Read Online The Bond (Book 2) by Adolfo Garza Jr. - Free Book Online

forepaws, clear inner eyelids closed, and her beautiful gold eyes staring at him.
    What do you mean? he asked.
    We can kill them now, even with what we know.
    Aeron smiled. He loved her uncomplicated way of looking at things. That’s true, dear-heart.
    Lunch was big bowls of beef soup with crusty bread and cheese on the side, though Aeron paid it little attention. His mind was occupied with nahual and what to do about them. More dragonlinked would help. And him getting better at spells, performing better under pressure as a sorcerer, would definitely help. But Anaya’s point not withstanding, he would still like to find out more about the horrible creatures.
    He was still thinking about them when he and Willem returned to the Dragon Stable afterward.
    “What’s on your mind?” Willem asked as he closed the door behind them.
    “On my mind?” Aeron looked in on Anaya, she was sleeping soundly, then sat down on the couch.
    “Well, at lunch you were pretty quiet, and you didn’t seem, I dunno, yourself.” Willem sat next to Aeron and lay back into the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Something’s troubling you. You hardly even spared a look at your food during lunch.”
    Aeron twisted his mouth. “I’m just thinking about nahual. It seems like we’ve again reached the limit of what we can learn about them, even with the ability to get to attack sites faster.”
    “I see.”
    “So much about them remains a mystery, you know? Why is it we’ve yet to come across a male? And if there are no males, how do they reproduce? Is not having males why they need animus to reproduce? And do they really need animus for reproduction? I mean, yeah, I came up with that theory, but it’s just based on the slim evidence we have. What if they use animus for some other reason? What if they don’t use it at all and they kill people for something else? And where are they even coming from? Are they like spores or something, all being emitted from one place, or are they more like a plague of evil rats breeding and spreading across the lands?”
    He let out a frustrated breath and said, “There’s so much we don’t know about them, and it bothers me.”
    Willem raised his brows. “You really have been thinking about this.”
    Aeron nodded.
    “Listen,” Willem said, taking Aeron’s hand, “you shouldn’t worry too much. We’ve got a plan to deal with them. We’re going to get more dragonlinked and fight those things when they try to get near people. We’ll keep as many as we can from hurting anyone else.”
    Aeron looked at Willem’s hand clasped in his own. It was warm and strong. He squeezed it briefly in thanks and said, “You’re right.” Then he chuckled.
    “What?” Willem smiled at him.
    “Anaya. She said we don’t need to know anything more about nahual.”
    “Oh?”
    “She said we know plenty enough about them now to kill them.”
    Willem laughed quietly. “She’s so adorable in how straightforward she is.”
    “Yeah.” Aeron smiled. Then he looked at Willem, all humor gone. “Were you serious about wanting to be a dragonlinked?”
    “Of course.”
    Aeron bit his lip. After a moment, he said, “Don’t tell anyone, but I think you’re going to be the next one.”
    “How do you know?” Willem’s full attention was focused on Aeron.
    “Last night, just before we landed, I told Master Doronal that we needed more dragonlinked if we wanted to keep everyone in our region safe. He agreed. And asked if I thought you would mind taking care of a dragon.”
    “Really? That would be so amazing! What did you tell him?”
    “I told him I thought you would love taking care of one.”
    “Golden! Though, I’m going to try not to get my hopes up, just in case.”
    The distant sound of a door opening and closing on the other side of the building signaled the first arrival for the meeting. It didn’t take long for everyone else to arrive and find seats around the table.
    Cheddar, who had taken