Page 38 of The Naga

In the end, he found a cute little bakery with outdoor seating, and that was where we settled. The server seemed a little wary of me, but they still took Dustin's order, even when he asked for a blueberry muffin "For Khush," and the server glanced around before realizingIwas Khush.

"Okay, this is seriously fun," Dustin said, and I hissed softly at him.

Headmaster Morrigan, the wonderful sorcerer that he was, had given Dustin an amulet that allowed me to communicate with him. I could just think words 'at' him, and he'd hear them in his mind. It was pretty cool, and I wondered what supes without a sorcerer headmaster did.

"You enjoy scaring humans?" I asked, and he blew a raspberry.

"Not scaring them. Just weirding them out. Like look at that lady over there. She thinks I'm crazy because I'm talking to a snake. Imagine what she'd think if she knew I don't justtalkto this snake," he said, sounding utterly delighted, and I realized my mate might be a tiny bit evil.

"You are a terrible, terrible man," I said, making him laugh.

The lady he'd mentioned shot him another look, then got up and walked into the bakery. Was she trying to get away from Dustin, or get one of the employees to kick us out? It could go either way, and I wouldn't be surprised.

The server brought us our sweets a few minutes later, so I assumed the woman hadn't complained after all. Dustin thanked them for the food, and once they'd left, held the muffin up to me.

I opened my mouth and gobbled it down in one bite, letting the sweet taste cover my tongue before swallowing it down. When in this form, I couldn't really chew, but my stomach was equipped to digest it like any other snake's.

"Wow, you eat fast in this form," Dustin commented as he took a bite of his pastry, and I hissed softly, embarrassed. Before I could defend myself, he added, "Oh, right. Snakes don't have to chew. I forgot about that. I wish I didn't have to."

If I was in my other form, I'd have laughed at the pitiful look on his face. Since I wasn't, I settled on saying, "I'd pay good money to see that."

Dustin rolled his eyes, then wrinkled his nose. "I guess I would look comical trying to swallow a cheeseburger or something."

"Yeah, you would."

"There are other things I could swallow, though." He waggled his brows at me, and I hissed, then bit his ear for good measure. I didn't bite hard enough to break skin, of course, just enough to shock him.

"Hey, now! I like biting just as much as any other guy, but there's a time and a place, don't you think?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment, and I sighed, though it came out as just another hiss. If I didn't love him so fucking much...

Wait.

Did I just thinklove?

I supposed it'd been inevitable since the moment I shook Dustin's hand, but I was somehow still surprised by it. I loved Dustin.

Dustin was bright, cheerful, sexy as fuck, and he'd filled my life with color since the moment he entered it. I'd felt nothing but extreme happiness since we got together, and I was excited to wake up every day with him.

"Why so quiet?" Dustin murmured after a while, and I shook my head, which I supposed would look strange on a snake.

"Just thinking. This is fun. I've never been outside in this form."

"Really? The others never thought to bring you?"

"Well, they're trying really hard to be unnoticeable, you know? Having a snake wrapped around you kinda defeats that purpose."

Dustin chuckled softly, running his fingers over my scales. It felt good to be caressed like that. I couldn't remember the last time someone had touched me with such care.

"I guess that makes sense. Oh, wait. The door at the Sanctuary can lead to many places, right? So can we go anywhere? Like what about London or Paris?"

"The door does open to London, but you have to be careful."

"Oh? Why?"

I wondered what the other patrons at the coffee shop thought about Dustin. He clearly didn't care, and neither did I, but it must be confusing to see someone having a full-blown conversation with a snake. Of course, they could only hear Dustin's words, so that made things more…interesting.

"Well, Touya loved London, so he'd visit often to shop and stuff. But he always visited the local stores, and his bank put alerts on his cards because they were being used in the US and England within days. Anyway, long story short, Touya was arrested in London for being there without a visa, and the headmaster had to portal him out of a holding cell to save him. Now there's a warrant out for his arrest in England, and he can never go back."

Dustin blinked as I stopped narrating the story, then shook his head. "To think only a few weeks ago the most exciting thing in my life was the new video game Quest had received."

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