Broken Path, Starless Tail - 10. Chapter 10

Twin thumps outside rattled his tree, startling Beckett awake in his soft bed where he’d spent the best hours of sleep he’d had in weeks. He bolted up, looking around wildly. Then he collapsed back, groaning. He was still there. He’d slept so hard, dreamless for once, that he’d been sure he’d wake up in his own bed.

Not that this bed wasn’t tons better. His head wasn’t throbbing for once and his stomach wasn’t churning. He wasn’t even hungry. Other than being stuck in this dream, he was overall feeling pretty good.

“Come out, little human,” a voice boomed.

The good mood he’d been in evaporated like spilled soda in the summer sun. “I am not little, damn it.” He threw back the cover he must have grabbed in the middle of the night and the muscles across his chest pulled. He hissed, the wounds from Parallax still inflamed but knitted closed and the redness seemed less.

“Human!”

“Oh!” Beckett grit his teeth and climbed out of the bed. His jeans were on the floor and he grabbed those, pulling the stiff fabric on.

He yanked open the front door and glared out, ignoring the beautiful view in favor of the two large dragons that were taking up most of the space below the steps that led up to the tree’s entrance. They were just as annoying as Ire, but so different. He’d been one solid color of red, smaller, with wings the same color. Ire was tiny, the size of a dinner plate and these guys had eyes the size of dinner plates.

These two were not just one color—or they were, but they were all the colors of that one color that he’d ever seen. One an array of purple, like a shiny gem, and the other black that shone like all the other colors the same way an oil slick reflected the light.

They were rumbling at each other, bickering. Another way they were like Ire.

“—said his name started with a B or something.”

“He’s a human. They have many names. What if Ire was wrong. Besides, what do we say, “Come out, B something human?”

Some of his anger drained away, but he was still annoyed. “My name is Beckett.”

The dragons whipped their heads around to face him. “Oh, there you are,” Purple said. “We’ve been waiting.”

“Just for a few moments,” Black said.

“Who are you, and why are you here waking me up at the crack of dawn?” It literally was. The sun was just barely a crack over the horizon.

“We’re here as a guide,” Black said.

“Well for you to pick one of us as a guide,” Purple amended. “Didn’t Ire tell you this? He said he told you all this. Weren’t you paying attention? This is important.”

Beckett pursed his lips. “He said I’d get a guide or pick a guide, or something like that, but never told me why or how.”

“Why? Parallax told you why. You need to find his tail.” His voice dropped, like that was a secret he didn’t want anyone to hear.

In all that happened since he saw the annoying cat, he’d kind of forgotten that. Nothing really made sense, even that. How did someone find a cat’s tail? If only he could make sense out of what he was doing, it might be easier.

So maybe start with the guide thing. “How do I pick one of you?”

“Come touch us.”

“Together?”

Purple snorted. “No. I’ll go first.” He puffed his chest, the watery sun gleaming on the amethyst scales that shifted with each breath. He stomped forward as Beckett walked down the stairs.

The grass was warm and damp under his bare toes, and then he had a dragon right up in his face. “Whoa, do you mind?”

“Not if you are mine, now let’s go.” Purple puffed out his chest again.

Mine? His? What did he mean by that? Well, by the way he was shifting and the black was anxiously swishing his tail and wings, he’d do better to just do the touching and then ask his questions later. So he reached out a hand that was miraculously not trembling, despite the fact he was about to actually touch a dragon.

He was warm, hard, and… nothing happened. “Umph.” Purple’s chest deflated. “Good-bye.”

Beckett was knocked to his ass when Purple spread his wings and took off into the sky. “Fucking rude!” Now his ass was throbbing. He looked up at the black dragon. “You better not do that!”

“Well, of course not. If Aparin was not your guide, then I must be.” Black leaned his head down toward Beckett and asked in his rumbly voice, “Are you ready?”

“What’s going to happen?” It seemed like they were expecting something to happen. Maybe for once, someone would tell him before it happened.

“I’ll become your guide.”

And… maybe not.

Climbing to his feet, Beckett winced at one more point of pain in his body and then sighed. “All right.” He held out a hand and let Black come to him. This time, his hand didn’t tremble, but when he touched those black scales, they warmed.

He was drawn in, until he plastered his entire front to Black—no, Valrinda’s—chest and the warmth ran through his body and into the ground. Flowers bloomed, their sweet scent perfuming the air, and the sun burst over the horizon to bathe them in golden light.

“Mine,” Valrinda roared.

He had no idea how or why, but Beckett agreed. “Mine.”