Chapter 12

Aldryn

I got off the highway and veered toward a park. Yesterday I had studied the map closely, trying to figure out where it was that I was going, while letting my inner dragon guide me. While studying the map, I had found this national park that was on the same path that I planned to follow. Hopefully, they would have an open area in which I could shift.

Hearing the history of dragon kind from Eli's friend had been enlightening, terrifying, maddening. So many emotions were whipping through me.

Mates could mind-speak. Did that mean what I thought it did for Eli and me? Had my instincts been so out of alignment that I didn't recognize my own mate when he was right in front of me? My dragon did. He had known it from the start.

"Where are we going?" Eli asked.

"I need to shift," I said.

He placed his hand on my forearm. "Deep breaths," he said. "I'm with you."

I calmed. My dragon retreated. This wasn't just a friends thing. He was mine, I could feel it. My mate.

Last night wasn't just a fluke. It wasn't just two friends blowing off steam.

We were mates who finally came together in the most intimate of ways. And it had been glorious.

"Thank you, Eli."

We had to pay money to get into the park, but that didn't bother me. It seemed as if not many people were there, which was exactly what I needed. Seclusion, just me and Eli.

My dragon. Maybe his wolf, if he wanted to shift.

"How am I going to get in contact with my brothers?" I said. "I know a general idea of the direction I need to go, but how will I actually find them? We're close… but to what? Will they be there?"

"I don't know. We'll figure it out. We've gotten this far, and we already have more information than we started with."

I pulled into a parking spot and threw the car in park. Both of us got out and began the walk toward the forest. I had no idea where exactly we were going, but we would go together. My hand slipped into Eli's. I was always seeking out his touch. He squeezed it.

Once we were out of sight of anyone, and I felt that it was safe, I stopped walking.

"You want to shift here?" he asked.

I nodded and began taking off my clothes. Though he had just seen me naked yesterday, Eli turned away. I let the change take me. I concentrated on my dragon and brought him to the surface. It was as natural as breathing, and the next time I opened my eyes, I was looking down at Eli. "It's safe to turn around," I said. The words didn't come out of my mouth and instead were spoken in my head.

Eli turned and looked up at me. "I'd forgotten how beautiful you are in this form."

I leaned my head down, and he put a hand to my snout.

"Shift," I said. "I want to meet your wolf."

Eli did as I asked. I closed my eyes while he took off his clothes. I wanted to see his body, but given that he turned away while I was naked, it was only right that I did the same for him.

He had no way of indicating to me when it was safe to turn around, but when I felt his fur against my foreleg, I opened my eyes. My little wolf was in front of me. He was no bigger than my leg.

"You are magnificent in this form," I said. I wasn't sure if he could understand me when he was shifted, but that was fine. I lay down, letting my tail curl around my body. Eli curled up next to me, his fur brushing against my scales.

It was perfect. The stress of the morning and the quest we found ourselves on melted away, just as they had the night before.

Eli was my sanctuary.

We lay like that for a long while, letting the time pass us by. The gentle breeze brought the scent of wildflowers, and the sun shone brightly overhead. All the while we lay there in silence, soaking up the time together.

After a while, Eli got up and stretched. His wolf tail swished, and I nuzzled against him.

Then I shifted back to my human form, and he followed suit. Now that I had relaxed and re-centered myself, thanks to Eli, it was time for us to talk. We dressed quickly, with our backs turned to one another.

"It must have really hurt my omega father to split us up," I said.

"I am sure it did," Eli said.

"I hope that my brothers are safe and that they had a good upbringing, like I did. What did your friend mean when he asked if you left your terrible pack?"

"We're not here to talk about my problems," Eli said.

"What problems?"

"Nothing."

In that moment I felt like a toddler about to have a tantrum. I wanted honesty. I just wanted one thing to be straightforward, yet I still had to dig for information like I was unearthing secrets. "Just tell me, please, Eli. I want you to be honest with me, please."

"I am."

"About everything?" I stopped walking and tugged his hand so that he came to stop as well. He stood in front of me but wouldn't meet my eyes.

Eli kicked at the dirt.

I tugged his hand. "Please, Eli."

He took a deep breath. "My aunt isn't very nice. She doesn't like having an extra mouth to feed. It's been tough living there. For a long time."

I had always known that his aunt was kind of a bitch, but how bad was it over there? "How long? What does she do?"

"A long time. Probably since the day I moved in. I'm not allowed to eat at the table. I am only allowed to have scraps or whatever I can buy on my own, which isn't much because my paycheck is deposited directly into her account. The only money I have that she doesn't know about comes from babysitting, and nobody pays a lot for an omega to babysit, especially not one from the lower-end families."

I pinched my eyes closed, anger burning in my gut. "Why didn't you ever tell me any of this? You could have stayed with me and my mom. We could have talked with our boss and had your paycheck given to you. Eli… I…" I failed him.

If my gut was correct and Eli was my mate, then I had failed him in the most basic of ways. I should have seen. I should have done something.

My dragon roared within me, not out of anger but out of sorrow. How would our mate ever trust us if we couldn't be trusted with his most basic care?

"It's not so bad."

My eyes flew open. "It sounds miserable, Eli. Why did you ever come back from college?"

"You were there. I couldn't leave."

I pulled him into my arms, hugging him close to me. "We're never going back," I said. "Never. If I go back there, I will make your aunt's life a living hell. We can get my mom out of there. Wherever we go, she can come with us. We're never going back there."

"I didn't plan on going back there," Eli said quietly.

"What do you mean?" I didn't want him out of my arms, but I needed to see his face.

"I applied for a teaching position... someplace else. I didn't get it. At least I don't think I did. But there are plenty of positions out there I can find. I've been planning to leave the pack for a while. I just didn't want to leave you."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to burden you with my problems. When I'm with you, I only want to think positively. You make me see the good in our pack, in our life. I didn't want to ruin that with… with reality."

"Eli, I… I feel like I've failed as a friend." As an alpha. And it hurt. So much my chest ached with it. "I'll go with you," I said. "Wherever you want to be. Whatever sort of career you want to have, I'll support that."

"You can't just change your whole life because of me, Aldryn."

"Eli. Don't you see what's happening? Why we've been friends forever, why I need you with me? Why it is you that can bring me back from shifting to my dragon form? Why it's you that I can speak to while I am shifted? We're mates."

He hissed in a breath.

"You have to feel it, especially after last night. You feel it, right?"

He looked away, but I tucked a finger under his chin and gently guided his gaze back to mine. I searched for any resistance, anything that said he didn't want this. But instead, I found desire, curiosity. There was some fear for the unknown, for a rejection. Whatever his fears were, I could lay them to rest.

"You're my mate, Eli. I feel that, don't you?"