Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

“No, you fucking can’t, little girl,” he agreed. Turning, he waved to one of the attendants. “Excuse me—we need some towels here,” he rumbled. “We’ve had a bit of an accident with our, er, pet plant.”

“Oh dear!” The attendant stared blankly at Iyanna’s bare breasts, coated in the sticky dark blue jelly. “Just a moment, let me go get you some towels,” she said.

She hurried away and returned shortly to hand Iyanna several thin, wet towels.

“Thank you so much.” Iyanna thrust the plant pot—where the plants were still snapping and poking at each other—into Dra’vik’s hands and took the towels.

She was able to wipe most of the dick plant’s cum off herself, though it looked like it was going to stain the delicate golden fabric of her Lix’dorian banquet outfit. Which was kind of a shame—though it had been a terrible trip, it had brought Dra’vik and herself together. She had kind of wanted to keep the gold jumpsuit with its triangular cut outs as a souvenir.

“You doing okay, little girl? Get it all off?” Dra’vik asked, breaking her train of thought.

Iyanna nodded as she finished mopping the plant cum out of her cleavage.

“I think so. Ugh—that stuff is sticky! Like glue, or something. I don’t—”

But just then an overhead announcement cut her off.

“Attention passengers, will everyone please stow their personal possessions in the area under your seats and fasten your safety harnesses so we can begin our takeoff procedure?”

“You’d better stow them,” Dra’vik said, handing the pot back carefully. The dick plant hadn’t bothered him a bit—maybe it could sense he was male, Iyanna speculated.

“Do you really think they’ll be okay under the seat, though?” she asked anxiously.

“I think they’ll be a hell of a lot calmer,” Dra’vik pointed out. “Unless you want to keep holding them and fending off the—what did you call it? Oh yeah, the ‘titty-fucking’ proclivities of the male plant. And possibly having it come on you again,” he added, grinning at her.

“You just need to stop.” Iyanna shook her head. It was amusing, but her concern for the plants was serious. After all, she was the one responsible for keeping them alive. “Really, though—do you think they’ll be okay?” she asked him.

“I don’t see why not.” Dra’vik shrugged. “And maybe being in the dark will calm them down some. I know the pleasure pods aboard the Mother Ship are photosensitive—they’re much more active on the Light Side of the ship. It’s one reason the ones on the Dark Side started dying first.”

“Okay, maybe you’re right.” Carefully, Iyanna leaned down and pushed the gray clay pot with its two plants into the small, dark compartment under her seat. “You two behave in there,” she murmured, as she shut the sliding door that closed the compartment.

There was a lot of rustling for a moment, the sound of leaves and vines moving all around. Then it was silent.

Good—that settled them down, Iyanna thought. She fastened her harness and sat up, waiting for the flight to begin. Once it did, she and Dra’vik could talk.

FORTY-NINE

As the shuttle finally took flight, Dra’vik was feeling good. True he and Iyanna hadn’t been able to get the nice private seat in the Premium compartment, but at least they were still seated together. And though it had been a really tough mission—especially for Iyanna—it had definitely drawn them together. He loved being with her—loved laughing with her—and he wanted nothing more than to keep doing that for the rest of their lives.

But how to say all that to her without scaring the little Elite off?

Maybe you could try healing her first—that would be a start, whispered a little voice in his head.

It seemed like a good idea so he turned to Iyanna. She was gazing out the window at the stars. The window wasn’t nearly as big as the wrap-around one at the front of the Premium compartment, but it still offered a good view and Iyanna seemed entranced by it.

Dra’vik remembered that she hadn’t had many opportunities to see space up close—she’d lived most of her life on Earth where the citizens had almost no access to space travel.

Once we’re joined, I’ll take her all over the galaxy, he promised himself. Of course they couldn’t fold space, because she would become pregnant as soon as they bonded, but there were plenty of stable wormholes that were safe for a pregnant female to travel through.

Dra’vik told himself he would take her anywhere she wanted to go—there were much better planets where females were respected and admired, rather than used and demeaned as they were on Lix’dor Prime.

But for now, he just wanted to heal her.

“Hey, little girl,” he murmured.

“Hmm?” She turned to face him and her eyes were filled with wonder. “Sorry, I got lost in the stars. It’s such a beautiful view.”