Chapter Three
Sequin
Laying on the Bar at Glitter Bomb
Feral was right. Most of the crowd left just before midnight. A few patrons lingered at corner tables, eating, drinking, and talking in hushed voices as if they’d wake up the city if they spoke too loudly. I lay stretched out on the bar with my feet pointing at Feral’s feet. He had my joint now. All his kids were teenagers or older and home with his alpha. He wiggled his toes, tickling mine. I laughed but moved my foot away. Glitter was everywhere. I’m pretty sure I’d be washing it out of my ass crack for the next fifty years.
The doors swung open, and I half sat up, planning on telling Teddy off for leaving me all alone with the crazy people but he smelled sad, and another scent played on the tip of my tongue. One that refused to be ignored. I sat up properly and swerved around on my butt to see the newcomers. Teddy was there as big and broody as ever. He smelled sad and anxious. I hated that. I hated that the world had done that to him. Then there was the man with a baby. That was Selt. He just looked like Teddy’s type. The other was an omega like me and he smelled like a lion. That meant he was Liatris, Selt’s true-mate. That only left one person. Xav. He had to be Xav, right? Who else would that lot bring with them?
Xav.
Xav.
Xav.
His name twisted around my thoughts until my dragon bumped his head against my ribs wanting to reach Xav and whatever creature lived inside of him. My dragon dropped his mouth open and breathed in. I mimicked him, wanting more, so much fucking more. All of him. Only his scent didn’t give away enough. Alpha. Shifter. More magic than a wartime yule party. Ice. Something cold. Something cold that I wanted all over me. He was tall with dark hair and icy eyes. Maybe that’s where his scent came from. He looked young but his five o’clock shadow meant he had some age to him. Young wasn’t bad. I wasn’t all that old myself and elves always looked younger than they actually were. His pointy ears gave away some secret elven heritage. Shit! It probably wasn’t a secret. I racked my brain for something – anything – else about him. Surely, Teddy had said more. Something about him freezing assholes or something like that? He was Liatris’s magical student. He came from a world that wasn’t Starscale too. If Daliah had been nearby she’d probably have remembered more about him. I flinched thinking her name and not reaching out to her hurt. This would be my luck. My true-mate waltzed into the bar with our brother and we weren’t talking.
I dropped my feet down onto two of the barstools. Feral didn’t usually put up with that shit but what could he do? This was my day. He was here. My mate was here, and he was hanging out with Teddy all this time! I opened my mouth and shut it again not wanting to look as dumb as Daliah did when she first met Rosemary.
“Is this what I think it is?” The dragon holding the baby asked.
Someone answered but I didn’t hear them all the way. My brain was glued to the man crossing the dancefloor to reach the bar. A second later, as if he blew in on the breeze, he stood between my legs. His hands rested on my knees and a quiver of strange familiarity shimmied up my spine. I knew him before. Of course, I did. Didn’t Nelum coming back at all prove that?
He cupped my chin, stroking it with his thumb. Usually, I made guys at least say hi and introduce themselves before stealing a kiss but since he was the beginning of my forever, I let him by with it. His lips were soft but demanding. The kiss started out gently as his tongue pressed between my slightly parted lips. My hands found his arms, desperate to hold onto something, anything that would keep me from tumbling off the face of the world. I would’ve given up a chunk of my soul to kiss that man forever. He tasted like ash and ice and something else I couldn’t put my finger on, but it was delicious as it rolled across my tongue.
Someone wolf whistled, probably Feral or Teddy, and the kiss broke. I didn’t let go of him afraid he might slip through my fingers like so many opportunities had. I slid my hand to his chest. He wore a shirt, but his star-shaped scale was definitely there along with other tiny scales. That meant this was real. He had the scale and so did I. It was a challenge not to peek down his shirt to see what color his was.
He leaned in to kiss me again, but Feral’s hand slid between our mouths as he muttered something about having a baby on board.
“Oh, yeah. Little guy’s here,” Xav laughed but didn’t take his eyes off me. “I’m Xav. You must be Seq.”
“Seq? Nicknames already?” I grinned.
“Teddy’s fault.”
“HEY!” Teddy laughed and probably shot me daggers with his eyes, but I wasn’t looking at him to know for sure.
“Always is,” I laughed, keeping my hand over his scale. It was warm to the touch, radiating its magical heat against my palm. I leaned my forehead against his. “Why are they so quiet?”
Xav laughed. Okay. Maybe they hadn’t been quiet. They wolf whistled and made us stop kissing. Well, Feral had done those things.
“Are you their boyfriend or something?” I arched a brow.
“I just realized what they’re worried about,” he whispered back.
“So you are?” I asked and held my breath.
“Uh. No thanks. Liatris is my teacher. That’s unethical. Selt is cool but Liatris would eat me and Teddy…. Well, Teddy thinks too deeply for me. Some things just are. I can talk magic for hours but sometimes the philosophical stuff gets old.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked, relaxing a bit. “Or a girl—A partner,” I said before my brain tried to invent a new way to say non-binary.
“No,” he shook his head.
“Then what?” I blinked, almost turning to Teddy to demand that he tell me everything right this instant.
“Let’s give them the room,” Selt said, and I waited for Feral to tell him to fuck off because it was his bar, but it was Xav that spoke next.
“They’re idiots, sometimes,” Xav sighed. “They’re waiting to see if you freak out or not.”
“Not freak out,” Selt said. “If he’s a bigot or not.”
“Ummm…. About what?” I arched a brow. “Unless it’s going to eat me up in a not so pleasant way, I don’t care what you shift into.”
“Good because he won’t tell anyone,” Teddy laughed.
“They’re all afraid to say it and break an unspoken rule,” Xav said. “This might be my favorite part of having friends. They’re all worried. I’m not. If fate is that sort of asshole so be it but I’m not worried.”
“About what?” I asked. “Okay, you’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
“I’m trans,” Xav said and I let out a sigh of relief.
“They’re all assholes,” I whispered to him. “Seriously. Made me think you were dying or married or some sort of ten headed monster. Bloody hell.”
“That’s the perfect answer,” Xav laughed and stole a quick kiss before Feral could slide his hand between our mouths again. “Though, it’s too bad I’m not a ten headed monster. That would come in handy in a duel.”
“Do you duel a lot?” I asked in between kisses.
I was warm and fuzzy from the pot but kissing him really made my head spin.
“Not so much now. Most of the dragons back home won’t duel me. Something about not wanting to be ice cubes or something.”
“Uhhh…. I wouldn’t want my fire extinguished either,” I said, feeling like an idiot as soon as the words left my mouth.
Fortunately, my dragon was too high to face palm over it either. Instead, the big guy with scales and fur leaned into my ribs reaching out to whatever beast lived inside of Xav. He was fucking beautiful and smelled like magic brought to life in the middle of winter and maybe a bit like roasted marshmallows. Okay, that last part was probably someone’s coffee drink but now I’d forever relate it to the day we met.
“Never,” Xav whispered. “Besides, I’m more than ice. It’s just my favorite.”
“Should we give them the room?” Selt asked the others but Feral shook his head.
Paying customers were still enjoying late night drinks and snacks and pretending not to eavesdrop while watching us out of the corner of their eyes. Part of me wanted to snatch up Xav’s hand and race out of the heavy double doors but where the hell would we go? Not back to Dad’s. He was cool but we’d never have a moment alone. We’d rented out a whole floor of the biggest hotel in the territory but that meant possibly crossing paths with Daliah and Rosemary and I wasn’t ready for that yet. Where were Teddy and the others staying? Probably with Dad.
“Don’t do it,” Teddy said, sitting down at the end of the bar and making a beckoning with his hand. He wanted pot and for me to stay. I didn’t acknowledge either and said, ‘huh,’ instead.
“Hand it over and don’t go running back to London. Seriously, don’t. It’s a wedding and her true-mate. She won’t have another one and you’ll never forgive yourself if you miss out on it.”
“I might,” I fought off the urge to cross my arms and rolled a single half-smoked joint down the bar to Teddy. He always liked to say he didn’t smoke pot but in reality he smoked it often enough around me. He just never bothered to buy his own.
“You wouldn’t,” Feral echoed his sentiment.
“Oh, you’re the brother arguing with Daliah because she invaded your house,” Xav said, and I cringed.
Why did Teddy and everyone else have to gossip about me? Why did they get to color his view on what happened before he heard my side of the story? He was mine after all.
“Everyone talks about everyone” Feral sighed. “It’s the law of the civilized jungle. You do it too, but you can pretend you don’t like the rest of us, but everyone talks about everyone.”
He was right but I didn’t have to like it. I searched out Xav’s dark eyes but his expression gave nothing away. I glanced at the hallway leading to the hotel like spiraling corridor that was housed inside Glitter Bomb. Then again, I didn’t want to be trapped here if Daliah showed up.
“That’s exactly what I meant,” Feral said, pointing at me. “You think loudly enough to slap the flight link but that’s what I meant about this fight fucking things over for both of you. Your true-mate is standing between your legs and you’re thinking about whether or not your sister will show up.” Xav side eyed Feral and the others. I opened my mouth to remind him Feral was an omega like me, but he glanced back at me and arched his brows. I wasn’t sure what he was asking.
“He doesn’t know the Starscale flight link that well,” Selt chuckled, finally setting down and pointing to the stool between him and Teddy as a place for his mate to sit.
“I think I need to smoke,” Xav said, patting his shirt pocket. “Wanna come with me?”
“He does,” Feral teased. “That’s why he’s so worked up.”
Xav didn’t even glance in Feral’s direction as he stepped back and held a hand out for me to shake. He was unflappable. I’d give him that. Then again, most unflappable people went through hell to reach that stage. I took his hand and let him pull me outside the back way. It was only as I watched him light his cigarette that he must’ve picked up where the back exit was over the Starscale flight link.
“Want one?” he offered, holding out his pack.
“I’m aright. I have enough energy without adding in a stimulant.”
“Say what you want but these calm me down,” he grinned and reached out for me with his free hand. “Wait.” He dropped his hand before my fingers found it. “You’re part fox, right? Is this even safe for you to be around?”
“If I said ‘no’, what would you do?” I toyed with him and grabbed his hand.
Not touching him wasn’t an option for me. Everything inside me buzzed wanting him. For romping sure, but also just to be close to him – to be in his orbit. Fuck! Was this how Rosemary convinced Daliah to let her take over? Was I losing my mind too?
“Walk down the block and smoke up someone else’s lungs, probably,” he shrugged.
“I smoke enough pot that if I was going to get a side effect from the smoke it would’ve happened by now,” I said, and stepped closer to him.
“How much pot?” he asked.
“A few times a week probably. More recently but you’ve heard enough about what happened probably,” I shrugged.
“That your sister didn’t even bother asking you before setting her mate lose on your shared house?” Xav arched a brow. “That’s how Teddy tells it anyway.”
“Something like that. I’d have said no even if she did ask.”
“Better to beg forgiveness and all of that,” Xav said and took a long draw from his cigarette.
For a microsecond I was jealous of its purple tip stuck between his lips. I’d have given anything to be that cigarette.
Xav smirked and I blushed. Had he just plucked that thought from the Starscale link? He nodded at me and dropped my hand before wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me in close to him. I was a bit taller than him but that didn’t stop him from sliding his hand down onto my ass. I squeaked caught off guard but then turned my attention to kissing his neck. He tasted like fresh snow smelled. A happy sigh drifted over his lips, and he leaned his head over allowing me to drag my tongue up and down the side of his throat, marking him as my territory. A bit of paranoia made me feel both of his shoulders to ensure there was only one claiming gland. Polyamory worked for plenty of people but the whole ordeal with the house and Daliah proved I didn’t share and play well with others.
“Just one gland,” Xav confirmed and took another long draw from his cigarette. “We all went a bit insane feeling ourselves up after your dad, Elio, and Nelum to be honest. The councils even had a meeting asking if it was something healers should check for. Apparently, they have councils for everything but barely ever talk about private health care stuff.”
“What did they decide?” I asked, nuzzling into the shoulder that housed Xav’s claiming gland.
“That no they shouldn’t do it automatically. Those glands aren’t part of a standard physical and even that’s something anyone can opt out of. So, upon request anyone can be checked but no one gets checked otherwise. Standard Starscale protocol from what I’ve seen so far. I don’t know much about how stuff works here but they have the best protocols of any world I’ve lived on when it comes to health care.”
I lost myself to his voice and his scent. The roasted marshmallow aroma hadn’t followed us outside, but he still smelled like fire and ice. Something metallic too. Was he a sort of dragon we’d never seen before?
“I am now. Well, sort of,” he chuckled. “It’s complicated. You’ll know sooner or later. It’s probably right up there with condoms or no condoms and babies or no babies and all of that.”
I buried my face into the crook of his neck trying not to blush as the thought of him cumming into my omegahole crossed my mind.
“Can I ask a weird question?” I asked, my words barely audible.
“Bet it won’t be the strangest I’ve been asked,” he shrugged.
“Is that a yes?” I double-checked.
“Go ahead.”
“Do you knot?” I asked, my face burning hot.
“I can if you like it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Most dragons don’t knot unless we have some sort of other heritage thrown in.”
“I can knot,” he nodded as if the full explanation might be beyond my understanding. That annoyed me for a long moment. Then I remembered he hadn’t told Teddy, Selt, or his teacher about his inner beast either.
We stayed like that for a long moment, with me leaning against him with my face buried and him smoking his cigarette down to a purple butt.
“You choose. Do you want to see my first or newest form?” Xav broke the silence a few minutes later.
“What do you mean? More than one?”
“Yeah,” he nodded dropping the butt onto the ground and stamping it out.
“Don’t be a litter bug,” I sighed and almost bent down to scoop it up.
“It’s biodegradable as soon as it gets wet,” he said, glancing up at the sky. “Looks like rain.”
I picked it up anyway because my mama didn’t raise a litter bug. I shoved it into my back pocket to test out what he said later. If it was true, I’d cut him some slack. If it wasn’t that was the first habit I’d have to break him of. Littering wasn’t sexy.
“So? What’s it gonna be?” he asked.
“Which one do you like more?” I asked him, eager to know everything about him.
“Bite him. Claim him. Problem solved,” my dragon said. “Then we’ll know it all. Then we’ll know what he shifts into as well.”
“The first feels more natural but the newest would probably feel like I was more present to you,” Xav shrugged.
“You’re not making any sense,” I laughed. “Though, that might be the true-mate response magic. Why are you making me pick anyway? Is this some test? Like testing to see if I can pick which restaurant to eat at because I can. Here it’s Sandy’s. Always Sandy’s.”
“Just curious about what you’d choose.”
“Hmmm…. So, it is a personality test?” I smirked.
“You’re not the only one who wants to know everything about the other one,” Xav said.
“Well, that’s a relief,” I rolled my eyes.
“I hope it is. There are two of us here. I know you have this whole you versus the world thing right now because of your sister but you should know I’m on your side.”
“You haven’t even heard my side yet. You’ve heard Teddy’s version of my side.”
“We could go somewhere and change that. Rent a hotel room somewhere or go out toward the lakes where they have all the caves and stuff if you wanted something more natural. Somewhere private where you could ramble all over it until you figured out what to do.”
“I’m doing what I’m going to do.”
“And that is?” Xav asked, reaching for his pocket again.
“Whatever I want. Two can play her game,” I shrugged. “My side isn’t that complicated. We lived together in my house until she made it inhospitable.”
“You needed your space and she wasn’t happy about it.”
“How can you make it sound so simple?” I asked him.
“Because most problems are,” he shrugged. “Now do you want to see me before I light another one up?”
“Yes,” I nodded.
He blinked at me and for a moment I wondered if he missed what I said. Then he began to fade away – to dissolve as if he was only a whisp of smoke slipping through my fingers.
“Xav?” I called his name, my heart skipping a beat.
“I’m still here,” he said.
The air around me grew chilly and each time I exhaled my breath created little icy patches in the air. An icy touch slid across my lower back and I shivered, my teeth damn near ready to chatter.
“Are you an elemental?” I asked, rubbing my hands together.
“Something like that. All eleven clans have their own powers. I have a few elemental abilities. Ice was my first. It was my favorite too. My mom hated it because it was usually an ability only guys got.”
“But you—”
“I know I am,” the frosty air laughed, whirling around me again like a million soft hands caressing me everywhere at once. “You’ll probably never meet any of them, but I could’ve led them. I should be training to lead them.”
“What? You’re like a prince?” I asked, rubbing my hands together again.
“Something like that. It’ll probably go to my baby sister now. That’s her bad luck, though,” he said, and the air shifted as if the ice on the breeze shrugged. “She could’ve left too. Hell, maybe by now she has. I don’t stay in contact with them.”
The cold concentrated on one spot on my shoulder and a second later tiny cold feet chilled my skin through my shirt. Blinking, I watched my mate come back into view. He was a wyrm. Some might’ve called him a lizard, but his dimensions were all off to be one of those.
“I picked this up during my medical treatments back with the flight. Well, some of what they did taught my magic to take a secondary solid form. Can do a few colors and few elements this way. I’m usually green without the elements.”
“And you can talk in that form too,” I grinned.
“I can talk in any form. It’s the staying in solid form that took so much practice. Sometimes back on my birth world we go days without taking the solid form. Here I need to. Here I want to. Sorta need to be solid to touch you. To have you touch me. Now, that I showed you both my first form and my newest, are you going to tell me what you’re really going to do about your sister?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, glancing at the back door of the club as the ice shrank away from my skin and he was a mist again before solidifying back in front of me as the man I met inside.
“That’s okay. Knowing everything is a punishment sometimes. Having it all figured out can make you short sighted but from what’s going on over the flight link you might want to decide if you want to see her now or later.”
“Uh? Why?” I blinked, trying to hear if Teddy was saying anything.
“She’s inside. I think she felt us respond or something. We can go in or we can take off. That’s your call. I have no room to judge anyone on how they choose to handle their family relationships. I’m no contact with everyone on purpose. Liatris, Selt, Teddy. They’re my family. You too now,” he said, taking my hand in his and entwining our fingers.
I could’ve run. I could’ve tugged on his hand and ran until I found a hotel or another place to hide. Having Xav all to myself in a place where no one could touch either of us sounded like the best plan in the world. That was the magic of the true-mate response talking, though. That was the magic more ancient and primal than anything even Xav had shown off insisting upon its own way.
“Seq?” Daliah’s voice called out from too close.
“Run or stay?” Xav whispered.
I hated myself. I really did. Running would probably be best for all three of us but I stayed there with my feet glued to the ground in the alley way.