Page 14 of Tempered By Flames

“I think I would believe you were special even if I was used to meeting different kinds of shifters every day. You’re a chimera shifter.”

Ethan once again went back to work, but the silence between them was heavy, as if he was about to speak. Maybe he was. Liam certainly hoped so because he knew that if he opened his mouth, more questions would tumble out, and he didn’t want to overwhelm Ethan.

“I guess your reaction is refreshing,” Ethan said. “I didn’t expect you to react like that.”

“You thought I’d leave.”

“It’s what most people do. Well, what most shifters do.”

“Including dragon shifters?” There were fewer of them than most shifters. Liam wouldn’t say they were rare, but dragon shifters took up a lot of space, especially when they shifted. They lived in small clans, and they usually only had a few children, if even that. They knew how it felt to be looked at by other shifters as if they were dangerous. Liam wouldn’t say that was the reason he’d become a firefighter, but he certainly hoped that his job would show people that he was just like them. He wouldn’t rampage through small towns just because he could turn into a dragon. He wouldn’t start eating sheep—not that most people had sheep these days.

Ethan nodded once. “Including most dragon shifters, especially after they find out that one of my animals is a dragon.”

Liam didn’t understand because he was delighted to find out. Ethan wasn’t a dragon shifter like he was, but they both had dragon in them, and that made him feel a kinship, although not the kind Liam felt with his siblings. Liam wanted things with Ethan to be as far from brotherly as possible.

Not that Ethan knew that. He wasn’t going to find out, either. Liam had no intention of telling him, not when he finally felt they were taking a step forward. It would be too easy for Ethan to take a step back and slam the door shut between them. Liam wasn’t going to do anything that might push him to do that.

“Serpent and lion,” Ethan then quickly said, as if saying it that way would be safer. “I’m a dragon, serpent, and lion.”

“Serpent, too? That’s so cool.”

“Is it? Because I don’t think I’m anything special. It’s not like I can turn into three different animals or anything like that. It’s just my animal being weird.”

“I wouldn’t call it weird, but even if that’s the word you want to use, what’s the problem with it? Everyone is weird in their own way. I’m weird to my family because I wanted to leave the clan and decided to be a firefighter. I’m sure I’m weird to Austin and West because of the way I’ve lived until I left home for the academy. Weird isn’t bad. It’s just different, and being different is good. It would be boring if everyone was the same.”

Ethan stared at Liam as if he’d grown a second head. Liam quickly went back over his words, but he didn’t think he’d said anything too weird. He’d been honest. He didn’t want to lie to Ethan, especially when there was no reason for him to.

“So you don’t mind that I’m part dragon?”

“Why would I? You being part dragon means that you’re kind of like me.”

“And that’s enough for you to accept me?”

“It’s not the reason I accept you. I accept you because you are what you are, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. Even if you could, I don’t see why you should. There’s nothing bad about you being a chimera shifter.” Liam bit his lower lip. He was about to take a chance, and he hoped he wouldn’t regret it. If he did, he just might have to run out of here and never show his face again, even though his tattoo was far from being done. “Maybe we could grab coffee one day?”

Ethan cocked his head. He’d stopped tattooing Liam, which was probably a good thing. Liam should’ve waited to ask him out. He didn’t know what was going through Ethan’s mind, but it was clear that Ethan thought he was a little odd. That wasn’t a problem for Liam as long as Ethan liked odd.

“I think I would like that,” Ethan said slowly.

Liam couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face. “Great. That’s great.” And he meant that.

* * * *

ETHAN STILL WASN’T sure how he’d managed to finish Liam’s session. He’d spent the session obsessing over what had happened. He was still thinking about it when Liam had paid and cheerfully told him that he would text him so they could set up a time and place to get that coffee. They already had each other’s numbers since they’d exchanged them so that Ethan could send Liam the design of the tattoo, but that was all Ethan had used it for.

Apparently, he was going to use it for many different things now.

He felt his cheeks flush and turned away from the door. Liam had asked him out for coffee, but that was it. It might not even be a date. It was probably Liam being curious and wanting to ask questions, and while that would be a little disappointing, Ethan could deal with that. Honestly, he could deal with many things when it came to Liam after the reaction he’d had to Ethan telling him he was a chimera shifter.

Ethan hadn’t expected that from a dragon shifter. He hadn’t seen West and Austin’s reaction when they’d been told, and there was a good reason for that. He hadn’t wanted to see their reaction. Way too many times, he’d told dragon shifters what he was, only for them to treat him like a monster. He didn’t even need to tell them that he was part dragon—they hated chimera shifters, and that was that. After he told them, they wanted nothing to do with him. He’d lost friends that way.

Although maybe they hadn’t been friends. If they had been, they wouldn’t have treated him like that. What he was didn’t change who he was.

Clearly, Liam felt the same way. Even if the coffee was just between friends so he could ask more questions, Ethan would happily go and answer whatever Liam wanted to know. It was actually kind of nice to think that Liam’s curiosity was just that and that he wasn’t looking for a way to twist his knowledge of what Ethan was and find a reason to shun him. Ethan had never done anything bad. He was what he was because of who he’d been born to, not because of a choice he’d made. Like Liam had said, Ethan couldn’t change the fact that he was a chimera shifter any more than Liam could change the fact that he was a dragon shifter, and that was okay. They didn’t need to change. They were who they were precisely because of what they were.

“So, how did your first session with our baby firefighter go?” Dani asked from behind Ethan.

Ethan groaned. “He’s not a baby.” Liam definitely wasn’t. It had taken everything Ethan had not to obsess over the curve of Liam’s biceps as he tattooed his shoulder. He was still thinking about it, even though Liam was long gone.