Chapter 2: A Cold Night

The blue dragon could see clearly in the darkness as she captured the small, around four-feet-tall, little thing that squeaked painfully when he blindly crashed into her. That was a little rougher than I wanted it to be. Though she had braced for him to run for it, she had not really expected that he would actually try to do so.

She adjusted the grip of her tail on him, and then she lifted him nearer to her nose, “Oh, you’re a little jayune.” She ignored his complaint about wanting to be let go. Everything ran away from her and found her terrifying, but where was he going to go? Darting off into a blizzard and freezing to death? That was pointless. “Why are you clear out here?”

He didn’t answer her; instead, he squirmed and kicked. He tried to get his fingers between himself and where her tail was looped about his hips and belly, and as the fingers pressed down on her scales, she could just feel how very icy they really were. She inspected him more closely; he was covered in snow, and his fur was wet on most of his body. That told her why he was probably here. “Shelter?”

He flailed. “Please let me go. I don’t have to bother you. I didn’t know you were here. I’ll leave!”

“You are not bothering me,” she said calmly, sniffing over him. He was quivering in her tail, and when she touched his feet with her nose tip, his shoes made a wet squelch. I am guessing he needs to get dry. And warm. Actually, warmth might be more important. And pretty urgent; he’s probably not shivering only because he’s frightened.

She sat back and balanced on her back legs and transferred him to her left paw. “So, are you from the town near the lake?” she asked.

He could only dimly see the large creature that had grabbed him in the darkness of the night blizzard. He felt himself moved from one part of her body to another part... felt like a paw, claws at the ends of fingers pricking at his side a little. Her question made him think of his hometown, and he just felt a tight, overwhelmed feeling in his chest. “It’s gone.”

To his surprise, she makes a soft crooning noise. “And you’re all by yourself?” And then she took off one of his wet shoes.

The question felt ominous as his wet toes were exposed to the blowing winds of the storm. “Thirty of us escaped; they’ll be looking for me in the morning.” His heart raced as he lied, and he truly didn’t know if even thirty people were going to be a consideration for this creature, which was so big she could hold him in her paw.

She plucked off his other shoe. “Is that so?” She removed his bag.

Color came to his face as that patronizing tone said she had seen right through him. “Please just let me go,” he pleaded.

“Hmm… No,” she said, barely pretending to contemplate it as she peeled off his wet cloak and hood. She put her nose against his ears. “So cold.”

“Stop taking things off, and it might not be so bad!” He twisted and tried to kick at her chin. He could really feel his own heart racing even though pressing off her chin with his feet didn’t faze her at all.

“You are really pushy for a little bunny man,” she said in a tone that made him try to kick at her again, except this time when he did so, his bare toes slid across a wet textured surface that curled against the tops of his feet—it was so warm it felt like fire on his toes.

He recoiled, but her lips closed around his toes and pulled, sliding his pants off as he kicked and squirmed to reclaim his legs. “What are you doing?”

“Also tastier than I expected, even if you are barely warmer than the snowflakes.”

He felt color come to his cheeks. “I am not that cold! Stop, please, I don’t want to… be your dinner or whatever it is you are up to.”

“Well, little bunny, it is no longer within your ability to decide whether I stop, whether I let you go, or whether I have dinner or not. However, for now, what I have decided to do is warm you up.”

“Yeah, no thanks, I don’t need anyone deciding things for me.” He tried to kick at her face again when he felt her warm breath tickling his paws. He missed, his feet swinging through the air and leaving him feeling off-balance in her paw. When he tried to squirm further down, he felt her warm breath once more on his toes. This time when he attempted to kick out, his paws slid across the heated, pebbly surface of her tongue once again, and he felt the pressure of her lips wrap around his legs.

Her paw shifted around him, two claws resting against his shoulders, her thumb sliding under the front of his shirt and sweater. He worked to pull his legs free, but she slurped him in and dragged him easily over her palm, deeper into her heated mouth. His heart raced so much that he started to feel as though he was going to faint. Heat engulfed the lower half of his body, and a slick wetness permeated his already wet fluff. His sweater and hood slid off over the top of his head, which pulled his arms up, so he could not even push his hands down to try to brace off the scaled lips. “Stop, stop, stop,” he gasped over and over.

She ignored him. She tilted her head up, and opened her mouth, and there was nothing to grip onto as he slid in. “Let me go!”

He was a mouthful; her teeth couldn’t quite close with him resting in the center of her tongue. He felt the pressure of both her tongue on one side of his body and the firmer upper palate of her mouth on the other side.

At the same time, it wasn’t as bad as he had feared at first. She continued to breathe around him, taking in frozen air from outside and then covering him in warm air as she breathed out. Her breath had a sharp smell that was sweet, a little earthy, but not as bad as he might have expected.

But he couldn’t move. All beneath him, her tongue shifted and pressed itself to his body, and his heart pounded so hard it competed with the wet noises of her mouth as he dreaded her taking a swallow. She was going to swallow him, and he was so small there was nothing that he could do to stop her, but all he wanted to do was escape it.

Panic mounted as saliva built up around him, pooling a little in the bottom of her mouth, and he felt himself gasping for air, frozen up, unable to even think with the adrenaline racing through him.

He is not complaining. He’s just breathing, she thought as she gathered his bag and clothes, taking care to make certain she didn’t miss anything. Did he calm down? She waited for several heartbeats, the desire to swallow him building up as the saliva started to accumulate in her mouth. He’s still. So, calm?

His fingers and toes were still like ice against her tongue. Truthfully, no part of him felt warm, and she felt little quivers pass through him every time she breathed in. She could hardly talk to him with her mouth full, so she decided he seemed mellow enough to proceed.

Kashira tilted her head back and gulped heavily just once. He was a bit big for one swallow, and she felt a stretch in her neck. She placed her right claw at the base of her throat, feeling him barely moving as her body pressed him down. She felt the little shape of him passing beneath her claws, and she traced him until he reached her chest, keeping her focus on him. Then, she squeezed a muscle in her chest, pushing him off to one side into her hoard gullet.

The dragon focused on the sensation of him settling into this belly-like space. He did squirm a little, before settling against her. “Good,” she said. She was not bothered when he didn’t answer her, considering he had been less than enthusiastic for obvious reasons about her whole plan.

Kashira found herself moving a little differently. She was unfamiliar with the sensation of this much weight inside of her, let alone something living and breathing like this, and he shifted with each of her movements. He was still so cold she felt she had swallowed something big and icy, but he was warming steadily.

She felt very satisfied by it. She had a hard time describing why that was to herself. Maybe it was the knowledge that she was saving him from the cold that made her feel so pleased with holding him deep inside. Maybe she felt strong, able to protect him from anything. Maybe a little smug because he had assumed the worst of her, and she was about to prove him wrong.

In the morning, she would have to consider how to get him dry. But not until the sun comes out; he clearly can’t see in the dark in the slightest. She returned to the part of the castle ruins she could actually fit inside, wiggling her way back through the front doors. Without the wind, she already felt a little warmer herself, so she could only imagine how harsh it had been on such a cute and vulnerable little jayune.

Kashira shook herself off, knocking snow out of her mane, which she expected more protests about, but he only flailed about over it. She placed his stuff on the ground, and then she turned a circle before lying down, pressing her weight a little more around him. Even though the little guy is still ice-cold, she thought as she settled, this is still cozy.

She yawned, listened to the sounds of the storm for a little while, wondered if even one of the thirty advertised escapees existed. She didn’t hear anything, and she pondered if the stressed bunny hadn’t actually calmed himself so much as he had just perhaps fainted from stress. Another big yawn as she thought perhaps she would just go back to sleep for a few hours; she could let him out after things settled down and he warmed all the way up. Maybe I should keep him. I’m a dragon, after all, and I’ve hoarded him.