I slipped in and couldn’t help but fall under the spell of the space myself, my eyes catching on one of the enormous floor-to-ceiling canvases that graced the rear wall. It was an abstract study in color that always made me feel like I was either falling up into the sky or diving into the ocean, depending on how the light hit it.
Needing a break from thinking about my own shit for a bit, I let myself get sucked in and just breathed. It was a sky day today, which was my favorite, and I absorbed the variegated blues and golds that spanned the canvas, fading into white at the bottom, and a deep indigo at the top.
I sensed rather than saw a presence slip up beside me, evidenced by heat as intense as my glass furnace and as comforting as the sunshine. Somehow, whoever this new arrival was enhanced the sense of flying I always got when I gazed up at the tall canvas, the scent they exuded reminding me of the crisp, clear air on the peaks of Mt. Rainier.
God, if I could bottle that scent and carry it with me, it’d do wonders to keep me in my head when the rest of the universe seemed intent on throwing me off-balance.
Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes, basking in the calm that seeped into me. I wanted to look at whoever this angel of a person was but didn’t want to shatter the moment.
When the air shifted, and I sensed them moving away, I had to act. I wasn’t ready.
“Please don’t go. Not yet. I just need another minute.”
They stopped, returning to my side with their delicious heat and calming aura. “My pleasure,” said a low, deep voice that cascaded over me like warm water, clearly identifying my new favorite person as a him.
My body warmed for other reasons at the sound of his voice, and I finally gave in to the need to see him. While the moment of calm reflection was sadly over, I didn’t mind the potential for other distractions. I opened my eyes and made a deliberate ninety-degree turn, but had to shift my gaze up a lot more than I’d anticipated just to meet his eyes.
First impressions are everything, but I wasn’t sure if I could trust mine. Two things went through my head when I finally craned my neck and looked into a pair of eyes the palest gray I’d ever seen. The first was dragon, the second, incongruously, was the line from the Fate’s Fools song, “Firestorm”: It’s all over now; you lit the spark that sent me up; it’s all over now.
His eyes seemed to flicker and darkened back to a more human gray until there was nothing about him that didn’t look human. He had thick, wavy black hair and a deep tan, and was pretty much the embodiment of tall, dark, and handsome in gray cargo pants and a black fleece Henley. Had I imagined the whole dragon idea?
Except when his lips spread in a slow, knowing smile, a voice resonated inside my mind.
“You’re Bloodline, aren’t you? And I’m guessing you carry dragon blood.”
My eyes widened, and I blinked slowly. “Did you just…in my head?” I pointed to my temple.
His laugh echoed through the gallery, the rich sound making my skin tingle.
“The fact that you just responded answers my question.” He slipped his hands into his pants pockets and rocked back a little on his heels, taking me in from top to toe. His eyes flickered again, light flashing briefly before they returned to gray. I didn’t think he was really checking out my body though. Or at least not just my body. “You have more than dragon blood, don’t you? Your aura is a lovely tangle of elements. Do you know what they are? Is it nymphaea or ursa?”
“Hold up,” I said, raising one hand. “I need a second to absorb this. Are you what I think you are?”
The prospect of finally, finally getting the chance to interact with one for real had me ready to pounce, though I had no idea where that urge came from. There had been dozens—hundreds—of opportunities over the past year to speak to other members of the higher races. They lived among us, blended in so well normal humans had no clue. I could have gone up to any of them and struck up a conversation. Yet, somehow, I never felt the urge. On the contrary, my instincts always compelled me to steer clear. Except now that he’d broken the silence, I didn’t see how I could stop myself. Was I even allowed?
He bit his lip as if he struggled to hold back another laugh. “You don’t even realize what you’re doing, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
This time the response came in my head, not from his lips. “Broadcasting your thoughts. You must have dragon blood to be able to do that, and to hear me too.”
My mouth fell open. “No! I wasn’t…was I?” Oh, shit!
“No shit,” he echoed my silent thought, grinning as my cheeks went molten.
I covered my face with both hands, shaking my head. How mortifying. My first chance having a conversation with a dragon, and I had to just blurt out all my thoughts? I was still doing it, wasn’t I? Oh god, oh god, oh god.
Warm hands gripped my shoulders and squeezed, then, strangely, he pulled me against him, sliding strong arms around me and shushing me softly. I went because somehow sinking deeper into that cocoon of warmth and calm was easier than resisting. By the time he had me completely within his embrace, my body had relaxed, and I couldn’t help but slip my arms around his torso and sigh in contentment.
“God, you feel good,” I said, the words muffled against his chest and probably way too honest, but if I was going to think it, what the hell did it matter? He’d hear my thoughts anyway. “Sorry for the thought diarrhea. You were kind of the last thing I expected to see today.”
“You’ll learn to control it with practice. It’s an amazingly rare thing to see in a member of the Bloodline though. Usually, powers don’t manifest without a high concentration of higher races blood.”
I sighed again, closing my eyes. “So you’re saying I have a superpower? Is it being able to identify the best hugger in the world? Because, holy shit, I feel like I fell into a bubble of hug. Honestly, I felt it before you even actually hugged me. Is that weird?”
“Not any weirder than two virtual strangers hugging each other before they’ve even been introduced.”
I stiffened at the jolt of realization, but he squeezed me tighter, stroking my back gently, and I went practically boneless. “My name is Gray,” he said, his breath gusting across the top of my head. “And you are?”
I turned my head to look up into his eyes, expecting some awkwardness to take over, but it didn’t. It felt like I knew him already. “I’m April. And I don’t suppose you can explain why this really doesn’t feel weird. Like, at all.”
He gazed into my eyes, his flashing again with light. My pulse picked up, and the entire world slowed down, the tiny motes of dust in the air stopped floating, suspended in the sunbeam that fell where we stood. And in that moment, something resembling a halo appeared around his head, a silvery glow pulsing with the rhythm of a heartbeat.
“Sweet Mother, you are powerful,” he murmured. He lifted one hand and brushed fingertips down my temple, his strange, pale eyes still fixed on mine. “Can you see my aura, April? Is that what you’re looking at?”
“I—” My mouth fell open, and I shook my head, struggling to find words. “I’ve never seen one before. Usually, I only feel them, like a static field around someone. Wow.”
It was my turn to raise my hand in wonder. I traced the edge of the glowing field that hovered several inches from his head, curving around his broad shoulders. It rippled when my fingertips passed through, leaving my skin tingling pleasantly, but it offered no real resistance, and I was almost startled when my hand landed on the side of his head. But rather than pull away, I sank my fingers into the luxuriant thickness of his hair.