Page 46 of Nix
Nix’s grin grew.
“Trouble,” Evan said as he held back a laugh.
“Not me!”
Evan didn’t buy the innocent act for a second. Reaching over, he snagged the bag from the table. Luckily, he’d grabbed them cold sandwiches from the deli, so nothing needed to be warmed up. He didn’t want to move with Nix on his lap.
He set the wrapped sandwich across Nix’s knees.
“You want me to eat while on your lap?”
“Do not move,” Evan ordered. “I’m going to hand-feed you.”
“Uh, okay.”
“It’s a dragon thing,” Evan offered. “I need to take care of you.”
“Like I’m going to complain about that,” Nix quipped.
Evan unwrapped the sandwich before he broke off a chunk. He offered Nix a bite.
Nix opened his mouth and accepted the food.
Inside, his dragon rumbled with pleasure.
Nix chewed and swallowed. “And you’re going to tell me about dragons.”
“I am.” Evan held up another bite.
“K.” Nix ate more.
“You can shift into a fruit bat. That is how shifting works. You have two forms, were born that way, but you still only have one soul.”
“Okay, I’m following so far.”
“I was born human but a part of me was…incomplete,” Evan explained.
“Incomplete?”
“My entire line has been connected to dragons,” Evan said. “It was a blessing, or a curse, depending how you want to look at it. My family chose to look at it as a blessing. Once we reach maturity, we’re sent on a mission to find our other half. Our dragon.”
“Wow,” Nix said around a mouthful. “That’s cool.”
“It is.” Evan hadn’t thought about when he’d bonded with his dragon for a very long time. “I walked up a mountain a boy, just ten years of age.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“Terrified,” Evan admitted. “But it needed to be done. I was starting to feel it. The incompleteness. The missing part. It was cold and I found shelter, but I didn’t know how to find a dragon. Especially one that wanted to bond with a human.”
“You must have,” Nix said. “Found a dragon.”
“It took years,” Evan informed him. “Two very long years. I was barely surviving it when the dragon found me. My dragon has an infinity for the cold. He was able to protect me from the elements. I was warm for the first time in longer than I could remember.”
“That’s amazing,” Nix exclaimed. “So, no breathing fire? No s’mores?”
Evan laughed. “We’ll just have to make them the old-fashioned way.”
“I guess that’s alright.”
