“You came.” Sage melted a little.
Garridan made another purring sound. He would always come to his mate. Garridan wanted to lift the window up and pluck him from it, fly him off so no one would ever be able to take Sage away again. Garridan could see, by the red rims around Sage’s eyes, that wasn’t what he needed. Instead, he just stood there, waiting to see what his mate did need.
“Your dragon’s pretty. A dark red color,” Sage said.
Pretty. Garridan made a sound that indicated he didn’t like the use of the word.
Sage’s smile was so mesmerizing that Garridan took a step closer and then another, until there was only glass separating them. Garridan rubbed his face against the glass and made a purring sound, letting Sage know how much he wanted to be near him.
He felt the glass move and Garridan pulled back. He breathed in deeply when his mate’s smell became stronger. The warmth from inside the house hit him, made him want to crawl through the window. Garridan didn’t, though. He didn’t even shift to his human body, but he did move into Sage’s touch. Garridan chuffed and then started to make the purring sound again.
Sage chuckled and pulled his big dragon head closer to him. Garridan let Sage do whatever he wanted. Half his neck was inside the room and the side of his head was against Sage’s chest.
“Oh gods. This is so not fair to you. I’m a fucking disaster on legs and you don’t need that right now.” Sage ran a hand down his neck and then back up again. Garridan didn’t think Sage was even aware he was petting him. “I’m sorry I’m so fucked up that I have to keep us apart. I know you don’t understand. I’ll try to getbetter for you. I just…I don’t feel like I can, ya know? It’s like this weight is on my chest and I see those vampires that hurt me and I just…I’m talking too much. I’ll shut up. I don’t know why I’m like this right now. I don’t feel like talking to anyone else.”
Garridan chuffed, which moved the fabric of Sage’s shirt. He was trying to tell Sage that he liked the sound of his voice and didn’t mind the talking. He wanted to say that he did understand, Lucas made him see what happened. He couldn’t say any of that, though, not in his dragon form. Shifting into his human form might have scared his mate. It seemed his mate liked touching his dragon.
Sage stayed silent for several seconds, not understanding that Garridan wanted him to talk. Finally, he said, “I’m glad you came, though. Maybe you could come back in a couple days. Maybe we could talk. You can tell me what kind of stuff you like, so I know what to get you for Yule.”
Yule?
“I think I still need time. I hope that’s okay. I’m sorry I can’t give you what you need.”
He wasn’t sure what Sage thought he needed, but just being close to him was good enough for Garridan.
Chapter Five
Garridan put on his coat at about the same time as he heard yelling coming from the kitchen. Some of it sounded as if it came through a tin can. Garridan stepped into the room when he heard Lucas say, “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want us to be with you for Christmas, Mom.”
“I have renounced that life long ago, Lucas. I suggest you do the same. Until you do, you are not welcome back home.” A woman’s voice rang through loud and clear for the whole house to hear. How that was possible, Garridan couldn’t guess, but then he also couldn’t understand how Lucas was talking on a phone with no cord attached. He had seen Lucas put that thing into his pocket, so he guessed that it worked everywhere he went.
In the past month, he had learned that things had changed, such as these portable telephones. Some changes were good and some not so much. The portable phone thing was not a change for the better, in Garridan’s opinion.
Garridan was a lot more coherent since seeing Sage on a regular basis. Spending time with his mate definitely changed things for the better.
“What fucking life are you talking about? How can you renounce anything? That’s stupid, Mother. Being a witch is a part of who you are. You can’t just make that go away. How are you keeping from getting headaches and stuff, Mom? By releasing the energy. That makes you a fucking witch whether you like it or not.”
“Don’t you talk to me that way.”
Lucas sighed. “That’s all you have to say to me? Fine, Mother. I can’t change who I am, so I guess this is goodbye.” Lucas pressed a button on the phone.
Garridan made a sound with his foot to let Lucas know he was in the room, not wanting to scare the energy out of him.
“You heard that, huh?”
“Yes.”
Lucas gave him a sad smile and turned away. He wiped his eyes. “My dad is human. She hid who she was because of him for so many years it was unreal. He didn’t even know until I had graduated high school and she never said a damn word to me. Not one single time. She refuses to talk about it now. I guess she figured I was safe because I’m male. Yeah, the witch gene didn’t skip me like she had hoped.”
“The people who love you the best don’t always share your DNA.” With that, Garridan turned to go out into the backyard.
His breath turned to vapor as he stepped outside, telling him just how cold it truly was, although Garridan didn’t feel it on his skin.
He was out there for about an hour before he heard the door open and then close behind someone. “Leave me alone.”
The urge to train overwhelmed him. He wasn’t sure why. There was snow on the ground and the coat he had on restricted his movements, but it didn’t matter. He needed it to clear his head.
The longer he was out there, the more he remembered doing that very thing with Samuel. He had no idea he even knew martial arts. His body remembered, though.
