Page 61 of Gift from the Stone

“What did he forget? It sounds like he’s already told on me.” Willow rolls her eyes, crossing her arms.

We all chuckle at the pissed off look on her face. She gets pretty upset when people share news before she has the chance to. She was obviously looking forward to telling us what she did herself.

“He neglected to tell me what the wolf said that set you off.”

Willow’s “Oh,” is drowned out by the sound of Draken growling. I turn my head to look at him and can tell the wolf said some shit that’s about to set Caspian off.

“Drop it, Caspian,” I warn. The last thing we need is him running off to kill some wolf up over some words when Willow obviously handled him.

“Nope. Tell me what he said, Willow. Now,” he commands. The use of her name startles her, and her eyes gloss slightly.

She cuts her gaze to the others, trying to get a read on how they’re feeling, landing on me last. She tries and fails miserably not to think about what he said in her mind, but it’s too late. I heard it.

He’s going to lose his shit. I’m trying not to lose my fucking shit ’cause she’s already internally freaking out, thinking that Caspian’s mad at her for this because he called her by her real name. Which he isn’t. She didn’t do anything wrong, but he’s most certainly going to blow up.

“Promise me you’re not going to flip out.” She looks up at Caspian, clearing her throat.

“No.”

His tone sends a shiver through her body, and she steels her shoulders, taking a deep breath.

“He asked me if when I’m done whoring myself to Draken, how about I give him and his Nexus a turn fucking my sweet mouth. And he called me little tree,” she tells the room quietly.

Silence.

The temperature in the room drops at least ten degrees with her omission. Out of the corner of my eye, Corentin’s fingers are twitching. He’s doing his best not to react poorly, but it’s hard. I feel the same. My bond’s pushing at its restraints, attempting to force me to find that fucker and knock his teeth down his throat.

Draken’s eyes are fully shifted, standing there with his arms crossed. I can’t imagine how he felt hearing that or how he had the restraint to hold himself back from ripping Gage’s throat out.

“Good girl. Thank you for telling me,” Caspian murmurs with barely checked rage lingering in his eyes. Standing with her in his arms, he walks her over to Corentin and passes her off.

“Are you upset with me? Where are you going?” Willow asks as she grabs onto his hand when he places her in Corentin’s waiting arms.

Her bond is pushing her. She’s never whiney unless the bond is fucking with her, and it mortifies her every time it happens. But no doubt it can sense the whirlwind of emotions swirling through Caspian currently.

“Of course I’m not upset with you. I’m just going to cool off,” he says, cupping her cheek with his shadows. “Draken,” he demands when he turns away from her.

“I’ll be back, little wanderer. I’ll keep him out of trouble,” Draken says as he cuts her complaint off with a kiss then runs out the door behind Caspian.

“Are they going to do something stupid?” she asks.

I immediately answer yes, telling the truth, while Corentin’s dumbass lies and says no, which causes a sweet little growl to fall from her throat. I probably shouldn’t refer to them as sweet after what she did today, but I can’t help it. It’s a small warning sound that’s too precious coming out of that tiny little body.

“I just didn’t want to upset your bond. Yes, they’re probably going to go take care of this. Caspian isn’t going to let that level of disrespect toward you stand. I can only imagine Draken didn’t react on the fields because he didn’t want to upset your bond and he wanted to let you handle it on your own, assert yourself as the most dominant in the class, but he was on the verge of flipping the fuck out too.” Corentin sighs, taking a seat with her perched on his lap.

“I could feel his anger down the bond, but he was handling it well, so I thought he’d let it go.”

“You don’t look all that upset about this, Will,” I comment, crossing my arms, looking down at her. The worried look she had a few minutes ago is replaced with a small smile as she lays her head against Corentin’s chest.

“I’m trying to convince myself that this is bad and I should stop them, but my bond and dragon are preening in my chest right now. Both extremely pleased with them going to defend my honor.” Me and Corentin chuckle when she lets out a little purr, confirming her feelings.

“Did your dragon take over today when you let your dominance out?” I ask.

She shakes her head, rubbing her chest. “No. She doesn’t really take over or push like Draken’s described his doing. This morning when I had a run-in with that bitch Gima, she wanted to rip her head off, but other than that, she just gives me little nudges or responds to me when I seek her guidance. She’ll send me feelings that I interpret and go from there. I don’t fight her presence when she makes herself known. I’m still in control the whole time, but I follow her lead and listen to the instincts she’s pushing.”

“Amazing,” Corentin murmurs into her hair.

Both of us shake our heads in astonishment. Her abilities are remarkable to witness. I have no doubt there’s an answer locked away in her stone that would explain her unmatched control and ability to adapt so quickly. I’m pretty positive she forgets how powerful she truly is because it just comes naturally to her.

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