Chapter Five
Greginald
I sat on my bed, letting my true form relax as I lay along my bed…beds. Esmeray went through my closet, perusing items to find something that would fit him at least somewhat decently. We had different pallors. My colors blended well with darker colors, but Esmeray needed something bright.
“Check the back of my closet. I have a red silk dress shirt that was gifted to me. It clashes with my…” I gestured haplessly in the air as I tried to ignore my shadow stalking him like prey—cartoonishly.
Clawed fingers raised up, my silhouette human rather than my shifted form.
I closed my eyes to block it out. I shared his shadow as his mate. That would take time to get used to.
After a few minutes of rummaging, Esmeray made a noise of satisfaction and sifted through my slacks for something black, if his muttering was to be believed.
“Take whatever you like.” I took a deep breath. “You still need to call your father.”
“I’d rather see him in person.” Clothes ruffled, a belt clinked, and I crossed my hands over my chest, clasping fingers over the breadth of it.
The shear of scissors snipping and clicks of metal rang out. The soothing nature of it almost lulled me to sleep. But it wasn’t until warm fingers slid into the rough crush of my neck’s fur that I opened an eye.
The clothes I’d permitted him to take fit him perfectly, a few threads hanging out as his shadow swept around, tidying it up to fit his body in a very pleasing way. “You’re softer than I imagined.”
“Keep doing that and I might not be soft for long.” A smile stretched the giraffid lips of my true face. “Is it not off-putting?”
“It’s not the usual, no, but I don’t find it unattractive.” Both hands joined his exploration of my neck, working up to my jaw with slender fingers. “You’re a shifter, a mage, and much more.”
“I’m a mongrim.” I huffed, the puff of air making my lips sputter. And for a giraffe, that was a lot of sputter.
“I thought your kind preferred hybrid.” He pressed his face into my fur and nuzzled up under my jawline, nose tracing one of my stiff ears. None had ever fawned over my true form. None had ever done what he did next, either.
A soft breath brushed my ear, sending my hairs rippling to stand on end. “Oh. Oh!”
Lips brushed my cheek, over the fluttering lashes my kind had and over my lips. “You smell nice.”
“You do, too.” I groaned as his fingers framed my jaw.
“We’ll settle that list, later. Maybe you ought to make your own.
I have my own tastes.” Sharp teeth nipped my ear before he pulled away, and with him drew my form, beyond my control to an extent, the length of my neck retracting into my body almost comfortably.
And I rarely felt comfortable in my fully human form. “Tease.”
“Untrue. Testing the waters.” Esmeray ran his slender fingers through sinfully dark hair and eyed me with a half smirk. “And I found them a perfect temperature.”
“What would it take to get you to come bathe in me?” I wagged an eyebrow as I sat up, my head spinning with the dichotomy of having been in my taller shifted form.
“A game plan.” He eyed me up and down before approaching me again, lips pursed in a soft pout that he pressed into mine. “And more garlic.”
I sank into the kiss, dissolving into his minty—“Did you use my toothbrush?”
“Where my mouth will go? Where I want your mouth to go?” Esmeray finished the kiss he started, tongue so warm, small, and agile.
“We shall get you your own, then. Do we know where your belongings went?” I whispered against his lips and pulled away, willing my burgeoning hardness away.
“I’m unconcerned,” Esmeray said, pushing back against my mouth for another deep kiss, our shadows thrown up against the wall, one atop another, a pantomime of the kind of sex that I’d not had in years.
I didn’t argue until he pulled away and pointed at the bed my head and neck no longer occupied. “The bed situation will need to be rectified.”
“I suppose it will.” I sat up, eyeing the length of my stacked beds.
What surprised me, though, was that my more-human form felt cohesive, pleasantly whole.
The state of being in my giraffe partial state, the most I could ever shift, always settled me and required no effort, aside from inconvenience, to maintain.
My human form drained mana and power, or at least it had.
“I don’t feel strained by maintaining my human form… Is this your doing?” I reached up to massage the stiffness of my human neck, enjoying the compactness and more personable side.
Esmeray’s brow furrowed and head tilted. “Hybrids aren’t often taught about mateship.”
“We are. People don’t generally willingly mate with a hybrid. Thus, our moniker.” I gave him a flat-lipped smile that tugged my cheeks unpleasantly.
“So, all you know is that people don’t mate hybrids?” Esmeray hid a sniff of laughter in his voice.
“They don’t mate mongrims.” I ran fingers through my hair.
“Suffice it to say, true love’s kiss can turn any frog into a prince. You’ll find your humanoid form is more stable. The heart aligns with what your mate wants most.” Esmeray sighed. “Honestly, you’re fortunate I’m half succubus.”
“Explain.” I slid to the edge of the bed and took a freeing breath.
“Succubi are very well educated when it comes to mateship, marriage, and love.” Esmeray strode over to stand before me, hands on hips. His orange eyes soaked me in, roving my form with a rather studious expression. “You sacrificed a lot for me, and the least I can do is love you for who you are.”
He sank to his knees before me, staring up at me in a way that reminded me of how people looked up at my giraffe form. Eyes pointed skyward, but where they normally held sick curiosity, judgment, or shock, Esmeray only had complicated written in his eyes.
“And who am I?”
“That remains to be seen, mage. But I know you are kind. You risked your eternal soul to make sure it was what I wanted. You risked my father’s wrath. Thank you for giving me that choice, mage, and for tolerating Ausmius.”
I flicked a casual glance at our vividly fornicating shadows. “Are both of those Ausmius or…”
“That is difficult to… Yes and no.” Esmeray glanced away to watch the show. “They are both Ausmius, but my shadow is a reflection of parts of me and yours is now Ausmius giving life to parts of you.”
A tangle of legs and arms flailed on the wall like a freshly thwacked spider.
“Is that position possible?” I changed the subject, not wanting to tread into the territory of our burgeoning bond.
He studied them for a long moment. “Probably?”
“Lube is important.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the display. I wondered if part of what he said really meant that our inner selves desired that.
“Hmm. Unless one makes plenty of that, themselves.” Esmeray’s taunt made the skin on the back of my neck prickle.
“Do you?” I raised an eyebrow and stiffened only slightly…in more ways than one…when he slid into my personal space.
“I’ve been known to, but it’s been a while. I’m picky about my partners.” Esmeray’s eyes bored into me, two embers burning from his pale face.
“We’ll take things slow.”
“Not too slow, I’d hope. We only have a day and a half or so before our time is up,” Esmeray said. Just moments ago, he’d been ready to jump me, and before that he was ready to leave. The hot and cold nature of his attempts showed me a male who wasn’t certain of what he wanted.
The proximity, the heat of his body, the scent he threw. It all culminated into a lust I didn’t want to contain. His shadows said it all. We needed it and his flirtations weren’t uncertainty. They were invitation. He needed a push. “On your knees.”
The fire in Esmeray’s eyes glowed, and he sank so obediently in his freshly tailored clothing. Breath stuttered over his bright, full lips.
He crawled forward in a gesture that seemed almost practiced, the way his back rolled, hips swayed, and eyes never left mine.
And when his palms rested on my thighs, pressing my legs open to welcome him into the hollow of my form, our shadows ceased their vivacious fucking and stared at us, eyes gold and orange shining through their blackness as they waited for our show.
“I deal with magic on a daily basis. I cast spells and wonder to bring delight and reprieve to all that ask and pay my fee. What spell do you wish for, my mate of chance?”
His mouth opened, lips parted, hanging for a moment before closing. No words. Only a shivering breath. “I need you.”
“Me or would any cock do?” I wanted admission, a clear sign he desired me. He’d seduced my giraffe form so easily and without hesitation, that I had little else to do but make him plead for it.
His adoration turned, the expression on his face warping into one of petulance. They put together primness all gone. “You’re the closest cock around, and I’m not about to go into the street to chase down the first alpha who doesn’t know how to fold laundry.”
“What does folding laundry have to do with anything?” The moment, lost, broke a tension I’d been carefully setting up.
He leaned forward, reaching under my bed to one of my rolling storage bins where I kept my linens. He gestured at the row of neatly folded sheets.
“And?”
“You can fold fitted sheets.” He stared me down as if it were obvious.
“I don’t—” I took a sharp breath as he placed his hands on my thighs, running up to my stomach with gentle pressure, coaxing me to lean back.
“Just fuck me, already, alpha.” The hoarse growl in his throat made my body want to obey. As a dominant male with certain proclivities, my penis was very confused.