Chapter 56
Chapter
Fifty-Six
Stretching, I cracked my neck and winced. I decided to go for a run, but I didn’t get very far before I felt out of breath. I was overwhelmed by a sense of my own inadequacy. It was getting better, but the progress was so slow that all I felt was unending frustration.
It had been two weeks, and it felt like we had hit a place of limbo.
From the outside, it looked comfortable.
I realized that the family had a schedule set up.
There was some time that Colton had to himself, but it wasn’t a lot.
Slowly, I slipped myself into that schedule, helping to ease some of the burden on him.
The current state of affairs was insufferable for me.
I felt like an outsider. Not just from Colton either.
He sassed me, talked back to me, rolled his eyes, and then turned his back on me.
Every time I held myself back from snapping at him.
My dragon felt the disrespect as well, but he didn’t get mad.
Beau told me that this was the relationship the two of us had before I got my memories back, but it was infuriating.
My family, honestly, wasn’t much better.
The first time Laila came over, she walked up to me, slapped my face and told that I didn’t deserve to be in this house.
Peter didn’t stop her; instead, he just chuckled while he walked past me and hugged my mate.
She took Kayla, and they left as if it were completely natural.
Dad was passive aggressive at the best of times.
Beau enjoyed telling me everything I was doing wrong.
Mom was cordial, but even she seemed further away.
I knew they loved Colton, and after everything that happened, I’m sure they were that much more protective of him, but it was hard to swallow.
It was just hitting that they were fully prepared to accept that I was never coming back.
Worse, Colton wouldn’t talk to me. He did talk, but it wasn’t about anything we needed to talk about.
I was still sleeping in my old room, and I still hadn’t held him in my arms. My entire soul was constantly looking and wanting to reach out to him.
He would brush against me, and it would erupt into an explosion of sparks, but it was fleeting.
Nothing with intent, and it was beyond painful.
Walking up the stairs, my dad opened the door. “Oh! Perfect. Do you mind grabbing Colton for me? I received some information and I need to go over it with him.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know where he is. The bond needs more time to heal.”
“He’s at the hot springs right now. He goes every Monday at this time. Your mom has Kayla. I hate to interrupt him, but I wanted to fly down before it got too late.”
“Alright.”
The hot springs within the lair were in the northeast corner.
You had to go through a dense part of the forest. It was hard to land as a dragon, simply because the only place to land was above the springs themselves.
By the time any of the kids could shift, we were too big to try to cannonball into the pool.
Not for a lack of trying on Keith or I’s part.
I wondered if Colton had shifted to run there.
It would be easy for him to run as a wolf through the trees.
Looking down, I stepped over a few fallen branches and roots.
I still hadn’t seen his wolf form. He went out on runs, but I didn’t know when.
Just usually found out about it later from Dad or Lauren.
Yesterday, I’d been on a call with the university.
I submitted my resignation to them. Apparently, I had signed up for full classes for Fall, but I couldn’t bring myself to deal with it right now.
I loved teaching, but everything felt so out of whack that just thinking about it made me sick.
It didn’t help that the very school was too close to Ebony.
There was no way of knowing what our relationship would end up being, but I wasn’t going to destroy any progress by leaving Colton to go back to the university.
I hoped, despite everything, that we would heal. With how Colton was treating me, I knew it wasn’t him trying to punish me. Colton wouldn’t do that. It was simply him guarding himself. He was still in pain, and I didn’t think he fully believed I was back for good.
After ten minutes of walking, I smelled the hot springs before I got to them. It was slightly sulfuric, but you could feel the ground warming as well. Stepping over some rocks and pushing my way through some thicker trees, I could see the hot springs.
There were three levels of pools, the biggest being your average-sized swimming pool.
The other two were smaller. It was quiet, and while you could see the sky, it felt encased in its own world with how dense the trees were around the rocky edge.
While it was a natural hot spring, I know that over the years it had undergone construction to resemble pools more closely.
I’d wanted to bring Colton, but he was too far along and the temperature would have been too hot for him.
My eyes roamed over the pools when they landed on Colton.
He was in the deeper, but smaller, of the three pools.
His back faced me, and his hair fell down, covering his shoulders.
It drove home how much time had actually passed.
He was standing in front of the waterfall from the larger pool above. Leaning against a tree, I watched him.
I used to do this at home all the time. He’d be engrossed in something and wasn’t even aware I was standing there.
Sometimes, sitting, looking over my glasses at him.
I’d told him before it was enjoying a piece of art, and that held true.
Everything about Colton was beautiful. It called to me and all I wanted to do was worship him.
The problem was that he wouldn’t let me, not anymore.
“I don’t know. I know Selene finished up her hut in the far corner.” He spoke clearly, not moving.
“You are already wearing the device?” That voice was Mike’s, but he was on the phone.
Looking around, I spotted Colton’s phone propped up against his clothes on the side of the pool. It wasn’t video, thank the gods. I almost growled before it showed just his name and the photo Colton had for his contact.
“Yeah. It’s made me exhausted, but I’m getting more used to it. Funny enough, it’s capturing my episodes.” Colton leaned back, water pouring down over his head.
“What do you mean?”
He stepped back and dipped down into the water so it covered his shoulders. “Apparently, I expel more magical energy when I’m having one. It’s crazy. She wasn’t ready for the influx, and it nearly broke the instrument she had set up. After that, she reinforced it.”
“How fascinating. I’ll reach out and see if I can’t get the specific readings.
Imagine we are able to cure PCDHS, simply because we can measure the magical energy.
What if it’s all just magic built up? I know supernatural beings have the predisposition to have more magical energy, but if an Omega struggles to expend that, and that’s what is causing it.
Or maybe it’s a buildup, and it takes someone with a higher capacity and ability to filter it in order to get it out. ”
Mike was ranting, his words stringing together, but my eyes widened. A cure? Could that actually be possible? Colton was quiet as he listened, his arms folded on the edge of the pool.
“You can ask Selene for the numbers, but keep it between us.”
Mike sighed. “Colt…you are not shouldering the entire extinction of Omegas on your shoulders. I’m not letting you sit there and take the guilt that you could have saved them the pain.”
Colton moved his head, lying on his arms. “Omegas need to go, Mike. I’d like for my pups not to have to deal with that pain, but I don’t even intend on them sharing their designations with anyone but their mates.
Yes, I might save hundreds of Omegas, but at what cost?
They get used more? Outlive their bodies, but die at the hands of Alphas? I don’t know what’s worse.”
The pain in his voice was apparent. The anger and bitterness as well. As much as I wanted to console him, what he said made my heart beat fast. I didn’t want to read into it. It was a flippant comment but, was he planning on having more hatchlings with me?
Kayla was an Alpha, but if we had more, there was always a chance they could be Omegas. We’d talked about the possibility, but what he said gave me more hope than I wanted to admit.
Mike let out a long sigh. “You’re taking on too much. Again.”
“I know. It’s worth it, though. Apparently, being a perfect Omega is useful for this one thing and one thing only.”
“Well, everything else is going smoothly. We are looking at maybe October-ish. At least for the main part. The extras will take a little longer.”
Colton chuckled. “Sure. I figured. I ended up buying more than I realized.”
“No shit.”
The line was quiet for a long while. Colton looked relaxed in the pool, the water barely shifting.
“Have you talked to him yet?”
“What do you think?”
Mike growled. “Colton.”
His head popped up. “Don’t you growl at me. How is the talk with Rin going?”
That shut him up. Colton shook his head and backed into the pool. The center was the deepest, and I could see him treading water to keep himself above the surface.
“I will, Mike. Just…I don’t know what to say.”
“Just start with ‘you’re an asshole, but I love you still’.”
Colton laughed and leaned his head back. He would have noticed me standing there if his eyes had been open. While his body semi-floated, he shut his eyes.
“I’m not starting off like that. Are you stupid? This isn’t some high school relationship.” Colton’s eyes opened, and they landed on me. They were blue, but flashed silver for just a second. He continued though, his words not meant for me.
“Yes, I love him. That love is the only reason I’m still alive. How do I tell him what I went through these past months, though? Tell him how much it hurt and how often I wanted to give up. How much it still hurts to see him look at me, not knowing anything that transpired.”
“Yeah, but you need to talk to him. He’s going to snap if you keep acting like you are. The old Marcus would never tolerate that behavior.”
Colton didn’t break eye contact with me or move his position. “Maybe that’s what I’m waiting for.”
“You are playing with fire, Colt. Marcus loves you, but he’s an Alpha. I don’t want you to get hurt, simply because you pushed him too far and he’s the same person he was and you’re not.”
“I don’t think I need to worry about it. It’s not like he’s got his strength back enough to be a threat.” His eyes swapped to silver, and I watched a smirk creep up his face. “At this point, I could make him a bottom and he wouldn’t have the power to stop me.”
Mike was laughing, but I didn’t think twice.
My dragon roared in my head, and I felt my horns shift, my hair falling around them.
Stepping into the pool, Colton turned around, working his arms to swim away from me.
Reaching out, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the water to me.
Gold reflected in his silver and I held him to my front.
I still had my shirt and the shorts I had run in, but Colton was naked. He might have had to swim, but I could easily stand. His hand rested on my shoulder so that he didn’t have to kick in order to stay afloat.
“You’re playing with fire, Colt, and you’re going to get burned.” Mike came over the line. “That sass is going to get you into some serious trouble.”
“Mike, I mated a fire dragon. Being burned was part of the deal. I’ll be fine.” The smirk only widened into a smile, his eyes still never leaving mine. “I’ll call you later. Text me if you find anything from Selene’s readings.”
Mike never replied, but the call disconnected.
We were quiet, standing in the pool, and even the wind seemed to wait.
Waiting for either of us to say something.
Mike was right; he was playing with fire.
Colton knew it, though, and that made it so much worse.
I wondered why he was willing to go so far when he knew it would not end well.
Colton’s hand tightened for a moment, and I could see it, the defiance building up before he spoke. “I didn’t realize that you were worried that there wasn’t enough of you to love.”