Page 7 of The Naga

Me: Don't worry, I'll figure everything out. How does tomorrow evening sound?

I made a mental note to ask him about that list later, figuring I should leave some topics for our date night.

Khush: It sounds perfect.

I held myself together until it was lunch time, and then I grabbed Scrappy, gave her a tight, definitely non-consensual hug, and squealed so loudly I was sure the whole block heard me. I had a date with Khush!

Three

Khush

Somehow, asking for Keoni'shelp had led to me asking Dustin out. I hadn't expected him to say yes so quickly, or to agree to plan the date. Then again, he was the one who'd approached me, so maybe he had been expecting me to ask him out.

What he didn't expect—couldn't expect, since he was human—was for me to be his mate. He didn't even know what mates were, which meant I'd need to be careful with him.

I couldn't even ask for advice, because between the two people who had human mates at the Sanctuary, neither had to revealtheir true nature to their human mate. Touya, my best friend Silas's mate, had the ability to see people's supernatural forms, so he'd already known Silas was a half-troll. Bellamy, on the other hand, had come across his kelpie mate, Alaric, by sighting him in his home lake. Neither of them had required a 'surprise! I'm actually a mythical being!' conversation, which meant they were of no help to me.

"Actually, I think I know something that can help," Keoni said, and I squinted up at him. We were both lounging under my preferred tree. Well, I was lounging, while Keoni stood upright like always. Dustin and I had stopped chatting a while back, after Dustin had promised to text me back with details of our date, and I'd decided to take a nap.Decidedbeing the key word, since Keoni hadn't left and foiled my plan.

"Help with what?"

"Figuring out how you'll tell your mate about all this," he said, waving a hand around at the Sanctuary.

Created by our 'headmaster' (this wasn't actually a school, but that's what everybody called him anyway), a powerful sorcerer named Zephyr Morrigan, the Sanctuary was a pocket dimension where supernaturals who couldn't safely live in the human world could find a home among others like them. The Sanctuary had 'doors' that opened all over the world, and the headmaster could open a door to anywhere we wished to go.

Inside, the Sanctuary was split into various regions with different climates and topography, so all kinds of supes could live here comfortably. I'd never made a full circuit of it, but I knew that the Sanctuary was shaped as a circle, with the hallway right in the center with doors that led into various regions like Forest (where I lived), Ocean, Arctic, Lakes, Mountains, etc. There was also another area, one that circled all the others on the outside like a ring, called the Dark. The supe who lived there was a shadow being who could only live in the shadows, and wevisited him when we could because each of us knew what it was like to feel alone.

I loved living here, and I loved every person who lived at the Sanctuary, even the two humans who'd ended up here because they were mated to supes. I'd been here for more than a decade now, moving in when I was thirteen, and there wasn't another place in the world I'd rather call home.

But how I'd explain all of it to Dustin, I had no idea.

"How?" I asked Keoni, doubting there was anything he could suggest that would actually be helpful. Keoni hadn't been out into the human world yet, so I was sure he knew even less than me about humans.

"Well, I found this group online by and for supes. It was made by this group of teens from a town that seems to have a very high supe population, and apparently, there's some magic mixed into the code because it only allows supes to join."

Half the words Keoni said went right over my head, but I understood enough to get the gist of it. I shot him a doubtful look.

"There's an online group that only allows supes in?"

"And mated humans, yeah."

"And it was made by a bunch of teenagers?"

"Well, one of them is a dragon."

I shot upright. "A dragon? Seriously? I thought they were all extinct."

"Apparently not. There are three in that town," Keoni said, offering me his phone.

I took his phone from him, and the screen went blank for a moment before the content reappeared.

"I believe the website just made sure you're a supe," Keoni said pointedly, and I shook my head. Teenagers.

I scrolled through the group and realized Keoni wasn't lying. Most of the members seemed to be from the same town, but there were also others from all over the world.

And wouldn't you know it? One of their pinned posts was titled "How To Tell Your Human Mate You're a Supernatural Being."

"Well, that's handy," I muttered, then shouted "Hey!" as Keoni took the phone back.

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