Page 13

Chapter 13

Zayne

A sh and I walked back to our home after dismissing the students and having a short meeting with our trainers. It was earlier in the day than we usually left, but as wonderful as the practice was, it was exhausting. Rewarding, too, but it took a lot out of all four of us. I was pretty sure the trainers were heading for a nap.

Our little demonstration and the students’ initial practice at the new maneuver definitely solidified our plans for our upcoming competition. Even if our young dragons didn’t master the passing of an item between them, the maneuver was still impressive. I was pretty sure they could, though. They were determined. I wasn’t sure if it was because they knew that Ash and I did it without practice and they wanted to prove they were as good as us or if it was so cool that they were itching to show it off. The reason didn’t matter, only their desire to make it happen.

We could master the other aspects of it later and implement them in future competitions if need be—anything to give us the extra edge we needed. Even if Ash hadn’t been my mate, I’d have been proud to have him as my Co-Leader. He was gifted in piecing maneuvers together and this was only one example.

“That was awesome.” Ash squeezed my hand tighter, his excitement palpable.

“Honestly, I didn’t think we would pull it off. I thought we’d get close, close enough to give the students the motivation they needed, but I never expected it to be so perfect. I want to watch the footage, see if we actually did it right, or if our form was sloppy. I couldn’t see well enough to tell.”

And that was one of the reasons he was so good at this. He didn’t take “good enough” as a result. He wanted it to be done right, to improve with each attempt, to grow.

“Me neither. I was too focused on getting that spoon.” That spoon was actually in my front pocket, and I gave it a pat. It was a miracle the silly thing hadn’t cracked between our talons and falling to the ground.

“Why do you still have it?” Ash asked. “It’s in your pocket, right?”

“It is.” I grinned. “You’ll see.” We reached our house and began walking up the steps. “I’ll show you.”

Once we were inside, we kicked off our shoes and tossed our stuff in the office. No more work for tonight, if I could help it. Part of working hard was knowing when you needed a break, and we for sure did.

“I don’t feel like cooking,” Ash said. “I’m too excited. Maybe we can buzz over to the cafeteria for dinner later?”

I didn’t feel like cooking either. Or making sandwiches. Or going into town. That pretty much left the cafeteria as our only option.

“That sounds like a good plan. First, let me show you something. I know I gave you an initial tour of the house, but we didn’t go too in-depth into some things. You might already be curious.”

That caught his attention.

Ash still hadn’t let go of my hand and now he gripped my forearm. “Is this about your hoard? I’ve been wanting to ask, but we’ve been so focused on the team. And other things.”

I grinned. The other things was us being in bed together. When we weren’t working, we were exploring each other’s bodies. It was a pretty sweet life, if you asked me.

“I have been extremely curious about what you hoard. I haven’t noticed any signs of things you’re drawn to. I thought maybe you didn’t have one.”

That surprised me coming from a half-dragon who grew up around dragons. Did some of his close friends and family not have one? There was a blip in time when it was “uncool” to have one, but then dragons had changed from hoarding gold and jewels to more mundane things. Mine was more mundane. Boring, even.

“Oh, I have one,” I said, “but the items are small and can be easily tucked away.” I sighed.

I thought I’d long since given up being embarrassed by the items that I hoarded. It wasn’t a typical collection. It wasn’t cool. It wasn’t worth a bucket of money. In fact, it was rather outdated, making the pieces that I found these days few and far between and no more valuable.

“Consider me intrigued.”

I pulled Ash into the spare bedroom. It had a small bed and a tall cabinet that held the entirety of my hoard—minus a few pieces I kept in storage and the few rare, really valuable ones that I kept locked in the safe in the basement. I opened the drawer, pulled out the first case, and opened it up.

“Oh, wow,” Ash said as he looked over the items. “Collectible spoons. I did not see that coming.”

How could he? I was an old dragon with a little-old-lady collection. Of course, when I started my hoard, it was simply spoons. Collectible spoons hadn’t been a thing back when I got my first one, but when they came in style, my collection pivoted and morphed into a real hoard. How could it not? They were freaking fabulous.

My jaw tensed and I forced myself to relax. This was my mate. He loved and wanted me for who I was, not what my hoard did or did not contain.

“Yeah. It started small, I didn’t even realize I was doing it until my brother and I were traveling together and we visited a market and he teased me for buying cutlery. Then in the 1880’s when I was living in London and traveling a lot, the whole souvenir spoons became popular.” Other than my family, I’d never told anyone about this. “That was a great time. People would buy them on their travels. I collected so many of them. Most of my hoard is from that time. Then those became fewer and far between, less popular. Refrigerator magnets became the thing.”

I closed up the box and pulled out another and another, placing them on the bed and opening them up.

“They’re all dated.” Ash’s fingers brushed over the labels that were carefully placed underneath each spoon.

I nodded. “I have an entry book. I have them all stored in order of the time that I acquired them and when they were made. Some of them, I have some history on. I have a few in the safe downstairs. They are my most valuable pieces. Until today.”

He looked at me. “What happened today?”

I reached up to the top drawer and pulled out an empty case. It was a shadow-box style where I could nestle a spoon inside and have it on display. I pulled the plastic white one from my pocket and placed it inside.

“This… this spoon is my most treasured piece of my hoard now.”

“Zayne, you can’t be serious. It’s plastic.”

“I’m dead serious.” I met his eyes. “It is my most valuable. I have spoons made entirely of gold. I have one that’s completely encrusted with diamonds. But this… this is priceless.”

“Scottie ate with that today. You didn’t even wash it.” His words said one thing, but Ash’s eyes conveyed what this moment meant to him. He was blinking back tears.

I laughed. “I’ll wipe it down, then, if you insist. But there’s no reasoning with my dragon on this one, love. This is the pinnacle of my collection. I don’t know that there will be anything that will ever match it… unless, of course, we save our children’s first spoons.”

Which, let’s be honest, we would.

“I suppose those will be important.” Ash grinned and pulled me in for a kiss. “I’m honored to be a part of this collection. And now that I know what you hoard, I will be on the lookout. Is there anything particular that you and your dragon like?”

“Shiny ones,” I said.

“Then shiny is what I will find for you, my mate—anything worthy of you.” He pulled me into a hug and sank against my body.

“Thank you. I know it’s not glamorous. A friend of mine hoards diamond earrings. Another has a collection of ruby rings.”

Both of which sounded boring to me. Good thing dragons didn’t all like the same thing; it made building your hoard easier.

“Yes, and there are others that collect ties or board games. Your collection is yours. It’s unique to you, and I love it. Thank you for sharing it with me, Zayne.”

“Thank you, mate.”

“You know what?”

I looked at him and shook my head.

“I think that today calls for more than a school dinner. Why don’t we shower and head into town? We can grab dinner.” He snuggled in closer, inhaling deeply.

“You mean go on a date like humans do?”

He looked up at me. “Exactly. They get some things right.”

“Oh yeah, and what would those some things be?” I asked, the tiredness from the day suddenly gone.

“I’ll show you.”

He popped in the shower as I put my hoard away, and I joined him as he was finishing. He stayed with me, washing my hair and back and everywhere, paying extra close attention to the places I was extra dirty—or had extra dirty thoughts, at least.

“Dinner first.” He drove and went straight to a chain restaurant that was supposed to be like a “local neighborhood bar.”

“Really doing up this human date thing, aren’t you?” I teased.

“You have no idea.”

Dinner was fine. The place was loud and had televisions everywhere, but the company was great, you couldn’t go wrong with a burger, and they had cake for dessert. It wasn’t someplace I’d long to come to out of the blue, but we had a nice time, but through all of it, my anticipation was building. This was only the first part of our date, and I was beyond curious as to what the second half would contain.

I had a lot of ideas floating through my head, but none of them were the two of us going glow bowling. In all my years, it was something I’d never done. It didn’t look too hard. The ball was big, and the pins were set up similar to dominos. Or so I thought.

“If you step over this line, it will automatically give you zero points no matter how many you knock down,” he explained. “The scoring is 100% automatic here.” He pointed to the screen above us. “Want me to show you how?”

“Nope. I got it.” I picked up the green ball I’d picked and attempted to put my fingers inside. They were too small. Instead, I cradled the ball in front of me and walked up to the line, rolling the ball down the lane in an attempt to prove I really did “got it.”

I very much did not. The ball inched down the alley and straight into the gutter.

“That’s okay. You get another turn.” He picked up his ball and his fingers went right inside. “And if you want pointers, I got you.”

It was time to concede. “I would love some. This is harder than it looks. Doesn’t help my fingers are too big for the balls.” That was when I learned that the balls were in all weights and hole sizes. Once I found the right one, it was game on.

My mate still kicked my ass, but at least my gutter balls were few and far between. We laughed and laughed the night away.

“That was wonderful.” We climbed into the car. “Thank you for taking me out. I didn’t realize I needed that.”

“I know something else you need.” He settled his hand on my thigh and started inching it up. “When we get home, I’ll show you exactly what it is.” He leaned in close, “It requires both of us being naked,” and nipped my earlobe.

Best. Mate. Ever.