Hope Awakened by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 8

By scale and by feather.

Blast and damn!

Was the female trying to kill him? Was she? First those tiny coverings yesterday, and now this.

For feather’s sake! Now he was thinking back about the female yesterday in the swimming pool. Dripping wet. Green was most certainly her color. The doctor might be a tiny thing, but she was lush in all the right places. Not just her chest…her ass was plump, too. Reece knew it would jiggle when—

“Reece! Hey…Reece!” Locke waved a hand in front of his face.

Damn!Reece realized that Locke had been trying to get his attention. The male had a smirk across his whole face.

“What?” Reece snapped. “Stop that!” he growled when Locke slowly let his hand drift in front of Reece’s face again.

“Red is a good color on the lovely doctor, don’t you think?”

“What are you talking about, Locke?” he growled, his hands fisting at his sides.

“I noticed you staring, and I don’t blame you.” He shrugged, still smirking.

“I’m monitoring the goings-on…that’s all.” Dr. Bristol was walking Claire out of what would be a fully functional hospital one day. Right now, it was a handful of rooms. He scanned the horizon for a moment or two. He needed to keep his attention on the job at hand. The doctor was a distraction. He glanced her way.

As Locke pointed out, Dr. Bristol wore a bright red suit. The skirt came to mid-thigh, showing off rather lovely legs. Her footwear wasn’t very practical. “Are her…foot coverings…”

“Shoes,” Locke commented.

“Can her shoes be used as weapons?” They were black with a long spike sticking out under the heel.

Locke broke out in laughter. “You really need to spend some time with humans.”

“Once this assignment is over,” he grumbled. “Answer the question.”

“They’re called high heels. Human females love them. They’re supposed to make their legs look longer…better. Human males think they are sexy on a female.”

He frowned. “What happens in the case of an emergency? The doctor won’t be able to run away. I would understand if the…shoe…” It was a strange word to wrap his tongue around. “If the shoe doubled as a weapon.” It made no sense to him that people would choose to wear such things. They looked uncomfortable. Her legs looked great, but he suspected they would, even if she was barefoot.

“I suppose they could double as a weapon, but shoes aren’t meant to be used in that way. Like I said, human females think it makes their legs look better.”

“Dr. Bristol doesn’t need them.”

“Her legs are great already.”

Reece turned to look at the male, intent on giving him a piece of his mind. Locke laughed. “I’m teasing you.”

“You’re not! You fully believe what you just said.”

“I said it to tease you, but yes, her legs are just fine without the heels.”

Reece looked back at the talking females. Even though Dr. Bristol wore a suit jacket, it was tight-fitting and accentuated her…abundant curves. The top button strained. “Perhaps it would be good to implement a dress code. No heels or skirts. No tight clothing in general.”

“Stop thinking with your prick. If you want to piss the doctor off in a bad way, start dictating to her how she should dress. It would be a bad move.”

What the hell?

Locke had it all wrong. “This has absolutely nothing to do with my prick.” He spoke under his breath. “Dr. Bristol could break her neck if she tried to run. Climbing would be impossible with such a tight skirt. The outfit isn’t practical for these conditions.”

“She’s comfortable. It’s obviously her normal work attire. The skirt isn’t too short and high heels are normal for human women. Leave her be. It’s not like she’s the main target. Even if she could run – let’s say she was in sneakers – she still couldn’t outrun or outmatch a Feral. Heels, no heels…it doesn’t really matter.”

Reece sighed. “I suppose you are right. I never thought of it like that.”

“Try to take it easy on the doctor. You are quite…intense at times. It can be intimidating to a human.”

“Did she say something to you about me?” Reece felt his heart start to race. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had. Truth be told, he had been a little…a little overbearing the previous day. His response to her lack of clothing was… Well, it was exaggerated. His physical reaction to her had shocked him. His prick had hardened. Even his balls had tightened uncomfortably. His throat had turned dry. Every instinct told him to mount her. To take her until she screamed his name. Until she creamed all over his prick. It was shocking that he should have such a reaction, especially considering she was off-limits.

“No, she didn’t say anything.” Locke shook his head, bringing him back to reality…and not a moment too soon. Just thinking about his discomfort was making him hard all over again. Blast it all to hell! “She didn’t have to say anything about your behavior. Her face spoke volumes when you mentioned silver-tipped whips and cages. Humans are timid. You would do well to remember that.”

“She needed to understand the ramifications.”

“You were berating her before she, or anyone else, had done anything wrong. It doesn’t matter the species, no one likes being knocked down for something they haven’t done yet.”

“Sometimes it’s better to preempt than to deal with the fallout,” Reece said, eyes firmly on Locke for a few moments before he scanned the perimeter once again.

“I guess it depends on the situation. Go a little easier on the doctor, please.”

“We’ll see about that.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. That was the one good thing about these human covers; they gave you something to do with your hands sometimes. “How did it go today?” he asked soon after.

The queen laughed at something Dr. Bristol said. “As you can see,” Locke grinned, “the two of them are getting along very well. Everything is going smoothly with the clutch. The queen is in good health and good spirits. Delise and Evander just left. All is well.”

“Good news,” Reece said.

“Indeed.” Locke nodded.

“It was so lovely to meet you,” Claire said, grabbing Dr. Bristol’s hand. “You should come to dinner sometime to get to know us. I know my mates seemed really stiff and formal, but they’re actually huge amounts of fun. They’re such great guys. You’re not weirded out by…the three of us, are you?”

“Not at all.” The doctor squeezed the queen’s hand. “I think it’s great. So progressive. The dynamic must be interesting and fun.”

Great!

Progressive!

Interesting and fun!

Hmm… Her statements were thought-provoking. As it stood, he felt justified having had some hard conversations with Dr. Bristol. The human didn’t seem anywhere nearly as timid as Locke was making her out to be. Firstly, she’d stared at his cock long and hard when they’d first met. Her unabashed staring had been brazen and unexpected. Then she was perfectly comfortable parading around half naked. He had heard that humans could be shy about such things, but not Dr. Bristol. Now she was telling the queen how she found their three-way mating to be great and progressive.

He might not have much experience with humans, but Dr. Bristol wasn’t a typical human, not by a long shot. Reece had no idea what to make of her. No idea how to proceed when it came to her. Good thing Locke was in charge. He would keep getting updates. He would keep monitoring the situation, but otherwise he was going to take a step back where the doctor was concerned. As much as he hated it, he was attracted to her.