Page 45 of Silent Jay

“Then prove it.” Tia trapped my face between her hands. “We can fix this. We can be together like it was. Stop talking and finish me with your eyes open.” She clicked a button on my nightstand, and the curtains opened.

The darkness hiding me from reality cracked to the sound of a little motor. Sun kissed Tia’s pale skin and thin waist. Sweat ran between her massive tits, and I focused on those. Feck, she had nice tits.

“Tyson,” Tia said, a hint of humor in her anger.

I didn’t look up from her breasts. “What?”

“Look at my face.”

I tore my eyes away from her swollen, hard nipples and met her gaze. She was still hot, but she wasn’t what I wanted. I’d thrown what I wanted away. My stomach soured, and bile rose in my throat.

I shoved to my feet and stomped to my balcony. “I need to fly.” I threw the sliding door open so hard the glass cracked, leaving a jagged line between the two panels.

“I love you, Tyson,” Tia said softly. “Let me know what we need to do to fix this. We can set up a hunt! Get your blood boiling.”

“No,” I barked. Even the idea of hunting someone other than my mate stabbed my heart.

My mate. My Wiggles.

I botched this, so badly.

Heat poured out of me as my body swelled with my shift. The ache of growing bones and lengthening muscles briefly passed. My skin hardened into scales. Despite my turmoil, I took a moment to admire my deep red dragon hide glistening in the sun before anger and pain fought to claim my heart once more. I hadn’t told a soul what I did in the forest, and despite scouring social media, the feckin water heir kept it to himself.

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse.

I spread my wings and roared my frustration into the sky. Shame tried to eat me alive and pulled me into my past. I’d just been a boy, too caring with too much empathy. My weakness was my family's greatest disgrace. Rightly so, my sire used his fists to coax the dominant dragon out of me. Once I found my strength, my dragon came to life in a ball of fiery fury. My sire set me on a better path. But somehow, that path led me right back to the same fecking shame I’d felt as a kid.

A mate bond was forever. Instead of letting Wiggles go, I’d bound her to me and still lost her.

No, I hadn’t lost her. My mate bond took. Rehan’s had to be a mistake. She had to be wrong about her fertility. If anyone could fix her, I could. I’d fixed myself.

I could do anything.

I roared, wishing I had my fire and dove. My moms would know more about fertility. They wrote Wiggles off, but if I stood up for her. My thoughts trailed off. I hadn’t done it when my dad called her defective. Even if I had, then what? My family never supported my ideas. I’d been the defective one for most of my life. I was the youngest son. The spare.

My Dad had been so fast to call Doctor Raba and declare Wiggles unfit. And I just followed his lead, like I had my entire life.

A fat dragon tear dripped off my scales. I didn’t think I could cry in my dragon form.

What the feck had I done?

A light blue dragon appeared in my line of sight. I snarled as much at it as myself. I’d flown straight toward my mate, hidden away in water territory. Our bond throbbed, pinpointing her location more accurately the closer I got to her. My nose crossed into Water territory, and fear filled the smaller blue dragon’s eyes. But he didn’t back down. I snorted and tipped my body, swinging back to my side of the border before banking for the coast.

I had to fix this.

The guard mirrored my movements, ensuring I stayed out of water dragon territory. I let the tip of my wings cross the border, occasionally swerving. Fear flashed in his eyes, and my confidence soared.

I wasn’t a dragonless emotional fifteen-year-old, more than a decade behind my peers. I was Tyson, a prince, a fighter, a fecking mighty dragon who could do anything I put my mind to. In all my moodiness, I’d locked myself in a sex cave with Tia, praying she cured me of Wiggles.

But I didn’t need a cure. I needed to fight for what I wanted. Feck my dad.

I’d get Wiggles back and fix this. All of this, her, me, my fire, Rehan’s fecking entitlement. Being a first son didn’t make him any better than me.

Although the water dragons owned a lot of the beach, they didn’t own all of it. Vast areas of the island lay unclaimed between elemental territories to give us space. I landed, the sand bursting dramatically under me, just outside the invisible border. On instinct, I reached for my mate bond and pulled. If I couldn’t get to her, she could come to me.

To my surprise, our bond tightened and tingled as if she acknowledged my pull, responding to my needs. I purred and leaned forward, waiting to feel her move.

The sound of the ocean sizzled against the rocky beach. The ground vibrated as two dragons landed well out of sight but still watching. Finally, her essence moved toward me, and I sucked in a tight breath of relief.

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