Dragon Keep Me

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cass

My phone had already rung three times, and I silenced it again for the fourth. The sun was growing brighter behind the curtains, signifying that I needed to return to reality.

It was Leo calling, and I knew I should answer. I needed to find the motivation to face the problem of finding my dragon.

Looking down at the woman in my arms, I couldn’t muster the strength to ruin this. I’d never lived a more perfect moment in my entire life. Natalie was curled into my side where she had been the entire night. Mick had crawled over sometime and now lay in her shirt pocket.

The woman was a sleeper. It had taken her less than ten minutes to fall asleep last night and she’d slept peacefully the entire night. I envied her for it. I hardly slept well, and last night I wasn’t sure if I had for more than a couple of hours. As a human, it was much more draining. I could go days without sleeping when I had my dragon.

My mind was too busy to find sleep. For the first time in my long life, I really didn’t want to die. It’s not like I had wanted to die before. I was content here with the wolves, but I had always felt a numb indifference towards death. If it happened, it happened. Last night, laying here, I had arrived at the stunning realization that I was desperate to live. To be with Natalie.

I had to find Crux and save myself because I couldn’t imagine a world where I had to leave her forever after twenty four days. Which meant I should get up and get out there so I could desperately search with the others for some kind of clue. Just a few more minutes. I’d just hold her a few minutes longer…

An angry knock shook the door on its hinges, and Natalie jumped in surprise. I squeezed her arm to comfort her.

“Cass! They sent me because they know I’m not afraid to bust the damn door down! You’ve got ten seconds to open it!”

It was Finn, of course, and I clicked my tongue as Natalie shot up, her face a deep purple with blush.

“I’m coming,” I grumbled, tossing the covers.

I opened the door and stared at him expectantly. He scolded, “Don’t look at me like you don’t know why I’m here.”

He glanced behind me and spotted Natalie. When he did, he threw his hands up and then dropped them, slapping his legs, and exclaiming, “You slept with her already?” Quieter, he mumbled, “Lost that bet.”

“Jealous?” I asked. “I know it took you a while to convince Kat. Smart girl.”

He glared at me. “Watch it, big guy. I could beat your ass right now.”

“Congrats, you can beat up a human,” I answered dryly. “Your mother must be proud. Maybe I should find Diane and ask her—”

“Do not talk to my mother,” he snapped, putting his finger in my chest. “You never ever talk to my mother. That was the deal.”

“Right, right, right. You were afraid I’d seduce her. I remember.”

“I was not! She is just too much of a lady to be in your vile presence!”

“But you’re allowed around her?”

His face flushed, and he clenched his fists. Finn was my favorite person to rile up. It used to be Gideon, but he learned not to react and took the fun out of it.

“Go ahead,” I challenged. “Just know that when I get my dragon back, I’ll repay the favor, and Eris better be there to help you.”

Finn growled in my face and turned down the hall, yelling, “Just get to the office!”

As I was closing the door, I heard a crash and smirked. He’d punched something. When I turned around, Natalie was watching me with her fingers laced under her chin.

“You two have an interesting relationship,” she said.

“Finn needs to be checked once in a while. He can get a bit cocky.”

“I don’t know anyone else like that at all.”

“Me? Please. I am the picture of humility.”

She raised an eyebrow, obviously not convinced.

I laid across the bed perpendicular to her so my chest was over her lap. “Good morning.”

“Is it? You look tired, Cass.”

“I’m fine.”

She tilted her head, her mouth falling into a one-sided frown.

“Really,” I assured her.

I leaned forward and kissed her, wrapping my arms around her to pull her to me, but she put her hands on my chest and stopped me.

“No way, we’re already late again,” she said, her cheeks red again. “It’s going to be embarrassing enough! Finn thinks we had sex.”

“They’ll know we didn’t. Our tattoos will change again when…I mean, if we complete the bond.”

The only thing that was going to stop me from having her was if I died, but that was a real possibility.

“Change to what?” she asked, looking at hers.

“I don’t know. It’s different for everyone.”

Natalie

We finally made it to the office after some convincing from me. Everyone, once again, was smirking or giggling. It amazed me how Cass could be so unaffected by it. My face was blazing.

“Cass,” Gideon said. “You are with River, Finn, and Kat today.”

Cass smirked and Finn glowered at his older brother.

“Eris, Leo and I will go with Rhia.”

River said, “Natalie, you need to stay with Enid and Nadaria and take a crash course in water magic. An untrained witch is dangerous to everyone around them.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling disappointed. I wanted to help find Crux, but I understood.

Everyone shuffled around to stand with their “teams”. Before I knew what was happening, Cass grabbed me and kissed me, with full-on tongue and everything. My face was on fire but I returned the kiss, because how could I not?

I heard a whistle, which I was sure came from Kat.

When he let me go, he was grinning, and I put my hand up and covered the side of my face that everyone could see.

He winked and said, “I miss you already.”

“Goddess, they’re worse than you two,” Leo said to Finn and Kat.

“What?” Finn shouted. “No, they’re not!”

He grabbed Kat and dipped her, planting a kiss on her lips with his hand in a firm grip on her backside. She giggled, putting her hand on his cheek and returning the affection.

“You’re shameless,” I whispered to Cass.

He grinned and let me go to Nadaria and Enid. Nadaria had the biggest giggling smile on her face, and I couldn’t bring myself to make eye contact with anyone else. Magic buzzed in the room, and then there were flashes. The others were gone.

“My, my,” Nadaria cooed. “Well, I’m not jealous at all. Not even a little.”

I shook my head and shrugged, but snapped my fingers and said, “Hey, look!” I pulled Mick out of my pocket and he tilted his head at Nadaria. “This is Mick.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” she said with more seriousness than I expected, and then, “Congratulations! I have a cold-blooded familiar, as well.”

“What’s yours?” I asked.

Enid’s was obviously the black cat that was currently resting on her shoulders, but I’d never seen Nadaria with one.

She pulled the collar of her pink dress down, and I recoiled, grinning. A small water snake was curled around her neck. It lifted its head and studied me with the same inquisitive intelligence that Mick presented.

“This is Roux,” she said, petting his scaly back. “He’s my special guy.”

The cat meowed crossly, and we all looked at him.

“I was getting to it,” Enid whispered to him before she announced, “And this is Hades.”

“Are they always male?” I asked.

“Yes, good observation, you’re going to be an outstanding student,” Nadaria said. “All familiars are male. All witches are female. It’s our goddess’ way to balance us.”

“Interesting,” I answered, smiling at Mick.

“And a turtle. They’re a good one to get,” Nadaria continued.

“Why?”

“Our familiars help us. There are two different types. The first have the ability to physically shift to a more powerful being. Hades is this kind. He can shift to an enormous black panther if Enid needs him to. Some believe that he’s a direct descendant of Bastet, Goddess of Cats. Familiars like him are extraordinarily rare, as is Enid herself.”

Hades stared at me with an intensity and power that matched his witch.

“I would love to see his power someday.”

Nadaria said, “Yes, me too. Others, like Mick and Roux, do not go through a physical change themselves, but gift powers to the witch. Thanks to Roux, I am immune or resistant to most poisons, and water witches that possess cold blooded familiars are gifted with a more commanding mastery of the ice property of water.”

“Turtles are cold-blooded.”

“Yes! So you’ll be an ice witch like me! But you’ve already proven that when you froze that root trying to escape from Morga. And you hadn’t even found Mick yet. Very interesting.”

“That’s not normal?”

“No,” Nadaria said. “Water is one of the easier elements to master, but its two other physical forms, ice and vapor, are usually difficult.”

“I still don’t do ice well,” Enid admitted. “That’s why I’m sitting in on your lessons today. I hope it’s okay.”

“Of course! I’m happy to have you here.”

She smiled softly, and I did my best to hold her gaze, even though I instinctively wanted to look away.

“Does Mick gift me anything else?”

Nadaria tapped her cheek with her finger and said, “Yes. If I remember my studies correctly, you should be able to hold your breath underwater for a very long time. As long as he can.”

“That’s amazing,” I said, petting Mick’s bumpy shell. “So, did you go to witch school or something?”

Nadaria giggled, saying, “This is too fun. I love that you grew up in the human world! Witch school! I can’t even imagine such a place! All black robes and broody teenage girls. So much angsty poetry would be written.”

“Cass said witches are solitary.”

“Yes, mostly. I grew up in a coven. My mother is the High Priestess so I am well studied. I’ve read the Witches Grimoire many a time.” I nodded, and she went on. “Covens are groups of witches, but we don’t live together like the wolves do. We don’t like each other that much! At most, we meet twice a month on the full and new moon days, plus on witch’s holidays. We perform spell work those days to invoke blessings, break curses, and do anything else we may need to help each other. Witches do like to be alone, but we certainly are more powerful in numbers.”

“I see. So can I read the Witches Grimoire?”

“Yes, of course. Every witch should. I’ll get you your own copy immediately.”

“Thank you! I can’t wait to get my hands on it.”

“Well, we better get started or I’ll get an earful from River,” Nadaria said, giggling. “She’s so serious, but I love her!”

Enid muttered, “She would’ve written very angsty poetry at Witch School,” and Nadaria let out a wild giggle, covering her mouth to hide it.

I laughed with them, but asked, “What are we doing today?”

She took my hand. “We’re going to play in the fountain!”