Page 41 of The Naga

"He is my son! You have no right to stop me. You're nothing to him."

Yeah, I couldn't allow that. When I reached for the phone again, the headmaster tried stopping me, but I persisted, finally getting him to let me take it.

"Hello," I said, my voice slipping back to the accented English I'd grown out of over the years.

"Khush! It's so good to hear from you."

"I can't say the same, sorry. I don't want to talk to you. Please stop calling, and stop bothering Zephyr."

"I wasn't bothering him. He wouldn't let me talk to you. What else was I supposed to do? It's not like I know where you live."

"He did that because he respects my wishes, unlike you," I growled into the phone, and she hissed.

"I'm your mother, Khush. You better give me the respect I deserve."

"You may have given birth to me, but you're nothing to me. I don't owe you anything. Don't call me again."

I ended the call before she could reply, then blocked her number for good measure. Carefully, I placed the phone on the headmaster's desk before rising up, barely holding on to the mixed pot of emotions boiling inside me.

"I need to go."

I didn't know if the headmaster or Touya said anything as I left, because all I could hear was a loud ringing sound, my head full of nothing but anger and pain. Talking to my mother hadopened up the floodgates, reminding me of all the terrible things I'd buried deep inside me.

Somewhere in the hallway, I lost track of myself, falling to the floor as I clutched my head and tried to get the pain to end. I just wanted it to stop.

Dustin

Something, some instinct told me I needed to get out of here. So, even as the ground shook, I grabbed the shelf for support and took one step after another, trying to reach the exit.

I shrieked when two hands clamped onto my shoulders, then realized Haruto was helping me. His spider legs had sharp ends, and he was digging them into the ground as he walked to keep us from falling.

When we stepped through the door, my eyes instantly fell on a slumped-over Khush in the middle of the hallway, and I struggled in Haruto's hold until he dropped me, racing toward Khush.

I fell twice before I made it to his side, and I pulled him into my arms, cradling his head against my shoulder. His hands were clamped against his head, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Khush! Khush, can you hear me?"

I glanced up at the door behind us opened, and Headmaster Morrigan floated through it, his feet hovering a few inches above the ground. He came to kneel beside me, still floating, and placed a hand on Khush's forehead before he started murmuring a spell.

Doors opened in my peripheral vision, people peeking out to see what was wrong, but I paid them no mind as I held Khush tome, wishing I knew what was wrong, wishing there was a way I could help him.

Three things happened all at once. The headmaster finished speaking his spell, and a faint blue light shone where his hand touched Khush, Khush went completely limp in my arms, and the ground stopped shaking. I blinked as I realized the ground had been shaking because of what was happening to Khush rather than vice versa, and I pulled him closer.

"What just happened?" I demanded, and the headmaster frowned, running his fingers through Khush's hair and pushing it off his forehead in a way a parent would.

"Khush's mother called. She's...not a very nice woman. I tried to keep him from talking to her, but he insisted. I think it brought up some memories." The headmaster looked like he needed someone to hug him, but I was too worried about Khush to do much more than nod.

"We should get him somewhere comfortable," a new voice said, and I glanced up to see Silas and Keoni standing there. The others had mostly dispersed, and I could hear Jacinta shouting in the background, calling all the 'free butts' to come help them stack the pantry and utensils.

I nodded, and Silas—in his probably eight-foot-tall troll form—slid his arms under Khush's back and tail, picking him up effortlessly where I'd been struggling with his weight even on the floor.

"Come on. You look like you could use a cup of tea," Keoni said, offering his hand to the headmaster while Touya wrapped his arms around my shoulders and urged me up.

Leaving Keoni to take care of the headmaster, I followed after my mate, grateful to Silas, Touya, and everyone else at the Sanctuary for their help. If this had happened in the human world, even without all the magic involved, it would've turned into a spectacle. People either wouldn't have offered a helpinghand, or would've been too busy recording a video of the event. I could see why Khush said the whole Sanctuary was his family. It was because they were.

Silas carried Khush into our cabin and all the way upstairs, laying him in the bed and pulling up the covers before he turned to me. "Would you like us to stay or leave?"

I had a feeling that as much as Khush loved his family, he'd feel embarrassed if he found his friends waiting for him to wake up, so I shook my head. "I'm fine. I'll let you know as soon as he's awake."

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