Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
P oe did not know whether to shit or go blind.
He was sitting here, literally sitting at this table, not just in a different country or in a different city. He wasn’t in a different world; he wasn’t even on the moon. He was in a different motherfucking dimension.
And no one seemed to be wigged out by this.
It was winter wherever it was that he was coming from. Seriously, could he even say Earth?
Did that mean anything?
Earth, like Earth as he knew it, was a thing that was in a galaxy, in a universe, in a place that he understood.
This was not.
Did they have moons here? They had a sun, obviously, because it was fucking summertime.
Did he mention there were dragons everywhere?
He was just sitting here eating food with dragons, lots of them. Like it was nothing.
Also. He was fairly sure that the great big local dragon was making goo-goo eyes at him.
Which was kind of hot. Kind of nice.
But he wasn’t sure he wasn’t fixing to just run around screaming in circles and slapping his head.
Because everybody should be more worried about this than they were.
He was concerned.
Cosmo kind of gave him this side eye. “How you doing?”
“Eh, I’m good.”
“You look a little…shattery around the edges.”
The big dragon—Cade, Cade was his name—Cade looked at him, eyebrow ridges which were kind of intense drawing down over the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. “What is shattery? He looks quite well to me.”
This one was pretty damn literal, huh?
“It’s just a lot to take in—that this is real, I mean. It’s not bad, I’m just having?—”
“The universe’s biggest paradigm shift?” Devon offered.
Well, duh. “How did you guess?”
“This one was pretty big for me, and I thought I was a human, and so you know, I was pregnant before I knew I was a dragon.”
“Hey, there,” Gareth said. “I thought I was a wolf.”
Poe blinked at Gareth. “Like, as in ears and whiskers and wagging tail wolf?”
“Well, no. More in the ‘grew up in a werewolf clan but couldn’t shift into a wolf because I was really a dragon’ wolf.”
“Oh.” Because that wasn’t fucking complicated. “I got nothing.”
Myk’s eyes rolled. “I knew I was a dragon. I just figured that Tyson didn’t want twenty-seven babies. That was totally wrong.”
“There are a lot of babies here.” That was the one thing that actually made him kind of happy.
Not that any of this was terrible. They were very kind, and the food was good, and the weather was nice. It was beautiful, and things actually smelled pretty good, which made him assume that here they did have plumbing, which was better than many places he had lived on the human world.
But, honestly. He really needed a hug.
Or a joint.
Possibly a nap.
“I feel as if the lives that you all lived in the other world were very complicated,” Cade offered over.
Poe glanced at Cade. “So your life isn’t terribly complicated?”
Cade shook his head, long silver-and-gold braids shaking. “No. I guard the village. Every so often, someone steals something, and I make them put it back where it belongs. I have apartments. I have always known that I was a dragon. I’ve never thought that I was a wolf, although I did pretend when I was a youngling that I was a bocapal. I used to carry the younger ones on my back and make them laugh.”
“That’s really sweet.” What the fuck was a bocapal?
Everyone else seemed to know, because they all laughed.
“I bet you were bigger than most of your peers, Cade,” Cosmo said.
“Yes.” Cade’s bright blue eyes went a bit cloudy. “That is one reason I became a guardian.”
So, existential angst still existed in this dimension. World. Whatever it was.
Poe tilted his head. “Was there something else you wanted to do, Cade?”
Cade shrugged. “It matters not if there was. I am who I am.”
“Seriously, what did you want to do?”
“As I said, it matters not.” Cade waved a hand, and little sparkles of…lightning? He thought it was lightning. Little sparks came out.
Poe let it go. For now. He would ask more later, maybe.
“Some of us have a calling to protect,” the big guy named Gavin said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have other interests.”
“What about you, Poe? What did you do?” Cosmo asked.
Oh, goodness. “Nothing particularly grand. I was a miner. I was a cowboy. I ran a shop for a while. That was my favorite thing. I liked to own a shop, you know, an import-export business with less of the mafia.”
Cade looked at him like he was insane. Right. New dimension. Mafia not a word here.
“I guess I was just a guy who happened to be a dragon. I’m not very entertaining that way. I was a pirate for a while in Campeche. That was interesting.”
A little boy came running up to him, eyes huge. “You were a pirate?”
“Yes.”
“Like a real pirate on a boat?”
He held the boy’s gaze and nodded. “Yes.”
The little boy just stared. “You are a pirate .”
The sound of his voice was awed, and Poe was tempted to just grab him and hug him tight, but that was rude, and he wasn’t sure this little one would understand.
He looked around at the other dragons, and one of the big ones nodded. “Preston is very into pirates. Very.”
“Well, I was a pirate, and we can sit someday and talk about what happened. I can tell you stories.” Very, very, very edited stories that didn’t involve a lot of the things that happened on a pirate ship because basically they were gross.
Unless a guy was sleeping with the captain, and then he was kinda lucky.
He was going to leave that part out, too.
The best thing about being on a pirate ship was if a man really got tired of being on said pirate ship, he could just set it on fire and then fly away, and nobody knew. Everybody just assumed that he’d been eaten by a sea monster.
“Do they have a lot of pirates here?” Somehow, he doubted it. That just didn’t seem very dragony, being on a boat.
“I’ve never met a pirate here before, but like I said, I’m not—I haven’t traveled far.” Poe thought that maybe Cade looked embarrassed by that, but to be perfectly honest, he wasn’t sure he was brave enough right now to get up from this table and step on the ground, much less travel. Right this second, he was in hunker-down mode.
“Well, I totally need somebody to teach me about this place, because I feel like I’ve traveled very, very far.”
“I am sure you do.” Cade peered up at Cosmo’s house, where the door was still open. “It seems as though it’s impossible.”
“It does, but that place is totally a portal.”
“Papa! Watch me!” Tanya called, and Poe glanced her way, watching her send out a wee puff of fire to light up a log in the firepit that sat nearby.
“Now that’s useful,” Beau murmured.
“Beautiful, kiddo,” Poe said. “Just be careful, okay?”
“I will! I promise.” She giggled as she was danced in a circle by the biggest boy. Sebby, he thought.
So many names.
He sang a little song to himself to help him remember them. Beau and Nevvy and Arielle and Zeke. Preston and Cade and Devon and Myk. Lalala.
He heard a soft chuckle, and when he glanced up, Cade was smiling at him, those icy silver-blue eyes thawed to a more…sky color.
“Was I singing out loud?”
“Almost. More like humming.”
“Oh.” Poe chuckled back. “Sorry.”
“Do not be. Would you like something to drink?”
Poe realized he had a ton of food in front of him, but nothing to wash it down with. “That would be great.”
“What do you like? Jimai? Halifa?”
He blinked. What were those?
“Jimai is kind of like ginger beer, man,” Beau said. “And halifa is like…horchata maybe. Some kind of no-alcohol grain drink.”
The way Beau wrinkled his nose on the second one kind of decided him. “Jimai, then. Thank you.”
Cade bowed a little and strode off to get his beverage.
“Is he always so serious?” he whispered to Cosmo.
“Always.” Cosmo grinned. “But I adore him. He’s a great guy. You should see his dragon form. He’s all silver and gold and like a damn Lord of the Rings movie special effect.”
“He’s pretty spectacular in human form…” He stared at Cade, watching the way his braids moved on his back, the way his butt looked firm and round and muscled.
He was kind of stunning. And he was coming back with a giant tankard of drink for each of them.
He smiled wide, nodded in thanks. “This is amazing…this place, I mean. Thank you for the beer.”
“You are most welcome.” Cade raised his glass. “Yak Kar.”
“Cheers.” Poe figured that was the same thing in every language, in every culture and place.
Let’s drink to that, or to your health. That sort of thing.
The ginger beer was surprisingly good. Just a little bubbly, but spicy, and it quenched his thirst, so he was in.
Poe found himself just sitting there, halfway through the tankard, listening to the conversations weave all around and spin around him in a slow dance like dust motes in the sun.
He thought he heard snippets of whispers.
“I think he’s very overwhelmed.”
“Can you carry him? I’ve got a room set up for them in the house.”
“Of course, anything.”
“Be careful; he’s a pirate.”
“I’m having Cullen bring the things that he uses over to your house.”
“What does he hoard?”
“Parrots?” Preston whispered.
“Glass.”
“We’ll move that when he has a permanent home.”
“I’ve got the little one. She’s conked out.”
“Arielle and the girls say they want to spend the night with her. I hope that’s okay.”
“Always. I wouldn’t know what to do if there wasn’t somebody sleeping over.”
Soft chuckles sounded from all directions and then he was floating, curled up against a warm body with a steady, amazing heartbeat that seemed to echo inside of him.
Cade.
Poe sighed, his spirit insisting he was home. Thank you. You are pure magic.
So are you. Can I call on you again tomorrow after you’ve rested?
Please, I would love that.
First you must rest. I will find you your bed. I will return for you tomorrow.
Tomorrow sounded like an exceptional idea.
He wanted?—
Before he could even finish this thought, sleep had taken him.