Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Oh.
Wait. These were his mates. Both of them watching him with wonder written all over their faces. He looked them over, greedy for every detail. Their dream selves looked precisely like their awake selves, except these guys were wet for some reason. But damn, weren’t they beautiful? And his. All his.
Vasily was even larger in life, quite possibly the tallest man he had ever seen before and very filled out with muscle. Amaru would have ever so much fun exploring all that lovely, lovely muscle. He had a sharp look to him, with angular cheeks and a chiseled jawline. He was every bit the ruggedly handsome type and Amaru had absolutely no complaints.
Luka, on the other hand, was almost the opposite. He was shorter, more of a willowy build, with pale skin and shoulder length white-blond hair that Amaru could not wait to sink his hands into. He looked ethereal, which was a lie, because there was obvious strength there.
For a moment, Amaru shoved aside the frustration and ire as pure joy engulfed him. He couldn’t begin to understand every emotion he felt just then, but it didn’t matter, either. He was awake. He had his mates. They’d come for him, answering his call, and nothing could make him happier.
Well, not true. He absolutely had to get his hands on them.
His instincts wanted him up and off this bed, and he rolled. In his mind, he’d just roll up onto one knee, smoothly. In reality, his body creaked from lying still for too long, and it ended up more like a lurch, as fully discombobulated and ungraceful as a toddler who hadn’t figured out how to manage their heavy head yet.
Both dragons rushed forward, catching him, a hand on either shoulder. Feeling their skin against his made it all so much better. They were real. Not a figment of his imagination, or a dream, but truly here with him. Amaru beamed at them, lifting a hand to hold on to either arm. Somewhat for balance, mostly because he had absolutely no desire to lose contact with them anytime soon.
The desire was so strong that he had to do something. Had to express it somehow. He caught a hand from each of them and kissed their knuckles. It still did not feel like enough, but he didn’t think jumping them straight off the bat was a good idea either. It was fine. They’d get to kiss lots later. They were definitely startled by the gesture, but both grinned at him too, pleased. It’d be a pleasure getting to fully know these two.
“You found me so quickly,” he said to them both, smile so wide it threatened to crack something. “I’m incredibly lucky.”
Their smiles turned complex, and he realized belatedly that they probably would not understand him. They also weren’t alone. A slender woman with angular features and short black hair regarded him with the same fascination. From her bag, she drew out a charm necklace and offered it to him. He did not recognize the design per se, but he could detect enough of the elements to guess what it was for and promptly put it on.
“You understand me now?”
Vasily immediately relaxed. “Yes, we can.”
“How are you?” Luka asked him. “Are you hurt at all?”
So sweet, his Luka. “Not at all. Stiff. Very, very stiff. And mad. Mostly mad. Irany and I will be having many, many words. None of them will be nice words, and I might need a sharp, pointy object at hand during the discussion. But that’s later. Thank you, Magess, for the charm, and who might you be?”
She came in closer as she answered. “I am Evora, head mage of the Ice Dragon Clan.”
That made complete sense to him because he knew his dragons were ice dragons. “Oh, of course, you would have brought her with you to help wake me up. Good, good, it’s going to be a chore to do this all on my own. Nice to meet you, Evora. I’m Amaru of Sousa.”
She seemed powerful, which was to be expected of a mage in her position. Amaru had a thousand questions to ask, but first and foremost, he wanted his clan awake. They had all slept quite enough.
Being an efficient sort of person—fine, nosy, call it what it was—he decided to work and talk. With his mates’ help, he climbed completely off the table and headed for the nearest family member. “I am really, truly upset about this whole thing. I should not have slept so long. I don’t know how long it was, mind you, but I can tell it was far too long. Damn idiot, we really shouldn’t have gone with his design—”
Huh. Wait, why weren’t they waking? Frowning, he cut himself off and focused once again on the spell controls carved into the platform. He activated one, then another, trying to turn the sleep spell off and turn on the full function and release spells.