Page 10 of Omega Haunting

Every cell in my body lit up and my magic pulsed through my veins, vibrating me from the inside out. It traced over scales that weren’t currently visible and memorized him one bit at a time. My wolf headbutted gently against my ribs, wanting to reach the dragon inside Marsin but he’d have to wait his turn. I’d waited a lifetime for this one kiss. A lifetime of watching everyone I knew find their mate. Until I was left behind but now I had my person too. So I kissed him hard, rising up on my toes. I considered jumping up and wrapping myself around him but my sire was probably still watching. Sure, she and everyone else knew what true-mates did but that didn’t mean I wanted to get to the heavy petting and the grinding with my family so close by.

“I can take you anywhere. Distance doesn’t matter. Not with wings and doors,” Marsin broke the kiss to say. “Would be easier if I had my system but I’m sure I can code something on my phone to make travel easier too and…”

I kissed him again. I wanted to know everything about him but his offer to whisk me away gave me goosebumps. I’d love to drop in somewhere exotic or maybe somewhere cooler than the muggy foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

“Anywhere,” he said again.

“Do you travel a lot?”

“I barely leave 1 but I’d go anywhere for you.”

“1?” I asked.

“1,” Marsin nodded. “We have three worlds back home and to keep it simple they’re named and numbered in the order we built them. I live on 1. Most of the Moonys who showed up live on 1 because of me and my brother.”

“I have five siblings and most of them have more than five kids.”

“Elio and his mates are working on it. Though, Fred came with almost five to start with,” Marsin laughed. “Do you know how relieved I am to know I’m not losing my mind?”

I kissed him again because that was all the answer I needed to give. Later, I’d apologize profusely for ever making him feel that way but I’d gladly lose my mind if it meant being with him. I’d talk to every apple in the whole territory if it meant staying this close to him.

Yep. The true-mate response magic had its claws in me. The choices I made lifetimes ago were catching up with me in the best possible ways even if the furry scale on my chest was burning hot. I was free falling and some primal part of me trusted that Marsin would catch me before I splattered against the ground.

Chapter Six

Marsin

Astral’s family was chaos. I’d grown accustomed to a certain level of noise and activity since Fred’s arrival. He brought the whole crew with him and then along came Minter. While I didn’t live with them, we visited each other often and I made room in my life for the noise that came along with Minter and then their next hatchlings too.

The kitchen of Astral’s family home was full to the brim with hatchlings (puplings?) of various ages. Full enough that if they all didn’t smell related I’d ask if they were running a daycare or if one of the kids had hosted a sleep over the night before.

“They’re a lot,” Astral whispered, smelling apologetic about his family.

“They’re fine,” I shook my head. “Kids make noise. Kids make messes. They run around and do all the stuff.”

“All the stuff,” Astral laughed and the sound wrapped around me like a warm blanket. I almost kissed him again but a small boy ran by and nearly ran headfirst into him. I scooped Astral up and spun out of the way.

“All the stuff,” I nodded.

As much as she had watched out the window I expected his sire to interrogate me. Fred and the other Moonys often talked about how some parents reacted to their children dating or meeting their true-mates but she and her mate had already disappeared from the kitchen. I glanced around as Astral made our plates. We were the only adults around.

“The kids hang out in here until it’s time for school or daycare. Pups eat a lot in our family. It’s all that magic pumping through our veins.”

“The moonshine!” I said and almost slapped the table as the memory from the night before came back to me. “That’s how I found you. I hadn’t told Elio or anyone else about the voice and needed a reason to come here.”

“It’s a little early in the day to start drinking the stuff but you can try some tonight if you’re up for it,” Astral offered. “Tastes horrible but gets most people drunk quickly enough. We mostly use it for magic.”

Astral swore under his breath as he set our plates out on the table.

“What’s wrong?” I glanced at the food. “Is it cold?”

“Hot food never gets cold in this house. My parents would sooner cut off their own tails than serve a guest cold food. I was supposed to swing by Morgi’s today and put up more deer wards.”

“Deer wards?” I arched a brow as my mate handed me a fork.

“Yeah. He has a bit of an orchard. The deer eat his stuff if there’s nothing to keep them out. We put wards up that keep them away without hurting them. The deer are food too but future food. If Morgi ate every deer that annoyed him he’d be as big as a house and the rest of us would go hungry.”

“What is this white sauce on everything?” I whispered.

---