy it again, something that was tempting as hell, but that would be the first place the alpha would look. Plus, if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to get food.
So, in slight discomfort, I pushed off in the opposite direction. Running down the hall in soft, fast footsteps. Did I know where I was going? Nope. Did it matter? Not really. I was sure that I would run into someone that would give me directions sooner or later. The corners of my lips ached and my tail whipped at the air as I heard a roar emanating from the direction of the alpha’s room. About time the guy discovered my little steamy surprise.
Kicking up the pace, I felt my chest tighten as each breath came quicker than the last. The walls around me darkened as the hall shrank. There was a point that I had to turn sideways and shimmy my way through.
That narrow hall dumped me out into what looked like a utility section of the building. Pipes of various sizes and colors lined various racks attached to the walls. There were a few that pulsed with light. Light traveled from one end to the other. Still, others seemed to absorb what light they could. Needing a distraction from the growing throbbing pain, I followed the direction the light was going.
Pipes broke off and joined the collection around me as I continued forward. Eventually, though, the pipes came to an end. Not capped off or anything. They entered a wall and vanished. I know they vanished because the door below them opened up into a room without a single pipe in sight. Given that the wall was fairly thin and the number of pipes, I doubted they were inside the wall.
A soft cackling laugh caught my attention. It came from somewhere nearby. Without a clue as to where I was, I wondered if whoever was there could point me toward an exit. Plus I was a tad curious as to who was here and why.
The laughter grew a tad louder as someone spoke. As I got close enough to hear bits and pieces, I realized that they were telling a story. “…she grabbed the minitaur’s horns and pulled back. Of course, the guy didn’t like that someone had managed to climb his back. He tried to smash her into the nearby rocks but she somehow managed to turn his head just in time.”
Guffawed laughter filled the air as someone else spoke up. “It took a while but my Francesco eventually gave up.”
“Patty, has anyone ever told you that you are absolutely nuts?” A third voice cawed back.
“I think my mother told me that once. Of course, I told her that she was no better.” The room exploded in laughter as various women agreed.
Something about how they were talking made me think that this wasn’t something I should be listening to. Like it was a get-together of close friends. Friends that were not just friends here but friends since before they had jumped into the game.
Just as I was about to turn and walk in the other direction, a voice called out. “Oh just get your ass in here.” My body froze as my eyes scanned around me. Had someone managed to sneak behind me? Seeing no one, I slowly moved a foot back only to freeze again as the voice called out a second time. “Yes, I was talking to you.”
A microsecond later, the door was jerked open. An older woman stood there with her eyes locked on to me. “Don’t make me drag you in here. I can hear your stomach from here.” Her hair was thin and practically see-through, coupled with the wrinkles that nearly hid her laugh lines, I was pretty sure this woman was old enough to be my grandmother if not my great-grandmother.
Hands up, I took another step back. “I really shouldn’t.”
“There is no point fighting the old bat on this.” Someone called out from somewhere behind the woman.
She spun around, “Who are you calling an old bat you old ninny?” The exchange caused me to laugh. It felt good and somewhat eased the tension that gripped my body. Her face turned enough to look at me with one eye as she walked into the room. Seeing no reason to turn her offer down, I followed her.
As I closed the door behind me, I found myself outside. I stood there as I took the sight in. The walls around me, while I knew they were there, I could only see a shimmer where they should have been. Green, green grass covered the ground save for the small stream of water that glittered in the midday sunlight. Sunlight that real but was likely just as artificial as this space was given how late it was outside.
In the middle of the space, a bunch of women lounged around a table. While some drank tea, others had a can of something or were eating something that looked like cake. My mouth drooled at the sight. The woman that I had been following noticed that I stopped and sighed before making a simple gesture in my direction.
Wind yanked at my hair and clothes. It wasn’t strong enough to knock me over but it did manage to nudge me toward an open seat. I took the hint and quickly sat down.