Page 64 of Tempting the Tiger
To embarrass you by asking him about your sex life, of course
Treasure
Don’t. You. Dare.
You’re all learning BSL?
Ayo
Bryn! You’re here!
Kit
Of course we are. We’re not heathens.
Cal
Skye’s learning too, but he’s out flying.
Ethan
If I swear at you it’s because I don’t know anything else.
I chuckle as the messages continue, my dragon generating a gentle warmth in my chest. When I look up, Cal’s expression is as neutral as always. Then his lips twitch up at the corners. He pockets his phone and signs ‘house,’ ‘ball,’ and ‘cat,’ making me grin.
‘Again,’ I sign with plenty of attitude.
His barely-there smile widens a fraction and he repeats the signs before looking towards the manor. Raj approaches us, in human form this time. Cal claps me on the shoulder before zipping off so fast he blurs.
Raj greets me with a soft kiss when we reach each other, then leads me through the woods to a bench which overlooks the lake with the manor beyond. The wood is damp and starting to rot, the metal supports rusting, but since I’m covered in mud and it holds our weight, it doesn’t really matter.
I angle myself towards him, careful not to touch my knees to his so that I don’t get his clothes dirty. ‘What happened with Jet?’
He rolls his eyes. ‘So you know that little tiger toy in my flat? That was leftover from this prank Jet did a while back. Anyway, he got more of them and filled the entire manor kitchen so when I went to cook dinner, they were staring at me from every shelf,inside every pan, filling every worktop. Then he started playing this song called “Eye of the Tiger.”’
‘So you chased him?’
‘Of course!’ His hand movements and expression are adorably indignant.
‘Is this something I’m going to need to get used to?’ I try my best to look amused in the hope that he didn’t notice my first instinct was to rush over and catch Jet for him.
His smile is knowing, damn it. ‘Afraid so.’
The sun dips behind the horizon as we take in the view, the last of the weak golden light casting long shadows on the lake that Ayo spent hours practicing a purification spell on this morning. Even covered in scaffolding, the manor has a majestic quality.
‘You know, I was thirteen the first time I came here.’
I’m not sure what prompts me to tell him. Maybe our conversation a few days ago about getting to know each other better, or perhaps just a desire to explain why this place brings out mixed emotions in me.
He tilts his head, a slight furrow to his brow. ‘Ayo said he’d played with a dragon shifter child once, but he didn’t think you were the right age.’
‘That was Milo. I’m not surprised Ayo doesn’t remember me. He was only five, and I barely saw him.’
His brow furrows. ‘What happened?’
I take a deep breath, my hands heavy. ‘You should know first that my dad hates that I was born Deaf. He insisted I learn to lip-read and go to speech therapy even while my mum did everything she could to make sure BSL was my first language, including teaching Milo and Zara to sign before they could speak. It caused so many arguments.’
His frown deepens. ‘Your dad didn’t learn BSL?’
