“Perhaps.” Grimbold looked at Wally, desire burning like lit coals in his eyes. “But, as Harrison avidly insisted, a hypothesis is simply an educated guess—it has yet to be proven. He suggested, in the name of science, that we should try for one again, just to see what happens.”
Wally narrowed his eyes and sat straighter in his chair, both hoping that Grimbold would and would not notice that the thought had made him hard. “Harry would never say something like that!”
“Not even for science?”
Wally hesitated. He bit his bottom lip. “Well…”
Grimbold chuckled. He came to perch on the arm of the chair, and Wally instantly moved to press against his side, craving his touch.
“When you’re ready, and only when you’re ready, I would love to grow our family with you, Walter.” Grimbold ran his hand through Wally’s hair, treating him with the same tenderness that he had when Wally was still new and afraid. Grimbold, who was the most mighty and powerful of all the dragons, would never harm him. Wally knew it for a fact. “Whether you bear a clutch or bless me with another dragonet, I will love our family all the same.”
There was a quote inBuffy the Vampire Slayerthat Wally often revisited—“You think you know who you are, what’s to come. You haven’t even begun.” Those words had never been more true. The future was a blank canvas upon which life could create anything, but no matter what the final picture, Wally knew one thing for certain: in Grimbold, he’d found the strength he needed to face that blank canvas and not fear. Whatever happened, he was no longer alone.
It made the answer to Grimbold’s question easy. Wally was ready.
Mine,Grimbold’s dragon stated.My mate. My family. Forever.
Wally, with all his heart, agreed.
