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“Stop contradicting me and do as I say. I’m still your mother.”

Twig laughed. He couldn’t help it. Even though he’d known his mother would probably come around to him being with Taylor, he’d been terrified she wouldn’t. She might have hidden her feelings for a while, but Twig would have found out eventually, and he wasn’t sure what he would have done then. He didn’t want to give up Taylor, but his mother mattered to him too.

Thankfully, he’d never have to find out. His mother had accepted his relationship, and while she might not be Taylor’s biggest fan just yet, there was room for that to grow.

That was, if Twig actually did what he was supposed to do and talked to Taylor.

There was a chance he’d misread what Taylor had said, or at least that was what his brain kept telling him. He’d heard the words, though. Taylor wanted him. That was that. There was no reason for Twig to doubt it.

He suspected he would anyway, right up until this conversation—and probably for a while after.

“Go,” his mother said, pushing him again. This time he got up. His heart was racing, his stomach was churning, and he was terrified, but he knew he could do it. He knew he should. Taylor had been honest, and it was time for Twig to be too. Hopefully this would be the last time he had to feel this scared about something like it.

Once he and Taylor were together, there’d be no more first dates, first kisses, or confessions to get through. Part of Twig was almost sorry about that, but another part was eager to get past all these firsts and find out what he and Taylor would be like once they were actually together.

Since there was only one way to find out, he left quickly. His mother didn’t try to stop him, though he hadn’t expected her to. She knew what he wanted, and she supported him, as strange as he still found that. Maybe that was a sign he was doing the right thing. If even his mother agreed, there was no way this was wrong. There was no way Taylor wasn’t the right person.

But he’d only find out for sure once he talked to him.

* * * *

TAYLOR WASN’T ALL THAT surprised to open his door and find Twig standing there. After the conversation they’d had earlier, he’d expected to hear from Twig sooner rather than later. He hadn’t expected it to be tonight, but clearly Twig had wanted to talk to his mother first, and now here he was.

That could only mean one thing, right? Or was Taylor fooling himself? Maybe Twig was here to let him down gently. Maybe he was going to say he’d changed his mind, that things between them couldn’t work. Taylor wouldn’t even blame him. Twig had every right to want whatever he wanted, no matter how Taylor felt about it.

But Taylor didn’t want to catastrophize. For now, nothing had happened except that Twig was standing in front of his door, looking jumpy and nervous. “You want to come in?” Taylor asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Twig said, pushing past him, which made Taylor laugh. That, in turn, made Twig pause, his cheeks darkening, which was adorable.

“Come on in,” Taylor said, closing the door.

“I’m nervous, okay?”

“Why are you nervous? You already know how I feel. You know what I want.”

Twig sighed heavily. “And I know how I feel, and what I want. I don’t care what other people think.”

“Except your mother.” It wasn’t an accusation. Taylor cared what his own brother thought about all this too, after all. Thankfully, Palmer was on his side.

He wasn’t sure Twig’s mother was.

Twig stopped in front of Taylor and faced him. “I talked to my mother. I can’t say she was thrilled to find out about us, but she wasn’t surprised, either. She said the two of you have talked?”

“A few conversations here and there, yes.” Taylor had been trying to get on her good side, just in case something happened between him and Twig. He was glad he’d made the effort, even if he hadn’t been sure it would work.

“Well, she told me to follow my heart. She said she would’ve preferred it if my heart had led me to another dragon, but it doesn’t matter because it didn’t. It led me to you.”

Taylor had told himself not to hope earlier. Now he couldn’t help it. Twig was saying exactly what Taylor had wanted to hear.

He stepped closer, gently resting a hand on Twig’s hip. Twig sucked in a breath, the sound loud between them.

Twig didn’t wear clothes, like most dragons didn’t. It had taken Taylor a few days to get used to that when he first arrived, but it hadn’t fazed him in a while now—or at least, he’d thought it hadn’t. Right now, though, he could feel Twig’s smooth, warm skin under his fingertips, and it made him think things he probably shouldn’t be thinking about while Twig was in the middle of confessing his feelings.

He didn’t move his hand, though. Twig hadn’t asked him to, and he didn’t want to.

“It would have led me to you even if my mother had been completely against us,” Twig murmured. “She matters to me, but so do you, and while she’s my past and the most important person in my life so far, I hope you’ll be my future.”

“I want to be,” Taylor said, his voice suspiciously close to a croak. He was getting emotional. How could he not? He was getting everything he’d never let himself dream of.