Page 55 of The White Dragon's Dilemma

Just above the tops of the buildings, they shifted and Valerius fell to earth.He landed--gracefully in Tez’s opinion--and rose up.He forced himself to not look like cold death at the media. Not that he could have for very long in any case because Caden came running up to him and stopped just short of hugging him.The desire to hug him was so huge in Caden’s eyes that it was all that Valerius saw.

“Valerius!Thank you for coming!They want uhm… quotes and stuff and--”

“Do you want them to know about us?”Valerius asked softly.

Caden blinked.“Ah,yes, but I thought you wouldn’t want--oh!”

Caden’s words were swallowed up as Valerius cupped his face and kissed him. There was an audible cry from the crowd of shock and joy.With the taste of Caden on his lips, Valerius pulled back and rested their heads together. Even through the blinding flashes of cameras, he saw people point up at the spiral in the sky.They now knew what it meant.

Take that, experts, Valerius thought.The Black and White Dragons are mates!

Caden was smiling rather deliriously at him.“You know, kissing me like this when I have no clothes on is… uhm, well, it’s uhm…”

“Anwar!Your sash, please!”Valerius held a hand out towards the Silver Dragon Shifter without looking at him.

“But of course,” Anwar murmured in his cultured voice.

The silk fuschia sash was placed in Valerius’ outstretched hand.He neatly tied it around Caden’s hips very tightly.Caden leaned against him, wrapping his arms around Valerius’ chest.

“Thank you,” Caden murmured.

Valerius kissed his forehead.“Anytime.Are you ready to do this?”

Caden took a deep breath.“As I’ll ever be.Stopping the bomb was harder than this, more important than this by far so this’ll be a cake walk.”

“We’ll only make a brief statement here.We’ll arrange interviews with some trusted journalists later in a more formal setting,” Valerius told him, finding he needed to kiss Caden’s nearest temple.

More flashes.

Caden leaned into the kiss.“I’m going to leave this in your hands.I’m out of my depth.”

“You’re perfect,” Valerius assured him.

The two of them turned to the press as one unit.Even the camera-loving Anwar stepped back, knowing that they should be the center of attention. Valerius slid a powerful arm around Caden’s shoulders.There were more flashes.He was certain that the image of the two of them would be everywhere, on every newspaper, on every website, and the topic of discussion.Better them than giving any air to Humans First and their attempts to terrorize and kill. So while Valerius had no desire for his and Caden’s relationship to be tabloid fodder, he would be glad if news of love was covered more extensively than that of hate.

“King Valerius!King Valerius!”Countless reporters called his name, because they did not know Caden’s.

Questions about who Caden was, about what had happened, about the Dragons in the sky, about the bombers, about the helix, about the kiss, about… well, anything and everything under the sun were shouted at them.Caden tucked himself securely by Valerius’ side, certain that the Black Dragon King would take care of everything.And Valerius intended to do just that.

He held up one hand and the crowd quieted.

“We know you have many questions,” Valerius raised his voice so that the sea of microphones could capture what he said.“But, as you can also see.”He tipped his head to the Claw breaking the icy cuffs off the bombers and replacing them with metal ones.“This is not the best place to answer them.”

“But, King Valerius, what happened here?”

“Was it another bomb attempt?”

“Who is behind it?”

“How did the White Dragon Shifter know about the bomb, if it was a bomb?”

“What is the White Dragon Shifter’s name?”

“Was someone trying to murder King Anwar?Does that mean that this isn’t a local matter?”

“Where are all the Dragon Shifters going?”

Valerius lifted a hand again.“This is an active crime scene.We will issue a statement about this in due course. As to the White Dragon Shifter’s name… would you like to tell them?”He asked the last to Caden.

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