CHAPTER 192: A MATE

"What?"

"Mate with me."

"..."

See, there were certain truths about the world—immutable, undeniable, and generally not open to debate.

Like how gravity exists.

How ants don’t have lungs.

Or how all clownfish are born male.

And because they’re facts, one would expect to hear them discussed in that plain, matter-of-fact tone people use when stating the obvious.

But who could have imagined the Dragon Lord Kael Dravaryn saying "Mate with me" with the same tone one might use for "I am a dragon."

It wasn’t even dramatic.

It wasn’t flirtatious.

It was simply factual.

And it was as if everything just stopped.

Somewhere in the distance, the clock ticked once. The stars outside the window twinkled innocently. A lone bird screeched far away, possibly dying in sympathy.

And in one corner of the world, one debatably human aide was severely malfunctioning.

Riley stared.

Then blinked.

Then continued staring because surely his brain was having a stroke.

Time, sound, and reason all abandoned him.

He might have actually forgotten how to breathe because for a good, long moment, all that existed in the universe was that sentence.

Mate. With. Me.

The words echoed in his skull like an apocalyptic hymn.

Who knows just how long had passed

But finally, after several silent seconds that felt like years and one quiet mental scream, Riley’s mouth decided to work again.

"What?" Riley croaked.

Kael blinked, slow and unbothered, like this was the most natural thing to say to your marginally traumatized subordinate.

"I said, mate. With. Me."

He paused thoughtfully.

"Should I spell it, or do you want it in a different language? If so, then be—"

Riley lunged forward, slapping a trembling hand over the dragon’s extremely dangerous mouth before the rest of that sentence could destroy civilization.

"Are you insane?!" he screeched, eyes wide enough to see alternate dimensions.

Kael, whose patience suddenly knew no mortal limits, just looked at him with faint amusement.

"No," he said when Riley finally released him. "But you might actually be deaf."

The dragon lord leaned against the armrest, one elbow supporting his chin as he tilted his head slightly. His golden eyes gleamed, perfectly calm, perfectly deadly.

Riley gawked at him, every nerve screaming in disbelief. "Sir, if you’re not insane, how could you expect me to believe your words? Or is this a really bad joke because you think I’m kidding?"

Kael’s golden eyes didn’t even flicker. His expression remained perfectly serious.

"Since when did dragons joke about taking a mate?"

Riley froze.

For a moment, his thoughts refused to move. Then, at the very back of his already-screaming brain, a flicker of irritation sparked to life.

"I wouldn’t know," he said, voice unsteady, "but what I do know is that mated dragons don’t say things like that lightly. So... so how could you say it so casually?!"

He hoped to the heavens his voice wouldn’t crack, but even if it did, he wouldn’t have time to care.

Because, strangely enough, he suddenly felt ready to cry.

The feeling hit him like an unexpected blow to the chest.

He wanted to call him out—yell, accuse, demand—but the words tangled in his throat.

Bothered?

Hurt?

Confused?

Frustrated?

What was it?

Which one was he feeling right now?

Haa...

Was he really that stupid? To think this was just sexual frustration?

That all of this—the racing heart, the sleepless nights, the unbearable awareness—was just a problem of wanting to jump someone’s bones?

But it had to be that, right?

Because if it wasn’t, then wouldn’t that make it worse?

Wouldn’t that mean it was something else entirely?

Something as bad as unrequited feelings?

A shaky laugh escaped his lips. The kind that didn’t sound amused at all, but rather like someone laughing at their own miserable realization.

He, despite his absolute annoyance, couldn’t imagine being in anyone’s arms but that golden lizard’s.

Because he, despite how wrong it was, actually liked how he fit with Kael.

Worse, even when he didn’t, he liked how Kael didn’t seem to mind. In the end, he’d just look at him with the same golden eyes.

But those eyes... who used to be reflected in them?

Through it all, Kael just watched.

He saw every shift in the human’s expression—the initial fluster, the faint indignation as his brows furrowed, the disbelief when his lips curled into a scoff—and now this, the defeated chuckle of someone who’d just lost a fight against themselves.

Then a single tear fell from Riley’s left eye.

And Kael... couldn’t sit still anymore.

The dragon lord reached out, his movements steady, his expression calm but intense. His hand lifted, fingers brushing lightly against the side of Riley’s face.

The touch was careful, reverent even.

When he finally spoke, his tone carried the weight of something ancient and absolute.

"No dragon would ever think of their own lives so casually as to joke about it."

Riley just stared.

Kael’s hand lowered, but his gaze remained fixed on him.

"And no mated dragon," he continued evenly, "would dare utter such words unless they were ready to cease existing altogether."

"But I couldn’t care less about other dragons."

His next words came lower, firmer, and carried a heat that made Riley’s stomach twist.

"Because more than that, I’m not someone who would share my blood, my bed, or my body so casually."

"So, Riley Hale," he said quietly, voice curling into something that sounded far too dangerous for this hour. "How else should I have responded when my mate said he wanted to bed me?"

Kael looked directly at him, the gold in his eyes darkening to molten amber.

"Huh?"

There was a full second of absolute silence, followed by another one where the only thing functioning in his head was a soft, static noise.

The poor human’s brain, already bruised from the emotional damage of his most recent realization, gave up for a solid moment before struggling to reboot.

"Wait," Riley croaked. "I... I don’t quite follow."

"?"

"Kael, aren’t you already mated?" Riley asked, his voice small but sharp with disbelief.

__

Dragons mated for life.

That was one of the few facts widely known outside the dragon clan.

And while yes, dragons could take partners from other races, in the end, the bond wouldn’t be quite the same.

At least in that way, the dragon wouldn’t have to shorten their lifespan.

But that wasn’t the case for dragons mated to each other.

And Riley once broached that extreme anguish he felt. So it wasn’t as if he had conjured this all up.

So it wasn’t as if he had imagined it.

So why?

"Your mate... wasn’t your mate another dragon?" The words scraped out of him before he could stop them.

He had hoped—no, prayed—that this was still a budding interest. That this aching pull in his chest was nothing more than misplaced admiration. Or maybe infatuation at worst.

Surely, it couldn’t be that bad yet.

Cute, handsome, and hot—he wasn’t going to deny those anymore. He was far too self-aware for that now. In fact, in this case, it would be better to elevate those things in his mind.

Because at least those were things he could find in other people, too.

They probably wouldn’t be as hot or as handsome—what could possibly top a literal fire-breathing being—but someone out there could be cuter, right?

Someone could have a similar pout when denied something. Or that childlike gleam in their eyes when looking at something they wanted.

And surely there were people who would treat his cooking with the same reverence, right?

Maybe they’d even have his back when dealing with the worst people, or stand up for him against institutions or people who held power.

And maybe if he looked extremely hard, he’d find someone who would try everything to practically resurrect him from the dead.

If he ignored everything else—if his feelings really were just that shallow—then whatever Kael’s answer would be, he could survive it.

But then why was his stomach twisting like this as he waited for the dragon’s reply?

Kael’s gaze stayed fixed on him for a long moment, calm and unreadable.

Finally, the dragon lord said quietly, "It was never finished. And never consummated."

Riley blinked. "What? What do you mean, never finished?"

"It’s just as I said," Kael replied, tone unchanging. "The ritual conditions were never satisfied. And it’s exactly why I’m alive."

Riley’s mind went blank. That was the last thing he expected to hear. He didn’t even know that such a thing was possible.

"But that mate..." he began weakly. "What happened to them?"

Kael’s golden eyes shifted slightly, faint light catching on the edges of his lashes. "Are you curious?" he asked.

If he could scream it, Riley would’ve said, "More than anyone could possibly know!"

But it wasn’t only him.

Because in truth, even the dragon lord was curious about his own reaction.

He had always hated talking or even hearing about it.

And yet, when the twig asked him that question, something in him cracked open.

It made him want to answer.

To stop that pretty little head from spinning useless theories and fill it instead with truth.

So both of them were more than just curious.

And Riley, wide-eyed, could only sit there, his next breath hanging on whatever Kael would say next.