Ravi indicated himself with a jerk of the chin.
“I’m literally not wearing a stitch of clothing, this is pretty easy to tell. Does it really look to you like I’m interested in having sex? I mean, I’m all for getting tied up now and again, don’t have anything against it. The bondage element is not really a turn-off, if you catch my drift. There’s not a single part of me, I’m talking even on the cellular level, that wants to touch Jerk Face.”
Jerk Face, for some reason, looked insulted at being called Jerk Face.
Both Thomas and Jerk Face seemed to be having second thoughts. They obviously hadn’t tested this—at least, not on a dragon. That was obvious, really. How would they even find a dragon to test this on? Whatever magical theory they’d based this plan on had just failed rather spectacularly in front of their eyes. And now they didn’t know what to do. No Plan B, huh?
“Can we at least talk about this?” Ravi whined at them. “I’m losing feeling in my arms, and I want pants.”
Thomas’s expression turned bulldog again. “Try it anyway. He might be bluffing. And it could be the potion needs skin contact to work properly.”
Jerk Face didn’t look as sold, but apparently getting to have sex with a dragon was still enough of a turn-on that he was willing to go for it.
Ah, hell. Ravi’d had a feeling they wouldn’t give up on this idea easily. Fortunately for him, he did have a Plan B of sorts.
Any mage could tell you that a dragon’s musculature was insane. The muscles required to fly were intense, and there wasn’t a single part of them that wasn’t toned. Ravi’s core strength was a step above most clan members’ because of the acrobatics he liked to do while flying.
So, it was without any effort at all that he lifted up his legs and caught his knees over the bar, effectively folding himself in half with his ass facing the ceiling and his head hanging down. Rather like the position bats slept in, actually.
He was no longer Ravi. He was Bat-Ravi.
Both men stared up at him as if they couldn’t believe he’d done that so easily. Then Jerk Face complained, “How do we even get him down from there?”
Thomas was clearly wondering the same thing. And probably wishing he had that Scotch in hand. “He can’t stay up there indefinitely.”
Ravi grinned at him. “Wanna bet?”
Glowering, Thomas crossed the distance and reached up, latching onto what he could reach of Ravi, namely his upper arms and shoulders. He tried yanking hard to pull Ravi back down.
No dice. His skin was too slippery to really gain a hold. See, if he’d left Ravi dressed, he’d have a handhold right now. Ravi cackled and held tight.
Thomas tried gripping the back of his neck next, but that didn’t work, either.
Ravi was both stronger and more determined than Thomas. He was absolutely not coming down until they left. Maybe not even then. His arms really appreciated the blood flow. And it was kind of fun hanging upside down.
Growling in frustration, Thomas sharply indicated that Jerk Face should come closer. “Come touch him, see if that helps.”
Jerk Face reached up to put a hand on Ravi’s arm—which, eww, gross.
Ravi shivered and jerked away from him. He hissed like a wet cat. “Eww, don’t touch me. Back. Back, I say!”
Jerk Face let his hand drop and spread his hands in a helpless shrug. “Thomas, I don’t think this will work. If I can’t compel him, there’s no way to enact the bonding spell.”
Thomas glowered some more. Really, frustration was a good look on the man. Ravi felt he should wear it more often.
Ravi smiled sunnily back. Just to piss the man off even further.
“He’s not even worried,” Jerk Face muttered, sounding defeated. “Like he knows I can’t force him.”
“You really can’t,” Ravi promised him, still with that sunny smile.
Thomas shook a finger at him. “You’re bonded, aren’t you?”
“Wooooow. Seriously, no, woooow. You can’t even tell if I’m bonded or not?” Ravi’s eyes bounced between the two of them, head spinning from that question.
Neither man looked pleased with his response, but fuck ’em, Ravi didn’t care what they thought.
“You’re trying to force a bond when you can’t even tell if I’m bonded?! Dude. I’m actually embarrassed on your behalf.”
Thomas got right into his face. Which sort of resembled the Spiderman kiss from the movie and, brain, can we not make that comparison? Please and thank you. Because, ewww.
“Are you mated?!” Thomas demanded, voice rising.
“Basically,” Ravi admitted candidly. Because, why not? They couldn’t do anything to Sora through him. And it might screw with them further.
Jerk Face threw his hands up in disgust and finally put his pee-pee away. “It figures that the one dragon we manage to lay hands on already has a mate. Dammit. No compulsion we can lay on him will work.”
“We’ll have to rethink this.” Thomas finally backed away from Ravi and turned sharply on a heel, heading for the door. “If we can strip the bond from him, we might be able to try again.”
“But won’t that kill him?”
“I can think of worse things than killing a dragon.” Thomas slammed the metal door shut behind him. As he walked down the hall, Ravi caught only part of Thomas’s continued conversation. “If we can find his mate and kill him…”
Ravi’s heart stammered in his chest, and he struggled to stay in position, breathing steadily. They would eventually figure out he wasn’t magically bonded, and he wasn’t sure what they’d do at that point. Ravi still didn’t believe that they could force him to mate with someone. But what they would do to him in the process of trying…he didn’t want to live through.
The key, though, was not letting them anywhere near Sora.
His eyes closed for a moment, and he mentally wrapped himself up in the love Sora had for him. He’d make it back to his chosen mate. He would. Ravi just had to figure out how to get free of these cuffs. Something about them prevented him from shifting into dragon form. But if he could just get free of them, he’d be able to shift. And then fly like a bat out of hell.
It was a race at this point. Would Ravi get free first? Or would his clan and Sora reach him?
Ravi, for the first time ever, didn’t care who won this game. As long as it wasn’t the enemy.
Even though he knew no one could hear him, he found himself voicing the words in a threadbare whisper. “I love you. And I’ll make it back to you. Wind and skies as my witness, the Jaeggi won’t separate another mated pair.”
“I won’t let them.”
The metal door opened, a hint of a scrape where it rubbed against the frame, and a curious face popped into view.
Ravi blinked at the person.
And got a blink back.
Was this a man? A woman? Ravi couldn’t really tell. The person had the most androgynous look he’d ever seen. Blond hair fell into a long bob just past the collarbones in a sleek manner. The face was narrow but attractive, and dark eyes promised mischief with a slight quirk of the brow.
“Hallo,” the person said in clear German.
“Hallo,” Ravi replied readily. This person may or may not wish him harm, but at least he wasn’t just hanging here, bored.