Page 33 of The Naga

"Dustin," Khush said, taking both my hands in his and squeezing them as he gazed into my eyes and made me feel like he was staring right at my soul. "I'm not going to act like I know the struggles you've faced so far, or how having your identity questioned or invalidated makes you feel, but I promise you I'm going to do my best to learn. I like you a lot, Dustin. You're my mate, and you're the most stunning, the sassiest, the smartest man I've ever met, and nothing will change the way I see you. Iwant you to feel comfortable in our home, and I want you to feel comfortable with me. So if I ever do anything or say anything that makes you feel otherwise, tell me, and I promise I'll do better. Okay?"

I stared at him, wondering if maybe I'd started dreaming at some point. Maybe this had all been a dream and magic didn't exist after all.

I'd had conversations similar to this with other men before, and no one had ever replied the way Khush did. They weren't all bad, but even the best of them could not understand how I could feel comfortable as a man when I had breasts, or how they could see me as a man with them. I felt comfortable in my skin, but I still wore the binder outside to avoid being misgendered because it made life easier, and one didn't cancel out the other.

"Dustin?" Khush murmured, and I realized I hadn't said anything for a few minutes at least.

Shaking my head wryly, I smiled at him, then leaned forward to press my lips to his in a soft, grateful kiss. "Thank you."

When I pulled back, Khush gave me a puzzled look, and my smile widened. Fuck, I'd lucked out so good with this man.

Fourteen

Dustin

To make moving easier—andto cash in some of my vacation days—I'd taken a week off from work, and it was the best decision I could've made. It gave me the chance to unpack and settle in, to make sure Scrappy liked her new home, and to explore the wonderful oasis that was the Sanctuary.

I'd been here for three days now, and I'd gotten a peek at almost all of the areas. Our home turf was obviously the Forest, but I'd also visited the Lakes more than once because it was where Bellamy and his kelpie mate, Alaric, lived. While Bellamy had seemed a little scary at first—what with the scar on his faceand his general quiet-dude vibe—five minutes of watching him interact with his mate had dissuaded me of any such notions.

I'd also met some of the other supes, like Jacinta, the genderqueer cecaelia—apparently, all cecaelia had sexual organs of both the male and female type, and they could pick (or not pick) the gender they wanted to identify as—Haruto, the jorogumo, a sort of spider-human hybrid, as far as I could tell, and Zamir, who looked human but was a shtriga, who, according to Google, fed on human life forces. It made sense why he kept his distance.

Most supes were a bit hesitant to interact with me, but Touya and Bellamy assured me it wasn't personal. They just cared about Khush too much to risk taking a bite out of his mate. Fun times.

Still, despite the human-eating neighbors, I was growing more and more fond of the Sanctuary with every passing day.

Magic was a wonderful thing, but it wasn't the only thing that made this place so wonderful. It was also the people. They were flawed, and different from the rest of their kind, and yet they'd found a place to belong. I could relate to that.

"Hey," Khush said as he came in through the doorway, a smile lighting up his face as soon as our eyes met. He'd left to do his daily chores—I'd been granted a week to get used to the place before I had to start contributing—so I'd used the time he was gone to put up the last of my things, feed Scrappy, and make sure the place looked perfectly presentable.

"Hey," I greeted, shooting to my feet to pull him into a kiss. He kissed me back just as enthusiastically, wrapping the end of his tail around my legs as he'd gotten into a habit of doing. His scales were cool under my palm where I held on to him, and I ran my thumbs over the smooth surface as he deepened the kiss, making me hum.

When I had to pull back to catch my breath, Khush ran his hands up and down my hips, sending sparks shooting through my skin despite the fact that he was touching me over my very thick hoodie.

"What were you up to?" he asked, glancing around the place. "Oh, the room looks amazing. What did you do?"

I shrugged, feeling pleased that he'd noticed. "Just rearranged a few things. Added some of my trinkets and things to the decor. You really like it?"

"I love it!" He grinned at me, then glanced at the table where I'd made my tiny little nail-care setup. My nail polish was all chipped, and since I'd had time, I'd figured I might as well take care of it. I'd only just finished removing the old polish when Khush had arrived. "Are you painting your nails?"

"Uh, yeah," I answered a touch hesitantly, glancing down at my nails.

"Can I do it?"

"Huh?"

"Can I paint your nails? Though I don't know if I'll be any good at it."

Khush frowned adorably, and I shook my head at him. There was no way this man was real. Right?

"Come here," I said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the couch. Once he'd sat down, I settled in beside him, then grabbed the nail polish bottles. "Pick a color."

His excitement was unreal, and he looked so very different from the grumpy Khush I'd met that day in the coffee shop, though even then he hadn't completely succeeded in hiding this side of himself.

"This one." He settled on a sunset orange, and I returned the other two to the table before applying the nail polish on my thumbnail to show him how it's done. He watched me avidly,as if determined to learn all there was to know about the art of painting nails.

When I was done, I handed the cap to him, and held out my hand. He took my hand in his, maintaining a light hold as he started.

Khush was completely focused on what he was doing, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he tried his best not to smear the nail polish on my skin. He failed a few times, but it didn't deter him, and by the time he finished both hands, he'd almost mastered it.

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