“You heard that?”Whoops. Guess I wasn’t used to this whole mind-speaking business.
“I’m not used to it either. And yes, I heard that, you nutty dragon. Why would we combine our hoards? That seems…”They trailed off, not finishing their sentence.
“I don’t mean now or anytime soon. I haven’t even convinced you to move in with me yet, so just… don’t even worry about it.”
“We’re literally on our first date right now. How are you trying to convince me to move in with you already?”
I did a small, irritated wing flap in response, unsure of how to respond to that. Maybe we were on our first date, but it wasn’t like we were strangers. I’d known Oakley for years, and now that they knew and acknowledged that we were viramores, I simply wanted to move full speed ahead. I wanted to keep them with me all the time, I wanted to live together, I wanted to wake up every morning with them in my arms, I wanted to make love, I wanted to start a family together, I wanted… everything.
“Just so you know…”Oakley started, then let out a sound that was half amusement and half exasperation.“I could literally hear every single thing you want to do with me… you’re not very good at shielding your thoughts.”
Well, shit.“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I don’t want to… I’m not trying to put any pressure on you, I swear. I’m okay with waiting as long as you need.”
“Uh-huh. Are we almost there yet? How long is this tunnel?”
I let them get away with the subject change.“Almost there.”
I walked the last few feet until the cave opened up into a large cavern that was big enough for me to stretch my wings and still not touch either wall. I had literally made a nest out of straw and other things like that a long time ago, but over the years, I started adding blankets and other soft and comfortable things to make it even more inviting.
Along the ledges around the cavern, I’d placed a few little trinkets that I thought were nice but not special enough for my hoard. This place wasn’t guarded so anyone could come in, and I didn’t want to leave anything I’d be sad about being stolen.
“Wow,”Oakley said as they entered the cavern behind me.“This is really nice and a lot bigger than I expected.”
They used their snout to sniff around at all the little trinkets and at the edge of the nest itself before facing me for a few seconds. They looked like they wanted to say something but were nervous or something, so I waited as patiently as I could.
Finally, they made a small huffing noise to themself and said in my head,“I’ve never seen a dragon nest before.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… I’ve never been inside one… I never… I’ve never made one or anything because I… didn’t know how.”
That… that took me aback for a few seconds. How… how was that possible? Their mother was such an asshole. Not only did she keep Oakley out of her nest, she hadn’t taught them how to make their own. Or I assumed she didn’t because why else wouldn’t they have made one when they’d been living here for years?
“You’ve really never made one?”
They shook their head.“Don’t know how.”
It should be a natural instinct, but it seemed like the cult kind of screwed Oakley up so much that they either ignored their instincts or were taught to hold them back. My poor viramore.
Without thought, I stepped up to them and rubbed my entire body against theirs, then nudged their head, nuzzling the top of my head into the bottom of their jaw for a few seconds. Oak was a little stiff at first—I knew already that they hadn’t had any positive touch in their dragon form before Garrick and I came along—but they softened slowly and started nuzzling back, albeit a little shyly.
And my Oakley wasn’t shy, so I hated that they felt so unsure of themself right now.
I gave their shoulder a nudge toward my nest.“Go on.”
“Go on where? What are you…?”They trailed off, staring at my large nest before blinking those big green eyes at me.
“Go on up.”
“You… want me… to go inside your nest?”
“Yes.”
“But… but it’s yours.”
I rubbed my face against theirs.“You’re mine too, babydoll.”
They inhaled sharply.“Are you sure?”
