Page 39 of The Naga

"Do you prefer your life from before?"

He shot me a wide-eyed look. "Are you kidding me? No way. I love spending time with you, and discovering all these new things. I'm very, very happy with our life."

I pressed my head against his neck, licking at it a little in order to express myself. Dustin smelled like flowers and man, and he tasted like one too, sweet with just a hint of salt.

I was in love with Dustin, with this man with brightly colored nails, clothes with a hint of sparkle, and light blue eyes that seemed to always be brimming with joy. I didn't think I could've been any luckier.

Dustin

When we returned to the Sanctuary, we'd barely taken a few steps when Touya stuck his head out of the office.

Touya was a slim man with Japanese features, a voice that was soft but not weak, dark brown eyes, and brown hair with hints of gold in it that I was a little bit jealous of.

"Hey, Khush. Zephyr would like to see you for a moment."

Khush had shifted back the moment I closed the door behind us, and he raised a brow at Touya as he adjusted the tank top he'd just slid on.

"Am I in trouble?"

"Did you do something that would get you in trouble?" Touya shot back, and he grinned.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Turning to me, he asked, "Do you wanna come with? Or go on ahead?"

I raised my palms up, taking a step back. "I didn't do the crime, so no way am I taking the punishment. I'll see you back at the cabin."

"Okay," Khush said, then leaned down and kissed me. I hummed in surprise, then kissed him back, grabbing onto his hips to keep myself from tipping over. He tasted like blueberriesand sugar, all sweet with a bit of tang, and I hummed into his mouth as our tongues tangled.

A throat cleared loudly behind us, and I paused. Khush reluctantly pulled away to find Touya watching us with a small smile.

"Not a word," Khush threatened, making him laugh.

"After all the shit you gave Silas and me? No way." Touya held the door open for Khush, smile still on his face, and my mate glanced back at me one more time before walking through it.

Instead of going straight back to the Forest, I made my way to the library Khush had shown me when he'd given me the tour of the place. I hadn't been there since, but I'd been meaning to check out the Sanctuary's collection.

While I preferred playing video games to reading—my mind rarely settled down enough for me to read without getting distracted—I still enjoyed doing it sometimes, and there were a few genres I couldn't get enough of.

The library seemed empty when I stepped through the doors, and I closed it quietly behind me, slowly making my way through the shelves as I read the spines of books that caught my interest. Most of the books were old, with worn spines, the air full of that old book smell. I was surprised to see more than a shelf full of books about mythologies from cultures all over the world, and wondered if these were the same books humans read or if these books contained the actual stories about various supes and how they came to be. Maybe I should check out one of them...

My eyes lit up when I found one about Indian myths, and I quickly pulled it off the shelf, paging through it until I found the index. Then, I flicked to the correct page, and there it was.The Naga.

The Naga is a member of a mythical species in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Half-man and half-cobra, these beings are able to shift fully into either beings, or into anycombination of the two, sometimes even sporting multiple heads. They live in an underground realm called the naga-loka, and it is said that the naga-loka is full of beautiful palaces, jewels, and all the riches of the world.

Nagas are usually associated with water, rivers, lakes, and seas, and their powers include being able to make a land fertile, as well as destructive powers like bringing about floods and other natural disasters.

There was a page stuck between this one and the next with handwritten text, and I read that too, fascinated by all these details.

The modern nagas are a species of snake shapeshifters descended from the mythological nagas of the Indian subcontinent. While they still live in underground societies, they're no longer powerful enough to bring about natural calamities, though with enough power they can still cause destruction up to a certain degree.

Nagas are still able to grant fertility, both to land and humans alike, though they rarely use this power outside of their own communities. While nagas continue living in their own underground cities, they now conduct business with the humans, acting as one of them.

Well, that was truly fascinating. I wondered if Khush used to live in an underground city like that. Was that why he was so claustrophobic now? Or was it because of something else?

The next page featured a different being, so I closed the book, and slid it back onto the shelf before walking over to the next aisle. I stopped short when I realized there was someone there, and I froze completely when pitch-black eyes met mine. I'd only met him once before, when Khush had first introduced us, and while I'd caught glimpses of him around the Forest and the dining area, we'd never actually had a conversation before.

"Uh, hey, Haruto," I said, and the joro—jorogumo? tilted his head before giving me a short nod.

"Dustin," he greeted, his voice whisper soft, and I realized he probably wasn't interested in talking to me. Khush had said he was a bit of a hermit, so maybe he'd just prefer me to leave him alone.

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