It was more difficult than I had expected to extract myself from the grip of the girls. Not because Shayla refused to let me go. It only took a couple of small puffs of air across her antennae to get the moth woman to roll over and instead snuggle her back into my side. Or because Rieka was too firmly wrapped around me, either.
It was because Kassandra obstinately refused to move off of me until the last moment.
Let me tell you, despite the increases in strength I’d taken, it was still difficult to do anything dexterous with several hundred pounds of dwarf lamia draped on top of you. Especially a naked dwarf lamia who was doing her absolute best to distract you by any means at hand.
I did manage to wiggle free of the girls. No sooner had I vacated the center spot between them than Rieka rolled over to snuggle into my warm spot, her ears twitching and mumbling quietly in her sleep. Shayla rolled over as well, snagging the princess and snuggling in once more. The only one who didn’t join in on the cuddle pile was Jane, who still happily slept in a tight ball above where their heads rested.
Since I’d managed to move despite her teasing, Kassandra allowed herself to be herded outside into the early dawning light, while still dragging a blanket along with her. Quickly rebuilding our fire for warmth, I set about ensuring my mischievous Nugget remembered how much I loved her out under the dawning sky of the morning. Kassandra did her best to muffle the noises, but I’m sure that we woke up at least one of the sleeping girls in the tent. That’s just my kind of luck.
Thankfully, we were both finished, and I had my shorts back on by the time someone poked their head almost an hour later.
Rieka’s platinum-blonde head was the first to emerge from the tent and she actually pouted to see me dressed again.
“Kass! You could have woken me up too,” Rieka whined before glancing over her shoulder into the tent. “It’s safe to come out, unfortunately.”
Not wanting my wolf princess to feel left out, I’d started in her direction as soon as she turned away. When Rieka came back around, a frown firmly seated on her lips, I swept the blonde-haired wolf woman into my arms and dipped her in a kiss.
Rieka let out a squeak of surprise as I yanked her off her feet and into my arms, but that transitioned into a happy moan when I dipped her so that my arms were the only support she had. One wrapped across her shoulders and the other low across her hips, just under her tail, which I could tell was wagging furiously now.
I continued to kiss Rieka for another solid minute before setting her back on her feet. She refused to let go of me at first, clinging to my arm for balance for several seconds while the lust cleared from her icy-blue eyes.
A quiet clearing of a throat behind Rieka made her jump. But since she was still struggling with her balance, I scooped her up in my arms and deposited her to one side. The motion made her yip in surprise again, before giggling and giving me a loving smile.
“Such a gentleman, Liam,” she teased, her arms wrapping around my neck while I had her in the air, which dragged me down to her level when I set her down as she refused to release me.
“Only when it counts,” I teased back, kissing her on the cheek. “Can you let me up? I need to get dressed now that I know I’m not disturbing you girl's sleep.”
“Oh, you did that already,” grumbled Jane. The short mouse kin woman pushed her way out of the tent and stumbled over to the fire, blinking blearily. “The impropriety would have horrified me, but you did warn us before…”
“Appreciate your understanding,” Kassandra said from her spot by the fire. My redheaded dwarf lamia sat wrapped up in the blanket that we’d used to spread over the grass earlier, but it was obvious she was naked underneath it.
She knew that dressing would help keep her warm. But for now, Kassandra was happiest by the warmth of the fire, since I’d managed to wiggle free of her grip earlier to start making tea for everyone to have when they woke.
“It’s either understand or—” A massive yawn cut Jane off. She shook her head hard, making her large ears flap in the process, before flopping down across the fire from Kassandra. “That or break the bond, and I’m already in the hole too deep to risk that. Plus, this has been fascinating so far.” Jane was staring in our general direction while I disentangled myself from Rieka.
“Glad to hear that Liam’s behind is so interesting,” Kassandra teased, our earlier activities having cured the dwarf lamia’s morning lethargy, leaving her with plenty of energy for causing trouble.
Jane was in the middle of another cavernous yawn when Kassandra said that and the mouse kin woman promptly choked on air while trying to breathe and form a protest all at once. Her tuft-tipped tail thrashed behind her as she fought to get enough breath, argue, and flail all at once. Kassandra giggled in amusement at her barb landing so well.
“Such a troublemaker,” murmured Rieka, nuzzling her head into my neck and kissing my throat lightly. “Go on and get dressed. Shayla was just brushing out her hair when I left. I’ve got our dimensional bag with me, so I’ll make sure Kass gets dressed and I can start warming up the food.”
“Thanks Rieka. Love you, my princess,” I said and then buried my face in her hair and nuzzled gently, right between her fuzzy ears. Rieka giggled before finally releasing me with one last kiss on the nose.
Even with Rieka’s warning, I still called to Shayla to make sure the moth woman was okay with me entering the tent at the moment. She mumbled an approval, and I ducked inside to look for my pants and shirt.
Shayla was dressed, mostly at least. She had on another of those long dresses that clung to her every curve, and in the dim light of the heavy canvas tent with her hair partially tousled from sleep, she looked like a model from the 1940s doing a boudoir shoot.
My mom had a thing for Marilyn Monroe and had several prints of her decorating the house, so I knew about stuff like that. Stop judging me.
The sight of Shayla in such a position, with the back of her dress still unbuttoned while she carefully ran a simple wooden comb through her hair, made me stop and stare for just a moment. Thankfully, as a benefit of Kassandra’s constant teasing, I could recover quickly and looked away before Shayla realized I was staring.
With as much dignity as I could muster, I stepped over to where my pants were laying and pulled them on. Let me tell you, there wasn’t much dignity to be found when I realized that Shayla was staring with those fathomless black eyes of hers, but I did my best.
I was tugging my shirt over my head, silently glad that Kassandra or Rieka hadn’t managed to steal it when I wasn’t looking, since that was becoming a thing for both of my girls, when Shayla finally spoke.
“Liam? Would you help me do up the back of my dress? My wings make it… complicated,” Shayla’s voice was whisper-quiet, but with the only other noises inside the tent being the quiet shush of the comb in her hair and the rustle of my clothes, I picked it up without issue.
“Sure, Shayla,” was my reply, and I carefully walked around to where she was sitting.
Shayla hadn’t moved far from the spot she’d been sleeping in, and now that I was closer, I could see that today’s dress was a delicate fawn color with white, geometric embroidery around the cuffs and hem. Sidling around behind her, I peered at the clasps of her dress in the dim light, doing my best to not stare at the expanse of pale skin on her shoulders or back.
Don’t think about the fact you don’t see bra straps. No, they do chest wraps here, don’t they? I don’t see that either, I thought, immediately falling for the hole in my mental suggestion entirely by accident and thinking about Shayla’s bare, muscled shoulders or the fact I could see the full swells of her generous breasts from behind like this.
Giving myself both a physical and a mental shake, I focused on what I was doing again and carefully began hooking the small buttons through the narrow cloth loops on the other side. Shayla had spread her wings out to allow me to work, the comb she was carefully smoothing through her hair slowing when she felt my fingers touch her back and begin working on the buttons. The soft, gauzy looking wings pumped slightly, reminding me of a butterfly hanging on a branch, the colors shimmering in the dim light.
All too soon, I finished buttoning up the back of the dress.
“All set to go, Shayla. Need anything else?” I asked, my words making her antennae twitch slightly. When she didn’t speak after a moment, I nodded and stepped carefully around her to give the moth woman space. I didn’t make it more than two steps away before I felt something catch on my sleeve and tug me to a stop.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Looking back, Shayla had caught my sleeve between the fingers of one hand, her comb lying forgotten on her lap while she bit her bottom lip lightly. I paused, waiting for her to voice what it was that was clearly on her mind.
“Liam, I… I know Kassandra likes to tease, but was she serious yesterday?” Shayla’s quiet question had me searching my memory for what it was that Shayla was referencing. The first thing my mind stumbled across was what she’d said just before bed last night, and I blushed as the words replayed in my head.
Did you hear that, girls? ‘Any and all things.’
Apparently, Shayla must have realized my mistake because she blushed furiously as well, her antennae standing up on top of her head like two little fans while she shook her head back and forth.
“No no, not that! I meant about drawing you!”
I blinked at her in surprise, the gears in my head grinding against each other for a moment before finally engaging and I remembered that was also something Kassandra had teased Shayla about.
“Uh, sure? If that’s what you want, I’d be happy to. Did you want me to pose or anything?” Shayla nodded furiously in response to my question, her blush still riding high on those pale cheeks.
“Having access to a willing subject will help a great deal in my art studies. I can do landscapes and terrain really well, but people are harder.” Shayla’s voice lost some of its fire and her shoulders hunched slightly as she admitted that fact.
“Then just let me know how I can help. Remember too that I can ‘adjust’ things, right?” My question brought Shayla’s head up, so I gave her a wink and focused. My Shape-Shifting was something I’d practiced a great deal with, beyond just snitching natural weapons or armor from other species. A bit of concentration and I felt a fuzzy ruff of my own sprout from my shoulders and neck, then the slight weight of the long, fluffy appendages as a pair of antennae sprouted from my head. “See?”
I had expected my actions to draw a laugh, or a surprised look from Shayla. We had filled her in on my capabilities, and I’d given her demonstrations while we’d hiked out here. So she knew about my combat changes, but I didn’t think it had come up about being able to modify my appearance. I hadn’t expected her to blush to intensify.
A strange scent began to fill my head, though I couldn’t quite place where it was coming from. It was almost as if someone had uncovered a basket of ripe fruit nearby, and their smell was slowly washing outwards. I felt my antennae adjust, stroking the air gently in response to the smell and drifting towards Shayla.
“Thank you, Liam!” Shayla said quickly, both hands coming up to cover her face now. “I need a minute to finish putting myself together. May I have a moment of privacy?”
“Sure thing, Shayla. I’ll be outside when you are ready. And feel free to let me know when you want to work with me. I’ve never been an art model before, but if you walk me through what you need me to do, I’d be happy to help out.”
Shayla peeked shyly from behind her cupped hands, still blushing bright enough to put a cherry to shame, and nodded. So I left her behind and stepped out of the tent. I felt my antennae angle backwards, still wafting through the air trying to find that scent. I’d thought at first that maybe Rieka had brought out some fruit for breakfast, but as soon as I left the tent, the fruit smell faded almost entirely.
With a slight effort of will, I retracted the antennae and returned my body to normal. As soon as the antennae faded away, so did the last dregs of the scent.
Huh, I forgot that they were sensory organs. I guess moths use them to smell, right? I guess that smell was Shayla, but I didn’t smell any perfume when I was behind her, I thought idly before another thought crashed into my head.
A faint memory of a documentary I’d been watching on my phone when I couldn’t sleep, about various types of insects that used their antennae to find mates because they could detect pheromones.
Which means… I thought before shaking my head, a small smile forming on my lips and a faint heat on my cheeks. Well, that does explain the blushes. She probably realized I could smell them. I’ll need to find a minute to talk to Kass and Rieka about that then, just in case she decides she wants to act on them. Totally not because I’m embarrassed over the fact that I now know she probably smelled Kassandra’s pheromones all over me. Nope. not at all.
<><><>
“Okay, Liam. I know it’s around here somewhere. Why don’t you make the earth shake for the third time today?” Kassandra crowed as she led the way into the large meadow dotted with ruined stones.
“Third time?” Rieka asked, her head tilting in confusion.
“Well yeah, the first two times were while you all were sleeping!” Kassandra chirped brightly, grinning at her friend and getting a roll of the eyes from Rieka when the wolf princess got her innuendo.
Entirely engrossed in her sketchpad, Shayla slowly turned in a circle as she made broad strokes with her charcoal pen while looking at the different clumps of stone and moss-covered walls. Jane had bounced over to the nearest collection of them and was peering closely at the bricks, inspecting them with an intense look while her tail danced back and forth like an over-caffeinated snake.
I just ignored my mischief-noodle’s attempts to cause problems again. She’d spent most of breakfast alternately teasing or dropping salacious hints to the other girls about her morning. Thankfully, she’d been more than happy to help pack up the tent and get everything tucked away. There were a few more hours planned to inspect these ruins before we needed to head back to town. We had intended this entire trip as an opportunity to bring Shayla and Jane in on the secret of the ruins, and give them a chance to get used to being around me. We hadn’t run into any dangers on the way out, but there was no guarantee that the trip back would be safe, either.
A thought and a gesture made the earth shift and ripple out of the way. It took barely an effort to push the dirt around, then shift the slope of broken rock and collapsed dirt that lay underneath the cap I’d just removed, changing that uneven slope into a set of steep stairs that dropped down into darkness.
“Shayla?” My calling her name broke the artistic moth woman out of her focus and she glanced over, her pale cheeks taking on a rosy tint as she looked at me but obediently scampering over with her sketchbook held to her chest. “Can you illuminate the cave down there for us? As much as you can, please?”
With a nod, Shayla pulled her spell rod out of its holster. A flick of a catch and the fork at the end folded out. She muttered something under her breath and flicked her rod forward like it was a spatula and she was flipping over an egg. A dot of bright light formed between the tines of her spell rod, so bright it felt like the mid-morning sun dimmed in response. The spot of light flew from her rod to arc down into the darkness. Shayla made another upward flick of her spell rod and the dot zipped up out of sight.
“There, it’ll adhere to the ceiling of that room and remain for the next six hours,” Shayla said quietly, manually folding the fork back on the end of her spell rod by pressing it to her thigh before she slid it into the holster she had for the tool.
“That was wicked! Man, I wish we had her with us during the first exploration,” Kassandra said with an explosive sigh. “Would have made getting through that tunnel with the shadows so much easier.”
“Agreed,” Rieka sighed. “We should test and see if Shayla’s light is as dangerous to them as the natural light, if possible.”
I glanced over at Shayla to see what the moth woman thought of this suggestion. She looked nervous, but nodded in agreement after squaring her shoulders.
“I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry,” I reminded her, getting a small smile from the moth woman. Glancing to where Jane was still studiously inspecting the stones, I raised my voice. “Jane, come on. We are heading down below!”
The mouse kin woman jumped, her tail stiffening like a flagpole for a moment before she looked over at me with wide eyes. Seeing the open hole in the ground, she blinked before immediately scuttling back to the group.
“Whoa! How did you do this? When did you do this? I didn’t hear a thing!” The questions and statements rained down from Jane in a torrent as the energetic mouse woman bounced back and forth, peering down into the now brightly lit hole in the ground.
“Magic, just a bit ago, and I’ve had practice,” I answered with a laugh before turning towards Kassandra and Rieka. “My ladies? Shall we?” I offered each of them an elbow, getting a pleased giggle from Kassandra and a snort of amusement from Rieka. I think the laugh was because of the angle I had to stand at in order to offer both women an elbow at a comfortable height, but it was worth it to ease some of the tension.
Shayla and Jane fell in behind the three of us as we carefully descended into the open space underneath the field.
Knowing what I did now about the ruins under the mountain, I was almost certain that this was some kind of parking garage or main entrance. We’d found ruined trains down below that ran on rails, so the idea that the ancient humans of this world had some kind of mechanical personal conveyance wasn’t too far-fetched. The brighter light also revealed more of the cave at once, and I had the feeling that those smears and small piles of rust were likely the only remnants left of those ancient transports.
Shayla’s spell had quite literally stuck to the ceiling near the middle of the room, forming a splotch of brilliant light that felt a bit like Shayla had somehow taken a handful of the sun and just smeared it on the rock overhead. It was surreal, but also welcoming, as it made the cave feel that much less intimidating.
Guiding Kassandra over to the door, she got to work removing the seals that she had reengaged when we left last time. Since she knew how to do it, and had most of the formula in place already, it should only take her a few minutes.
Jane scampered back and forth to check various things out, inspecting the large doorway from several angles. Rieka stood back and kept watch while Shayla flipped to a new sheet in her sketchbook and began recording the image in front of her. I stayed with Rieka and Shayla, alternately keeping watch and observing as the moth woman’s dexterous fingers danced over the page, leaving behind thin lines of charcoal and capturing even Kassandra’s lithe figure as she chanted a quick spell to empower carved runes again.
The seals on the door failing suddenly made everyone jump. One second the door was obstinately closed, the next it creaked open slightly, the squeal of protesting metal loud in the silence. Jane jumped almost two feet into the air, as she’d been standing by the door when it happened, and immediately raced back to the group, sliding between my legs like a runner in a game of baseball, before peeking out around one of my thighs to check for threats.
“It’s fine, Jane,” I reassured her while shooting Kassandra a look to ask her why she hadn’t warned anyone.
My mischief noodle just shrugged with a ‘oops’ look on her face. For once, she hadn’t done it intentionally to annoy or tease someone, it seemed.
“Shayla?” Jane asked, glancing towards the moth woman, who was now tucking her sketchbook away into a hip bag. It was obvious that Jane was asking Shayla to cast another of her light spells, but the moth woman stopped midway through drawing her spell rod when I held up a hand and shook my head.
“I got this part,” I said, and gave her a wink before turning back towards the tunnel. “Lights!”