Wes

"You cannot hang out with them all your free time!" I insisted.

"I don't. I just want to help them. Besides we're having fun!" Molly retorted and added.

"Gotta run Kain is waiting for me!"

"Wait! I'll go with you." I said in a desperate attempt to keep an eye on Molly as I knew mom was expecting me to, when she let her daughter hang out with my friends. I regretted it almost immediately. Kain and Molly when only two were... a lot. Constant inside jokes and my sister's happy laughter made me stupidly jealous of Kain. Even though I was pretty sure they weren't more than friends, and that Molly loved me and our parents most in the whole world and would never consciously do anything to hurt us...

Heat in Hammersmith line was so stifling, that even those two kept quiet all the way to Shepherd's Bush and I could enjoy my own thoughts about how best to break to Garret what I've found out about the Trove.

The thorough research of the Order's ways required I took numerous trips to their HQ, where Commander Knight seemed annoyed with the order, that I had priority in use of Patriarch's office before him. Anyways it looked like I had enough pieces of the puzzle to figure out the rest...

"Hi!"

"Hi."

"Hi Wes, nice to see you again."

"Hi Autumn, how do you do?"

"Oh quite great actually! I'm so excited about our new project." Autumn chatted while dragging my sister by her hands to their kitchen.

"Hi Wes!"

"Hi... Vivian right?"

"Right." Said Opal joining us.

"Sit down." Autumn ordered and poured boiling water into three mugs, that she placed on the kitchen table. We took the wooden bench opposite to the dragonels.

"Do tell! Do tell!" Autumn coaxed sitting down at the end of the table. She had no idea how gorgeous she was, curvy body and smiling face with bright eyes and most beautifully freckled cheeks I have ever seen.

"So, she forgot about it and only used it yesterday, after I reminded her. She'll write you a testimonial, but I can already tell you, that my mom's face looks like ten years younger after only one application!" Molly said happily among happy exclamations and I felt my insides freeze to ice.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded amongst cheers.

"I made mom try dragon blood cream and it worked." Molly said happily.

"Dragon blood cream!?" I did my best not to yell but might have failed.

"Uhm. We need money to get free from Talon and Riley. We found work but it doesn't pay well enough and our time is about to run out. We want to raise money for a farmhouse in countryside, where we can hide our hatchlings and live in peace." Autumn said seriously.

"Madison said that dragon blood could heal wounds and then we talked to Molly about it, and she suggested skincare. Apparently humans are obsessed with great skin and are spending loads of money on this." Opal explained.

"Good for you. But what does any this have to do with my mother?" I was loosing patience.

"Oh we needed to test the cream on a human to see if it worked. Madison and Molly have perfectly young skin already, maybe occasional acne, but we need to target older women, because they have money. And Molly volunteered her mom who has mature skin to try out our product." Autumn said smiling.

I whipped my head towards Molly who looked as if it dawned on her, she's done something wrong.

"You've been experimenting on our mom?"

"Not really, it's an all natural product we've whipped of shea butter, cacay oil and one drop of blood..." Molly explained.

"You said it's made her look younger after one application! It sounds quite potent to me. What if it's effect continues or affects other parts of her body?" I asked shocked by her recklessness.

"Like her liver and kidneys get younger and healthier?" Molly asked defiantly.

"Mom has bad liver and kidneys?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, from eating antidepressants all those years when you were gone." She said accusingly, but her eyes widened at expression of pain, that I couldn't suppress.

"Sorry Wes! It wasn't your fault." She said with tears in her eyes.

I looked around noticing more or less concerned faces of dragonels, realising different stages of human training they must have achieved before they were shipped away to the breeding facility for the rest of their lives. Opal being the least animated and oldest of them.

Kain's brows frowned and his lips thinned in perfect expression of tense concern. This was none if their business. Any of them.

"We need to talk. Let me take you home." I said to Molly and left. She followed without protests.

"Aren't you going to say anything?!" Molly said on our walk from the station.

"Let's get inside." I said and continued towards my appartement.

I really didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure how dangerous such a face cream could be, but I knew how dangerous dallying with dragons could be. And yet I didn't want to scare Molly. I wanted her to understand, and that made my task all the more difficult.

Once at my flat, I brewed a pot of tea and poured her a mug before I sat in the armchair across from where she was lounging on my couch.

I looked at her, taking in every detail. Brown hair freshly washed, hanging from her slim shoulder in a shiny braid. Round brown eyes, brows raised in expression of badly concealed concern. Royal blue tea with some sort of pink hoodie. School uniform skirt and knee high socks, black boots. She looked like a child, so innocent and carefree. She fingered the hem of her skirt nervously before she picked up her mug.

"Are you ready to tell me off yet?" She asked.

"Tell you off?"

"Isn't it what you're about to do?" She asked and I could see her discomfort at the prospect.

"No. I want to tell you a story. Maybe Kain have told you that, maybe not. I want you to know it, so that you can make more informed choices around dragons." And I told her all I knew about Garret's blood transfusion, his immortality, shield of St George, Stealth's and Garret injuries.

"We know so little about this yet. I just want you to be careful." I finished.

Molly's eyes were wide open from horror.

"You think mom can die from going to King's Cross?!"

"I really doubt that. Garret was pumped full of Riley's blood and it's changed his DNA. I just want you to be more critical of what they ask of you... And make sure you get a cut of that face cream business." I added.

"I'm sorry Wes. I really didn't think it could be this dangerous. I just wanted to help them." Molly said subdued and my heart swelled with love and pride.

"I know you did." I said and moved over to the couch to hug her.

I was about to say we should go, when another thought that has been nagging me for a while crossed my mind.

"Molly? What's this between you and Kain?" I asked slowly, watching her reaction.

She looked ahead thinking for a while.

"I don't know. We are friends, but it's way more than what I had with any friend before." She said.

"How so? What do you feel for him?" There I laid bare my greatest concern. That Molly was in love with this hatchling, who probably only saw her as his sidekick in this theatre adventure of his. That she'd suffer like I did...

"I don't know. I like him. I feel safe with him and we have plenty of fun together. He makes me feel special." Molly said and I suppressed urge to tell her that she's special even without a dragon tagging along.

"Let's get you home, I'm hungry." I relented.

Fuck. Nothing has prepared me for what I saw. Mom didn't only look younger than me, she also looked better. As if she's spent her life soaked in luxury of exclusive beach resorts and SPAs, pampered and nourished with no care in the world. And no wrinkle on her face! That was enough.

I hugged her.

"Wow mom! What happened to you?" I said what was expected.

"What happened to me? Don't I look great?" She said frowning, she didn't look ten years younger, this was way more. I felt sick to my stomach.

Molly looked shocked too.

"Mom what happened?"

"The cream you made me test hun. It's like magic. After it worked so well last night I got so many compliments at work, that I applied it to my whole body after coming home. Full body lift and not one stretch mark, I cannot wait to show your dad everything." She finished with a wink.

Molly groaned exasperated.

I struggled to harness raising panic.

"Where's dad?" I asked.

"He's out helping your uncle Henry to paint their new flat. But he said he would be home for dinner. Molly love, I think he should try that cream of yours too, it's amazing!" Mom, or this brat claiming to be our mom trailed off going to the kitchen followed by stunned Molly.

I went to the small cluttered bathroom, the bathroom where I got my very first bath.

I went through cosmetics on the mirror shelf and quickly located a small glass jar with a bit of a whitish cream on the bottom.

I thought about what I was about to do. Would it be bad for my dad to get back the excessive years he's aged, when I was away?

But he wouldn't be getting back his time, only his younger looks... at unknown price. And I loved him, the way he looked anyways...

I briefly considered stealing it, but couldn't bear destroying my parent's peace like this. I lifted it and tossed it to the floor with full force at the same time pushing everything else off the shelf. The glass cracked with satisfying sound and I exclaimed.

"Mom!" I opened the doors.

"Mom, I'm sorry I have a headache and looked for some painkillers..."

I stood in the middle of the mess when my dad entered the hall.

"What is this?" He asked in tired voice.

My mom jumped into the bathroom and the way she looked for the damn cream sent a cold chill down my spine.

"Oh no darling!" She's exclaimed picking it up. The damn bottom held, only the jagged pieces where the sides have been.

"You'll cut yourself, let me sweep that mess away. I'm so sorry, I'll buy you back everything, that got broken." Rattled out, but she held onto the piece of the jar with the cream and turned to my dad, who apparently haven't seen the transformation yet.

"And who... Omg Monica! What happened to you?" He looked horrified and I suppressed the urge to thank him dramatically.

"It's this cream. Kain's friends want to start their own skincare line and needed to test their product on someone and I tried it and it's better than face lift, it's like magic!"

"Monica! You don't know what kind of chemistry is in this, with your kidneys..." My dad started seriously and I would have hugged him if mom wasn't in the way.

"Wes dropped it to the floor, but there's a bit left, let me..." She took a bit on her finger and lifted it to his face. I watched too stunned to react. But my dad caught her hand and shook his head.

"No thank you, we need one person who can testify, that you indeed are you. You don't look anything like on your documents pictures or your younger self for that matter. Let's clean this mess up and eat." He said in tired voice.

"Don't you want to look younger?" Mom asked shocked.

Dad looked her deep in the eyes. Middle aged man looking at twenty something.

"Do you want me to look younger Monica?" He asked sadly.

My mom stopped as if waking from some trance.

"I love you however you look." She said fiercely.

"Likewise. Let's eat." My dad said delicately taking the broken glass from my mom's fingers.

"But it wouldn't hurt to lose those bags under your eyes." Mom added.

Dad smiled.

"Okay. For you. Do not say I'm not trying to look great for my girls... and boy." He said and I shifted uncomfortably at this old habit.

Dad wiped mom's fingers with his and run them under each of his eyes and clapped himself on cheeks mockingly.

"Happy? Let's get rid of this glass before someone cuts themselves."

We had a pie with chips. Molly was absent-minded and my parents for once were too distracted to notice.

"Don't say it's a cream. No one will believe you. You simply had a surgery that's all." Dad insisted.

"But it's true! And who would believe I could afford surgery anyways?" Mom scoffed.

"Molly got some fairy thing from her friends, probably by mistake too. Let's not create too much fuss. You look lovely." He said leaning in for a kiss.

I reminded myself that she was his age as I averted my eyes from them and cursed the day Talon found out about my existence.

"There's no code Garret. And if you were thinking you'd know that. The Order might do its combat the modern way, but all the rest is conservative as fuck." I took to Garret next morning, I wanted to give him the help he asked for and get fucking away from him and the dragons before all said BOOM. By now I had no doubt it would. I was considering moving countries.

"So I just go to the Bank of Vatican and present them with the Shield of St George?" He asked shocked.

"Only the first time. There's a Vault of Order's business in there. Documents of ownership and lists of assets, numbers of bank accounts and codes to them. All stored there in case the Order got wiped out and the minted Patriarch was left without access to your ressources.

"Why Vatican though?" Garret asked.

We were in his bedroom, that was proofed against prying eyes and ears by Madison. She was okay. I tried to hack her security system and it took me whole five minutes. I showed her a couple of tricks, to improve. She pouted a bit but it took me ten minutes after that and this was as good as it gets.

"Why not?" I answered. "There's nothing specific, but I have an impression that they might be storing a dragon proofing item there too. So be careful. I told him and clapped his shoulder.

"Gotta catch Riley. Good luck with everything mate. Don't call me."

I said and exited quickly. Madison waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. She tried to lure me into the kitchen for tea a chat, but I refused.

"I only came to give Garret intel about the Trove. I must go now."

"Get them in check that's all." I said to Riley, who didn't take my story as seriously as I found fit.

"It's real people's lives. That you promised not to mess with when you signed the treaty with the Order." I reminded him.

Riley has changed. Whatever Ember has done, made a bigger number on him than on the soldier. Fucking Sallith'tahn business, I suppressed irrational resentment. Even without that Riley... I'd never... Hell.

Now he looked at me in this new way of his, all sad and resigned.

"I miss you." He said shocking me.

"I miss us, what we did together... There was nothing we couldn't do. We held the goddamn hatchlings in check, while dodging Talon and the Order. It all started to fall apart after you left." He said.

"No. It all started to fall apart when Ember showed up in our Iives!" I retorted and continued more calmly.

"Your life mate mate. This was fate." I amended.

"There's a life mate and there's a rider." Riley said and I froze at the implication. That he knew, what I knew.

"There's one life mate and millions of potential riders." I corrected him.

"Come back." He pleaded.

I stopped and looked at him, at the cruel beauty of his chiseled jaw, golden eyes, dark hair, broad shoulder. I registered the ache of longing in my chest. I loved him so much, I've loved him for so long. He was my first crush. I loved everything. The addiction to adrenalin, the ability to bullshit anyone, the fiercely glowing heart I knew cared deeply for great many dragons and people. The blue monster flying through night sky drunk with elation. Blowing fire. Protecting me. Making me risk my life. Thirteen years of pining. I didn't have whole eternity though.

"My family..." I started.

"Oh you can visit them anytime! Run this underground with me. I can't do this without you!" Riley insisted.

I saw in his eyes, safehouses, sharing rooms and beds, secret missions, narrow escapes. He was offering me everything I thought I wanted. But I was getting too old for this life. And cream or not my parents weren't going to be here forever... I didn't have forever to chase dreams that were lost.

"I can't mate." I said sadly. "My parents are getting older and I got Molly."

"Molly can tag along. She's into Kain, they can do their theatre thing wherever." Riley said and I got enough of this.

"No! My sister cannot tag along with you towards life of flying bullets and dragonfire. Kain would never let that happen. He wants her to be a stage-mom in one of the West End theatres, not a corpse in an unmarked grave. And he is right about you too. You cannot live without it. You'll always run into fire even though you pretend to want to play it safe. And I cannot risk myself or Molly for your cause. I will never break my parent's hearts again. I will not risk, they will never find my body! This is my life now. Checking code of sport betting sites and playing bridge with my family." I said and stormed out. Because Riley didn't look angry and ready to retort. He looked sad and that I wasn't strong enough to resist for longer time.

Wanna come over for some sex and pizza?

I stared at the message. I could get something out of the rest of my Saturday I guess. But also lying on my couch and maybe go over to my parents later on felt easier right now.

No thanks

I replied to the dude I hooked up with right before Riley arriving to London. We texted sporadically. He was really good to some things, but overall he was a self-absorbed jerk and I was extremely busy recently.

Why? Don't you like pizza?

I put my phone away and reached for the remote control.

I haven't gotten past intro when the buzzer sounded. I dragged myself from the living room to answer the door phone, hoping it wasn't Jimmy with pizza.

"Hi Wes, it's me. Can we talk?"

I opened the doors briefly considering if this was God's punishment for turning down Jimmy's perfect cock.

Riley stopped in my tiny livingroom looking around. He has been here a couple of times, but usually dismissed the surroundings as he perched on the edge of the sofa and looked incredulously at the tea I was drinking.

This time he looked closely at everything. His brows rose at the guitar hanging on the wall behind the couch.

"Molly is teaching me to play." I explained.

He nodded and sat down.

"Wanna tea?" I asked.

"Coffee." He said and I went out to my kitchen.

As I waited for the water to boil I wondered what he wanted this time.

I hoped he wouldn't try to convince me to join him again.

Not that I thought, I would give in. I have used all my lives during those thirteen years together and had no illusion, that I could keep this pace up for much longer. No, I would rather take care of my parents, when they get older. Be uncle to Molly's kids, if she ever gets any. This normal life, that I was just discovering after a lifetime of narrow escapes, was wooing me with repetitiveness, making plans, having expectations.

Riley took a sip of his hot coffee.

"So this is it?" He asked.

"What?"

"This life you want. This claustrophobic flat, writing code for some idiot who cannot turn on his own computer by himself, and guitar lessons from a teenager?" He said.

There was no disdain in his tone. Only amazement. So I bit back retort about, how he kept on ignoring how closely I was related to this teenager, how lovely she was, how he's done nothing to get to know her better. I guessed the beef with Kain made it difficult, but he didn't even try.

"You came to mock me for wanting peace?" I asked him.

"No, but I really cannot understand. We were good before, were we not?"

I sighed deeply.

"You're so full of shit Riley. You are the chaos incarnated and you don't even know how addicted you are to danger and tension. Talon bred you well, perfect basilisk. But I am a human, I have a family whom I care about, I want to live and be there for them. For people who waited for me for fifteen years, who almost went bankrupt trying to get me back, who's lost their health from worrying about me. They love me and I love them. Don't ask me to cover you, next time you try sneaking into hell itself. " I said not expecting him to understand.

"What's happened with you mate?" Riley was taken aback by my monologue.

"I'm thirty, it's time I get over this teenage crush before it kills me. I've followed you through fire and storm and I regret nothing. But now... I can still have a life. I want to try it." I said.

Riley watched me with blank expression.

"Please leave, I have a date and need to get ready." I said as a wave of embarrassment washed over me at the implications of my confession.

Riley nodded and left without a word. Very unlike him. I thought briefly if I would ever see him again and then dismissed the ridiculously dramatic notion.

I sat down and reached for my phone.

Nah. Take me out and we'll see fuckboi.

I typed and went to the shower.