DragonRider by S. Rodman
my thoughts go straight to Ri. Just before I crashed out, he’d been sleeping, sated and exhausted on the beach. Je and Zh were standing guard and I know they were somewhere super remote like Iceland or Greenland or something, and they have cloaking magic, but I can’t stand the thought of them exposed and vulnerable like that. Especially now that the sun is up.
I reach out with my mind and find that Ri is home now. Curled up, fast asleep in his burrow under the castle. Je and Zh are still standing guard. They must have flown home while I was out cold.
Satisfied that Ri is safe, my mind turns its attention to my body and I groan. Everything hurts. All my muscles ache and my ass is on fire. Harlen and Cai were careful and used plenty of lube, but there is only so much pounding delicate tissue can take.
I also feel incredibly sticky, as if I’m drenched in sweat and cum. Which, probably isn’t too far from the truth.
“How do you feel?”
I open my eyes to find Cai a few inches away. His gaze is aquamarine and full of concern. Harlen’s broad warmth is at my back. They’d both been behind me when I had fallen into darkness. We’d been spooning, with me as the littlest spoon. Cai had been inside me and Harlen had been mercilessly milking Cai’s prostate with his fingers. Causing Cai to shudder and writhe and spill inside me over and over again. I should really be asking him if he is okay. That must have been exhausting.
“Did it work?” I ask.
“We won’t know for a while, probably not until the next full moon. Are you sore?”
I nod and Cai frowns.
“Let’s get you into the shower and then I’ll get the healer to come and check you over.”
My entire body shudders. “No, to the internal examination, yes to the shower.”
Cai’s blue eyes narrow but I meet his gaze steadily until he relents. This, ‘might be the chosen one’ stuff, does have its perks.
“Fine,” he grumbles. “Harlen, wake up you giant oaf and carry Kirby to the shower.”
“I’m awake, I’m awake,” yawns Harlen. “What am I doing?”
“Helping Kirby to the shower,” says Cai with gritted teeth.
In the end, they both have to help me into the spray and then Harlen has to hold me up because my legs have turned into wet noodles. The hot water cascading down my aching muscles feels wonderful. Cai squeezes into the shower too and gently soaps my body. Then he turns me around so that I’m standing chest to chest with Harlen, my arms wrapped around his neck. The warm wet manly smell of him is gorgeous. As is the feel of his firm muscles pressing into me.
Cai does a fantastic job of washing my hair. His is fairly long, so it makes sense that he knows what he is doing. I groan in bliss.
Cai drops to his knees behind me and gently spreads my ass cheeks apart. He carefully runs a soft sponge over my hole and I hiss in discomfort. The sponge doesn’t return. Cai just kneels there, holding my cheeks apart, letting the warm shower water run down my crack and right over my abused hole. I can only imagine what it looks like.
“Stop being a perv, Cai,” teases Harlen.
“Fuck you!” snaps Cai vehemently, but Harlen just chuckles.
Cai gets to his feet and switches the water off. I mumble a drowsy complaint but then I’m being dried and swaddled with fluffy towels and it feels great too.
“My mum is going to be so proud of me,” beams Harlen. “Shower assistant to the chosen one.”
“Piss off!” I say but with no real heat.
Harlen chuckles again and I can really see why Cai hates him most of the time. He is an annoying, infuriating jerk. But he is not talking complete nonsense. I know I really helped Ri last night. Helping dragons conceive would be seen as a superpower to riders. It is really going to make me look like the chosen one now. For fuck’s sake.
Harlen carries me, fully bundled in towels, to the living area and I’m stupidly grateful when he places me on the sofa instead of on one of the hard chairs around the dining table.
Cai thrusts a cup of tea into my hand. It has more sugar in it than I normally like, but it is just what I need. I sigh in contentment and look up at them. They are both standing there, hovering over me. Damp from the shower and with just a towel thrown round their waists. While I very much appreciate the view, they don’t need to fuss quite this much.
I wonder if they realise just how much they are mimicking their dragons guarding Ri.
“You do know, I’m not the one who is going to get pregnant?” I ask as I take another sip of tea. “Go dry off properly, get dressed and come have tea too. You worked hard last night as well.”
They both hesitate for a moment before hurrying off to do my bidding. They return in record speed, Harlen just in boxers and Cai in grey sweats and a loose white tee shirt. Harlen makes coffee and they both join me on the sofa. One on either side of me.
I sip my tea and sigh. Are they being this attentive because of their dragons’ influence? Or because they think I’m the chosen one? Or because it’s just who they are? It’s probably a combination of all three, and I should let it go. It’s nice, whatever the cause is. I should just relax and enjoy it.
“Please tell me we can have a duvet day?” I ask.
The thought of having to move, let alone ever doing anything ever again, is extremely daunting. I need at least twenty-four hours of vegging out on the sofa. If Cai says we have to work, I think I might actually cry.
“You and Harlen can. I have work to do.”
Harlen and I both turn our heads to look at him and he squirms a little under the intensity of our gaze.
“You need to rest too, Brat,” rumbles Harlen.
A long tense moment passes. Cai’s gaze flicks between me and Harlen and I feel bad for ganging up on him but it is for his own good. He is his own worst enemy.
“I can bring my laptop up from my office and do some work while we watch TV,” he concedes.
I smile. I call that a victory. Baby steps towards Cai letting us take care of him. It’s a fantastic start and a brilliant foundation to work on.
Everything is working out wonderfully. Our relationship is getting stronger, Ri might bear eggs that will hatch into young. It’s all great.
I just need to wriggle out of this chosen one nonsense and everything will be perfect.