The warm sunlight streaming through the window greeted the two figures sleeping on the vine bed.
The ache in keira's back grew steadily worse as she began to awaken from a deep sleep. She gasped, narrowing her eyes, and started to remember the picture from last night. And by how her body was aching, no doubt, they had overdone it.
Raising her hand and gently massaging her aching hip, she blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the light of the new day.
She tilted her head, that was on the chest of the culprit, and found flushed bruises all over Arel's pale skin. A smirk erupted on her face, feeling proud of her 'works', unknowing that her body was much redder than his.
The little finger began drawing on the wide chest, giving a tingling as his lips let out a groan, "Umm..." He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight hug, as if telling her to stop disturbing him and continue to sleep.
"Arel, let me go. I need to go toilet," she whispered, squirming in his arms.
"Huh ..." He slightly tilted his head, and murmured in a drowsy voice, ".. well, let's go." He let out an exhale, sat up, and turned his face to his mate voluptuous figure.
Sliding his hands under her body to gently lift her up into his arm, he held her straight to the ladder. He knew that her legs must be numb after those uncountable matings that they had enjoyed together. Certainly, she couldn't climb down the ladder. "Let me help. I know your legs can't move yet."
She nodded, agreeing with him, as her legs were completely useless, absolutely no energy to climb down the ladder.
He brought her to the outside of the tree house, holding her still in his arms.
"Why won't you let me down?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Are you sure you can stand?"
"...let me try first," she tapped his arm, signaling him to put her down.
He carefully set her down, lifting his arms up, shielding her body in case she would fall.
According to his expectation, "Plop..." her body fell on his chest.
"..." She silently blinked at him, realizing that she has overestimated her legs.
Arel understood that, he held her and let her take care of her personal matters.
_____
When she was done, he brought her back to the bathroom, put her down on the wooden bathtub, and started bathing her.
Without struggling, Keira let him wash her, as her body was too tired to do it by herself.
Turning her gaze to check on her skin, which was full of red spots, she sudden stopped at the golden dragon mark on her chest.
"A dragon? since when's it here" She arched her brows, touching the mark on her chest. "It's pretty, but wait.."
Arel's hands rubbed her back, leaning his face closer to whisper in a deep, gravel voice, "... It's me"
The tingling made Keira tilt her head slightly. "I've seen beast marks on other females, but why mine is a dragon? A dragon is a mythical creature, isn't it?" It confused her, how was that possible when there was no dragon in this world.
"Yes, indeed.." he answered with a straight face, while massaging Keira's shoulders.
She quickly spun around and grabbed his arm "What? .." falling into silence for a moment, slowly sorting things out, and continued, "My goodness sake! Are you saying you're a dragon? Holy ****!, this is a big piece of information, Arel! Why haven't you told me sooner?"
"You didn't ask," His voice was calm like a deep northern lake, while Keira was nearly freaking out.
"So you closed your mouth in silence and didn't say a word that you are a freaking dragon because I didn't ask!?"
"Yeah," Sliding his hand down, he massaged her leg.
Keira sighed, pinching her temples. 'I must be blind by his beauty... I just mate with a dragon.. a dragon!!'
Narrowing her eyes at him, she asked "What else you didn't tell me?" The reason she hasn't asked him any personal questions during the earlier months was because of his amazingly awful in conversation. But now, after they have successfully mated, he should tell her about his origins.
"..." He was silent, raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, pretending to be innocent.
She blinked twice, erasing the sight in front of her. "Don't even try, I won't buy it. Tell me about yourself now."
"..." He kept silent, still pretending he was all decent.
Rolling her eyes 'Why do I feel like I'm the culprit and Arel is the victim? I'm the victim here! I was conned!'
Seeing how her eyebrows were almost tied up together, he stopped teasing her. "Alright.. I yield." He raised both his hands up in a surrender gesture.
"..I'm a golden dragon." He paused in consideration, but Keira's unblinkingly stare pushed him to continue,
"My tribe is far from here, and I'm not sure if there's anyone left—and about my age many times older than you." He filled her in as much as he could to not let her worry about his past.
"How long have you been here?" She drew her face closer, urging him to respond quickly.
"It was many beast generations. dragons don't count their ages" then he went on massaging her other leg.
"Don't you miss your tribe? What about your family?"
"I've been out of the tribe for thousands of years. I don't know about my father, but my mother died a long time ago." His tone was calm, proving that it happened in the very long past.
Shocked by his answer, "What? Thousands of years.. my mate is that old!?" She stared at him with wide eyes after realizing she had not only just mated with a dragon but with thousands years old dragon. What kind of strange incident was this?
Frowning in displeasure as he heard his mate call him old when he has such a flawless face in his late twenties, "I'm not old," he leaned closer, whispering, "I can provide some proof if you need." After all, he's always ready.
Laughing dryly, "no need. Please give me some peace" Her legs were still numb, she didn't dare to test his endurance at the moment.
_____
After the bath, Arel brought her back to bed and cuddled up with her. Though, they were both completely naked since last night, She didn't feel a bit of cold, thanks to the huge figure that was always by her side and spreading the warm temperature throughout her body.
Seeing that she was closing her eyes serenely, he gently kissed on top of her head and quietly got up without waking her.
He went to take a shower and prepare a meal for her so that when she woke up, she could eat to help her body recover. When the food was done, he set it on the table and went down to the treehouse to feed the pheasant.
Before turning back home, he took an animal skin from the storage to make a new outfit for Keira, the one she has worn has been torn by him on their mating.
While he stitched the outfit, he thought about finding better fabric. It would be better if he took her to the nearby market to look for good quality.
As for the shining silk that he had, it has already been cut into her camisole, which she really liked s. But since the shining silk could be found only in the capital, he should bring her there later, when they have opportunities.
_____
_______
Keira woke up in the afternoon, her stomach rumbling with such noise that she couldn't sleep further.
Also, her lower body was getting better, she should get up from the bed and do a little exercise to help it adjust faster.
Wondering how long she had slept when the sky had turned into orange color, judging by how hungry she was, she was sure that it must be in the afternoon.
Sitting up on the bed, she carefully grabbed the vine pole on the bedside, and awkwardly hoisted herself up. Who would have thought that mated with a dragon would have turned her body into this condition? A groan escaped her lips as she told herself to be more careful next time.
Slowly striding crookedly in a strange posture towards the ladder, she plopped down, crawling near the ladder hole, didn't dare to climb down with her numb legs.
Poking her head down the ladder "Arelll Hello?"
"...." There was no response.
'Where is him? Did I just get a one-night stand?'
.
.