Page 216 of Gift from the Wing

“I’m sorry, but you must.”

I’m already telling the alternative story in my mind. The one I’ve crafted over the years. It’s all a lie, all an escape from reality. That’s the version I’m prepared to give him so I don’t have to do what Tanith just told me to. But Willow’s words ring in my mind.

The relationship is being built on rocky terrain, dragon.

We can rebuild.

“She got better at cooking. At least I suppose she did. It was all I knew, and it was edible,” I say.

“Edible is the key word.” He snorts, showing the barest amount of happiness at that.

“She liked to tell me stories. I always thought she just made them up as she went, but I think they were stories about the two of you, just with a twist to them. The main characters always fell in love and had a happy ending.”

I don’t stop talking. I tell him almost everything I can remember. I search into the depths of my mind, as far back as I can go, and let it all free. Years of memories that I haven’t spoken about in all the time she’s been gone, but I give it to him so he can share it with me.

Then, I break his heart.

“She was a sex worker and a drug addict who died of an overdose when I was four. Everything I just told you all happened in the brothel we lived in and she died in. They kicked me out that same day, and I lived on the street for over a month until a farmer adopted me and abused me until my gift emerged. Then I killed him, ate him, and came to live here with my brothers.”

He stumbles back from me like I just rocked his jaw, more like his whole world and his eyes shift to blood red. The smile that was plastered on his face melts away as he shakes his head back and forth.

“No…no. You said she was a good mother.”

“She was, in the way she knew how. But there was always something inside of her missing. Of course, as a child, I thought she was perfect. As a teenager, I hated her. Until recently, I accepted that she was a good mom in her own way. She did take care of me, clothe me, feed me, love me, but something was broken in her that could only be fixed with the bandage of a drug. I loved her very much, and it’s taken me a long time to come to terms with it. Honestly, I never would have if not for Willow showing me how to look at things from other perspectives, but…I forgive her.”

My body slouches with my confession and the weight of that truth lifts off me, making me feel twenty feet tall, but it seems to crush him. His body vibrates like it’s taking every bit of his strength to keep from being buried beneath it.

The wind from his speed nearly knocks me to my ass. It’s a burst of raw power and my eyes scan the surroundings, looking for him, but all I see is plants, scrubs, and dirt flying in the air. The roots being snatched from the ground sound like bones breaking as he annihilates the garden. Thank fuck no one is out here but us because he’s completely lost it.

Tanith finally emerges from the tree line, rumbling, purring, doing everything she can to calm him down as he absolutely snaps, but nothing works.

“Go to him, Draken. Do not allow him to lose himself to his grief. If he does something horrid in this fit of rage, he will never forgive himself.”

She starts up a hum in my mind and my eyes bug out of my head.

What the hell—

“How do you know that song?”

“Your mother taught it to him.”

You’re kidding me.

Turning back to him, I sprint to the garden and focus my eyes on finding and tracking him. It takes longer than it has lately, but as soon as Ido, I throw a fireball in front of him to slow him down long enough so I can tackle him.

Our bodies hit the dirt with a deafening bang and a cloud of dust covers us as we roll. He tries to shove away from me, but my dragon flies forward, evening our strength.

Getting him pinned, I start humming.

Repeatedly, the little melody my mom used to sing to me vibrates through my throat and the grip he has on my biceps loosens as his eyes slowly shift back. When I think he’s in control enough not to fuck anything else up, I get off him and offer him my hand. Never missing a beat of my song.

Standing tall, he quietly mumbles the last few lines of the chorus with me and as our notes end, he exhales sharply.

“I’m so sorry, son. I will be everything I can and more for you. I will make up for it all and be the father you deserve,” he says, laying his forehead to mine.

“I’d like that a lot,” I say, and a shock passes through me.

The same shock I felt in my dragon form, but this time, it warms my body, spreading everywhere until it settles within my blood.

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