Purr, purr, purr. There was an odd rumbling sound Josh couldn’t place that almost covered up the murmur of voices. The combination was loud enough it was difficult to sleep, and Josh yawned before stretching his paws and leaning into a pleasant warmth. What was that rumble? Purr, purr, purr. Oh. That was him. Mlep. He hadn’t purred since he’d left his mom and the orphanage.

And that warmth! Drakon was stroking his back!

Josh almost melted under the touch. It shouldn’t feel so good to be stroked by a future tyrant, and that made his enjoyment absolutely guilty. If he thought too hard about it Josh’s brain would crack (this was a murderer and a bloody dragon, he could kill Josh with a thought, but attempting to flee would complicate the mission, and revulsion might put Kit under investigation, and-and-and!) so it was better not to think of it at all.

It might be funny to see the future emperor cry from humiliation, but Josh wouldn’t survive the encounter. No one who witnessed Kit’s embarrassment would and that would make quite a mess of the timeline!

It didn’t matter anyway. Each stroke from shoulder to butt pulled a vibration of purr, purr, purr from his insides. Josh couldn’t stop it if he tried. “Oh! There!” Josh mewled when Kit’s nails scraped the base of his tail. “Please don’t touch there! It feels too good!” he tried to whine but it still came out purr, purr, purr. Worse, Kit suddenly focused there more! “Nggggg. Please.”

Kit paused, likely do to something the humans were discussing. Josh twitched an ear and tried to restart his brain. It took a moment for him to realize they were discussing him.

“This is one of the reasons such collars are illegal in our territory, and why their use is restricted everywhere.” the Duke was grumbling. “We should be grateful the little one has some magic in him or you would have stumbled upon a dead cat once the collar’s magic faded.”

“Or one of the maids would have,” the vet said, shaking her head. “It’s amazing what people will do for a bit of luck. Or in this case to get rid of bad luck.”

“I don’t understand,” Kit spoke up as he worked the now useless collar off of Josh’s neck. “Spies and assassins want to be invisible for their work, and I can understand smugglers or thieves not wanting themselves or their product to be seen. But why would someone make a pet unnoticeable? Isn’t the point of a pet that you can play with them?”

“It’s more common in illegal transactions,” Professor Thomas said, shifting his sweater as if an uncomfortable chill was in the room. “Rare creatures and mythical beasts that can be harvested for potion ingredients, for example. It’s illegal for those creatures to be raised as pets but the healing power of their components and the high price they sell for is too tempting for some. Or, as you said, for smuggling exotic pets.”

“It’s also a cruel way to train an animal,” the vet chimed in. Josh noticed she was looking at another copy-cat version of Josh on the table, and he wondered when the spell was cast. “It makes the animal dependent on the only person who knows that it exists. Or it can be a way to horde good luck. Or, in this case, perhaps a way to kill off bad luck. Some people still consider black cats to be the eyes of the underworld, after all. This is a very interesting spell, professor,” she said in an abrupt change of subject. “I’ve never heard of it being used on animals, but it seems to work remarkably well. You’ve had consistent results?”

“On this cat, yes, but I haven’t tried other creatures,” the professor admitted. “I was hoping to work with you and experiment a bit, try some of the animals with magic and those without, and then some with spells on them to see if there’s a difference in results.”

Kit wasn’t interested in their experiments, though. “Madame Rosemary, isn’t it counterproductive to training?” he cut in as he handed Josh’s collar to his father. “At best it would just reinforce where ‘home’ is without providing any other training.”

It took the vet a moment to return to that train of thought. “It’s more like loyalty training,” she said. “Since no one else can see or hear the animal, it would get accidentally bumped or kicked any time it tried to approach another person. No matter how much it whined or cried, it would only receive food, love, and attention from the one person who knows it is there. There can be limited command training, too - though the commands ‘come’, ‘stay’, and ‘home’ are the only ones possible while the collar is on.”

Purr, purr, purr. Kit’s hand wasn’t anywhere dangerous anymore, and Josh yawned as they talked about silly things. He was a beastkin! He’d put the collar on willingly. None of that other stuff mattered. What mattered was finding the secret of becoming a dragon beastkin. Dragon evolution. Rare magic that Kit somehow mastered.

“Does that mean the cat’s current injuries are accidental?” the Duke asked. He set the collar on the table and rolled up his sleeves.

“Some, possibly. This bruise on his side is almost healed, and could be a scabbard shape. But we don’t know how long he’s been wearing it and I see scars from old wounds. It’s likely he was either abused or wild at some point. I don’t see any other purpose for these injuries. They aren’t common to training of any type, and certainly not to harvesting or illegal transport. He was probably in a bad place.”

Josh huffed. “The world is a bad place,” he grumbled as he put his head on his paws. First his parents’ orphanage was attacked and then he’d almost starved on his own for months and then he’d gotten pulled into the war of the tyrant! Those fingers started scratching at his butt again though, and ohhhh! “You’re practically indecent. Careful not to touch my bits again, you hear! I can’t be doing lewd things outside of marriage. Why does this feel so good?” purr, purr, purr.