Page 8 of Dragon Keeper
“Sloan, man, that’s like a whole different universe over there. That’s not—that’s not cool.”
Now it was his turn to stare.
“Come on. What about it isn’t fascinating? They can fly whenever they want. They get to bedragonswhenever they want.”
“They don’t have cell phones. They don’t have computers.” Riley was working up a whole head of steam.
“Wedon’t have a computer. We have a burner phone. It doesn’t have Wi-Fi. Try again.” Sloan didn’t think so.
“Okay, uh… We’re not…”
Sloan stared at Riley, waiting.
“We don’t—we don’t dragon.”
“Well, we don’t dragon because we can’t be…” he started, and Riley held one hand up.
“No, we don’t dragon because we like being human.”
Sloan stared at Riley. “I don’t dragon because it hasn’t been safe, and I’m not saying I hate pretending to be human, but we’re not human.”
“Well, it’s not like we’re full-fledged, you know dragons.”
“Yes, we are.” And that was another nation heard from. Brayden looked at Riley, a curl of steam coming from his nose. “I’m serious. We are dragons, full-fledged, and you can’t forget that we are not human, and they would not welcome us. They’re more likely to welcome the vampires. So far as they’re concerned, the only thing the vampires do is drink blood. We are fucking mythological, fire-breathing creatures who get hunted by brave knights.”
“What is wrong with you guys?” Riley stared from him to Brayden and back, then went to plop down on one of the beds. “You’re acting like… like you want to stay here or something?”
“I just want to see what’s what, that’s all. I just want to see what the deal is with this gateway.” It was fixing to be wintertime anyway, right? The perfect opportunity for them to sit and visit. “You know, it is about to get really chilly out there.”
Riley shook his head. “It is, and I know we need to find a good place to stop for the season. But— I don’t know, guys, this seems like a really bad idea.”
“You’d rather be sleeping on the ground?” They had a guest suite, for heaven’s sake. And his bed was huge. He was going to enjoy it.
“Well, no, but we could have a king bed and a walk-in shower at the Marriott.”
“All right, well, your argument is noted, and I don’t mean that in a sarcastic sort of way.” Sloan sighed and shook his head. “But I want to stay. If you two want to go then…”
Brayden shook his head right back. “I’m not going without you. We’re a team. All three of us.”
Riley stared at them both, lips parted. “Well, I guess I don’t get a choice in the matter then.”
“Sure you do. You can just go.” Sloan stared Riley down. “I’m not asking for forever. I’m asking for a few weeks, maybe part of the wintertime. I’m just curious.”
“You’re psychotic, that’s what you are. You both are. This is crazy.”
“Maybe.” Sloan could accept that as a possibility. After all, he was fairly sure he was trying to mate with a beekeeper from another dimension who he’d only just met through a window. There wasn’t really a situation he’d ever heard of where that was logical or particularly sane.
Still, it was the truth.
Brayden snorted. “Well, we are known for taking on stuff that no one else would because it’s a bit nuts. So what’s your deal?” He eyed Riley.
“They can’t come back over here!” Riley waved his hands. “Like, only Cosmo and his people can come to the human side. Once a dragon crosses the veil,” he made air quotes around the phrase they’d all heard their whole lives, “then they can’t come back to do anything on the human side.”
“That really bugs you, huh?” Sloan tapped his fingers on his chin.
“Yeah. It does. I don’t want to give up everything I know!”
They all sat there for long moments, then Sloan sighed. “We should get some sleep. Just give me time, guys. Just the winter?”
