Page 46 of Gladiator's Bite

“Anything?” Sunny asked me.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Doris makes sense, though. I think, anyway. I’m not used to trying to get a vibe or something. I usually avoid touching people because I don’t want to know who their last sexual partner was. So, maybe I try to avoid vibes too.”

“Vibes brought us together, though, right?” he asked, wrapping his arms around me from behind and resting his hands protectively over my belly.

“They did,” I nodded.

Sunny didn’t believe Teddy’s door would work. It was all over his scent. I wasn’t so sure that Teddy was barking up the wrong tree. There really wasn’t a recipe for old magic or creating new magic. Part of it was belief and part was having the ability to direct energy. Part of it was probably some mysterious variable that no one understood yet too but that was a philosophical discussion for another day or possibly a drunk late night. Notthat we’d have a drunk late night for a while with our twins incoming.

“Uh? Laken, not to sound like a cave-alpha but I’d feel a whole helluva lot safer if you took a couple big steps back before I tried this. It’s probably nothing. It’s probably not gonna work but humor me?”

“Yeah, come on,” Sunny nodded even though Teddy spoke to me. He stepped back and I stepped with him. I didn’t want to be sucker punched by some door caster either. It wasn’t on my bucket list to have to eat the nameless lady or one of her descendants because they jumped too close to my belly.

Teddy glanced at Selt and said something over the flight link that I didn’t catch. Selt nodded and flashed him a grin. Teddy glanced in our direction and Sunny nodded without speaking. Maybe I did miss something but a second later, Teddy knocked on the door he had drawn on the floor as if the person on the other side was far away or hard of hearing.

“Doris? Are you home?” Teddy called out.

“Doris?” Selt joined him a second later.

Something creaked and I startled, sending Sunny back a step. He took me with him, his grip on me tightening. Those were hinges. Hinges that creaked. A second later the door opened upwards as if the floor had never existed for it to be drawn on in the first place.

“Hello?” A woman asked.

“Did you meet a dragon in the mushie forest?” Selt asked.

“Sort of. Not quite.”

“And you didn’t have a name to tell him?” Teddy asked, stepping between the tall newcomer and Selt.

Teddy was adorable in trying to protect his maybe-boyfriend. The only one Selt needed protected from was himself and we all knew it.

“Oh, yes. The dragon who wanted me to cast a door,” she nodded. “I did give my magic away, though. Gave it to my people to save them. Hmmm.. This isn’t how we did it. I don’t think this is how we did it, anyway.”

“So, you don’t know how to connect us with the others?”

“Oh, yeah. I do. Well, I don’t. He will, though,” she nodded over Teddy’s shoulder at the naked Selt.

“He will?” I asked. “When?”

“After he finds his mate. Though, that is on the other side of this door. Well, through this door and the door off my little island. They did leave that for me. You should come now, though. This door is flimsy. If it closes it might never open again,” she sighed, suddenly looking tired.

“Now-now?” Selt asked and Teddy reached back for him as if to keep him there.

“Now-now is the only now I know,” she nodded. “Only you. Only you because you have the bloodline. You’ll find your way back, though. This is your home. You’ll find your way back when you know.”

“Hurry,” the lady said breathlessly.

“Give us a minute, please, Doris,” Teddy said.

Selt slid off the altar that he wasn’t yet tied to and might not be tied to by Teddy ever again. Teddy cradled Selt’s face in both of his hands. I waited for them to kiss but they didn’t. Instead, they leaned their foreheads together and shared a long moment. Now was the time for them to put their fate where their mouths were. Were they really only together until their mates came? Was Selt brave enough to go on his own and secure the future of the flight? I didn’t have a single doubt in my mind that he was. He was a Starscale, and we braved space and built our own home out here in the middle of literal nowhere. Selt was as brave as any of us were.

Finally, Teddy kissed him, stroking his cheek as he did. I almost looked away, but the kiss was brief and not the lingering sort of goodbye I thought they might share.

“Good luck,” Teddy whispered when the kiss broke. “You can do this. I believe in you.”

Selt’s eyes lit up and I smiled despite myself.

“Maybe put on your pants first, though,” Sunny said.