Wings

Courtship * Amy Hodges-Laurenzo

Up on the 100th floor, Amber slowly awoke.

She laid in a massive room with a very high ceiling. The bed seemed huge, it had to be bigger than a California King. The comforter had to be chenille, white in color. The sheets felt slick on her skin and cream colored. She pulled the comforter to her chest as she sat up.

The entire room decor had been in the colors of blue and silver. To the left of the bed sat a seating area. To the right sat a door to facilities. Straight a head, she saw maybe the door out.

She looked around confused.

“Amber?”

She jumped and looked to the seating area.

There he stood, Rhin Rheingold, the host from the party. “Rhin?”

He walked across the room to the bed and sat on the bedside with her. “Yes, Amber. Don’t worry, you are safe here with me.”

“Where am I? What happened?”

He gave her a warm smile, “You are still within Sky Reach Tower, just about twenty floors up from where the party had been. You fainted last night and I brought you up here.

“These are my private residential floors. I brought you to my room to rest.”

“You said that I fainted Last Night?”

“Yes, you slept the clock around. I had my personal physician evaluate you. He said that you are exhausted. So please, let me take care of you and nurse you back to health.”

Amber thought briefly about the others, but also found the thought fleeting. “My sister dragged me to Mardi Gras under the pretense that it would be just us. For about a month and a half, I hardly slept. She kept trying to get me laid.”

“I see. To protect yourself from that, you had to sleep with the proverbial one eye open.”
Amber nodded.

“I assure you, I am a real individual. I would never do anything without your consent.”

That made her relax.

A moment later, her stomach growled.

The young lady blushed with embarrassment.

Rhin nodded, “Since you slept the clock around, the Doctor told me to feed you when you awoke.” He stood up and offered her his right hand, “On this floor is a private dinning room. Food is being sat for us as we speak.”

Amber pulled the comforter back and moved her legs to the bed side he stood on. Seeing the dress still on her and the shoes there on the floor, she slipped her feet into them.

She took his hand to stand, but then her legs faltered.

Rhin caught her easily and scooped her into his arms. “I got you, Amber.”

“I guess I got dizzy.”

He stepped toward the door out of the room. “You slept through multiple meals, your blood sugar might be a little low.” The door opened, seemingly by itself.

Rhin carried her down the hall for about ten doors. Then door number eleven opened too. He carried her inside and sat her just to the left of the head of the walnut dinning room table. It seated twelve normally in matching built chairs. Around the room sat art upon the walls of dragons. The table, itself, had a dragon carved into the middle of it.

Rhin sat down at the head of the table, beside her.

A few butler types came in and sat the two places that they sat at. Two plates, forks, spoons, knives, napkins, and glasses got left.

Another returned, moments later, with a bottle of Lewis Cellars, The Big Blend Napa Valley. With a nod from

Rhin, the bottle got opened and poured between the two wine glasses.

Amber tasted it, “This is juice.”

“I don’t drink often.”

The butler bowed, “Dinner tonight will be T-bone steak, jumbo shrimp, herbal rice, Cesar salad, and dinner rolls. In ten minutes, it will be done.”

“Thank you”, Rhin said.

The Butler walked away.

Amber smiled, “Surf and Turf. It sounds delicious.”

“The shrimp is from the Gulf. We fish here at the island, for the sea food. It is quite good.” His hand held hers.
Amber sat quiet with the touch of their hands, It felt warm, almost energetic. “Why does…touching you feel this way?”

Rhin intertwined his fingers with hers, “It is difficult to understand. But I can try to explain. How open minded are you?”

“One reason why my sister wanted to get me laid is because she thought it would make me more normal. So tell me.”

He half smiled, “There is a sub-world connected to what you know. Walking hand in hand with humans is the supernatural side of things. Myth, Legends, and lore are very much more than stories.”

“So vampires, werewolves, and such are real?”

He nodded, “Yes and so much more. Believe it or not, you are sitting at this table with a dragon.”

Amber’s eyes widened a moment. “Are you telling me that you are a Dragon?”

Rhin nodded,”And you are too on a genetic level. Once you awaken to it and we figure out how to awaken those genes, you will be able to shift to a dragon as well.”

Amber smiled, “You’ll show me?”

“After dinner, we will go to the roof and I will show you. You have my word.”

She nodded, “I can’t wait.”

Dinner come and they ate together, having basic small talk as they ate their fill.

Once dinner was done, they stood up from the table.

Rhin pulled Amber close as mist kicked up. “Hold on to me a moment.”

She did.

Suddenly the world shifted and the couple changed location.

They appeared on a huge flat roof that seemed large enough to support…well…a dragon or two.

Amber looked around as she stepped from him. When she looked back to him, Rhin had his shirt off by the only object on the roof…a steel box. “What…”

He chuckled, “Clothes get destroyed in the shift. I have been experimenting, but only the Blue Bloods and Shifter King and Queen know how to shift without tearing up clothes.” Rhin kicked off his boots and added them to the box, followed by his pants and underwear.

When he turned to face her, Amber got her eyes full.

Rhin had muscle on muscle. For his height of six feet and eight inches, he looked perfect. Broad through the shoulders, nice biceps and triceps, well defined pectorals, eight pack in abs, a well inscribed Adonis-V, and very well hung equipment.

She swallowed.

Seeing her eyes on him, it made him hard. he stifled the feeling a moment. “Are you ready to see?”

She nodded, “Show me.”

Energy seemed to rise as well as a mystic mist. He grew to four stories in size. A snout grew, as did wings and a tail. Black scales covered his body. Spikes, claws, and teeth also came in silver. Even wing tips.

He became a four story tall black colored Storm Dragon.

Amber stood with her jaw dropped. She didn’t think that he would actually do it.

Rhin leaned down on all fours. He brought his head closer to her, sitting his head of the roof.

Amber reached out and touched his snout.

He closed his eyes and purred.

“Rhin…you are so beautiful.”

The Storm Dragon leaned up to his hind legs and scooped her up in his right claw. Then with a beat of his wings, he took her air born around the city.

© 2025 – Snow White Queen