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I glared at his tight ass as he sauntered ahead of me, making short work of the stairs. You could bounce a quarter off those mouthwatering glutes. I found myself daydreaming about taking a bite out of those apples. “Dream on, Drakon.”
As though he could hear the wicked turn of my thoughts, Quasar shot me a cheeky wink over his shoulder right before he disappeared around the corner. “Consider yourself warned, human. A Drakon is only so strong where an intended mate is concerned.”
“Unfortunately,” I muttered, too low for the cocky bastard to hear. “Same goes for humans, it seems.”
12
Asteroid
Iknew exactly where I would find Radon. The same place I’d found him the first day we met. The same place he ran to every time things got to be too much, too deep, too scary for him to process.
Radon hadn’t found his way to us in a conventional way by any stretch of the imagination. Most males bonded through their parents, school, military academy or other pursuits. Our mate hadn’t had any of that. No Wyer to turn to when the going got rough, then rougher still.
Though we’d searched and searched all the usual places in Drakonis on our mating hunt, it had taken Quasar and I far longer than either of us would’ve liked to admit to locate him. Even longer still, to convince him that he was worthy of being our mate, and worthy of having a Thunder around him, offering love, family and support.
“Go away, Asteroid.”
The raw pain in Radon’s voice only made the quiet dismissal more potent as it drifted down to me from the tree tops. The night was so black, clouds having rolled in to cover the moon, that I couldn’t quite make out his silhouette against the thick foliage. But this was the tallest tree that you could see from the front porch of the bar. And, despite his attitude, I knew he couldn’t bring himself to be further than line of sight from where we were sleeping. From where our newest mate was sleeping.
“Go play house with the new mate.”
“Not going to happen, lover.” I craned my head up to judge the distance to the lowest branch. Not quite jumpable, however the bark was thick enough that I could easily climb it if need be. “Are you coming down, or do I need to get up there to drag your ass down?”
“I said, go away.” The thick growl that filtered down through the branches was deep and gravely. “I don’t need you.”
“Up it is.”
“Asteroid.” The warning was clear, but so was the waver in his voice. “Go back to the bar. Tess needs you more than I do.”
“Bullshit. Tess has Quasar to keep an eye on her, plus the entire club.” I found the marks that my mate had made climbing the tree, and I fit my claws into them, pulling myself up until I could wrap my arm around the lowest branch, a good twenty feet from the forest floor. “You’re scared.”
“I just don’t see the point,” he snapped, voice much closer now that I was making my way up into the canopy. “She’s human. Their forms are weak. Frail. She shouldn’t be mated to us.”
“That isn’t our choice to make, Rad.” His purple irises reflected the wan light, blinking at me as I settled on the branch across from him. “The stars choose our mates, Radon, and they choose them well. Our only choice is whether we heed their call or go our own way and face the consequences.”
My love had tucked himself up close to the trunk, his tail wrapped tight around the branch he perched on–just like when he was a youngling, much less bulky than he was now. My heart hurt to see him regress like this, curled in on himself and doubting his worth. Radon had never seen himself as we saw him. Yet, when he needed to cry, where did he go? Up here, closer to the stars, as though he was unconsciously begging them for direction.
“The stars don’t always know what’s best, Ast,” he spat at me. “Some females aren’t meant for Drakon warriors. Their bodies cannot take the load our kind demands.”
“Oh, Radon.” I reached across the gap between us to clasp his hands in mine, but he snatched them away, tucking them around himself. “Even Drakon females perish in the birthing suites.”
“Exactly.” Radon’s face was twisted up as a fresh wave of bitterness leeched all of the faith we’d poured into him over the years as our bonded mate. “My fathers were warned,” he sniffed. “They were told it would be risky. Yet they got her with child anyway. They destroyed my mother with their seed. Forcing another dangerous pregnancy on her, despite the complications which had arisen in the first.”
“No,” I snapped back, my voice sharp with reprimand. Radon reared back as though struck, but his eyes remained trapped in my fierce gaze as I continued on. “I tracked down the healers. Your mother was not forced, Radon. She made a choice while sound of mind and body.” I softened my voice, knowing the next part would be hard for him to hear. “A choice her own mates begged her to reconsider. She wanted to give you a brother or a sister. She desperately wished to expand her family.” He winced and looked away, eyes haunted. “On her home planet there was a saying–that a home was not a home without the sweet laughter of many young. It was her heart that was sick with the wanting for more. Her mates, despite their concerns, tried to grant her heart’s deepest desires. They were honoring their mate’s choice.”
I could see the pain my words were causing, cutting my mate to the quick, but I couldn’t let his justifiable fear twist his memories and destroy what remained of his family. “It was not their fault that your mother died. Nor was it yours.”
“Asteroid…” my mate started, then shook his head. The long shuddering sigh that fell from my mate’s lips hurt as he shook his head. “I was there. They just let her die. And then, they had the audacity to stop living themselves.”
I shuffled a bit closer, then reached over to take my mate’s hand. This time, he let me.
“I can’t speak to how the bond affected them once your mother died,” I murmured. “But I agree with you that they should never have given up. No matter how much her death tore their world apart, they should have found a way to continue. To be who you needed them to be. That was their error. A grave error. But you have to find it in yourself to let this go. To forgive them.” He stiffened and tried to pull away again, however, I wouldn’t let him. My tail wrapped around our clasped hands, holding him firm. “Not for them,” I growled. “But foryou. You are the one I care about, mate. You–more than anyone I know–deserve peace.”
He opened his mouth, a ready snarl on his lips, yet no sound came out. Just a disgruntled noise which was somewhere between a growl and a scoff.
“They are long gone from this lifetime,” I crooned, softly, sensing a crack in his stern resolve. “Yet you are the one still carrying their burden. Put it down, mate. I promise their story is not our own.”
With a heavy sigh, Radon’s rigid shoulders softened as he nodded. “I’ll try. For you, Asteroid–and Quasar–and even that fucking stubborn human female, I’ll try.”
