Page 3 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
Another sign that things were going well?
One I could do without, in any case.
"Don't worry," I told Finn. "I'll protect you."
"Oh, I feel so safe now. Thank you, Lowen." He grabbed my arm and hid behind me. "Quick, activate your shield of invisibility."
Brushing him off, I laughed. My general invisibility had become a running gag between us. After all, nobody was ever interested in the drummer. Every show, I was at the back of the stage, banging my drumsticks against metal, removed from the limelight. We'd sold some Meet & Greet tickets for this show, and while some of our fans used this opportunity to try to touch Zed and Finn inappropriately, I only ever got friendly hugs.
It would have been a lie to say it didn’t bother mea little bit.No matter what I did, I always seemed to fade into the background around my friends. Considering how crazy fans could get, that wasn’t always the worst thing, but still. I deservedsomerecognition, didn’t I? I was a dragon too, and a proud one at that.
I even had skills that my friends didn’t have. Magical skills.
But they didn’t know about that.
Nobody did.
Truth was, I saw the world differently from most people. From about the time I turned ten, I’d started noticing colorful halos around people. Soft glows that seemed to dim and brighten with their mood. Their auras—though I hadn’t learned that word until much later. Finn was yellow, most of the time. Zed tended to stick to shades of blue.
Today, they both shone brightly. Probably excited for the last show of our tour.
We’d almost reached the restaurant when a group of older ladies passed us by, talking among themselves—but not very quietly. “I can’t believe they’re letting dragons stay at this hotel now. Times have truly changed for the worse.”
I tensed, and I saw my friends’ auras flicker too. They’d heard the remark, but we all walked on as if we hadn’t. We weren’t going to maim any specist bastards. At least not in public. That would makeuslook like the bad guys, like their fears were valid.
I knew I had to shrug it off.
But by the Gods, I hated it.
* * *
We reachedthe venue about two hours before the show was supposed to start. We had a crew traveling with us to help set things up—we even got a local band to perform as a starting act—but we still had to be at the event hall early because of the meet & greet tickets we'd sold.
"You regret selling those tickets, yet?" I asked my friends, sitting on the edge of the stage where we'd be performing later and twiddling one of my drumsticks between my fingers.
"Nah." Finn shook his head. "It's all good. I mean, none of this is as bad as that time a fan jumped up on stage and broke my arm. Remember that?"
How could I forget? That had been a pretty memorable event. A horrible one too. Thank the Gods nothing of the sort had happened since.
"Whenever someone gets too close I just tell them I'm mated."
I snorted. "Like they don't already know. Those mega fans? You can be sure they know about your marriage status." Absentmindedly, I tapped the drumstick on the stage. "Not like they care, though, right? We dragons, we have so much stamina we can satisfy a million lovers." Or at least that was in line with the rumors I'd heard since entering human territory.
“You want a million lovers?” Zed arched an eyebrow at me.
“Nah, but Icouldhave a million lovers,” I gave back, and with a grin I added, “Unlike you. I know how you spend your nights when you’re home.” Zed and his mate had just become parents for the second time last year, welcoming a baby boy into their family who still kept them up too many nights.
“Ryder isn’t going to be a baby forever,” Zed said.
“No,” Finn agreed. “One day he’ll be a wild toddler like your other kid and run away every chance he gets.”
Zed groaned. Both Finn and I laughed.
“Just wait till you’re a parent,” Zed said, looking at me.
I waved him off. “Who says I even want kids? Seriously, if all of us settle down, this band will never get any further than this.”
“Whatever.” Finn jumped up from where he'd been sitting on the edge of the stage. "I'm feeling pumped. Our last show of the tour. Let's make it thebestone."
