“Atkin!” his father’s voice bellowed as they came in, and a strapping male with sandy-brown hair came jogging out, eyes a hollow sort of blue.
“Aw, jeez, Malkim. I’m getting the guest bathroom ready.” The dragon jogged off, and Marcus’s father turned back to me and smiled, his wide grin full of perfect, white teeth, all of them a little too sharp.
“And then, when you are clean and I feed you, I will welcome you properly.” Knowing eyes raked me up and down before flicking to Marcus with humor. “Trust the wolf in this one to sniff out a cat.”
I fidgeted nervously until the male, Atkin, came back and exchanged a few words with Marcus and the other.
Atkin, like most people, upon hearing I was mute, spoke less and louder, like I couldn’t hear, but I’d learned not to react to it. “This is the bathroom. You can use whatever is in here. I’ll be back with some clothes in a minute. There are washcloths in the shower already with lots of soap!”
As we stepped into the bathroom, the acoustics of the tile amplified his voice and I flinched.
“Oh…you hear fine. Sorry.” His face pinkened.
I nodded.
“What happened to your voice?” He gestured at his throat, and I blinked at him then glanced around before shrugging.
“Right. Mute. Can you write?” He frowned.
I nodded. I wasn’t that great at penmanship, but I could do it. I practiced a lot when I could.
“I’ll add a pen and notepad to the things I need to get.” He huffed and jogged off, leaving me to stare at the shower stall unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
I’d imagined spaceships less complicated as I wrestled with the dials until hot water sprayed out with a cloud of steam.
Really hot water. Nearly boiling. I undressed and shoved my limp, heavy clothing into my feed sack and took a deep breath of anticipation and delight.
I forced myself into the shower and let the hard jets hit me face-first. Dingy water trailed my body, circled my feet, and made its way down the drain as I grabbed for one of the many washcloths laid over the top of the stall door. A shuddering breath forced its way from me. Hot water. Soap. I scrubbed at myself with determination, watching my stained skin turn parchment white with the palest orange freckles in patterns over my legs and arms, tinged yellow almost like healing bruises. Another sign I was bobcat. Toothbrush and toothpaste sat on a ledge, and I shifted my teeth into fangs to scrub at them better, letting the minty foam assault my mouth with utter joy. Had I any way to do so, I’d have moaned in pleasure.
I’d never had water that hot. Never had soap like they’d given me. Shampoo? I’d always used a bar of soap on my head unless I was stealing from one of the other families. The foam came out nearly brown as I exfoliated layers of skin to reach themeunderneath it all.
“Easy in there, buddy. You’ll scrub your skin clean off.” Atkin’s voice spoke up as the door opened.
I raised my hand over the lip of the textured shower door with a thumbs-up, as if that were the intention.
He sat something on a toilet lid, and the blurry form of him saluted me before sauntering out, door clicking, muttering something about his mate hibernating, and her being better suited for taking in strays.
I stretched and twisted in the water, thankful I didn’t have much body hair. Most omegas didn’t. I had some fuzz around the giblets, but that was about it. I scrubbed it extra all the same, my ass too. The alpha that had taken his turn with me earlier that day had pulled out, but he’d still come on me, leaving that fetid stink. It’d take days to wash off, I knew from experience, but that hadn’t been a problem before. Some of the guys kinda liked it, trying to mark me with their scent over one another, like a competition. I hated it.
I hated it so bad.
I hatedthem.
My fist clenched the bar of soap, and the bar deformed under my grip.
But the dragon? If he wanted to mark me up? I’d let him. He smelled nice, and didn’t yell at me. He wanted to get me away, and dragons were kind.
When the hot water stung my skin from how raw I’d scrubbed myself, I turned the water off and stepped out, dripping onto a beige bathmat flattened around my feet as water soaked into it. Beaded droplets trailed my chest, down my legs, and fell in rivulets from my hacked hair. It’d been longer, trailing my shoulder blades, but my comb had lost enough teeth that keeping care of it was pointless. And stupidly, I’d accepted when the alpha’s wife had offered to cut it for me. Silly me for trusting anyone.
I grabbed a towel and dried off as best as I could. Clothes were next, and they were a little long for me, but they fit if I bunched them up a bit. Better than most of the clothes I’d owned.
I gathered my belongings to my chest and stepped from the bathroom, staring out at a long, warm hall that seemed to stretch longer than the entire village. And if I played my cards right, that hallway would be part of my new home.
I took a deep breath, letting pine, chocolate, cedar, and honey all invade my senses. No body odor. No rank outhouses.
And because of my gift, I couldn’t burn.
I could stand in the middle of dragon fire, and no bobcat could ever touch me again.
