My eyes were on the windshield, but I caught his nod in my peripheral vision, and smiled.
"You have no idea. I didn't even know you were my mate, but I couldn't stop staring."
"You're not bad to look at either," I said, and he snorted.
"Such high praise."
I grinned and resisted the urge to lean over and kiss his smiling lips.
"Here we are," I announced a moment later, and everyone in the car perked up as I parked the car.
We got out and unbuckled the dogs on our sides, attached their leash and led them out. I grabbed the small backpack with water and some other supplies—mostly for the dogs—and joined Zamir at the front of the car. "Ready?"
He shot me a grin, then raced ahead. Clip kept pace with him at his side as I followed with Muffin, falling into step beside him once the trail widened a little. The dogs' leashes were the retractable kind, so they raced ahead, their noses hard at work as they examined every shrub and stone with care.
"This is nice," Zamir murmured as he glanced around, and I hummed in agreement. It was a bright day, not too warm, and here, surrounded by the trees, it was even a little chilly. Not for us, of course, though we still wore jackets to fit in.
Birds chirped above us, and I peered into the trees, spotting a nest with a brown sparrow perched inside. "It is, isn't it?"
"Tell me something," he said after we'd been walking quietly for a few minutes, and I met his gaze.
"Tell you what?"
"Anything. Something about you that I don't know."
I thought about it for a moment, then chuckled. "Every few months, I fly up into the sky as high as I can go, higher than planes and birds, and blow fire until I can't anymore."
"What? Why?" Zamir asked, eyes wide as he stopped short and turned to look at me.
"Well, you know dragons aren't like most supes, right? We're one of the older supe species, and our powers can be too much sometimes." Zamir nodded, his eyes full of understanding, and I continued, "I have this friend. He's the only other dragon I could track down—well, him and his mate and their son, though I've never talked to them—and he's a storm dragon. He has it easy, because he can expel his excess magic by causing a rainstorm inhis town. He lives in a small town in Washington state, and the rain doesn't stand out there at all."
"But you can't do something like that," he concluded with a nod, and I hummed.
"Though I think I may have found a solution. Or at least a way to not have to do it so often," I said, and he brightened.
"Really? What is it?"
"You."
He blinked, and realization crossed his face. "Letting me feed on your life force, it... it helped you?" he asked, seemingly stunned, and I realized I should've told him much sooner, maybe even when I was trying to convince him to feed from me.
"Yeah, Zamir. It helped me."
He didn't seem to know what to say, so I turned to the path ahead and gave him a few moments.
Zamir
I'dhelpedNolan. Feeding from him had benefittedhim.
I'd always wondered how Fate would find me a mate with the way I was, but I should've never doubted her.
We came upon a bench and decided to sit so Muffin and Clip could get some rest, and I watched as Nolan pulled out two bowls from the backpack he'd brought and poured water into both.
The dogs lapped at the water as soon as he placed the bowl in front of them, and he smiled, which made my lips curve up as well.
Over the duration of our walk, my eyes had acclimated to the aura around Nolan, and I'd remembered how to control whether I wanted to see it or not. It was harder to 'stay blind' when myown emotions flared up, but in moments like this, where I felt calm and settled, I could turn it on and off with the ease of flicking a switch.
My father had never been good at controlling it. It was one of the many reasons he'd become a nomad after Mom's death. He'd told me he 'couldn't deal with their petty human emotions' anymore, and while I'd loved sneaking peeks at what people were feeling and making up stories about them, I'd followed my father into solitude because I was a kid, and because I loved my father.
