Page 173 of Gift from the Nexus

“You don’t have to acknowledge anything today, Draken. We all still need to get to know him, and you won’t be doing this alone. Ever,” Tillman says. Ever the understanding one.

“You can run what you’re feeling by us, and we’ll dissect it with you. If you need a pros and cons list, I’ve already started one I’ll share with you,” Corentin tacks on and we all laugh at his seriousness about his list. I bet it’s already a mile long, though, and could answer every one of my questions.

“Give me a pro, brother,” I tease.

“He stopped Bryce from getting to Willow when none of us even saw him coming. Then he ripped his head off.”

The chuckles in my mind cut off abruptly as the weight of that pro settles in. He did protect my little wanderer. No questions asked, no hesitation. And he finished the job immediately when he heard what he did.

“Yeah, that’s a big one,” I agree.

“It’ll come with time, Draken. It’s not a race to discover everything about him today. Just listen to your gut and we’ll support you no matter what,” Willow whispers.

“Thanks, you guys.”

Despite not getting to the bottom of my burning questions, my chest does loosen and for the remainder of the flight, I focus on enjoying my flight with my dragon goddess on one side and the dragon who made this possible on the other.

If nothing else, Tanith will be the reason I keep him around.

Not to toot our horn or anything, but I’m smug as fuck.

Our friends and Gaster stand on the back patio, cheering and clapping their hands as we come into their view and start our descent. It’s such a different feeling flying up with a real dragonand my brothers on my back than on my own. The insecurities I usually feel are null right now.

I’m a badass.

“You three probably look fucking heroic sitting on top of me right now.”

“Draken.” Corentin sighs.

“Like beautiful buff gods descending from the sun. Take your shirts off and stand up with your fists on your hips. Get into character.”

“Draken,” the three of them yell.

“I’d like to see that,” little wanderer purrs. For a minute, I think we have them by their silence, but the three of them abandon ship, jumping off me before my claws even touch down.

Spoilsports.

“Fuck yeah, little wanderer, that was an amazing flight.” I swoop in and spin her around, kissing her stupid before I pass her off to Tillman’s waiting arms.

Both the other Primaries skip off to their Nexuses with huge smiles and fast words as they ramble on about the fun they had. Willow definitely carried the livelier crew, while I had the sticklers. Nikoli’s fucking stoked right alongside them and Oakly’s three other serious men look her over from head to toe. Aria’s Nexus is much the same, although they aren’t as handsy as the Mercie Nexus is. They give her small smiles as she goes on and on, while Lyker stands there with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed as if he didn’t have a damn blast.

“If Tanith wants to keep flying, the mansion’s property is warded off. She’ll just need to stay in the dome,” I tell Keeper when he walks up to join the group.

“She’s a little sore. I told her she would be, but what do I know?” he says sarcastically. Tanith gives him a shove with her snout, and I can’t help the laugh that comes out of me.

Yeah, I like the dragon.

“She’ll rest for now. She’s exhausted. Not flying in hundreds of years will do that to you. She’ll be fine, but she needs to feed.” His teasing tone evaporates as his care for his bonded dragon becomes a serious discussion and I find myself respecting the fact he cares so much about her well-being.

“How does she—”

“I’ll be happy to assist her if she’ll have me.” Gaster, the old geezer, startles me as he just pops out from behind me, cutting off my question.

“What does that mean?” Willow’s voice rises as she takes a step closer to him.

“No worries, young one. Your bond is safe with me. I do not feed like my lord. Dragons feed on the essence of knowledge. There is still much you must learn, but know, the wise one will come to no harm. He’s thrilled to share a conversation with me and we both will fill each other’s needs. He’s just as eager to learn as me.”

“Well, that makes complete sense why you volunteered so fast. You had to beat San or Caspian,” Willow says softly, a little awestruck as she bounces her gaze between Gaster and the dragon.

---