Chapter One #2
“Bastien has a capacity for healing far beyond my ability. He’s still in training, but remarkably astute,” Gaspard assured him, and they parted from his brother, his mates, Gaspard and the little ones Viraj so very much wanted to visit with.
Little ones made something in his aching heart feel right.
Viraj sighed and reluctantly brought them to his shared chambers, the antechamber to their hoard where there was enough room to shift, their nest behind another door that stayed private—for good reasons. Viraj needed privacy and seclusion.
“I’ve not disclosed the details of your symptoms to Bastien, because you’ve not given permission, but I would like your blessing to do so,” Gaspard said as Viraj unbuttoned his shirt and sat on the edge of a chaise lounge.
“You understand my reluctance. After all, I am the boy’s great uncle and—”
“Behind these walls, I am a physician. I will not refer to you as Uncle. I will call you ‘sir,’ as anyone would respectfully. What you say to me goes no further, and I have no judgment or comment for anything I learn.” Bastien placed a leather monogrammed bag on a gilded console table and gently relocated a few knickknacks to make room for his materials.
The most important of which, by his careful movements, was a leather-bound journal that he flipped pages through and poised a pen above the page with a few errant flicks.
“Gaspard can tell you.” Viraj hung his head, not wanting to look at the boy.
“Intense sexual arousal and delirium outside of nesting season, hormonal shifts, inconsistent sexual characteristics, aversion to Dettes and females, and intense attraction to Drakes. Nestblossom helps.” Gaspard tallied off the details Viraj had given him over the years.
“Huh.” Bastien scribbled details down, frowning as he turned to stare at Viraj with a furrowed brow.
His nose twitched, mouth open slightly. He resembled the coyote child they’d sent away with Ryan so long ago, undoubtedly his mother, such a rare and strange mixture.
He could probably smell far more than a dragon.
“What does ‘huh’ mean?” Viraj gave Bastien a wary glance and earned a pitiable smile in response.
“It means I’m uncertain. Pepa, have you seen him shifted, before?”
Gaspard shook his head.
“Please shift, sir.” Bastien turned his back, and Viraj flinched as Gaspard did the same, allowing him that modicum of privacy.
Viraj stripped his clothes, folding each item of clothing to lay across his lounge, anxious of one feature that even compared to a Dette might bring shame—a lack of endowment.
Viraj covered his groin and shifted, scales stretching along his flesh in the most satisfying of ways.
Horns sprouted, weight pleasantly grounding his head.
Everything about being a dragon felt better than being in human form, and being naked, left nothing to show the world of his shame.
Having a micropenis brought him so much shame, and fear that he’d never be able to please a Dette, even if he forced himself for his mates.
Viraj snorted, a sign to let the two turn back around.
Gaspard and Bastien turned back around, faces neutral as they gazed over Viraj’s form.
Bastien put on a pair of gloves and approached, waving at Viraj to lower his head as he sniffed his breath and prodded his face, cheeks, temples and opened his bony jaw to inspect a mouth that probably was overdue for a clean.
Bastien said nothing, though, despite every one of Viraj’s senses picking up on confusion, frustration, and more through scent and posture, a change in heartbeat.
“Lift your tail, please.” Gaspard spoke by Viraj’s tail, and every alarm bell went off inside Viraj’s head; his dragon in a full-blown panic.
“Calm down. Pepa is going to do that examination. Not me.” Bastien’s soothing words carried a hum of magic in them, and Viraj leaned his head down, resting it against Bastien’s chest while slender arms wrapped around it for a calming embrace.
Unwelcome hands palpated Viraj’s vent the moment his tail lifted. A spit of smoke and a croon of unease escaped his maw, but Bastien only whispered soothing words until Gaspard halted and withdrew with a sudden gesture. “So, Viraj. Have you ever been intimate with a Dette before?”
Viraj shook his head, jostling Bastien.
“Spent any time shifted around Dettes?” Gaspard waited. “Even Ryan?”
He shook his head once more. They had played as children, but from the moment they separated them by gender, Viraj had little to do with Ryan save for polite mingling under supervision.
Gaspard hesitated as he spoke cautiously. “And you’ve not changed any at all? Over the years?”
Viraj shook his head. One word he pushed through their minds. Hijada.
Gaspard nodded as he took his gloves off. “But you identify as a Drake?”
That threw Viraj’s spiraling thoughts into a screeching halt. Yes!
“And would you mind if I spoke to your mates?” Gaspard raised a brow and earned a miserable sigh from Viraj.
Feel free to do so in private.
Gaspard nodded once and cleaned up, giving Bastien a stern glance as they gestured for him to stay still.
“I’m recommending an experimental injection.
A subdermal of an isolate from nestblossom.
It’s a polar compound, so I’ll give it in your dragon form.
It will burn quite a bit, but there’s nothing for it.
I’ll speak to your mates after, while you recover.
Bastien is going to channel some energy into your pineal glands and adrenal glands, see if he can boost function. ”
Gaspard and Bastien approached one another, glancing between their notebooks as they wrote things in silence.
Grim expressions twisted into something hard and confusing, but Viraj found himself flinching as Gaspard drew a large syringe from his bag, and he refused to watch the rest, holding deathly still; the prick and burn signaled it was over.
“Try to rest. It should feel better within the hour. And we’ll be leaving in two days, so no worries if you start feeling any side effects.” Bastien patted Viraj’s head and channeled his magic with a sharp tingle.
“I’m going to speak with his mates.” Gaspard smiled wanly and gave Bastien a short nod before leaving with a clipped pace.
What is wrong with me? Viraj focused and pushed the words through.
“Hereditary hormonal insufficiency. Nothing to worry. I think. Let me work.” Bastien forced a smile over his face as Viraj’s insides burned and tingled, every scale on his body rippling with intensity.
Will it fix me?
“Once we have a baseline, we can figure out what to do next. Personally, after spring is over, I’d like to get some X-rays and an ultrasound to be certain.
” Bastien worked his magic, and Viraj imagined a world where he wanted a Dette in his nest, where they invited a fourth, and he could finally feel right.