A smile curled Kara’s lips. “He is grumpy.” She set the pot down and pulled out another mug, but she stopped and stared at it, confused. “This isn’t going to work.”
Noah looked up at the mug. No. There was no way he would be able to pick up a mug to drink out of. “A bowl?” he suggested. It would be messy, but he could probably lap the coffee up.
Kara set the mug down. “I have a better idea.” Going over to one of her boxes, she rummaged in it for a moment. “How about a straw?” She held up a package of bendable straws.
Noah closed his mouth and sucked. There was enough of a pull that he was pretty sure he could use a straw. “Sure,” he chirped, willing to try it. For a hot coffee, he would try just about anything.
“How do you like your coffee?” Kara asked, bringing the pack of straws over to the counter.
“Just some sugar.”
Kara poured a cup of coffee and dropped a spoonful of sugar in it. “Two?”
“That sounds good.”
She dropped another spoonful in and stirred it around. “Where do you want it?” she asked, popping a straw in the mug.
Dropping his fork to the spoon rest on the stove, Noah looked around at the available surfaces. Since he couldn’t pick up the cup, he would need someplace that he could drink from it comfortably. “How about over here.” He hopped down from his box and headed over to another plastic box against the wall.
Kara followed him and set the cup on the lid.
Unable to stop himself, Noah circled Kara, brushing his side gently along her leg. A rumble of contentment sounded from deep in his chest. Turning his attention to the cup, he sat back on his haunches and wrapped his tail around his feet. Leaning forwards, he drew in a deep breath. The smell was amazing. Carefully, he caught the straw in the side of his mouth and sipped at it gingerly. The robust liquid ran across his tongue and down his throat like the nectar of the gods it was. Man, that’s good. He took another long pull, surprised that he hadn’t scalded himself on the beverage. Releasing the straw, he stared at the cup. “It’s not hot,” he said, confused by the curl of steam rising from it.
Kara laughed. “It is hot.”
Noah turned to look at her. She had gone back over to the stove and was rolling the sausages around in the pan.
“It’s very hot,” she went on, “but what did you expect? You’re a dragon.” She turned and looked at him, eyes twinkling with amusement. “You were built to breathe fire. You think a little hot coffee’s going to bother you?”
Noah looked back down at his cup. The fact that dragons were built to handle heat had never occurred to him. Practically every part of him was fireproof. He took another long pull of the coffee before heading back to the stove.
“How would you like some eggs to go with these sausages?” Kara asked as she finished fishing the meat out of the pan.
“That would be great,” Noah answered as he hopped back up on the plastic box. Kara had pushed it out from in front of the stove, but it was still up against the counter. “Can I help?”
Kara laughed again. “You can make sure these don’t get away.” She set the plate of sausages on the counter next to Noah and went to the refrigerator to get out a carton of eggs. “Dragon claws aren’t really designed for handling eggs.”
Noah raised his front foot up and wiggled his claws around. “I don’t know,” he argued. “I’m getting pretty good with these.” He reached out and gently lifted the plate from the counter. The sausages started to roll to one side, and he set it down before they fell. “But I might need a little more practice.”
Another giggle sounded from Kara as she came back with the eggs. “You would be surprised at what a dragon can do.” She cracked an egg over the hot pan. “There are some artists that work solely in dragon form. Says it gets them closer to their wild side.”
“I think my wild side is asleep,” Noah said, shaking his head back and forth. “He’s unusually quiet this morning.”
“That’s not uncommon,” Kara reassured him as she added a second egg. “Do you want these scrambled?”
Noah considered the eggs. He usually like them over easy, but that would make eating them messy. “Over hard is fine.”
Kara nodded and added another set of eggs to the pan.
Confused by her words, Noah pushed Kara back into their conversation. “What do you mean it’s not uncommon?”
“Only about thirty-four percent of dragons have some internal dialog between their two halves,” Kara explained. “The rest are either so in tune they don’t notice their instincts, or they completely ignore the fact they have instincts. Of the thirty-four percent, only one percent experience DID like you have.” She flipped the eggs as she spoke.
“DID?”
“Dissociative identity disorder,” Kara explained.
Noah cocked his head, confused.
“Multiple personalities.” Shutting the fire off, Kara slid the eggs from the pan onto waiting plates and started dividing the sausages.
“That can’t be good,” Noah said, hopping down from his perch.
“It’s not that bad,” Kara said as she picked up the plates and headed to the box serving as their table. “Some of the most renowned dragons suffer from DID.” She set the plates down and went back for her coffee.
Noah stared at his food, considering her words. “How do they cope?”
“They listen to their dragons,” she said, coming back and sitting down on the other side of the box. “As long as they keep that inner dialogue going, there isn’t an issue.”
“And when they stop listening?”
“Then they end up like you.” Kara smiled to ease the truth in her words. “That’s where I come in. I help people work out their issues and learn to live with themselves again.”
Letting her words sink in, Noah looked down at his plate. The smell made his mouth water. Moving forwards, he went to take a bite but stopped before he could get it in his mouth. He wanted it so bad, but he couldn’t force himself to take it. “I really want this, but…”
“Byrd being difficult?” Kara filled in his thought as she cut up her food.
Noah nodded.
“It will be fine,” she reassured him. “You’re just brooding.”
Noah’s mouth dropped open as he looked up at Kara. A sense of satisfaction rolled over his shock as she took the first bite of her food. “Brooding!” he chirped. “But… but… brooding is bad!” Horror stories of brooding dragons raced around his mind.
Kara chuckled. “No. Brooding is natural. Every dragon goes through it. Men more than women. But we have our own issues to deal with.”
The inside of Noah’s mouth went dry as he stared at Kara. He worked his throat, trying to come to terms with this new revelation. “So, what now?”
“What do you mean ‘what now’?”
Noah licked the roof of his mouth. “What do I do now?” He had never heard of anything good coming from a brooding dragon. The thought that he was going through it scared the hell out of him.
“There’s nothing to do,” Kara answered around bites of her food. “You just go on. Eventually, you’ll either find a mate, or your system will settle itself out.”
“A mate?” he chirped. That soft insistence of “Mine!” rolled through him, and he suddenly knew what Byrd wanted. He wanted Kara as a mate. “I can’t have a mate!” Noah cried, shifting his weight back and forth between his front feet in agitation. “I have work and life and… and…”
“Relax,” Kara said. “When the time comes for that to happen, you’ll figure it out. Besides, when your instincts find the right person, you won’t have much of a choice in it. You either follow where your dragon leads you, or he makes your life miserable. Now, eat your food and don’t worry about it.”