Page 23 of Gladiator's Bite

“Hey! Back in the day, our flight was only led by omegas! If my parents fought, my money is on my carrier too! Losing a fight to you doesn’t hurt. It’s a sport. There aren’t life and death consequences. If it’s ever okay to lose a fight, it’s during a sporting match.”

“See – that attitude is why I know you’ll be alright in the end,” I said and playfully bumped his with my shoulder.

***

Back at my house, I didn’t even have a chance to show Sunny around before my grandma ushered us into the kitchen for lunch.

“Thought you were going home to Shal,” I said, kissing her cheek.

“I am. Wanted to make sure you two had lunch if you made it back here today,” she grinned. “I’ll leave you two to it, if you want.”

“Join us,” I said instead of shoving her out the front door like my dragon would’ve preferred.

She wouldn’t be around forever, and I wanted to know her take on the whole Selt ritual thing. I filled her in on what Liam had said while we all filled our plates. She’d smoked cow ribs just for the occasion and cooked up her homemade sauce for them along with several starch and veggie sides.

“That makes sense now that I think of it,” she said and bit her lip. “His family wasn’t purely dragon back in the day. One of his grandparents were an elf. I don’t know which clan they were from but I’m almost positive. It’s probably not even that uncommon to have mixed heritages. All the births are dragons for the most part because two dragons carrying two dominant dragon genes usually make dragon eggs. Not always but usually.”

“Wouldn’t that be something,” Sunny snorted.

“What’s that?” Grandma asked him.

“Sorry. I meant wouldn’t it be ironic if it’s Selt who can open the Other World gateways.”

“At least then he’d have a use,” she sighed.

“Might make him shape up,” I said.

“Or he might make one, run through it, and close it behind him,” Sunny said.

“He wouldn’t do that to the flight,” Grandma shook her head. I opened my mouth to almost disagree, but she kept speaking. “I know he’s not the best dragon we have but he’s still one of us. Besides, a dragon like him would want to gloat that he was the reason everyone had their mate. Even if he only gave them the chance, he’d gloat.”

“Maybe his ego will work in our favor,” I said, praying to every ancestor that I was right. “Maybe him having something to contribute that his sire can’t overshadow will help too.”

“All he’s ever wanted was for that damn man to be proud of him,” she shook her head and clicked her tongue. “It’s a shame too. All it would take is a few words from him and that kid would’ve grown up so much different.”

“Maybe they should offer parenting classes,” Sunny said.

“Oh, they do,” Grandma nodded. “You don’t have to take them, but they do. They also offer therapy for you and your kid or grandkid or whatever of any age. They don’t make anyone take advantage of the social programs unless there is a major issue. We don’t really have issues like that here. Not like the books talk about back on Earthside anyway.”

I changed the subject to complimenting her cow ribs before she could ask Sunny what social programs the Moonscale Flight offered. One day we’d have to talk about that. One day we might even go over there to help implement them but until then I’d rather not argue about it with my mate.

Chapter Eleven

Sunny

After we said goodbye to Laken’s grandma, he cleaned up the kitchen while I stepped into the back garden and called to check in with Castor. He’d grown more comfortable with the crew staying away for longer, but I grew accustomed to touching base with him and the others as if we were a big extended family. He thanked me for checking in and told me to take my time working things out. Everyone was eager to find out what Liam’s vision might bring but Castor knew better than anyone that sometimes life stood still when you met your true-mate.

Then I sent the triplets a text to let them know I met my true-mate. My parents were two kids up since I left but I was still in a group chat with my nephews: Cobalt, Teal, and Indigo. Due to the age difference between me and their dad we more or less grew up together. It took me forever to realize that they had their own triplet link, and every group messaging system was for my benefit.

“That’s why we’ll have our kids in clusters. No one grows up as an only child. Either they get clutch mates, or they get siblings close to their age. None of this left out nonsense,”my dragon chimed into my thoughts.

I didn’t have a chance to answer him before congratulations texts from the triplets poured into our group chat. I was typing out a thank you and about to inquire about their love lives when the questions started.

COBALT:Do you know what Liam’s vision means yet? I heard it was S&M related.

INDIGO:Maybe she ran a kink club. That would make sense. Keeper of the keys or something.

I made a mental note to tell the others to maybe try phrases that included keys. Keys and doors did go together, and puzzles had been solved in stranger ways.