FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The cold air bit, chilling his extremities, but it was a good pain. The pain was a good reminder that you were still alive, and Isiat felt very, very much so alive today. He jogged along the outer perimeter of his airship, following the guardrails carefully, doing both a visual inspection and enjoying the sight of the ground far, far below, passing meadows and valleys over one of the midlands shires. Soon, they would be into the lusher tropics, and after that, bound for the desert, and the yearly traders' conference held there. He couldn't be sure of their position by that alone, of course, but he was certain of his navigator's skill, and their uncanny ability to plot their exact position down to the meter, complete with where their shadow would be laying far below.

Even if there were clouds, even if it were storming, even if every other indication of where they could possibly be were to vanish, he trusted their calculations to be true. He paused in his morning laps, taking a few moments to rest against the railing and drink deeply from the water skin hanging from his shoulder. The condensed cloud vapour was about as pure and fresh as one could possibly hope to get, and it's crisp flavour quenched his thirst like little else could have. Having the machinery to harvest and process such vast quantities of water aboard had also helped to cut their running costs significantly. A smaller ship would have needed to land and resupply frequently. Isiat just had to pilot them through a cloud bank, and they were set for six more weeks once the tanks were full, and almost twenty with careful rationing.

The water was cycled into almost every part of the ship. For drinking, bathing, cooling, heating, packaging for trading... Really, they had been the best investment he had made he thought... Well, perhaps the second-best.

A wry grin crossed his muzzle and he couldn't help but chuckle. He felt far younger and energetic than he had in months, but there was something about that fiery little lioness he'd kept in his bed all night. The sweet taste of her clung to his lips even now, a naughty little reminder of the vast vast reserve of stamina he'd found and made full use of. Even now, he was still recovering from the aches and cramps in his legs and his abs, but the running helped to get his heart and blood moving.

He stretched, propping one leg against the railing as he tails flicked behind himself, energetically swishing to and fro. He braced himself, squatting and stretching, flexing his tired muscles into a state of wakefulness. He'd lived at high altitudes aboard his ship long enough to acclimatize his body to the much thinner air, where you had to work for each lungful of oxygen you drew. Most of the crew stayed indoors where the strange and arcane contraptions of the Dragon's processed the atmosphere to help make it more tolerable.

To Isiat however, after spending so long up here, the denser indoor air simply energized him more, the additional ease of access to oxygen making him sharper, quicker... Evidently, improving his stamina as well. He reached down to adjust himself less conspicuously, and instead, turned, making to continue his lap. Off to his right, there was a glint of red darting through the clouds. He kept jogging, doing his best to ignore it, though he couldn't help the grin on his muzzle.

Two-thousand, three hundred and forty-four steps around the ship. One hundred and thirty-eight separate steps per dancer in 'The Conquest'. Fourteen movements in a full recital of 'The Dragon King's Mountain'. Four hundred and fifteen crates of useless Lupar coins in hold number nine...

*"They're in hold number three now, actually, and you're thinking aloud again." * Came a voice from his right, along with a steady flapping of broad, leathery wings. Isiat stopped again, his muzzle crinkling as he frowned.

"It helps me collect my thoughts, and I know as a fact I wasn't vocalising anything."

*"You don't have to. Your lips form the words as you recite them in your head, Isiat. It's a Draconic trait. You think too much in numbers and not enough in the moment. Your pretty slave girl does it too. It's amazing the things you pick up when you learn to read lips." * Scion pointed out, beating his wings from the air a few feet off the side of the hull, conveniently far enough away from any of the propellers that the constant air currents wouldn't interfere with his morning flight.

"Maybe I've just spent too much time in the company of certain Dragons. I didn't know you were still flying. I thought you'd grown fat and complacent since I brought you on board."

*"I still fly when it fancies me, and when the drop-birds get bored." * The red-scaled dragon huffed and flew forward the few remaining feet before he dropped with a loud thump to the wooden deck.

"Well, at least I don't have to race gryphons to feel like I'm adequate. Do they still beat you horribly?" Isiat laughed, offering Scion the waterskin. The dragon took it in one outstretched paw and drank deeply, rapidly draining it entirely.

"Every time, but I would out-dive them without fail. Feather's create more drag than scales."

"Doesn't help you when you can beat them to the ground but then have to try and match them climbing back up a few thousand meters. Heart attacks from overexertion are bad for your long term profits." Isiat said with a laugh, twisting to resume his morning run.

*"Bah, I could if I tried! I'm going to go do the books." * Scion called behind him, waving the vulpine off with a dismissive gesture. Isiat called back over his shoulder as he rounded the next corner.

"Don't wake my cat!"

"Five percent share Izzy! That's my cat as well!"

_______________________

Shadi had slept like a rock. Of course, that wasn't exactly a challenge for any cat, let alone one who had spent most of the night being fucked into a puddle upon her owner's bedsheets. Not that she minded. By the time he'd declared himself spent, it was already past midnight by her judgement, and they had both fallen into a deep slumber.

For a pleasant change, her dreams were uninterrupted, and entirely devoid of any content at all. She dreamed of herself sleeping in the sunlight, and woke to exactly that, still tangled in the deep, jade green comforter and blankets Isiat had pulled over them both when he had decided he'd had enough fun to sate him for one night. She knew feline's had stamina that was the envy of most other species, but that male...

She purred as she rolled over, feeling the warm ache between her legs as she stretched her legs out, purring. She didn't want to open her eyes yet. That would mean going back to reality, and most likely her own quarters as well. It would mean finding breakfast for herself and then spending her day in that little room on the side of the ship, with her little porthole of light that let the sunshine on her for a scant few hours a day.

Here, she could feel the warmth of the sun already shining in through the open windows behind her. Sunlight. Actual sunlight. Gods above, how long had it been since she had last laid in the sun and enjoyed the simple pleasure for exactly what it was?

That... place. It had a way of breaking slaves. In the caves, it was impossible to keep track of time aside from when the work shifts left, and when meals were brought. The isolation, the time spent hidden away from the sunlight, the constant humiliation, degradation and the threat of punishment or rape or worse from every corner. It wore on even the strongest of minds like metal held too long against a grindstone. Once it was worn away too much...

She spent a moment stretching out luxuriously, arching her back and flagging her tail up until it dragged the covers up and off of her, finally willing to greet the new day. She wasn't in that place any more. She was still a slave, but she was free from that particular circle of hell at least. Perhaps she hadn't appreciated the small things quite so much before, but now, truly, she was grateful at least for a warm bed, food in her belly, and her honestly good and kind treatment from her new owner.

Her muscles groaned in response to her movements, like an ancient tree creaking in the wind as it swayed. She twisted this way and that, licking her lips. She could still taste him on them as her wet tongue rasped across her delicate lips, still slightly puffy from a rather vigorous mouth fucking her master had given her during the heat of their passion. She hadn't minded. She'd been more focused on his tongue wriggling across her sex at the time to protest the rough treatment.

Her nose twitched as she finally got a good whiff of the air in her owner's cabin. To say the bed reeked of sex would have been like informing someone that the ocean was wet. She wrinkled her nose and forced herself to get up, finally opening her eyes, bi-coloured gems shimmering in the morning sunlight.

The curtains were thrown back, and a pitcher of water was sitting by the nightstand with two glass cups. One was lip down, the other clearly had been used. She took the second cup and filled it, drinking away the slight dryness in her throat. The water was crisp, leagues better than the stuff they permitted the slaves from their crude, clay pitchers back in the pens. She filled a second cup and drained it as well, setting the empty glass down with a quiet thud on the wooden table.

Her dress was around here somewhere, but in the daylight, the room looked entirely different. At night, everything had been dimly lit, if at all. Isiat seemed to like the room dark. Today, it was cast in random shadows and a warm, yellow glow. She searched in the mess of sheets for a few moments, before a memory of him tossing their clothes down the laundry chute hit her.

Well, that was just great! How was she supposed to get back to her cabin now? She wasn't going to chance dashing through the halls back to her cabin in the nude! Once, it may not have bothered her, but it wasn't like she had a choice before now! Her dignity hadn't been a consideration when she had been a slave for the canines. Now that she had regained some of it though, and grown accustomed more to the sense of decency that Isiat maintained aboard the vessel, it didn't seem right or proper or sensible for her to be nude outside of where she had to be!

Looking around, she quickly spied a set of drawers built into the wall and drew back the first one. Her sense of housekeeping at least was still on point. She snatched up a silk shirt that was far too large for her and pulled it over her shoulders, slipping her arms through the sleeves. She had to roll the fine material back up to her elbows before she had any hope of it not looking completely ridiculous on her, but the tight fit also didn't allow her to clip the buttons closed over the mounds of her breasts.

Frowning, she gave an exasperated sigh and just went with it. She could hear Isiat shuffling about some papers on his desk. Maybe if she asked, he would have her something brought she could wear back to her quarters.

"S-sir?" She asked, and quietly drew back the curtains to expose the rest of the room. What she saw took her by surprise, for it was not Isiat at his desk at all.

*"Oh, good. So he did teach you when it's correct to use that title. Come out here girl, let me have a good look at you." * She recognized the tone the deep, maroon scaled dragon was using as one that demanded her unquestioning obedience. Steeling herself against the surprise she felt, she stepped out fully, making no efforts to hide her exposed body behind her paws or her tail. The long appendage swished slowly back and forth across the floor behind her.

Rich, golden eyes that sparkled like freshly minted coins studied her, scrutinizing every detail of her body from the tips of her ears down to her toes, and everything in between. Despite her feigned confidence, it still made her nose pinked and her cheeks flush beneath her tan fur to be under such an intense gaze from the stranger before her. She remembered Isiat mentioning something about a dragon coming in during the morning. This must have been him.

He was sitting back, shirtless in Isiat's chair behind his desk, his scales glinting like drops of blood in the sunlight that poured in through the windows to his back. One paw fiddled idly with a long-crested feather quill, the other nursing an almost empty waterskin. He tossed both casually aside, letting them thump to the desk as he stood, and Shadi found herself having to look up to follow him.

Isiat had been tall, but the dragon was another head at least over him! Were all dragons like this? She'd seldom seen the reclusive creatures before her enslavement, and most of what she had heard was simply from her father when he'd had scarce dealings with them. They carried a heavy reputation amongst the other species, renowned miners and traders and warriors and artisans all.

The one before her now seemed to put the overlay of reality to a species whose stature had otherwise been exaggerated. Perhaps that was part of it as well... Orez had seemed like a giant before her, and yet her owner had been as unimpressive and unassuming as she must have seemed to be standing before the dragon. Yet Orez had fallen, and here she was. That thought alone helped her shed any doubts she may have had from her mind.

It also helped bring one other detail to the forefront of her mind.

"You must be Scion. Isiat said you often came by in the mornings." She commented and gave a short, but polite bow.

*"I also own a five percent share in you, little cat, and you'd do well to remember it as well. " * Scion shot her a smirk, his teeth flashing behind his almost perfectly smooth lips.

Shadi didn't know why she said what she did. With a little feline grin of her own, she simply commented back, her tail giving a mischievous swish to her witty response.

"Which five percent would that be, exactly?"

The dragon's eyes narrowed to predatory slits, thin daggers of black lost amidst a sea of gold. He was grinning.

*"Whichever five percent of you I want at the time, little lioness. Isiat will have to excuse me if I spoil the rest of you for him." * He stood smoothly, leaving the waterskin on the table as he strode towards Shadi purposefully, reaching a single sharp claw out on his hand to trail along her jawbone. Shadi didn't dare show any sort of fear towards him and refused to shy away. A stranger he might have been, and she couldn't imagine him taking kindly to anybody damaging his newest investment, five percent share or not. And if the dragon did own her as well, it wouldn't have made any sense for him to do that either.

She felt far more confident than her racing heart gave on. She could hear it in her ears, thrumming like the fluttering of a hummingbird's wings.

"And just how do you intend to spoil me? Isiat has already provided me with a room, food, clothes, and steady work... What could you possibly have to offer me?" She got the distinct impression that she knew exactly how he intended to spoil her, just like Isiat had, by helping to provide her work, of course. Still, she didn't shy from the idea... It was just different. The dragon would have made Orez look like a pup if they were stood back to back. For her sake, and the sake of her sore sex, she hoped he wasn't too proportionate...

"I own you. I don't need to offer you anything... But-" He paused with a flick of his long tail, striding around the feline. She quickly lifted her tail so his clawed feet wouldn't tread on it. She kept her eyes forward, but she could feel his breath quite readily upon the nape of her neck, his serpentine tongue slipping past his lips, tasting her on the air.

*"It would be a shame to simply let Isiat have all the fun." * His paws came to rest on her shoulders, peeling the shirt back and off of her body, leaving her once again in nothing but her collar, under the eyes of another male like a piece of prey beneath a hawk's gaze. He tossed it aside carelessly and wandered back to the desk, sitting heavily in Isiat's seat.

"So, what then? Did Isiat lie? Are you going to make me be what I was in that castle? Same whore, new owner?" She felt bile rising in her throat for a moment at the idea. It was physically nauseating, repulsive even, and it felt like her body was trying to reject even the thought of it. What confidence she had held quickly started to melt as panic began to settle into the void it left.

*"Not at all. He has noble if foolish endeavours. Freeing slaves like you chief among them. I just help him keep his goals aligned with reality so he doesn't go overboard and make a martyr of himself before I'm set for life. But, little cat-" * His eyes fixed her with a startling intensity, and at once, she could see Orez's fury behind those eyes, snarling and fighting to break free. Her foot started to shake, and quietly, she counted her heartbeats, attempting to calm herself and reign in the panic attack before it overwhelmed her completely.

One two three four-

*"I'll put up with a lot. Isiat wants you to be treated for all intents and purposes as if you are already free. However, there are two things I won't stand for. The first is having his integrity called into question. Despite what you may think, he is a good man, even owning slaves. The second is having my integrity questioned. Don't do either of those things, and I expect we'll get along just fine. I'll even pay you better than he does." * Scion added with a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

His comment caught her off guard, as her paw had stopped twitching. His eyes narrowed. Scion had always had an eye for details like that. Fine print, scales that weren't perfectly level. Even the particular way counterfeit coins felt and looked compared to the real thing. Most people would have overlooked such things as trivial, or not noticed them at all, but to him, they were as valuable as the gold he and his kind coveted so much. The devil was in the details, people liked to say.

Perhaps it was just that Scion liked dealing with the devil. After all, it was he who wrote all of Isiat's agreements and contracts. He who formally notarized and recorded the details of every going on aboard the High Fortune, and made sure every single coin was accounted for at the end of every day.

Every morning, he ran the numbers. Every evening, he ran the numbers again to make sure everything still added up. Every month, he audited the records, just to make sure they were correct. Every week, he tallied his personal hoard. He knew all the goings-on of the ship, every coin in and out. He knew each slave Isiat and he owned by name and knew their remaining debts to the percent.

His world ran by numbers, by order, and by minute details that everyone else missed, and he turned to his advantage. Well, that, and by ensuring his share of things was taken into account, of course. Dragon's were, after all, creatures of avarice...

Quietly, Shadi nodded. She seemed to be pulling herself together. That was good. He wasn't of the nature to try and intimidate anyone who he didn't strictly need to. This one was small, soft, and undoubtedly warm. Not to mention as well that she had a figure that put that silver scaled female he'd toyed with at the castle to shame. The biggest issue he had with females of his kind was that they were exactly like him.

But mammals. They were small, and tight, and made the sort of sounds when he fucked them that made him want to just fuck them harder. Hisses and snarls were sexy, but something about making a little furry creature mewl or yip or howl...

He shook his head, clearing his mind as he grinned. She was giving him a strange look that he couldn't quite place. Was it mistrust? Anxiety? Loathing... No, no, none of those things. Perhaps the anxiety, he decided, but she was hiding it well. No, she was giving him the same look he was giving her.

The little lioness was reading him just as much as he was reading her. On some primal level, Scion found that an intensely attractive thing. His golden eyes narrowed, zoning his focus on her like a beam of light through a magnifying glass.

It was like a mental game of regicide, their eyes locking to each other as each sought to tease out the other's weaknesses. It was often said the eyes were the gateway to the soul, but Scion prefered to think of them like a void the stared back. There was a challenge in her, and pride as well. She would not allow herself to be cowed as some slaves might. She stood tall- Well, as tall as she could make herself at least. She was proud, even naked and exposed as she was.

His eyes trailed further south as he scanned her like he might a contract, reading over her, looking for those fine details he did oh so love to discover. The thin covering of fur around her breasts was matted in streaks that went this way and that, exposing the warm pink flesh of her perky nipples to the air. Isiat had his fun with her last night- Visible small bruises and scrapes from his very particular vulpine teeth were noticeable as well.

Moving lower, he could see her belly was smooth and clean, but that was typical for a slave with Isiat- He didn't care to waste himself across the stomach or back of a female when he had a hold of contraceptive remedies on board, and a perfectly good cunt to knot himself in. Her sex lips were puffy, a thin gash of flesh visible between her thighs, surrounded by a tan peach-fuzz of fur. That was messier, but it was fine. Scion wasn't fussy if it came to using a slave who'd already been bred.

She was small, and undoubtedly tight, as most felines were. Their biology was made for males who were not as fortunate as some species when it came to the bedroom. Dragoness's were made deep, and slick, with males fighting it out to be as potent and virile as possible. Fights of sword, spear, tooth and claw were common when it came to breeding season.

Fortunately, he hadn't had any need to resort to such... Base and tribal rituals since he'd been under Isiat's employ. Now, he simply had his pick of the willing, and oh were there more than a few very, very willing females more than happy to keep a dragon warm on the long voyages between ports.

*"I hope you know I'm going to fuck you before long." * He stated it bluntly. A fact, not mere his hopeful speculation, like a climber standing before the foot of a mountain, intent on conquering it.

Shadi played coy with him. He liked her immediately, despite her obvious hesitations. She had drive. She knew what it would take to have that pretty golden collar around her neck removed. Even now, he couldn't help but admire just how well it suited and matched with the tan and brown tones and patterns of her pelt. When she spoke, it came out like the soft flow of a river, betraying none of her rapid heartbeat or the tension in her muscles.

"Oh, but Isiat said I wouldn't have to do anything I didn't want to." She teased him, and her tail gave a slow, deliberate swish across her bare paws on the floor.

"Do you really not want to, little cat?"

"I never said that..." She said in a voice barely above a whisper. He beckoned to her with a single curled finger, as if he were reeling her in on a chain, pulling at a single link at a time.

She let herself follow his motions, shuffling silently and slowly closer to the imposing, red-scaled dragon. Truthfully, she didn't want to... Well, no, that wasn't quite it. When she had been younger, she'd heard the older girls talking about dragons and their maidens fair they had once upon a time demanded as tribute from the other species. Of course, they were all just stories, but that didn't stop a young and hormone-filled teenage Shadi from fantasizing just a little...

There was that, and she knew that everything she did would be compensated, and handsomely so. Whores elsewhere would have fought over the coins that Shadi had been given just the other day, and she'd already used some of it to purchase a few odds and ends from one of the merchants aboard.

Plus, there was the simple fact that honestly? The dragon was not at all unappealing to the senses. Shadi was more simply intimidated by the sheer size difference between them, never mind the fact he looked like he could have lifted her with one arm and hoisted her into the air without any sign of strain to himself. Perhaps in another lifetime, she might have described him as even attractive in the same way that Isiat was attractive and alluring. They were both beautiful in a dangerous way that a well-made weapon was described as such. They radiated confidence and surety in what they did.

Plus, if Isiat had been that good in bed...

She walked more confidently now. Realistically, she still had little choice in what happened during these encounters, but unlike before, she was ready for it, and at least had the assurance that she would not be hurt to boost her confidence. And if this male owned her, who was she to say no? Especially if she was being paid for her services...

Almost obediently, she stopped before him. His finger curled as he flexed his wrist, before motioning to the ground before himself, calling for her to kneel like a worshiper before the altar. His free paw lazily undid his belt, before he set the coiled leather atop Isiat's desk.

"Perhaps if you do good at what Isiat has in mind for you, you'll be out of that collar by the end of the year. Until then though, you're still wearing a pleasure slave's markings. Around me at least-"

"You expect me to act the part?" She gave a soft, sultry purr as she let her fingers curl beneath the waist of his trousers, pulling them apart. His scales were like nothing Shadi had ever felt before, cool and smooth like glass, perfectly segmented to form a single, continuous layer across his body. The ones by his thighs were small and delicate, designed for frequent shifting and movement, whereas the ones upon his chest were larger and broader, protecting his vital organs.

Funnily enough, his chest was far warmer than the rest of him, and she ran one paw across his abs curiously, exploring his unique reptilian anatomy as her other paw closed around the thick sheathe bulging between his legs. That, gave Shadi pause as she looked down, quietly gulping. She knew he would be large, but the sheer bulk of the cover to his maleness took her by surprise. His scaled sheath filled her tiny paw entirely to overflowing. She had expected a hidden slit as she'd read about, but apparently, all dragons were not created equal in that respect.

Above her, Scion gave a pleased little huff, twin tendrils of smoke creeping from his nostrils like lazy tobacco from a pipe, swirling in the air. He settled back into the seat, his sheath throbbing as it swelled with arousal at her touch. The dragons hands came to rest upon her head as she had expected they would, and slowly, he pushed her to her knees until she was resting on the plush fabric, her breasts pushed against his thighs.

She slowly dragged his trousers further down until the Dragon interrupted her for a moment to kick them off completely, making both of their roles in their particular 'dance' a lot easier. Her raspy tongue darted out, licking smoothly across the underside of his sheath, the roughly textured muscle leaving the fine, smooth scales glistening with her saliva after the first pass. Surprisingly, they were almost like rubber, far softer than the hard looking plating and horns that covered other areas of his anatomy.

Her textured tongue rasped around his peaking tips, surprising her as they slipped one above the other into the light. The Dragon's flesh was smooth, dark and bottomless like polished obsidian that drew in the light, and carried a thick, masculine scent that made her head foggy as she sucked in a breath.

Obediently, she purred like the good little pleasure slave. Perhaps if she could get him off with her mouth, she could still make breakfast before all that remained was leftovers! She let her lips wrap around the twin tips of his very reptilian anatomy, suckling gently to coax the rest of his twinned shafts from their home, her paw stroking across his sheath with a firm grip.

*"Carefully, kitten. Mind those sharp teeth of yours. They're more than a mouthful." * The dragon chided her playfully, using one paw to almost praisingly scratch behind her large, twitching ears. She wanted to scold him for treating her like a fond pet, but honestly, she didn't mind the attention. If it made the male happy to treat her like that, she could deal with it... As long as the dragon's gold was as good as the scratches he gave...

_Besides, he's still less foul than every single one of the guards at that place. At least this one bathes himself. _She rolled her eyes inwardly at her own consciousness and its attempts at reasoning that this was any different. She was still being fucked, just the people who were doing it were far less numerous and far less forced. Did that really make it any better? She was still just a pleasure slave for her owners.

She nearly choked as the dragon gave a firm roll of his hips, colliding the scales of his sheath with her warm, puffy lips and a wet sounding smack as she gave a muffled squeak in surprise. Those twin lengths were no longer 'just the tips', filling out rapidly as her tongue's work did the trick to bring the male from flaccid and hidden to what felt like a pair of steel tubes trying to shove themselves down her throat!

She pulled back, coughing, but it only seemed to amuse Scion, his chest giving a rich, baritone rumble as he laughed.

"I tried to warn you... The last girl who tried to do that with both almost passed out." The amusement on his chiselled facial features was as plain and obvious as the twin spires of obsidian that jutted from his sheath. The coating of saliva her muzzle had left upon the tips glistened in the morning light as they twitched, beads of clear, sticky fluid trickling down what must have been close to her forearm's length work of dark flesh.

Then, the dragon did something else unexpected- The tips of his shafts twisted, curling around each other like a spiralling candy until the more closely resembled a single thick log of black flesh. He simply grinned at her surprised reaction.

"They're prehensile. Means I can do all sorts of fun things other men can't..." The words lingered like a dark, naughty promise, and she did not doubt that his mind had already considered all of those terrible things he wanted to do to her. She safely wagered that at least none of them involved beating and degrading her.

In her years of captivity, she'd learned to expect nothing but pain and humiliation from her owners. After all, she'd had it drilled at her over and over and over again that felines and slaves were worthless in the world, an inferior species destined to be ruled by their canine captors and eventually bred or slaughtered into extinction, a mere footnote for history books.

And in the short time that Isiat had owned her, he'd already given her so much of her life back, like the memories of being more than just property and her personality had been hidden just beneath the surface. He'd dragged her, albeit, reluctantly at first, into the small society he had created aboard his ship, and now...

Well, now she was just making the most of the skills she had to earn her freedom by the path of least resistance. Even if she did have to please a few men along the way.

She hesitated for just a moment, not out of any sort of fear, but simply out of a sincere puzzlement as she tried to work out the best way to please a male with two shafts at once. He was right that she would choke herself trying to take both shafts in her muzzle at once, but perhaps...

He's just like any other male. You could just be looking at him gently and he'd probably love it...

The thought caught her off guard if just for the simplicity of it, and the blunt truthfulness as well, and she had to stop herself from laughing by muffling herself on her paw. She gripped the base of each of his twin shafts with her paws and went quickly down on the lower one before she could start giggling, parting her lips around the slender tip.

His shafts were already slick, even without her saliva as she suckled diligently around the dragon's lower cock, drawing him slowly into her muzzle with luxurious, wave-like motions of her tongue. Without even realising it, she had started purring, and the dragon's claws begun to comb gently through her long hair as if he were praising an obedient household pet. Her cheeks flushed red at the thought. She would have to check herself around him lest he get a little too familiar...

Down, stroke, up. One two three. Simple!

Of course, Scion seemed like the sort of male who was all business, and he made sure she knew it as well. Grumbling and letting his chest rumble like stones tumbling down a mountainside in the prelude to a larger rockslide, his prick twitched, the prehensile tips twisting before they stiffened like spearpoints in her paw and her muzzle, pulsing a strong shot of his preseed across her tongue and her cheek both.

She gave a muted mrowl in displeasure, frowning as he pushed her down on his shaft with his paws, ignoring the dirty looks she gave him even while he was force-feeding her his cocks and making more a mess of her fur.

*"When you play with Dragons, you can't expect to not get a little messy. Why do you think Isiat had his quarters placed directly above one of the bathhouses?" *

She would have given a little more vocal protest, but she knew the dragon's type. He wouldn't have listened anyway, and as her owner, he had no obligation to listen either. The canines had been infamous for disregarding the basic needs and complaints of their 'property.' One hardly listened to the complaints of an item of furniture after all. Why would a slave be any different here?

At least here, Isiat seemed to value his slaves' wellbeing nearly as much as his own. Scion on the other hand, well... she swallowed as another burst of his salty precum coated the back of her throat while he fed inch after inch of his prick into her spread maw.

She suckled noisily around him, breathing heavily through her nostrils as his prehensile tip curled its way into her throat, the rippling muscles of her esophagus tugging and pulling his shaft down until she was almost kissing the spread scales of his parted slit of his sheathe where the flesh bulged from. She made an exaggerated show of tilting her head back to expose her neck, feeling the cool press of the gold of her collar against her skin from the lewd bulge of his prick as he pushed her limits. Her eyes watered from the pressure, but she was determined not to let it show.

She wouldn't humiliate herself further by giving her new owners her tears in any form. She'd shed enough of those in the castle to last a lifetime, and if anything, felt a proud surge in her chest to not give them anything else they could use against her later. She made herself purr, and made herself caress his slick flash with her textured tongue, almost taking to it like it were a challenge, rather than an act she was being forced into.

Determined, she bobbed her muzzle on him, letting her warm lips cradle the base of his throbbing drakehood. She gave a low, sultry moan, and that was all he could take of her erotic display, the little feline dancing girl with her mouth and her paws working him over.

With a grunt and a pair of scaled claws digging into her scalp, the dragon unleashed himself. He'd evidently been rather pent up because he held her in a lewd kiss against his sheathe even while he unloaded ribbons of overly hot reptilian cum against her muzzle and directly down her gullet. She flinched at the first shot, unprepared for the force or the heat of it as his twin shafts erupted, one spraying ribbons across her face, the other filling her mouth until she had no choice but to pull back, gagging loudly and coughing as his 'gift' dripped from the corners of her muzzle onto her chest and his lap.

He caught the droplets before they could touch his thighs, scooping them up like a child catching snowflakes as they fell. His finger wiped the corners of her lips before he gently poked his claw tip between them, a smear of milky, off white semen clinging to it.

_"Lick." _ It was a simple command and left little room for any creative interpretation. She lowered his eyes submissively and did as she was told, like a good little slave girl, and cleaned his cum from his red-scaled digits. The taste was far richer than Isiat's, holding to it a strong, musky, yet salty taste. When she swallowed, it left a lingering aftertaste like freshly fermented cider in oak casks, earthy to a word. She had tasted far, far worse males in her time with a collar on. At least these new masters of her's bothered to clean themselves.

Scion just chuckled as she rested back on her heels, wiping her muzzle in a futile attempt to clean herself. She succeeded in smearing the dragon's cum further into her fur, leaving a long streak of her pelt laid flat against her skin. She looked and felt like a used whore when she glanced at herself in the mirror against the wall, and what a thorough mess it was that she'd been made between Isiat last night and the dragon now.

"Go clean up, dancing girl... You'll do nicely here I suspect. Isiat had a fine eye for pretty little things like yourself." He gave her an amused look as she stood, her tail lashing, She licked her paw pads and continued scrubbing at the edges of her muzzle, trying her best not to let the dragon see how red her cheeks were, or how wet she was between her legs.

Keeping her eyes down, she quickly made for the hatch on the floor, lifting it and slipping below, the dragon's hungry eyes following her the entire way. Good gods above he was right though, she thought as the hatch closed behind her. She did need a bath now!

___________________

"Well, the good news is that the scars will be minimal. A few more weeks to heal and you won't be able to notice them beneath your fur. They're not giving you any pain?" The voice above Shadi asked, large, bearlike paws parting the fur of her back as the male examined her.

Mack was a gentle giant aboard the ship. At first, she'd been terribly intimidated by him, even afraid to be alone in a room with the shaggy old dire wolf with one eye, and a few fingers short of a full hand. Now that she'd been aboard a few weeks though, she almost looked forward to her routine checkups. He truly did make for excellent company, even if he was eager to kick her out so that he could see the next crew member in the waiting room.

There always seemed to be a constant stream of people coming and going from his infirmary deck. He'd once told her they had beds for a hundred people in this wing alone but rarely filled more than five or ten at a time. Isiat had supposedly insisted in case they were ever needed, and after all, it wasn't as if there was any lack of space aboard.

"Not at all. Sore in the mornings when I'm going through the colder parts of the ship-" she started, but the wolf merely waved a dismissive paw.

"That's normal, they're still healing, but if you keep using the ointment I gave you last time, you'll be fine. Sit up and let me see you." He ordered with a gruff bark, his footsteps heavy as he rounded the examination bed to her front. She didn't even flinch, completely naked as she was under his gaze. Unlike every other male on the ship, he was the only one who looked at her with nothing but professional respect. It had been unnerving at first like he was merely hiding his desire, but he'd been nothing but sincere and honest with her.

Despite herself, she found he was an exception to her rule about trusting people, especially canines... he'd been quick to distance himself from his genetic kin when she'd brought it up upon examining the ragged tears Mistress's whip had left along her spine.

_"Barbaric is what it is." _He'd told her, and proceeded to go about his work, always asking and checking with her that it was okay to continue. He took great pride in his work. She'd seen dire wolves who could have torn through scores of men with ease. He was the only one she'd ever even heard of who might be able to put them back together afterwards.

His single golden eye narrowed as he looked over her, feeling along her neck with his fingers like sticks, covered in a coarse, shaggy fur the colour of dark steel. His ears flicked, like a curious pup. It was an almost endearing tick he had when he was deep in thought.

"You've been eating well? No issues? Bad bowel movements? So on?" He leaned in close, taking a long whiff of her neck, his dark black nose twitched as he scented her, almost touching the thick gold of her collar. She could feel her cheeks burning. She'd found herself in Isiat's bed until the early hours of the morning, and had slept late without a chance to bathe today. She probably reeked of the male. There was no doubt Mack could smell it as well, but mercifully, he did not comment.

She shook her head in a negative. He gave her a frown, one corner of his muzzle wrinkling like he was debating asking her something.

"I might have half as many eyes, but I'd trust my nose more than those even when I still had both. Lay back down for me, on your back if you would. I need to check you."

She did as she was told, shuffling back. Unceremoniously, the wolf's fingers wrapped around her ankles and spread her legs apart. She let out an undignified squeak as without even waiting, he shoves his about between her thighs. His breath tickled her sex as he huffed loudly, before quickly pulling away, leaving Shadi flustered and with her nose glowing.

Mack had turned around, washing his paws in a basin on the side of his examination room.

"You still smell like you're in heat, and like you're uh... eager, but you're clearly not actually in heat. Whatever drug they gave you in the castle seems to still be affecting you. If you'd like, I can go ahead and find something for it, but..." he paused, hesitating as he scrubbed the back of his paw, wringing his wrist with his three-fingered hand.

Shadi sat up, covering herself hesitantly with her paws as if it would protect her modesty. Her cheeks were burning like somebody was holding a torch to them! She'd never once thought the old wolf would be the one comin-

"Not like that!" He barked suddenly, making Shadi jump, her tail lashing back and forth. The wolf was waving a paw frantically through the air, reacting to her body language at his words. He'd misspoke, and badly at that.

"No, no. I'm not taking care of it for you like that. I meant to say, I can get you some herbs that might help lessen its effect on you, but with your particular duties, I wasn't sure if perhaps it would be better to leave well enough alone rather than risking something reacting poorly to whatever they gave you..."

Ohhhh~ Well, now she just felt foolish.

"No, no, it's fine, I just-"

"You expect men to see you that way, I get it. Isiat paid for you for that reason after all. It's just a misinterpretation, that's all. I had a poor choice of words, and you understandably took them for something I didn't intend. Don't think about it too hard, mistakes happen. You can get dressed, you're all checked out. Come back in another two weeks and I'll see how your scars are healing." He smiled as he handed her the neatly folded pile of clothes she'd disrobed from, and hastily she got dressed again and left, letting the conversation slip from her mind.

_____________

They'd been clear of the valleys and jungle for a few days now. The air above deck was dry and hot, searing with the first edges of the desert as they flew what must have been barely a few hundred feet above the rolling dunes. Minute particles of sand blew in with the gusts, scattering the dark wood of the High Fortune with a dusting of gold aside from the ornamentation. The crew up here had been working double shifts, and she stepped aside as many an uncollared free man and a variety of slaves in overalls scurried this way and that, sweeping the excess overboard before it could accumulate in piles as she'd seen to the aft of the airship.

She found Isiat purely by chance, leaning against one of the rails at the front of the ship, apparently in the middle of an animated conversation with a long-bodied lizard whose tail dragged behind him across the wooden deck. It stuck almost comically beneath his plain white robes, a streak of sand-coloured scales swishing this way and that as he concentrated on the board before him. His collar was silver or at least a highly polished steel, and they spoke rapidly between themselves in the flowing languages of the desert people. A chessboard had been set between them, along with a pair of hour-glasses with an odd wooden block mechanism to stop the flow of each player's grain.

Their paws movements were almost violent, and she approached as quietly as she could, her bare paws making barely a whisper. She caught snippets of their conversation, but their words were moving as quickly as their paws across the board. She watched with fascination. There was clearly a battle of wits underway on the small tabletop. Pieces were shifted, taken, replaced, and defeated almost too fast for her eyes to follow, each move punctuated by a loud slap as they alternatingly stopped and started their timers.

They played with a precision and a skill that was almost mechanical in nature, darting back and forth between the timers and the individual pieces as if playing by pure muscle memory. She didn't dare interrupt but merely continued to watch. After a mere thirty seconds raced by in their blisteringly fast-paced game, Isiat threw up his paws with a frustrated growl, turning his back to the game, his king neatly captured in a corner of the board, pinned by his own pieces and unable to escape. She'd seldom played the game herself, but she knew enough to recognise a losing situation when she saw one.

Isiat finally sighed and shook the lizard's outstretched hand. The stranger to Shadi bowed graciously and departed, sparing the tan lioness only a sidelong glance as he left. There were coins in his scaled fingers that hadn't been there a few moments ago. She approached Isiat, quietly and slowly as he brooded over the board, hellbent on figuring out just what he'd done wrong. After a moment, he let out a defeated huff, and let a look of recognition creep across his features.

"One problem with spending so much time aboard my ship. You run out of fresh opponents. You repeat the same tricks, and eventually, your opponents learn your favoured plays. They adapt and improvise. They become one of two things. If they don't change, they become predictable, easy to read. The same tricks will get them over and over. But when you change things up on your opponents, you become unpredictable. The tables turn, and the element of surprise comes into play... Suddenly, the cards, or in this care, the pieces, are all in your hands." He nodded as one of his fingers traced the board, mimicking the intricate and complicated pattern of his moves.

She frowned, leaning over beside him to study the board. It yielded none of its secrets to her, and after a second, she frowned.

"I don't play chess." She commented bluntly, having nothing more valuable to contribute to his chain of thought. It earned a chuckle from Isiat as she broke the silence that had lingered between them.

"I wasn't talking about chess."

"I know. You were talking about me." Shadi nodded. She'd come to the realisation when his finger had stopped tracing the actual moves.

He paused for a moment and looked up from the board, meeting her mismatched eyes. After a moment, he tapped his nose, a broad grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Just so. You're as sharp as you are pretty, Shadi. Be careful, I may want to keep you after all." He teased, though the joke naturally didn't sit as easy for her. Still, she faked a polite, good-humoured smile that he saw clean through, and didn't comment upon, deciding it simply better to let her think he hadn't noticed.

"The merchants I frequent business with across the continent have grown wise to my tricks, my plays, as you noticed, and unfortunately, short of offering some brand new product to bedazzle them with, in order to increase my profits while not pricing my goods unreasonably so as to open the door to competition, I have to make a new play. Something bold, something enticing, something they can't resist..." He added with a wicked flash of his teeth.

Shadi nodded thoughtfully, considering his words.

"You already said I should keep their eyes off the paper. Just how exactly do you plan to swindle them if not by increasing your prices?" Of course, there had to be some trick to it. She understood enough of the mercantile mindset to know you couldn't simply give away your stock, and you couldn't overcharge for it without angering your customers.

"No no, I plan to give them exactly what they pay for. This airship is unique. It's the only one of its class that isn't operated directly by the dragon clans. Normally, these ships ferry precious metals and ores from the clan's mines to their foundries and smelteries in the mountains. If you want to buy what dragons are selling, you have to go to them directly... unless..." He chuckled and let the sentence hang with a pregnant pause. He seemed to be focusing on her intently like he simply delighted in watching her fit the larger pieces of the puzzle together instead of just giving her all the answers she wanted.

It clicked after a few moments, unbidden by a memory of kneeling between a particular red dragon's thighs. Unbidden, it set between her thighs tingling against the soft silk of her undergarments. She simply prayed Isiat didn't notice how pink her nose had gotten as she turned to look out at the dunes over the railing.

"Scion. Since he works for you, he can be a middle man between your trade and the dragon clans."

Isiat's face lit up like the bright sun overhead, clearly pleased with her quick deduction. He stepped in behind her, laying his paws on her shoulders and rubbing her with a rewarding massage.

"Exactly. When I first acquired the High Fortune, the clan's were furious. Each of these vessels takes years to manufacture, and every one of them is the sole property of the clan that builds them. Initially, they sent representatives to try and tell me my wager with the captain wasn't valid. When that didn't work, they offered me a fortune for its return." He chuckled as he recounted the tale as if laughing at some inside joke.

Shadi didn't really care that much, but his paws felt nice, and in a bid to keep them moving, she rolled her shoulders and let him have a quiet, pleased purr from her while rolling her head back to brush her cheek against his fingers. He worked his fingertips deeper, using the rounded edges of his claws to work at the knots in her muscles.

"Scion was the one who reached a compromise. He convinced them that if they did business with me for access to their goods and certain privileges with the clan's, he would serve as their liaison, and ensure that the High Fortune didn't change hands again, along with giving certain tributes to them. In return, I can carry more goods, quicker, further, and more reliably than any other trader on the continent." He nodded appreciably, his long, silky tails flickering behind himself. The motion sent grains of sand scattering over the deck.

"So it's not that you plan to swindle them, you... what exactly?" She turned, shrugging off his paws as she leaned back against the railing, her long tail hanging over the edge of the vessel with naught but the air and the sand below her.

"Ahhh, now you're beginning to get it. Because I can carry more goods than anyone else, I don't have to mark up my prices to make a tidy profit. I just have to sell more than everyone else more reliably. By the time we turn for home, most of the holds will be empty from what we've sold, or filled with items we've brought. A normal trader would have to send a hundred caravans across the surface to make the returns I can in a single trip. On top of keeping their eyes off the papers, you should also try to upsell them as much as possible. Keep them entertained." He gave a low rumble that paired with the way he was practically eye-fucking her, made the lioness's hairs on the back of her neck stand on end in a most pleasant way.

"A male will buy anything if you've got his cock in your muzzle and are keeping him on the edge of bliss. The gods, in their wisdom, gave us our cocks and our brains, but enough blood to run one at a time. Let them agree to things using the lower brain. Just be careful not to set them off too early, else you will need to find another way to keep them occupied." He flashed her a grin, reaching up to scritch gently between her ears. The gesture still felt strange, but at the same time, it was praising and sincere. She could tell he was pleased with her. She felt much more herself over the last few days than she had in a long time, and the upward trend of her mood showed no signs of slowing.

Of course, the weight of her collar still reminded her just what she was to him, but it was a much easier burden to carry now. It didn't weigh her down into the muck of despair as it had used to. She had a genuine hope that one day, she would be free again, and Isiat was a man of his word based on everything she had seen and heard of him. His reputation and his sincere desire to do some good by buying what slaves he could seemed his way of putting his best foot forward to lead with. She trusted him to keep his word. The letters at her door had kept coming, and her debt to him was very slowly being settled one day at a time.

She fully planned to keep pushing her boundaries with him of course. Every chance she had, she tested his word against his worth, and each time so far, he had kept it to the letter of their agreement. She'd flatly refused to service him the other morning until he'd fed her. Perhaps he was simply eager to get back to it, but he'd walked her to the galley himself and sat discussing one of his favourite novels while they are.

Afterwards, he'd still taken her back to her quarters and fucked her silly on her bed, but a copy of said novel had ended up by her door along with her next payment in the ships own currency. She spent the next day reading it cover to cover.

And perhaps, she thought as she watched him looking her up and down, that was part of the odd allure she had towards him. In every measure she could think to judge him by, he was a good man, something she never expected to title anyone who owned slaves. She still despised the dogs who had held her for so long, but they hadn't treated her like this, nor ever even given a flicker of hope to any of the slaves they kept.

Their goal was the utter eradication of the feline species. His was something different. It wasn't anything overtly noble or heroic. He wasn't trying to win any wars, or be a hero, but perhaps-

No... He still owned slaves at the end of the day, which meant he had to pay someone for slaves. He was kind, but his choices still gave inventive to slave markets. Perhaps it was more complicated than that, but right now, she didn't see how she could reconcile that flaw in him.

"Uncle Izzy!" A chorus of small voices cried out at once, interrupting her chain of thought. Isiat turned just in time to be all but bowled over as a swarm of scampering children raced over to him, at once adhering to his legs, arms and tails as if glued. With an exaggerated cry of alarm, they pulled him down to the deck in a pile, giggling and laughing as they clambered over the hapless vulpine. He looked up at her with mock distress.

"Shadi, uh, a paw, if you would?" He managed with a half-hearted chuckle. She raised her paws, stepping back against the railing.

"Uh-uh. You seem to have it perfectly in hand." She couldn't help the laugh that left her. Seeing so many innocent little ones enjoying themselves made her heart flutter in an odd, sympathetic way. All of the children who had been captured by the canines with her had been rounded into a separate pen and taken to somewhere else. She didn't know what their fate was... she realised she didn't want to know. They had their collars fitted and were marched to their fates. The very thought of it was painful, and she turned away from him, closing her eyes as she took a breath to calm herself.

One two three four, one two three four...

She tapped her foot to the gentle tempo, timing her breathing with each beat until the tension had left her muscles like a retreating tide. A gentle tug on her dress brought her eyes down, a young mouse girl looking up at her with irises as vivid as a sunset.

"What's your name miss?" She asked in a small, nervous squeak. The pretty white sundress on her was adorable. Shadi looked back to Isiat and noticed none of the children had collars on them. Her eyes went back to the mouse.

"I'm Shadi." She began, kneeling down to the girl's level. "What's your name sweetie?"

"I'm Lilly! Are you uncle Isiat's slave? My mommy is as well, but she says she's very close to being free! I hope you'll be free soon too!" Shadi blushed as the girl darted back to the other children, who were busy trying to prevent Isiat's efforts to extract himself from the mass pile of fur and scales and feathers crawling over him.

"There you all are! Oh, I'm sorry Sir, I looked away for one minute and they'd all taken off on me!" A startled looking coyote female called out as she rushed to Isiat's side, pushing and brushing the children off of him to a chorus of groans and protests. He dusted himself off, laughing quietly as he waved a paw.

"Oh, it was nothing Larise, just the children being children, and one can hardly blame them for that. When they have to spend so much time below deck and making their own fun, you can hardly blame them for sneaking out when the weather is agreeable enough. If it was like this anywhere but the desert with less sand..." he gave a good-natured chuckle, gesturing towards Shadi.

"Shadi, this is-"

"Larise." The female nodded curtly, extending a paw. Shadi couldn't help but notice the copper collar around her neck, along with the symbols that adorned its sides. _Breeder. Multiple live births. Concubine. _She recognized the rough runes of the canine written shorthand at once. It was the same script that her own markings were written in. Almost self-consciously, she reached up, rubbing a paw along the metal around her neck.

It had grown warm out here in the sunlight, and the weight of it was suddenly very noticeable indeed.

"A pleasure." Shadi said simply, taking the offered hand. Quickly, she helped to herd the children into an organized group, waiting and grumbling quietly.

"So are uh, all of them-" Shadi began to ask. Now that the coyote was standing beside them, her rusty patterned fur and firey, golden eyes struck a remarkable similarity she noticed repeated in several of the children.

"Oh, no-no... Well, most of them... I work below deck most of the time when I'm not helping Amaril teaching in the library, and well, the herbs don't always do the trick, or I forget, or I don't ask, so, you know..." She admitted with a coy, embarrassed smile. Shadi warmed to her instantly.

"Happy accidents happen." The coyote laughed.

"Mhmm, expensive ones as well. I've been keeping tabs on your debt as well you know-"

"Three hundred Draskar left-"

"And interest, for the pause you put on it when you had your last mongrel. Three hundred and forty-seven, if Scion's math is right, which it always is."

"Stop at a port, and I'll make that in a weekend." She gloated smugly. Isiat just smirked.

"And spend most of it before I see a penny. You were supposed to be off my ship years ago Larise, and you know it as well." He tried to put on a stern voice. Tried to. Shadi saw it fall flat as soon as the corners of his lips gave away the beginnings of a smile.

"Well stop being so damned nice and I might! Go on kids, get back to Ama before she tans all of your hides! Shoo, shoo!" She waved the children away with an ushering like she was herding sheep, before she turned, and walked back to Isiat.

She stalked over to him and gently lay a paw on the side of his waist, giving a low, sultry growl that Shadi could barely hear over the low din of the airship itself.

"You know, if you uh, ever wanted to help me work off that debt a little faster, I could stop by your cabin for a visit later-"

"Mmm, tempting, but with your track record, next thing I'd know you'd be presenting me with a little bastard and claiming interest for his upbringing as well. Get going you." He gave her a playful swat, before grabbing her paw at the last second. He thrust a few coins from his pocket into it before shooing her as well.

"And let the youngsters get something nice with that. Now get out of here! And pay your damned debt!" He called as she disappeared into one of the hatches leading below deck.

"I swear, between her and a handful of other girls, they contribute more to the population than they do the coffers... Shadi? Everything okay?" Isiat asked, frowning at the odd expression on her muzzle.

Shadi realized she had been holding his gaze, an odd feeling fluttering around in her chest that made her hairs want to stand on end. With sheer force of will, she pushed it back, suppressing a blush on her nose at the embarrassing moment.

"No, no, I'm fine! Just awfully warm out here." She lied, rubbing at her collar some more. Isiat didn't bring it up.

"Well, since you're so warm, why don't you go back inside. I'll have some ice water brought to my cabin. I was in a mood to practice some dancing with you if you felt like it. Not the other kind of dancing, unless you wanted to, but just actual dancing... And perhaps the other kind as well." He tripped over himself with his words as he tried to explain himself, and seemed happy with the results.

He wanted to dance, and probably fuck her into the bedsheets afterwards. It was a pleasant day, and she was in a pleasant mood. Dancing would make a good distraction for her often wandering thoughts and a welcome one at that. In truth, she hadn't actually danced at all for nearly the last week, save for a few pieces of practice by herself in her cabin.

"I would like that si- Isiat." She caught herself falling back into old habits in her distraction, and not ones that she wished to return to. Isiat positively beamed in delight.

"I'll have that water sent up right away. Shall we say, lunch first? I need to check on a few things before I can relax today."

"Only if you bring it back with you." She would never say no to an offer of food. Not since escaping the castle. She was regaining a lot of her curvy figure. The stranger in the mirror she'd once seen was not who she saw any more. She was healthy again and had the male's kindness to thank for it. If he wanted to feed her and pay her for what she did with him afterwards? That was a good deal even when held up to Isiat's standards of exactly what that meant.

He reached up, and Shadi had to resist her instinct to flinch at the gesture, before his paw fell upon her head, and gave the back of her ears a soft rub. She couldn't and didn't try to stop the soft, appreciative purr that escaped her.

"Good girl. Go relax for a while. I'm sure I'll find more than a few ways to wear you out before long. Until then, the chaise in my room is all yours, and I expect this sunlight should be right-"

He turned again, but Shadi was already gone, her tail disappearing around a corner as she sped towards the prospect of a leisurely cat nap.

"...On it. Right. Bloody cats..." Isiat chuckled to himself, but he'd spoken true. There were a few matters he had to see taken care of first before he could spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the afterglow. He'd get the necessary unpleasantries out of the way first. Then, he could enjoy his assets.

Oh, she had been worth every coin he'd spent.