I stop in the great hall when Last Shadow speaks up in my head, “So those two are mated, then?”

  “Eh…” I consider, “...not really. Sometimes humanoids do mate for life simir to how your noble species handles such things, but often not. In their specific case: Definitely not now, although it's possible they will eventually.”

  “Such strange creatures,” my Companion shakes her head.

  I chuckle and resume moving.

  When I get into the library I find Wilma reading a book, sitting calmly with her robes off, her skin and face flushed, breathing a little heavily… and the butler I assigned to her, also nude, with his head between her legs, moving repetitively. I can hear him licking. Hmm… I didn't intend them as pleasure servants, but I did tell them to go ahead and do any task they assigned that isn't harmful or contrary to my interests, so… eh, whatever.

  Wilma makes no move to cover herself, her chest in pin view, “Oh, hey Marty,” she puts a bookmark at her current spot, and closes the book… not a spellbook for once, she's looking at maps, “how are you doing?”

  This is a little surreal, even for me, “Fine… I see you're doing well with your control.”

  “Eh…” she considers, “he's not especially skilled at this,” she pauses a moment and shudders, cmping her thighs around his head, pants a bit, and resumes speaking, “but this form is really sensitive. Still… the best way to get used to the pleasure is to trigger it, repeatedly.” She releases her thighs, “That's enough for now, James. Go get dressed and wait for me in my quarters.”

  My minion gets up without a word, dresses, and leaves the library. Hmm… the downside of the approach is that it's easy to become addicted. Still, she's an adult, “would you like a summon better suited for that?”

  “Oh, would you?” She straightens suddenly, making her chest jump up a bit, then spring back and cp slightly against her ribs. She gnces down and picks up one of her rather hefty orbs, “I'm still not quite used to that….”

  I shrug, “Sure, no problem; it takes more time to discuss what you want than to actually make it happen. What would you like?”

  I summon a suitable base and polymorph him several times as we go over the minutiae of what Wilma wants out of her perfect pything… and ultimately end up building two for her (one male, one female), both visibly elven… but only because of Polymorph: I have some sharp limits on my avaible minions that can have reasonably arbitrary skills. I can Summon a “Dungeon (Prisoner)” now, and those have slightly better skill checks than the older “Merchant (Shopkeeper)” base, while still having the cuse about switching out certain skills and feats… still human, sadly, so I can't simply give Wilma an elvish butler and maid… but at least I can make them look and feel the part without issues.

  Once we have the appearance down, I buff them up a bit to be better at their jobs (and to “curse” them to not have kids, although that should be redundant with Wilma's “curse” for the same). When we're done, I give them simir orders as to Wilma's assigned cleanup crew, and she sends them to her quarters to wait.

  Last Shadow watches the entire exchange without comment.

  That done, I follow up, “Have you practiced seeing if you can ignore my orders?”

  Wilma purses her lips, “I haven't been worrying about it… but basically I'd need something to fight against. Do you mind giving me an order… something harmless, but long term, and distasteful enough that I should want to stop it?”

  I consider a bit, “Sure… whenever you judge it safe enough to do so, maintain the same self-milking routine I gave to the milkmaids, including having your assigned maid, butler, and personal entertainers help with the nursing. Simple embarrassment because of our party members or my servants shouldn't be enough to make it considered unsafe, although outside people might.”

  “It's a perfectly sensible thing to do,” Wilma frowns as she starts massaging her chest, preparing to try and squeeze out her currently nonexistent milk, “How does that meet the…”

  “How is it perfectly sensible?” I interrupt.

  “Why? It's obvious. It's because… because…” the nude woman in front of me starts to draw a bnk, then realizes what's going on, “Ah. Right. It always seems like the right thing to do when you say it…” she looks down at her hands, “it's safe right now, so I can't stop. Umm. This is awkward… feels good, surprisingly… or maybe not, given how this form is tuned otherwise. Umm….”

  I shrug, “Well… you're going to be at it for a while, every couple of hours, until you can stop yourself. How do you feel about my lips on your taps ‘helping’ to stimute?”

  “Oh would you?” She smiles, “That'd be…” she pauses, “Okay, um, yes, please. But… AGH!”

  I chuckle, “I gave you exactly the order you asked for,” and start sucking for a while, massaging her chest with my hands while I'm at it.

  “Ooh…” she purrs, “Yes, yes you did….”

  We go at it for a while, and the elf ends up sweating and breathing hard, moaning as I suck and massage one tap while she works the other with her own hands.

  Twenty minutes ter, “Okay… you can stop now… hah, I finally….”

  “Hit the scheduled duration of the exercise,” I interrupt, “But don't worry, you'll have another chance to try in a few hours.”

  “Oh,” she looks at me and licks her lips, “that got me all hot and bothered…” she spreads her legs, “don't you mind sticking that Rod of Wonder you have in here to finish me off?”

  So tempting to just dive into that warm, wet, welcoming hole, “About that…” I sigh, “I'm not entirely sure if you count as sober when you're in this form.” She gives me some big puppy dog eyes, so I continue, “which just means I want you to decide that kind of thing when you are in your birth form, rather than the form I gave you.”

  She whimpers and wiggles her hips.

  “Look,” I take a breath, “you've been practicing, so if that is what you really want, it should be a simple matter for you to switch and ask again.”

  She shifts to his birth form… and turns really red, “Okay… I think you're onto something there. That's… not what I want. But, umm…”

  Yeah he's at full mast, and he's not exactly skilled at covering himself with his hands, “I don't mind being on the receiving end if you're fine with the breeding compulsion that form pushes on everyone around me…” I pause, “and I did make two pleasure servants for you recently that are waiting in your quarters right now.” He doesn't even bother to pick up his clothes as he rushes out of the room.

  Pity; I'm feeling a bit hot and bothered myself.

  “So this mating without bonding thing… how does it work?” My companion pipes up in my head.

  “Well…” I consider how I want to answer, “‘how does pair bonding work’ is ultimately the same question. The short answer is that as a Gryphon you have a very strong mechanism in your psychology that binds you to your mate. That mechanism also exists in most humanoids, but it's much weaker. The difference permits humanoids to mate without bonding, to bond with another after the first bond mate has died, to have multiple bonded mates, to sever a bond, and so on, while a mated gryphon can't do that kind of thing.”

  Last Shadow considers for a bit as I start thinking about what to do next; I'm a little too hot under the colr to read… “So does that mean if you changed me into a humanoid, I could try out mating without bonding to see if I like it?”

  “Not really…” I absentmindedly reply, “The spells I'd be willing to use on you change your body, but leave your mind alone. You'd still bind to whoever you picked, but that person wouldn't necessarily bind to you, and that could get… messy. It's best if people are equally yoked in such pairings.” Which also means I can't py with her that way. Pity.

  Let's see… Last Shadow isn't viable, Wesley effectively declined, Roger and Bearcw aren't in a state where they can give a trustworthy “yes,” and anyone else will likely end up Gifted, which is problematic. Ugh… eh, I'll just deliver that ring myself, I guess, and try to simply calm down.

  Shaking my head, I walk out of my Keyhome, and pause at the guards. I take a moment to repce them with newer summons; I have better options now, it doesn't take long, and I kind of want the distraction. I do leave a couple of the old to act as verifiers for my party mates, however. I figure out what I'm in the mood for when they all come out as busty women. Makes sense, I mean, I just spent a bunch of time working a woman's chest. I could use my own summons….

  Eh, maybe when I get back, if I don't think of a better option.

  I take Last Shadow through town; it's getting on towards evening, but there's still a few people around. I get some mildly frightened looks from some people… but Last Shadow is both dressed and accompanied, so not really any more than a big man in armor might. I get some rather jealous looks from folks in fancier armor, and a frown from a priest who doesn't say anything.

  I deliver the ring to the half-orc guildmaster, collect the "half on completion"… I can tell she's pnning something mischievous, but not for us… and head back to my Keyhome. The walk cools me off slightly, but I'm still a bit randy.

  Lost in thought, the sudden appearance of a dozen devils in a circle around me makes me jump…