335 1.3

"You know what happens when I do?" I glanced up at the waning light in the sky.

We didn't have much daylight left.

"My bond advances," Ethan smiled at me, "My body gets stronger."

"Don't forget about the price that comes with," I snorted, "The stronger the bond the harder it is to break." I stared down at him, "An Advanced bond like the one you want could be lethal to sever."

Ethan smiled after huffing out half a laugh, "You think I'm worried about being stuck with you." he dropped the smile, "The only thing severing our bond is death."

"You're sure?" I growled.

The feelings that came across the bond as Ethan opened it up. It was a rare thing for Ethan to open up to me in such a way that allowed all his memories, and emotions to flood me. He kept his emotions walled off most of the time. Locked up in the back corner of his mind. His face twisted slightly as the full brunt of his anger, and pain was let loose. All the anger, and pain was dull.

Past anger bottled up for use when needed. I allowed my own mind to open fully as well. Ethan now knew of my system, and his eyes widened slightly. I'd never opened myself enough for any of them to know of the system. That was my secret.

We stared at each other for a long while before I handed the cup over tenderly. Ethan rolled it in his fingers for a few seconds as he digested the information. I was doing something similar myself as I processed Ethan's childhood, and emotional damage. Cringing slightly as my mind crossed the memory of how Ethan thought of me when I was smaller. He literally thought of me as something similar to a puppy when I was a hatchling.

Which did explain some of his behavior from back then. A part of him still thought of me that way. While he was shuffling through the part of my memories that were viewed only with one eye, and my early days with the system. We both came to some sort of understanding in that time. Ethan chugged the cup in a single swig.

The nasty flavor flooded my own mouth. Catching me off guard. I hadn't expected this kind of side effect. Ethan slammed the cup down. Taking time to make sure the liquid stayed down before spitting the taste out onto the ground.

It didn't work very well, and now his mouth was dry. At First nothing happened. Ethan looked at me tensely. Expecting something to happen. We both did.

I was nervous. This was the first time I'd done this with any of my bonded. An uncomfortable heat started to rise in Ethan's belly. Our connection was still open wide, and I could feel it as well.

"This isn't too bad," Ethan shrugged after a few minutes, "If this is all..."

Ethan's voice cut off as he convulsed. A choked scream made its way out of his throat. I didn't think to quiet him since I was immersed in his pain. My tail wrapped around him as I pulled him into me instinctively. Taking as much of his pain onto myself as I could.

I didn't know why I was willingly putting myself through so much pain as I curled my body around my bonded as he suffered. Cutting off the connection to the other two so they would not feel the pain I was taking in. They would know something was wrong. They would have sensed the pain fliting through our connection, but they would not know why. I felt a pang of guilt.

It wasn't my intention to worry them. I wasn't able to think of it anymore as it was buried under Ethan's pain. A serious of pops came from his shuddering body, but his mind had cleared slightly with me taking in so much of his pain. A slight twinge of guilt coming through our connection. A tense chuckle made its way through my teeth.

Ethan's teeth were clenched so tight that they might crack as he suffered through seizures, and white hot pain. Yet he was worried about me. None of this was pretty. I didn't like it at all, but I could feel our bond strengthening. I could feel Ethan's body growing stronger as he convulsed.

My tail wasn't wrapped around him all that tight, but it took more, and more muscle to keep him in place. I didn't need to use the peak of my strength to keep him still, but his body had grown far stronger then a normal human would be capable of without using some sort of ability. After what felt like far too long Ethan stopped convulsing. His breathing steadied, and the pain faded quickly. So quickly that it felt almost as if the pain had never existed in the first place.

A ghost of the pain Ethan had felt made him shiver as the heat faded. It was time for us to go back. I reopened the small connection I had to Savannah, and Jax. I hadn't realized just how small my connection to them was until Ethan's bond had advanced. I lifted him gently as he fell into a deep sleep.

Tucking him into my wing as I walked back toward the guild. My growl cut through the quiet of the night.

*"You should not have followed me," I growled into the shadows.

The lizardman emerged from the grass. They'd stayed at a distance when Ethan was awake, but now that he was out cold they'd dared to venture closer. They would try to convince me to come to the priestess again. The one closest to me opened his mouth to speak. The tip of my tail struck him so hard that he was flung off of his feet.

I felt the bones at the tip of my tail break. It hurt more then I thought it would, but it wasn't enough to make me flinch.

*"You viewed something you should not have," my voice oozed a bestial superiority, "Be glad that I lack the strength to kill you right now."