21. END OF AN ERA

Inside the apartment, Zoey grabbed a bag I hadn’t seen earlier and told me she had to freshen up, politely suggesting I do the same. Then she whispered into Beth’s ear, the brunette’s eyes lighting up with each word. My firebrand pixie must’ve been doing her best to obscure what she had been told from me, because I could only sense fuzzy images of Zoey without any specifics. Beth whispered into Sam’s ear, continuing the game of telephone that I was on the outside of. Sam nodded her agreement to whatever plan had been hatched and then grasped my hand, tugging me along into the hallway.

I followed Sam into my regular bathroom as Zoey and Beth walked towards the other, still conspiring. I stripped and stepped into the shower, with Sam following after me. She slapped my hands away from the bottle of shampoo that I went to grab after slipping under the stream, then picked it up herself. Once she started massaging my scalp and working the shampoo, I understood why the two of them loved our shower ritual so much. Having someone else focus their effort on me like this was pretty heavenly.

When she rinsed all of the soap out of my hair, replaced it with conditioner, and then began lathering up my chest and underarms with body wash, it raised a question.

“Sam, what’s going on?”

“This is my time with you tonight, at least until we have to figure out sleeping arrangements. They asked if I wanted to join them and explained what Zoey was planning. I didn’t want to participate, and I don’t enjoy watching like Beth does, so the compromise was that I got to shower with you for as long as I needed.”

“With me? Seems to be more showering for me.”

“Well, that’s what I want, so shush and let me wash you.”

I did just that, and she got rather explorative with her hands. She washed everywhere on my body, her hands running over every inch of my skin as though she were intent on mapping my body from memory later. It was a strange reversal of roles, though it didn’t feel quite perfectly mirrored. When I washed Sam, it felt as though it was something I wanted to do — something I was doing because I enjoyed touching her body. Now, with her washing me, it still felt as though I was the one in control. She was washing me because she thought it was something I wanted. She seemed to enjoy doing it because it was something I enjoyed, which was certainly a mindset I understood.

Still, despite her thoroughness, Sam eventually ran out of body parts to wash. She slipped out of the shower first, handing me a towel and telling me to take my time drying off and then to brush my teeth. When I was halfway through cleaning my teeth, she returned and handed me a pair of silk boxers I hadn’t seen before.

“Here,” she said, handing them to me, “Beth got you these to wear. Zoey liked them, so put them on.”

“They’re quite tight,” I said, pulling the surprisingly revealing garment on.

“That’s what she was hoping for.”

“Oh,” I said, as though it wasn’t evident that was the desire from the start. “You’re alright with this?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Obviously,” she said dismissively. “It would be quite hypocritical of me not to be, given that I did exactly the same as Zoey with much less justification.”

“Emotions aren’t always logical.”

If anything, she rolled her eyes even harder at that, letting out a huff, before realizing how melodramatic she was acting and apologizing. “Sorry,” she said, moving close to lean against me, “I don’t mean to minimize what you’re doing. I appreciate the check-in. But yes, I’m perfectly fine with inviting Zoey into our family, even though I don’t want to participate tonight. I thought we were clear on that.”

“It being okay in a conversation a week ago and okay now that it’s happening this minute in a room next to you are different things.”

“I’m good, James. Really, I’m better than I’ve ever been. While you’re in there, figuring out if you can prevent binding with her or not, I’m going to make a little dessert. Beth didn’t use all the ingredients yesterday, so I want to give Zoey some of hers and then some when I’ve spruced it up. Are you alright if, at some point, I try stuff with meat for her?”

“You don’t need to ask for permission, princess. You have the authority to do as you wish in our kingdom.”

Sam shrugged with a blush, “Didn’t feel right bringing it into the apartment without asking.”

As she replied, there was a knock on the door, and Beth poked her head in. “J? Zoey’s ready if you are.”

“Sure, as ready as I’m going to be for how suddenly formal this feels.”

Beth laughed, “That’ll be shattered in a moment.”

I kissed Sam, who slipped into her robe and headed towards the kitchen, before following Beth to my bedroom, wearing just my new boxers.

Which is where I found Zoey and understood what Beth meant.

She was sitting regally on the bed, reclined confidently against the pillows. Her knees were together, her long legs bent and tucked under her as she leaned against the wall to her side. On them, she wore a pair of ash grey stockings and a surprisingly minimalist pair of black heels. I was also surprised to see that she had shifted very slightly, a pair of bright white ears adorning her head and a full, fluffy tail curling around her waist. She was running her hand through her soft fur absentmindedly, a bored, disinterested expression on her face, at least until I entered the room. Her blonde hair had been let out of the lazy ponytail she wore to dinner and replaced with an ornate braid that encircled her head before falling behind her in a single elaborate tail.

I was so enamored with her sheer presence that it took me a second to realize that the stockings were the only piece of clothing she wore. The bright pink nubs I had spied in the pool pointed directly at me, suggesting far more emotion below the surface despite her feigned disinterested appearance. Of course, when I glanced back at her eyes, I could see the hunger there. As much as she was holding back, she was ready for me.

I crossed the room quickly, ignoring Beth sliding into the chair behind me, and kneeled on the bed. Without giving Zoey a chance to react, I kissed her. I clasped her face with my hands, my fingers reaching up high enough along her head to stroke the sensitive folded skin of her wolven ears as our lips met. She inhaled deeply and then caught me by surprise when I withdrew by placing her face in the crook of my neck and inhaling deeply again. From there, she pressed her face against my chest, her nose nestled into my underarm, and took another deep breath. Looking up at me afterward, the haughty propriety she had once worn was gone, her dignity replaced entirely with want.

“It’s so fucking hard to be your trainer,” she whispered. “You smell so good. Every time we’re done in the gym, I want to drag you back to the physio room and wash your body with my tongue. My wolf doesn’t even argue. You earned it with the work you did, and the sweat is just the icing on your cake.”

“Shh, little wolf. You don’t have to hold back any more. I’m here to give you what you want.”

Zoey impatiently ran her finger down my abdomen, tugging at the waistband of the boxers. I took a second to step off the bed and remove them, sliding them down my legs and smiling as I heard Beth’s hungry inhale. When I looked back up, Zoey was kneeling away from me, her head turned back over her shoulder to make eye contact. Her tail was tossing back and forth as she wiggled her hips temptingly at me.

“See anything you like?” she asked. When I nodded affirmatively, she responded, “Better take it, then.”

I moved directly behind her, my hand running up her sculpted thigh, nudging her just slightly to position her legs where I wanted them. I held my shaft and brushed against her, drawing a needy whine from her lungs. She pushed back against me, grinding herself along my length.

“Just do it already. Stop wasting our time,” she hissed out needily, her tail wrapping around my hips to urge me forward.

So I did. With a momentary flash of pressure, I pushed my head inside her, spreading Zoey open around me and feeling her warmth encapsulate me. That was the first thing I noticed as I sunk easily into her and she pressed her hips back hard until they met mine — she wasn't just noticeably warmer than anyone I had been with before, she was boiling. It wasn’t uncomfortable, especially as my dragon perked up and took notice; rather, it was captivating, drawing this response from her and sharing the energy of the moment.

Next, I noticed that she had allowed her face to drop to the bed, where the pillows muffled her breathy whimpers. They weren’t noises of pain or discomfort, but Zoey planted her face on the bed and released a constant stream of little chattering squeaks. Her sheath fluttered around me, doing its desperate best to pull me deeper inside her, and her hips continued moving.

I was surprised to feel that, a millimeter or two before I would have bottomed out from my length, I filled her entirely, bumping against her inner limit. I froze, initially certain that I had hurt her in my haste to join with her, but she kept wriggling and moaning even more needily than before, grinding herself on me frantically at that point. She reached back to grab my hips with one hand, pulling me as firmly against her body as I could, to the point where the pressure was painful for me as she wiggled her hips slightly, grinding her sensitive insides on me.

Eventually, her sharp whines faded out, and she stopped forcing herself so strongly against me, slumping forward and gasping for breath. After a moment of panting, she angled her head up without lifting her slumped shoulders, just giving her face enough room to speak.

“Fuck, that was wild. Why’d you stop? Could’ve rolled me right into the next one,” she asked, a dreamy expression on her face.

“Are you alright? I didn’t hurt you bottoming out, did I?”

“Hurt so good,” she replied, a dreamy expression on her face.

“What?” I asked, not understanding what that could possibly mean.

“James, my wolf wants you to put her in her place. A little bit of pain is just fine with me. Go out of your way to only hurt, and we’ll have issues, but I don’t mind if you get a little rougher with me, alright? Now, are you done and we’re just killing the mood here, or can we get back to it?”

She asked the final question while shimmying her hips back and forth, and I instinctively started thrusting again, admittedly slower than she wanted. Still hesitant to fully embrace her guiding words, I wrapped my hands around her waist. There, from the feeling beneath my fingertips, I gained some clarity that would help me fulfill her request.

Zoey was, for lack of a better description, solid. As my fingers gripped her tanned skin, they didn’t sink in but a millimeter. Her firm muscles pushed back against my fingers. The strength and durability undeniably evident beneath my hands gave me the confidence to give her what she wanted. After all, she wasn’t the soft, precious thing Sam was. And she wasn’t the petite, fragile thing Beth was.

I was letting my mind wander from my goal, though. Zoey’s vocalizations told me that she was very enthusiastic about my firm grasp on her and the powerful assault my hips were driving. Once I was sure she was enjoying my more robust attention, I focused my mind inward.

With Sam, right at the end of our first time, I had felt something creep up suddenly and overwhelm me, pulling Sam into me in the process. It caught me by surprise as I finished with her, intertwining our releases and connecting our souls. With Sam, at that moment, it was beautiful, and I didn’t regret it for a heartbeat, even if I wished I had more control and understanding.

Now, my body was on autopilot. The dragon was at the wheel there, using my form to grind Zoey’s pleasure center into nothingness, overloading her mind and forcing her shoulders against the bed with each slapping contact of our thighs. He was perfect for that job — an unyielding, avaricious beast who wanted Zoey to experience so much tonight that she would need us in the future. I did happen to notice that I had to urge him forward before he could take control. I had to ask for him to step forward and offer him the reigns. Unlike the third entity during my extraordinary first night meeting Beth, the dragon couldn’t simply eject me and take over. I had to invite him to share my body.

I watched as my hand moved up and gripped the base of Zoey’s braid, lifting her chiseled torso from the bed and forcing her to lean against me. Her whines were replaced by a stream of expletives, a sentence that started out trying to chastise me for using her so abruptly that melted into a series of ‘Oh, fuck, blessed Luna, yes!’ and ‘James, harder, deeper, more please’ as the dragon mercilessly worked her insides with my untiring body.

Inside me, as I carefully observed what transpired, I could feel something brewing. Examining closely the tethers I had to Beth and Sam, I could see a third node at the base of my soul. It was a diminutive little nub, a swelling of the soil not yet having breached the surface. As my body continued pummeling Zoey into euphoric submission, releasing her hair after pulling her arms behind her and pinning them to my chest, I watched this growth develop into a sapling, lifting up and reaching for the light above it.

It breached the surface slowly and quietly, and I understood why I hadn’t felt it with Sam or with Beth. Breach was entirely the wrong word. The surface of my metaphorical conglomerate of soul pieces expanded with it, stretching and elongating into a thick tendril. They unfolded themselves, stretching and reaching out into the ether. The connection wasn’t a thing I was conjuring — it was a literal part of me reaching out and grasping someone who I wanted to hold. I hadn’t noticed it happening because it was something I wanted to do, consciously with Sam. With Beth, if the consequences had been clear, I probably would have hesitated, but my intentions left me no choice. I certainly didn’t regret it — as she said, she could feel how happy I was when I thought of her as mine and me as hers.

Since it was unequivocally me who was reaching out and tying my lovers to my soul, it was simple to stop the process. Surprisingly simple, actually. I thought about halting the tendril’s progression, and it froze where it was. I wanted to prove that I didn’t have to bind someone to me, and my soul listened.

What I didn’t do, however, was completely retract them. I watched them. I inspected the blend of soul fragments extended towards Zoey, trying to understand what part of my draconic development had made it possible. What I found was surprising at first, but it really shouldn’t have been.

It had nothing to do with the dragon.

He hadn’t brought it up, and I had simply assumed rather than asking, but it wasn’t his power that tied Beth and Sam to me. He reveled in establishing that degree of unity with our prized mates, but he didn’t understand how it had happened. It was a thing that occurred and was beneficial for him, though he didn’t elaborate why there either. He had thought it was something to do with me as a late-blooming human rather than something innate as a dragon, not that he actually had any reference points to compare to.

It was actually the third resident in my soul that was responsible for this. The strange entity that had shared a dream with me and had spoken to me several times now was the one that enabled my soul to permanently bind my lovers to me. It had told me I would need them. I didn’t like the sound of that — the implication that, potentially, even with Zoey, I wasn’t yet done. Its meddling had damned me and all those it was inclined to bind with me to a life of interesting times; that much was certain.

It didn’t offer any explanations now, either, as I willed the branches back to myself. Still, based on my knowledge from the dream, it had obviously taken much effort and care to merge with me. It had a goal of some kind in doing so, but it couldn’t actually articulate what was going on in a way I could fully comprehend. All that I could tell was that it wanted me to be powerful, surrounded by those I cared for, and well-supported by the world. What kind of challenge would something no one had ever heard of require a well-loved, well-backed, mighty dragon as the best possible solution? What kind of struggles could that formidable dragon still have a dismal chance of accomplishing? The hedonistic pleasures I had enjoyed felt sour when I admitted to myself that there would be a reckoning at some point. I was a tool, seemingly a last-chance roll of the dice by something that had otherwise lost hope, and I didn't even know what I was being built up for yet.

With confirmation in my mind that the tendril had reduced itself to a swollen lesion on the surface of my soul, paid for and ready for activation when I wanted it, I released myself into Zoey right after she peaked for the third time. It immediately pushed her into another, and her sweltering sheathe forced me out of her, clenching so tight she practically vibrated, drips of my seed forced out immediately after I was. I took back control of my limbs and let go of her body, allowing her to collapse onto the bed, her twitching legs stretching out nearly as long as mine did as her muddied mind worked to make sense of what had happened, back-to-back peaks making everything a blur.

What hadn’t happened was the momentary stasis. Zoey never stopped breathing, and her pulse never halted. She kept letting out whines with each exhale, her hands holding her face, her tail wiggling, gently shaking the bed. After several minutes of wordless breathing, Sam entered the room, carrying a washcloth and a cup of water. She looked at me questioningly, mentally asking if my experiment had succeeded. I nodded as she began wiping away the sheen of sweat Zoey had built up, lovingly brushing the blonde's face and neck before moving on to more sensitive areas. Zoey sat up when Sam was done, taking a long drag from the glass of water.

When she set it back down on the bedside table, she exclaimed, “Damn, James. Yeah, I think you’ll be fine at keeping three girlfriends satisfied. My legs are more rubbery than after the most intense volume leg day, and all I did was take it. You're a beast. That was amazing.”

Sam turned between a very flushed Beth, a panting Zoey, and me still on the bed to announce, “I ran the bath, if you’d like to relax for a bit now.”

Zoey moaned at the idea and explained as she slid her heels off, “My flat’s only got a tiny little shower. I haven’t had a proper bath in years.”

Beth giggled, Sam nibbled on her lip with a smirk, and I smiled at her. “Well, I hope this one is to your liking. Not that I had much input on it.”

In the bathroom, Zoey exclaimed, “Fucking hell, this is palatial,” before stepping over the edge of the full basin, shattering the still surface of the water as she slid into the tub. Beth and I stared at her in surprise for a moment before Beth asked, “Zoey? Your stockings?”

Zoey had closed her eyes and sunk into the bubble-coated warm tub up to her shoulders. “Don’t care. They’re self-cleaning, and I simply can’t be assed to roll them down now. I’m still feeling the buzz from James, and my hands are still shaking, but the water is wonderful. It’s a problem for future Zoey to deal with. She’s good at handling my messes.”

Sam had stepped out of the bathroom before returning with four bowls, each with a spoon. She handed one to Zoey, one to Beth, and then two to me so that she could strip and join us in the tub before taking it back.

“I made pudding,” Sam informed us as she slid into the water. She watched Zoey take a hesitant first bite, the blonde shrugging with a contemplative smile as she rolled over the pudding in her mouth, then took another spoonful.

Then Sam said, “Actually, I lied, Zoey. The dish you have is what Beth and Zenya made yesterday without my help.” She reached over, holding the untouched bowl she had for Zoey to take. “This is what I made.”

With an eyebrow raised in cautious amusement, Zoey swapped bowls with Sam. She took a bite of the new pudding and immediately said, “Oh, holy shit.”

Sam smiled smugly and settled into the tub, glowing with pride as the three of us wolfed down her infused dish.

“Sam, that was insane,” Zoey said when she was finished. “Why did we even bother going out? And what can you do for a steak? For ribs? God, I can only imagine.”

“We’ll find out soon,” the redhead answered quietly. The moment had passed and I recognized that she felt somewhat embarrassed with herself and the momentary flash of pride.

The four of us sat quietly for a minute, soaking in the atmosphere of the bubbles and enjoying the peace of the moment. Zoey lifted her legs from the bottom basin and laid them across my lap, and I set my hand on her thigh. Feeling the texture of her stockings in the water was strange, especially when they shimmered and fizzed against my fingertips. I could feel the enchantment in them trying to expunge the water even while they remained submerged.

Beth broke the serene silence to ask, “Zoey, what’s your bond with him like?”

“It’s a tug on my heart that demands I be near him,” the blonde replied. “Pulling me towards him at every moment, telling me how he could solve my problems, making me think about him with every other interaction in my life, making me think about him favorably whenever I compare him to anyone else. It’s subtle, insidious, and ever-present.

“But,” she continued after a short pause, “it’s pretty rare that you get matched with someone who you wouldn’t do those things with naturally. I haven’t heard of anyone with an innate mate they disliked. I’ve only heard of a few cases where the people were neutral towards each other after merely several months together. Whether that’s down to the bond pairing people up who mesh well or making them more agreeable to each other afterward, I can’t say.”

Beth nodded when Zoey was done, but then Zoey followed it up by asking, “What’s yours like? What am I in for?”

Beth looked at Sam, who nodded back at her, telling the younger woman to start the explanation.

“It’s like a tunnel between our souls,” Beth said, pausing for a moment to think about how to describe the rest. “It started off with feeling little hints of his emotions. When I thought of him, I could feel different colors that matched how he was feeling. Over time, it got clearer, and now I get full thoughts sometimes, hazy thoughts a lot of the time, and deeper, blended colors behind them now, like a painting of a sunset with a whole palette of information. It really helps me understand him, knowing what’s really going on inside his head. He gets the same with us.”

Sam added, “At first, it felt odd, seeing how he subtly changed around me when we hadn’t bonded. Beth would do something, and he would react without saying anything; the two of them were just in sync. It made me really jealous. I wanted that. It’s kind of terrifying to realize that he can see directly through my mask to the girl I actually am, but it’s always been good so far.”

“Wait,” Zoey said, “it’s still changing? You aren’t sure what’s going to come next?” Despite the intensity of her question, she didn’t seem agitated, mostly just confused.

“It’s been changing every day since I jumped him, getting a little bit more understandable every day. Maybe I’m getting better at reading it, but I think it’s getting better itself, too,” Beth replied.

“Do you still want to do this? We can wait, if you’d prefer,” I offered.

Zoey rolled her eyes, placing her hand on mine under the bubbles. “Of course, I still want to do this. I’m tied to you already. Antonin’s notes on your shielding suggested they originated from the bond, but he described it as a permutation of an ancient fae dominance ritual. That shouldn’t change over time. At least, the one-way versions that exist didn’t. And were mate links don’t change over time, either. I mean, the people do, maybe. But it’s not like the feelings you get from the link change. You always want to be reasonably near your mate, and you’ll always think about them. It’s just weird to think that yours is still growing. I don’t know anything like that. It wasn’t in any of the reading, either, so I think Antonin is keeping it quiet until he understands it.”

“You got reading on us?” I asked.

“Yeah. After our first training session, I had a debrief where I had to describe everything that happened — which was fucking awkward, let me tell you — and then I was given a bunch of reports on you two to read so that I would be prepared to handle you. Two-thirds of the information was generic stuff on dragons, which ended up just being wrong for you specifically, and the rest, I now understand, were very carefully curated notes from Antonin. Those sections were all technically correct, but they weren’t very useful and hid much of the truth.”

“Are you reporting on us now?” Beth asked bluntly.

Zoey shook her head, “Only when I absolutely have to. When James asked for information from me about the city for your dates, and I used my connections here to get him that, I reported it. But, I left a paper trail to get the passes in the first place, so if I hadn’t reported it, it would have bitten me in the ass eventually. I’m not leaking every movement you guys make to the security team — I don’t really want them to have that kind of data on you, especially when I'm now a part of you.

“But, I’m like the poster child for conflict of interest now. If I tell them you’re not a threat and there’s no reason to keep such a close eye on you, they’ll move me somewhere else professionally and have someone else shadow you. If I leak them a little bit here and there, stuff I didn’t think was consequential because you were already out in public, they don’t dig any deeper, maybe.”

I sighed. “Can you tell us, moving forward, before you write anything official about us and what you want to put in it? I understand the desire to keep tabs on strange new citizens, especially one who is as theoretically as powerful as I could be one day, but I just want to be fucking left alone.”

Upon hearing my exclamation, Zoey started to pull her legs away, but I held them against me. “No, I didn’t mean you. I want you now, Zoey. You’re already tangled up with us, and I’m not going to let you get away. I just mean that there are days that I want to grab the three of you and Cynthia and Zenya and just fly off to a cabin in the Northern Territories to be left alone. All of this underhanded backroom scheming shit is exhausting.”

Sam nodded in agreement, Beth looked on apologetically, but Zoey looked at me hungrily.

“You could take out your frustrations with me on me,” she suggested.

“What are you suggesting?”

“Well,” she started demurely, dragging the word out and looking away from me, before breaking the tension by explaining, “My wolf’s pretty satisfied now. You did a good job scratching the burning need that had been building for the last week. She doesn’t really care if we go again or not, so I’m feeling a little extra bratty and playful. Now, if you bent her over your knee and let her know how you felt about how we’ve complicated your life and given you a headache, maybe she’d listen. Maybe I could serve just one master after tonight. One who had a permanent connection to my mind and could feel when I was going to act out. One whom I could never lie to and never mislead. It’s not like anyone else would have such an unfiltered view of what’s going on in my head.”

As she spoke, she started rubbing her still-stockinged feet in my crotch, her knee breaking the surface of the water and stirring the lingering bubbles around.

Beth looked surprised, but flushed, and Sam was trying to stifle a giggle, trying not to laugh at Zoey’s unsubtle segue. As I slowly responded, Sam stepped out of the tub, setting three towels aside for us and excusing herself by taking our bowls to the kitchen.

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“I could be open to that. Earlier wasn’t enough?”

“Oh, it was great,” Zoey answered. “But, it didn’t have the bite to discipline the wolf. It was play, and I understand it was harder than Sam wants, but I’m not going to be feeling any of it tomorrow more than if we had done it how she liked, you know? No, you can really give it to me. Pull my tail, spank me, choke me. Grabbing my hair was nice, but you were still pretty gentle about it. Just use my body to make the wolf listen. Make me do anything you want. Own my wolf, James. Make her listen to you, not just the link.”

The three of us toweled off, and Zoey stripped her stockings, leaving them hanging over the edge into the draining tub to dry.

“Now, hang out here for a moment, alright? Let me get ready again. I’ll send Beth to get you when I’m ready,” Zoey said, with a hungry smile on her lips as she pulled Beth along with her. I couldn’t tell if the desire blooming underneath the smile was in anticipation of another round with me or if it was from the enjoyment of challenging me. She was absolutely right, though — if this was how she wanted to play, she was going to be a handful.

It was perfectly fine with me, though. Or rather, the dragon was ready to step up and seize the reins where I remained hesitant, which actually let everyone get what they wanted. I didn’t have to disappoint Zoey with my hesitancy and squeamishness; the dragon inside me could hold her exactly where she wanted to be.

Beth knocked on the bathroom door, smiling and informing me that she had been standing there for nearly a minute, listening to my thoughts. She agreed with my conclusions, somewhat guiltily admitting that it was because fully bonding with Zoey would keep her under our watch. She would become our inside agent since no one besides Antonin seemed to understand the depth of consequences my primordial bond caused, and he evidently wasn't sharing.

That made a lot of sense, too, I was forced to admit as I walked back into my bedroom. There, I halted in place as I saw Zoey on my bed this evening for the second time. I had expected to see her naked and essentially ready for me, given that she had talked this up as something she wanted to do.

Instead, Zoey was dressed to kill again. She was wearing red holdup stockings that climbed up the entirety of her athletically lean legs, leaving just a hint of a bulge above where the elastic tightly gripped the tops of her thighs. A transparent red babydoll hung from her shoulders, covered in lacy decorations and tied with a little bow in the front just below her modest bust. It fell open as it flowed away from that point, revealing that she wore nothing else.

This time, she was reclined more seductively, three-quarters on her back, her face propped up on a bent arm as she watched me with a bored expression on her face. The one she had tried to sustain before held firm now, and she lifted her upper leg, bending it and crossing it over her lower knee. She watched me condescendingly as I entered the room, as though every move I made somehow disappointed her.

Then she spoke, and her sharp words shattered the hold I had been frozen in. “What’s the matter, Alpha Anderson? Wolf’s got your tongue?” She spat the title at me, as though she was mocking me for claiming it, even though she was the one using it.

“You certainly clean up nice, Miss Lyon,” I replied neutrally.

“Hopefully, you can prove it was worth the effort,” she replied dismissively.

‘Oh,’ I thought. ‘She’s already playing a character. Can’t just admit she wants it, or it would be too real. She wants me to force her to admit it.’ Even without an explicit request, she did a good job of establishing what she wanted to happen here without directly saying anything of the sort. I crossed the room slowly, then walked around the bed, looking at her from 270 degrees accessible to me, taking my time to drink in her form while allowing the dragon to come forward and assist me again. She was literally asking for it, after all.

“Yes, take your damned time looking at me,” she said, irritation clear in her voice. “Don’t ever take decisive action.”

I smiled smugly because the dragon had a perfect retort. “You sound impatient, Miss Lyon. Are you so eager for my touch that you wouldn’t allow me the pleasure of appreciating the body you've worked so hard to sculpt?”

“I just expected an Alpha to take control of the situation. You’re just leering at me like you’ve never seen a woman before.”

I wanted to ask Beth for her opinion, but that would be giving in and lowering myself to Zoey’s level. Instead, I stepped close to her and placed my hand on her cheek, tilting her head back and forth with just a little pressure, feigning some form of physical inspection.

“I didn’t permit you to touch me,” Zoey said, though she didn’t shirk from my hand at all.

“I believe you did give me such leave when you came into my house, stripped yourself nearly bare, set yourself up as a decoration on my bed, and invited me to interview you for the position of Mistress Alpha, Miss Lyon. If you dislike my contact so much, you can leave,” I said, knowing full well she was going nowhere.

She remained put, allowing me to continue my perusal of her form, so I dug deeper into the roleplay. I tapped her cheek gently and said, “Open.” Zoey looked at me in confusion and then haltingly opened her mouth. “Shift. Show me your canines, little wolf. Your bright fur is beautiful, and you take excellent care of your body, but I need to see everything.”

She shifted, her face melting into a canine snout as the wolf was released. White fur spread all over her face and neck as she did, and Beth gasped behind me in surprise, having not seen Zoey as a wolf before. Zoey kept her mouth open, trembling slightly as she kept her skin pulled back, allowing me to inspect her teeth. While doing so, I took a moment to scratch between her ears, whispering, “Good girl,” eliciting an involuntary whine and shiver from Zoey before she recovered to shoot daggers at me with her eyes.

“Well, it seems you take care of these fastidiously as well. Now, let’s see how compatible we are, shall we? I wouldn’t want to commit to your inclusion in my pack if we couldn’t produce an heir. Shift back and sit up, thank you.”

As her human face returned and she shuffled to sit up on her knees in the center of the bed, her eyes followed me curiously. “‘Inclusion in your pack’? That’s not why I’m here,” she said barbedly.

I slid onto the bed, rubbing one of my hands over her ankle as I positioned myself behind her, moving her foot back and forth. I continued up her leg, lightly pinching the muscles through her stockings to feel the strength in her body as I continued my scattered inspection of her physique. “Well, Miss Lyon, I’m afraid that’s all I can promise today. While you are certainly an intriguing candidate, I must admit that there are a number of other options further along in the process than you are. I haven’t selected a Mistress Alpha as of now, and it could be you if you prove to be exceptional for me, but I can’t make the promise.” I slapped her inner thighs when I reached the elastic wrap holding her garment on, and she reacted perfectly, spreading her knees farther apart.

“You’ve been lying to me this entire time?” she asked, outrage on the tip of her tongue.

I slid close behind her, my recovered and ready manhood brushing against her thigh. I placed a hand on the small of her back and pushed slightly, forcing her to lean forward, before grasping her shoulder with my other hand, tugging her back towards me. “Of course not. The position is available. If you want to earn it, you have to be the best for me. Arch for me, little wolf.”

“I’m not your fucking little wolf, prick,” she spat at me, though she continued doing exactly what I asked her to, angling her hips down for penetration while leaning her shoulders back to keep her head towards me.

I slapped her ass, though, admittedly, the sharp crack that echoed in the room was more startling than the impact was harsh. It had been a reaction to her words, not a planned move on my part, so I hadn’t put any weight behind it or focused on placing it well. Zoey inhaled sharply, and I firmly said, “If you remain naked in my presence, acting like a treat for me to use for my pleasure and displaying yourself like an ornament for my bed, you are my little wolf. Don’t let your pride get in the way of that. If you can’t accept someone else having control, you need to get up and leave. I won’t stop you.”

Zoey wiggled against me, quivering slightly against where my one hand still held her, but she finally said nothing. I waited several further seconds, letting the moment drag out. When she still didn’t reply, I tapped my hand against her ass where I had slapped it moments ago. “We need a decision sometime today, little wolf. I’d like to get to know you better, but if you think you need to stop, I won’t hold it against you.”

“No,” she whispered out.

“What was that, potential pearl of my pack? You have to speak up for all of us to hear.”

“No,” Zoey said confidently. “No, we don’t need to stop. I’m staying here.”

“Wonderful.” My hand slithered up her back, crossing over her shoulders and around her neck, where I cupped her check from behind. I applied just the barest amount of pressure, but it had the desired result, and Zoey’s hips crashed back into mine as she struggled to keep her back in the position I had put her in. She succeeded, but then whimpered as my shaft rubbed between her legs, making promises I was intentionally delaying fulfilling.

“Beth,” I said, looking at our observer. Her verdant eyes stared back wide open at me. She could tell what I was about to ask her to do, having felt me come to the decision moments ago, and she wasn’t quite sure if she believed I was actually going to follow through. I did, ordering her, “Give me your underwear, sunshine.”

The practical pair of grey hipster panties slid down her slender legs and were deposited in my hand without a word of complaint.

I tapped Zoey’s chin, “Open.”

“What?” she asked, head turned towards her shoulder so that her eyes could bounce between my hand and my face.

“Miss Lyon, if you desire the Mistress Alpha position, you’ll have to learn to either cooperate with my commands or be more articulate in your interruptions. Did you see Beth ask why I wanted to do something? No, my sunshine did exactly what I asked. When I first came in here, little wolf, you were adamant that you wanted me to act. Now I am, and you’re out of your depth. Are we going to have this issue at every step, blunderingly halting my every movement so that you can blindly question my intent?”

Surprisingly, Zoey shook her head, obediently replying, “No, sir,” before opening her mouth. I tapped Beth’s underwear against her lips and then pushed them into Zoey’s now waiting mouth.

“Good girl. I was tired of listening to you yap at every instruction. My own fault for not having a muzzle for an untrained mutt, but we’ll make do.”

When she didn’t even make an offended grunt in reaction to my words, I scratched behind her ears with one hand. With the other, I took hold of my shaft and lined myself up with her opening, brushing back and forth against her, trying to ensure my head was ready to enter her without hurting her. When it slipped into her molten chasm on its own, I mentally shrugged and lazily pushed forward until I was inside her entirely. She whimpered, and one of her legs jimmied, wiggling both of us on the bed for a few seconds as she adjusted to having me stretching her to her limits. While waiting for her to acclimate, I glanced inward again, mentally encouraging my soul to reach out and claim her. I had given her plenty of chances to escape, and she had dug herself deeper into my embrace, fully informed. Zoey was mine. It might not catch up with her for a dozen minutes yet, but the ancient thing inside me was ready and willing to pull her into our fold.

When she stopped trembling and released a large exhale through her nose, I rolled my hips and started moving. It was slow and lazy, something I knew wouldn’t satisfy her. I could see the annoyance and the hunger and the impatience burning in her eyes as she stared at me mutinously via Sam’s makeup mirror. She wanted more, and she wanted more now, but she also loved that I wasn’t giving it to her. It lit a fire in her that I wasn’t giving her what she wanted.

After a minute of staring defiantly into my eyes, her shoulders started to slip forward. She wasn’t aware of it, but her focus had shifted from holding the position I demanded of her towards trying to burn a hole in my head with her spite. So, to remind her of what I wanted, I reached up and grasped her braid and the base of her skull, increasing the tension in my grasp until my hand was against my chest and her back was curved harshly, approaching a perfect circle. She had a grimace on her face, but the eyes looking at me in the mirror were brimming with determination still.

It wasn’t limited to her eyes, either. Her tail flicked impishly, slapping me in the face several times. Zoey’s mouth, despite being occupied by Beth’s panties, curled into a bratty smile.

So, I took hold of the base of her tail and used it as a handle to drive myself into her depths. I abandoned my relaxed pace and truly began rutting with the still insubordinate wolf. Our thighs crashed together and my head pressed against her limits on every stroke, forcing gasping whimpers from her. She began babbling into the obfuscating garment, her words muffled and incomprehensible yet equally unending. I didn’t care. I didn’t stop plunging myself into her completely, using her tail to propel our bodies together.

Zoey’s eyes lost their focused, determined inferno, glazing over as her body succumbed to my attention. I took a moment to glance away from her to check on Beth. The petite brunette was in my desk chair, both feet planted on the seat, her knees spread as wide open as they could be. She had two fingers inside herself, pumping in and out of her slit, mirroring the same pace that I pummeled Zoey. Her other hand was in her mouth, making the best approximation of how I had manhandled her the other night while joining Zoey in having her mewling, needy cries dampened. Her eyes met mine and we locked there for a while.

Beth wanted more.

Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve. The magical practice I had with Sam the other day had given me several ideas, and if the first one worked well and Beth approved, I might have a whole deck of aces up my sleeve.

I conjured two loops of force, imitating incredibly robust strings, and wrapped them around Beth’s meager legs, cinching them so that her shins and thighs were pinned together. Her eyes flashed wide open as I held those strings in place. She wiggled in the chair, but, unwilling to take her hands away from her now boiling-over snatch, couldn’t find any leverage against my magic. She was trussed up and held open, baring her insides to me whether she wanted to or not, and that pushed her over the edge. She convulsed in the chair, rocking against her hand and tossing her head back and forth, losing herself to her climax.

When Beth looked away from me to cum her pretty little mind into oblivion, I returned my gaze to Zoey. My little wolf had been telling the truth about her other half needing my attention earlier in the night but now being largely satisfied. She hadn’t approached a peak yet in this session, even though just entering her had pushed her over the limit before. It almost made me wish I had paid more attention to her earlier, to get a sense of how her body reacted when she was approaching a climax, but I didn’t allow myself to have any regrets since figuring out how the bonding worked was quite important, if only for my peace of mind. I had an idea that I wanted to try that would fit the roles we had spontaneously adopted, but I’d just have to wing it when I thought she was close.

So I listened closely to every signal her body was giving to me, patiently waiting for her to get where I wanted her. She kept running her mouth the entire time, an unfollowable stream of ecstasy-melted gibberish interspersed with expletives, annoying even through Beth’s underwear. I could feel her insides clench and waver every time I decisively struck her ass, her tanned skin now a balmy red in places. I could see in the mirror Beth and Sam had set up to use for their overkill application of makeup that Zoey’s face and chest were flushed, though that could easily be down to the fact that she refused to just shut up and catch her breath.

Her nipples were taut and erect, little monuments as stiff as diamonds, telling me the truth about how she felt. I hadn’t touched them this time around, and yet there they stood, proudly reaching out and begging for attention. Taking another one of the aces from my deck, I gave them the attention they yearned for, conjuring two thumbnail-sized pieces of ice to rub on them. I pressed the magical ice cubes against her pink, needy nubs with no warning or indication at all. It took a moment for Zoey’s brain to catch up, but when it did, she whined and pushed herself against me, trying to escape them. I allowed her to straighten her back momentarily, lessening the tension on her hair.

Then I ground them against her, adding a third between her legs. Zoey screamed, the shrill, harsh noise barely muffled by the tiny garment I had stuffed in her mouth. She didn’t fight my hold on her to get away from them this time, though. Instead, she pushed against my little conjured toys, trying to get even more out of the shocking sensation.

The tendrils had fully extended now. I still didn’t fully understand how the grasping strands worked, but they had reached out and wrapped around Zoey’s soul, just as I wanted. They were holding her to me, waiting for the moment of vulnerability she would have when we finished in harmony, our synchronized symphonies of ecstasy joining us forever. Our bodies were ready, but I was enjoying our song. There were more notes in the concerto left to play, and I wanted to burn this melody into Zoey’s brain for the rest of her days.

“Are you going to cum for me, little wolf? Are you going to give in now and surrender yourself to me? Are you going to acknowledge me as your true Alpha?”

I pulled Beth’s underwear out of her mouth, giving her permission to answer me only after I had asked all three questions at once. By tying them together, I had muddied the water. I had linked the three questions and put her in a position where she didn’t have the brain power to dance around them. If her wolf wanted release, she’d have to relent to the other two. That was the deal I was offering.

“Yesssssssssssss,” came a deep, growled answer, bubbling up from Zoey’s soul to stream out of her wanton lips.

“Wrong, little wolf,” I answered archly.

Zoey’s eyes filled with panic, and she tried to turn around to look at me, but I summoned the same magic I had used with Beth. I cinched a conjured binding rope around her body, pinning her arms against her torso and giving her no way to grab anything, and I kept ahold of her while continuing to grind our hips together. My swollen member filled her completely, bumping and nudging against her limits with every stroke, stimulating every possible inch of her.

“You’re only going to cum when I tell you to, little wolf. You didn’t have to tell me the answer to those questions — I’ve been in charge since the moment I walked into the room. You gave yourself to me when you stepped into the apartment here tonight and you did it again each time you chose not to flee from my grasp. So, you’re going to hold it until I say you can let go. You’re going to wait until I’m done with your body, little wolf.”

Zoey’s eyes went wide, her nearly colorless irises a tiny silver sliver around the black void of her pupil. She squeaked out a little “Oh,” and her insides clamped down around me, spasming and fluttering around me.

It seemed that telling her she wasn’t allowed to crest her peak without my permission actually tipped her over.

I let myself go, flooding Zoey’s hungry womb with my seed. Her legs trembled, and she whined harshly. Beth gripped the arm of the chair firmly as she joined the two of us in our release. I let go of Zoey’s braid, and she collapsed, her torso falling and bouncing on the mattress with two separate poofs, one from the bed and pillow she landed on and one from her lungs as the impact forced the air out of her.

I could feel the bind grab her core and force itself into her. A little piece of my blended components pierced her limits, penetrating deep into her soul. It pushed an anchor into her essence, a little bulging piece of me that embedded the connection, tying off the thread linking the two of us, permanently uniting our souls for as long as we lived. I watched intently as Zoey’s soul rippled and rebounded, flowing and filling in the area my intrusion had shoved forcefully out of the way.

I stopped watching our internals and realized that Zoey was fully into the stasis experience. That had been expected — and was the goal of allowing my strange third component to connect with her.

What concerned me was that Zoey was still ass up, face down, haphazardly collapsed against the pillows on the bed. That wasn’t exactly a position conducive to recovery, especially given the strange circumstances we found ourselves in. I slid out of her, tugging her thighs as I moved down the bed, allowing her hips to glide slowly to the bed. Then I held her shoulders, gently rolling her back onto her side. Before I had taken my hand off of her, she gasped and coughed.

She looked up at me with a dazed, distant expression. After a few moments of deep, controlled breaths, she spoke, “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to. It just caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting you to go there, and the idea of not being allowed to cum until you gave me permission was really hot.”

I kissed Zoey’s forehead and glanced to ensure Beth had recovered. My sunshine was still bright red, flushed, and glistening slightly with sweat, but her breathing had largely settled back down.

“Zo, that was just for playtime. I’m happy you enjoyed it. I didn’t go too far?”

“Oh, gosh, no. Did you think you did? You’re not feeling gross about it now, are you?” she asked, suddenly concerned.

“No. I liked some of it and was alright with the rest. I just need a break from it now. I’m tired — physically, emotionally, magically — and I want to take a step back from that. It was surprisingly draining for me to keep up the act for the entire time. I wanted to nuzzle you and lick your wounds, and I can’t tell if that’s your wolf soul messing with my head or just the multiple mate layers taking hold. I would imagine that you’re sore; if not yet, then you’ve earned it for tomorrow already. On top of that, you’ve got a whole new set of sensations to come to terms with. Let’s just relax for the rest of the night, alright?”

She exhaled deeply before opening her eyes in surprise again. “Oh,” she said, “Oh, wow. Yeah, I can feel you. That’s really weird.”

“Already? Really?”

“It’s not like I can tell anything from it, so I’m just assuming it’s you, but I can feel something that wasn’t there before.”

I leaned down and kissed the blonde. Zoey reflexively lifted her chin to meet my face. I kissed her softly, our lips lazily brushing with each other, neither of us pushing for anything more intense.

When I pulled away, she asked, “What was that about?”

Beth giggled, already knowing my answers, but I responded with a question of my own. “Do you want the saccharinely sweet answer or the coldly logical, pragmatic reasoning?”

“Both.”

“Now that you’re mine, I wanted to kiss you. It felt like a milestone in our relationship, a way to welcome you into the fold. A little ceremonial first post-binding kiss felt important to me.”

“And the other?”

“My saliva has a healing agent that will significantly reduce any swelling or irritation you might have tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Zoey responded dejectedly, which caught me by surprise. Beth smiled knowingly at me as I asked why Zoey sounded so disappointed. “I like the way the soreness lingers. I was pretty sure I’d like it more from you. Would be a reminder for several days of how you tied up my wolf soul and turned her into a docile housepet doing tricks and begging for treats. Mmm.” She smiled to herself as she finished the thought, much to Beth’s and my amusement.

Sam joined us a few minutes later, once again carrying a washcloth and something for Zoey to drink. It was faster this time, with Zoey already recovered and expecting the treatment. She thanked Sam profusely, though Sam declined when Zoey offered to return the favor. Sam quietly admitted that she really only wanted me to take care of her like that.

The three of us prepared for bed, eventually finding a comfortable arrangement. Beth claimed the middle position, confidently asserting that it would be best for her to sleep on my chest as the smallest one of the three. Sam lay on my right side, her face snuggled against mine, and her body draped over my side, pushing right up against Beth. Zoey lay facing away from me but similarly close, holding one of my arms to her chest. Her tail stayed with us through the night, flowing over Beth’s back to Sam, who stroked it lovingly as the four of us drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~

I woke in the morning to Zoey and Beth whispering. As the fog of slumber faded from my mind and my senses returned to me, I felt Beth reaching out to me through our bond. She wanted me to remain still and feign sleep so that she could talk to Zoey, seemingly alone.

“No, don’t worry about it, Zoey,” Beth whispered. “Last night was a lot of fun. Sam’s not into it, but she also isn’t really into anything. Not judging her for it, but she really only wants one-on-one missionary with James and that’s it. She hasn’t been bothered that I wanted anything else, and James would make sure she talked about it if she was. But, I think it’s a good thing. Means you and I can have double time with James by sharing.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t rocking the boat. I mean, he told you I wanted children, right?” I felt Beth wiggle on my chest as she nodded. “Well, he finished in me twice last night. I’m not trying to just barge in and make everything about me, but…”

“No, he explained why you feel pressured, and we get it,” Beth responded. “Honestly, it’s kind of for the best. I get to see you go through it before I decide if it’s what I want, and we get to share the responsibilities. I know James isn’t ready for children today—”

“Uh, he better be, with how he acted last night,” Zoey assertively said, a hint of anxiety creeping into her usually stoic voice.

“Ssshhhh. Listen to what I’m saying. He’s not ready today. Does being a werewolf change your pregnancy length?”

“No. Does for larger weres like elephants, not for most of us though.”

“So, he’s not ready today. He wants to get his own stream of income and a house that isn’t owned by Aisling and, even though he hasn’t said much out loud about it, I know he wants to find a way for Sam and I to do things on our own. He wants us to be more established in our lives here, where he has more control over his life and fewer debts to worry about, and he wants us to be comfortable being independent here. That hasn’t happened in two weeks. So, he’s not ready today, but even if you got pregnant on the first try, he has nine months to handle those things, okay? He has nine months to get his public dragon image in order, and we have nine months to welcome you into our family at the absolute minimum.”

“Oh. Shit. I’ve gone and put all of my problems first, haven’t I? Fuck. I went right from crucifying him to making him take care of me and ignored that you guys have been in the city for—”

“Zoey,” Beth interrupted, harshly as she could be with a whisper. “James figured it out from Antonin’s lessons, and then Sam and I encouraged him. You aren't a burden to us, alright?”

“Alright. I’ll just have to help him get his things done.”

“There you go. That’s the mindset we need. Now, do you want to keep me company while I make breakfast? I was thinking about omelets. Wolves like eggs, right? Hunting in the henhouse and all that?”

“I believe that phrase is about foxes.”

“Well, you certainly looked foxy before James put you in your place last night. C’mon, pearly, I need to get breakfast going.”

I withheld a laugh as Beth and Zoey slipped out of the bed and towards the kitchen. When they were out of the room, Sam snorted next to me, giggling to herself for a few seconds. When she recovered, she asked, “Alright, and what was that last bit about?”

“I called her the pearl of my pack last night. Alabaster fur and the wordplay made it too tempting to pass by.”

Sam rolled onto me and kissed me, pressing her body on top of mine, comfortably claiming the warm spot Beth had just vacated. She sighed and wiggled her hips against mine, nuzzling against me lovingly rather than suggestively. She only stayed for a minute before saying, “We have to get up, don’t we?”

“Probably, but we can let Beth work for a couple more minutes. She’ll keep breakfast warm for us.”

“No, we really can’t. I want my omelet to be amazing, and that needs me there.”

After another moment of procrastination with my princess, the two of us lazily walked out into the kitchen, where Zenya was sitting at the table with Zoey while Beth worked over a pan on the stove. Sam went directly to Beth to incorporate her magic into Beth’s culinary creation while I joined the other two at the table. Only as I sat down did I notice that Zoey was wearing the shirt I had worn to dinner the previous night. And, as far as I could tell, nothing else.

“Morning, Zenya.”

She bowed her head in deference to my arrival, saying, “Good morning, James.” Her words still felt awkward, as though she yearned to call me something else and yet wasn’t, simply because I had insisted. I sighed mentally and moved on to talk with Zoey.

“Zoey, you didn’t really answer us last night. I’m not trying to pressure you to do something you don’t want to do, but would you like to move in with us here?”

“Mmm, no,” she said, catching me by surprise. “Not right away, at least. Eventually, obviously, but not yet. I’m going to want to stay over fairly regularly, but I don’t want to give up my own apartment just yet. Ask me again around Thanksgiving?”

“Sure. I’d like it if you stayed as much as you could, but I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

Beth slid a plate in front of her, saying, “Sam’s magic cookbook might, though.”

The five of us ate Beth and Sam’s combined effort. Zoey raved about how right Beth was, and that she imagined she wouldn’t be able to stay away for more than a few days. Sam teased her further, saying that if Zoey ever got too far away, she would learn how to make barbecue or pork roast or something to tempt her right back.

Zenya complimented Beth on how fluffy the egg managed to remain, given how little experience Beth had cooking and how she was without her mentor as well. Beth tried to play it off humbly, suggesting that it was easy to focus on texture when Sam would make sure the taste was out of this world anyway. Zenya insisted, though, reminding her that she literally couldn’t taste the flavor, and while she certainly got a bunch of energy and synthesized sensation from Sam’s effort, the texture was all Beth's work.

When everyone was finished eating, I took the dishes to the sink to clean up. After I finished running the faucet, I asked over my shoulder, “So, did anyone have plans for today? Zoey, are we going to the gym?”

“Yeah,” the blonde werewolf replied, “I intended to.”

“Did you bring stuff to go there from here? Your choice of attire this morning has me a little worried that your bag didn’t bring anything besides lingerie.”

She laughed, “No, I just wanted to smell like you. Beth said it would be alright if I wore it, at least for the morning. It is, isn’t it?”

I smirked, “Of course, she would think so. She steals all of my hoodies and wears them like dresses, so if she can con someone else into wearing my clothes, then I can’t discipline only her for it. Nah, it’s actually really cute on you. Kinda wish you were an inch or two taller so that I could see all of your legs, though.”

“Eugh,” she groaned, “I’m already too fucking tall. I’m glad you’re a certified card-carrying giant, because my wolf would not be very pleased looking down at her mate. Rather limiting when I'd be 90th percentile as a dude, and I want to be able to wear heels and still look up to see your eyes, or at least be even.”

“Did you bring clothes for the gym, Zoey?” Beth interrupted.

“Sorry. No, I didn’t,” she replied. “But I keep several extra sets there. I’m fine to go from here.”

Sam spoke up, “Are we meeting back here afterwards?”

Beth added, “Zoey, you have to come back and clean up afterwards.”

Zoey looked torn, hedging her answer by saying, “I’ll think about it.”

The other two accepted her reluctance to give a firm answer without any further pressure, though that led to an awkward silence for a moment, with only my hands brushing the final plate making noise.

What none of us expected to fill the silence was the front door bursting open. An exhausted-looking Cynthia stepped through and into the apartment. With the bags under her eyes and the creases from the frown she was wearing on her face, I could clearly differentiate her from Sam for the first time in my life. She didn’t look old by any stretch of the imagination, but she didn’t look like the mirror image of my redheaded lover. Sam’s ten-year older sister, perhaps.

She dropped the suitcase she was carrying on the floor, exhaling defeatedly and letting it clatter to the ground as her arms relaxed. She glanced around the apartment, looking at each of us and mentally noting who was here. None of us reacted, waiting for her to explain where she had gone and why she looked so weary.

“Wonderful. It’s good that all of you are here now, so I only have to do this once,” she said.

I set the plate down and turned to look at Cynthia more closely. She stared directly at me, her eyes equally displaying her fatigue and the strength that refused to bend underneath it. The strangest part of this whole sudden reappearance, for me at least, was realizing that I could smell her nervous anxiety pouring out into the room. That was honestly more shocking than her bedraggled appearance and harsh entrance.

“James, you need to prepare yourself. Arjun the Auspicious has called for a dragon moot here in Philadelphia to welcome the newest dragon into their esteemed circle. All five of the other dragons, along with their personal entourages, are coming here to introduce themselves to you and take your measure.”