Page 83 of Gift from the Wing

They each chuckle at my flustered state and all it does is send more heat blazing through my core.

This damn bonding honeymoon period is making me a horny glutton for these men.

“We’re having breakfast first, then we’ll leave. Codi just messaged back and said Trex isn’t doing well this morning, so he’s slow moving. We’ll give him some time to get up and going,” Corentin says as he scowls down at his communicator.

Well, that’s one way to dry up all dirty thoughts.

“We have to figure out a solution for him. He’s going to die,” I say quietly.

I really thought when we got to Keeper, we’d easily fix Trex’s and Layton’s problems. Start them fresh in their new lives.

I never even considered what Trex had said about the Summum-Master knowing if his rune came down, he’d kill his brothers. The sad reality is Trex isn’t willing to risk that, but in turn, it’s going to kill him slowly.

“After we eat, I’ll go ask my—Keeper to join us. Maybe he has an idea or some advice on what we can do in the meantime.” Draken offers, coughing to cover his slip-up.

I smile gratefully and don’t say a thing about what he almost called Keeper. They’ve been spending more time together and time with Tanith. It’s beginning to sway him even if he isn’t ready to admit that. I try not to push, but I can see the bond building right in front of my eyes.

I scarf my breakfast down like a woman starved despite Corentin ordering me to slow down and declaring we aren’t leaving right yet. He said that Lyker and Aria are meeting us at the healing wing as well, so now I’m really ready to go. Trex can take all the time he needs this morning and I won’t rush him as I play catch-up with my brother and one of my best friends.

“Come on, little wanderer. The more you bounce your leg, the more anxious my dragon gets. Let’s go find Keeper and let him know the plan. The guys will be ready to go by then.” Draken grips my hand and pulls me out of my chair.

“Thank goodness. All that bouncing was giving me motion sickness,” Caspian sasses behind a smart-ass smirk.

He’s full of shit. He knows good and well, between his water element and shadows, both of which are fluid and forever moving, he doesn’t get motion sickness.

Giving Tillman and Corentin a kiss before I walk out, I blow Caspian one with a little of my air behind it and laugh my way out of the breakfast room as he loses his spot in his book. His dark chuckle follows me out into the hall and my chest grows giddy with anticipation for his payback.

“You’re hiding your nervousness and stress behind horniness.” Draken tucks me under his arm and I startle.

Damn it, how has he been doing that lately?

He’s like Caspian, calling me out on my shit.

“I am not.”I am.

He snorts, shaking his head and looking at me like I’m the realm’s worst liar. “Don’t take me for a fool. You can’t hide from me. I know our bonding has sparked this increased sex drive, but you’re instigating it now.”

“I’m not trying to.” I sigh, glancing up at him with a tight smile. “I just feel all over the place. My heightened horniness is easier to focus on than anything else. Even if we don’t act on it, it’s the more pleasant of emotions I’ve been feeling lately,” I tell him honestly.

“Well, be honest with me, little wanderer. I’ll help you with whatever I can. What’s got your mind the most out of sorts? Other than the obvious never-ending shit list.”

“That’s the answer, dragon. Our never-ending shit list that continues to grow. I don’t know what the biggest problem to face first is, so I think about all of it, all the time. Plus, it doesn’t help that whatever happened to me in the amplifier room has me on edge about everything. I’m waiting for the palace to be burnt down or something.”

“Firstly, we both know we don’t need to worry about anything being burnt down. Between the two of us, we could put out any fire. Second, decide what you think the biggest issue is and let’s put our focus there. If there’s anything we learned so far, little wanderer, it’s one issue leads to another, then another and then we fix it all at once,” he says confidently.

I want to argue that it’s not that simple. Things don’t just fall into place for us, but I bite my tongue when I think about that.

That’s exactly what happens.

Not as simply or as smoothly. We always have to face some shit. Get put into dangerous situations. But one way or another, the answers to multiple problems surface at once.

“You’re right,” I say, squeezing his arm and smiling up at him before releasing a deep breath.The biggest issue.The problem that’s been plaguing me for days. “My blood. The Summum-Master having a stash of it and thefact my blood opens the portal to the nonmagical realm. We need to do two things there. One, find out more about the capabilities my blood possesses and two, we need to locate where he has the stash. He can’t continue to use it. There’s no telling the issues he’s causing elsewhere.”

If this were the nonmagical realm, I’d be worried about him pinning murders and other heinous crimes on me with the way he carries a vial of my blood around his neck. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about what past generations had to go through for him to collect a stockpile. Now he’s using it however he sees fit like it’s his right to.

“Okay then. We start there, little wanderer. The other stuff will fall into place and be taken care of as it needs to be taken care of.”

A weight seems to lift off my shoulders with his nonchalance. Just that easy, he’s put my racing mind at ease. Of course I won’t just stop thinking about all the other issues we’re facing. Like now, we’re still going to check on Trex and tell him what’s happened, but I don’t feel like I’m suffocating anymore.

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