Chapter 24
Agent Murphy
They had a fucking welcome center.
Okay, the massive ancient ruins were cool, but somehow I hadn’t been expecting the modern welcome center that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the US…beige painted walls, bathrooms, and the whole shebang. The castle was definitely from a European fantasy, though.
Just very touristy European fantasy because they had tables for picnics and everything was set up for a kids’ field trip.
“That’s…” I was going to say amazing as I set my bag and blanket down on the closest table, but Klynn stopped me in my tracks by getting naked. He was amazing too but not grown-up enough for me to point that out.
Good grief.
He was going to put his clothes on the ground.
“Let me hold your clothes and your bag, baby. We’re not putting them on the ground.” There was too much red, soil-looking dirt and we’d never get it out of his clothes…magical cleaning or not.
“I’m going on the ground, Daddy.” He snickered as he shoved his pile at me. “Hurry. Get ready. I’m fast.”
We were playing chase.
Shit.
“Hey, I’m not fast.” That really should’ve occurred to me sooner, but Klynn’s wicked giggle said he’d already realized it. “I have to win. I’m Daddy.”
He seemed to think that was hilarious and his giggles had everything from his shoulders to his cock shaking, but that didn’t stop the magic of shifting.
Clearly he didn’t need to think about it that much for it to work.
That was…
He was…
He was going to be so much bigger than Maria had been when he was in his full form.
“Wow.”
Klynn was a dragon but he was also very obviously still little because he was bouncing around like he was on a trampoline.
The cute hops made it impossible to do anything but smile at how adorable he was, but I had to admit that this was a better introduction to his dragon side than the big version would’ve been.
I wasn’t sure when it happened but I found myself sitting on one of the wide bench seats that I just realized were wide enough for a small dragon to sit on too.
Yep, the whole thing was built for field trips.
Klynn hopped a few more times before tucking his wings close and rolling over.
In the dirt.
Ugh.
I wasn’t sure what he was doing at first, but I laughed when he settled back on all fours and crouched low as he wagged his tail.
“You’re not like any pup I’ve ever met, silly boy.”
My boy.
My mate.
My mate was a dragon.
It was definitely stupid, but that was the moment it hit me. He was a dragon. Before he’d been Klynn and my boy and obviously an alien…but he was a dragon.
A giggly dragon.
“Silly Daddy. I’m your dragon.”
Yep, and still little based on the cheerful voice in my head.
“You are. You’re my cute little dragon.”
His voice was in my head.
“Shh. We’re pretending I’m just your special person, Daddy.”
Because his Daddy was a stubborn moron.
“I don’t know. I think I’m seeing my mate having fun playing pretend. Should I call you my big puppy instead of my little dragon?”
More giggles filled my head and suddenly he was just there like I was sharing my brain with a giggly little.
“I’m your mate, Daddy.”
And whatever he was getting from me was hilarious based on his laughter and the way his bouncing got more excited.
“You are. I bet you’re a fast mate too, aren’t you?”
Yes.
We were going to play.
My boy needed to get the wiggles out and he needed an adventure.
Hopping up and spreading his wings, he hovered for a moment before sinking back down. I wasn’t sure how much was muscles and air flow and how much was magic, but he was certainly getting a workout and would sleep well later.
“I’m fast. I can swoop and go high and go low.”
Showing off, he went higher that time before slowly coming down.
“See? It’s not scary.”
Ah, he was getting me used to this form.
I wanted to say it wasn’t necessary but it probably hadn’t been a bad idea.
“Daddy. Why didn’t you tell me shifters could be scary?”
Oh.
Fucking bond.
“Naughty Daddy. We use nice words.”
He wiggled side to side and I could hear him making a tsking sound in my head between giggles.
“I’m not scary and I’ve got my thinking too. You can even hear me think.”
What?
“I think-think-think like the bear, Daddy. He’s not scary.”
Oh.
Yeah.
I could actually hear him think…about the dirt under his claws and how much he wanted cookies and how he’d been brave getting milk and about a thousand other random things.
“That’s kind of weird, baby, but you’re right, this isn’t scary.” He wasn’t trying to eat me either. The only food he was thinking about were Oreos. “The other shifter didn’t mean to attack me. He was just sick and we made him better.”
Little Klynn did not need me thinking about that nightmare, but it took me a moment to remember an offhand comment Wren had made in a meeting. I needed to look for the bond. It was going to be a ribbon or a thread or a…a wire.
Got it.
“Good boy, Daddy.”
Klynn snickered as I rolled my eyes and managed to keep my thoughts happy.
“Now make it thinner. Tiny. Tiny. That’s my good boy.”
When I’d turned down his random chatter so the only things I was getting were his deliberate words, I hoped he wasn’t getting any more of my nightmares in 3D. “I’m not the good boy, you are. I’m the slow Daddy who’s going to chase the dragon.”
With a laugh coming through the bond and a full body wiggle, Klynn’s wings spread out again and suddenly he was off.
I really was slow compared to a dragon.
“I’m fast.”
It wasn’t exactly a fair comparison, but since he was already halfway to the castle, I couldn’t complain about that out loud.
“I’m fast for a human.”
Did it.
My probably terrible first attempt at talking to my mate through the bond got giggles and happiness coming back through it.
“Daddy’s the Pokey Puppy. I heard about that story.”
Only compared to someone who could fly.
The low light around the castle didn’t help either, but it was clear enough that I could see where I was going. That might’ve made the slow poke status worse, though, because between him flying and the incredible ruins, I kept getting distracted.
There was no way I could go anywhere close to full speed when I kept slowing to watch him glide through the air and marveling at the truly ancient building that somehow had whole walls and a big chunk of the stone structure still standing.
Was it magic that’d kept it in such good condition?
Had it been built with magic?
Where had they gotten stones that large in the middle of what looked like the plains in the middle of America?
“Is this the castle in the story you told me about?”
I didn’t have the right education to be able to piece the castle back together in my imagination, but it had the same basic shape as the one at home and that was the most logical place for us to end up having an adventure.
“Yes. The mage king’s castle.”
Klynn wasn’t the detailed story kind of little, but he seemed willing to indulge me as we made our way around the side of the ruins where I had to dodge huge chunks of the walls that were scattered around.
But he was a good boy and went slow enough for me to keep him in my line of sight even if I’d never catch up to him.
“He built it after the big catastrophe. That’s a good word, Daddy. He kept his people safe.”
At some point he was going to have to give me a detailed accounting of what the history of the castle actually was.
“What kind of catastrophe was it?”
He was right…that was a good word.
“Um, I think the poem says sky explosions?”
Like meteors?
“The seers said, ‘Oh no big sky explosions. We have to run and hide.’”
Seers?
Was that the actual word or a translation error because the word didn’t exist in English?
“Do you have Seers?”
Was that a type of mage?
Had anyone said they had clairvoyants?
“Not now.”
I let him get away with that answer while he did a barrel roll and whooshed through the opening of a wall that had once been part of the fortifications around the castle. Once he was safe, though, I poked again.
“What happened to the Seers?”
If they’d survived the Younger Dryas impact event, they would’ve needed to have been able to predict it. Everything we’d been able to figure out said it’d happened so quickly animals hadn’t even been able to run from it.
“The poem just said they were sad.”
Sad?
Had they perished on the other side of the gate?
“Where they mages?”
Had that magic been lost?
“Nope. They were Seers. Nope is a good word, Daddy. Look at me.”
He was going to make me motion sick if I wasn’t careful.
Giggles.
Shoot.
“You spin so fast, baby. Don’t listen to my worries. I’m fine and you’re beautiful.”
It was going to take me a while to get my stomach out of my throat, though. He was flying and the ground kept coming up to greet him faster than he seemed to realize.
“I’m cute, Daddy, and you’re a Daddy, so you have to worry. I’m glad I’m not a Daddy. It’s hard work.”
Was I supposed to apologize for making Daddies seem like insane worrywarts?
“You’re very cute, but I think you can be beautiful too. Cute when you’re bouncing around and beautiful when you fly.”
The low light of the setting sun was shimmering on him and he was flying. That would always be beautiful in my book.
“I’m fast when I fly.”
But beautiful or not, he was thoroughly enjoying teasing me. I just didn’t know how he’d gone through a hole that small or how he’d done it upside down.
“You can be beautiful and fast.”
And could still make my stomach try to do flip-flops every time he did something that looked dangerous.
“Look at the top, Daddy. That’s where the mage waited.”
Waited?
I was going to have to learn their language just to be able to read the poem.
“The tall tower? What was he waiting for?”
I could almost hear the brat roll his eyes.
“His dragon, Daddy.”
His tone made that sound obvious, but I was going to have to remind him that I hadn’t read the full story yet.
“Sorry, Daddy.”
Shoot.
“Eventually I’m going to get used to the bond. Ignore my grumbles.”
I talked too loud even when the words were just in my head.
“You’re cute too, Daddy, and fast. I see you.”
He was probably just humoring me, but I had to remind myself that I was actually in good shape as I jumped over one of the smaller stones.
“I promise. I’m fast for a human.”
I was going to keep saying that until he stopped giggling when I said it.