Celebrate

Celebrate (Avian Shifter Series, Book 1.5)

ISBN # 978-1-910081-14-3

Copyright © Kim Dare 2015

Published by Kim Dare

Edited by Christine Allen-Riley and Shannon Leeper

Cover Art by Kris Norris

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Kim Dare. Applications should be addressed, in writing, to Kim Dare at the e-mail address available at www.kimdare.com.

The author has asserted her rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

Please note that this book contains sexually explicit content and is not suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen.

It’s not easy learning how to be a swan, but Ori Jones has worked hard to embrace a role that still doesn’t come entirely naturally to him. Now, almost a year after his first full shift, he finally feels as if he is making a difference at the Anderson nest.

Ori’s happier than he’d ever been, until a few words from his master, Raynard, suddenly bring all of Ori’s old fears rushing back to the surface.

The nest’s elders want to have a party for Ori’s birthday, but Ori can’t see any reason to celebrate in it being a year since he reached his avian maturity. After all, what’s the use in learning to be a good swan when Raynard never wanted a swan in the first place?

Please Note: This story is best read in order as part of the Avian Shifters series. The previous book is Duck! and the next book is Magpie.

Celebrate

A shiver ran down Ori’s spine as he peered between the thick bars of a cage housed in the nest’s deepest basement. Tilting his head, he traced the vertical lines of metal from the grubby concrete floor, all the way up to where they disappeared into the gloom above them. Mr. Hamilton had said the cages extended up the full height of the building. Ori had no reason to doubt Mr. Hamilton’s word, but the space behind the bars still appeared claustrophobically small.

Ori took a deep breath and tried to consider the cage as dispassionately as possible. Dust lingered on every surface. Cobwebs didn’t just fill the corners of the cage, they stretched out toward the centre of the space too. Ori did his best, but it wasn’t easy to focus on those details when every part of his psyche wanted to recoil in disgust. He was just as horrified by the view into the cage as he would have been if he were a prisoner staring out in the opposite direction.

“As you can see, sire,” Mr. Hamilton said, from somewhere further down the gang-way that ran between two rows of similar cages. “There is plenty of space for a man who is imprisoned here to shift and stretch his wings, should he wish to do so.”

Ori automatically nodded, but he couldn’t help but think the cages were best left to whatever spiders and dust bunnies that had accumulated during the last few decades of disuse. A cage was no place for an avian. Would being put in one really be kinder than a whipping?

“Ori?” Raynard’s voice jerked Ori out of his thoughts.

Instinct made him move closer to Raynard as he turned to face him; sure that his master would be as successful at keeping him safe from the cage as he had been at keeping him safe from his every other fear. “What do you think, sir?”

When Raynard’s full focus came to bear on Ori it felt more like Raynard was peering into his soul rather than merely studying his expression. “It’s not a hawk’s opinion the nest needs, fledgling.”

Ori swallowed. He looked over one shoulder, then the other, as he considered the cages once more. When he’d said he wanted to find an alternative to lower ranking avians getting whipped whenever they displeased a man who was higher up in the pecking order, this wasn’t really what he’d had in mind.

Glancing past Raynard, Ori caught sight of Hamilton and the other elders. Damn. Everyone was waiting for him to make a decision. Ori turned his attention back to his master. Their eyes locked.

“Sire?” Hamilton prompted.

“Ori’s going to take some time to consider the matter of the cages more carefully,” Raynard said, never breaking eye contact with Ori. “He’ll give you his decision at next week’s gathering of the elders.”

Ori smiled gratefully at his master.

“Now, if there’s nothing else that requires a swan’s immediate attention,” Raynard began.

“There is one more matter that is time sensitive,” Hamilton cut in.

Ori’s heart sank, but he forced himself to turn toward Hamilton and smile politely. “Yes, sir?”

“Next month it will be almost a year since your first shift, sire.”

Memories flooded Ori’s mind. He had to tuck his fingers into his collar to remind himself that the inch-wide strip of leather was there now, and that meant everything was fine. Despite his nerves, Ori managed to make his voice sound calm and steady when he answered. “Yes, sir. That’s right.”

“Obviously, the nest will wish to commemorate your twenty-second birthday in suitable fashion,” Hamilton said.

Was that all? Getting things ready for a party? Ori relaxed. “What do you need me to do, sir?”

Hamilton raised his eyebrows at the question. “The arrangements are all well in hand, sire. We merely need you to confirm the date of your birthday. I understand it was actually the week before you shifted?”

“Yes, sir. Because I was adopted, Mr. Raynard thought it best for us to put the ceremony back a few days—just to be on the safe side.”

“His birthday is the 11
th
of April,” Raynard said, before Ori had a chance to add a date to his explanation.

Ori looked from Hamilton to Raynard and back again. It wasn’t unusual for Raynard to speak for him. Hamilton had long since ceased looking to Ori for confirmation of every answer his master gave on his behalf. Luck was on Ori’s side; Raynard and Hamilton were looking at each other rather than at him. Neither could have seen his expression slip.

Ori dropped his gaze to the dusty floor.

“If that is all?” Raynard said.

Hamilton finally got the hint and walked away, taking the other elders with him. Only Ori and Raynard remained alongside the cages.

“Do you have something to say, Ori?” Raynard asked.

You got my birthday wrong.
Ori swallowed those words down. There was no need to utter them out loud. The date wasn’t important. Acting like it was a big deal would be silly.

“I…um…” Ori cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t think the cages would be this…”

Raynard smiled slightly. “Before you first stretched your wings you wouldn’t have found them anywhere near so unsettling. It’s only because you know what it feels like to fly out in the open air that you can understand how appalling a shifter can find being caged.”

Ori nodded on the general principle that his master was always right about everything. Well, right about everything except dates of birth…

Raynard took a bunch of keys from his pocket. Metal clanked loudly against metal as he unlocked and opened the cage nearest them. “In.”

“Sir?”

“You won’t be comfortable making a decision unless you see for yourself what it’s like to be locked in a cage for a little while.”

Ori stared up at Raynard. The explanation made perfect sense, but Ori couldn’t ignore the fact that being caged was a punishment. His heart raced; he hated being punished. He hated knowing he had let his master down and deserved to be punished.

Ori swallowed rapidly and reminded himself that he was being foolish. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Raynard had no reason to punish him. Unless, of course, Raynard had noticed his reaction to him getting his date of birth slightly wrong. Reacting badly to something so incredibly unimportant after everything Raynard had done for him—that was certainly worth a punishment.

“The sooner you go in, the sooner you’ll be out again,” Raynard said.

Great, now he had Raynard thinking he needed to coax him into obeying a perfectly reasonable order. Heat rushed to Ori’s cheeks. He turned toward the cage door. His mind was desperate to show he wanted to obey his master, but his body had other concerns. He had to force himself to put one foot in front of the other and overcome a visceral aversion, but he did it.

The lock clanged shut. Ori jumped. All at once, he was caged, trapped. It didn’t matter that he could see through the bars on three sides. The close confines made the breath catch in his throat. He automatically sought for security by adopting his rest position with his hands folded neatly behind his back, but there was no air.

“Ori.”

Ori turned around. Raynard stood just outside the cage.

“Come here.”

Ori didn’t need to force his feet into action this time. He was soon less than a foot away from Raynard. He stared up at his master, doing his damnedest to ignore the bars between them.

“Tell me how it feels, fledgling.”

Ori cleared his throat. “Trapped. Enclosed. Confined.” Ori rolled his shoulders. Logically, he knew that if he moved his hands from behind his back, he could stretch his arms out and still not be able to touch any of the bars. In his swan form, he’d have room to unfurl his wings too. But it didn’t feel like it.

“Do you feel like the cage binds you too closely, that your freedom is too restricted?”

Ori nodded rapidly. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re wrong.” There was no anger in Raynard’s voice, but the correction still made Ori tense.

Raynard reached through the bars and slipped two fingers into Ori’s collar. He tugged at the leather. “The cage is irrelevant. Your collar is between you and the cage. It holds you far more tightly than the bars ever could. It’s not the cage that controls your freedom, your collar does—I do.”

The way Raynard’s fingers held his collar pulled the leather tight against the back of Ori’s neck. For the first time since he stepped into the cage, he was able to take a deep breath.

He had no control, no freedom. But that was nothing to be afraid of. Ori smiled.

“The cage can’t hurt you,” Raynard promised. “Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Ori whispered. The only thing or person who could hurt him was his master—Ori had known that for a long time. He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed against Raynard’s knuckles.

“The only person in this nest who can put you in a cage is me. Even Hamilton wouldn’t dare. The cage isn’t about who you are now—it’s about who the nest thought you were when you first arrived.”

“Yes, sir,” Ori repeated.

“Now, think back to when you first arrived at the nest.”

Ori closed his eyes. Memories came flooding to the forefront of his mind. He’d been so lost, so alone, without anyone to look to for guidance or protection—without anyone to give him orders or let him know when his work was acceptable.

“If the cages were in operation then, the most anyone would be allowed to threaten you with would have been a little time spent in a cage. No whips, no paddles, no pressure to service them to avoid a punishment.”

Ori nibbled on his bottom lip. “I’d have probably volunteered to do what they wanted to avoid the cage, sir,” he admitted.

He opened his eyes and looked up at his master. There was no condemnation in Raynard’s eyes, only understanding. “What if they couldn’t put you in a cage without someone else becoming involved?”

Ori frowned. “Sir?”

“We could appoint someone to oversee the process and make sure whoever was put in here wasn’t just being bullied by a higher ranking man. Whoever wanted someone sent to a cage would have to prove that person was guilty of breaking one of the nest’s laws.”

“Everet,” Ori blurted out.

Raynard raised an eyebrow.

“The raven you asked to watch over me the first day we met,” Ori said. “He didn’t know I was a swan. He thought I was an ugly little duckling, but he still took the job seriously. He’d be good at it.”