Page 125 of Dragon Me Through Space

“Thank you, but that’s only part of it. I also made some minor improvements to your AI coding and I uploaded most of Drakorantia history. She should now be able to send you an outline or detailed synopsis of events to your HUD whenever you need it.” He leaned closer and whispered, “This saves you from all the bothersome memorization that Preston keeps trying to get you to do.”

I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly and he returned my hug. “Thank you, Wayne. You made me this awesome new leg and now an improved version of Scout. You have no idea how much this gift means to me.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and said, “I will build you an entire planet if you asked me to. Whatever you want, Xo-Xo.”

Xo-Xo? He hadn’t given me a nickname before, which I hadn’t minded, but hearing this one made me smile and warmed my heart. Maybe I needed to give them each nicknames, too?

I sat down to inspect Scout more and she trotted around me in a circle. “I look cool now?” she asked.

Laughing, I said, “Yes, you look very cool, but I thought your drone form was cool, too.”

“Being able to talk, to communicate with you is the best!” she exclaimed and twirled in a circle. “Now, when you’re sad, we can talk and come up with an answer together!”

Tears built in my eyes and I wrapped my arms around her cold, metal body. “Thank you for being with me all this time,” I whispered to her.

“We’ll be together forever and ever and I’ll watch over your children, too!”

“It’s still a bit too soon to discuss children,” I grumbled, which made Wayne laugh.

“You know what you haven’t done more than once yet?” Wayne asked.

“Hm?” I tilted my head back to look up at him.

“Flown.”

“Flown?”

He nodded. “On a dragon’s back.”

I gasped and asked, “For real? You’ll really let me ride you while you fly?” I had ridden on Zeke once, but had been too afraid to ask any of the others to do it again.

Taking my hand, he pulled me out of the room and out to the open courtyard. Immediately, he shifted into his dragon form and lowered himself so I could climb onto his back.

Trailing my hands along his scales, I admired the beautiful green color. Each of the guys had different colored scales, but I personally really liked Wayne’s best. Not that I would ever tell them, since I knew better than to play favorites.

He grunted in question at me, so I hopped onto his back and said, “Let’s fly!”

Gage or Zeke might have roared before taking off, but Wayne simply propelled himself up into the sky while I clung to him and laughed happily.

We soared over the castle, over the royal city, and out to the farmlands.

It was surreal to me flying on the back of a dragon while watching over dragons flying around and fighting on the ground below. It was surreal because I realized that I was no longer out in space dealing with mercenaries and all manner of scientific weaponry and instead what felt like a fantasy novel.

I was no longer running from mercenaries and cyborgs. I was no longer worrying about Charles coming after me.

For the first time, I was safe and happy.

Leaning down, I wrapped my arms around as much of Wayne’s dragon neck as I could. “I love you.”

Wayne suddenly shifted into his man form with dragon wings.

I squealed as I fell, but the fall was brief as he caught me.

“Say it again,” he ordered as he flapped his wings to keep us aloft.

Sliding my hands around the back of his neck, I met his eyes and said, “I love you, Wayne.”

“I love you, too, Xoe.” He kissed me so tenderly, I barely felt his lips.