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“The metal dragons?”
“They went with the earth dragons into the east. We didn’t realize it at the time, but they scooped up several of the remaining mage clans and took them along. Together, they formed the Sodalicium. We lost all contact to the point that we began to believe they were just a legend.”
Amaru grunted. “And since the metal dragons were the only dragons the Tupã even remotely spoke to, the Tupã and the Sousa were lost as well to time.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what? That we were forgotten?” A scoff left the back of Amaru’s throat. “Like you didn’t have a lot of bad things happening to keep you busy.”
Luka allowed a half smile to tug up the corner of his mouth. “You might have a good point.”
“Besides, the important thing is we’ve found each other now, right?”
“Very true.”
“And you like me, right? I’m not too much for you? I can tone it down. A little.” Amaru’s expression scrunched up. “Sometimes. Maybe. If I concentrate on it, I—”
“No,” Luka interrupted sharply and then huffed a soft laugh. “You’re perfect exactly the way you are.”
As the words left his mouth, he realized he meant it completely. This wasn’t about reassuring Amaru or helping him feel secure in strange surroundings. He truly did like Amaru. The mage was brilliant, sassy, adventurous, and so very funny. How could he not like him?
But then, why wasn’t his dragon piping up? Shouldn’t he be grumbling or purring or fucking something? There were plenty of times it was a chatty asshole when it was just him and Vasily. This…this was strange…and incomprehensible.
Luka needed it to start making sense, this whole situation. Hear that, dragon self? Speak. He was in serious danger of falling in love with this man, mate or not, and his dragon better say something now, before Luka’s heart was past the point of no return.
Vasily closed his eyes and rubbed them with his thumb and his forefinger, but it did nothing to rid him of the image of Amaru and Luka sitting so close together that their shoulders rubbed. Amaru had seemed to hang on to Luka’s every word. But then, why wouldn’t he? Luka was amazing, his brain overloaded with thousands of years of history and stories from all the known dragon and mage clans. Not to mention folklore about the mystical creatures who remained hidden in the shadows of the world.
That wasn’t the only thing that drew Amaru in if he was smart. Luka was sweet, thoughtful, and adorable. Vasily had spent many an evening staring at the man as he lost himself in books. Luka’s calm presence and lopsided smile made the world a better place.
He was the perfect mate for Amaru.
He just couldn’t believe that Luka and Amaru weren’t also mated. He had no idea what was going on there, why Luka’s dragon wasn’t saying something, but it was worrying.
Dropping his hand back down to his side, Vasily released a sigh and tried yet again to focus on the map in front of him. Not that he was having much luck. His brain was a useless lump of gray matter keeping his head from collapsing in on itself. Vasily had never felt so unable to concentrate and so utterly useless in all of his life.
“It’s a good thing you were born an ice dragon rather than fire.”
Vasily’s head popped up at Dimitri’s words. Both he and Gregori stepped into the large tent they were using for planning, smirks already lodged firmly on their faces.
“Why’s that?” Vasily asked.
“Because you’re staring so hard at that map, it would burst into flames if you were a fire dragon.”
“Shut up,” Vasily muttered as he straightened and folded his arms over his chest. Dimitri stood beside him while Gregori threw his lanky frame into one of the folding camping chairs.
“I don’t know why you’re even trying to work.” Gregori waved a hand at him. “When Dimitri found Sam, I swear his brain stopped working for months. We’re lucky it remembered to run his heart and lungs.”
“Gods, I can’t wait for it to be your turn,” Dimitri grumbled, glaring at Gregori. “I’m going to follow you around, recording every stupid thing you do and say, then replay it for the entire clan during the holidays.”
Gregori rolled his eyes. “That was the glory of finding your mate before the war. No cameras. No videos. No proof of your stupidity following you through the centuries.”
Vasily tried to tune his brothers out and return to what he was doing. Except that when he looked at the map, he could no longer recall why he’d pulled out the map of the area in the first place.
Fuck, he missed his brain.
“Why are you stressing?” Gregori asked with a little laugh. “You know Amaru is yours. Everyone around the camp knows it. That’s why we’ve tried to give you a wide bubble of space so you can get your moves on.”
