Oh, My Dragon (I Like Big Dragons 3)

I smoothed my hand up Ian’s strong arm, my fingers splaying against the soft skin of his inner arm.

“…for whatever harm I caused you after hitting Ian. It was never my intention to harm you in any way,” Keifer was explaining.

My eyes moved from Ian’s arm to Keifer’s face.

“You meant Ian harm,” I said.

Keifer winced.

“I’d received bad news,” he explained.

I raised my eyebrow at him. “And that gives you the right to hit him because you didn’t like what he had to say?”

Keifer scowled.

“He said my son isn’t my son,” Keifer growled, upset all over again.

“No,” Ian interrupted. “If you’d have let me finish, I would’ve told you that your son wasn’t your son when he’s in that state where he’s giving that vacant stare to you like he was doing when I walked into the room.”

Keifer’s eyes crinkled at the edges.

“What are you talking about?” Confusion was written all over Keifer’s face, but I couldn’t say I blamed him for feeling that way.

I was confused as well.

Ian took pity on us and gestured for us to follow him into the house.

I went without thinking about it, taking Ian’s hand like it was the most normal thing in the world to do.

Keifer, however, stayed well back, keeping as much distance as possible between us without actually following so far behind that it became rude.

The moment we entered the kitchen, I walked to the coffee pot.

Ian had one of those old-time ones that you actually had to use a filter with coffee grounds.

Without much thinking about it, I made coffee like I did it every day, wondering if that would be my new normal.

I had missed two of my appointments in the last two days, and I’d miss one tonight as well, unless I could convince Ian to take me to it.

Something I hadn’t thought he’d go for, so I didn’t bother to ask.

“What?” Ian asked, sounding annoyed at something.

I turned to see Keifer staring around him in awe.

“I’ve never been inside here before,” Keifer said. “It’s nice.”

Ian hummed, but otherwise didn’t comment.

“You haven’t asked to come over,” I guessed. “Otherwise he would’ve allowed you entrance.”

Keifer’s lips pursed, and I turned back to the coffee, watching as it filled the last few drops.

“Let me see your phone,” Ian ordered.

I turned to see Keifer handing him his phone, and I reached to the drying rack next to the sink and snagged three coffee cups, placing each on the counter in front of the coffee pot before filling each up three quarters of the way.

I filled mine and Ian’s up, fixing it with milk and two sugars like we both liked.

Keifer’s I left plain, setting the ceramic mug in front of him.

He nodded his thanks, and I moved to Ian, placing his at his elbow and leaning over his shoulder to look at what he was doing.

Pictures.

He was looking at pictures.

He was flipping through them so fast at first I was wondering if he was even looking at them. Then he got to one of a baby, one of the twins, and stopped. He flipped back to the one before it, switched back to the previous, and did it a few more times with the pictures before it before setting the phone down on the counter.

“Look at these two pictures,” Ian instructed.

Keifer leaned over, pushing his coffee up so he could get closer, and studied the two pictures.

“What’s wrong with it?” he questioned.

“Look at his eyes. The left one in particular.”

“There’s a light,” I said, studying it right along with Keifer. “There’s a light in one, and there’s not one in the second picture, right?”

Ian nodded.

“That’s right.”

“What are you saying?” Keifer asked. “Is he possessed or something?”

“No,” Ian said, shaking his head. “He’s gone. In the first picture, the one with the light behind his eye, he’s there. His soul is there.” He flipped to the next photo. “In this one, his soul is gone.”

“Where’d he go?” Keifer asked, his voice rising with worry.

“Your daughter can dream walk,” Ian sat back in his chair. “Your son doesn’t need his dreams. He can walk whenever he wants and he’s aware and cognizant when he’s doing it.”

Keifer blinked right along with me.

“Should a baby as young as these children have such special powers?” I asked no one in particular.

Keifer and Ian shook their heads simultaneously.

“No,” Ian answered. “Girls don’t have any powers unless mated to a dragon rider. For Grace to have them, that’s unusual in and of itself. Dragon riders normally get their powers around eighteen to twenty-one years of age. For Reed to already be experiencing powers as potently as he is, it means that he could be the most dominant dragon rider in the world.”

“And the one and only thing people will kill to have in their employ,” Keifer said, his eyes far away and haunted.