“Ready?”
“Just do it, Mom.”
“Here we go then.”
She closed her eyes and started chanting something, holding the bad-smelling concoction up, as if offering it to the gods. The stuff started turning colors as if her words alone were turning it from a liquid to a gas, and it swirled around and above the bowl. When she opened her eyes, the colorful gas arrowed right into Lucas’ chest. Lucas lifted off the bed involuntarily and then fell back down against Bennett’s chest as if he’d never actually left.
His mother started sweating at about the same time Lucas’ eyes opened and he screamed. Bennett held him close and whispered, “I’m here, baby. Right here. I love you.” He met his mother’s gaze. “Make it stop.”
“It’s up to him now. He’s turned it around on me and is using my energy. By the gods, he’s really strong.”
Lucas sat up.
Bennet felt Lucas trying to get inside his mind as if it was an involuntary response to all the pain, wanting to be close to Bennett through their link. His dragon purred when he saw Lucas, and Bennett felt like a passenger in his own head. Lucas seemed to want to get close to the dragon for some reason and Bennett wasn’t protesting even a little. Lucas let out a ball of light and gave it to Bennett’s dragon. Bennett took it, not fully understanding what to do with it when he had it.
Lucas pointed to himself and the dragon pushed the light to Lucas’ chest. Lucas smiled at him and left his mind. He fell against Bennett once more, his eyes closing immediately, as if he’d never woken to begin with.
Bennett let out a sigh of relief when he felt Lucas there, alive but sleeping.
His mother sighed in relief. “It’s done. Very unsettling to have someone that strong use my energy like he did.”
“He wouldn’t have hurt you.”
“I know that, son.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“We all love him, Bennett. He’s a good mate.” She patted him on the leg and left the room.
“Is he going to be okay?” Ladon asked.
“Yeah, I think so. He’s a lot stronger now. I think he just needs to sleep.”
“So he just fixed himself?”
Bennett shrugged, not sure what the hell happened. He was oblivious to everything but the silent conversation his dragon and Lucas had a second ago.
“You’re staying for a while?”
“Yeah. ‘Till I know for sure he’s one hundred percent okay. Why?”
Ladon shrugged. “Just wondered.”
“You want to come home with us when we go?”
“Yeah. Kinda.”
“You can come stay whenever you want, you know that, right? Hell, you can even move your shit in. Mom probably won’t mind, and I know Lucas would love having you around.” Bennett smiled at him. “I love you, little brother. You know that.”
“I know. I love you too. But I don’t want to leave Mom alone here.”
“She won’t be. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s getting another son. This time he’s human, though.”
Ladon’s eyes got big. “Oh my God, how is he going to survive all of us? The poor guy.” Ladon grinned. “At least I won’t be the youngest anymore.”
“No, you still will be. He’s nineteen years old. His name is Jules. He’s kinda broken right now. Needs a lot of support and people around him who care. I figured he stumbled into the right family.”
Ladon smiled. “Yeah. He sure did. Maybe it would be better if I stayed here. Just for now. Still think I’ll come by more often, though.”
