Lira’s alarm woke her up an hour and a half later, and she grabbed new un-destroyed clothes from a drawer in Cait’s dresser.

  “When did you move in?” the big girl asked with a teasing smirk on her face.

  “While you were out on your big game hunt with your other girlfriend,” Lira responded matter-of-factly.

  “I think the word you’re looking for there is ‘our’,” Cait countered, drawing a sigh from Lira.

  “I hope so, babe. Anyway, good thing I did, otherwise there’d be an open flame warning until I get back to my apartment with what you did to these poor leggings,” she responded, peeking at Cait through the hole she’d torn in the garment’s crotch. “I’ve got a PT appointment, so gotta run! Have fun with Qi!”

  “How-?”

  “I told her to talk to you, last time she and I…. talked,” Lira responded with a mischievous grin, and bounced out of the room.

  Well, that one’s cool with… the way I am.

  It was good to know, but Cait hadn’t gotten a read on whether or not Kennedy would be on board with Cait’s preferred recreational activities. In addition, while Qi was hot as hell, and the sex had been great, she was not as experienced as Cait had assumed. Quite the opposite in fact.

  Cait had resolved to leave less of a trail of emotional devastation now that she was a Guardian, and letting a relative innocent like Qi get involved in her increasingly complicated personal life seemed like a bad way to accomplish that.

  Making a lot of assumptions, Cait. Maybe she wants to make it clear that was just a fling. Christ, please let it be that easy.

  Qi had wanted to meet at the actual restaurant in the Palace, had reservations and everything, so Cait dressed up a little. She found an outfit suspiciously prominently placed in her closet, definitely not where she’d left the individual pieces.

  Dating Lira is like having a coochie concierge, she thought, smiling to herself.

  She pulled on the tight sleeveless black turtleneck, shimmied into the dark crimson pants, and clasped on the gold chain her girlfriend had laid out for her date. Just not a date with her.

  Damn, Lira could have a second career in fashion if she wants it, she thought, giving herself an appreciative once over in the mirror.

  She exited to the room, and froze as a low whistle sounded.

  Kennedy sat on the couch, her hair the flowing feathers that matched the big cat that rested its head in her lap. Both of them fixed her with big golden eyes, each displaying a different kind of hunger.

  Well, if she likes me, she likes the confidence.

  “Hot date,” Cait explained, letting loose with her ‘Dazzle ‘em’ grin.

  “I bet,” responded Kennedy, and Cait felt Kennedy’s mind link to her own. The flow through from Rose told her that, yeah, the cat was just hungry, and it was a far cry from Kennedy, who was horny.

  Wonder if she was with Lira for any of what I just put her through. Poor girl probably could have used the support while I was rearranging her digestive tract.

  “They can wait, though,” Cait said, starting to approach Kennedy with a seductive smile. As she did, she felt a shock of panic and terror, and the lust fled from their link alongside a growl from Rose, who suddenly had her hackles raised.

  “Or not!” Cait raised her hands and took a step back, feeling a wave of regret from Kennedy.

  “Uh, yeah,” Kennedy said with a tight smile. “No, Lira filled me in about Qi, I think that girl deserves at least dinner.”

  Cait returned her smile, trying not to over analyze what just happened. She headed for the exit, but turned in the doorway.

  “And you’re…. cool with that?” she asked, eyebrow raised. An emotion she’d never felt flooded her mind, like lust, loss, jealousy, disappointment and excitement all in one. It actually rocked her back on her heels.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” Kennedy asked, pulling Cait’s focus back to her.

  “Uh, cause we’re…”

  “We’re what?” Kennedy asked sweetly.

  “Teammates?” Cait asked more than answered, wanting to slap herself.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Hmmmm…” Kennedy returned a sly, impenetrable smile. “Anyway, yeah, I’m ‘cool with it’. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “What you can do changes by the day.”

  Kennedy just shrugged, and resumed scratching Rose behind the ears. Cait noticed Salad’s eyes under the couch on the other arm, glaring up at the Cruma. She scowled.

  “Hey, flirting aside, make sure Rose knows who top dog is around here. I declare this apartment The Salad Bar.”

  She left, Kennedy’s musical laughter ringing in her ears. As she walked down to her date, she was very aware that their link hadn’t dropped. She hadn’t parsed everything that had passed between them in that conversation, but she thought she understood that the link was part of the deal for extra-relationship shenanigans. Fucked up or not, Cait definitely found that a lot hot.

  She walked into the restaurant, grinning at the dumb name. Protect and Serve had apparently been the old-world police motto, but now it adorned the premier Des Moines dining establishment. This one was actually open to the public, albeit by reservation only. On a Friday night like this, you’d need a reservation anyway, Guardian or no.

  The place was done up in the same baroque opulence as the exterior of the palace, offering a truly bourgeois dining experience to its guests. Cait actually felt in danger of being underdressed, but being hot went a long way towards people not caring. She recognized a few faces, notably a bowtied Breastman linked arm in tentacle with Gwyn, who was absolutely stuffed into a little blue number that would have given any anime protag a fatal nosebleed.

  She walked over to them in the queue of those waiting to be seated, ignoring the huffs of annoyance from those behind them.

  “Lookin’ good you two!” she greeted, doing her damnedest to keep her eyes on Gwyn’s when she looked at her.

  “Hi Cait!” Gwyn waved, carelessly causing some distracting bounces.

  HEY

  MY EYES ARE DOWN HERE

  “You don’t have eyes,” Cait responded, grinning and holding a fist out for her friend to bump. “And, seeing your date tonight, I’ve never felt more sorry for you. Have fun you two!”

  Gwyn blushed as Cait walked away. She breezed past a scowling hostess, towards the beautiful dragon she’d been able to spot as soon as she could see inside. She was hard to miss, over 7 feet of scale and sexy. She must have been friends with Fiberfix, because all the clothes she wore proudly displayed her armor through custom made slits, and the green qipao she wore tonight was no exception.

  The way it hugged the generous curves of her breasts and rounded muscle of her stomach stirred something in Cait, and she was surprised to feel it echoed back by Kennedy.

  Qi gave her a close lipped smile as she noticed her approach, and Cait returned her best grin. She walked up to her, bringing a hand to her chin and leaning down to lay a soft kiss on her cheek before joining her in the half-moon booth. She scooted close, and laid a hand on Qi’s thigh.

  “Hey you,” she said, meeting Qi’s ruby red eyes. The dragon’s cheeks heated with blush, and her eyes gleamed with her inner fire.

  “H-hey!” she stammered. It was rare Cait had to look up at someone, but even seated, Qi had a few inches on her. Even stranger was that the gorgeous hulking dragon was clearly on her back foot with the smaller woman.

  Uncertainty flashed through her mind, but was met with a rebuff that wasn’t hers.

  Welp, she’s the boss.

  “That looks stunning on you,” Cait complimented, making sure Qi could see her run her eyes over her body. She let herself appreciate the pink in Qi’s cheeks before she met her eyes again. “But I’m pretty sure anything would.”

  “Thank you!” Qi stammered, her lips finally parting to reveal a mouth full of long sharp teeth. Cait remembered how those had felt on her tongue, and how the heat of the dragons’s mouth had tasted.

  Wow, even for me, I’m keyed up right now. Is this some kind of feedback loop with Kennedy? After the afternoon I spent with Lira I should still have some post-nut clarity.

  Instead, Cait felt ready for a full night of debauchery, like it was senior prom and the after party was just getting started.

  Too bad Kennedy’s not an actual telepath, cause I’d tell her to not get too excited. Idk how much Lira told her, but I doubt Qi’s up for that. Unless that beast comes out again….

  “Cait?”

  “Hm?”

  “I, uh, you look good too,” Qi smiled, clearly repeating the statement but not wanting to push Cait, who shook herself. Qi deserved better than this. She pushed thoughts of her ride-along from her mind, focusing on the clearly nervous draconic beauty she was actually with.

  “A friend of ours actually picked this out for me,” Cait said with a slow smile. She played her fingers absently along the hemline of Qi’s dress.

  Somehow, Qi’s blush deepened.

  “O-oh!” she stammered out, connecting the dots. “Lira?”

  Okay, calm down, you’re coming on way to strong. You’re better at this than you’re being.

  She moved her hand down to rest on Qi’s knee, giving it a squeeze, and trying to keep the sex out of her smile.

  “Yep!” she said brightly. “If it weren’t for her, no-one at AEGIS would have ever seen me in anything but a tanktop and jeans.”

  “When we saw you in anything, at least,” Qi teased. Cait grinned, happy the dragon was finally flirting back.

  “I can’t help that I draw cameras like bears to honey! Blame my mom!”

  “I think I’d like to shake her hand actually,” Qi responded, covering Cait’s hand with her own. The scaled talon wasn’t soft or delicate, but it was heated by the fire that blazed within Qi, and its heft and strength were comforting.

  The two took the sommelier’s recommendation on an excellent zinfandel, and kept that rolling with a decadent roast lamb. Once Cait got her head on straight, she found that Qi was excellent company. They kept flirting, but Cait flirted with everyone. By the end of the night, she felt like she’d actually made a friend, making the fuck buddy title a lot more literal.

  Alcohol didn’t seem to effect Cait anymore, regardless of quality, but that definitely wasn’t true of Qi. Taking advantage of Director Swan’s generosity, the pair had worked their way through two bottles of the white, and Qi was getting progressively more handsy. Cait appreciated it, but she wasn’t sure her pants would survive if the dragon got any more enthusiastic.

  “So,” Cait said, locking onto Qi’s ruby red eyes as she tipped back the last of her glass. “How do you want tonight to end?”

  She felt a burst of excitement, and wondered how the hell Kennedy was keeping track of what was going on.

  She better not have gotten Gwyn to put a drone at me.

  Qi bared her teeth in a slow smile that made Cait’s heart race, but not from fear.

  At least not if she isn’t gonna share the footage of what happens next.