Page 25 of The Dragon's Flamebound Mate

It was going to take a lot of practice and finding the perfect item, but they could do this. I was more confident of that than ever. The only thing left was finding the perfect item for them to use. It had to be visible for those watching, predictable when dropped, and strong enough to handle a dragon’s talons. We’d figure it out, soon enough. But for now, the plastic spoon would do.

“You did great up there, mate.” Zayne wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his side as we watched them practice. “Honestly, I’m not sure either of the trainers would’ve been able to do that.” He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “I wasn’t sure I could either.”

“Same, mate. Very much same.” But we had, and now it was full throttle forward.

Chapter 13

Zayne

AshandIwalkedback to our home after dismissing the students and having a short meeting with our trainers. It was earlier in the day than we usually left, but as wonderful as the practice was, it was exhausting. Rewarding, too, but it took a lot out of all four of us. I was pretty sure the trainers were heading for a nap.

Our little demonstration and the students’ initial practice at the new maneuver definitely solidified our plans for our upcoming competition. Even if our young dragons didn’t master the passing of an item between them, the maneuver was still impressive. I was pretty sure they could, though. They were determined. I wasn’t sure if it was because they knew that Ash and I did it without practice and they wanted to prove they were as good as us or if it was so cool that they were itching to show it off. The reason didn’t matter, only their desire to make it happen.

We could master the other aspects of it later and implement them in future competitions if need be—anything to give us the extra edge we needed. Even if Ash hadn’t been my mate, I’d have been proud to have him as my Co-Leader. He was gifted in piecing maneuvers together and this was only one example.

“That was awesome.” Ash squeezed my hand tighter, his excitement palpable.

“Honestly, I didn’t think we would pull it off. I thought we’d get close, close enough to give the students the motivation they needed, but I never expected it to be so perfect. I want to watch the footage, see if we actually did it right, or if our form was sloppy. I couldn’t see well enough to tell.”

And that was one of the reasons he was so good at this. He didn’t take “good enough” as a result. He wanted it to be done right, to improve with each attempt, to grow.

“Me neither. I was too focused on getting that spoon.” That spoon was actually in my front pocket, and I gave it a pat. It was a miracle the silly thing hadn’t cracked between our talons and falling to the ground.

“Why do you still have it?” Ash asked. “It’s in your pocket, right?”

“It is.” I grinned. “You’ll see.” We reached our house and began walking up the steps. “I’ll show you.”

Once we were inside, we kicked off our shoes and tossed our stuff in the office. No more work for tonight, if I could help it. Part of working hard was knowing when you needed a break, and we for sure did.

“I don’t feel like cooking,” Ash said. “I’m too excited. Maybe we can buzz over to the cafeteria for dinner later?”

I didn’t feel like cooking either. Or making sandwiches. Or going into town. That pretty much left the cafeteria as our only option.

“That sounds like a good plan. First, let me show you something. I know I gave you an initial tour of the house, but we didn’t go too in-depth into some things. You might already be curious.”

That caught his attention.

Ash still hadn’t let go of my hand and now he gripped my forearm. “Is this about your hoard? I’ve been wanting to ask, but we’ve been so focused on the team. And other things.”

I grinned. The other things was us being in bed together. When we weren’t working, we were exploring each other’s bodies. It was a pretty sweet life, if you asked me.

“I have been extremely curious about what you hoard. I haven’t noticed any signs of things you’re drawn to. I thought maybe you didn’t have one.”

That surprised me coming from a half-dragon who grew up around dragons. Did some of his close friends and family not have one? There was a blip in time when it was “uncool” to have one, but then dragons had changed from hoarding gold and jewels to more mundane things. Mine was more mundane. Boring, even.

“Oh, I have one,” I said, “but the items are small and can be easily tucked away.” I sighed.

I thought I’d long since given up being embarrassed by the items that I hoarded. It wasn’t a typical collection. It wasn’t cool. It wasn’t worth a bucket of money. In fact, it was rather outdated, making the pieces that I found these days few and far between and no more valuable.

“Consider me intrigued.”

I pulled Ash into the spare bedroom. It had a small bed and a tall cabinet that held the entirety of my hoard—minus a few pieces I kept in storage and the few rare, really valuable ones that I kept locked in the safe in the basement. I opened the drawer, pulled out the first case, and opened it up.

“Oh, wow,” Ash said as he looked over the items. “Collectible spoons. I did not see that coming.”

How could he? I was an old dragon with a little-old-lady collection. Of course, when I started my hoard, it was simply spoons. Collectible spoons hadn’t been a thing back when I got my first one, but when they came in style, my collection pivoted and morphed into a real hoard. How could it not? They were freaking fabulous.

My jaw tensed and I forced myself to relax. This was my mate. He loved and wanted me for who I was, not what my hoard did or did not contain.

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