29. Auslin

Chapter 29

Auslin

A fter the strangeness of that morning, it was a relief for Auslin to get some distance between himself and Kitaro while he met with Uncle Jaega. Despite his initial reservations, Auslin had grown to enjoy his time working with the general, even if it always left him exhausted from using his powers so much.

"Please take off your amulet for practice," Jaega requested as he entered the training hall.

Auslin hesitated, that morning's incident with Kitaro still fresh in his mind. "Respectfully, I'm not sure that's the best idea."

"It drains your powers too much for training," Jaega explained. "Your heat will have no effect on me if that is your concern."

"Why's that?" It was a curious claim since it seemed to affect everyone else around him .

Jaega chuckled. "You have already met my beautiful mate, so you should know you are not in danger from me. While you smell exceptionally good, no heat scent will ever tempt me away from my beloved. Please remove it."

Auslin took off the amulet and put it in his pocket. "Thank you. That's honestly a relief."

"Come, let us begin." Jaega gestured for Auslin to come closer to him. "Today, we will work on using your aura as a force field."

"You mean like a shield? Because I can do that." He demonstrated by creating a small shield in front of him as he had done many times before while traveling.

"That only protects the front of you. A force field will give you three hundred and sixty degrees of coverage."

Auslin marveled at the idea. "Wow, I didn't know that was possible."

"Try to attack me from multiple directions."

Auslin's purifying powers fizzled harmlessly against Jaega's strong barrier, which flashed orange as it deflected the attack. It fascinated Auslin, so he repeated the action with more power under Jaega's instructions. It once again failed to damage the shifter's force field.

"Good," Jaega complimented. "Now, you try. Focus your energy into a small bubble around yourself."

Auslin drew his aura around himself, doing his best to reinforce it with his purifying abilities. He was so focused on creating the barrier that it startled him when Jaega cast some of his dragon fire to test him. The fire disappeared into orange smoke, but Auslin's shield came down with it.

"Excellent start. Try not to let your shield fall immediately after an attack, though."

"Sorry." Auslin felt bad for failing.

Jaega waved it away. "There is no need for an apology. You formed a force field on your first attempt, which is an impressive feat. I have never seen a single human do that. Now, focus and try again."

Auslin spent the next hour learning how to maintain his force field during an attack, but he grew too exhausted to continue. With his energy already sapped from the protective amulet, expending so much power in creating aura barriers was a lot to handle.

The general took pity on his student. "Let us take a break."

"Thank you." Auslin gratefully dropped to the floor, leaning back on his hands as he tried to catch his breath.

Jaega joined him. He gave the human an approving look. "You have done well, Vanra. You should be proud."

"The only thing I am is exhausted," Auslin joked, although his words were truthful.

"You are at a disadvantage with that amulet, but you did exceptionally well despite that. "

"I don't get it," Auslin said as he tried to puzzle out what had been bothering him since his heat started. "My companion was a half-dragon shifter, but he never seemed to be affected by my heat at all. I didn't even know that was a thing until I came here."

"You never noticed he was particularly amorous during a certain week?" Jaega asked. "Perhaps he was affected by it and simply did not explain why."

Auslin blushed at the implication. He was about to respond it wasn't like that before a sudden thought struck him. Recently, Kio would pick a big fight once a month, then storm off and disappear for a week at a time. While Auslin's first thought was maybe it was so Kio could avoid being near him during his heat, he realized the more likely explanation was Kio was leaving so he could be with Maseo during his instead. It was a crushing realization. Auslin felt awful all over again about the state of their broken relationship.

Jaega looked at Auslin with concern. "Are you well, Vanra?"

He shook his head to clear his mind of such useless thoughts. "Sorry, it's nothing. It doesn't matter anymore."

"You should not be surprised that your experience is different here with so many powerful, high-ranking shifters. Our abilities are far superior, which amplifies a situation such as yours. A half-shifter with weakened senses would likely not be as affected. "

"I just don't understand how my scent changing can make that much of a difference."

Jaega smirked. "I am quite confident this has been an illuminating experience for Kitaro."

Auslin's blush deepened further as memories of that morning came back to the surface. "It's been interesting."

"I am quite certain of that," Jaega replied with a boisterous laugh. "My nephew is inexperienced in matters of romance."

The word "romance" flustered Auslin. "It's not like that between us."

"Heats call to the most primitive parts of our dragons, which fills us with a blinding need to be with the person we are interested in."

"But what if someone hates the person in heat?" Mitsuki's interest from the other morning still didn't sit well with Auslin.

"If that is the case, they do not hate that person nearly as much as they think they do," Jaega answered. "It is a matter of they protest too much. If they feel that pull of a heat, it is their dragon being far more honest than themselves."

"Why would someone's heat attract more than one mate?"

"Because it is possible to have many partners before mating."

Auslin frowned. "Then how can you tell which partner is actually your mate? "

"Because you can only form a mating bond with your fated mate. If two people try who are not meant to be together, the bond will fail."

Auslin tilted his head as he mulled over the new information. "Isn't it weird I feel no effect from my heat?"

Jaega's expression was amused. "Are you sure there are no effects? It is not uncommon to find yourself more stimulated than normal."

That would explain why Auslin had needed to take care of himself in the bathroom earlier that morning. " Oh ."

Jaega took pity on the clearly embarrassed human. "Do you feel up to continuing training?"

"Yeah." Auslin stood up and prepared himself to continue. Thinking about heats and arousal when he wasn't wearing his pendant was a terrible idea. He was grateful for the distraction.