A suffocating feeling rose in Xuan Long's chest. It was a mix of grief for the years lost and a desperate, raw hunger to know the man who had shared his blood.
He felt like a lost hatchling all over again, looking for a warmth he had never known.
He gripped the jade pendant so hard his scales started to itch. He wasn't just a discarded egg. He was a son.
"Father..." he whispered, the word feeling strange and heavy on his tongue.
But the moment of silence didn't last. The warmth of the jade reminded him of another warmth...the warmth of his own home.
He realized that while he was chasing ghosts of the past, his current family was back at the treehouse.
He thought of Su Qinglan's gentle smile and the way his cubs hissed at him for attention.
He couldn't stay in this house forever. He had found the truth, and now he had to protect the future he had built. He stood up, his eyes turning cold and sharp again.
