Page 46 of Searching for Thanksgiving

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” Christoff replied.

He waited outside until the group moved off a short distance and began setting up their camp for the night. He looked down when Edna wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned against him. He pulled her close, enjoying the feel of her warmth against his side. A sigh of contentment slipped from him.

“Do you think everything is alright?” Edna asked.

“Of course! Crystal has been doing well, and she has the communicator. If anything was wrong, she would alert us,” he comforted.

Edna snuggled against him. “Dragonlings, huh?”

He chuckled and looked out over the group of concerned parents.

“I have a feeling the fun might just be beginning,” he predicted. “Let’s go back inside. I think Shelly and Jack might need a little more reassurance that they haven’t landed on a crazier planet than they left.”

“Devon, where are you going?” Crystal asked, confused when Devon suddenly stepped back toward the door.

“I have to leave,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Can we keeps your symbiot? I think he likes it here,” Hope called behind him.

He groaned, stopped, and turned. Sure enough, his symbiot, the terror of all creatures, its goodness thought to have been turned evil by his father, was lying on its back with its legs up in the air, its head turned to the side, and its tongue hanging out as its tail thumped a steady drumbeat out on the floor.

I tell you. Our mate heal all of us. Dragonlings, too.

He ignored his dragon’s mirth at the scene. How could his life be upended in just a matter of hours? He’d gone from living a life of solitude, to finding his mate and being surrounded by his kin. If his father had still been alive, he would have exploded with rage.

Good!

If their parents find me, you aren’t going to think that! he silently retorted.

He looked down at Crystal when she touched his arm. He sighed, realizing that he hadn’t answered her. His eyes widened when Leo stopped in front of him and sniffed.

“You don’t smells like a dragon. You smells like me,” the boy announced.

“He can’t be likes us, Leo. He’s gots a symbiot. Sarafin don’t has symbiots. We just turns into cats,” Pearl said.

Leo sniffed him again and looked up.

“No, you smells like me. You gots cat in you,” he said with a confident grin. “I wish I had dragons in me, too, but my mommy wasn’t a dragon shifter.”

“Hey, Leo. Looks! If you run your fingers on it, it makes stripes,” Sacha said.

“Does your symbiot has a name? My symbiot is called Rainbow because I likes rainbows,” Hope said.

“My symbiot is called Prime because I likes numbers,” James added.

“Mine is Princess Buttercup because I likes the movie my aunties showed me,” Morah said.

Devon’s head whipped back and forth as he tried to keep up with the conversation. Did his symbiot have a name? He had never thought about it. It was just a part of himself… like his dragon… and his cat. He had never named them either. That would have been like naming himself.

“I like The Black, because he is the same colors as me when I shift into my cat,” Leo said.

“But he’s not all black like you, Leo. He’s got gold stripes,” Sacha pointed out.

“I knows! I knows! We can calls him Stripes! He’s got stripes like Leo,” Hope suggested.

“Stripes. Yes, that will do,” Morah decreed. “I hereby name you Stripes.”

Devon watched with dismay as his symbiot, now duly named Stripes, rolled over and gave Hope a huge lick along her cheek. She giggled and threw her arms around Stripes’ neck, hugging him tightly against her petite body. Beside him, Crystal giggled.

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