The Bird on the Ground (M/M Romance) Monster Island: Book 2

Chapter 7 - Relief

I wanted to do something nice for Yoryn. The day after the storm, he made us both breakfast, even though he forced himself to work well into the night right before. He was dedicated to his work, and he still found it in himself to get up early and cook.

We ate together on the front porch as sunlight filtered through the branches above us. It coated him in dappled beams of light, and it made his eyes shine. I nearly choked on my hashbrowns.

And then he cleaned the entire treehouse. He wiped all the mud up and decluttered the space, organizing both of our things onto different shelves. Though he warned me he might make a bit of a mess again without meaning to, the gesture was more than enough. He was putting in effort, and it made something in me squirm pleasantly.

He'd since left to oversee some of the construction happening further inland, and I was scrambling. What do you even get a dragon shifter? Gold? Jewels? I wasn't exactly rolling in wealth. I paced across my treehouse, wracking my brain for ideas. The boards creaked under me as I walked. I wish I knew more about what he liked.

I paused. I wouldn't know what Yoryn would like, but I did know someone who would.

I almost got lost trying to find Elijah and Azthyn's cave. Those two were pretty reclusive. Elijah was sociable, but his dragon boyfriend was territorial. Truth be told, I don't think Elijah minded. I think some part of him enjoyed the stake of ownership. But it made talking to them both a little awkward at times, mostly because they were constantly all over each other. I suppose that's what you get when you pair a sex demon with a dragon shifter, one of the most powerful shifters out there.

I found the den after almost two hours of walking through the woods. After this, I would definitely need to wash the dirt from my wings. Debris was practically sticking to me at this point.

Azthyn's cave was marked by a roaring campfire. The flames never went out. The secret was some kind of oil that dragons secreted. It's what lets them breathe fire, and it apparently makes for great fuel.

They didn't have a door. It was more of a narrow opening in the rocks, shrouded in a darkness that almost seemed artificial. I shuddered.

"Knock, knock," I called, hoping Elijah would be the one to answer. Thankfully, he was.

He stepped out of the cave one long leg at a time. Elijah was the closest thing I'd ever seen to a supermodel, but I suppose as an incubus that made sense. He was all long limbs and a pretty face. He had a gorgeous smile too, one that made you look twice. He had dark curls and sparkling eyes, and recently, he'd grown a devil-like tail with a heart-shaped tip and nubby little horns.

"Seamus!" He greeted me with a hug that made me smile. Elijah always gave the best hugs.

Talking with Elijah was usually pretty easy because he did most of the talking. He told me all about how things were going with Azthyn. Apparently, he'd finally convinced the dragon to take him flying. He'd been so paranoid about Elijah falling, that he refused to do it until he was fully awakened as an incubus. It made sense. Before coming into his powers, Elijah was basically a human, and he wouldn't have survived the fall had anything happened. Elijah was also going to work at the new library that was opening. He'd already gotten the okay from Nathan, and he was excited about the prospect of work.

"Don't get me wrong," he said, talking mostly with his hands. "I like not having to work, but I'm not a furniture-building master like Azthyn. I've been craving something productive to do, and I'm hoping that spending time with other people in a professional setting will help Azthyn out with his jealousy issues." I nodded along like a good friend, but unfortunately, Elijah was a good friend too. "I'm sorry," he said. "I've just been talking your ear off. How's it been living with Anderson?"