Chapter 14
Vyktor tried very hard not to blink as Aria’s fingers danced far too close to his eye for comfort.
“Hold still,” she ordered.
He pulled back and gave her a stern look. “Excuse me, pet?”
“Hold still, Master, sir,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “If you don’t stop moving, I won’t be able to get these in.”
Vyktor stilled himself and tried not to move.
It was not easy. This was one in a long line of indignities Aria had insisted he submit to in order to fit in to a human world.
His legs were clothed in scratchy coarse fabric, which she called denim.
It was the most popular mode of dress anywhere on the planet, though Vyktor could not understand why.
A long robe was much more comfortable and didn’t restrict his movement as these cotton leg cuffs did.
His upper body was clad in what she called a ‘hoodie,’ a garment of synthetic fiber that seemed far too flammable to be worn next to the body.
The hood could be drawn up over his head, which he rather liked, and the garment was loose enough and long sleeved enough that the little scales on his arms were entirely hidden.
His legs and even his feet were covered too with denim pants, shoes with soft rubber soles, and a shirt that offered literally no protective value whatsoever.
Humans seemed to prefer clothing that only served aesthetic purposes.
Sunglasses had kept them safe from curious eyes thus far, but Aria wasn’t satisfied with that solution. She’d wanted to try something else. She was pushing slim transparent pieces of material into his eyes, and it was not going overly well.
“Keep your eyes open,” she grumped at him. “Just hold your lashes open.”
Her words were reminiscent of ones he had spoken to her under very different circumstances.
Becoming refugees in a world apart from their own, hated by most of the population had not been easy for Vyktor, Eldor, or the other survivors.
They were accustomed to being masters of their domain, and for the moment they were like scuttling rats in someone else’s house.
His pet had been incredibly helpful in finding ways to survive in the human world.
In a few short days, she had gotten them out of the mountains and into what she called a motel.
It was a small, somewhat dingy room by dragon standards, it was on level ground close to sea level, which he did not like at all, and though it was made of what she called cinder block, he still felt very exposed with walls only a few inches thick.
Vyktor was used to putting half a mountain between himself and the human world.
“There,” Aria said, sounding satisfied as she managed to slip the second sliver into his eye. “Contact lenses.”
Vyktor looked at himself in the mirror, and saw that his eyes looked almost human.
There was a round pupil instead of a narrow one, which looked rather strange to him, but did make him look more like a person.
His eyes were no longer golden hued either.
Aria had chosen brown for him. It transformed his face quite a great deal.
“I look strange.”
“You look hot,” Aria said with a grin. “And as long as you wear long sleeves and long pants, nobody is ever going to know you’re not human.”
Aria was invaluable at the moment, taking the gold nuggets he had created in small amounts and trading them in for the currency humans preferred, pieces of incredibly flammable paper with numbers written upon them.
It made little sense to Vyktor, but he accepted that it was going to take time to begin to become accustomed to the new world he found himself in.
They had managed to touch base with seven dragons in total, including Vyktor himself.
No more were forthcoming and there were no more sightings.
The humans liked to broadcast everything they knew about everything at one another all day long, so Vyktor was fairly certain that only seven had survived the attempted evacuation.
They took up three rooms in the little motel, staying away from the windows and away from people.
“I think you’re right, pet,” he said, looking at himself in the mirror. “I think we can pass this way.”
“As soon as you’re all wearing these, we can go out and start putting the gold to work,” Aria smiled happily.
“I am grateful to you, pet. You have shown more mercy to us than we showed you.”
“That’s true,” Aria said. “I should have made you strip naked before I helped you.”
“I would happily do that,” Vyktor grinned, flashing a bright smile before tearing his restrictive but flimsy human coverings off.
“Careful!” Aria squeaked. “We don’t have many spares yet.
You need to wear clothes in pub… eeek!” She squealed as Vyktor swept her up off her feet and began tearing at her clothing.
He wanted to bare her and bare himself. He wanted to be deep inside her.
It was the only place that felt like home anymore.
When making love to her, he felt a familiarity that connected him to what he was before, the powerful dragon with the pretty little pet.
He tossed her down on the bed, running his hands over her body.
Her soft, all too human frame. Did she know that it was she who prevented him from being bitter at all the human race?
Some of them had lied. Some of them had enacted a terrible war crime in the final strike.
If he did not have Aria, he could have become furious at the entire species.
They were but seven, but seven dragons could do a great deal of damage.
She still did not know how important she was—how crucial she had been to turning the tide of war—and how many lives she had saved through her spirited submission.
Vyktor kissed her passionately, then trailed his mouth down her lithe body to find the sweet core of her.
There he feasted, his lips and tongue paying gentle homage to his pet.
Aria let out a moan and curled her fingers in his hair, her thighs beginning to tremble as she sank into the pleasure he was giving her.
That was what he wanted to see, her writhing in pure ecstasy. It was no less than what she deserved. After all he had put her through, after he had made her the sacrificial maiden for her species, he would spend the rest of their lives ensuring that she had everything she could ever want, and more.