“Tell mewhat!?”
He clears his throat, slipping into teacher mode. “When a female dragon hits the age of maturity, she goes into heat. The feeling won’t abate until her mates have been chosen.” He meets my eyes seriously. “The longest a female dragon has gone before mating in recorded history is twenty-five, Ezra. I’m just asking for a chance.”
Fingers curl around my bicep as Elias hauls me to my feet, glowering at his coach. “Since training is apparently over, I’m leaving for the day, sir.” He spits the title out with an anger I haven’t heard from my mild-mannered brother.
Colton rises to his feet, looking between Elias and me as he debates how to react to the disrespect. He settles on ignoring it, no doubt thinking it’ll keep him in my good graces.
“Training resumes tomorrow, Veles. Don’t be late,” Colton declares before walking away.
Elias doesn’t remove his death grip on my arm as we march down the stairs, and I’m grateful for it. I pride myself on looking like a badass in front of people, and face planting is a surefire way to undo years of hard work. And with the bomb the coach just dropped on me, I wouldn’t put it past myself to trip in my distracted state.
I wait outside of the locker room, leaning against the wall while Elias gets changed and grabs his backpack. He throws an arm over my shoulder casually as we walk back to my car, but he hesitates before getting in.
“You good to drive?” he asks quietly.
That snaps me out of it and I climb in, slamming the door harshly behind me. Elias is far more calm and collected, so I take the drive home to try and settle my raging emotions. I don’t want to snap at him, and right now I no doubt would.
We get home and I sit in the recliner in the living room, elbows on my knees and hands on my head. I take a few deep breaths to center myself and look up to see my little brother leaning against the wall in front of me, waiting patiently.
“Is it true?” I ask quietly.
He nods sadly. “Yeah, it’s true.”
I bite my cheek, but finally voice the biggest thing that’s bothering me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He sighs, swiping a hand through his bright red, shaggy hair. “Kahl, Kaiden and Kinsley don’t want to accept it, are convinced that if you weren’t aware, it’d be different.”
But I’m already shaking my head. “No, why didn’tyoutell me? We tell each other everything,” I croak, heart breaking into no less than a million pieces as I realize the close relationship with my little brother was all in my head.
He closes his eyes, and when he opens them, they’re shining with restrained emotion. “Because a part of me hoped they were right and you wouldn’t leave me.”
I get up and hug him. Neither of us cry, just hold onto each other like if we can just hold tight enough, the world won’t be able to tear us apart. We stay like that for a bit, not needing to say anything, because we know each other well enough to know where the other’s head is at.
“Even if I move out, you know you’ll still always come first, right? That I’d only be a phone call away?”
He’s shaking his head. “You can lie to yourself, Ez, but not to me. We both know how these things go. It’ll start that way at first as you try to prove a point, but then you’ll get caught up in your new life. One missed event turns into two and you’ll swear you’ll make it up, but it will never end. And Fates forbid if you have a baby, then all bets are off.”
I fake gag. “Eww, gross, why would I want kids? They’re all needy and emotional,” I tease, still not letting go of him.
He rests his cheek on the top of my head for a moment before playfully shoving me off of him. “You sure are,” he jabs, making a big show of wiping off his shirt. “What with your girly feelings and all. Disgusting.”
I smile at him as I go to start dinner. “I know, I should really be ashamed of myself.” I gasp dramatically, turning to face him. “Maybe my fire power translates to something badass like lava tears. That’s a close second to shooting lasers from my eyeballs.”
Elias snorts as he starts cutting up the chicken. “It would just turn to steam, dork. Best you could hope for is to steam clean some dude’s shirt, or maybe a carpet if you’re really determined. Nothing to brag about.”
I grin, chuckling. “Lamest power ever. I better just never cry so I don’t have to find out; ignorance is bliss.”
He sighs. “Yeah, it is.”
