Chapter Twenty-Two
Sam
“Outside. We have to go outside,” Mabon said, pushing himself to his feet. “We need space.”
Sam followed them through the house, his heart hammering against his ribs, as he tried to make sense of the last half hour.
Logically, everything he’d been told was just crazy talk from three eccentric men who’d fixated on him for some reason.
But the heart stones had been physical, tangible things embedded in their chests, glowing with light that had no rational explanation.
The garden behind the estate sprawled across at least two acres, formal beds giving way to wilderness at the edges. Full dark had fallen while they’d been inside, and stars were scattered across the sky. The moon was slowly rising, casting everything in silver.
Sam stood at the edge of the patio, one hand gripping the stone railing, while the three men walked to the center of the lawn, spacing themselves twenty feet apart.
“The shift is very controlled,” Urien said, his voice carrying across the distance. “Not violent. But it’s still...significant.”
“I’m ready,” Sam said, although he wasn’t sure anyone could be ready for dragons. But, here we are.
Rux shifted first. It was nothing like the movies - no Hollywood CGI, or dramatic music swelling. Sam sensed a ripple of power in the air, and then Rux was changing.
Bones restructured with audible cracks as his body expanded, doubling in size, then tripling.
Skin became scales that spread from his chest outward, deep crimson overlaid with gold.
His face elongated into a massive snout, teeth the size of Sam’s forearm gleaming in the moonlight.
Wings unfurled from his back, enormous membranes stretched between claw-tipped finger bones, easily spanning forty feet.
The dragon that stood where Rux had been was the size of a tiny house. Crimson scales caught the moonlight, reflecting it back in shades of ruby and garnet. His eyes - still Rux’s eyes - glowed like banked coals.
Sam’s knees went weak, and he leaned on the railing.
Mabon shifted next. His transformation seemed faster and more efficient, but it wasn’t like Sam was an expert on things like that.
Dark scales rippled across his skin, deep brown so dark they appeared black except where the moonlight caught their edges and revealed hints of bronze.
His dragon form was slightly smaller than Rux’s but no less powerful, with huge muscles coiled beneath those gleaming scales.
His wings snapped open with an audible crack like a sail catching the wind.
Urien’s shift was the most graceful. His dragon emerged in a flow of silver-blue scales.
He was the largest of the three, topping Rux’s size by at least five feet.
His eyes blazed sapphire-bright, and when his wings unfurled, they were translucent at the edges, the membranes so thin the stars showed through.
For Sam, the moment was completely life-changing. There were three dragons standing in the garden where men had been.
Sam’s pragmatic side - remember the side that paid the bills and knew exactly how the world worked – that shattered completely. Dragons were real, and Sam could actually see they were real, because they were right there in front of him.
His romantic side, the part that wrote about fated mates and paranormal love, and impossible happy endings, was doing backflips, cartwheels, and a full gymnastic routine. I was right.
“Oh, my gods,” Sam whispered. All three dragons watched him patiently, waiting and letting him process.
His legs moving before his brain fully engaged, Sam walked across the lawn toward them. The rational part of his mind screamed that it could be dangerous, that dragons were known predators – Look at those teeth!
But the heart stones were still glowing, embedded in each massive chest, still pulsing in flawless synchronization.
Sam approached Urien’s dragon form first, maybe because Urien had been the gentlest with him.
The dragon lowered his enormous head, bringing his face level with Sam’s.
Being so close, Sam could see the individual scales, each one precisely formed, overlapping like armor.
He could see the intelligence in those blazing blue eyes and knew without a doubt those were Urien’s eyes.
His hand shook as Sam reached out. The scales were warm beneath his palm and surprisingly smooth, although they did have a slight texture to them.
“You’re real,” Sam whispered. “You’re really real.”
Urien made a sound - a deep rumble that started in his chest and vibrated through the ground beneath Sam’s feet. It wasn’t a growl – if anything, it was like an enormous, earth-shaking purr. The sort of purr Basil would be totally jealous of if he ever heard it.
Mabon’s dragon echoed it, then Rux joined in, until all three of them were purring like the world’s most terrifying cats.
Sam laughed. He couldn’t help it, but after what Basil had done to the three men… “You’re giant scaly death machines, and you’re actually purring.”
Urien’s eyes crinkled at the corners as if he was smiling.
Sam moved his hand along the scales, marveling at the warmth and texture. “You’re beautiful. You’re all beautiful.”
His brain was still struggling to comprehend, but Sam’s heart was singing. The three incredible dragons had chosen him – because of who he was, and no other reason. They had chosen him.
Choosing them back meant choosing everything that came with it – Sam knew that wouldn’t be easy.
There was likely danger, and the Council laws Mabon had mentioned, the probability of outliving everyone he knew if he accepted the bond, and the sheer impossibility of explaining his relationship to Maya or Emma or anyone in his normal human life.
It meant stepping off the edge of everything safe and familiar and trusting that three dragons would catch him. Sam wanted to take that step so badly.
“My cat tried to murder you,” he said suddenly. “Basil tried to kill you because he knew you weren’t human.”
Mabon’s dragon nodded, a distinctly human gesture that looked bizarre coming from a creature with a head the size of a car.
“He was protecting me.” Sam’s voice softened. “From dragons.”
All three of them lowered their heads, like they were ashamed.
“No,” Sam said quickly. “No, I’m not…I’m glad he’s protective. But you’re not dangerous, not to me.” He paused. “Are you?”
Three heads shook in unison. The movement was so synchronized that Sam laughed again.
“The gifts,” Sam said, his mind racing to catch up. “The gold bar. That was from your hoard.”
Rux’s dragon nodded enthusiastically.
“Dragons hoard precious things.” Sam looked at each of them. “And you gave me part of yours.”
Another round of nods.
“Because I’m your Treasure.”
The purring intensified until Sam could feel it in his bones.
Sam walked to Mabon next, reaching up to touch the dark scales. They were cooler than Urien’s and as smooth as obsidian. “You tried to buy the coffee shop because you wanted to give me security. To make sure I’d be taken care of.”
Mabon’s dragon made a soft whimpering sound.
“And you…” Sam moved to Rux, whose crimson scales radiated heat like banked coals. “You cooked enough food to feed an army because feeding your mate is how you show you care.”
Rux’s entire body seemed to vibrate with pleased purring.
“And the garden…” Sam turned back to Urien. “You made something beautiful for me. You just forgot I can’t fly.”
Urien huffed out a breath that ruffled Sam’s hair.
Standing there, Sam felt something click into place. Something he’d been missing his entire life without knowing what it was.
“There’s a reason I write about this,” he said quietly. “About fated mates and impossible love stories. I write it because I want it. Because I’ve always wanted someone to choose me, to look at me and think I’m worth everything, just the way my mom always said I was.”
Three pairs of glowing eyes focused on him as if encouraging him to continue.
“I thought it was just fantasy,” Sam continued. “Just stories I tell myself because real life doesn’t work that way.” He looked at each of them in turn. “But you’re very definitely real, which means this is real.”
The purring stopped, and the garden went silent except for the wind in the trees.
“I don’t understand how this works,” Sam said. “I don’t know how to date three people, let alone three dragons. I don’t know what being a Treasure means or how any of this is supposed to happen…”
Urien shifted, cutting off Sam’s train of thought, dragon becoming man in one fluid movement. He stood naked in the moonlight – apparently, shifting did destroy clothing - completely unselfconscious.
“We don’t know either,” Urien said. “We’ve never had a Treasure before.”
Mabon shifted next, then Rux, until all three men stood like Greek statues – without the fig leaves.
“So we thought we could figure it out together,” Rux said.
Sam looked at them. He’d be an idiot not to – those three men looked just as gorgeous without clothes as they did with them on, and Sam was a healthy male. “I’m still ordinary,” Sam said. “I’m still just a guy who works in a coffee shop and writes stories nobody will ever read.”
“You’re our Treasure,” Mabon said simply. “There’s nothing ordinary about that.”
/~/~/~/~/
Sam’s plate held significantly more food than he’d managed earlier - the risotto had reheated beautifully, and the chicken was still tender despite the second warming. Now his nerves were gone, and he had some idea of what was going on, he discovered he was ravenous.
“Better?” Rux watched him from across the table with barely concealed pleasure.
“Much.” Sam swallowed another bite of the lemon herb chicken. “I think the whole tension of not really knowing what your intentions were had killed my appetite temporarily.”
“Understandable.” Mabon had dressed in soft grey loungewear, somehow managing to make casual clothes look elegant. Urien wore a cable-knit jumper, and Rux had thrown on jeans and a T-shirt that clung to his shoulders in ways that should be illegal.