Page 8

Chapter 8

Ash

T he first time I walked into this room, I had been so anxious, worried that I’d made the wrong decision by coming here. This time, I walked in, hand in hand with my mate, feeling like I was on top of the world. Whatever lay in store for us next, we were in it together.

“That was incredibly quick work.” Hayden gave a knowing smile. Had Zayne and I been the only ones not to fully realize the connection between us?

When he met me at my house and took my hand, my life changed. Suddenly it was no longer me against the world, it was us. There was no better feeling in the world, except maybe the feel of his knot filling me.

Which I hadn’t had enough of in the short time we’d been mated.

Zayne and I were seated in the conference room we had used in the past to go over our curriculum plans with Hayden and Kellen. Now we were all in here with the Flight Commander, going over an entirely different topic—one I much preferred, despite the awkwardness.

Based on the shocked expressions on most of their faces, it was a surprise to them—maybe not the fact that we were mates, but the fact that we got over our bullshit so quickly.

“Well, I’m sure all of you sensed some of the tension between us,” Zayne said, and everyone but the Flight Commander bit back their laughter.

Zayne’s hand was laced into mine, resting on the table in front of us. My mate was the tactile type—not something I had expected from him, but I appreciated it; it showed me that I wasn’t alone in this, that he was with me 100%.

Looking back, I didn’t think we had spent much time in the past twenty-four hours not touching one another. I wanted that to continue for years to come—a lifetime, even.

“It was impossible not to. At first, I assumed you didn’t like each other, considering Ash was basically here to take your job,” Kellan said, “but then…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t need to, Hayden nodding his head in agreement and the Flight Commander looking a bit more perplexed than he had been when we first called the meeting. “Glad you two finally… connected.”

Hayden’s eyes widened, and he smacked Kellan on the shoulder.

“What?” Kellan said. “We were all thinking it. No offense, Zayne.”

Zayne chuckled. “None taken.” It wasn’t like it was an illogical conclusion to jump to.

“So now you’re mates?” Hayden said. “Congratulations, obviously, but what does that mean for the team?”

That was the question of the day. My ideal would be that we were partners in all things, including continuing our jobs as Co-Leader, but if that wasn’t what the school thought best, I’d step aside and let him take over. He worked so hard to get here and coming in and snatching it from him wasn’t going to happen. If us being mates meant I was done with this part of my life, I’d gladly let it go.

“I suspected that we were mates the moment I met him. Though I didn’t know how to say anything. When I ran into Ash after class the other day, well, I couldn’t wait any longer to find out.” Zayne lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. If I didn’t have on my most professional demeanor, I would’ve melted into a puddle of goo.

“Oh, goodness,” Hayden said. “I think this is amazing.”

Commander Emmon smiled wide. “Never thought I’d see the day, Zayne. Not going to lie, you struck me as the bachelor-for-life type.”

Zayne wiggled in his seat and cleared his throat. “I had always hoped for a mate, and I’m happy to have found Ash.”

“Me too.” I smiled at Zayne, and he smiled back at me.

“Boo,” Kellan said. “If you two are going to make moony eyes at each other all season, this is going to be rough. I might prefer the two of you being at each other’s throats.”

Zayne crumpled up a paper from the pad in front of him and tossed it at Kellan. “Don’t be jealous.”

Being ever the professional, Kellan stuck his tongue out in reply. It was tiny moments like these that reminded me how well this group in front of me knew each other. I was still the newbie.

“We are happy for you,” the Commander said. “And I think a celebration is in order, perhaps with the entire staff. This is unprecedented. We’ve never had a mated pair on the same flight team, let alone as Co-Leaders. Perhaps we should look into separating the two of you.”

My body froze, words refusing to form. I understood why he was saying it, and I knew it was a very real possibility even before we stepped foot in here. That didn’t make them any less terrifying.

“No,” Zayne said, his hand gripping mine tighter. “I think we’ll be fine—I know we will. Ash’s ideas are great for the team, and they already like him. He stays.”

That was a surprise to me. He had the opportunity to have his team back on his own, yet he wanted me to remain. Sure, I was willing to give up everything for him, but I wasn’t expecting him to feel as strongly about me.

We hadn’t talked about what things would look like going forward. I had been too afraid to bring up the subject. In hindsight, we should’ve, but we were too busy communicating in other, more physical ways.

“Ash and I can manage this. As long as Kellan, Hayden, and the team feel comfortable, we want to stay as Co-Leaders,” Zayne continued.

“Of course. Heck, we’ve been able to manage with the two of you not getting along. This should be amazing. If the two of you are mated, mates are immune to fights, right?” Hayden’s support meant a lot to me.

I chuckled. “Not sure that’s quite the case. I’m sure there will be plenty that Zayne and I will disagree on when it comes to the team, but we’ll listen to each other.” At least that was the plan. Being mated didn’t make the two of us less stubborn than we were before.

Zayne nodded. “Agreed. Commander, if you are not opposed to it, I think we should give it a try.”

The Commander’s eyes widened, and he held up his hands in surrender. “It’s your team. I’m not going to dictate how you do things. Definitely put together some rules and make sure that everyone is on the same page. You’ll have to speak with your students as well.”

That was going to be awkward. It was one thing to tell your coworkers you were mated, another to tell your students.

“Of course. That’s our next thing to do.” Zayne tightened his grip on me.

“I assume you’ll no longer be needing your cabin, Ash?” Emmon asked.

“No, I’ve moved in with Zayne. It was out of commission for a while thanks to an electrical issue, so the timing is perfect.” I winked at my mate.

“Is that how it is?” the Commander chuckled.

“Yeah, that’s how it is,” Zayne bantered back.

I didn’t know a lot about their relationship, but it was nice to see how well they got along. There was so much about my mate’s life before me, but it filled me with joy that he had people around him who cared about him, and everyone in this room fit that description.

“Perfect.” Emmon clapped his hands once. “Now, if it happens that the two of you end up expecting, as is typical with newly mated couples, we can go over our leave policy.”

My eyes widened. I had not thought of that. I mean, I had asked him to breed me but hadn’t really put any thought to what being a parent and working would look like. It had been more dirty talk than anything. Or maybe it was my eagle asking for a family.

Being mated to a dragon meant that I’d be laying eggs in a few weeks’ time most likely. Their bodies had a different timeline than golden eagles, but being half dragon, I’d most likely have a dragon pregnancy.

My nesting instinct would kick in soon enough, and then I’d lay our eggs. Three months from now, we would have hatchlings. Oh, goodness. That thought was terrifying. How was I going to be a good enough father to dragons? It was only yesterday that I nearly burned my own cabin down.

Zayne let go of my hand and instead put his arm around the back of my chair, pulling me close. “We’ll deal with that as it arises, Commander. For now, we’re going to focus on the team.”

“Of course,” he said. “Like I said at the beginning, congratulations to the both of you. We’ll be putting out a school-wide communication, and perhaps, if we can finagle it, we can have a staff outing to celebrate.”

I liked the sound of that. It was very human, but humans had some great ideas. They had some shitty ones, too. But wedding celebrations, which was as close as they came to matings, I put up there with some of the best—they always included cake. You couldn’t go wrong with cake.

“Thanks, Commander. We appreciate it.” Zayne gave him a nod.

The Commander stood up and left the room, and then it was just the leadership team here. Hayden was still grinning like a fool as he looked at us.

“I can’t believe this. Just days ago, the two of you seemed ready to go to blows, and then instead, you went a completely different direction.” He was clearly amused.

“We were never that at odds,” I said.

“I suspected my attraction to Ash was more than just a physical thing pretty early on,” Zayne said. “Regrettably, I didn’t handle myself well at first. I thought by remaining quiet and processing in my own time, I was doing the right thing. Instead, I came off looking like a jackass.”

“You really did,” I teased.

“Thankfully, Ash has forgiven me.” Zayne kissed the top of my head.

I was still not used to the sight of his gorgeous smile. He’d spent so much time scowling when we first met, I was beginning to suspect he was one of those people unable to smile. Apparently, Kellan wasn’t used to the sight either, because he looked at Zayne like he had grown two heads.

“Oh, this is going to be weird.” Kellan smirked. “In a good way. It’s just… I’ve never seen you look like that, Zayne.”

I planned to make it my mission to have him smile like this every day. Heck, every hour.

“I have a feeling we are in for a whole new ballgame.” His hand dipped down, settling on my lower back.

“We’re not here for a ballgame.” Hayden stood up and walked to the whiteboard. “We’re here for the Flight Games, and I had an idea yesterday.” He grabbed a marker and suddenly we were back at work.

Things were different now. Zayne and I were no longer at each other’s necks, neither of us attempting some shitty pissing match to prove our worth. But that didn’t mean that we agreed on everything. We didn’t.

What we did do, was work with our team, tweaking Hayden’s plan into what I thought might be the strategy that could take it all the way to the finals and walking away with the championship.

But at the back of my mind, not very far away, was that nagging feeling that I might be missing a good chunk of the practices, that the two of us were going to be parents. What had started as shock, and then nerves, had morphed into excitement and anticipation. There was the very real possibility that my mate and I were about to grow our family, and I couldn’t wait.

Some things were more important than a job, and mates and family topped that list.