10. Axel

Iknew what it meant to take it slow, really, I did, but it was hard when Tuft"s scent filled my entire brain with want. Add to that how much fun we"d had watching movies, talking, and making out long into the night, and I was falling fast.

Tuft walking across the field to the dragonet stables with his ex was a glass of cold water over my head. He wasn"t ready to move on yet. He said he wasn"t into the guy, but he must have been, to want to spend time with him instead of me.

Jealousy flared in my gut. I had never been the jealous type, though maybe I should have been. Rosanna and James were constantly together. I should have put two and two together before I saw them making out in our bedroom.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but Rosanna was firmly in my past. Tuft was my future, and I didn"t want to be the guy who pushed him away, even if I was an alpha kobold. I was still part human, and that part of me wanted to remain neutral about Weld. He and Tuft shared a past, but it wasn"t a happy one. I owed them some empathy for losing their babies, even if their idea to have them was ill-conceived.

I made my way inside the dragonet stable and found Weld deep in conversation with Mac, while Tuft was bent over the center octagon"s railing, patting the little orange dragonet"s head. At this range, I couldn"t keep my distance any more than a moth could avoid a shiny blue bug zapper on a warm Texas night. Like the bug zapper, Tuft wore an electric blue t-shirt beneath an unbuttoned blue and navy checkered flannel. He"d rolled the long sleeves, showing off his gorgeous forearms.

"Axel!" Tuft grinned and hopped off the bars into my arms. "Mac said she"s bonding to me. I can see her thoughts in my head. Isn"t that great?"

"That"s wonderful."

"What are you doing here? Mac said he would tell Merritt once the dragon stopped hemming and hawing about the sand pit."

From what Mac had said about the dragon, they were a pain in the ass. Dragons lived longer than kobolds, and they took their sweet time considering every possibility before making a decision. Mac"s dragon had agreed to let the kobolds breed above ground after only a few months" time. According to Lark, that was a damn dragon miracle, knowing what we knew now.

"The dragon is lonely," Mac said when I asked him for an estimated timeline on the sand pit. "I hate to put you in danger like this, but it might help if you and Tuft shared why the sand pit is so important, in person."

"I can take you up there," Weld offered. He held out his hand, and I shook it. "I"m Weld."

"Axel. Nice to meet you." My animosity toward him seemed to calm when our hands touched, and his scent surrounded me. Tuft looked nothing like him, and his competing scent in the presence of another alpha calmed me like nothing I"d ever experienced.

"You visit the dragon often?" I asked.

"Class trips," Weld said. "I"ve been meaning to ask them a few questions of my own. I can show you the way, and then we can part ways once you"ve gotten your answer on the sand issue."

"You"re not interested in a recreation league?" I asked. Weld"s sparring session with Lark, where he"d tagged Lark"s ear in victory, was legendary. When my classmates learned my fated mate was his former mate, some of them told me to fear for my life.

I wasn"t afraid of him. I could tell from his body language and the casual way Tuft regarded him. They were friends, not lovers. Not anymore.

"It"s a fun idea," Weld said. "I would have been curious a couple years ago, but now, I"m more focused on exploring Ignitas."

He and Tuft exchanged a look I didn"t understand. There would always be a past between them, one I wasn"t a part of, but I wasn"t going to let that stop me from making a friend. "What are you doing tonight?" I asked. "It"s almost dinnertime in the cafeteria, and I"m starving."

"I could eat." Weld grinned at Tuft. "You coming? Or would I be a third wheel on a date?"

"Not a date. I think I"ll grab mine to go. You two have fun!"

We walked back to the fortress together. True to his word, Tuft grabbed one of the brown bagged meals from the to-go counter and waved as he walked to the door that would take him into the omega wing.

Weld and I grabbed trays and waited for the betas to serve us. Tonight"s offering was chicken and biscuits.

"How do you like Ignitas so far?" Weld asked as we sat down at an empty table.

"I"m getting used to it, I think. There"s so much to learn."

He nodded. "I spent my first year ignoring my teachers. Don"t be like me."

"Ignoring? How so?"

"I thought this whole fated mates thing was bullshit." He sighed. "Then, they said our race was at risk of extinction, and I took matters into my own hands, thinking I was smarter than fate. I"m sorry if I"ve fucked anything up between you and Tuft."

"I was jealous when I first saw you together today, but then?—"

"You knew." Weld nodded. "He"s your omega, and his presence calmed you down and made you forget why you were jealous in the first place."

"Yeah. Similar experience?"

"I hated Lark. Envied him, if I"m being honest. He was better than me at everything. Sparring, magic, and he has a dire weasel. I have yet to bond with an animal." Weld huffed a laugh. "It sounds so silly now. He"s the father of my fated mate. The moment I met Robin, the world went quiet around us, and I knew, I just knew. He"s the one for me."

He chuckled. "Lark and I laugh about it now. I must have been able to smell my mate on him."

"You have a long wait ahead."

He nodded. "I deserve it." He gazed at me, and I swore he could look into my soul. "You don"t have to wait. Your fated mate is an adult, and he"s perfect for you. I smelled you on him when he visited me in the grotto, and now, I can smell him on you. You"re already imprinting."

"This is all so new." My laugh sounded nervous, even to me. Imprinting was not part of the human dating experience. "I don"t want to hurt him or scare him. I think he"s worried to do the same to me."

"It"s great that you"re doing this sports thing together, and he had a great time watching the movie with you." Weld grinned. "Don"t wait too long, that"s all I"m saying. Finding your fated mate is unlike any dating experience we had on Earth. I have yet to see an unhappy mating here, though Tuft and I would have been the first."

After we said goodbye at the grotto entrance, I resisted the urge to turn toward Tuft"s room to talk to him. He"d wanted space, so I would give it to him.

I was surprised to find him on my porch when I got home. Beside the case of water Coz had dropped off when I first moved in, a porch swing hung from the rafters, and that"s where Tuft sat, staring up at the cloudy sky.

"Merritt said rain was coming," I said in greeting.

"I like rain." He patted the bench. "How was your dinner with Weld?"

"He"s nothing like what I thought he would be." I felt guilty even saying it. I"d wanted him to be a total jerk, and that was unfair to Tuft.

"He"s changed a lot since …" Tuft sighed. "So have I, I suppose."

"Look, I?—"

"I thought we?—"

We tried to talk at the same time and laughed.

"You go first." My mom had taught me good manners, after all.

"I didn"t mean to end things so abruptly last night."

"We"re lucky things ended at all." So many times, Tuft tried to leave, but we kept falling back into each other"s arms.

"We should talk first," he said. "The talk."

"The talk?" I laughed. "Neither of us are virgins."

Tuft stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the door. "I suddenly want to be somewhere no one can hear us."

"Kobold hearing is good, but not that good."

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

Once we were seated on my couch with the laptop firmly closed, Tuft turned to me and put his knee between us on the couch cushion. "How much do you know about kobold anatomy?"

"I know your body is very different from mine." Tuft had a slicked channel and internal eggs waiting for my seed and my knot to seal them together. Once they were fertilized, they grew, and when they were too big, they pushed their way into his balls and then out the birthing canal in his penis.

"I"ve been making more slick, since I met you. It"s a sign that I"m fertile again." He brought his clawed nails to his mouth and chewed on them. "Are you ready for a family?"

I grabbed his hand and massaged it between my own until his claws retracted. "I"m ready to be a family with you, whatever that means for us." I"d been ready to be a dad to a kid that wasn"t even mine.

Maybe I should have been more worried about our future together. I had been before my talk with Weld. Now, I was certain Tuft was my fated mate, and I wanted all the wonder and joy our union had to offer.

"You mean that." He sounded surprised.

"What will it take to prove it to you?"

He swallowed hard. "Well … there is one thing."

"Only one?" I laughed.

"The only way we won"t get pregnant."

I knew what he was saying. He wanted to be on top. "I lied." I had to be making a goofy face at him, because he laughed. "I guess I am a virgin."

I was happy to give Tuft this experience. His would be the first cock in my ass. Mine wouldn"t be the first in his, not even in this form, but it didn"t matter to me. I wanted to experience everything with him.

"Ready to punch my V-card?"