Page 28 of The Monster at the End of This Molt

It wasn't that I had disliked life at The Pavilion. I'd enjoyed it too much. As reluctant as I was to be a teacher, Lark and I made a good team.

The first five years afterward, I had traveled the villages, taking an overall kobold census. I applied what I'd learned in the classroom throughout Ignitas. Too few of our communities had formal education. While I taught basic farming applications, I also taught conflict resolution without claws and even some kobold anatomy, thanks to Alma's overzealous teachings. It surprised me how much the other villages had forgotten over the years, especially those without a resident priestess.

I'd been alarmed when I reported the numbers back to Alma. The shortage of females was continent-wide, not limited to our region. Only when Galen and Mac broke the curse did I feel comfortable settling down in the community that needed me the most. The Meadows had no priestess, and their population was young and uneducated. I taught their teachers at night, and then I worked the fields during the day so they could educate the children.

Those children were all grown up now. Many had found their fated mates.

"Look." Robin bent down and picked a tortoise-shell button the same color as the wood off the floor. "We can leave now."

The old me would have made a joke about ripping his buttons off more often, or maybe about priorities, but I didn't have it in me. I kissed him instead. Too soon, he pushed away from me and led me outside.

I understood his rush to return home. His joy gave me a contact high through our bond.

He surprised me by turning the opposite direction from the stables, where Kermit was already packed to leave. I followed him to the big house, where he tacked a flyer for the dragon reunion to the community board in the dining room.

"It's in six weeks," I noted. This would be my first time seeing so many kobolds and dragons gathered in one place.

Now was not the time to get nervous. Kermit would smell it on me, and we'd end up in some random backwoods village instead of our home.

No matter how I felt about my past or what would happen in the future, The Pavilion would always be my home. With Robin by my side, it was time to return.

ChapterEleven

Robin

When Kermit droppedinto the stable yard, Mac told Sunny to finish training the orange dragonet in the corral and marched over to us. Something was off about his body language, and it set me on edge.

"Is that one of Coz and Grindl's betas?" Weld whispered in my ear. I missed the feel of him against my back. He'd gotten a dual saddle for the trip, for decorum's sake.

I was too stunned by Mac's glare to answer. "Mac?"

"You think you can just fly in here with a problem dragonet who doesn't get along with others, and we'd be fine with it?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Weld.

He blinked. "I can … um … stable him outside our cabin, if?—"

"Who says you get a cabin?" Axel had snuck up on us from the other direction, or maybe he'd teleported when he saw the green dragonet overhead. Word traveled fast around here.

My stomach dropped. I'd gotten this all wrong. My friends had lied to me. They didn't want me to return home with my mate.

"You'd better drop the act." Weld protectively wrapped his arms around my waist and tugged me to the edge of my seat. "You're making Robin anxious."

Axel was the first to break character and grin. "I told you this was a bad idea," he said to Mac. "Stop scaring the kid."

Mac's scowl deepened, but he looked angrier at Axel than at us. "Fine. You were right."

"Galen was right." The head of the black dragon with mischievous purple eyes peeked up over the top of the barn. "Say it."

Mac's frown faded into a huge smile when he saw his mate resting their head on top of the dragonet barn. "You were right, dragon dearest!"

I'd never seen Galen move so deftly, nor could I explain exactly what they did. One moment, they were on the far side of the barn, and then they were in the yard with us and shrinking down to the size of a kobold alpha with black hair and stripes. I'd seen their kobold form before, but Weld sucked in an awed breath behind me.

"Showoff," Axel said with a grin. He offered his hand to me, and Kermit turned on him, snapping. "Easy, there, little one."

"Mac wasn't wrong about him," Weld said. "He doesn't play well with others."

I cleared my throat loudly.

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