An Offering.

Once Layah has dropped down the hole, I expect that I’ll need to lower the animals down to her. To my utter surprise, each one floats away from my fingers and zips straight down by themselves. That little minx, she didn’t need my help at all, no, she wanted it. I smile to myself as I climb down to where Layah is already magically passing off the animals and orders to the group. Everyone seemingly comes together effortlessly to do a simple task of preparing a meal. It’s wholesome to watch. Back at my home, meals weren’t ever like this. People are chatting happily while they work on skinning the animals, others are setting up ruck sacks on the ground to eat upon, some are pulling out bundles of firewood they must have gathered previously. It’s not an ideal situation, a meal in a sewage line, but these people are happy simply because they’re alive and together.

“Did you have fun?” Jordan appears beside me from where I apparently haven’t moved an inch since I arrived back.

“Yeah, it was…she was amazing.” I say looking over at him and his knowing smile.

“Everyone does their part here, but Layah, she’s in a whole different ball game. She doesn’t need anyone for any of this, but she brought us all together, so we weren’t alone. She’ll warm up to you in time, I think ultimately, she’s just afraid to love someone she might lose.”

“Why would she lose me?” I question.

“We might seem like we’re all put together, but we’ve lost a lot of people along the way. Each loss, Layah takes personal responsibility for, like she wasn’t enough to keep them safe.” He shrugs.

My heart breaks a little for how much pressure Layah is putting on herself. A responsibly she will no longer have to bare herself.

“What can I do to help?” I ask approaching Layah as she builds a firepit with the wood others have brought. She turns slightly cocking her eyebrow.

“You’ve already helped, you hunted for the food.” She says dismissively.

“I definitely did not. I watched you hunt, which was totally hot by the way.”

She rolls her eyes, but I can see the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“How about I light the fire for you?” I suggest hopefully.

“Mia does that.” She points over her shoulder to a small female clearly waiting to be useful. I guess there is only so many things to be done right now.

Layah sighs lightly as she stands, happy with her work and nods to Mia to do her thing, before she turns to me.

“You want something to do? You can help me carry the animals over.”

I smile brightly at her. I know now she obviously doesn’t need my help, but she’s letting me help.

“It would be my pleasure.” I say following her over to the guys who are just finishing skinning the animals on top a tarp laid out on the ground. The two guys step back, cleaning their knives as I pick up one of the animals and bring it back to the roaring fire. It's definitely not a normal fire; from the small bundle of wood there’s a massive stream of fire. That’s so cool, I think to myself, just as Layah picks up a flimsy looking stick and it glows slightly in her hands before it becomes thicker, longer and sturdier. She brings it over to the animal in my arms and spears it straight through the length of it with such ease. I look at her in bewilderment and she cracks a small smile at my reaction before motioning for me to place it over the fire where she’s made a stand out of other pieces of wood that just so happen to not burn. So fucking cool. The flames don’t bother me when I place the animal down, thanks to being a dragon, I am one hundred percent fireproof. A guy I now know as Nick casts a spell and the animal starts to turn over on the fire. 

We all sit around the fire, conversations flowing like we’re not considered criminals. A few people ask me about my village, my family and how life is there. They’re interested and intrigued about what a life would look like where they’re not constantly on the run. I hope that one day they can have lives like that. Peaceful lives. They deserve that.

When the meat is cooked, Layah stands and everyone quiets down.

“Alright everyone, you know how this goes. We have a new member to the resistance. We welcome you, Dylan Rommati, dragon shifter, we welcome you into our family and thank you for joining the cause to bring back peace and equality to all creatures, magic and shifters alike.”

Everyone places a hand across their heart looking at me as they say together, “welcome to our family.” My stomach does a little flip at the show of emotion.

“As a new member, you get to carve the meat and take your pick of which part you want.” Layah says just to me as I stand to my full height in front of her happily. The fire dulls, thanks to Mia and Layah offers me a knife but I extend a single claw in front of her and slice down the rump of the animal, picking it off and offering it to her.

“For my mate.” I say in a low, husky tone, and I swear a small blush skitters across her cheeks as she looks up at me with those pretty multi coloured eyes and pulls it free from my claw.