"Telepathic!" Teal shouted at him, "wait..." she thumbed through her memories recalling the times people came to their room to talk with him "you mean they didn't even need to come in this room to talk to you!"
"It's not like that."
"Then what is it like?" She was furious
"They came in because I am not..."
"You just said..."
"WE..." he sighed "I said we, as in my species is Telepathic, well the females are anyway." He smiled "Nyala did tell you that we are a Matriarchal society right..."
Teal finally understood what was staring her right in the face "Nyala is your Queen isn't she?"
"Yes." He fidgeted "She is the one female that can have any male she wants without even asking and for some reason," he smiled at Teal "she felt she needed to ask for your permission first."
"Can more than one Dragon bond with a human?"
"We're calling it bonding now?" He rolled his eyes "okay..." he thumbed through his thoughts "I can't actually think of it happening before, but yeah it is possible."
"Great I have the most stubborn Dragon there is as a mate and I might have the Queen as a mate too..."
"Are we back to calling it mate now..." he frowned. "Seriously, I'm just trying to keep up with you." He displayed his playful wide grin for her trying to get her to smile "that and figure out why this has you so worked up."
Her expression turned from overthinking to low, "I've just been wondering..." she moved to the other side of the room away from him and slid down the wall into a seated position on the floor. "What happens when you don't agree with me on something really important" she fought back the anger and sorrow that this brought up. "Will you walk away like everyone I knew did?"
His heart sank as his rage grew "leave it to you to piss me off and break my heart at the same time..." he made his way to her side slowly "I don't think you understand the intensity of your situation..." he stopped in front of her and knelt down to meet her eye to eye. " If I am separated from you in any way, it could kill me..." he paused then reluctantly corrected himself "no, it will kill me." He sighed and wiped the tears that were starting to show in her eyes and stream down her face. "My species remains by their mate for their whole lives and not to be morbid or anything," he tried to wave off anything that might scare her "we do live an unusually long life...but we even die together."
"So when I kick it, your long life is cut short" She shrugged "fabulous."
He laughed "okay, maybe I could have phrased that better... when I say we, I mean the process of mate or bond or whatever you are calling it now..." he felt relief as she smiled a bit "the process itself lengthens our lives" he looked at her and raised an eyebrow "as in you too."
"When does that kick in" she wondered
"Very early on, you will heal better now too."
"How many times have you had people walk away as soon as their lives were lengthened?"
"Me personally?" He sat down on the floor and scooted closer to her. "I've lost count." He frowned as he picked at an imaginary spot on the floor.
As she watched him she felt a wave of kinship wash over her "so you understand what I feel..." she smiled as tears poured out "nobody has ever understood..." her voice cracked and she stopped talking.
The door suddenly slammed open making both of them jump as Nyala came in "What the hell Xerus!" She walked over and slugged his shoulder "why is she crying, what did you do?" She growled at him low and intentional.
Xerus stood up and backed away "I don't want a fight Nyala." He raised his hands, "just calm down"
"Never say that to a woman dummy!" Teal rolled her eyes. She sat forward but didn't want to get in between them.
"Okay, don't calm down...be irrational, after bursting into MY room..."
"Shut up!" Nyala tensed up "why was she crying, what did you do..." she snarled "DID... YOU...HURT...HER..."
Teal quickly leapt to her feet and tried to sooth the situation "He didn't do anything wrong..." Teal was worried that this fight was about to turn deadly and the sudden thought of loosing one of them was making her panic "I get it, you are a quick to anger species and are also very defensive of your mates..." she caught the implications of what this all meant just as Nyala prepared to lunge at him. "WAIT!" She repositioned herself in between them "Xerus and I got into a conversation about my family and how they abandoned me, we were comparing notes about our shared issues with abandonment..." she had her hands up it the defensive position.
Nyala stopped in her tracks and relaxed a bit. "But you were crying, and those weren't happy tears" she looked at Xerus and wondered silently if this was true or she was defending him.
"Yes, being abandoned is not a happy thing so I was crying." She sighed trying not to remember "but I need to ask you something... Only mates get defensive," she looked behind her at Xerus who smiled gently at her "does that mean he is right?" She turned back to Nyala "are you and I mates too?"
"Is this something you have a problem with" Nyala looked down nervously.
"No, I've actually been having some really racy dreams about you..."
"That I would really like to see you to act out" Xerus smiled at the thought.
"Xerus..." both girls scolded at once.
"And just like that I am outnumbered."
"Will you be moving into here too?" Teal wondered.
"No, I don't think it's wise for him and I to share a room." She glared politely at him "but the workers will move me to the room that can adjoins your space when a door is added..." she frowned "as soon as they figure it out."
"And how long will that take?" Teal questioned.
Xerus walked over to the nest and sat down on the edge of it "Probably about a couple of months or more."
"Seriously," she had forgotten the sorrow and was now frustrated "how do we fix this, how can we get them to understand without just telling them..." she started to pace as she thought "we wouldn't want to tip them off about your people..."
Nyala was about to tell her something when she noticed Xerus glaring a don't you dare challenge at her, then she understood his plan to distract her. "I like this she smiled turning up the charm, are we plotting?" She giggled and kissed Teal gently "how fun." Internally Nyala was ecstatic as she saw the remaining traces of pain leave her face "what do we do now?"
Xerus stood up "I make food while you two plot..." he quietly left the room and the two girls cozied up to each other in Xerus's nest where the topic quickly bounced from plotting to babies to mating then finished off with who would have won in the fight, Nyala or Xerus.
Xerus came in with the food for Teal and grabbed some meat out of the trough that the workers kept stocked for him and handed some of it to Nyala. "Are you two really using my ability in the sack to defend your misguided belief that I won't hold up an a fight with a female?"
"Please Xerus," Nyala laughed "yes you beat up Kob, but I can take him with only one arm available..."
"I'd like to see that." He smirked at her as he took a bite of food.
"Is this proverbial pissing match a common thing with your people or does this just have to do with you two still bickering over me?"
"Both" Xerus smirked at her "plus she is really good in the sack when she is angry." He looked at Nyala and smiled, dropping his hand to his side where Teal couldn't see it but Nyala could he started to count down from four...
When he hit one Teal shrieked "that's it, Nyala, would you like to spend the night here," Teal was beaming with pride "that should give them a big clue."
Xerus didn't even bother to see Nyala's face as she accepted, he was to busy enjoying Teals smile.