Page 18 of Miles's Pact
"Nothing, kiddo. How's the food?" Papa asked, and I sighed.
"It's good, really good," I said, then paused as Duckie mirrored my sentiment. "Duckie likes it too."
Papa beamed at us as he took a sip from his opaque tumbler, though everyone here could scent the blood. I was used to it by now, and I was glad to see Duckie wasn't unnerved by it either.
"Thank you, thank you. So, Duckie, what did you do before you came to Mistvale? Did you drift around or did you have a fixed place?" Papa asked, and I glanced over at Duckie, curious about his answer. I hadn't known how much I could ask him about his past without making him uncomfortable, so I'd stayed on the cautious side. My father had no such compunctions.
Well, I traveled all over. I migrated every winter with the other ducks, and came back in the summers. Sometimes I'd spend weeks at a park if it had a pond, people-watching. A few months ago, I got hurt when I was flying too low. That's when I ended up at an animal sanctuary. Someone there realized I was a shifter, and they sent me here, Duckie explained, and Mateo repeated it out loud for the dads while I mulled over it.
I couldn't imagine howboredhe must've been surrounded by all those actual ducks. Even at the park, he wouldn't have been able to communicate with the people he was watching. It sounded like such a lonely life.
What could've been bad enough to force him to live a life of solitude for all these years?
Duckie
After dinner, Gus decided we should play a board game, and they spent twenty minutes explaining the rules of The Game of Life to me—I was sure I'd played it before, but it'd been so long that I didn't remember any of it—before setting up the board. Mateo played the dice for me while I moved my piece with my beak. We played for hours, and while I was nowhere near winning, I had more fun than I could ever remember having.
By the time the game ended, it was past eleven, and Gus and Cassian convinced us to spend the night, even though the twins' house wasn't that far away, and it wouldn't be unsafe for us to walk there with the whole 'a dragon protects this town' thing. Still, none of us could say no to Gus's request, and it became downright impossible when he promised to make chocolate pancakes in the morning.
"Duckie, you can sleep in Micah's room if you'd like," Gus said, and I blinked, then glanced at my mates.
"That's a good idea," Mateo agreed, then added, "You can sleep in my or Miles's room if you want, but I feel like you'll be most comfortable there."
Micah's room sounds good. He won't mind, would he?
Nah, not at all. He rarely stays over anymore, which makes sense. He has three sexy mates to cuddle with, Mateo said with a waggle of his brows, and Miles groaned, making him chuckle.
"Can you not talk about how sexy you think Micah's mates are?" Miles asked out loud, catching his dads' interest.
"What's this now?" Gus asked, making Mateo's eyes widen.
"Hey, now. You know I didn'tmeananything by it. Ace, remember?"
"Aren't you the one who said 'Just because I'm ace doesn't mean I don't have eyes, Miles?'" Miles asked, throwing him under the bus as he turned to me. "Come on, Duckie. I'll show you to Micah's room."
Leaving Mateo with their dads, Miles led me up a large staircase, and down a hallway to a large bedroom The stone walls were covered in colorful tapestries, one of which was a large pride flag.
One June, I'd participated in a Pride parade in Seattle, and turned into something of a local legend as the 'duck who loves Pride.' I'd seen many flags like this one then, though I didn't know what they all meant.
Micah's room was warm and welcoming, despite the chill seeping from the stone walls.
You don't see many stone houses these days. Is there a reason your parents chose this place?
Miles offered me a gentle smile as he opened the windows to air out the room, then turned to me as he leaned against the desk near the far window.
Dad did, yeah. When he bought this place, his magic was unstable. He later found out it was because he has some warlock magic in his veins, and he was trying to use it the wrong way. But back then, he was afraid of his powers, and thought it would be harder to burn down a house made ofstone, he explained, though I got the feeling it wasn't the whole story.It was a good thing he picked this place.
Why so?
Miles grinned, then pointed at the floor.Dad found Papa buried in the basement of this house.
My eyes went wide, and I flew to the edge of the bed.You're kidding! How did he end up there?
His sire put him there to keep him safe, but couldn't get back to free him because she was still being followed. It was a whole thing, but Dad found him and figured out a way to wake him up. They've been together ever since.
Wow.I shook my head, stunned by his dads' story. It sounded like something you'd see in a movie.
Hey! I wanted to tell that story, Mateo whined through the bond, making Miles chuckle.
