Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Kyson
“I can’t believe we have to leave tomorrow.
” Juni and I had taken to flying after breakfast each morning, and with today being New Year’s Eve, tomorrow we’d have to check out.
Had we been set to say goodbye for good, honestly, I wouldn’t have handled that well.
At least we were leaving to start our lives together and Juni hadn’t rejected us as his mates.
Ours.
Yes, dragon. Ours, forever.
“I know. The best memories of my life have all been made here.”
“Awe, you say the sweetest things,” Juni rolled his eyes at me. “But I was having similar thoughts myself.”
We had just enough food to make it through tonight, and planned to stop in town on our way out for lunch, after we checked out, and maybe pop into a couple of shops before we headed to Sacramento.
“Will that fancy little sportscar of yours make it home okay? The roads are icy, and we may hit some snow in the mountains.” I wished we were driving together, but with two vehicles here there was no feasible way.
Juni hummed. “I was thinking about trading it in when we get to Washington. Though now that I’m thinking about it, we should probably do that while we’re in Sacramento. Maybe first thing when we pull into town.”
“Really? It’s a snazzy little thing. You sure you want to do that?” It suited the snarky Juni I first met, but this calmer version I wasn’t too sure it did.
“Did you just use the word snazzy?” Juni rolled his eyes, a trait I’d grown used to and secretly enjoyed. “But yes. It suits past Juni but not future Juni.”
“What does future Juni want?”
“Hmm, an SUV, I think.”
“May I suggest one with all wheel drive for when we’re at the compound?” They tended to get a ton of snow there in the winter which was why my truck had 4-wheel drive.
His eyes widened. “The compound? Are you dragging me off to a cult in the mountains?”
My whole-body shook, I laughed so hard, and it almost caused him to spill his drink.
“No. My entire family lives there. The log cabins are spread far and wide across the land but we all just adopted the word compound to describe our, well, village, I guess you’d call it.
” Never really thought about any of that before.
We grew up there, were homeschooled there, and made our first shifts and flights there. It held all my childhood memories.
“Why’d you move away?”
“Got frustrated with all the busy bodies. I wanted to be on my own, I guess. Kinda seems frivolous now that we’re considering moving there. Guess we all had to sow our wild oats in our own way. Now it’s time for me to move back and start a family of my own.”
Who knew I’d ever think, let alone say, those words.
“It’ll take a while to get the city out this boy who loves to shop. But if we’re going to start a family it’s probably the best place for us. I um, I’m what you call a trust fund baby,” Juni blushed and turned away.
“Sorry darlin’, I don’t quite follow.”
“Never went to college, never had a job. My parents pay for my living expenses and my fancy car, as you called it, was a high school graduation present from them. The money I spend comes from the trust fund my grandparents set up for me when I was born. I got access to it when I turned twenty-one.”
“Oh. Ohhh,” the words finally sunk in. “I’m a woodworker by trade.
Have some of my creations in a couple of shops in Bellingham.
I help with the cabinetry for new cabins on the compound.
Built a lot of baby furniture for my fertile siblings.
” Juni laughed. “Guess you still don’t need to work.
Not that I’d ever tell you no if you wanted to. ”
“I was afraid you’d think I was spoiled.”
“Princess, you are spoiled, but you’re my princess to spoil now. We do what works for us and our family. It’s no one else’s business but ours.” He sighed and moved half on my lap, cuddling into my chest. He fit perfectly there.
We spent the evening watching the worst movies possible, picking them apart and laughing while we polished off what was left of the food.
It was a mish mash of things for sure. When the time came we began the countdown and at the stroke of midnight yelled Happy New Year and rang it in making love in what had become our favorite place—the big fuzzy rug in front of the fireplace.
Juni said he was ordering one for us as soon as we got settled in wherever we landed.
“Branson, my man,” I smiled as we walked inside the office and immediately greeted him. “We are checking out.” Juni was snuggled up, tucked into my side with my arm around him.
“Squee!” Branson cheered. “I’m so happy for you two.”
“We feel like we owe you a gift of some sort,” Juni smiled. “Never been happier in my life.”
“Ditto, my love,” I kissed his cheek. “Anyway, it’s time to say goodbye and I’m glad you didn’t lose your job. If I didn’t know any better, Branson, I’d swear you had a touch of magic in you, matchmaking as you did.”
Branson winked. “You’re not the first guest to say that to me this morning. Have a safe trip home and maybe the next time we see you it’ll be with a little dragon in your arms.”
“You never know, Branson, you never know.” I couldn’t wait for that day to come. We’d for sure come back and introduce our little dragonet to him. Hell, it wouldn’t be a half bad idea to name our first after him in some way.
Juni and I popped into the diner for lunch and then hit a couple of shops for trinkets, memories from our trip, Juni called them.
If our brains weren’t already filled with all the finer points of this vacation, then what kind of memories was he searching for?
“Magnets and mugs, just silly things that make us grin when we look at them.” That smile of his will be my undoing I thought as I happily handed over my credit card though he refused it.
“This is on me, dragon.”
We’d loaded his luggage into my truck this morning because he made a firm decision to trade in his car as soon as we got to Sacramento.
It was one long ass day, but Juni was right, money talks.
I’d never been in and out of a dealership so fast in my life.
They gave him a more than fair trade in for his sportscar and then he paid the difference in full for the new SUV he bought straight off the showroom floor.
He used my PO box in Washington so he wouldn’t have to mess with his parents.
Didn’t feel it was my place to point out that had we shopped around he’d likely have found a better deal.
He was happy, the vehicle had fantastic safety ratings and all-wheel drive, which calmed my nerves a bit.
It was hella safer than the go-speed-racer car he traded in.
Not to mention there was no back seat for a car seat. Futuristically speaking, of course.
“Home sweet…who am I kidding, no place has ever felt like a home to me.” Juni sighed as we entered his condo. “Well, this is it.”
“When do you want to head out?”
“As soon as…”
“There you are. Where have you been?” A woman in a giant fur coat wearing far too much make-up bellowed as she let herself in. “Who is this?”
“Hello, Mother,” Juni rolled his eyes. “Kyson, this is my mother, Cassandra Winters. Mother, this is my mate, Kyson.”
“Mate? I didn’t approve of this. What family are you from? We need to run a background check on him first.” I’d barely met the woman and was already done with her. Poor Juni, no wonder he ran away.
“You’ll do no such thing. We’ve mated. I wear his mark and now I’m moving in with him. We’re leaving in the morning.” Juni wasn’t taking her crap and had he needed us, our dragon would’ve taken over. He was ready and waiting to pounce.
I want to be out of here as soon as possible.
Anything you want, sweetheart.
Can we eat her?
Juni giggled in my head. Sorry dragon, but no. That’s frowned upon in the human world.
Secretly, I left that option on the table.
The woman, Cassandra, went on and on. Juni ignored her, gathering things he wished to take with us and piling them on the dining table. I followed him into the bedroom, sadly, she did too, wildly yacking away. He walked into the bedroom closet, retrieving luggage and handing it off to me.
She was like a broken damn record. If I had to hear one more word about money I was torching the expensive mink coat she wore while it was still on her.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. My dragons face surfaced, and it was enough to startle her. She stopped dead in her tracks as my dragon snarled. Whether Juni heard him or not he chose to ignore it and kept focused on what he was doing. She stormed from the condo, slamming the door in her wake.
Thank fuck that squawking was over.
As soon as she was gone, Juni burst into tears and I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tight. “It’s over now, sweetheart.”
Are you sure I can’t eat her?
Well, at least our dragon knew how to make Juni laugh.
“I wish, but just getting away from this toxic environment without serving time for murder will be great, dragon.”
Our dragon huffed but finally settled down. He was on high alert the whole time that damn woman was here.
“Sweetheart, why don’t you take a break and order us some food while I get your clothes packed up.”
Juni stood on tip toes and kissed me. “I love you.”
“And I you, now go take a break. You more than earned it.”
Juni sat aside the few outfits he wanted put in his travel bag then left me to handle packing the rest. “Juni,” I found him sitting on the couch sipping a glass of wine when I came from the room.
“That’ll calm the nerves. I’m gonna run out for boxes and tape.
You have more clothes than luggage.” Note to self, build an entire room in the new house just to be his closet.
“Sorry, I love shopping. And fashion. And make-up. Ooops, um, I have a lot in the bathroom to pack.”
“Show me everything that’s going so I can get enough packing supplies.” A quick search on my phone located a hardware store a couple of miles down the road. When I got back, Juni was emptying out the hall closet.
“Jackets.”
“No surprise.” I set the stack of boxes and rolls of tape down. How in the hell was all this fitting inside my tiny home while we built the big one? Juni had a hell of day with his mom, so I’d keep that, and any other negative thoughts, to myself, but holy cow, this boy had a lot of shit.
“Food will be here soon. I forgot to ask what you liked.”
“I’ll eat anything.”
“Good to know.”
Right now, I was glad he’d opted to trade in his car, because nothing would’ve fit into that shiny red thing he had.
At least with the new SUV we could put the back seats down for more storage space.
I just hoped like hell we didn’t hit any rain along the drive because these boxes would not survive it in the bed of my truck.
Guess I’ll be making another trip to the hardware store for plastic, tarps, and bungee cords. Ah, the things we do for love.
How in the world was this man of mine going to survive away from the bright, busy world he was used to?
I’ll save that worry for another day.
We packed, we ate, then we packed some more, but come midnight Juni was dragging. “Darlin’, I think we’ve done all we can for tonight. Come on, let’s shower and get to bed.”
Where many use humor to mask pain, I’d learned today Juni’s snark did that for him. I just scrubbed him down while he worked through whatever troubled him. Was he second guessing leaving?
“Thank you,” he whispered into the dark after we settled into bed.
“For what, sweetheart?”
“For being there for me today. For not asking a million questions. For showing me just how lost I was before you came along. And most of all, for loving me.”
Simple words with deep meanings. My poor Juni hurt for a long time, but I knew my family would love him unconditionally, and would show him what it’s like to be a part of a real family.
“I’ll always be here for you, and I’ll always love you.”
I’d spend the rest of our lives showing him that and so much more.
I wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would be all sunshine and rainbows, but I knew beyond a shred of doubt that I’d be there to protect him.
To love him and introduce him to a whole new world.
And if that wasn’t enough, we’d move wherever Juni wished to go.
But my heart was saying moving to the compound was what we both needed.
“Goodnight, my love.”
“Goodnight, Kyson.”