“I’m experiencing some anomalous symptoms,” Aero said stiffly. “Most likely surge-related. I’ve been documenting them for analysis.”
Delos laughed.
Not a polite chuckle. A full-body laugh that bent him double, his hands bracing on his knees, his shoulders shaking with the force of it. He laughed until tears streamed down his cheeks, until he had to stagger back to the armchair and collapse into it, still gasping.
“Anomalous symptoms,” he wheezed. “Documenting them. Foranalysis.” Another burst of laughter. “Oh, gods. Oh, this is perfect.”
“I fail to see what’s amusing.”
“Of course, you do.” Delos wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, still grinning. “Because you’ve spent centuries convincing yourself you don’t have feelings, and now your brain is short-circuiting because you finally metyour mate.”
The word landed between them. Mate.
“That’s not—” Aero started.
“It’s exactly what’s happening.” Delos leaned forward, all traces of laughter fading into something more serious. “Aero. I’ve watched you walk through life like a ghost, never touching anything, never letting anything touch you. And now you’re sitting here smelling like a storm witch, with your dragon clearly losing its mind under your skin, trying to tell me it’s asurge effect.”
“You don’t know?—”
“I know exactly what mate recognition looks like. I’ve seen it. Hell, I’ve studied it, working on this research with you.” Delos’svoice softened, losing its teasing edge. “Your dragon woke up, didn’t it? For the first time in… how long?”
Aero didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.
“That’s what I thought.” Delos shook his head slowly. “Longer than anyone can remember, and it’s a storm witch in a tiny coastal town who finally makes you feel something. The universe has a twisted sense of humor.”
“I don’t—” Aero’s voice caught. He forced it steady. “I can’t afford this. She’s mortal. Unstable. We have no future that doesn’t end in?—”
“In loss?” Delos’s expression gentled. “Aero. Everyone loses eventually. That’s not a reason to never have anything in the first place.”
“Easy for you to say.” The bitterness surprised him. He hadn’t realized it was there. “You’re young. You don’t know what it’s like to watch everyone you’ve ever cared about?—”
He stopped. Breathed.
“I’m not discussing this.”
“Fine.” Delos held up his hands in surrender. “We don’t have to discuss it. But you can’t ignore it either. Your dragon won’t let you. And from what I’m sensing—” He tapped his nose. “—her magic is just as interested in you as your dragon is in her.”
Aero said nothing. Outside, the wind had picked up—faint, restless, carrying the ozone scent of weather that wasn’t his.
“There’s research to do.” His voice came out flat. “That’s why we’re here. Not to—” He gestured vaguely.
“Fall in love with a beautiful, powerful witch who makes your dragon lose its mind?” Delos grinned again. “Too late for that, boss. Way, way too late.”
He stood, stretching, and moved toward the door to collect his abandoned bags. “I’m going to crash. Long drive. But tomorrow?” He glanced over his shoulder, eyes glinting with something that was either amusement or genuine affection.Probably both. “Tomorrow, I want to meet her. This weather witch who finally got through to you.”
“There’s nothing to meet. She’s a research partner.”
“Sure she is.” Delos disappeared into the spare room, his voice floating back through the doorway. “Oh, this is going to beamazingto watch.”
The door clicked shut.
Aero sat in the silence of the main room, surrounded by his careful data and his logical analyses, and tried to convince himself that Delos was wrong.
His dragon laughed at him.
Outside, the wind picked up. Clouds gathered on the horizon, thick and dark and heavy with coming rain. Not natural clouds—he could feel the magical signature even from here. Ozone and sea salt. Storm magic.
Somewhere across town, Cassia Gale was having feelings about something.
