♡…..*…..♡
The grilled cheese sat abandoned on the coffee table, the steam rising from the pickles and peanut butter in a lonely curl of smoke. Kaelan hadn't even taken his second bite when the atmosphere in the apartment shifted from domestic exhaustion to obsessive love….
Ignis didn't say a word. He simply stood up from the kitchen chair, his golden eyes flaring with a sudden, predatory heat that suggested the portals and paperwork of the day had left him with a desperate need for a different kind of work. Before Kaelan could protest, he was swept up and pinned to the couch, the oversized black hoodie bunching up around his hips.
"Ignis! The sandwich! I am literally starving!" Kaelan shrieked, his black panther ears pinning back against his skull. "Get off me, you scaly, over stimulated lizard! I want to eat and sleep! I have a budget report due in seven hours!"
"The report can wait," Ignis rumbled, his voice a deep, vibrating chord that resonated right through Kaelan's chest. " I miss you too much, Kaelan. Our bond is too loud to ignore tonight."
"I don't care if it's a symphony! I want to rest!" Kaelan snapped, his short temper flaring.
But Ignis was relentless. He was a King who had been starved of his heart for three centuries, and his obedience always had a breaking point when it came to his possessive hunger. They were at their love making all night, a slow burn storm of heat and friction that ignored the ticking clock and the cold sandwiches. Kaelan was mad, huffing and tossing insults like deadly darts, but his body—and the seed within—responded to Ignis with a traitorous, golden warmth.
However, near the break of dawn, the rhythm was shattered.
Kaelan suddenly let out a strangled gasp, his body jerking beneath Ignis. A sharp electric sting—like a bolt of static lightning—arced across the surface of his distended stomach. It wasn't just a cramp,it was a discharge of raw, unrefined energy.
"Ah! Gods...stop! Stop it!" Kaelan cried out, tears welling in his eyes instantly. The pain was sharp enough to make his vision blur.
Ignis stopped immediately, his hands hovering over Kaelan's skin, his face a mask of sudden, panicked concern. "Kaelan? What is it? Did I—"
"I told you!" Kaelan sobbed, his eye puffed up eyes , glaring at Ignis through a veil of moisture. "I told you I wanted to rest! You never listen! You're just a monster who thinks with his d*ck! It hurts, you idiotic fool!"
Kaelan kept scolding him, his voice a mix of a snarl and a whimper. He looked way too cute in his disheveled state—hair a mess, face flushed with a mix of anger and arousal, and his stomach pulsing with a faint, golden light. Ignis tried to smirk, trying to play off his own worry with a bit of his usual arrogance, but the sight of Kaelan's genuine distress made him soften.
"I'm sorry, my cat," Ignis whispered, leaning down to soothe Kaelan with a kiss on his damp forehead, pulling him into a protective hug. "I'll stop. I promise. Let me see."
"Don't touch me! You're a biological disaster!" Kaelan hissed, but he didn't pull away from the hug, burying his face in Ignis's neck and muffling his sniffles.
The electric sting didn't fade,it became a persistent, humming vibration. Realizing this was beyond a human doctor's pay grade, Ignis didn't give Kaelan a choice. He threw a heavy cloak over Kaelan's hoodie and opened a portal directly into the Solar Peaks.
The Dragon Realm was as breathtakingly arrogant as ever—floating islands, obsidian spires, and a sky that looked like a permanent sunset. Ignis carried Kaelan into the Royal Infirmary, ignoring the shocked gasps of the High Priests as they saw their King carrying a human in a sweatshirt.
The Royal Check up was conducted by an ancient Dragon Healer whose eyes were literally embers. After hovering a series of crystal lenses over Kaelan's expanded belly, the Healer turned to Ignis with a look of grave concern.
"My King," the Healer rumbled. "The egg—the spark—is reacting to your proximity in a way we did not anticipate. Because it was sealed for so long, it has become a starving void."
Kaelan looked up from the table, his slit pupils wide. "A what? Is it eating my organs? I knew it! I'm being consumed by a parasite!"
"No, Consort," the Healer corrected. "It is growing way too fast because you and the King are...too intimate. The egg is absorbing too much power at once from both parents. Every time you touch, every time you share energy, the child drinks it like a dying man in a desert. If you continue at this rate, the egg will reach full maturity before the Panther's body is ready to release it. You are literally super charging the birth."
Kaelan's face went from pale to a brilliant, livid red. He turned a deadly glare toward Ignis.
"Did you hear that?" Kaelan shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at the King. "You're over feeding it with your power! We are on a mandatory No Touch protocol, Ignis! If you even look at me with that smug smirk, I'm going to go live in a convent! I am not having a giant lizard baby next week because you can't keep your hands to yourself!"
Ignis looked genuinely stunned, his golden eyes flickering toward Kaelan's stomach. "But...the link...it requires contact..."
"The link can send a postcard!" Kaelan snapped, sliding off the table and clutching his hoodie shut. "We're going back to the apartment. You're sleeping in the guest room. Or the hallway. Or the moon! I am a financial analyst, not a power generator for your greedy offspring!"
Ignis let out a low, chuckle, though he looked a bit pained at the prospect of the No Touch rule. He wrapped an arm around Kaelan's waist to lead him to the portal—only to have Kaelan smack his hand away.
"No! Healer said! Get away, you radioactive lizard!"
Ignis sighed, following Kaelan back through the portal, his mind already racing with how he was going to survive a normal life without his daily dose of Kaelan's sharp tongue and warm skin.