Bloom for the Beast: chapter 2

Adrian

Everything was loud. Too loud. The dim lights were a comfort, but the crush of warm bodies, the vibrations from music rattling the floorboards, and the overwhelming scent of alcohol that seemed to permeate everything had me on the verge of a panic attack. The party scene wasn’t for me, but my best friend Jim had talked me into attending, against my better judgment.

“All you ever do is study, man! You’re acing all your courses, and you’re on the Dean’s list. I know you need to keep up appearances and do right by your family, but come on, Adrian! Live a little! Just this once. Puh-leeease?” Jim’s tail had been wagging with excitement at the prospect of drawing me out of my shell. Despite wanting to refuse, his good mood was contagious, and I begrudgingly agreed.

“Fine. I’ll go. But don’t expect me to get trashed, like you lot do. I can’t have more than a drink or two. Lord knows what I’d be capable of without my full faculties about me.”

Looking back on it now, I should have respectfully told Jim to get bent. I never had any issue with women acting starstruck while I was attending classes, but at this casual party, I couldn’t seem to breathe my own air for more than a few minutes without some random female trying to drape herself over me like a blanket. I’d wised up and opted to stand after having a pair of buxom twin rabbit girls plant themselves right on my lap. After that, I started switching locations every few minutes.

I knew there were more than a few single men floating around the party, and so many females being drawn to me was abnormal. This was a college booze fest to blow off steam, not a speed dating event. I wasn’t much of a drinker, so maybe this was just how most folks behaved when they were deep into the bottle.

I was brought out of my contemplation as a body crashed into the back of me, hairless fingers wrapping around my bicep as whoever it was steadied themselves against my broad back. My ears twitched as they mumbled something, trying to pick up on their words over the din of everything else around us. Unable to properly hear, I turned around and my heart rose in my throat while my stomach dropped to my toes.

Gazing up at me with heavily lined green eyes that struggled to focus was a captivating human girl, one of the few who’d been brave enough to roll up to a party filled with beasts. Asymmetrical dark hair shielded her right eye as she ducked her shoulders a bit. The left side of her head was shaved close, a thin layer of fuzz keeping the skin from being totally bare. A silver ring glinted in her left nostril, and her lips were painted a dark maroon tint that nearly had me salivating.

“A-Adrian?” she asked, her fingers tightening on my arm.

“Are you alright, Ophelia?” I returned, leaning closer to her so I wouldn’t have to shout to be heard.

Her cheeks flushed at my proximity to her body and the tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lips, drawing my eyes to its movement. She nodded quickly. “I hate shit like this. I think I had a few too many without realizing it.” Those emerald orbs cast downwards, sheepish. “And call me Lia. Ophelia sounds too… formal.”

“Beyond the normal dizziness, you don’t feel strange otherwise, Lia?” Her eyes flashed up to me, pupils widened with a touch of fear. She shook her head quickly, the alcohol induced fog clearing from her eyes in an instant. “Good. I don’t want to think ill of our classmates, but… you never know.”

“Jesus, Adrian. Way to slaughter the buzz.” Her half-hearted chuckle made me wince.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, ears drooping.

The feel of her fingers against the fur on my cheek brought my gaze back to hers. “It was honestly what I needed, so don’t worry about it. Wanna… come cool off with me? There’s some open rooms back past the kitchen, and you looked kinda nervous when I smacked right into you.”

With a soft smile, I nodded and her fingertips trailed down my arm, pausing over the swell of my triceps before finishing their descent and grasping my hand in hers. I let her lead me away from the noise, away from the hundreds of scents assaulting my olfactory senses, and into a spare bedroom. She shut the door behind us, muting the music and the sounds of the revelers. Lia shuffled over to the window, heaving it upwards and deeply inhaling the cool midnight air that rushed in to greet her.

With the breeze that wafted in, another delectable scent assaulted me. Vanilla cupcakes and buttercream frosting, without a bakery in sight. Just a gorgeous girl, trusting me with her safety when it had been uncertain just a few moments before. But was she truly safe with me? Ophelia and I had been playing cat and mouse for years, neither of us sure enough of the other (or ourselves) to pull the trigger.

As she turned to face me, half her face obscured by shadows and her hair, backlit by the full moon shining through the window, her beauty hit me like a punch to the gut. In that moment, my instincts shoved the rest of my consciousness into the backseat. Ophelia Blight didn’t know it, but she became mine at that exact moment. My fingers itched to hold her, to bury my face in her neck where I knew that sugary smell would be strongest and unequivocally claim her. Her body, her pleasure, her racing pulse that was like thunder in her veins, her very soul. Every part of her would be mine.

She’d been walking towards me but halted suddenly, as if my thoughts had somehow shown on my face. The spike of fear altered her scent in a way that I couldn’t resist licking my lips, almost able to taste it on my tongue. Ophelia clutched a fistful of her shirt over her heart, indecision marring her features, pinching the skin between her eyes.

She spoke my name softly, the sound of it reedy and hushed like a prayer. I didn’t dare to breathe, uncertain of what I’d do if I made the first move. If any moves were to be made at all. A few more hesitant steps toward me and I could feel my own limbs trembling with the effort to not pounce on her. I closed my eyes, attempting to calm the racing of my own heart.

The warmth of her presence snapped them open once more and I gazed down at her, the top of her head level with my chest. She was tall for a human female, but compared to the average hybrid, she was petite. A fire burned in her viridian eyes as she reached for my face, fingers running through my fur with more surety, but still hesitant. She traced along the edges of my short muzzle, curious and inquisitive like a child.

“This feels embarrassing as fuck to say, but… I want to kiss you and have no idea what to do with this muzzle of yours.”

I smirked, a deep chuckle rumbling from my chest as I dipped my head lower, my breath warm against her lips. “It’s a little different, but I think you’ll get the hang of it.”

Ophelia closed the distance between us, her lips pressing to mine with a sudden fervor I hadn’t been expecting. Our mouths clashed, the stroke of her tongue against mine making my cock twitch. She stood on her toes, trying unsuccessfully to drape her arms around my neck and humming against my mouth in irritation.

"That little frustrated sound is adorable, Lia… I can’t wait to hear what other noises you’ve got for me.” The words felt foreign on my tongue, but I couldn’t stop them as I leaned down and scooped my arms behind her knees, lifting her up off the ground and letting her weight settle on my forearms. I cupped her firm ass in my hands, giving it a squeeze that dragged a breathy, shuddering moan from her lips.

Her fingers dug into my shoulders as I kissed and licked my way up her neck, dragging the long flat of my tongue over her pulse. She shifted in my grip, wrapping her legs around my waist. Her skirt slid upwards, the mouth-watering aroma of her arousal intensifying as she unashamedly ground her heated core against the increasingly more uncomfortable curve of my cock.

I murmured her name into her skin, fighting the urge to toss her onto the bed and take her the way I’d wanted to for years. The brief pause was enough to bring the logical part of my brain back into the driver’s seat. “Fuck… Lia, you’ve been drinking, and so have I. Maybe we shouldn’t. I don’t want you to regret this later.”

She wrapped one hand around my muzzle, silencing me. She shook her finger menacingly, eyes narrowed. “Oh no the fuck you don’t, Adrian Ripley. I’m cognizant enough to consent. And be able to say the word cognizant without slurring, so… Unless it’s you who’s having second thoughts, you’re not getting away that easily.”