Page 16 of Lyric

Jinn jumped forward with a little shriek. “Yes, thank you, Lyrican. But I’m sorry you had to do that. You’re bleeding.”

Lyrican turned his head and bent his long neck to sniff at the minor cuts under his arms where the armor gave way. His forked tongue came out and licked the areas.

Jinn, instead of backing away, approached Lyrican and put his hand on the armored scales of his chest. “You saved my life, Lyrican. I can never repay you.”

Lyrican let out his strange purring sound and rubbed the side of his snout against Jinn’s neck.

Jinn said, “Yes, I will be your friend. For life.”

More purrs.

I wanted to shift but I also didn’t want to interrupt Lyrican’s moment. He had never shown true caring for anyone, not the boyfriends of my youth nor other racing dragons.

This was special for him. I had no right to interfere. Nor did I want to. The feelings running through my body were pleasurable. We had pleasure through racing, but this was something else, a different sort of delight we had not known we’d been missing until it was here.

Lyrican lowered himself all the way until his belly touched the soft moss of the nest. He nuzzled at Jinn, who looked almost dazed as he leaned against him, his hand rising to pet Lyrican’s snout.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jinn whispered.

I wondered what he thought of me in my human form and almost became jealous until I realized the compliment was for me. Lyrican and I were the same. One couldn’t really be separated from the other. We were two minds in one body whether beast or human.

I lay back and let the pleasure centers of my mind fill up. Don’t question, I told myself. Let nature be.

Did I dare hope Jinn might feel the same?

It was far too early. And Jinn was still healing. Still in shock. And probably starving by now.

I need to feed him.

Only I, in human form, could cook for another human. Some soup. Some crackers. It would help.

He can shift. I will fish and feed him directly from my own mouth,came the reply.

I didn’t doubt for one minute that Lyrican would do exactly that. But Jinn was fragile. And while our roost was big for two humans, it was less so for two dragons.

Jinnan is small, came the response to my thoughts.

I had to realize Lyrican wanted to care for the omega as much as I did.

Yes, he is. And you can care for him, too. But I think warm soup will be faster and strengthen him for the moment. Fish can come later.

Silence.

Okay?

Lyrican let out a strange growl mixed in with the purr and suddenly I was sitting with my knees bent and Jinn leaning against me, his arms around my neck.

He was warm and smelled of cinnamon toast.

“Oh, um, oops!” Jinn jumped a little and backed up a step.

“Hey, it’s all right. I just told Lyrican I need to feed you. He wants you to be well so we can take you home and make sure you’re safe.”

Jinn knelt before me, rubbing at his forehead. “I’ve been too scared to think about eating. But I only had an orange for breakfast. Soup sounds amazing.”

“I’ve got cans stored.”

“You and your dragon sure like to camp a lot.”

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