Page 2 of Unhaunt Me

“I like to cover all my bases,” I shrugged.

“Who’s Ren?” she asked. “Some ex girl, huh?”

I laughed and the sound shook my insides up. My dragon wasn’t in a laughing mood, but that was funny. That showed how much she didn’t know about my past. She didn’t know shit about me.

“Can’t know what you don’t tell me,” she frowned, picking up my thoughts over the group link. “I knew you were reserved and maybe the past didn’t matter while we were just dicking around, but it matters now. At least it might once you guys figure out how to hook us up to the gateways. Will that trouble come here?”

“Even if Ren came here, she wouldn’t be trouble,” I frowned.

“What about the guy?” she asked.

“Hean? Hean and I fought in high school. I kicked his ass, and he let it be after that.”

“Is that how Moonys solve everything?” she asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “We were stupid kids. Freshmen in high school, Mel.”

“Say it then.”

“Say what?” I arched a brow and then lowered it.

I knew what she wanted to hear – what her dragoness needed to hear. I crossed the room to stand in front of her and cupped her chin. I gave her a second to say no and pull free. I didn’t speak until her gaze met mine. Some of the vibrant light she had when I met her in the purple district was gone. She was tired – exhausted - in the way only the combination of meeting your true-mate while guarding an egg could leave you tired. Hell, I was tired too. I flew too much in the process of giving us both some much needed space. Too much energy went into thinking about the future of the baby inside the egg.

“Our egg is safe. Not only do they have a bad ass mama to watch out for them, they have me too. Our egg is safe. I don’t care where the threat comes from – this flight or the one back home, a threat is a threat, and if there is a threat to bedispatched, said threat will be destroyed. Hell, I’ll even beat someone up if they fuck with Kelp too much.”

Melon’s scent relaxed and she let out a long, slow sigh. She was bad ass enough on her own but she was exhausted. Sure, our hatchling was still tucked away safely inside their egg and the nest was safely inside the Medwin 2, but Melon was still a dragoness. She’d been constantly on guard since she laid the egg. Meeting Kelp hadn’t done much for energy levels either.

I opened my mouth to ask how his birth control was holding up, but stopped short. That wasn’t my business. If she wanted to have fifty eggs rolling around the nest at one time, it wasn’t my place to say anything about it.

“He’s not on birth control, Casimir,” she laughed, pulling her chin out of my grasp.

“No wonder you’re so tired. Probably already bloody dreading the fifty eggs that are coming this year,” I teased her.

“I won’t be the one laying them this time,” she smirked.

“Good,” I said, unsure of why, then added, “hey, even if Ren does come around when the gateway opens, she wouldn’t be a threat, okay? She’s family.”

“Thanks for the scrap of your past,” she frowned at me and started to turn to walk away.

“Hey,” I said before she got too far away.

“Yeah?”

I almost asked her why she was so fucking caught up in finding out my past but decided now wasn’t the time to pick that fight. We were both tired and Hean’s attitude left me wanting to fight someone.

“Try to get some rest, alright?” I said instead.

“And you go to the ball,” she said, and I swallowed a groan.

Autumn was coming in on Starscale 1. From what the locals said it was one of the longest seasons the planet experienced. To mark the beginning of autumn, the world leader, Hush and hismate, always hosted a masked ball. The whole crew had been invited but I decided to sit the event out even before I finished reading the invitation.

“Why would I do that?” I arched a brow.

“Well, if she’s not an ex, what’s holding you back?” Melon asked. “You like to have fun. That egg in the nest is proof of that.”

“It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not,” she shook her head. “You just like to be moody. Go to the ball. Have a good time. Let loose a little. Hell, let loose a lot, Casimir. Dance naked and wear your mask on your nuts for all I care. Actually, take a photo for me if you do that.”

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