44. Tyson

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

TYSON

I sat across from my sire in his office of dark wood and leather, which reminded me too much of my apartment. Although he lectured me, his words didn't register. All I could see was myself in Ogden's cave, scrolling through my contacts and realizing I didn't have a single friend who was my own. I rubbed my knuckles against the plush hide of the chair, suddenly unsure if I even liked leather.

"I will take away your privileges." I brought my attention back to my sire, the red-faced dragon shifter, speaking to me like I was still a child. "You've been needlessly reckless and impulsive ever since The Hunt. You're on your last leg with me."

I bit my lips together and bowed my head. He wasn't wrong, I had been, but he also wasn't right. ‘Needlessly' was his opinion. Nothing I did for my mate was ‘needless.' Impulsive, maybe, brash, overconfident, I could keep coming up with adjectives to describe my actions, but ‘needless' wouldn't even make my list.

"Do you have anything to add?" My sire asked, his familiar gaze meeting my own.

I did, but I couldn't get my lips to form anything other than what he expected. "I don't. I will do better."

He gave me an approving smile, and my heart lifted. Instead of enjoying the moment, I studied it. I'd spent so much of my life wanting that smile, needing it to feel normal. I'd ruthlessly buried bits of myself until only the man he wanted to see remained.

But did I need his approval?

"Then get out of my sight and stay out of my sight." Smoke curled out of my sire's mouth, and he pointed at the door. "Your obsession with this woman must end. The EM is in two days. I've sent you and your brothers the reports on the object we pulled down from the Ley Line… they are unique."

Despite my dismissal, the change in topic kept me rooted in my seat. Ogden had said something about Wiggles and the Ley Lines, but I hadn't listened. "We got it then?"

My sire scowled. "Of course we did. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions, and we'll discuss them at the meeting. I told you to get out of my sight."

"Of course, sir." I shot to my feet and walked out with my shoulders back and head high despite feeling like a whipped fourteen-year-old boy.

‘Draw my own conclusions' was yet another test to see if I could find the same information as the rest of the family and come to the same plan of action. I pulled up the report on my tablet. Transparent streaks from Wiggle's writing still covered the glass surface. I couldn't bring myself to clean it.

The object and our intensive report appeared on my screen. X-rays showed a ball of human-looking bones curled up in the fetal position inside of them. Traces of magic clung to the outside, but our scans couldn't penetrate the dark shell. A cowled shifter drove a single dark dragon claw into the top. Lime-green fluid oozed out. Where it touched the shifter's claw, the bone smoked and melted. The shifter jerked back, and a blast of water instantly washed the ooze off.

Cold fear ran down my spine. The suspiciously fast appearance of water vanished into my new reality, literally hanging above my head. There were hundreds of these floating in our shield… and I didn't know anything. This report gave us more questions then it answered.

I pictured Wiggles perched on top of Og's table, lording over the water and earth dragons while they discussed her situation. Instead of joining them, I'd looked for my answers, and once I decided, I forced the group to do what I wanted. I'd done what my sire trained me to do. My stomach twisted painfully.

I trudged to my apartment and poured myself a dram of Duntocher Single Malt. Duntocher—don't touch her. It was like my dad planted this bottle at the front of my collection, feck for all I knew he did. My crap filled every inch of this room. As my gaze moved from my scotch, video games, and even my piles of colorful shirts, I realized I wasn't sure if I liked any of it, my video games excluded.

But everything else had started as someone else's idea. My sire gave me my first bottle. A fourteen-year-old Highland Park because it was just after my fourteenth birthday when my dragon finally emerged, and I joined the family.

Before then, I'd been useless. Just a human. A burden. Someone else's problem.

I treated Wiggles the same. I knocked back the entire dram in one gulp, though the smooth malt didn't burn as much as I wanted. I tightened my grip on my lowball, a glass I hadn't picked out, like the couch under my ass and the pictures on my walls. My moms had done all of it for me.

I found my phone, but Wiggles still hadn't answered my text from this morning. I pulled on our mate bond, but like it had all day, it felt so flat. The first time I'd pulled on it, she'd responded, our link shimmering with her intentions. When Og blocked me, it felt like someone slammed a door in my face—a sharp cut-off. But today, it just felt like nothing.

I'd put her in the Air Temple. If something had gone wrong up there, it was my fault.

I clicked on the group chat and glanced around my room before reading through the messages. A smile pulled at my lips.

Master Baiter: Tyson must have cheated last night.

Plant Food: Unfortunately, he did not.

Master Baiter: Are you sure?

Plant Food: Sadly, yes. He doesn't strike me as the type to cheat at games.

Master Baiter: He cheated in The Hunt.

Og responded with a meme of Yoda from Star Wars saying: Touching that with a ten-foot pole, I will not.

I snorted.

Master Baiter: Do we have a plan for tonight?

Plant Food: I am not the right person to orchestrate this. So, no.

Master Baiter: And you think I have experience with group sex?

Plant Food: I've no idea, but I guarantee you have a leg-up on me.

Although I read the messages in succession, there was a few hours' break after Og's awkward leg-up statement. Where did Jay find this guy?

Master Baiter: Jay hasn't answered my texts, nor has she piped in with a meme about ‘leg-up' yet.

Master Baiter: You'd set her up pretty good too, Og.

I grimaced. Og made his wording awkward so Jay would have fun with it. I didn't know if I wanted to punch the guy or take lessons from him.

Master Baiter: I'm worried.

Plant Food: I've also not gotten a response from her, nor have I needed to block Tyson from calling on her mate mark. Though, I could be too far away. I don't know the limitations on that yet.

Plant Food: I can still feel her in air dragon territory.

Master Baiter: Me too.

I gritted my teeth. I didn't want to be part of this group chat. But sitting in my home, surrounded by everything I'd been conditioned to love, this communication thread felt like something I'd chosen. I took a deep breath and typed.

Tyson: I just pulled on her mark again. Did you block it?

Three little dots appeared.

Plant Food: I didn't even know.

Tyson: Feck.

I ground my teeth together.

Master Baiter: She might have just had her phone confiscated. We'll find out tonight.

Tyson: I'm grounded until the EM. Tonight's off.

Master Baiter: You're still an adult dragon, right?

Plant Food: Who enforces that?

I scowled at my phone and ignored Rehan's comment.

Tyson: My sire, and he's assigned guards from his Special Forces.

Plant Food: You mean the hidden ones no one knows anything about?

I took a deep breath in and out. The cowl-covered dragons who worked for my sire were unknown, even to me. Rumor said they were half-dragon, half-machine. True or not, each one was strong. They did the work that required more than just our fire element to complete.

Master Baiter: Like the boatman, Og, when we went to check out the Ley Line.

Og sent a thumbs up, and the chat went quiet.

I expected a barrage of messages making fun of my situation or reminders of my incompetence. Instead, a selfie of Og with his jaw dropped in disbelief popped up in the chat. Behind him was some sort of science kit and a mess of papers covered in runes.

Plant Food: I'm a warlock, a super powerful one, obviously, as Jay chose me.

Plant Food: But in all seriousness, I can only help you if I know what you're up against.

Plant Food: Want to play twenty questions?

I turned my phone over and looked around my room. My entire life, I'd done everything to get my sire's approval. Not only did I still not have it, but I wasn't sure if I liked the man I'd grown into.

Tyson: I can't fecking believe it, but yeah. I think I do.