Page 5 of Omega Haunting (Starscale Mates #8)

Astral

Three days without my apple left me pissy. I’d grown attached to the potential of telling my true-mate everything about myself and trying to lead him here. What the hell had my life come to? My family started to notice my bad mood and it was hard to explain to any of them what was going on. I hadn’t told them about the apple. I hadn’t told them anything about what happened on my trip to see Dern that full moon night. The truth was most of the time everyone was so caught up in their own lives, problems, and plans that as long as you showed up for work and didn’t bite anyone or start howling at the shadows most people wouldn’t question what was going on in your life – good or bad. Sometimes that gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted and other times, times like this, it left me without anyone to talk to about it. There was no way I was admitting to anyone that I spent weeks talking to an apple and then summoned up an ancestor whose hungry ass gobbled it up. I was turning into one of those desperate omegas who would do anything to know even a little more about their true-mate. So far I knew he lived far away and his name sounded like Martian.

My wolf whined inside his inner sanctum and I let out a long, slow breath. For a long moment, we ached together. Why did everyone else under the sun and moon get to meet their other half? Why did I have to spend long hours pining and talking to a damn apple instead of wrapped up in the arms of someone who would laugh about this craziness with me?

The first rays of morning sunlight peeked around the edges of my blinds. There were still a few days before the next full moon. Had I really spent nearly a whole moon cycle talking to Dern’s apple before it was eaten? Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic. I wanted to bang my head on the wall or to dig a hole so deep into the earth that I could plant myself to grow some damn common sense.

“Astral. Aaasssstraaaaal,” Dern said my name over the pack link.

I blinked. He’d gone more or less mum’s the word on me since handing over the enchanted apple. Even when I told him about what my ancestor told me he shrugged it off. Dern had always been like that, though. He only spoke on his terms and about what he wanted to talk about.

“Yeah?” I sighed back at him, trying to blink away the sleep from my eyes.

“There is a dragon asleep near where y’all keep your stills,” Dern said. “I almost called your parents but figured he’s already drawing a crowd. Better to let you know first.”

“What?” I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Is this a dream? This sounds like something my fucked-up brain would do to me.”

“Astral, you spent weeks talking through an apple. Now a dragon is asleep not far from where you live. I know there is some reading between the lines to do but if I make it any clearer birds are gonna die flying into the dang point,” Dern growled over the pack link.

Sighing, I swung my legs out of bed and rubbed my face. It wasn’t uncommon for folks to camp out on the back forty of our property. Usually, we let them be for a few nights if they didn’t plunder our stuff and were just passing through. Not every shifter liked or could afford a hotel.

“Is he shifted, Dern?” I asked, picking up my clothes off the floor from the night before.

“Not those. Wear something nice or at least clean,” Dern chided me.

“Stop spying on me over the pack link.”

“I don’t say this often. So, listen up, pupper. This is one time you want to listen to your elder. Get dressed in something clean and come on out. I’m almost there too.”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

“Your dirty clothes or the dragon out in the field?” Dern shot the question back at me as I grabbed clean jeans and a black t-shirt from my closet and ducked into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

“Both,” I rolled my eyes.

“Nothing. I’m just here to see something unfold. This is only the first part of what I need to happen. This starts up a lot of stuff but not everything. Like I said, I only do that damn spell when it benefits me or Ormund. I’m a selfish old hound.”

“Uh…” I said over the pack link and blinked at my reflection.

“Do you mean to tell me my true-mate is squatting behind our houses?” I asked him

“Stop talking like that. You make it sound like he’s out there taking a dump. He’s out cold. Drunk maybe but probably not. It takes a lot of liquor – even moonshine – to get a dragon drunk. He’s probably exhausted from flying through space or how the heck ever he got here.”

I didn’t bother making my way through the house. Once I pulled on the clean shirt over my head – still smelling like lavender from the wash – I ducked out my bedroom window. As soon as I pushed it open, I heard the murmur of the crowd Dern had warned me about. My heart skipped a beat. Was the dragon actually my mate? Was the man I’d spend the rest of my life with really asleep a few minutes run from here?

My wolf’s tail wagged and I didn’t have the heart to tell him to calm down. This might be a false alarm. Sure, we didn’t get a lot of dragons squatting back there but there was a first time for everything. Still, I sprinted barefoot along the familiar path to the stills. My wolf brushed his furry head against my ribs, threatening to shift if I didn’t get a move on.

“What’s going on out here?” I called out to the crowd.

I sniffed the air but beyond my pack mates I couldn’t smell much. The wind wasn’t blowing in my favor and the burning scent of moonshine covered a multitude of sins and savors.

“You got a lizard problem,” Morgi called back to me, tucking his thick thumbs into his beltloops. “A big one.”

He laughed at his own joke and everyone else rolled their eyes. The urge to race at full speed toward the dragon ate away at me from the inside out but I kept a steady pace not wanting to embarrass myself in front of two handfuls of pack members if this was a false alarm on Dern’s part.

Speaking of Dern, he stood just outside the group with his hands on his hips. He looked bored of all the gossiping going on and I didn’t blame him. Part of me wanted to bark up a storm until everyone got off the damn property. That part of me wanted to shift and run headlong into their knees for daring to stand that close to our true-mate.

I opened my mouth to say we didn’t know that yet just as the wind shifted in our favor. I stopped dead in my tracks despite my wolf gnawing at my ribs. His scent filled my head – metal, fire, and something sweeter. Cake? Buttercream? Had he robbed a bakery before crashing out here? That would explain how he slept with so many strange wolves gossiping around him.

My wolf bit me again but I wasn’t budging yet. The dragon – my dragon – was huge. The crest of his back easily overshadowed all the nearby houses and his wings, though, tucked in tight to his sides, would probably be long enough to knock over several if he weren’t careful. An itch spread over part of my chest as I took in his dark blue scales. He was fucking gorgeous and bigger than any dragon I’d ever seen in person.

“I bet he’s bigger than Clarence Moonscale,” my wolf whimpered, still gnawing on my ribs.

“Y’all go on!” My sire’s voice cut through the chaos of the gossip. “Y’all go on and get off my territory! If there’s a dragon here, he’s ours! Go on!” She shouted again. This morning she had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and her lip was curled up in a snarl. She’d given up early mornings for late night magic before I was ever born. Late night magic was more profitable and probably a bit more fun too.

A few of the looky-loos grumbled but they all turned to leave with the exception of Dern.

“Dern, what are you doing?” My sire asked him. “I know you’ve got something to do with this. Are you who he’s been talking to all the time? You got my son walking around and talking to the air. Wolves around here are going to start thinking he’s bananas. He’s nuttier than a squirrel after harvest!”

“You’re gonna thank me, Warden,” Dern rolled his eyes.

“Baby, what is going on out here?” Mom turned to me.

“He’s---” I stumbled over my words but started toward where the two of them stood near my alpha.

“He’s what, baby?” she asked.

“He’s mine,” I said, losing the fight to keep the howl out of my voice.

As my howl cut through our personal territory, one of my dragon’s huge eyes opened. It shined amber with specks of teal in the early morning sunshine. His mouth opened ever so slightly revealing a bubblegum pink tongue. I stared into his huge amber eye as he breathed in my scent. Would he recognize me too?

“Duh!” my wolf rolled his eyes. “The whole true-mates thing goes both ways!”

“Hey now! It doesn’t matter if you’re my son-in-law or not! If you knock over a building, you’re in for it. Your scaley behind will be paying to fix it and doing the labor!” Mom said.

“Ma!” I groaned. “He just woke up! Leave him alone!”

“I’ll leave him alone when he’s not one good stretch away from ruining a family business!”

“Ma! Leave him alone!”

Dern turned away but the old hound was chuckling. My sire would have a go at anyone who got in her way and she was more protective over our magic and our business than she was over me and my siblings.

“Good morning,” a new voice said and when I glanced back over at my dragon, he wasn’t a dragon at all anymore. Where the huge blue-scaled dragon had laid now sat a man in a mussed up tux and a crooked tie. I smiled despite my tingling nerves and my sire’s attitude.

“Now I’ll leave him alone! Breakfast will be done soon, you two,” she said turning back towards the main house. “Come on, Dern. Come and eat and leave the kids alone.”

“You better listen. She bites,” I whispered.

“Heard that, Ast! Don’t go being all smart because you found your mate or I won’t save you any bacon!” she threatened but it was all bluff. My sire prided herself on keeping her whole family fed and then some. Our family’s days of being concerned with which side of a fence wild food grew on were over.

Neither me nor my dragon said anything until after they were both out of earshot.

“Good thing Dern never says no to food,” I said, hoping to break the ice. “And don’t worry about Ma. She’ll save us a plate. Are you okay? Did you get tired and just crash out or --- You didn’t run away from your own wedding, did you? I have to ask. The tux is really nice, and you smell like cake and…”

He raked his eyes over me and a chill shimmied down my spine. In human form, his eyes were the perfect shade of dark brown, and I wanted to fall into them. I wanted to fall into him and never resurface.

He pushed himself up with a grunt and ran his fingers through his messy hair. Then he detached his phone from his wrist and shoved it into his pocket.

“I have one question before I answer any of those,” he said, his hands tucked in his pockets now.

“Okay,” I said, meeting his gaze.

He looked around like someone was spying on us from behind one of the nearby trees. Then he took several steps closer, and my knees wobbled. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder to steady me and smiled, despite his skeptical expression.

“I’m real,” I laughed. “This is all surreal but I’m real.”

He leaned in close. Our lips hovered just inches apart and everything inside me wanted to lean forward. My eyes started to drift closed but then my dragon spoke.

“Did you talk to me before? Like inside my head or something?” he asked.

“Oh! Yes! That! Dern enchanted this apple, and it let me talk to you until I summoned an ancestor who ate it!” I explained.

“An apple let you talk to me?” he arched a dark brow as his hand moved from my shoulder to the curve of my hip.

“Yeah,” I nodded, swallowing hard.

I wasn’t a virgin. I wasn’t a stranger to one whiff of someone being enough to make me want something more but this dragon needed to stop worrying about Dern’s magic and rip my clothes off already. I was slick and hard and ready to pounce him and show him how it was done.

“Thank the ancestors,” he sighed. “I thought I was losing my mind. I came here because someone at my niece and nephew’s wedding mentioned the Appalachian Wolf Pack. Appalachian was one of the few words I was able to make out clearly. I thought I was a goner.”

“I didn’t mean to make you think you were crazy,” I said, and my heart sank into my belly. “I thought I could get you here.”

“This is karma,” he chuckled. “Did you hear about what we did to Fred?”

“Fred? Fred who?” I asked.

“Fred Moonscale. My brother is one of his true-mates and we sent all these scrolls through the doors and….” My dragon lost it and started laughing.

“I did hear about that,” I nodded, grinning as his other hand found the other side of my hips.

“We drove him crazy. He nearly killed Elio when they first met because he thought it was some dark magic. This was karma.”

“No, this was Dern. He claims he’s a grouchy old hound, but I think he has a secret squishy side,” I grinned. “At least a secret romantic side. He never took a chosen mate after his true-mate moved on.”

I met my dragon’s gaze, and he didn’t look away. Standing this close, it was hard to ignore just how tall he was. He towered over me by at least two feet. Feeling brave and desperate to touch him, I rested my hands on his chest. My own still itched. A chigger or a mosquito must’ve gotten me good. Only right now I didn’t care. We had potions that would clear whatever bite right up. My dragon didn’t look away from me. It was as if he stared straight into my soul and that’s all I needed.

“It’s probably your scale,” he whispered as if he was afraid to be too loud this close to me.

“I’m a wolf,” I chuckled.

“Oh. Earthside and all of that.”

“Huh?” I blinked up at him. “I know the true-mate response kills brain cells but I think you left out some words.”

“You’re from Earthside. You don’t know how the flight stuff works. The Starscale flight stuff. As soon as a dragon meets their mate, they’re pulled onto the flight link. It’s really elaborate or at least that’s what the Moonscales I’ve met so far have told me. Part of being pulled onto the flight link is getting your star scale on your chest.

He let go of one of my hips and undid his tie, followed by a few buttons of his white shirt. He pulled it to one side to reveal a baby blue scale on his chest. I almost licked it. I wanted to trace its edges with my tongue until the taste of him burnt itself into my very cells.

“You can do that later. I don’t think you want to do it while your mom watches out the window,” he said, jerking his head slightly toward the main house.

Of course she was spying. Ignoring her, I peeked down my own shirt to find a furry grey wolf colored star. My dragon’s free hand slid under my shirt and up my stomach and chest until his fingers found it. He massaged his digits into the fur and my knees wobbled again until I leaned forward resting against him with his arm trapped between us.

“If every touch feels like that, I know why everyone ends up so fucking pregnant so fast,” I swore under my breath.

His hand slid from my hip to my ass and pulled me right up against him. He was hard too and big. Maybe my mind played tricks on me, but he was bigger than anyone else I brushed up against.

“Maybe. I’m average back home,” he shrugged.

“Huh?” I blinked up at him.

“The flight link enables me to hear some of your thoughts already but only the ones you think really loudly,” he grinned at me. “Let’s start over. Mostly because your mother is watching so intently. I’m Marsin Starscale.”

“I’m Astral,” I said, leaning hard against him. “I’d shake your hand but we’re already past that I think. You should know. My ancestor thought your name was Martian.”

“I’ve been called worse,” he smirked and finally kissed me.

Every cell in my body lit up and my magic pulsed through my veins, vibrating me from the inside out. It traced over scales that weren’t currently visible and memorized him one bit at a time. My wolf headbutted gently against my ribs, wanting to reach the dragon inside Marsin but he’d have to wait his turn. I’d waited a lifetime for this one kiss. A lifetime of watching everyone I knew find their mate. Until I was left behind but now I had my person too. So I kissed him hard, rising up on my toes. I considered jumping up and wrapping myself around him but my sire was probably still watching. Sure, she and everyone else knew what true-mates did but that didn’t mean I wanted to get to the heavy petting and the grinding with my family so close by.

“I can take you anywhere. Distance doesn’t matter. Not with wings and doors,” Marsin broke the kiss to say. “Would be easier if I had my system but I’m sure I can code something on my phone to make travel easier too and…”

I kissed him again. I wanted to know everything about him but his offer to whisk me away gave me goosebumps. I’d love to drop in somewhere exotic or maybe somewhere cooler than the muggy foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

“Anywhere,” he said again.

“Do you travel a lot?”

“I barely leave 1 but I’d go anywhere for you.”

“1?” I asked.

“1,” Marsin nodded. “We have three worlds back home and to keep it simple they’re named and numbered in the order we built them. I live on 1. Most of the Moonys who showed up live on 1 because of me and my brother.”

“I have five siblings and most of them have more than five kids.”

“Elio and his mates are working on it. Though, Fred came with almost five to start with,” Marsin laughed. “Do you know how relieved I am to know I’m not losing my mind?”

I kissed him again because that was all the answer I needed to give. Later, I’d apologize profusely for ever making him feel that way but I’d gladly lose my mind if it meant being with him. I’d talk to every apple in the whole territory if it meant staying this close to him.

Yep. The true-mate response magic had its claws in me. The choices I made lifetimes ago were catching up with me in the best possible ways even if the furry scale on my chest was burning hot. I was free falling and some primal part of me trusted that Marsin would catch me before I splattered against the ground.