Текст книги "The Dragon's Favorite Strays"
Автор книги: Ruby Dixon
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Текущая страница: 23 (всего у книги 26 страниц)
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CHAPTER 100
MURR
The thought of hearing Dakota’s thoughts, of feeling her mind touch mine…it fills me with excitement. For so long, I have felt entirely isolated. Cut off from the world. Even if I can feel her only a little, I’m hopeful. Just the possibility fills me with joy.
She is skeptical, but her people do not touch thoughts. She does not understand it the way I do.
I had not heard her cry out. I had been busy following the fence and listening to the cattle. I had found the gate and yanked it open, because it was important to Dakota to free them. My mate’s scent had drifted farther and farther away, but I assumed she was exploring. It wasn’t until I felt her flare of panic that I realized she was in danger.
Dakota did not tell me. I just knew.
It wasn’t until after we’d chased the bull off and I touched her to reassure myself that she was safe that I realized we had been too far apart to speak. I had sensed the danger.
Fothessa and Vaan had said they lost their ability to mind-speak, to touch their thoughts to another drakoni. The moment the Rift closed, we returned to ourselves from the madness, but we lost our mental connection. Meeting Fothessa and Vaan, I felt nothing. I could not pick up their thoughts at all. They might as well have been stones.
But with Dakota…I can sense her moods sometimes. Now, with her standing in front of me, her eyes wide, I press my thoughts at hers, trying to feel her, trying to get inside her mind and make a home there.
Nothing.
But I won’t give up. I’m full of ideas. If touching her mind is like trying to grasp a handful of fog, perhaps it will be best if we take away one of our other senses. I touch the cape she wears for me, the one that acts as my loin wrap. “Dakota cover eyes?”
“You want me to be blindfolded?” She gapes at me in surprise. “Why?”
“Help mind connect,” I say as I loosen the knot that keeps it tied at her neck. “Big…” I struggle for the word to go with the concept of concentrating.
“Focus?” she offers.
I nod and tap the center of her forehead. “Big focus.”
“Okaaaay.” She glances at the cattle, but they are not paying attention to the fact that they can cross through the gate. Either they are frightened of us, or too stupid to care. The scent of the bull is far away and drifting farther, and these others do not have the horns it did. They are no danger to us. We can try to touch minds here.
She takes the fabric and folds it into a band, then puts the band over her eyes. “Tie it in back for me, please?”
I move behind her, my mate’s pleasant scent drifting through the air and drowning out the stink of the cattle. Her pack is full and heavy, and I remove it from her shoulder for now. Clearly she has found something, but I am far more interested in touching minds with my mate than with human medicine at the moment. I knot the fabric at the back of her head, wincing when my efforts tug a few strands of her hair free.
Dakota leans back, drifting closer to me.
I run a knuckle along her neck, touching her soft skin. “Not afraid?”
She chuckles. “Of you? No. Of stepping in cow poop and smelling it all day? Yes.”
I feel a tremor go through her, and the urge to kiss her grows powerful. I need to be concentrating on touching our minds, not on touching my mate’s body. Then again, perhaps this is how our minds connect. We seem to think along the same lines when we are not trying to, so perhaps I need another focus.
I imagine leaning in and biting the high collar of her shirt, ripping it with my teeth and exposing her skin underneath. Baring her to the sunlight and the breeze that drifts through the grasses. Her skin would warm under the sunshine and her nipples would be the same shade as her lips, flushed with color. And between her thighs…
Dakota sucks in a breath. “Murr?”
“Yes?” I keep my hands to myself, even though I want nothing more than to touch her, to coax her arousal-scent into the air.
“Are you thinking filthy thoughts?” Her voice is a whisper. There’s a delicious, wicked feeling in the air, as if she thinks we’re being naughty.
Perhaps this is working. “Say more…”
And I imagine sitting down in this field and pulling her cunt to my face, with all the cattle watching as I tongue her.
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CHAPTER 101
DAKOTA
I’m panting under my blindfold. My skin is tingling with awareness of Murr, and how close he is behind me. He’s not touching me, but I know he’s there just the same.
And it’s like I can sense what he’s thinking, how his mind is working. Not full-fledged thoughts. Just vague pricks of ideas that drift into my mind as if they were my own. Maybe it’s the blindfold heightening my senses after all, but something in me knows that he’s thinking absolutely wicked thoughts. He’s daydreaming about what he wants to do to me.
Then again, he’s a guy and we’re newly married. Why wouldn’t he be thinking wicked things?
I touch the collar of my shirt, because for some reason, it feels like his focus is there. Does he want me to take it off? “Murr?”
“Yes?” He’s practically purring.
“Are you thinking filthy thoughts?”
“Say more…”
Say more? My head is already whirling with mental images of what we could be doing right now. His mouth could be pressed between my thighs, kissing me in my most private spots. He could be kneeling in front of me, worshipping my clit. His hands could be grabbing my buttocks and grinding my cunt against his face…
And now I know those thoughts aren’t entirely mine, because I have never thought of my pussy as a “cunt” before. The word’s a little too visceral, a little too carnal of a way to refer to my own body part. “You are thinking of naughty things,” I breathe, my hand sliding down between my thighs. “About touching me here, aren’t you?”
He groans, pressing up against me from behind. His cock, prominent and hard, presses against my lower back. He slides an arm around my front, cradling my neck and tilting my head so he can kiss the side of my throat, right over my bite. “Dakota hear Murr?”
“Not quite. It’s more like…I get ideas that feel like they’re mine, but they’re phrased in a way that I know they’re not, if that makes sense.”
“Explain,” he says as he nibbles on my skin.
How do I explain that to him? It’d be easier to show. I wonder if I can do the same thing to him, push thoughts he wouldn’t normally have over to him and see his reaction? I try to imagine something that Murr would never think of, something he wouldn’t find sexy.
Aggie’s wigs, I realize a moment later. He finds them puzzling and vaguely unpleasant, though he would never say so to her. So I picture myself wearing “Shakira” and that I’m naked in his arms, his fingers running through my fake hair. I think about it so hard that I give myself a headache.
The nibbling on my neck stops. Murr pauses, and I can practically feel his confusion.
A laugh bubbles up inside me. “It’s not that we can talk, directly. It’s like we’re just sending concepts to each other.”
“No send Aggie hair,” he says, his fingertips trailing down my skin. “Not when kiss.”
“Fair enough. I just wanted to see if it worked.” I smile, leaning back against him. “I wonder if the others realize they can send thoughts to their mate? Or if we just have something special.”
“Dakota special,” Murr says, his hand sliding down my front in a way that sends shivers through me. His fingers move to the waist of my jeans, and he pops the button there. “Taste, perfect. Smell, perfect. All special, all perfect.”
Is it inappropriate to think about tossing your dragon husband to the ground when you’re on a rescue mission? Probably, but I’m still going to do it. I toss the blindfold aside and turn around in his arms. “Lie down for me,” I whisper. “We’ll be quick.”
His eyes light up, swirling a rich amber with arousal. “Dakota…perfect wife.”
The praise makes me chuckle. “I don’t know about that. I’m not perfect. If I was, I’d probably want to have babies.” Meeting Gwen had opened my eyes to a few things—namely that a drakoni can get his wife pregnant. Something about the bite changing my blood to “match” his also rewrites my biology to be fertile to him.
“No babies,” Murr says. “Have Rabbit. Have Aggie. Have Dottie. Have Stella. Cats.” His hands roam over my clothing as I straddle him. “No babies needed.”
I seat myself on his abdomen, leaning forward and stretching my smaller body over his. “Maybe babies at some point. Maybe not. For now, I like that it’s just us together.”
His hands squeeze my ass. “Just us…perfect.”
I kiss him, because I love that we’re on the same page. I’m not opposed to children, just opposed to the timing at the moment. Maybe when we’ve got a big garden in front of the bookstore and everyone is happy and healthy, then we’ll think about it. For now, I can happily touch my man and not have to worry that someone’s going to get pregnant. Does it mean we can’t go wild and have him finish inside me? Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.
And we have a lot of fun.
I lift up off him and slide my jeans off in the most graceful way possible, which is not very graceful at all, but we’re so busy kissing and touching each other that it doesn’t matter. My panties go next, and I seat myself over him again, this time atop his cock. I arrange our bodies so his length presses between my folds, and rock against him.
“We’re going to have to be quick,” I say again. My hand goes to his abdomen, and I brace myself over him. “But I’m okay with that if you are.”
Murr takes me by the hips and seats me atop his length, lowering me down onto his shaft. There’s his answer. He’ll take me however he can have me. Quick, slow, all of it is good as far as he’s concerned.
I move over him, touching myself as I ride his cock, and maybe it’s the subtle connection of our thoughts, or maybe it’s that he knows just what I like, but it takes me no time at all to come. Once I’ve climaxed, Murr pulls out and buries his cock in my folds again, my labia cradling his shaft as he moves. He comes all over my pussy, my hips, and my thighs, coating my skin with his seed.
It’s a good thing I carry his towel-cape around, I decide, as we curl together in the grasses, panting. I can use it to clean up our mess.
Maybe I need to start carrying two capes.
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CHAPTER 102
DAKOTA
We make it back to the bookstore before the sun sets. To my surprise, Aggie is tending to the fire, and she has some of the meat cut into strips and smoking. The cats are nearby, rolling around on the concrete with empty plates nearby, and she’s got a calico in her lap.
Murr shifts forms after dropping me off and heads inside the store to find a loin wrap. Aggie arches her brows at me, petting the cat. “You forgot his kilt.”
“It flew off when we were in the air,” I lie. Jeez, does she have a horny sixth sense or what? “But good news—we found some interesting stuff!”
I sit down in a chair beside her and pull everything out of the bag, showing her the packages of medicines I’ve brought. She holds one at arm’s length, squinting as she tries to read the writing on the side of the packaging, then gives up and hands it back to me. “I did some reading while you were gone. Stella’s not much company with her babies just yet, so I had to keep myself entertained.” She picks up a large book under her chair and shows it to me. “There’s good news and bad news.”
The book has a big cow head on the cover. I take it from her, flicking through the pages absently. “What do they say?”
“Well, that just because it’s antibiotics for livestock, it doesn’t mean that it’s safe for humans. It hasn’t been tested, and the amount needed would be different. Basically it’s still an antibiotic, but what it will do is anyone’s guess.”
“I’m not too worried about that,” I admit, closing the book. “Every medication we take is expired anyhow. We’ll let Dottie and Samir decide if they want to roll the dice on trying the antibiotics. If they don’t, then we’ll go out looking some more for human-grade antibiotics.”
“Or…” Aggie prompts.
That makes me pause. “Or what?”
“If you wanted to trade with the fort, it kinda sounds like you know where an entire herd of beef cattle is. I’m just saying.” Her brows go up and she gives me an expectant look.
Oh.
Oh, that makes so much more sense than my plan. “I might have let the cattle go before we left…”
“Well then you can just find them again, can’t you? They’re cattle. They always return to the scene of the crime.”
“Do they?” I really don’t know anything about cattle.
Aggie shrugs. “Eventually. Plus, if there’s as many of them as you said, I can’t imagine it’d be that hard to find.”
“Maybe you’re right. It’s an option, at least. We’ll go back tomorrow and talk with them about options. See how Dottie’s feeling.”
“She’d better be feeling better or I’m going to kick her ass,” Aggie grumbles.
“You and me both.”
Aggie pauses, then strokes the cat in her lap again. It lifts its head so she can keep scratching its ears, but Aggie’s attention is focused entirely on me. “Do you want us to stay there?”
I fiddle with the edges of the heavy book in my lap. Maybe if we do “trade” the cattle we can throw in a few books on how to take care of them. Heck, we have a bag full of medicine for the cattle, too. I’m thinking about the possibilities so much that I miss the weight in Aggie’s words. “What do you mean?”
“At the fort? I know we’re old, me and Dottie. I know we’re extra mouths to feed, and it wouldn’t be the first time that we put too much stress on those around us. We aren’t going to get younger or healthier. This is about what you get when you’re our age. A day you can get out of bed is a good day, you know? This won’t be the last time someone needs medicine. We’ll understand if it’s too much for you and Murr. Heck, I get it even if you just want privacy for the two of you. I’m just saying that it won’t hurt my feelings if you tell us we need to go.”
Is that what she’s worried about right now? Seriously? I reach over and take her hand in mine. The cat on Aggie’s lap gives us an indignant thump with its tail, as if we’re ruining her massage. “Don’t be ridiculous. You and Dottie are family. If we have to go out every day to get medication, then that’s what we do. I want you two to be happy. If you’re happy with us, I’m thrilled. If you’re happiest in a fort, I would make sure you’re safe and secure there. Family is family.”
She gives me a soft smile. “I just don’t want us to be a bother.”
Over her head, a large, golden hand thumps down on top of our joined ones. “Family,” Murr adds. “No bother.”
I laugh. “What Big Meat said.”
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CHAPTER 103
DAKOTA
The next morning, we return to the fort, our “car” carried along by Murr. I have the bag full of cattle medicine with me, along with the book Aggie had found on raising livestock. I’m tense the entire flight back to Fort Dallas, because I’m worried we somehow haven’t done enough. That these drugs won’t work. That we’ll never be able to find the cattle again. That Dottie will refuse it all and blame me for dragging her to a place she didn’t want to be.
“Quit fidgeting,” Aggie says to me as we descend for the landing, Murr flying over the barrier wall of the fort. “You’re making me nervous.”
I clasp my hands around the pack in my arms, locking my fingers to keep from twitching. “I just want everything to go well.”
“It will or it won’t. Twiddling your thumbs and making me crazy isn’t going to solve anything.” Her words are harsh, but she reaches over and puts her hand on my wrist. “You’ve done what you can. We’ll try this, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.”
“Thanks, Aggie.” I give her a weary smile.
She pats my arm. “Don’t thank me. You know if Jonah’s going to have one of the puppies, he’s going to need to come and visit several times to see which dog he has a feel for. That means Thess and probably Samir, too, if he can steal away from the fort long enough. You’re not going to be done with fort people even when you’re done with the fort, I’m sad to say.”
The thought of visitors doesn’t bother me. I suspect if Rabbit’s crush has grown over the last day or two, we’re going to be seeing a lot of Jonah.
Rabbit. My daughter. I get all tense again. Did she miss me? Was she scared being parted from me? God, I hope she wasn’t scared. I chew on my lip, worried. Did anyone at the fort harass her?
Calm down, I remind myself. Or maybe it’s Murr trying to subtly influence me. Either way, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I relax, just in time for the car to land on the ground with a gentle thump.
We exit the car and gather our things, and I notice we’re not too far from Jonah and Samir’s house. We’ve been set down in a smaller clearing between houses, most of the trash and debris pushed to the sides. I automatically take my cape off and hold it out for Murr, and when he shifts, he dresses quickly. There are people watching us from their doorways, but their expressions seem more friendly than wary. Aggie waves at everyone as we troop over to Jonah and Samir’s house and knock on the metal door.
Rabbit answers the door. She looks beautiful, her thick hair drawn into two tails over her shoulders, and she’s wearing her favorite hoodie.
I burst into tears and wrap my arms around her.
“Jeez, Mom,” Rabbit says, awkwardly patting my back. “I’m fine. I’m not the one that’s sick.”
“Yes, but you’re my baby,” I say between sniffles. I hug her again before letting her go. “How was it? Are you okay? Was everyone nice to you? Did anyone give you grief?”
She rolls her eyes and looks so much like a teenager that I want to cry all over again. “Everything was fine. I’ve been hanging out with Jonah and Dottie. Come on in.”
We enter the tiny dwelling, and the stuffiness of it hits me again. The interior feels crowded, especially now that a full-sized hospital bed has been moved in for Dottie. The head of it is propped up and she has another IV of clear liquid attached to her arm. Her eyes are closed, her head resting on her pillow, and she looks wan and tired. Jonah is seated farther back at the dining table, and there are two cups of tea in front of the chairs, as if Jonah and Rabbit were having some cozy time before we interrupted.
“Dottie’s sleeping,” Rabbit says in a low voice.
“Dottie’s not,” Dottie says, opening her eyes. She gives us a smug look. “Dottie just doesn’t feel like talking to people today.”
Aggie bustles forward to her friend’s side, her cane thumping on the rug-covered floor as she moves. “You look like shit. Where’s the doctor?”
“Busy helping someone have a baby,” Jonah says. “He’ll be back soon enough.”
“Did you find antibiotics?” Dottie asks. Rabbit skirts around her bed, touching the older woman’s arm before squeezing her way past to sit with Jonah again. Murr and I remain near the entrance, mostly because there’s not much more room to move around.
Aggie puts a hand on Dottie’s forehead and frowns at the heat. “We did, but they’re for cattle,” she says, glancing back at me. “Ain’t been tested on humans. But they’re just as expired as anything else the fort would have, so we figure it’s a crapshoot any way you look at it. I know you don’t wanna be here, but you can’t go home sick, either. Figured we can ask the doctor if the livestock drugs are all right, and if he says yes, how do you feel about being a cow for a day?”
“Moo,” Dottie says, managing a smile.
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CHAPTER 104
DAKOTA
I’m nervous as Samir gives Dottie a small dose of the antibiotics. He picked through the supply we’d brought, discarding one vial after another until he settled on one called “tetracycline.” The dose he’s giving her is subcutaneous and very small, and I wince in sympathy as she’s injected.
And then we all hold our breath and watch her.
She makes a face at us. “Y’all do know that antibiotics aren’t instant, right?”
Samir puts away the syringe and swabs her arm. “I don’t know if this will do anything. The dose is extremely small because I’m worried about giving you too much, even if it’s expired. It’s not formulated for humans.”
“I know all that,” Dottie says. It’s the same thing Samir has repeated to us a half-dozen times over, fretting over Dottie and her condition. He’d actually talked to the fort doctors to see if he could get medicine for Dottie, but they refused to even consider trading. The supply of life-saving antibiotics they have is too small and too precious.
“You’re going to need to stay here for several days for monitoring and daily doses,” Samir continues. “We’ll watch for improvement, and if there’s none, we’ll have to change tactics.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I say, confident. “Dottie can take as long as she needs to feel better. We’re not going anywhere.”
Dottie eyes us all, crammed into the small living quarters. “While I appreciate the thought of everyone hanging out all day just to stare at me and see if I live, you’re better off doing other things. Those cats will need to be fed. The dogs, too.”
“Speaking of dogs,” Aggie says slowly, glancing over at Jonah.”Do you want to come and meet the puppies? See which one you get along with best?”
He stiffens, his shoulders going back. His hands twitch on his pants legs. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve got a bunch of puppies and I heard you like dogs.” She smirks at him.
Given that he’s the one who’s been handing out training tips? I hold back a snort of derision, because I know she’s going somewhere with this.
Jonah’s mouth twitches, a smile spreading across his face. “I do, yeah.”
“I also heard that you might be in need of a new friend,” Aggie continues. “One to train to help you out. Be your eyes and all that.”
His posture grows even stiffer, his hands flexing on his pants again. “I… Dad and I don’t have the ability to trade enough. It’s going to be more than we can afford.”
Aggie harrumphs. “Did I demand a payment? I’m looking for a good home for these little guys. Someone that would love him—or her—and give ’em a good life. Do you know anyone like that?”
Jonah swallows visibly. “I’d give him—or her—a great life. I promise.”
“Thought you might. But like I said, you’ll still want to meet them. Stella’s my girl but she ain’t the brightest bulb in the shed, if you catch my drift. Her kids might be worse.”
Jonah’s smile is so brilliant it’s painful to see. “I’m sure they’re fine. And I’d love to meet them. Dad?” He turns his head slightly, towards his father’s direction. “What do you think?”
Samir hesitates, looking over at Aggie. She gives him a quiet thumbs-up. After a pause, he clears his throat, and I could swear there are tears in his eyes. “I think we have room for a dog again, yes. Even a stupid one.”
The smile that lights up Jonah’s face is even bigger than before. “When can we visit?”
“Apparently we have some free time coming up while we wait for Dottie to get better,” Aggie says. “Want to come tomorrow? I bet Murr will fly us all back and forth.”
“Murr fly all,” my mate agrees. “Aggie, Jonah, Samir?”
“Not Samir,” the doctor says. “I’ll stay here and watch over Dottie.”
“I’ll stay with her, too,” Rabbit adds. She shoots an adoring look in Jonah’s direction. “Just to keep Dottie company in case Samir gets called away. I’ll go next time.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Aggie says. “I’ll put on my best wig and we’ll make a day of it. Maybe you’ll know what breed of dog they are, Jonah. I say Stella’s a doodle—”
We all groan in unison.
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