Once he reaches the base, Aiden dismounts from Draed, and walks inside the base where everyone has gathered around one of the many tables in the common room.The guards stare at him in surprise at seeing him and they take careful steps back when Draed snapped at them."Don't worry, he doesn't bite," Aiden says with a chuckle. "Just don't get too close to him."He then looks at the other members who are all staring at him with shock and concern on their faces. He can tell that there is something wrong but it seems like no one wants to come out and say what's bothering them. He then notices Brad standing near an empty table looking uncomfortable and embarrassed. "I knew that you could do it! Brad over here is a spoilsport." Gregg says excitedly with a huge smile spread across his face.Brad rolled his eyes at him and said sarcastically, "yeah, I'm sure you'd have no problem with me trying to tame a dragon if I was ever able to get close enough to do so!"Gregg throws his hands up at hi
Draed sniffs loudly through his nose and continues watching Gregg closely."Oh no, don't say that," Gregg laughs nervously at seeing Draed's body language change. "It's just that if we're going to work together, we need to trust each other right? And we can't really start by arguing."A small grin appears on Draed's lips before he lies back down on the floor again. The dragon seems to be relaxing now that he realizes this is a human and nothing more than a harmless beast of burden.Aiden looks over at the guards, who appear to be extremely relieved by the fact that the dragon isn't attacking them. [This should be fun.] Lyris whispers in Aiden's mind. [You might end up being accused of murder.] She teases him playfully in her mind.Roooar!Draed roars loudly out of his mouth causing everyone to jump in surprise.The sound echoes throughout the cavern, making everyone cringe from its deafening volume.Everyone takes a step away from the young man who is still kneeling on the ground wit
[R-18]Boom!Aiden cringes at the thought of Draed making so much noise while landing on the other side. But it doesn't take long for him to realize that Draed must have landed that way due to being unsure of where he could land safely without destroying anything in the tiny space of Risa's home compared to its size.Risa opens her door and peers out of it, she smiles at the sight of Aiden standing on top of the dragon and then closes it behind her right away. She runs over to him with her arms spread out for a hug.She body slams him while laughing loudly at seeing how surprised he was by this sudden greeting. Then she looks up at him with an embarrassed expression as he tries to catch his breath. "What were you thinking?" She teases him in an angry tone. "You could have fallen off there... or worse!" She says as she rubs her hands against his chest, giving him a small shake in her excitement."I'm fine," Aiden tells Risa before looking past her and then turning back to her and sayin
"That was... wow..." Risa says quietly as she opens her eyes to look at Aiden who's lying next to her still in his naked glory. "I think I'm going to need some rest after all of that..."Aiden laughs slightly as he stretches and yawns widely, "me too," he replies as he sits up straight and turns on the TV. "It might be a good idea if we get a little sleep before heading over to Collow." He then glances over at Risa.Risa looks down at him with a small smile before nodding her head slowly. She reaches over and places her hand on his shoulder with a gentle touch before she stands.They both stand together and walk upstairs to their bedrooms to prepare for bed. They take turns in the bathroom first since they have so much fun in the shower whenever they're alone like this.When they finally crawl into bed, Aiden pulls the covers up around himself as he leans against the wall.He has been feeling restless ever since he left Collow, he had felt something calling him back there even now, but
He shakes his head slightly as he looks back out onto the road again. He then focuses his attention on his conversation with Lyris, 'I'm listening, I can take it.' [You have 1 week to convince Zin before this opportunity expires, host!]He sighs and takes a deep breath, 'it's going to take a hell of a lot of convincing but I'll manage somehow...'Aiden slows down once he arrives at the place where he needs to meet up with Zin. As he pulls into the parking lot he sees the building he needs to go inside. It was a prestigious hotel where many wealthy businessmen stayed when coming to the city. The entire structure was built in the middle of a large lake, giving it an extremely relaxing atmosphere for anyone staying there. The pool area alone made it seem like paradise even without the fact that it also had several fine dining establishments nearby that served some of the best food in all of Collow, if not the world itself."This place looks nice," Risa comments as they walk towards the
Risa looks back as though the question directed at Aiden wasn't referring to her instead.He takes a deep breath and glances down briefly before looking back up, "yes... I'd love that actually. This is Risa, she's a close personal friend of mine who I've traveled with for many years now..." he explains carefully, watching for any signs of disapproval or even anger on Zin's face but didn't see anything out of place other than her arms crossed tightly over her chest again."Nice to meet you," Zin states calmly before turning towards Aiden again, "I see you're very good friends."'We're more than friends actually.' Risa had wanted to say it right then but decided against saying so since they were still technically strangers themselves. 'I think I'll keep my mouth shut until this situation gets settled one way or the other...'Zin continues speaking after a short pause, "I must admit this was quite a shock when I received word that the High Council was seeking my assistance." She chuckles
She seems to be thinking deeply about what he had said which gave Aiden a small amount of hope that maybe she would agree after all. Zin doesn't say anything right away until a smirk makes its way up her lips and she points at Aiden as she says, "I like the proposition, but, you need to be more convincing enough for me to believe this isn't just a ploy to get close to my company for personal gain. In my line of work, it's pretty challengingly to trust anyone," she adds while leaning back slightly in her chair, "and you'll have to do better than using my name for me to trust you."Aiden blinks in surprise before he shakes his head quickly in disagreement.If she disagreed now, it'll just make the task given by Lyris all the more real; making him feel he needed to go the extra mile to convince her of his sincerity."I understand your position, but I can assure you that I have no intentions of doing that at all. I've told you everything I know about myself so I don't see why that should
She sighed softly as she continued listening intently to hear any signs of either of them changing their minds so they could start moving forward with their plan immediately instead of waiting however long it took for Aiden to come up with something."That would be all for now, Aiden." Zin says, standing up and walking over to the bedroom before turning to him, "I'll leave you two to your own devices now and let you continue with what you were doing before I arrived," she adds before making her way to the door.Aiden glances at Risa briefly before sighing quietly, "was all that talk boring to you?" he asks while shaking his head slightly.Risa gives him a confused smile as she replies, "no... why do you ask?"He shakes his head silently as he looks away from her feeling embarrassed but also relieved that he doesn't need to lie about anything in front of her anymore. He had been worried about whether or not she'd try to attack Zin once he told her about this entire situation between th