Page 12 of Omega Haunting

“Thanks, I think.”

“It’s not a bad thing. More torso meant more happy trail,” Dern shrugged and Astral made a face.

“You wouldn’t be making that face if you saw him,” Dern laughed. “Stop by when you get a chance. If I don’t see you by the morning, I’ll try to drag some over here. That is unless you’re going somewhere else.”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Astral said. “We haven’t decided much yet. Have you seen something else we should know about?”

“I’m always seeing. That’s what fortune tellers do,” he shrugged. “Nothing important, though. Not today anyway. I’ll see you guys in a bit.”

Astral and Dern said their goodbyes, but I didn’t say anything else until he was long gone. I watched him out of the kitchen window for as long as I could. Something was strange about him. Something was off. All seers were a bit eccentric. Everyone who worked at the Star Room was a bit off too but he was off in a different way.

“He’s a widower but no one knows how his mate died. When I was a kid there was a rumor that he murdered Ormund. They were true-mates, though. So we know that didn’t happen. I think it’s mostly he knows too much about the world from experience and bullshit.”

“Picking up things over the flight link already?” I asked, squeezing Astral’s hand.

“Nope. Reading your expression. Plus, everyone thinks Dern’s a little strange,” he shrugged. “Though, I summon ancestors, talk to apples, and use moonshine like some people use sage in their magic. I don’t think I have much room to speak. I think we’ll stop by Morgi’s if you don’t mind. We should probably drop in on Dern later and pick up those clothes. I know how to sew clothes in a pinch but right now I’d probably sew myself to the machine. I’m having trouble finding two unoccupied brain cells to rub together.”

“Will I be a distraction?” I asked him.

“Yes, but there’s nothing we can do about that. If I can’t do the wards, Morgi will have to either wait until things below the belt calm down or settle for someone else in my family putting them up.”

“What if I went to Dern’s to grab the clothes and you went to work? I could meet you at Morgi’s.”

“You’re not going to do anything weird to Dern, right?” he narrowed his eyes on me. “I know he’s strange and that leads people to act weird around him but he’s not a bad wolf. He’s annoying sometimes and being old makes him think he knows everything but he’s a good guy. He helped bring us together.”

“I wouldn’t harm your pack,” I said. “I do want to speak to him a bit more. I have a feeling.” I rubbed over the star-shaped scale on my chest. “I’m not psychic or anything but I’d like to speak to him more.”

“He could use more friends,” Astral said, letting out a long sigh of relief.

It wasn’t the whole truth. Something was off about Dern, and I didn’t want my mate hanging around him until I figured out what it was. If that made me a cave-dragon, then I was a cave-dragon. That was something I could live with but I’d neverbe able to live with myself if I let it go and something happened to Astral.

“I’ll put their addresses into your phone so that you can find your way around,” Astral offered.

“No need. I can use the flight link and that means I know how to get around as well as you do. Can I take your short cuts or would I get shot for it?”

“Eh, the word’s gotten around about our true-mate response by now,” Astral said, flashing me a sheepish smile that made me want to hold onto his hand forever. “So you should be good. If anyone gives you trouble just remind them that you’re with a Warden now and I’ll hex their balls to get sucked up inside them anytime they see anyone naked. I’m not playing around with your safety.”

I kissed him again, because how could I not?

***

Dern must’ve expected that we’d show up earlier than he made it sound like back in the kitchen. He sat on his porch with a travel sized suitcase next to his chair. Somewhere nearby a fire burnt, and glimpses of a fire pit played through my memory. Only they weren’t my memories but Astral’s.

Two empty chairs sat on either side of Dern. The one on his left rocked in the breeze as if some ghostly inhabitant lounged next to him.

“Stop thinking like that,”my dragon cut into my thoughts.“Just because someone helped you meet your true-mate doesn’t mean they’re packing big magic. The true-mate magic is everywhere and it wants to help mates find each other. Something’s off about him but I don’t know that it’s dead people. Besides, our Astral keeps talking about summoning ancestors and there’s nothing wrong with him.”

“Thought you’d show up alone,” Dern said in lieu of a greeting. “Everyone usually does. You can sit there.” The old wolf pointed a wrinkled hand at the chair that didn’t rock.

I made myself comfortable and for a long moment neither of us spoke. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to ask Dern and maybe I should just thank him and move on with my life but unless I whisked Astral away from his family their friendship wasn’t going anywhere.

“Not everyone can sense it,” Dern said.

“Sense what?” I asked.

“That I’ve done magic that would make most people’s skin crawl. I won’t explain myself. I won’t lay it all out. Not now. Not yet. Some day I will and it will be on my terms. All I can say is that it’s been some years and it’s never been against this pack. You’ve met your omega now. You’d do anything to keep him safe, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” I nodded, my brows knitting together.

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