Page 73 of Black Onyx
He watches me cautiously, and I carry on stroking his nose. I know he’s trying to suss me out, and I hope he doesn’t find me lacking.
I try not to jump out of my skin when I hear an ancient and gravelly voice speaking into my mind; holy fucking shit.
“Not Reaper. I’m Ryu.”
“You can talk?” I gasp.
“What the fuck?” I hear Loki mutter from behind me, so it’s not common knowledge that they forgot to mention to me.
Instead of replying, Ryu just nods slightly, so he doesn’t dislodge my hand.
“Wow, that’s fucking amazing. I feel incredibly honoured that you spoke to me. Thank you.” I bow my head slightly, showing him the respect he deserves.
“Mate, never bow to me. Equals.” He says into my mind, his words are slightly stilted, but I get the feeling that’s because he doesn’t speak often.
His words sink in, and I tilt my head, “Mate?”
Infuriatingly he just nods, while there are exclaims of more surprise coming from behind me.
“You’re not going to tell me what that means are you?” I ask.
His eyes fill with amusement, and it’s my turn to huff. Movement from behind me has me turning to see the others slowly making their way out of the tree line. Ryu growls menacingly, and without thinking I turn back around to him and tap him on the nose.
“Be nice! They’re friends, your family, and they love you! They’re my friends too!”
I didn’t know dragons could look shocked, but he manages it somehow, and I have to admit it’s pretty fucking comical, especially when he huffs again, blowing a tiny amount of smoke in my face but concedes with a roll of his eyes.
“Sassy dragon,” I tease and then turn back to the others, “you can come over. He’ll behave.”
The guys don’t utter anything as they all pick their way over the bodies and come to a stop just behind me.
“I can’t believe you just tapped him on the nose, and he didn’t eat you,” Loki comments, shaking his head.
“I can’t believe he’s so calm. Reaper is never this calm in his dragon form.” Mayhem mutters, staring up at the giant dragon.
“Not Reaper,” I say.
“What?” Killian asks.
“He’s not Reaper, well he is, but he’s got his own personality too, if that makes sense. He’s called Ryu.”
“Fucking hell,” Loki says again, and I’m pretty sure it will be a while before he can get out a proper sentence.
“That’s not how shifters work,” Mayhem points out.
“No, but he’s not a normal shifter. So it could make sense,” Rival adds.
Storm steps forward, and Ryu shifts his attention slightly to him, “Thank you for saving us. If you hadn’t come out, we would’ve been dead. I know you did it for your mate, but we appreciate it too, and I promise that we’ll fix this void between you and us, but no immediately attacking when you come out.”
Ryu tilts his head slightly as if he’s considering it and nods slowly.
“If didn’t come out fighting, pain, too much pain,” Ryu says; when no one seems to react, I translate as my heart breaks for what they’ve been through.
“He said if he didn’t come out fighting, there’d be pain, too much pain. You said he was treated like a slave, right? I think maybe it became his defence mechanism, and he hasn’t been let out enough to realise that he and Reaper are safe now.” I try to explain, and Ryu nods, “are you aware when you’re Reaper?”
“Can be. Choose to sleep unless needed. Not recently, mate, been awake recently.”
“Can Reaper hear us now?” I ask, ignoring the mate thing because I know what that means, and I’m not entirely sure how to handle it. I mean, this amazing creature couldn’t possibly be my mate, not to mention that although they share the same body and have much the same instincts and personality traits, they do seem to be somewhat separate, so what the dragon feels, Reaper may not.
