...….♡....(>_o)
The lecture was a blur of shifting graphs and agonizing cramps, but the true torment began when the room fell into a rhythmic, low-frequency hum. At first, Kaelan thought it was the air conditioning or his own frayed nerves, but as he leaned his head against his palm, the small dragon earring on his panther ear began to vibrate with a warmth that felt like a living pulse.
Then, the voice started. It wasn't in the room; it was inside his skull.
...Gods, he looks exquisite when he's grumpy. That little twitch in his left ear makes me want to pin him to the chalkboard. I wonder if he's still as sore as he looks... I should have brought the silk pillows from the South Wing...
Kaelan's eyes snapped open, his jaded exhaustion momentarily replaced by a look of pure, mortified shock. He looked at Ignis, who was currently standing at the front of the room, calmly explaining the Law of Diminishing Returns to a group of terrified freshmen. Ignis's lips weren't moving, but his thoughts were loud, clear, and incredibly perverse.
...I hope he bites me again today. The mark on my neck is already fading; I need him to deepen the claim... maybe the shoulder this time...or lower...
"Get out of my head!" Kaelan hissed, though it came out as a strangled squeak.
Tamsin leaned over, concerned. "Kaelan? You okay? You look like you just ate a lemon."
"He's... he's in my head!" Kaelan whispered frantically, his face a red shaded of red , his black ears swiveling toward the front like radar dishes. "The earring! It's a psychic talkie walkie for psycho! I can hear his disgusting obsession in high definition!"
After class, Kaelan tried to limp away toward the library, but Ignis was there in a heartbeat, his celebrity like aura casting a long shadow over the lockers. However, something was different. The predatory edge was still there, but Ignis's posture was strangely... yielding.
"Kaelan," Ignis said softly. He didn't loom. He stood a respectful three feet away, his hands clasped behind his back. "You look fatigued. Would you like me to carry you? Or perhaps I should fetch you some tea from the High Court?"
Kaelan stared at him, his sarcastic defenses faltering in the face of this sudden obedience. "What are you doing? Why are you acting like a butler who's had a lobotomy?"
"I am listening," Ignis replied with a smug yet strangely sincere tilt of his head. "You said I was a 'scaly pervert' who never considers your needs. So, I am here to serve. What do you require, my panther?"
...I require him to look at me like he wants to devour me, but for now, I will be the perfect, obedient subject... even if it kills me... the earring whispered into Kaelan's brain.
Kaelan groaned, rubbing his temples. "What I 'require' is for you to go away. Go to another continent. Go back to your obsidian palace and count your gold. Just... get far, far away from me."
Ignis's expression shifted, a flash of ancient, unmovable power flickering in his golden eyes. He took one step forward, closing the distance. "I can do many things for you, Kaelan. I can fetch the moon. I can burn your enemies. I can even be 'obedient' for a time. But there is one thing I cannot do."
"And that is?" Kaelan challenged, his ego flaring.
"I cannot leave you," Ignis rumbled, his voice a deep, vibrating chord of obsession. "The Dragon does not abandon his heart scale. It is physically impossible for me to stay far from where you breathe."
Before Kaelan could launch a funny curse about Draconic biology, Ignis's hands were on his waist. He pulled Kaelan into the shadow of a heavy stone pillar. They were still in the hallway; students were walking by just a few feet away, but Ignis didn't care.
He crushed his lips against Kaelan's in a forceful, deep kiss. Kaelan's initial response was a muffled snarl of outrage, and he did the only thing he could, he bit. He sank his teeth into Ignis's lower lip, drawing blood that tasted like iron and spice.
Ignis pulled back just an inch, his lip split and bleeding, a look of triumphant pride on his face. "Yes," he breathed, the earring echoing his manic excitement. "More. Leave your mark where the whole world can see it."
"Are you insane!!" Kaelan hissed, his face a brilliant crimson. "People are watching! We're going to get caught, you over sized salamander!"
"Let them watch," Ignis shrugged, his eyes glowing. "Let them see what the King belongs to."
*
*
*
Later, back at the apartment, the atmosphere turned from chaotic to dangerously domestic. Ignis had followed Kaelan in, ignoring Marcus and Tamsin with a wave of his hand. He sat on Kaelan's bed, watching as Kaelan tried to change into a clean hoodie.
"I bought these," Ignis said casually, tossing a small, glossy box onto the nightstand.
Kaelan squinted at the box. His eyes widened. Condoms. "Why... why would you... you perverse lizard!" Kaelan stammered, his short temper hitting a new peak. "I'm a male! We are both males! What is wrong with your scaly brain?"
Ignis stood up, his height filling the room. He leaned over Kaelan, a smug smirk playing on his bleeding lip. "In the Dragon Realm, Kaelan, certain Shifters,specifically those as powerful as a Pantherinae,react to Draconic essence in... unexpected ways."
He leaned in, his breath hot against Kaelan's ear. "If I were to finish inside you without those, the magic is so potent that you could very likely get pregnant. A Dragon Panther hybrid. Imagine the pride that child would have."
Kaelan felt his knees go weak, not from desire, but from pure, unadulterated horror. "A... a baby? I'm a Microeconomics major! I have midterms! I am not having a scaly kitten!"
Ignis shrugged, his smirk widening into a satisfied grin. "Then I suggest you stay still while I put one on. Or, we could take the risk. I personally think you'd look magnificent with a bump."
...I would never let him go then. He would be anchored to my throne forever. My beautiful, pregnant, cursing cat.…the earring whispered with terrifying affection.
Kaelan let out a long, high pitched scream of exasperated fury into his pillow. "I really wish you disappeared! And I wish that all these are just dreams!! Get away from me, you procreative monster!"
Ignis only laughed, his hands already reaching for Kaelan's waist, his obedience clearly having reached its very short limit.
"Did I stutter when I say get away from me!" Kaelan try to wiggle away .