Page 16 of Distinctly Daray
“I think sometimes you make choices in our game that allow me to get an advantage.”
“I wish I was that smart.”
“Keegan, you remain in the lead for test scores. No one in this building questions your intelligence.”
Keegan shrugged as he glowed internally with pride at impressing his superiors and, more importantly, Phillip. “I enjoy pushing myself. But seriously, you’re smarter than me. That’s why you keep winning.”
“I believe we are of equal intelligence.”
“Well, you’re wrong,” Keegan replied.
Phillip’s sexy grin flashed. “Sentinels are rarely wrong.”
“You sound like the Lich Sentinel. He says that whenever we’re training with him.”
“I can hardly refute my leader.”
“Or you’re as arrogant as he is.”
“That could be the case, but I do not mind if I am.”
Keegan chuckled. “At least you’re honest. Should we pick a game and see if I can squeak by with a win tonight?”
“Can I ask you something first?”
“I know our matebond is unconventional, but I don’t want barriers between us. Ask me whatever you want.”
“Why do you think we are still awkward around each other?”
Pressing his lips together, Keegan shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“At first, I believed it was me because I am struggling with my dragon, but we are not like other mates. I do not know what to say to you most nights, even while we are playing games.”
“To be fair, we haven’t known each other long. But I know what you mean.”
“Do you feel this way around others? Is it nervousness because our acquaintance is short?”
Keegan sighed. “I want to be honest with you. No. I’m only nervous around you. But it’s not because of your dragon. I trust that you know when you need to be put in stasis. I was actually thinking about it before I came over tonight. I don’t know what’s wrong. And personally, I don’t like it. You’re my gift from Fate.”
“I have thought about it too. As you know, I have a great deal of time on my hands without classes to distract me. I hate to admit this, but it…it is almost as if a piece is missing somehow. Today I wondered if it could be something neither of us has discussed yet.”
Relieved that Keegan wasn’t alone in his feelings about the weirdness between them, he smiled. “You have an idea about what is causing me to still be sitting here shuffling my feet and wishing I wasn’t sweating? Start talking, Phillip. I want to figure this out. I thank Fate for this matebond, and I want us to move past this awkward stage as soon as we can.”
“I do not know if my conclusion will aid us in dealing with our anxiety, but I cannot help but think of the only other shifter raised from the dead. Sam’s dragon grew more unruly because he was obsessed with Brynn. The beast was also missing his own mate. Brynn’s wyvern had been left behind beyond the veil.What if you were also a shifter and my beast is yearning for his other half?”
Dumbstruck, Keegan leaned back in his chair and tried to remain calm enough to examine Phillip’s theory intelligently. A voice immediately filled his head with excitement about becoming a shifter himself someday. That was what had happened with Skeleton Lord Brynnius. The Arch Lich had shadow walked, and with the aid of the spirit of Brynnius’s brother, the sentinel was reunited with his wyvern.
Keegan had been fascinated by both shifters and sorcerers immediately upon his resurrection, but his interest had grown for dragons the moment he met Phillip. Although it wasn’t safe yet for Phillip to fly, Keegan wondered what it’d be like to soar through the sky. As his mate, Keegan hoped someday he’d get to plant himself on Phillip’s boney spine and feel the wind rush through his hair.
Now, Phillip was calmly suggesting that Keegan may have once transformed into a beast all on his own.
“Has my theory offended you?” Phillip asked softly.
“Absolutely not,” Keegan answered immediately. “Sorry, I’m trying to think about it, but I’m freaking out. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I love shifters. What if I was one? I don’t know how to wrap my head around that. I love the idea too much. Have you asked the Arch Lich about the possibility?”
“No, I did not want to sound foolish.”
“Why would that be foolish? That’s exactly what happened last time.”
