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“Don’t want to go,” Milo said. “You said forever.”
“I did say forever.” Rowan kissed the top of his head. “And I meant it.”
“They’re taking you. They’re here to take you away. I’m not good enough. Not right.”
Ethel gasped.
“Take that back!” Ray said to someone before Ruben shushed him.
The rumble in Rowan’s chest reverberated through the air around them. It rattled off the walls and forced everyone into silence.
“You’re perfect for me,” Rowan said. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I will not have you doubt that ever again. If anyone here says otherwise it’ll be the last conversation we ever have.”
“That is not what we said, Rowan,” Rowan’s mother said, her voice gentler than the other ones. Softer. Milo liked it. At least he’d thought he did before it came out that they were there to break them up.
“It’s what we heard,” Rowan said. Milo relaxed a tiny bit, reassured by Rowan placing himself firmly on his side. Against his family.
“Your emotions are clouding your judgment and that’s to be expected,” Rupert said. “Finding your mate under normal circumstances is disorienting. And this…”
“Someone needs to start explaining things right now,” Rowan growled.
Milo looked through his lashes at the people gathered there and watched them trade meaningful glances about who would speak first.
“Rowan,” Raina said, “Milo is a half dragon.”
That…sounded anticlimactic AF.
He lifted his head and stared at her, wide-eyed and confused. The beast inside him settled a bit and he felt more like the human Milo who didn’t filter his words. “That’s it? I’m half dragon and you all lost your collective shit because of it?”
He turned to look at Rowan, ready to share a laugh with him over the absurdity, but found him staring at his family, lips slightly parted and a shocked expression on his face.
“That’s why we couldn’t find his breed in any of the books,” Rowan said softly.
“I don’t know where you looked, but they’re generally not even mentioned in the newest literature,” Raina said. “They’ve been gone forever.”
“I don’t understand,” Milo said.
“Half dragons, or people with one dragon and one human parent, have always had a tumultuous history, Milo,” Rowan’s mother said. “They inherit traits from both sides that don’t easily coexist in one body. While there is a full dragon in you in terms of your shift, the human side remains unmoored while the dragon is out.”
“But you shift too,” Milo said, unable to make sense of it.
“We do,” Raina said. “But we are still dragons. Our unshifted form is still a dragon. It yields to the shift and feels comfortable with it. With half dragons, the human side has to step aside to allow the dragon to exist, and as such, it starts feeling restless. Scared and anxious. Terrified of being erased.”
“I didn’t feel any of that,” Milo said.
“It’s because you didn’t know you were a dragon,” Rowan said softly. “You learned that and shifted for the first time with me. With your mate present and holding you together.”
“I…”
“It’s a beautiful thing, Milo,” Raina said. “Half dragons are the most devoted, loyal, dedicated mates a dragon could ever hope to have. They are a treasure to those who mate with them.”
“But they are a lot of work too,” Rupert said. “They demand attention, they crave that same devotion in return. They are single-mindedly focused on their mate and expect that same single-mindedness in return. Evolutionary, they could lead to trouble for both species, so they just kind of…quietly faded into obscurity.”
Milo mulled the words over and they rang true. The despair he felt with Rowan gone. The constant need to have him close. The feeling of dread when he didn’t hear from him. It was so much. Too much.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to Rowan.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Rowan glared at his father. “I told you it would be the last conversation we have if you made him feel like this again.”
