Branded Wings

by S. I. Hayes

  I shook my head and roasted the rotting thing to kill the stench. I was going to have to move everything now that my sacred space had been defiled. Question was, where the Hell was I gonna move it to? I guess Samuel’s house would do for now. I didn’t usually stay anywhere too long, but if I buried it in the yard, they’d never notice and I’d know it was all safe.

  Chapter 15 Aella

  “MY LOVELY GIRLS.” JESSAMINE, my adoptive mother cried out when we entered the house. She was a demure woman of five feet two inches, but her smile could light up the darkest of nights. Beaming as she was, I couldn’t help but smile too, as she looked Mary and I over. “You two aren’t eating enough. Do they not have cream and butter where you are?”

  Cream and butter were staples in her house. All while we were growing up offerings of it were made to her by the people of the village, so that she would bless their flower gardens and help them to reap good wine harvests. It was her favorite mix of sweet and savory, especially when the butter was laced in rosemary or cinnamon sugar. We ate it with every meal, and it helped us to stay connected to her.

  “It doesn’t come as tasty in Boston,” I answered, hugging her. She wrapped her hands around my back and I twitched, rolling my shoulders.

  She jumped back with a hearty laugh. “You’ve gotten your wings?” She stared at me expectantly.

  I nodded. There was no hiding it once she’d suspected. She grabbed me again, kissing my lips and then dancing around the living room, nearly knocking over a large vase full of ferns and chrysanthemums. “Kiva! Aella has her wings!” She called out to our father, who was out in the yard picking at his herb garden, trying to decide which to harvest for tonight’s supper.

  He came inside, looking me up and down. “Well? Let’s see them, then.”

  “I- Um... How?” I looked to my brother Adrian in question, he was the only other Dragonborn I knew. He had his wings and his sword. Already sworn to our brother Enrich, he had complete control over his Otherkind form.

  “Well, just the same way you have been I suppose.” He answered matter-of-factly.

  “I don’t know what happened, on the plane I was just freaking out and boom! Then when I chilled out they went away.”

  “Wait, so this has only just happened this very day?” My father asked, wiping dirt from his hands.

  I nodded, lowering my head. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but I really don’t know what to do.”

  “I just will them forward.” Adrian added, flexing his shoulders. His wings appeared, unfurled and glorious, in their blinding white color, the sinewy lines of muscle wrapping around him half way. His Dragon was white and gold, and shimmered when the light hit his scales. I never did understand how he was always so in control after that first unveiling, but ever since his branding he maintained and never had another surprise incident.

  “Show off.” I muttered, shaking my head. Mother rubbed my back, gently.

  “If they come when you do not wish it, then you are not ready for them yet. We can do something about it.”

  “You can be bound.” Mary added as I looked up curiously.

  “I don’t think that will be necessary.” The idea of being magically bound terrified me, it wasn’t permanent, but it was said to be most painful.

  “But if you have an incident in public,” my mother lamented, “it will be forced on you. Do you want that? Without embracing your sword, you cannot so easily control it and you have yet to acquire it, at this rate you may not.”

  I bit my tongue. Was that the key? Was my secret what was going to damn or save me? Did I just have to keep it together emotionally and focus on my humanity, to keep my form? Shouldn’t be too hard. I’d been holding it together this long. What was another six weeks?

  Chapter 16 Ryane

  He WAS still having nightmares. He thought I hadn’t noticed that they woke him up in the night. He shook and sometimes cried in his sleep. The few times I’d woken up and tried wrapping my arms around him were met with him going downstairs and falling asleep on the couch, watching television. This night was no different, I came downstairs to find him and Sig passed out in front of some horror movie. We’d been staying at Sam’s house since the funeral, mostly because it’s only three blocks from the Pepper Pot restaurant. I hadn’t given up my apartment on Grigori’s grounds yet, but I just felt more at home around Sam’s things. It’s funny because Keegan and Sig followed me without much thought.

  Sig didn’t have more than one big duffle bag and Keegan, well he went back to the big house the week before and finally saw what was left of the carriage house. His mood had been sharp since. Not with me exactly, but in general, and with the nightmares... I just didn’t know what to do.

  I was doing my first shift back at work in the morning while they went back to the house to check up on the rebuild. Sig was all over it, making sure everything Keegan asked for was done and Keegan had been tinkering with a few things that he had to take my measurements for, I didn’t know what they were, but something told me I’d be finding out, soon.

  “What are you doing up babe?” Keegan sat up, wiping his face when he saw my shadow over him. I hadn’t realized I was looming.

  “I-” I wasn’t sure what I was doing besides watching him and thinking. He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me down onto him, wrapping me up in his arms with a soft groan. He nuzzled into my neck and kissed me on the clavicle as he hugged me tightly. I breathed him in, he smelled like soap and my brown sugar body scrub. He seemed to like it; I’d have to keep it in stock more.

  I looked over at Sig, who grumbled before turning over in his chair so he was facing away from us and it occurred to me that he almost never left. “Keegan?” I asked quietly and he nodded into my shoulder, which he’d begun to kiss lightly. “I was wondering about Sig.”

  “What about him?” His voice was muffled by my skin against his lips.

  “Well, you told me once he doesn’t live with you, so where exactly does he hang his wings?” He rubbed my back gently as he seemed to ponder his answer.

  “Well, he keeps a room in the big house for when I need him there, and then he had a room in the Deviant dorm, until the break. I suppose right now he lives here.”

  “But where does he keep his stuff? He came here with one big duffle and that was it.”

  “I think I heard him say something about lock boxes at the bank once. Other than that, I don’t know, he’s always just tagged along for as long as I can remember. Up until this recent upheaval he had his own space, I’m sure... At least I think he did.”

  I frowned, at the uncertain way he answered. The idea that he didn’t have a home bothered me. I loved Sig, and wanted to see him happy, everyone should have a place to call home.

  “Don’t worry about him so much. He’s been doing things this way for a long time. I don’t think he likes the bindings of the traditional. It probably goes back to his time in captivity when he was younger.”

  I leaned into him, looking at him in question, his hands had made their way to the waistband of my shorts and were teasing them downward. I pushed them away easily and he frowned. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed as I slipped from his lap. “It’s not really my story to tell, I don’t know the whole thing. I just know that he had a Master who kept him isolated and it did things to him. I think it’s why he tries so hard now to be the fun guy, the leader of the pack, so to speak, when it comes to getting into something troublesome, but fun. He didn’t have much of a childhood, so he’s making up for it now that he’s not tethered. He may have sworn himself to me and my cause, but I do not command him as others have, I will never wield his sword and demand anything of him. It’s why we work as a team.”

  I nodded, standing up and grabbing the crocheted blanket off the ottoman, putting it over Sig, careful not to wake him. “I think I understand,” I whispered, kissing him on the cheek. He instinctively wiped at it in his sleep and I smiled, turning back to Keegan, who was suddenly right behind me. His hands
ran up my sides and under my tank top to my heavy breasts, lifting them up with a good squeeze. “Keegan,” I moaned softly, rolling my head into his chest. “I have to be up in three hours to get ready for work.”

  “I don’t rightly care.” He crushed his mouth down on mine, consuming me in a kiss, his hands sliding down, lifting me by the ass. I yelped into his mouth as he forced my legs up and around him. I could feel his cock as it rubbed against me through the fabrics of our clothes. He carried me like that back to the stairs and we tumbled down. I slipped out from under him, I didn’t want to risk waking Sig and having him have another one of our romps to tease me about. He hadn’t let the outside excursion at school die yet and it had been months now.

  As I tried to get away and up the stairs Keegan laughed, grabbed me around the middle, and yanking my shorts down, held me, biting me in the thick of my ass cheek. I playfully kicked at him and he caught my foot, pulling me back down to him, my legs over his lap as he lay halfway on the landing. I didn’t have time to protest as he trailed his fingers up my inner thigh and pressed into me. My back arched as a little pinch ran up my side, I wasn’t quite ready for that. He took his fingers away, sliding them into my mouth, swishing them against my flattened tongue.

  “That’s a girl. Get them nice and wet for me,” he huffed into my ear. I wasn’t used to him talking to me and I looked at him, thrown by it. “I didn’t say to stop.” He pushed them in deeper, making me salivate harder as he pulled my head back by my hair, licking up my throat, grazing it with his teeth, his knee sliding up and down between my open legs, rubbing against me. I gasped for air when he pulled his fingers free, returning them to my now pulsing slit. He hooked them up while holding me down at my center, thrusting hard enough to lift my ass from the steps. I buried my head in his chest to keep my moans low as he leaned into me. “Don’t hide your face,” he demanded in a whisper. “I like to hear it when you come. It’s the best fucking sound, next to you sucking my cock.” He pulled my head back again and I let out a series of grunts, followed by a long moan as he pulled his fingers out of me, replacing them with his wide tongue. He lapped at me in broad strokes, dipping and darting the strong muscle against my walls as he held me open, stretching me to go deeper. My hands dug into his scalp and I shook my head from side to side, trying to keep quiet.

  “Come for me,” he breathed against me, the coolness of it against my heated flesh was enough to put me over. I pushed his head back down, locking my knees up against the sides of it as he slipped his tongue back into me. My legs fell with the ebbing of my orgasm, and he laughed, still pinging my swollen clit with his thumb as he came up me, lifting my top to caress my breasts.

  “No, more.” I tried to close my legs, but they were like jelly and slipped down the steps. I was sprawled out and he seemed to like it that way.

  “But I haven’t even fucked you properly yet.” He rolled on top of me and I felt hard flesh against my thigh. He’d pulled his pants off at some point and was now laying on me naked. He licked at my nipple, making it rise to a stiff peak. “If you’d rather sleep, I understand, but tell him that.” He took my hand and pulled it down to grasp his lengthy beast. It twitched at my touch, dancing in my hand as I stroked him. I pulled him up, and he smiled as he let me lead his cock into my core. I let out a gasp, I was still sensitive from his hard thrusting fingers, but he slipped past my ridge and was soon buried inside me. He pushed me up the steps until I hit the top, keeping in me, driving me where he wanted me. He pulled out of me, took my legs up, bringing my knees together into my chest, causing my stomach muscles to tighten. He crawled up onto his knees and held my legs up against me as he pushed back into me. Taking his time, even as wet as he’d gotten me this was a new position for my body and it resisted his size. He rocked against me, pushing in a little, then pulling back, only to rock a little deeper. I could feel my body as it opened up to him. Finally, he descended upon me, working deeply, pulling the basest sounds from my throat as he smacked my lifted ass. Our flesh slapped together in a dizzying rhythm. He pulled out of me, leaving me open and aching as he came on my tits. I glared at him for the mess, so he took his pants to clean me up, with a laugh.

  “Well, that was different.” I heaved finally, still trying to catch my breath.

  “I’ve been wanting to see if you could get your legs up like that.” He rubbed my thighs, his nails leaving a light burn in their wake. “Next time I’ll get them over my shoulders.”

  “You think so?” I smirked.

  “Next time, I’ll have the bench to make sure. You are gonna love the new one. I customized it for you.”

  “Yeah, well, you first,” I joked and he looked at me in that serious tone.

  “I can arrange that.” He lifted me into his arms. “But for right now, you need a shower and a rubdown.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I cooed as he carried me toward the master bath.

  I AWOKE TO KEEGAN’S kiss on my neck as I reached to shut off the alarm clock. He pulled me into him with a groan, licking my shoulder. “It’s so early,” he whispered. “Stay here with me.”

  “Keegan, I can’t. I’ve been putting off going back in there for too long already. Sandy has been running the place with hired cooks for almost the entire summer.”

  “So let him keep at it. You said they are doing well. He staffed the place for efficiency.” He reached out as I pulled my aching bones from the bed.

  “I’m sorry. Besides, you and Sig were going to go check out the progress on the carriage house today, weren’t you?”

  He rolled over, his erection lifting the sheet that covered him and he tried to rub it down. “You’re wasting a good bit of morning wood.”

  I rolled my eyes from the bathroom door, and spying my hand lotion, I smiled smugly, tossing it at him. “You take care of that now and I’ll be sure to look into it later.” I chuckled and headed for the shower, hoping the hot water would spring some life into me.

  WHEN I HEADED DOWNSTAIRS, dressed for my first day back, I found that Sig was nowhere to be found, although there was fresh coffee. I took down my travel mug and fixed the heavenly brew. As I went to leave, I spied a note on the fridge telling me not to forget the thermos. I opened the fridge to find a massive thermos inside. I unscrewed the cap and the scent of Kimmy and Tessa’s blood filled my nose. We had been paying them to keep me in fresh blood, although I avoided seeing them otherwise no matter how often they asked, which was always. Keegan had the equipment, and while I would have done better from the vein, he thought that my being comfortable was more important. While I had fun that first time, it was not something I wished to repeat. He respected that.

  I took a long, deep sip. It was better at room temperatures, but for now it would have to do. So, taking my liquid lunch and my morning brew, I let myself quietly out of the house.

  In less than ten minutes I was standing outside the Pepper Pot restaurant, peering in through the darkened glass doors. I noticed a light on in the kitchen. I had thought I was going to be alone, having come in hours before we actually opened. I wanted a chance to reacquaint myself with the kitchen; inspect the stoves and make sure the grease vats were being properly maintained. Now, it seemed someone was inside. I unlocked the door with a deep breath and entered, the smell of macaroons hitting me in the face. It was a good smell. The place didn’t look much different. The tables were still in orderly lines and the ketchup bottles were nice and full. The bar was well stocked, but in the place of the old dart board was a picture of Sam and me in the kitchen from the day he hired me. I couldn’t have been more than fifteen. I smiled, seeing him with a full head of auburn hair pulled back under the hair net as he hugged me. Remembering that day brought a happy bit of tears to my eyes, then a chill ran up my spine. I turned around to find a tall young man staring at me with a confused look on his handsome face.

  “Hello?” I turned toward him and he popped a small crooked grin. “Who are you?” I hadn’t met any of the staff Sandy had hired yet and this man sent a s
hiver through me as he cleared his throat. His deep green eyes observing me.

  “I’m sorry for staring. It’s just that I had no idea you were Otherkind.” He wiped his hands off on his apron as he approached, offering his hand to me. “I’m Kendall Lowengrad, Sandy hired me to run the kitchen Monday’s Wednesday’s and Friday nights. You must be the owner, Miss Ravencrest, right? Sandy said you’d be in today.”

  I shook his hand. He was Otherkind, it must have been what I was sensing. “Yeah, I’m Ryane, I didn’t expect anyone to be here so early.” I halfheartedly laughed.

  “I always come in early on Mondays. The weekend staff doesn’t always have time to do the prep work for me.” He searched my eyes for something and the gaze unnerved me. “Also, I’ve been trying to master your gumbo, but I have yet to get the bouillabaisse quite right. Sandy says there is something missing.” He hurried back to the stove as he spoke, bidding me to follow. “I’ve followed the recipe exactly, but somehow...” He took a clean spoon, dipping it into the stock pot and holding it out to me. I hesitated a moment before tasting it.

  I swallowed the spicy, fish based stock and sucked my teeth with a short chuckle. “Are you using the cooking wines on the shelf there or the stock from the bar?”

  “The shelf,” he answered in a voice of realization. “Fuck me.” He slapped his head. “How stupid of me. Really an amateur move.”

  My shoulders shook quietly. “It’s alright, Kendall, you had no way of knowing they were just for show. I keep the good stuff under here.” I knocked a section of the wall with my hip and a concealed cabinet opened to reveal a large stock of wines and sherry’s. “Also, I add a quarter cup of dry sherry to the mix. My own twist to an old classic.”

  Kendall smiled. “Aren’t you full of surprises.” He licked his lips gently and I couldn’t help but watch. I could hear his heart beating faster as he looked me over.