Claws

Sex Ed

APOLLO

     I'm not sure how I was expecting to wake up, but it sure wasn't to the sound of Luka raising hell on the first floor.
     "Apollo! Get your feathery ass down here this instant!" The human shouted with unmatched ferocity.
Or at least, what I thought was unmatched ferocity until I heard Joan holler, "BLIZZARD! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Blizzard groaned, stirring next to me.
"We have to get up!" I whisper-shouted to her.
The female grumbled in protest.
"Your mistress is screaming your name." I told her, and her eyes shot open.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" The other bird chanted as she fumbled around for her clothes.
Blizzard shrieked as her bird collar electrocuted her.
"You and your boy toy have fifteen seconds to get down here until I turn this thing up to 100!" Joan snarled loudly.
I don't think I had ever seen someone get dressed so quickly.
When Blizzard noticed me staring, she whispered, "Put your shirt on!"
Doing what I was told almost cost Blizzard another shock.
"Five," Yelled Joan.
Blizzard scrambled to slip into her leggings.
"Four," Joan snarled.
The bird grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the hide.
"Three." I hadn't ever seen a human so angry until Joan locked eyes on us.
"Two." A finger hovered over the shock button.
We touched down in front of her mistress and my master.
Not a second passed until Luka growled, "Would either of you care to explain why you were not home last night?"
Blizzard locked eyes with me as if to say, "You need to handle this."
I was notoriously bad at handling things.
"Blizzard and I were...." I trailed off to stall for time, and Luka gave me an enraged, expectant look. "Having sex."
A resounding slap turned my head to the right.
"How dare you make me worry like that?!" Luka howled, "You destroy your collar and run off to breed a bird in heat?!"
Blizzard made the smart choice to keep her head down and be quiet. I, however, was not so smart.
"You're the one who—"
I stopped dead in my tracks when Luka retrieved a leather cat o' nine tails from his belt loop.
"I'm sorry, Apollo, you're making me do this." Luka murmured.
"Don't apologize!" Joan chastised him, "He deserves what's coming. He violated my innocent little bird!"
Thinking back to Blizzard sucking me off and moaning like a harlot when I screwed her, I couldn't help but laugh at Joan.
"That's IT!" Luka snarled at my disrespect. My master took me by the hair— something he never did— and forced me to my knees. "Your girlfriend," he spat the word, "is going to watch you get your ass whooped, are you proud of yourself?"
Without giving me time to think up a snide remark, he reached over my head with his free hand and flogged me right between the wings. At my pained yelp, Joan chuckled.
     "Master—" I started to beg. The word barely left my lips before Luka was flogging me again.
     "Please—" Another painful THWACK cut me off.
     "Stop!" Surprise, he didn't stop, and sent another stroke gracing my spine.
     Blizzard's sympathetic whimpers filled the air in between lashes.
     "Don't worry dear," Joan purred as another hit cracked down on my left shoulder, "you're next."
     "Luka!" I cried out when another stroke hit the back of my neck. Still, no response.
     A strike landed on the inside of my right wing, and I screamed out, "LUKA!"
   Built-up pain caused me to thrash and squirm for an escape, but my master's grip on my hair was far too tight. I reared my head back to try to pull away. A smattering of horrible tails bit into my throat when I moved. A cacophony of crying whimpers left my abused body.
     "Wouldn't have happened if you didn't fight," My master growled, "Now still!"
     Years of torture came flooding back to me at the word. Almost instinctively, I steadied my body, not daring to even flinch as the weapon crashed down between my shoulder blades. My position held when the cat o' nine tails collided with the sensitive base of my wing. I didn't waiver when Luka thrashed against my left shoulder. What did get me is when his grip slipped, and he ended up flogging the back of my head, along with his own hand.
     "FUCK!" I cried out, and Luka dropped the flogger, cradling his left hand and wincing.
Tremendous, head-splitting pain lit up the world. Everything seemed too bright, especially when Luka came back for another handful of my hair, right where he had accidentally flogged me.
"Please stop." I begged in Avic, letting go of a low whine.
"You earned this." Luka growled back. Twisting my hair to make our vision meet, I saw that my master's face was contorted in rage and guilt. "I never want to catch you with that bird again. Do you understand me?"
Instead of offering a reply, I held Luka's gaze and gave a resentful hiss.
Retrieving the flog from the worn hardwood floor, Luka brought it down on my face, this time, matching the pink scars where Riya had marked me with her claws on my left cheek.
     Luka was feeling less and less like my human and more and more like my Master.
     "Is that enough?" The brunet broke eye contact and murmured to Joan. She gave a resounding, "Yes, that's plenty." and Luka handed her the leather cat o' nine tails.
     That's when I realized this was Joan's idea.
     "Blizzard," The older woman addressed her bird, "do you want to take your punishment here or at home?"
     Blizzard thought for a moment before she whispered, "Home."
     Just like that, Joan took her bird by the forearm and lead her out of the barn house. A series of quick footfalls and the sound of a cane colliding with the floor were followed by the whirr of the barn door opening and closing— it was all the goodbye I got.
     I stayed on my knees until my master commanded me, "Up."
     Raising my pained body, I looked down on the short human once more. Luka fished something thick and long from his pocket— a bird collar.
     Fastening it to my neck, he paired the new collar to his remote, then sent a small shock coursing through my body with just a touch of a button. At my lack of a reaction, the cranked the dial and pushed the button again. It was only when I whined and convulsed that he seemed satisfied and released the button.
     Wordlessly, the human took my right hand and began to lead me home. The hike seemed longer than normal in the stifling summer air.
     Anxiety permeated my form as Luka unlocked the front door with the turn of a brass key, opened it, and motioned me inside. When I entered I wasn't sure what to do. At the sight of me standing around aimlessly, Luka guided me by the hand to his bedroom, where he patted the king-sized bed to invite me to sit. The human stayed standing after I had sat down, and silence ate the space between us for several minutes until Luka spoke.
     "Why?" Was all he said.
     "She asked me to," The confession cascaded out of me like and avalanche, "Joan was going to breed her to a stranger. She didn't want to be tied up and forced, so she asked me to do it instead."
     My master appeared unsatisfied. "And you agreed because...?"
     "Because I know what that's like, and I didn't want her to go through that." The words were flowing from my mouth like a tidal wave I couldn't stop. "And she smelled really, really good," I shook my head back and forth. "I can't describe it Luka, it's like I was high from her scent."
     "You probably were." The human deadpanned before clarifying, "The scent of a female in heat creates an aphrodisiac-like effect on your species."
"Did I miss sex ed or something?" I half-laughed through my words.
Luka took a seat next to me, letting his fun-sized hands rub gentle circles on my back, as if he hadn't beaten me not ten minutes before.
"Was there something else you wanted to know?" The encyclopedia of lionheart knowledge questioned.
I rubbed the sore spot on the back of my head and tried to ignore what had happened between Luka and I in the barn.
"When we were having sex, near the end, I clawed Blizzard's hips." I revealed sheepishly, "I apologized, but she told me it was no big deal. Somehow, Fig Newton knew I was going to do it, and had a first aid kit ready downstairs. I think I'm out of the loop here."
"That's completely normal." Luka reassured me, "When lionhearts breed, it's to be expected. It's to hold the other in place for more effective semen transfer. Males do it more frequently."
"Is there a difference between sex and breeding?" I asked the expert.
"Well, breeding is always sex, but sex isn't always breeding." My master imparted, "Breeding is the term used when one or both lionhearts are in rut or heat, since that's when they're most fertile."
"Gotcha." I said awkwardly, "Thank you."
     Sighing and propping his head up in his hands, the human pondered aloud, "What're we going to do if Blizzard gets pregnant?"
     "That was the whole point." I replied flatly.
     "I know." Luka groaned, "But Joan is going to have a conniption fit."
      "What are they chances of her getting pregnant?" I asked genuinely.
     Do we get to do that again?
     "Pretty high." Luka sighed.
     Damnit.
     At my expression, the human let out a series of hearty laughs. Finally, he was able to say through the guffaws, "You look disappointed!"
     Light blush coated my battered cheeks.
     Luka wiped the smile off his face and his tone grew grave. "Seriously, Apollo, I don't want you around Blizzard anymore."
     "Yes, Master." I agreed half-heartedly.