Page 27 of The Naga

I blinked, then nodded, unsure if he needed input from me, or if he was just imparting some wisdom. None of us knew exactly how old he was, and none dared to ask. All we knew was he'd helped the headmaster build this thing from the ground up, and was therefore the Sanctuary's first official resident.

"We should move the bedroom to the second floor. The walls will be waist high, and there will be no ceiling. You'll sleep under the stars, on a comfortable bed shared with your mate," Draven said in a tone that implied it was a done deal.

A second floor with no ceiling and half walls, huh? It could work.

"That sounds cool," I said, and Silas cleared his throat.

"Guys? Aren't we forgetting something?"

"What?" Draven and I asked in sync, and Silas grinned.

"What will you do when you and your mate want to do the horizontal mambo?" Silas waggled his brows as my ears heated up. How had I forgotten about that?

My eyes slid to Draven, and if looks could kill…Silas would be a pile of ashes by now.

"That…is a complication," Draven relented after a few moments of highly awkward silence, and I sighed, running my palm over my face.

"You could just have two bedrooms," Silas suggested. "Or maybe the headmaster knows a spell that can put some kind of one-way invisible shield around the second floor, so no one can see in from the outside."

That was a pretty good idea, and judging by the disgruntled look on Draven's face, he agreed.

"I'll need to ask the headmaster, but that could work. Let's leave the downstairs bedroom as it is until I do."

"Sounds good to me. Want me to get started on the second floor? We'll need to remove the roof first," Silas said, glancing up at the sloping roof that covered the house.

"Oof, that's gonna be a lot of work, huh? What can I do?"

"Stay out of our way," Silas said with a grin, ducking out of the way when I went to smack him. "I mean this in the nicest possible way, but Khush, you are a disaster at this type of task. If you want your house to be ready before Dustin moves in, you have to let me handle it."

I sighed, knowing he was right. I was clumsy as fuck, and I knew better than anyone how much trouble I could cause. Maybe I'd get Touya to come shopping with me and buy some decor and things to fill up the place with. Maybe a photo frame where I could put the selfie from our first date, a cat tree for Scrappy…

"And that's why you're not allowed anywhere near a construction zone," Silas said, breaking into my thoughts. I shot him a sheepish look, then scratched the back of my head.

"You sure this isn't too much work for you?"

"I'm sure. I'll ask Haruto and Zamir for help too." Haruto and Zamir were the two other residents of the Forest.

They tended to keep to themselves for the most part, especially since Touya joined the area. Headmaster Morrigan had floated the idea of creating an area specifically for supes with human mates, and I was starting to think that might not be such a bad idea.

Haruto and Zamir, like many of the supes at the Sanctuary, fed on human essence, whether it was life force or blood or something else. They lived at the Sanctuary so they wouldn't have to be around temptations, but now because of Touya—and soon Dustin—even the Sanctuary wasn't safe for them anymore. I made a mental note to bring it up with the headmaster the firstchance I got. I didn't want my happiness to bring trouble to my friends.

Dustin

Since the day Khush asked me to move in with him, we'd been talking every day, but we hadn't seen each other again. It'd been four days since that day, and I was starting to miss Khush. I wanted to kiss him again. Hell, I'd be happy just holding his hand, but I wanted to be close to him.

When I asked him if he wanted to get together on my day off, he said he'd let me know. For some reason, I'd been expecting an instant yes, and I tried not to feel too badly about it. It was dumb to think Khush would jump at the chance to meet up at any time. If I'd been working and he had asked me the same question, I'd have said no too.

We talked about other things after that, and I forgot all about my momentary disappointment, especially when Khush texted later that evening to say that he'd love to spend time with me.

I decided to cross off another thing from his bucket list by taking him to an arcade, and since I'd been to almost every arcade in the city at least once—it was the cheapest way to have fun for the whole day, and the perfect way to spend time on my own—I knew exactly which one to take him to.

We met up at a coffee shop near the arcade the next day, and after sharing a piece of strawberry shortcake, I took Khush to one of my favorite places in the world.

"It smells like popcorn," was the first thing Khush said when we rolled through the entrance, and it made me laugh because he wasn't wrong. The place did smell like popcorn, and also vanilla sprinkled with a little teenage angst.

I took him to the air hockey table first, since it was low enough Khush would be able to play comfortably. I wished there was no one around so he could properly explore the place, but this was the best I could do for now.

After we played five games—I lost two but won three, the clear master of the game—we checked out some of the old-school games like Pac Man, Mortal Kombat, and others. Khush was not very good at them, but he was clearly having fun, and that was all I'd wanted.

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