21

I continued answering the questions of the people that were brave enough to approach me. I did politely refuse to answer some people's questions, and there was a negative reaction each time I did, but there were some secrets I simply wasn't willing to spill. Like what happened to the boy I was impersonating when I first appeared. No one would believe what had happened to me, and that I actually was that boy, but it was safer to simply refuse to answer. That particular question wasn't something an ordinary person would know to ask. 

That simple question had gotten more of a reaction then I planned on giving. It was the first question that had made me physically move my body. The movement wasn't much more then a slight flinch, but it was enough that people were going to start asking more. Eventually people would continue to ask until they got a definite answer. My plan was to have Wyatt Nix resurface as a separate persona if at all possible. 

Chances were the government would still know that it was a lie, and would eventually demand an honest answer. I wouldn't want to give them that answer, but I could only push them so far, and expect them to do what I want while doing so. The humans weren't used to playing with others. I found myself mentally comparing them with spoiled children who always got what they wanted if they demanded it enough times. I would only tell a select few the truth about what happened to me, and Schnider was not among them. 

That blind man was someone I believed I could trust with this information simply because he wouldn't benefit from spreading it. Schnider would be too busy trying to figure out how such a thing was possible, and how he could recreate my condition. Even if someone were to tempt me with that, you can be human again, bullshit I'd just ignore them. I had a very capable female by my side, and my magical talent would have largely gone to waste under the current system so my death was pretty much guarantied had I stayed human. With how much trouble I'd caused it would only take one person announcing that I was the former dragon for me to be assassinated once I returned to be human so I was largely better off being a dragon. 

That didn't mean what the spell had done to my mind for the first few years after becoming a dragon was any less disturbing, but I was largely over it, and while a small part of me did mourn my former humanity I'd mostly accepted that that part of me was long dead. I didn't even mind the military drawing the wrong conclusion. Aurora moved closer. Stretching a large portion of her body up against mine as she basically forced herself beneath my wing to give me a snuggle. She'd sensed my sour mood, and moved to ease my mind. 

While my bonded could help me when I got this way they weren't nearly this effective. That was one of the main differences between a rider, and a mate. I took in her scent or I guess lack of a scent since we dragons had almost no scent at all. Not that I would have been able to smell her anyway since a dragon's sense of smell was really weak. It was nearly dark by the time our group returned to us. 

The rescued humans had long departed to return to whatever was left of their lives after being gone for over a decade. We'd only brought along those that had family to return to. It took one hell of a lot of convincing to get that information from the military, but I would have hated leaving behind someone who had no family left. I knew from experience how sad that kind of existence was. I opened a portal, and we returned home. 

Yes. I smiled to myself. This was my new home. No one was going to take it from me. Especially not a few too many fat rich cocky men who didn't know what it was to struggle. 

End book four. 

Wyatt Nix will return in book five. 

A world at war