Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

time I look at this picture I think of the same few things. They are, in no particular order: he's waiting for someone, he's away at university (studying magic), and that he's had something of a sheltered life.
    Sincerely,
    Connor

    genre: paranormal/fantasy
    tags: college; non-explicit; shifters (non-wolf/cat); friends-to-lovers; magic-users
    word count: 9,239
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    SKIN OR SCALE
    by Jaime Samms
    University was supposed to be the pinnacle.
    Alec watched dragons wheel through the pearly blue spring sky just outside his window. Some of the smaller ones rested on the battlements above his room, tails dangling where he might have been able to reach them if the bars across the opening weren't quite so close together.
    His studies had taken a back seat to the angry heat of the mating fever he couldn't answer that boiled through his veins. He'd worked so hard to get here, and three years in a row, he was locked inside while his fellows took to the skies.
    It wasn't fair. He'd been a muckraker, from a family of muckrakers, and now he was a student, and a good one. He could learn everything the elite students could and more. Any magic any of them could perform in their human skin, he could do better.
    He groaned with the throbbing ache thudding through his body. It was becoming clear it didn't matter how much dragon theory he mastered. Something was missing. He'd never get the chance to put any of it into practice if he couldn't join the others dancing above the clouds.
    The metal, cool where he rested his burning forehead against the barrier, chilled even more as one of the creatures outside neared. A tiny dragon, no bigger than his own head, nosed at him through the bars. Its thin, agile tongue flicked out to coast along his skin and he stuck his fingers out to it. It nibbled at him, licking and chewing, like it could taste the fever simmering inside. Slitted golden eyes watched him, and he wondered if this was one of the university students, or a visiting dragon from the mainland.
    Yet another thing he should be able to tell, but couldn't because the fever messed with his ability to use even the skin-magic he could feel so strongly the whole rest of the year.
    "Get away from there!" A big hand slammed against the bars and the dragon squealed and dove away.
    Alec groaned at the noise and vibration and rolled to lean his bare back against the cool stone wall.
    "What are you thinking, Alec?" The owner of the hand settled on the bed, close enough that Alec's raised knees toppled to rest against his shoulder.
    Alec shrugged.
    "Try and keep your head, yeah?"
    Alec lifted the weight of his eyelids to peer at his visitor. "Easy for you to say, asshole. You can join them any time." He flicked his gaze toward the window, but didn't bother to lift his head enough to see out.
    "Don't be crass."
    Alec closed his eyes; too tired to bother worrying about how refined he sounded or didn't sound.
    "Come here."
    "Robert—" He didn't get to finish the protest before the bigger man had him wrapped up in muscled arms.
    "Try and relax."
    Like he hadn't been trying since the dragons took flight over a week ago.
    "You should be out there," Alec said, ignoring the way his body seemed to want to sink deeper into the man holding him. "Flying."
    "I will. Later."
    "You're their prince. They're here because of you. "
    "And I'm here because of you, and you need me more."
    "I'm just your skinny, geeky roommate. You have duties, and they don't include me. I should be serving you."
    "We already settled that." Robert leaned a bit away, took Alec's chin in his hand and lifted his face. "What did we say about that?"
    Alec pursed his lips, letting the heat of the fever and the glaze over his eyes rule his thoughts for a moment. Funny how they created a hazy glow around his roommate that set the bigger man apart from the rest of the mundane world.
    "What did we say?" Robert asked again.
    Alec blinked and the haze dissipated and he was looking at just Robert again: his roomie and fellow student of almost three years. "That you would look after me." Alec allowed finally.
    "That's right." He tucked Alec back under his arm, rested his chin on Alec's sweat-soaked blond head and began to hum.
    "Don't."
    "Shush. Now I have to start over. Just hold your tongue and listen."
    Alec closed his mouth and did as he was told. This was his prince, after all, even if he couldn't shift and fly with him. He still belonged in the dragon world, no matter