Page 33 of Dragon His Heels
Gabe lifted a shaky hand and swallowed half the whiskey in his glass.
“Sometimes, though, fated mates skip that step and go straight to sex.” Adelbern waved his finger at Gabe. “When fated mates have sexual intercourse for the first time, it’s sort of an inadvertent bonding ritual. They seal their fates together, for all of eternity. It’s to do with the dragons. When our humanoid forms are at their most vulnerable, when we’re in that moment of ecstasy, it allows our dragons to connect and bind themselves together. And once that happens, you can never be apart, not entirely. It’s a similar feeling when they are flying together, although not quite as intense, since you are still fully in your mind even when you are in dragon form. But flying together is often viewed as foreplay for dragons, as well, so typically, when fated mates fly together for the first time, they often end up coupling shortly thereafter.” He chuckled. “And usually every time thereafter, as well.”
Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose while Adelbern sobered and added, “At least, that’s how it is in other colonies. We’re the only one affected by the curse, it would seem.”
“Can it be stopped?”
“The curse?”
“No. When you realize you’ve found your fated mate. Can you stop it?”
“I can’t imagine why you would want to.”
“Just answer the damn question.”
“First, I want to talk about the fact that you seem to believe you have found your fated mate. This should be impossible, given the curse.”
Gabe flung the hand that wasn’t holding his drink into the air. “Don’t ask me. I know even less about the curse than I do about fated mates.”
Adelbern took another sip of whiskey. “It happened roughly thirty years ago. You would have been a toddler, most likely. No one knows the origin, which is why it’s so damn frustrating. All we know is that one day, everyone who was already mated suddenly felt…different. Not quite as tied to the person they were with. Not that they’d fallen out of love, but that, say, extra bonus that was only felt by those who were meant to be together no longer existed. It was just love. Or lust or whatever. But it wasn’t…special anymore. And since that day, not a single dragon in this colony has found their fated mate.
“It took us years to work out what was going on. Couples who had been happy together for decades were suddenly arguing like hormonal teens and their parents. Some separated, one or the other leaving the colony. A lot of dragons in our colony became depressed. It’s hard to explain, but ever since that day, there’s been something missing. For all of us. We’ve learned to live with it, but I can tell you, if we could, we’d go back in time and figure out how it started and break it or make sure it never happened in the first place.”
“That’s a weird curse. Aren’t curses usually created in fits of passion? And typically isn’t someone around to witness, since people don’t normally get bent out of shape alone?”
“True.” Adelbern rested his elbows on the arms of his chair and steepled his fingers under his chin. “Perhaps we should look into the origins again. By the time we truly grasped what was going on, many years had passed. We had no idea where to start, what to do. And we still had lives to lead. The colony still had to be managed, the young still had to be taken care of. A few of us made a half-ass attempt to investigate the origins, but even back then it was frustrating as hell. Opening up this can of worms now…” He sighed gustily.
Gabe lifted his gaze and stared out into the trees.
“But if you think you’ve found yours, perhaps something has happened. Perhaps you are the key to figuring out and possibly lifting the curse.”
“Yeah, well, here’s the problem: I don’t want to find my fated mate. Or any mate.”
“This is problematic for the reeve of a dragon colony. In fact, it’s supposed to go with the territory. As we’d already made one mistake with our previous reeve, it’s a shame that we may have done it again.”
“Actually, I fixed that problem you’re referring to. I have an heir.”
Adelbern’s eyes widened while his white, bushy brows shot up his forehead.
“Her name’s Ruby. Cute kid. Apparently looks just like her mother, since she doesn’t look a thing like me. But she’s mine. And now she’s my heir. Without taking a mate.”
“This is…unusual. Who is the mother?”
“Don’t know. Well, I know her name, but I have no idea who she is. Talia found her.” He paused, but when Adelbern didn’t say anything, he continued, “Ruby and her mom were living with the Rojo dragons. Her mom was addicted to that dragon’s blood shit. Talia put her mom in rehab and brought Ruby here.”
“And how do you know she’s yours?”
“Talia figured it out.”
“Well, I suppose if Talia says it’s so…”
“Exactly. So see? Problem solved. Without me taking a mate.”
“Well, not entirely, if you believe you’ve found your fated mate, yet do not wish to claim her as such.”
“Right. So tell me, is that possible?”
Adelbern didn’t answer for long, long minutes. Gabe clutched his glass, unsure of how he wanted the old man to answer. No, no, he knew exactly what he wanted. Or didn’t want. And that was a fated mate.
Because mates left and love hurt and after his parents abandoned him, Gabe swore he’d never put himself in that position again.
Finally, Adelbern slowly said, “Yes.”
