I pitied humans sometimes, that they couldn’t do this. It was the most exhilarating feeling in the world.
As we flew, I kept trying to get Valor to see my side of it. Wasn’t it better to be selfless and let her find love on her own? Someone who deserved her. I know I sure as hell didn’t. On that, we both seemed to agree, but Valor still longed for her. It was a longing so deep, I could feel it in human form.
By the time we got back to the manor, the rain had started pouring down on us. Valor landed, but instead of shifting back as he normally did, he flopped down on the wet grass and spread out. The rain picked up harder as the storm swept through, but he didn’t care. His sadness was bone-deep and made my heart ache.
Rico. Even Valor’s internal voice sounded almost without hope. What could I do to make him see my point?
I wish you could see in yourself what I see in you. You have such great potential. With a little application of effort, you’ve got what it takes inside you to be amazing.
His words made me sad. I appreciated how much he thought I was capable of, but he was wrong. I wasn’t anything special. I couldn’t even adult properly. Thank you, Valor. Thank you for believing in me.
Valor shifted us, but because we’d started from the window, that meant we were in the backyard naked in a rainstorm. I scurried to the little building where I kept a few changes of clothes.
I was hurting my dragon. By extension, hurting myself. For his sake, I had to try to be the man he thought I was. At least I had to try.
Even though I was sure I’d fail.
The rest of the weekend passed with James and Carla totally babying me. With nothing else to keep me busy, I watched a few videos, then took on some projects around the house. There was a bunch of lumber in the barn where we parked our vehicles. James gave me permission to use it, and with a few videos and some dumb luck, I built Carla a shelf to hold her spices. She interrupted me often to feed me, and James frequently checked on me in the barn. After I finished the shelf late Saturday night, I spent Sunday watching more videos. James was great, popping in often to answer questions and leave drinks and popcorn.
I was determined to be more than muscle. More than my trust fund. I couldn’t give Valor what he wanted most, but there were other ways I could make him proud of me.
It was time to make my dragon and my family proud.
When my alarm went off Monday morning, I was already up and showered. I made myself a quick omelet before Carla’s feet even touched the ground, and then headed for my truck. It was time to get this week started on a good note.
I made it to the shop a full hour before Kara did. But my time was spent wisely because I organized her biggest toolbox. It was something she’d been complaining that she needed to take an afternoon to do, and I knew she hadn’t done it. Business had really picked up and there were just no extra moments to steal for organization.
The look on her face when she came in and saw what I’d done made it utterly worth it. She thanked me so many times, I had to stop her and remind her that we had a full load today.
She beamed at me. “I’m going to let you take the lead on the first job,” Kara told me as we walked to the truck.
“Are you serious?” I couldn’t have been more pleased. She had been letting me do some of the work myself, but this would be the first time I took the lead. I had studied the app and our jobs, so I knew it was something to do with plumbing but not specifically what.
When we arrived at the rental house, the reason she wanted me to take the lead became utterly apparent. Her eyes glittered mischievously when she explained the job. The pipes were underneath the house, and it was an unfinished basement-crawlspace combination.
While that meant it was cool down there, it was going to be a dirty, bug-infested job. I tried to get Valor to help me with the bugs, but he still was too upset to respond. If he had put out a little of his mojo, the bugs would have scattered and would not have wanted to come near me.
Unfortunately, that was not what happened. The third time I felt creepy-crawlies over my skin, I had to force myself not to shiver. Even a big, strong dragon shifter didn’t like the thought of spiders on his skin.
That first job went very well, despite the dirt and bugs. It was a simple fix, replacing one pipe, and all those things that could have gone wrong did not. By the time we left for the second job, I had a grin plastered on my face from ear to ear.
“Okay, cowboy, don’t get too excited.” Kara laughed as she looked at me out of the corner of her eye on the way to our next location. “This job is going to be quite a bit more complicated. You will need to observe.”
Hell, I didn’t mind observing. Not really.
The week went on much the same way. Every job that she felt I was capable of doing, she had me
