Pulling the covers up to his chin and snuggling in to get some much-needed sleep, Brogan’s last thoughts before he drifted off were that he would be damned before he would ever agree to give up Ayden. He would find a way to right everything he had fucked up and soon Brogan would be sleeping with Ayden in his arms.
Ayden was happy that Brogan had taken Aleksander’s words to heart and for the last three days he had kept his distance. He had no clue what the dragon spent all his time doing, and he really didn’t care. The rest of the D’Vaires were giving him distance as well; he got the feeling that none of them were exactly thrilled that Ayden had rejected Brogan so soundly, and Ayden was trying his best not to feel guilty about his decision. Latarian on the other hand praised him whenever she got the chance and reminded him frequently that Eoghan’s familiar was his mate and not Brogan. It had to be the first time he had ever received her approval for anything; it was somewhat disquieting.
All of the raging emotions he had felt a few nights ago now just left him drained and sad. Brogan was not perfect, and he was not meant for Ayden, but he did not take any pleasure in hurting him. Paul was the one Brogan cared for, and he could not deny that once again Ayden found himself in a position where he did not measure up. Latarian had spent centuries letting Ayden know just how underwhelmed she was with his size, his attitude, and his inability to worship the ground she walked upon.
Now Ayden just wanted to be left alone so he could go back to mourning the mate who had been made for him. He did not want to get into any further screaming matches with Brogan. After the spell was cast they were going to have to continue living in the same house. It would be best for everyone if they could do so peacefully.
Even though it was hours before he normally took his walk, Ayden found himself outside walking through Dravyn’s enormous garden; sleep had not been coming easily to him recently. For some reason, he had felt himself shying away from spending much time near the stones he had stacked in memory of his dead mate. Each day he had all but dropped the flowers Dravyn cut for him each morning and ran away. He supposed that had to be guilt as well. After all, he had allowed himself to get swept up into a fantasy that he could be happy somehow with Brogan, and surely that was a betrayal to the one meant for him.
Sighing heavily Ayden wished he could get away from it all for just a little while and simply exist without all these emotions weighing him down. Looking back at the house, Ayden realized the entire D’Vaire household was very likely still asleep. He could change into his magical dragon and fly around for a bit to clear his head, and no one would be the wiser. Unlike a true shifter he didn’t have to strip off his clothes to do so and his dragon was tiny compared to theirs; he could easily be mistaken for a large bird should anyone glance out the window. With his first smile in days, Ayden cast his spell and took to the skies.
Brogan stepped outside the house with a wide yawn and instantly did a double take. There was a big ass blue bird flying above Dravyn’s garden. He blinked, but the scene in front of him did not change. As sleep deprived as he felt, he was still pretty sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He allowed the blue of his eyes to bleed into the white, switching them to their dragon counterpart. His vision was much clearer this way, and he took a step further into the yard as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Since when did Dravyn’s garden attract massive navy blue birds? Brogan thought, as the creature came closer to the house. Brogan took another step and realized that what he was seeing wasn’t a bird at all, in fact, it looked like a dragon. It was a dragon! The smallest dragon he had ever seen, but that was not the most disturbing part; the strangest thing was that this dragon looked familiar. In fact, it looked like a dragon whose scales Brogan knew like the back of his own hand, because it resembled his very own beast.
“What the hell?” Brogan said out loud and watched as the dragon hit the ground and rolled into a rose bush.
“Ow,” the rose bush said as Brogan let his eyes shift back and ran towards where the dragon had landed. His now human eyes grew as large as saucers as he watched his mate emerge from the rose bush.
“What the hell?” he repeated.
“You can’t tell anyone I can do that,” Ayden ordered him.
“Roll into rosebushes?”
“No idiot, change into a dragon.”
“You aren’t a shifter. How can you do that?”
“I don’t know. It’s a spell I have always known,” Ayden confessed.
“Why is it a secret?”
“I don’t know that either, but I’ve just always had the feeling that I shouldn’t tell anyone. I have looked through every magic book we possessed and nowhere could I find a spell for magickind to appear as dragons.”
“I have to tell you something.” Brogan felt a grin working up from the very core of his being. Forget Eoghan and his stupid familiar. Ayden had a secret little dragon who was an exact replica of his beast. Just as he suspected, the hot little familiar in front of him was meant for him and him alone.
“What?” Ayden asked impatiently.
“Your dragon?”
“What about it? You’ll keep my secret, won’t you?”
“Why? I think you should be proud of it. I know I am proud of mine. But that’s not what I need to tell you. Have you seen me shift?”
“No, I haven’t. I have seen the others. They are all beautiful. I can understand your pride, but I am a familiar. I should not be able to become a dragon.”
“I think Fate gave you that dragon for a very good reason.”
“And what reason would that be?”
“Well, your dragon happens to be an exact replica of my own,” he informed Ayden with a wide smile.
“WHAT?” The question was asked at a decibel that Brogan was sure could rattle glass. He could not help but wince at his mate’s screech.
“What is going on out here? I thought I asked you two to avoid one another. Brogan? Ayden?” Aleksander began stomping his way towards him. Although his best friend was pretty laid back, he would not take kindly to anyone dismissing his orders.
“It was an accident, us bumping into each other,” Ayden explained and Brogan watched as Latarian joined their little party outside.
“If they cannot abide by your rule Aleksander, we can simply do away with their mating now,” she said as she made her way to Aleksander’s side.
“Hey, no one is taking my mate away from me.”
“He does not belong to you. He belongs to Eoghan’s familiar. You would do well to remember that,” Latarian informed him snottily.
“I am afraid that cannot possibly be true,” Brogan replied and Ayden felt his brow knit in confusion.
“You should not speak of things you know nothing about,” Latarian spat at him.
“For centuries you have been telling him that he belonged to the familiar of your dead mate, but that’s not true.”
Ayden watched as Latarian’s entire body quivered with rage and her cheeks got pink with fury. “How dare you!” she shouted. Ayden was impressed, if he was that pissed the dragon would already be on fire, but Latarian had yet to cast a spell.
“He never told you his secret.”
“BROGAN!” Ayden yelled his mate’s name and grabbed his arm to get his attention.
“No, I’ve had enough of this,” Brogan said, with barely a glance in Ayden’s direction.
He let go of Brogan’s arm as he pleaded with him, “Brogan, it is my secret to keep.”
“What secret is this, Ayden?” Latarian demanded.
“Your familiar can change into a tiny dragon. A dragon that just so happens to look exactly like mine. That means Ayden was mine right from the moment he was summoned.”
“This is foolishness you speak. My familiar has no ability to change into a dragon. Witch familiars cannot change into dragons.”
“I just saw it for myself a few minutes ago.”
“Ayden, what is this he is blathering on about?”
Whether he liked it or not
it was time to come clean. “I can change into a small dragon,” he admitted quietly.
“That’s awesome. That must be why Fate sent you here in the first place,” Aleksander said with a smile and Ayden felt bewildered. They had thought they had come for Carvallius, but the dragons had not known a thing about Latarian’s grandfather. Was it possible that Fate had sent them here because it was where they were meant to be?
“I spent decades running around the world and Fate dropped my mate right off at the house.” Brogan grinned and, while Ayden would admit his mate looked quite sexy grinning like that, he wanted to slap his face. The two dragon shifters were smiling and looked to be thrilled with life and Ayden’s head was reeling. If Ayden had been meant for Brogan all along, then he had spent centuries mourning a figment of Latarian’s imagination. After all, she was the one that had told him of Eoghan and his familiar. Maybe she had been wrong when she had assumed that Ayden was meant to be with Eoghan’s familiar.
“Ayden, you don’t truly believe that this dragon is your mate? Familiars have always been mated with other familiars,” Latarian demanded.
“But there are no other familiars like me and I have always had this ability to become a dragon. I cannot think of another reason why it would so greatly resemble Brogan’s own dragon, if he was not my intended mate.” As crazy as it sounded the dragon was probably right in assuming Fate had matched them together from the start.
“Have you even seen his dragon? Brogan seems determined to mate with you, perhaps he is not telling you the truth.”
“I have spent centuries looking at Brogan’s dragon and I am not in the habit of lying. Ayden, if you will change into your dragon form I can tell you both whether or not Brogan is overstating his case.” He was their king, and that left Ayden with little choice but to do as he asked. Ayden sucked in a deep breath and summoned his magic from the deep well inside of him. The magic danced along his skin as Ayden cast the spell that left his human form behind. Mere seconds later Ayden’s view was shrunk down to barely a foot off the ground and his skin was now the hardened dark blue scales of his dragon. Allowing his wings to spread out from his back, he flapped them once to give Aleksander a full view of his dragon self.
“Wow, he really is an exact replica of your dragon. Amazing. Of course, he is probably about a hundred times smaller.” When Aleksander was satisfied that Brogan had been telling the truth, Ayden returned to his normal form, with his mind still a muddle.
“I know not what to make of this Ayden, but I must caution you to remember it was not only your former mate that led you to want to dissolve your mate pair,” Latarian warned.
“Ayden has never had any mate but me, and we will be dissolving nothing,” Brogan countered.
“Whether it pleases you or not dragon, my familiar feels that the two of you are not well matched,” she sneered at Brogan.
“Latarian, this is something that Brogan and Ayden need to decide on their own. I know it must be quite a shock to them both to discover that they are indeed true mates. A pleasant shock, but still a surprise,” Aleksander’s tone was cordial. Meanwhile, Ayden’s brain was finally beginning to connect all the dots, and he could feel the rage beginning to bubble just beneath the surface. His fucking true mate. Thanks a lot, he felt like shouting to Fate. He had gone from believing he had a dead mate for the last six and a half centuries to now being stuck with a cheating bastard that hated what he was. Ayden wanted to track down Fate and give her a swift kick in the ass, for messing with his every thought and emotion for the entirety of his life.
“I never really doubted it for a second,” Brogan chortled.
“I know you must be stunned by this, Ayden, but isn’t it nice to know that your mate is alive and that you have both found each other,” Aleksander said with a half-smile.
“Nice? You want me to be happy about this?” Ayden asked frostily.
“Finding your mate is a wonderful thing. I know you and Brogan have not gotten off to the best start, but things will work out,” their king said. Ayden was incensed by Aleksander’s words and squelched the desire to start casting spells that would set everyone and everything on fire.
“There is nothing wonderful about any of this.”
“I think it is amazing. I have been searching for my mate my entire life,” Brogan said with another one of his damn smiles.
“Good for you.”
“You see, my familiar is not happy about today’s revelations,” Latarian chimed in.
“Happy? How could I possibly be happy? Fate has paired me with a moron who has no idea what a familiar even is and what he does know freaks him out! He takes phone calls from the guy he is fucking while he’s got his damn hand on my dick. Now someone explain to me where to find the happy in that. Fuck that. I don’t care if he is my true mate. I would rather continue giving flowers to the lie I have believed for almost seven hundred years. How could any of you think I would want him?” Ayden threw his arm out in disgust as he bolted straight for the house. Once again, he found himself holed up in his room with his magic preventing any unwanted visitors from invading his space. Right now, the only thing in the world Ayden wanted was to be left alone.
For the first time in several days, Brogan’s dragon finally seemed settled. Ayden was apparently still furious and was currently locked in his bedroom, but Brogan actually felt confident about their relationship. That was a new feeling but this morning’s revelation meant that there was now no way anyone could deny that Brogan and Ayden were meant to be together; Fate had paired them with identical dragons. Brogan no longer had to worry about Ayden comparing him to some ghost and most likely coming up short in his mate’s mind.
Of course, they still had some major misconceptions that needed to be cleared up. The most important being the fact that Ayden still believed Brogan was with Paul. He was positive that Ayden would be more enthusiastic about Fate putting them together if he knew that there was no one that could ever compare to him in Brogan’s mind. His familiar was adorably sexy, and Brogan had never been more attracted to anyone in his life.
Ayden also deserved to know that Brogan was no longer freaked out about Ayden being a familiar. It was a mystery to Brogan why he was ever bothered by it in the first place. As soon as they were able to get everything straightened out they could get back to getting to know one another better. Brogan certainly wouldn’t turn down another night of making out with his mate either. Ayden was one helluva kisser. When they finally made it to bed, or any other available surface, Brogan had a feeling that it would be the most incredible experience of his life.
Chapter 10
By the next morning, Ayden was still pissed off. He had spent the night before tossing and turning, which had left him with only snatches of sleep. It made him cranky as hell and what he really wanted was to forget the previous day had happened. Ayden had spent hundreds of years mourning his imaginary fate. Apparently Brogan had been chosen for him from the day of his summoning. He wanted to deny it, but it was impossible to explain away their perfectly matched dragons. The fact that Brogan continued a romantic relationship after they met was awful. It made Ayden feel inadequate, especially after their make out session in the den.
Of course, Ayden had not exactly wowed his mate when he had exploded in his own pants after barely a touch, but to have the other man in Brogan’s life call almost during the event had almost felt like a physical blow. Paul had probably never embarrassed himself like Ayden had; he only hoped that the two had not made fun of him over it. It really wasn’t Ayden’s fault he had never been touched before, as a familiar he had never even been aroused before meeting his mate. It was no wonder he had made an ass of himself; Ayden had read enough and seen enough to know that was not the way to impress anyone.
Putting his embarrassing incident aside, Ayden knew that was not the only obstacle he and Brogan faced in order to complete their mate bond. Brogan could not deal with Ayden being a familiar. He could dump Paul and Ayden could probably get ove
r his mate’s relationship with him, but there was no way he could fix being a familiar. That left him back where he had been at the beginning, with no hope for things working out between them. Ayden still had no desire to have anything to do with Brogan, and that wasn’t going to change because they really were true mates. Brogan seemed to think they should work towards being blood bound mates. It was time for Ayden to swallow his pride and hide like a chicken from his dragon. Hopefully, after he realized Ayden was not around, Brogan would give up any pursuit of him quickly. It might not be the best plan, but at the moment it was all he had.
It had been two weeks since Brogan had spotted Ayden flying over the garden, and he was starting to think Ayden was not really a familiar. He seemed more like a phantom. Brogan had hardly even seen his mate over the last fourteen days. Apparently Ayden was spending all his time in his bedroom, he only showed his cute face at dinner. Even then he slithered in late and left before anyone else had even finished the food on their plate. It was getting really annoying. Brogan spent every night having the most erotic dreams of his life with his hot little mate writhing beneath him and every morning he’d wake up covered in spunk and pissed off because Ayden was still in hiding. Aleksander kept telling him to be patient; he promised over and over that Ayden would get over his anger, and Brogan would get his chance to talk to him.
Brogan was no stranger to Ayden’s volcanic temper, but his mate wasn’t acting angry. Ayden was acting like a coward. At this point, Brogan would rather have his mate tell him to fuck off then watch him scurry away again. It was time to get more aggressive in his pursuit. He decided he was going to sit outside his damn room and Brogan was going to follow the little shit everywhere he went until he got the chance to talk to him. Let Ayden try and ignore a big dragon shifter shadow.
Grand Redemption (D'Vaire Book 1) Page 11
