Sign up for our newsletter to hear

about new releases, read interviews with

authors, enter giveaways,

and more.

www.ylva-publishing.com

Coitus Interruptus Dentalis

Jae

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Coitus Interruptus Dentalis

About Jae

Other Books from Ylva Publishing

Coming from Ylva Publishing in Summer 2015

Coitus Interruptus Dentalis

by Jae

When Robin felt the first twitches of impending orgasm, she arched up against Alana and clutched her bare shoulders with both hands. “Yes! Right there! Right…”

But after six months with Robin, Alana didn’t need any guidance. She curled her fingers just the right way and used her thumb to rub small circles on Robin’s clit.

Gasping and panting, Robin moved against her even faster. Her eyelids drooped, but she forced herself to keep them open so she could watch Alana, who rocked her hips against Robin’s thigh with wild abandon, the pulse in her throat beating a frantic staccato.

The sight of it made Robin shudder with desire. Warmth flooded her body. Her gums started pounding along with her clit. Groaning, she arched up and pressed her overheated face against Alana’s sweat-dampened neck. She breathed deeply, inhaling Alana’s intoxicating scent.

Orgasm hit her fast and hard, like a bolt of electricity.

When she crashed against the headboard—which by now probably had a permanent indentation in the shape of her head—she realized that the spark of energy had, in fact, nothing to do with her orgasm.

“Not again.” Her cheeks still flushed, Alana sat up and rubbed her neck, which was unharmed. Her residual taqa, the left-over life energy of the djinn, had protected her again.

“Sorry,” Robin mumbled. “It’s hard to overcome the instinct to bite, especially when I’m with such a sexy woman.”

That turned Alana’s frown into a smile. “Good thing you’re a romance writer who knows just what to say in moments like this.”

Robin grinned but then shook her head. “I mean it. You’re the sexiest woman I know. Good enough to eat.”

“And that’s the problem, isn’t it?”

“Maybe I’ll get better at keeping my fangs to myself if we practice a little more,” Robin said.

“Practice, hmm? Is that what they call it nowadays?”

Nodding, Robin reached for her. “Let’s see if I—”

“Oh no! Your fang!”

Robin pressed her lips together in an attempt to hide her unsheathed fangs. “Sorry. It always takes a minute for them to retract when I’m aroused, but I swear, I won’t bite again.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. Your…your left fang.” Alana pointed with a trembling finger. “It’s cracked.”

Robin dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. “Impossible. Girah fangs are unbreakable. They’re as hard as a diamond.”

“Yeah, and djinn energy is like a laser, so…”

Oh shit. Gingerly, Robin ran her tongue over her left fang. Pain shot through her as a jagged end that hadn’t been there minutes ago cut her. Stark-naked, she scrambled up from the bed and rushed to the bathroom on still-wobbly legs. Normally, Girah didn’t look like the vampires of human legends, but right now, her reflection in the mirror was unusually pale. When she opened her mouth, she had to clutch the sink with both hands.

The tip of her fang had broken off, a triangular piece now missing. No, no, no! This can’t be happening. Since she refused to hunt humans and drink blood fresh from its source, she didn’t need her fangs to survive, but still… What was a Girah without her fangs? She’d already given up too much of her identity when she’d stood her ground about her unusual diet, refusing to drink anything but synthetic blood. As a result, the elders had cut her clan ties and declared her persona non grata.

Alana stepped up to her and wrapped her arms around Robin from behind. “Hey. No need to worry. It’s just a little chip. I’m sure a dentist can repair it without a problem.”

Still staring at the sight of her broken fang in the mirror, Robin shook her head. “It’s not that easy.”

“Why not?”

Robin turned around in her arms. “Because there are no Girah dentists. Like I said, Girah fangs are unbreakable. At least that’s what I and every other Girah thought up until now.”

“Oh.” Alana rubbed her hands along Robin’s arms, setting off little sparks that made her body tingle.

A sudden idea occurred to Robin. “But maybe I don’t need a dentist. If your taqa can break a tooth, it should also be able to repair it, right?” Alana’s djinn energy had healed Robin’s cut lip and other small scrapes in the past, so a chipped tooth shouldn’t be a problem.

“I don’t know. Let’s try.” Alana gently trailed her finger along Robin’s bottom lip, then the upper one.

All it did was make arousal grow in the pit of Robin’s stomach. “Maybe you need to touch the fang directly.” She opened her mouth and pulled up her lip.

Cupping Robin’s cheek with her left hand, Alana touched the fang with one fingertip and let it rest there for several seconds.

A tingling sensation spread through Robin’s gums. “Did it work?” she mumbled, her mouth still open.

Alana took her hand away and checked. “No. I’m sorry. It seems what little bit of taqa I have left is not enough to repair a broken tooth.”

Robin turned and morosely stared at her chipped fang in the mirror. Then another idea hit her, and she whirled back around to face Alana. “But Dahir could do it!”

“Um, no.”

“Of course she could! Unlike you, she’s got her full djinn powers.”

Alana squirmed. “Yes, she’s got the power to do it, but she isn’t allowed to grant wishes to her friends. She’s already in trouble for repairing that cut in my couch with a snap of her fingers. One more infraction and she could be banned from the Great Energy.”

Not an option, then. Robin knew how it felt to be kicked out of your family, and she didn’t want to be responsible for that happening to Alana’s best friend. Who else could she turn to for help?

* * *

“You need…what?” Meghan said after a long pause, apparently forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to talk to Robin anymore.

Robin resisted the urge to grit her teeth since it could damage her chipped fang even more. “A dentist,” she repeated.

Meghan’s laughter reverberated through the phone. “You’re shitting me, right?”

“I’m as serious as anemia,” Robin said.

“Oh, come on. Whoever heard of a Girah needing to go to the dentist?”

The fictional vampires in Robin’s novels never did. “It might not have happened before, but neither did a Girah living with a djinn,” Robin grumbled.

Meghan roared with laughter. “You mean your little girlfriend broke your fang?”

Robin was tempted to hang up, but she knew Meghan was her best chance to find someone who could help her. “If you’re done laughing at me, I could use some help. I know you have a lot of connections to all kinds of people, so…”

“Why would I help you? I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”

For old times’ sake, Robin wanted to say but didn’t. Growing up as the only Girah born into their clan in the fifties, they had quickly become friends, but all they had ever shared were night hunts, never their dreams and emotions. Robin shoved away the memories of the last time they’d gone out to hunt together. That night, a human nearly lost her life and Robin started down the path of abstinence.

“How much do you want?” she asked.

Meghan snorted. “You mean money? I don’t want any money.”

“What do you want?”

“A little nibble of your girlfriend would do,” Meghan said.

Every muscle in Robin’s body tensed. A possessive growl rose up from her chest before she remembered that Alana didn’t need her protection. “Are you sure that’s what you want? That’s how I ended up in this predicament.”

“Ah, shit. I forgot. Then I want you to hunt with me.”

“No!” Robin nearly shouted into the receiver. “Not that. Ask something else of me.”

“You don’t have anything else I want,” Meghan said.

Robin tightened her grip on the phone. “Well, I guess I need to find someone else to help me.”

She was about to end the call when Meghan said, “Write down this name and number. Shelby Carson. 1-917-826-1903.”

“Who is she?” Robin asked, after scribbling it down. “A dentist?”

“No. A psychiatrist.”

Robin threw down her pen. “What? I don’t need a psychiatrist. My fang really is broken. I’m not just imagining things!”

Meghan chuckled. “I wasn’t suggesting that you make an appointment with her. Although I’m sure it couldn’t hurt in your case. Not wanting to drink blood qualifies you for the loony bin.”

“If you don’t stop—”

“Fuck, you’re touchy. Must be the lack of blood. Call Shelby. She’s got a lot of connections in the medical field. If anyone can help you find a dentist whose hands won’t shake in terror when he tries to treat your fang, she can.”

Robin took a deep, steadying breath. “All right. I’ll call her. What’s one more Girah making fun of me, right?”

“Oh, she’s not one of us,” Meghan said, the smirk obvious in her voice.

“What? Are you crazy? I can’t just call a human and—”

“She isn’t human either. She’s a shape-shifter. As far as I know, she’s the only one of them who has a clue we exist.”

“She knows?” Usually, Girah steered clear of other species—except for humans, their preferred prey. Since the shape-shifters had come out to the human public, they weren’t exactly well liked in the Girah community. Now that humans were aware of supernatural creatures lurking in the night, hunting them had become harder.

“Don’t worry,” Meghan said. “She’s just a coyote, not one of the bigger, more influential subspecies, and she’s considered a weirdo among her people too, so she won’t give you away.”

A weirdo. Great. Robin sighed but resolved to call this Shelby person anyway. She was a vampire-like creature who’d had her fang cracked by a former djinn, so how much weirder could it possibly get?

* * *

Robin wasn’t sure what made her more nervous—entering the dentist’s office or being accompanied by a shape-shifter who looked as if she’d turn into a coyote any moment.

Shelby Carson fidgeted as they crossed the lobby of a high-rise building on Fifth Avenue, right across from the Empire State Building.

“You didn’t need to accompany me,” Robin said while they waited for the elevator. “Why didn’t you just give me the name and address of this dentist?”

Her gaze lowered, Shelby shook her head. “I promised that I would never give out her name over the phone and that I’d personally check out each patient I brought her.”

Probably to weed out the lunatics before they ended up on the dentist’s chair. Robin respected this attempt to protect the human.

When they entered the elevator, Shelby’s nervousness seemed to increase. She pressed her slender body into one corner of the elevator and ducked her head, her light brown hair falling into her narrow face and hiding her eyes. She had avoided looking Robin in the eyes since they had met.

Robin hadn’t noticed in the car, but now it was really getting on her nerves. “Would you calm down?” She growled as the elevator carried them up to the dentist’s office on the fifteenth floor. “You don’t have to go to the dentist, so why are you so nervous?”

“I’m sorry,” Shelby said, her gaze still lowered to the floor. “It’s just… I’m not used to being around Girah. You…you make me a little nervous. I mean, not you, personally. All superior predators do—which for me is pretty much anyone but humans.”

Robin rolled her eyes and stopped the coyote’s rambling with an impatient wave of her hand. “I have a cracked fang. Biting you is the last thing on my mind. Besides, not that I have tried shape-shifter blood, but I hear you taste like shit.”

“Thanks a lot,” Shelby mumbled, her voice pitched so low that Robin could barely understand it.

Robin couldn’t suppress a smile. She winced when it tugged on her lip, which she had cut on the jagged edge of her broken fang earlier. “Just calm down. I don’t want to be stuck in the elevator with a coyote.” She had never seen it, but she’d heard stories about what happened when a shape-shifter got really angry or scared.

“Don’t worry. I won’t shift. Even if I wanted.” Shelby sighed and regarded her reflection in the mirrored wall. “My adrenal cortex produces too little mutaline, so I rarely manage shifting.”

Was that why Meghan had called her a weirdo? “Well,” Robin said, surprising herself with the urge to say something that would cheer Shelby up. “I’m sure it has its advantages. Otherwise, situations like this could get a little…hairy. No pun intended.”

Shelby peeked over, a shy smile on her lips.

For a moment, they grinned at each other. The elevator doors pinged open on the fifteenth floor, and Robin sobered. She felt like a prisoner being led to the execution chamber.

With a gesture of submission, Shelby let her go first and followed her out of the elevator. She pointed at a frosted glass door to their left. “Here we are.”

Robin stared at the signage on the door.

All Smiles

Pediatric Dentistry

Kristina Pérez, DDS

She’s a kiddie dentist? Robin groaned. “Great. She’ll freak for sure as soon as I open my mouth and she sees my fangs. The little monsters she usually treats don’t have such dangerous teeth.”

Shelby shook her head. “I don’t think she panics easily. Last time I came here, I brought a Syak teenager who had half of a rabbit paw stuck in what was left of her braces—and that was before we came out to the human public. Dr. Pérez didn’t bat an eye.”

The removal of a rabbit paw wasn’t nearly as dangerous as a close encounter with the fangs of a Girah, though. “Does Dr. Pérez know what to expect?”

“Of course she does,” Shelby said. “I went by her office yesterday and personally told her about you.”

“Do you bring her a lot of non-human patients?”

“Not a lot, but it happens every now and then,” Shelby said. “Normally, shifting heals all of our wounds, so we Wrasa rarely need medical help. But when we do, it’s hard to find a physician who knows how to treat shape-shifters.”

“Are you sure she isn’t a shifter?”

“Even if she were shifting-handicapped like me, I’d smell it if she were one of us,” Shelby said. “She’s just a human who knows how to keep her mouth shut.”

Robin wished she could do the same—keep her mouth shut and not let this strange kid dentist work on her fang with her drills and other torture instruments. But she wasn’t about to reveal her nervousness in front of this little coyote, so she squared her shoulders and marched to the door.

At least if the dentist could afford to rent space in a building like this, business had to be going well. That had to mean she was good at her job, right?

“Do you want me to come in with you?” Shelby asked as if sensing her hesitation.

“No, thanks. I can handle it. No problem.” Only when the glass doors shut between them did she remember that shape-shifters were usually able to smell a lie. Some superior predator you are.

* * *

Two steps into the dentist’s office, Robin stopped and stared. This was really beginning to feel like a bizarre nightmare. What’s this—a safari or a dentist’s office?

To the right of the reception desk, a large stuffed giraffe seemed to nibble on the leaves of a potted palm. Murals of zebras, lions, and elephants covered every wall.

The receptionist behind the desk wore a scrub top that had little cartoon animals all over it. She gave Robin a smile that revealed perfect human teeth, then peeked around her as if expecting to spot a child hiding behind her. “Good afternoon. How may I help you?”

Reluctantly, Robin stepped up to the desk. “I’m Robin Caldwell. I have an appointment with Dr. Pérez.”

“Oh, right. She said to expect you.” The receptionist handed her a clipboard and a pen, eyeing her with curiosity, as if wondering why the doctor had made an exception for her and taken on an adult patient. “Why don’t you take a seat and fill out our patient form? Dr. Pérez will be with you in a few minutes.”

Robin took the clipboard and held it in front of her like a shield as she marched over to the waiting area the receptionist indicated.

Stuffed animals and toys were piled up in one corner, while colorful plastic chairs were set along the wall. A large flat-screen TV played an animated movie, but the sound was turned off.

A woman and the little boy on her lap were the only people in the waiting area.

It took only one whiff to realize that both the mother and her child were O negative—normally a treat Robin would have trouble resisting, but today, she wasn’t in the mood to even consider using her fangs on anyone.

She mumbled a greeting and sank onto a green chair.

The high-pitched whine of a drill came from a nearby room, making Robin wince.

“I don’t want to go in there, Mommy,” the little boy whispered.

“But if you don’t want to see Dr. Kristina, she’ll be very, very sad,” his mother answered with a grave expression. “You don’t want that, do you?”

“I don’t care,” the boy answered and stuck out his bottom lip, his little arms crossed tightly over his chest.

Robin suppressed a snort and focused on the information sheet on the clipboard, trying to ignore the horrible noises coming from next door. Under reason for today’s visit, she scribbled, chipped fang, then crossed out fang until it wasn’t legible anymore and wrote tooth next to it.

In the line below, the patient form asked for the date of her last dental visit. This is the first, she wrote in tiny letters. Too bad there wasn’t any space to add, and hopefully last.

A young woman in the same safari animals scrub top approached the waiting area.

Robin and the little boy both stared at her.

“Hi, Jayden. Dr. Kristina is ready for you now. Come with me, please.”

Clutching his mother’s hand, the boy followed her.

Robin stayed behind alone. After a while, she got up to hand the patient form to the receptionist before returning to her chair. She kept unsheathing her fangs to flick her tongue over the chipped edge. Her right knee bounced up and down. She realized that she had started counting the number of toys in the corner—a nervous habit that she, like many of her kind, just couldn’t break.

Finally, the mother and her son returned, the little boy proudly holding on to a small plastic toy. They stopped at the reception desk to make another appointment before leaving the dentist’s office.

When the young woman in the safari scrub top approached again, Robin knew it was her turn. “Ms. Caldwell? Dr. Kristina…I mean, Dr. Pérez will see you now.”

Robin’s legs felt a little wobbly as she stood and followed the dental nurse down the hall. She couldn’t remember her heart ever beating this fast in her sixty-seven years, not even during her first hunt.

The nurse gestured through an open door to one of the treatment rooms. “Please make yourself comfortable. Dr. Pérez will be with you in a minute.”

Comfortable wasn’t a term Robin associated with the dental chair. She stepped into the room, which had zebras and giraffes on the walls too. A stuffed crocodile dangled from the lamp over the dental chair. Scowling up at it, Robin slid onto the padded chair.

The nurse returned and secured a disposable patient napkin around Robin’s neck.

She flinched when the cold metal chain touched her skin. Frowning, she eyed the paper bib now covering her chest. What was this for? To protect her clothes from any blood that might spatter?

Her stomach felt queasy. Oh, come on. You’re a Girah. A bloodsucker. Don’t tell me you can’t stand the sight of blood.

Another person entered. She was so petite that Robin mistook her for a girl before realizing she was a grown woman. She wore red scrubs without any cartoon characters, and a surgical mask dangled from her neck. Her black hair, tied back into a ponytail, shone under the bright lights of the treatment room. Despite her diminutive size, she strode into the room with confident steps. No hint of fear glinted in her dark eyes as she reached out and shook Robin’s hand. “Hi. I’m Dr. Kristina Pérez.”

Her handshake was unexpectedly firm for such a petite woman.

Robin gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Robin Caldwell.”

The dentist glanced over her shoulder. “I won’t need you for this patient, Pia. Why don’t you and Stephanie call it a day?”

The nurse lingered in the doorway. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Dr. Pérez said, her tone friendly but firm. “And please close the door behind you.”

When the nurse closed the door and her steps faded away, Dr. Pérez turned toward Robin. “This is a first.”

“For me too,” Robin mumbled, even though she wasn’t sure what exactly the dentist was referring to—treating an adult or treating a Girah. Frankly, she didn’t care. All she wanted was to make it out of this chair as fast as possible, preferably with a repaired fang.

“You look a little tense. Are you in pain?”

“No. I just don’t like dentists.”

Dr. Pérez laughed. “Well, I’m not particularly fond of sticking my hand into a vampire’s mouth either; trust me.” Despite her words, she didn’t seem to be scared.

Weird.

“So,” Dr. Pérez stepped closer, “what seems to be the problem?”

“A piece of my left fang broke off,” Robin said, hoping the dentist wouldn’t ask how it had happened.

“Okay, let’s take a look.” Dr. Pérez pressed a button.

The chair lifted up and tipped back, making Robin clutch the armrests with both hands.

The doctor snapped on a pair of latex gloves, sat on a stool, and wheeled herself toward Robin. She pulled the tray with metal instruments closer.

Robin eyed a dental probe and other instruments she couldn’t identify. She flinched when her gaze landed on the drill in a holder alongside the chair.

Dr. Pérez must have seen where she was looking. A gentle grin curved her lips. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of pointy things.”

Great. Why did she have to get a dentist with a sense of humor? “Only if they’re used to poke around in my mouth.”

“I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.” Dr. Pérez adjusted the overhead light until it shone into Robin’s face.

A startled hiss escaped Robin.

“Oh, sorry.” Dr. Pérez pulled the light down a little. “I forgot that Girah don’t like bright lights.”

Robin squinted up at her. “How do you know so much about my kind?”

“Let’s just say I lead an interesting night life that brings me into contact with all kinds of people,” the dentist said.

What was that supposed to mean?

Before Robin could ask another question, Dr. Pérez tugged her surgical mask up over her mouth and said, “Okay, let’s get started.”

Her heart beating even faster, Robin dug her fingers into the armrests and nodded to indicate that she was ready.

“Um, you’ll have to open your mouth, you know?” Amusement colored the dentist’s tone, even though the mask now hid her smile.

Again, Robin wondered why she was so calm. Willing her jaw muscles not to tremble, she slowly opened her mouth as wide as she could.

Dr. Pérez leaned over her and used a long-handled mirror to peek in.

Good thing Girah have a reflection.

After a few seconds, Dr. Pérez took the mirror away and gave Robin a rebuking look. “Is this some kind of joke? I don’t see any fangs.”

“Oh, sorry.” Robin unsheathed both incisors and presented them with a grim smile.

“Ah. Okay. I can see the problem. How the heck did you manage to do that?”

Robin resisted the urge to squirm. “I…um…I bit down on something that I shouldn’t have bitten.”

“I thought Girah don’t need any solid food.”

“We don’t,” Robin said. “It wasn’t food.”

“Oh. I see.” The dentist was clever enough not to ask further questions. “Okay. So, let’s talk about treatment options. Since your fangs are retractable and I assume you want to keep it that way,” she waited for Robin’s nod, “we can’t use a cap. Fortunately, the broken-off piece isn’t that big and the pulp is intact, so we can use dental bonding.”

Bonding? At a dentist’s office? That didn’t sound promising. “What’s that?”

“It’s basically a bit of composite resin that is molded into the shape of the broken-off part and attached to the tooth.”

“That doesn’t sound very solid.” Robin frowned up at the dentist.

“It is. It’s just not as strong as your natural fang,” Dr. Pérez said. “If you take good care of it, the composite resin should last about five years before it needs to be repaired.”

Needs to be repaired? Robin didn’t like the sound of that. It meant that she’d have to return to the dentist.

“You’ll have to try not to bite down on hard things,” the dentist continued. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Robin blew out a breath. “No. I’m trying to quit biting anyway.”

“Good for you,” Dr. Pérez said, as if she heard of Girah wanting to give up fresh blood every day. “Okay, let’s get that fang fixed. Open wide, please.”

“What about anesthesia or laughing gas?” Robin asked.

The dentist shook her head. “Not necessary for this procedure. Which is good news, because I have no idea how Girah react to Novocain or to nitrous oxide.”

When Robin opened her mouth, Dr. Pérez put a piece of cotton wool under her lip, propping it up, and held what looked like a row of teeth next to Robin’s lips.

“Wha’ ’a’?” Robin asked, her mouth still wide open.

The doctor seemed to understand her anyway. “It’s a shade guide. It helps me select the composite resin color that matches the color of your fang most closely.” She turned off the overhead lamp and then regarded Robin’s fang in the sunlight streaming in through the window. “Looks like a B1.”

Was that good? Robin had no idea, and she didn’t ask. She just wanted the dentist to get on with it.

Dr. Pérez started to work on her fang with a variety of instruments, finally using a syringe to apply what she called etching gel.

Having Dr. Pérez’s hand so close to her fangs made Robin nervous. She could feel the dentist’s blood pounding through her arteries. A sharp ache started in her jaw and her gums. It had nothing to do with the damaged fang and everything to do with the urge to sink her incisors into the blood vessels. Well, incisor, singular, since her other one was out of order for the time being.

She fought against the bloodlust and held still as Dr. Pérez washed off the gel she’d applied.

The stuff tasted bitter, making Robin grimace.

“Hold still,” Dr. Pérez said. Her small hands were steady as she used a tiny brush to apply another liquid to the fang.

Robin marveled at her courage—or maybe it was stupidity. The more uncomfortable she became, the more the urge to bite increased. This naive human had no idea how close she was to becoming an after-lunch snack.

“I don’t think you’d like the taste of latex, so you might want to abstain from biting my hand,” Dr. Pérez said, never pausing in what she was doing to the fang.

Robin stared up at her, but the face behind the surgical mask gave nothing away. The doctor’s dark eyes twinkled.

“You might want to close your eyes,” she said as she moved what looked like a penlight to Robin’s mouth. “I’m about to use an ultraviolet light to cure the bonding agent.”

Despite the warning, Robin kept her eyes open. No matter how much she hated bright lights, she wanted to keep an eye on this strange human.

“Don’t close your mouth.” Dr. Pérez took her hands away and turned around to prepare something on the tray.

Not being able to see what she was doing made Robin even more nervous. She lay there waiting, her mouth wide open, feeling like an idiot.

Dr. Pérez turned back around, a tiny spatula with some of the tooth-colored, puttylike resin in her right hand. She gave Robin a reassuring nod. “Ready?”

Robin nodded. She tried to hold still as Dr. Pérez applied the resin in layers and shaped it, going back for more material several times. Trying to distract herself from her helpless position and the human blood source just an inch from her mouth, she stared up at the ceiling.

Safari animals looked back at her.

She diverted her gaze to the stuffed crocodile dangling from the lamp. Did crocodiles need to visit the dentist every once in a while too?

“Are you still okay?” The doctor used the ultraviolet light again.

“Yeah,” Robin said, but because she couldn’t move her mouth and tongue properly, it came out as more of a gargle.

“Good. I know keeping your mouth open for so long is uncomfortable. You’ll be able to relax your jaw in a moment.”

Robin suppressed a grin. The muscles and joints in a Girah’s jaw were much stronger than those of humans. Her kind were used to having their mouths wide open, clamped around a human’s neck, for as long as necessary to feed.

Dr. Pérez clicked off the ultraviolet light and rolled her stool back a bit. “Okay. You can close your mouth, but don’t bite down.” She turned and sorted the equipment on the metal tray. “Now the fun part starts. I get to use my instruments to trim and shape the fang.”

“You dentists have a strange idea of fun,” Robin grumbled.

Over her shoulder, Dr. Pérez threw a grin her way. While it wasn’t visible beneath her mask, it crinkled the skin around her nose and eyes.

If she weren’t a dentist, she’d be almost cute, Robin decided. The drill in her hand wasn’t cute at all, though.

The doctor’s gentle laughter tickled Robin’s ears. “It’s always the big, bad predators who panic in my chair.”

“I’m not panicking.” Looking straight into the dentist’s eyes, she used her mind-control skills to get her to shut up and just get on with the treatment.

“Last week, I had a tiger shifter in here who nearly changed into her animal form at the mere thought of having her teeth cleaned,” Dr. Pérez continued with an amused shake of her head.

Frowning, Robin increased the force of her thrall.

Nothing.

The dentist prattled on and on about the tiger shifter being reduced to a quivering kitten in her chair.

What the…? A pounding started behind Robin’s temples, just the way it had happened when she had tried to thrall Alana, back when she had no clue Alana wasn’t fully human. “Who the fuck are you?”

“The dentist who’s about to trim your fang into shape.” Dr. Pérez rolled closer on her stool and leaned over her. “Open wide.”

Robin bared her fangs in a grim snarl.

“Wider.”

Hurling glares at the suicidal woman, Robin opened her mouth a little more.

The high-pitched buzz of the drill started, making her forget about the mystery of Dr. Pérez’s identity for a while. It didn’t hurt, but the sound sent shivers down Robin’s spine. She clutched the armrests with both hands until the fake leather material groaned under her grip.

“Easy, easy. I’m gonna need that chair for other patients, you know?” Dr. Pérez switched to another torture instrument. This one had a small, rotating disc at its end.

Robin could feel its vibrations as the doctor moved it along her fang.

Finally, after using a third instrument on the fang, Dr. Pérez moved the tray back and declared, “All done.”

Even though the dental chair was still in a reclined position, Robin tried to jump up.

Dr. Pérez pressed her back with unexpected strength. “Oh, no. Not so fast. We’re all done with this part of the procedure, but I still have to check the fit.”

Sighing, Robin slid back into the chair.

“Now try to bite.”

Robin stared at her.

Dr. Pérez laughed. “Not me. Just close your mouth and see how it feels.”

Gingerly, Robin closed her mouth. She sheathed and unsheathed her fangs a couple of times and flicked her tongue over the restored left incisor, grinning widely when she cut herself on the razor-sharp tip. “Feels great.”

“Does it retract like the other one?”

“Like a charm.”

Dr. Pérez got a mirror out of a drawer and held it out for Robin to see.

Robin checked out the new fang, marveling at how great it looked. She couldn’t tell that it had ever been broken. “You did good work.” She grinned, showing off her shiny new fang. “Maybe I’ll let you live.”

The dentist just laughed. She took off her surgical mask, moved the patient chair into an upright position, and pressed a button that made water run into a plastic cup to Robin’s left. “You can rinse your mouth now.”

Robin did, thoroughly spitting out the remainders of the bitter stuff. When she climbed out of the chair, elation washed through her. Okay, now get the hell out of here.

Dr. Pérez stripped off her latex gloves and offered her hand.

Robin shook it. The doctor’s fingers were warm against her clammy ones, reminding her again of the blood flowing through her. Strangely, she couldn’t tell what blood type Dr. Pérez had. When she enclosed the dentist’s hand in both of hers for a moment, she again tried to thrall her. Direct body contact always helped, even with stubborn cases like this one. She looked into Dr. Pérez’s eyes and threw the veil of forgetfulness over her.

“Call me immediately if you have any problems with the fang,” Dr. Pérez said.

Dammit. It wasn’t working.

“Otherwise, I’ll see you in six months.”

She wanted to stick her hand into a Girah’s mouth again—this time a Girah with two fully functioning fangs? Something had to be seriously wrong with this woman. “Who are you?” Robin asked again.

Dr. Pérez just smiled in her mysterious way and led her to the door.

* * *

At home, Alana oohed and aahed over the fixed fang and asked all kinds of questions about the treatment, but Robin was still more preoccupied with the dentist. A call to Shelby hadn’t revealed any new information—either the coyote shifter didn’t know who or what Dr. Pérez was or she was protecting her identity.

“She looked and smelled human, but I’m sure she’s not,” Robin said. “Otherwise, she’d have had the sense to be afraid. And I couldn’t thrall her.”

Alana cupped her face with both hands and leaned up to kiss her, making Robin’s body tingle in the most pleasant way. “You can’t thrall me either, and I’m not afraid of you, but I’m still human.”

“That’s different. You’re a former djinn.”

“You don’t think she used to be a djinn too, do you? Surely I would have heard if someone else had left the Great Energy to become human.” Despite her cautious words, excitement glimmered in Alana’s eyes.

Robin knew how hard it was for her to be physically human but still not fitting in with the rest of the species. How great would it be for her to have someone who could relate? Robin would have loved to say yes, but her instincts made her shake her head. “I don’t think so. There wasn’t even a little tingle when she touched me.”

“Maybe she’s human after all. It might be just your overactive imagination telling you otherwise.” Alana gently poked her in the ribs. “We all know how you writers are.”

“Maybe.” But Robin didn’t believe it. Still thinking about her strange experience with the dentist, she went into her office and booted up her computer. As Alana had reminded her, she was a writer, so why not do some research? She opened her browser and typed the words Pérez pediatric dentist into the search engine.

The links to 151,000 search results popped up.

Robin skimmed the links on the first page, most of them leading to the websites of dentists who shared Dr. Kristina’s last name. She clicked to the next page, then the page after. Dentists, dentists, and more dentists. Robin had had enough of that profession for the foreseeable future. Just when she was about to give up and accept that she’d never solve this particular mystery, a link at the bottom of the third page caught her attention. She clicked on it and started to read. The second sentence made her pause to stare at the screen.

According to the website, Raton Pérez was a creature of Spanish and Hispanic legends, a mouse that collected the baby teeth of children while they slept.

Dr. Pérez’s words about her interesting night life echoed through Robin’s mind. She started to laugh. “Zeus on a bike! My dentist is a tooth fairy!”

Not even in some of her more bizarre stories had she ever come up with a character like that. Sometimes, reality was truly stranger than fiction.

###

If you enjoyed this short story, you might want to read Jae’s Good Enough to Eat, the novel in which Robin and Alana met.

If you would like to know more about Shelby Carson, the coyote shifter, pick up a copy of the novella Manhattan Moon or the shape-shifter novel True Nature.

ABOUT JAE

Jae grew up amidst the vineyards of southern Germany. She spent her childhood with her nose buried in a book, earning her the nickname professor. The writing bug bit her at the age of eleven. For the last eight years, she has been writing mostly in English.

She used to work as a psychologist but gave up her day job in December 2013 to become a full-time writer and a part-time editor. As far as she’s concerned, it’s the best job in the world.

When she’s not writing, she likes to spend her time reading, indulging her ice cream and office supply addictions, and watching way too many crime shows.

Connect with Jae online

Jae loves hearing from readers!

E-mail her at: jae@jae-fiction.com

Visit her website: jae-fiction.com

Visit her blog: jae-fiction.com/blog

Like her on Facebook: facebook.com/JaeAuthor

Follow her on Twitter: @jaefiction

OTHER BOOKS FROM YLVA PUBLISHING

www.ylva-publishing.com

Good Enough to Eat

Jae & Alison Grey

ISBN: 978-3-95533-243-3 (mobi), 978-3-95533-244-0 (epub)

Length: 64,000 words (223 pages)

Robin’s New Year’s resolution to change her eating habits is as unusual as she is. Unlike millions of other women, she isn’t tempted by chocolate or junk food. She’s a vampire, determined to fight her craving for a pint of O negative.

When she goes to an AA meeting, hoping for advice on fighting her addiction, she meets Alana, a woman who battles her own demons.

Despite their determination not to get involved, the attraction is undeniable.

Is it just bloodlust that makes Robin think Alana looks good enough to eat, or is it something more? Will it even matter once Alana finds out who Robin really is?

Sigil Fire

Erzabet Bishop

ISBN: 978-3-95533-169-6 (mobi), 978-3-95533-170-2 (epub)

Length: 30,000 words (131 pages)

Sonia is a succubus with one goal: stay off Hell’s radar. But when succubi start to die, including her sometimes lover, Jeannie, she’s drawn into the battle between good and evil.

Fae is a blood witch turned vampire, running a tattoo parlor and trading her craft for blood. She notices that something isn’t right on the streets of her city. The denizens of Hell are restless. With the aid of her nest mate Perry and his partner Charley, she races against time before the next victim falls. The killer has a target in his sights, and Sonia might not live to see the dawn.

Manhattan Moon

Jae

ISBN: 978-3-95533-013-2 (mobi), 978-3-95533-012-5 (epub)

Length: 29,000 words

Nothing in Shelby Carson’s life is ordinary. Not only is she an attending psychiatrist in a hectic ER, but she’s also a Wrasa, a shape-shifter who leads a secret existence.

To make things even more complicated, she has feelings for Nyla Rozakis, a human nurse.

Even though the Wrasa forbid relationships with humans, Shelby is determined to pursue Nyla. Things seem pretty hopeless for them, but on Halloween, during a full moon, anything can happen…

COMING FROM YLVA PUBLISHING IN SUMMER 2015

www.ylva-publishing.com

Banshee’s Honor

Shaylynn Rose

Warleader. This is what the people of Y’Dan used to call the proud warrior Azhani Rhu’len.

Banshee. Oath breaker. Murderer. These are words that slip off their tongues now.

Azhani Rhu’len, once one of the greatest of Y’Dan’s warriors, is now just a common criminal, escaping the justice of the kingdom she swore to serve.

~~~

Kyrian Stardancer. Goddess’ Own. A healer and priestess, she is inviolate until one day, when her world is turned upside down and tossed over the back of a horse—literally.

Torn from all she knows, Kyrian finds her fate now rests squarely on the shoulders of the oath breaker, Azhani Rhu’len.

When signs of ancient evil appear, Azhani and Kyrian must choose whether to ignore the warnings or stand and face the terrifying menace.

Coitus Interruptus Dentalis

© by Jae

ISBN (mobi): 978-3-95533-422-2

ISBN (epub): 978-3-95533-423-9

Published by Ylva Publishing, legal entity of Ylva Verlag, e.Kfr.

Ylva Verlag, e.Kfr.

Owner: Astrid Ohletz

Am Kirschgarten 2

65830 Kriftel

Germany

www.ylva-publishing.com

First edition: June 2015

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

Credits

Edited by CK King

Proofread by Danielle Burton

Cover Design by Jen Valente