Page 9 of The Dragon’s Stormwoven Bond (Dragon Flight Academy #2)

Pep

Since most people thought that my job as a media specialist had to do with filming the teams and ordering things for the library, I did need to keep up appearances.

I didn’t mind. Having others on campus seeing me doing fun things like that helped give me a break when the actual work got too intense, which I had a feeling would happen often.

This was a huge undertaking, and it was still difficult to wrap my head around me, of all dragons, being selected for it.

Only Flight Commander Emmen and now Valen knew what I was really hired to accomplish. Which was why I stood outside in the middle of a gorgeous day with a tripod and a camera pointed at the sky. The day was gorgeous, and while I had other things to do, this was exactly where I wanted to be.

Fine, it was my second choice. In my mate’s arms was first, but we both had jobs to do. At least this gave me an excuse to be close to him. That would have to do.

My drop-dead gorgeous mate coached his team from the ground, and while I’d love to meet his dragon, this was better. I wanted our beasts to meet in private, something just for us.

He stood in his human form, his two dragon students in front of him and their dragon scales glistening in the sun as he instructed them on what to do.

They were working on a new maneuver for the competition in a few weeks.

I’d never been into competing, but from where I stood, I had a feeling it was an extremely challenging move.

I had never been overly interested in the Dragon Flight Games.

I watched them and had even attended a few competitions, but I never followed the teams like others did.

To me it was a social time with my brother and our friends, not much more.

That had changed now that my mate was part of the games.

Getting to see my mate look this sexy made me a number one fan.

“They’re about to take flight,” the person next to me said.

I didn’t recognize the man who suddenly stood next to me, although his scent was familiar.

“I just thought you might want to know, since you are filming the practice and two dragons are about to take flight. Right now, you’re focused on the coach.”

Busted.

“Of course.” I refocused my camera on the sky above the lake, where they would do their routine.

“You should probably hit record,” the man said. He chuckled.

My cheeks heated. “That was the plan,” I said. “I was just waiting for them to launch.”

“Actually, if they need footage to see how they can improve, catching the launch might be one of the more important things.” And suddenly my fake cover became an important task. “There’s a lot to be said for getting the proper form at the beginning of your routine, right?”

Here I was, looking incredibly incompetent in front of whom I could only assume was Zayne, one of the Flight Leaders who recently had a very big win for the academy and the clan.

He was my neighbor, which made his scent being so familiar make sense.

We hadn’t met yet, and this was not the way to get off on the right foot.

Once he discovered Valen was my mate, I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt bad for him. Argg.

I refocused on the two dragons on the ground and hit the record button just as they sat back on their hind legs, then launched themselves into the air.

I used the handle on the tripod to follow their movements in the sky.

Once they were in the air, I was able to set the camera to auto focus on the dragons and it would automatically follow them.

“Are you recording sound?”

I shook my head. Was I supposed to? I was so outside of my element. “No, just seeing how they do in the sky.”

He reached a hand out. “Good. I’m Zayne. You must be Pep.”

“I am. Nice to meet you.” Nice and embarrassed, that was.

“My mate Ash and I, with our two whelps, live in the cabin closest to yours.”

“Right. I’ve been meaning to stop by and say hello. I saw your little ones playing the other day when I was flying.”

“Have you and Valen been together long?” So he knew exactly what he was doing when he mentioned the coach. How had I missed his teasing? Only me.

I shook my head. “No, newly mated.”

“I assumed as much.” What was that supposed to mean?

“Do you know Valen?” Given that both of them were quite old, it was likely they had crossed paths before. The dragon world wasn’t large, even if the distance between where we lived sometimes was.

“We’ve met a few times. How are you all settling in at the academy?” This alpha was gifted in turning the conversation back to me.

“Great,” I said. “I’ve lived in the area my whole life, and I went to school here.”

“Perhaps my mate and I can come over and formally introduce ourselves.” His smile was kind.

I’d definitely been reading too much into this interaction. Being dishonest with my family and having to cover my real job had me on edge. I was so used to being an open book that this was difficult in a way I hadn’t expected.

“Of course,” I said. “And bring the dragonets. We’d love to meet them.”

“I’d like that too. We were sort of hoping that someone would move in close by that had young dragonets as well.”

My cheeks heated. “I can’t promise anything, but we wouldn’t be opposed to the idea. It’s all very new.”

It wasn’t like everybody didn’t know that newly mated dragons would almost always have a clutch within the first year, if not within the first few months.

It was common knowledge. Still, it had me a bit embarrassed because the only way you had a clutch was by having sex with your mate, and as much as that was natural and normal, the thought of someone else realizing we did that… it made my cheeks burn.

We’d been mated two weeks now, and though there were no signs of pregnancy.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t expecting. Dragon pregnancies weren’t all identical in timelines, like with humans.

Some dragons carried their eggs for weeks, others months.

Then once the eggs were laid, there was no set amount of time before they hatched. They simply came when they were ready.

“Congratulations. It’s an exciting time.”

“That it is.”

We watched as the two dragons finished their routine and landed. I nearly forgot to turn off the camera. I needed to up my game if this was going to be one of my covers.

Valen came to my side, smiling when he saw me. He kissed my cheek. “Pep, I didn’t know you would be out here today.”

I grinned. “Just doing my job. Making sure all the coaches have plenty of footage.” And needing to be near him.

“And we appreciate it.” He winked. He was terrible at keeping secrets. So was I. Secret agents we’d never be.

Zayne held out his hand for Valen to shake. “Valen, it’s good to see you. It’s been a while.”

“Goodness gracious, it has indeed. Two hundred years or more.”

Goodness gracious indeed. The last time my mate had seen this man, cars didn’t even exist. And me? I wasn’t even a thought.

“You get used to it.” I jumped at the sound of another voice. I turned to find Zayne’s mate, Ash, an eagle shifter, next to me.

“I didn’t even see you there. I wasn’t ignoring you. Promise.” Awkward.

“No, you had eyes for only one thing.” He leaned in close. “I suffer from a similar affliction.”

My cheeks heated.

“I’m Ash,” he officially introduced himself.

“Pep,” I said.

“I have a feeling we might have a lot in common.”

I raised a brow.

“Well, you’re also quite a bit younger than your mate, as am I to mine.” If I were to guess, Ash was older than me by a few years.

“Yeah, it’s… different.” Not bad or good. At first, I thought it might be an obstacle, but the more time we spent together, the more I saw how well matched we were.

“You get used to it.” He chuckled.

“Valen is one of my dad’s closest friends,” I admitted. I wanted someone to talk to about this, someone that wasn’t my family, and if anyone might understand, my guess was it would be Ash. Zayne and Valen were catching up on whatever the heck they had to talk about, so the timing was good.

Ash’s brows shot up. “That must be different.”

I laughed. “Yeah. We haven’t exactly told my parents yet.”

“Oh goodness. That… Good luck with that.” He slapped my shoulder. “For what it’s worth, my friend Ollie is in a similar age gap, and he met his mate while he was manny for their grandkids.” He chuckled. “At least you didn’t steal your father’s employee.”

“Were they mad?”

“They were thrilled their father found his new mate. How could they not be? Family wants what’s best for theirs. At least good ones do.”

Please let my parents feel the same way. I was starting to suspect that the longer our mating was kept from them, the worse it was going to be. If only I’d seen that sooner.