Page 17

Lying in bed, propped against Kaspian's chest, I showed him more of the modern wonders of my world. On my cellphone. I know, not the best introduction to things like the Empire State Building, the White House, or the Beatles, but maybe we'd experience those things together in person. Well, not the Beatles, but you know what I mean. It had only been a couple of days since I moved him to the Dallas house. I think. It was hard to keep track with Kas needing to be inside me every few hours. The guy even woke me up to fuck. I should have been exhausted. Instead, I welcomed every touch. I'd wake up to find myself turning into his embrace. It was getting insane.

Oh, who am I kidding? It was insane from the start. But I never wanted this crazy train to stop. I knew it couldn't go on forever. I'd have to go back to work eventually. And he wanted to go home. But I was enjoying the ride for as long as I could.

The phone dinged.

“What's that?” Kaspian pointed at the notification at the top of the screen.

“Oh, a buddy sent me a post on Tiktok.” I slid the notification away.

“Show me this Tiktok.”

“I don't think you're going to enjoy that. It's too modern.”

Kaspian straightened, pushing his back against the wall while jostling me forward. “Show me.”

“Okay, fine. But you're not going to get it.”

Of all things, it was a cat video. The text over it read, “Every two cat household.” The first scene was of a regal looking, gray, long hair cat posed upright, staring down the camera. The voice over was Russell Crowe, from Gladiator, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius.”

“That is a good name.” Kaspian leaned closer.

Then the image changed to a black and white cat, lounging in a box on his back, wriggling adorably, and the voice over was a goofy guy saying, “My name is Jeff.”

I pressed my lips together as I looked at Kaspian. He wore an expression of fascinated horror.

“Told you,” I said.

“Show me more.” He motioned at the phone.

“Okay. You asked for it.”

An hour later, we were still scrolling, and I realized that this was the quickest way to expose Kaspian to American culture. Not just American culture. I liked a lot of Korean guys who made the dancing shorts, so we got shown those too. Kaspian seemed to enjoy them as much as I did. Oh, and the music. He loved the music. All of it. Even the annoying stuff was new and exciting to him. I didn't dare play him Baby Shark.

Once Kaspian learned how to swipe, he took over. Every video was a fascinating facet of modern life for him to explore. Coming in for a close second on music were the cooking posts.

“Can everyone here cook like the fine chefs who have prepared the food you summon for us?” Kaspian cocked his head at me.

I had “summoned” more meals through Doordash. Every meal was a new cuisine chosen by Kaspian. It excited him to experience new tastes. His world has different types of cuisines from various regions as well, but it's harder to get food from one region prepared for you in another. Even more shocking to him was that one chef could be adept in several regional cuisines. Thus, his question.

“Not everyone, but anyone can learn. Recipes are easy to find online. These posts aren't the best way to learn how to cook, though. A lot of them don't even give you the ingredients. They're just clickbait. There are more extensive videos on YouTube.” I winced as soon as the words came out of my mouth, knowing what would follow.

“What is YouTube?”

“Not yet.” I held up a hand when he started to protest. “Let's get you through the quagmire of cat videos, cooking posts, and influencers first.”

“Influencers?”

“Those are people who make a career out of posting these videos. If you get a big enough following, you can make money in multiple ways. You influence all of those people who watch you. Companies will hire influencers to promote their products and get people to buy them. See, this girl is promoting that energy drink. She's telling people how good it is and encouraging them to buy it.”

“Influencers. I understand the title now.” Kaspian nodded. Then he scowled. “Why do people allow themselves to be influenced? They must know that these influencers don't really like these items. They are being paid. So why listen?”

“Influencers don't make only paid content. They usually build up an audience by relating to people. When people trust them, they can promote things without losing that trust.”

“Can't humans decide what they want to purchase on their own?”

“These videos help some people make that decision by showing them the qualities of the items. They can also introduce products to people who might be interested in them but not know about them yet.”

“Why can't people do that for themselves? Do they truly need someone to tell them what to buy?”

I grimaced. “Kinda. There are so many products for sale. It can get overwhelming. You gotta remember that we have a global economy. We can have things shipped to us from the other side of the world in just a few days. Sometimes less than a day. It's so much easier when someone tells you which product is good and which is crap.”

“But you said that companies pay these people to post about their products. Even if you think someone is similar to you in your tastes, how can you be sure they're being honest about an item someone has paid them to say good things about?”

“You can't. That's the reason I don't buy anything that goes viral.”

“Viral?” Kas drew his head back. “Like a virus?”

“Yes, actually. It's a term we use when something gets really popular because of these influencers.”

“Ridiculous. Humans are ridiculous.” He pointed at me. “This is the result of a lack of Dragon leadership. No Dragon king would allow such nonsense to happen in his kingdom. He would root out swindlers like these and put a stop to their lies. Such things are deemed criminal on my world.”

“They aren't looked well on here either. It's just hard to prove who's lying. It's all subjective.”

Kaspian shook his head and shooed the phone away. “I do not want to see any more of this, Mate. Enough. On my world, people think for themselves. Even humans.”

Okay, this time, I heard him clearly. No mistaking it. He said “mate.” And then, yes, he kind of insulted me again. But let's get back to the M-word.

“Did you just call me mate?” I lifted a brow at him. “I know you're not Australian, so what's up with that? Is it another attempt at changing my nickname?”

Kaspian's eyes twitched. His hand clenched my thigh. “Demetrius, we must speak about something very important. I got distracted. I should have told you this earlier.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“When I—”

A boom came that had us shooting to our feet.

“What the fuck?” I started for the door.

Before I could make it two steps, men in gas masks and black clothing came swarming into the bedroom. They aimed guns at us. Big guns. My heart sank, then raced. I guess I hadn't been as convincing with the men in black as I'd thought.

“Don't move!” one of the men shouted.

Kaspian roared and swung out an arm. One of the men flew into another.

“Kas, no!” I shouted.

It was too late. All of them fired on him at once. I screamed. Yes, screamed. But I also dove for Kaspian. I never made it. Men grabbed me from behind and restrained me. Astoundingly, Kaspian kept going. He took hit after hit and still delivered his own. And his strikes were far more effective. Soldiers went down left and right. There were just two problems—more soldiers took the places of the fallen and they weren't shooting bullets.

Darts turned Kaspian into a giant porcupine. There had to be some kind of sedative in them. And yet, he didn't go down. Instead, he roared again, brushed off the needles, and rushed the men holding me.

Something inside me responded to Kaspian's rage. Strength shot through me along with an insane urge to tear all of those people apart. I elbowed one guy in the gut while Kas grabbed another by his throat. Men went tumbling. Sorry for being sexist. There might have been some women among them. I don't know. I wasn't looking for curves in those suits. I was too busy punching people. While naked.

Blood sprayed. People shouted. Darts hit me. I felt a tingling that wasn't good. Lethargy seeped into my veins. Still, I kept fighting. Adrenaline is an amazing thing. Fear helps too. The combination kept me on my feet far longer than I should have lasted. But the drugs won in the end.

I crumpled onto a pile of bodies. As I fell, I saw several people restraining Kaspian. He was still roaring. Still fighting. And his wild stare was locked on me.

“Mate!” Kaspian shouted.

“Kas,” I whispered and passed out.