Page 44 of Hoarded By the Dragon

“Yes. Death and new life always travel hand in hand.” His gaze goes far away at that before focusing on me again. “The fear is natural. It’s instinctual and logical. So take a breath for me and remember that I will not leave you alone in this.”

I follow his order. His scent and the warmth flowing from his body makes it easy to take deep breaths.

“You’re good at this,” I say before pressing my lips shut. Of course he is. He had a mate before, someone who relied on him and who he loved.

The tops of Kalos’s cheekbones pinken, but he doesn’t respond.

“Can you still sense them?” I ask, looking down at my flat stomach.

Kalos’s brow creases, and his hand hesitates before coming to lay flat there. He swallows after a moment. “I can.”

The relief of that is tempered by confusion. There’s a sorrow on his face as he looks down at where his hand rests. I reach up and run a finger over the arch of his brow.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

The expression disappears like it was never there. “Don’t pay me any mind. I’m fine.”

“You looked like you were in pain.”

“Old wounds can still ache. It’s nothing.” He looks away from my imploring gaze as if suddenly interested with the view from the window. “I am relieved that they are well. The lack of development is most likely from not having enough contact. Dragons require long amounts of time in their parent’s fire.”

It suddenly occurs to me that he’s an ancient immortal being who could only breed with his mate. Had they wanted children? I don’t dare ask.

“I’m relieved that you’re relieved. Hearing that they are okay from you makes it more real,” I say.

The silence that falls starts comfortably. Our breaths come in time, our bodies in sync. The heat of his hand soothes the rough parts of my consciousness, the bits of discomfort and boredom that I’ve stumbled through for the past month, avoiding the man who holds me.

This is similar to how he holds me at night, but we aren’t sleeping, and my mind starts to wander.

His hands are covered in black scales tonight. They aren’t consistently like that. Sometimes there are fewer like the day I told him about our child, and sometimes they are like this. Barely human except in shape. He’s powerful enough to fully be human if he wanted to, but it’s as if he prefers them covered in scales. I forget myself and cover his hand with mine, the texture of them is smooth and heated.

I freeze and glance up at his face, and Kalos arches a brow at me. He doesn’t tell me not to touch him. Our bodies seem to have their own language when we’re together, one that they’ve discovered in the late hours of the night while lost to our dreams. His body cradling mine feels familiar.

I glance at the time and realize only five minutes have passed.

I clear my throat. “Well, this is kind of awkward.”

Kalos huffs a laugh against me. “It is quite different than when you’re asleep.”

I rub a finger over a scale. “Do you ever become completely a dragon?”

Kalos looks thoughtful. “I am always a dragon, even when I’m in this form…”

“But you said you had an inner beast?”

“I didn’t always. It can happen over time with immortals. Maybe it’s from being in human form for too long.” Kalos shrugs and instinctively I know he doesn’t think that’s the case. Somehow I’ve gained a small ability to read this man even though we’ve barely been in the same room during waking hours. “Usually, I take dragon form once every other week. I travel by portal to somewhere remote to stretch my wings.”

I frown. “But you haven’t been?”

He hesitates. “I don’t think it would be good to indulge my dragon right now. He’s been… territorial. He probably would reject being so far away from our young if given the chance.”

His dragon has been territorial because of my presence here? That’s news to me. I decide to skip over that topic for now.

“I’d love to see you as a dragon sometime,” I say, and even I can hear the yearning in my voice.

Instead of laughing at me, Kalos merely smiles. “So you can add me to your sketchbook?”

I blink. “How do you know about my sketchbook?”

---