"Jewel, get off me!"

I take it back; this Night Fury hatchling is anything but shy unless she's around humans other than me. Jewel hatched only yesterday but she's already adored by the entire sanctuary. Valka's come to visit and see her already with her partner Cloudjumper, a Stormcutter. It took a while to clear up our other guests, though.

I had Camo erase their memories. Even the ones of the dragons. They all knew too much, it was a simple precaution. I only erased what was necessary, though. I didn't want it to be obvious that I left gaps in their memories. I just set things back to how they were before my latest kidnapping.

Two sapphire orbs snapped me back into reality. "Jewel, get down!" I laugh again to the playful Night Fury hatchling, who is refusing to get off my head. She licks my face before dropping down onto my left shoulder. "What's got you so excited, eh?"

She simply licks my face again and rawks, black tail wagging. She's just as energetic as Nightshade. I hope she grows out of that a little as she gets older, I don't think I can handle another overactive Night Fury.

I pick her up and cradle her in my arms, smiling to her. She smiles back like the adorable little angel she is. She's taken to me quite well and she loves Nightshade a lot, too. I didn't want to introduce her to the other dragons yet in case she freaks out, but today she's going into the hatchery with the other hatchlings.

Nightshade is obviously coming to watch. Jewel isn't the only one who formed a close bond with a member of her dragon kind. The pair just seemed to click, which makes things a lot easier for us all and is really good for them both. Not that I didn't expect this to happen, if course.

I hope the other Night Fury eggs hatch soon. They're holding incredible beasts beneath their shells, I can tell. It's only a matter of time before they're released. I can't wait to meet them all some day.

But at this point in time I'm perfectly happy to play with Jewel, the newest edition to my largely expanding family that most call a mere dragon pack. Alpine accepted my ways of life for his Pack, which is as close as a human can get to being a full member of said Pack.

It's an honour to even get this close to a functioning pack without their Alpha trying to remove you. But to function alongside the Pack is a different thing entirely. Yet somehow that's what happens on a daily basis and has done so for years.

Jewel starts to scurry around my room, then gets tackled over by a certain Alpha Cave Dweller. "Gordon, be careful with her," I warn, but I don't try to prevent it. It's going to happen either way, knowing those two little balls of energy.

The pair start rolling around, nipping playfully at each other at every chance they get. I can't help but chuckle at them both. They act just like siblings.

My mind drifts to what it would be like if I had a sibling once upon a time. It isn't impossible when I don't even know who my family are. Maybe I'd have a cute little sister who copied everything I did and annoyed me to no end, but at the end of the day we're always best friends again. Or maybe an older sister who I could turn to for fun and advice and an ear to listen to my struggles.

Or what if I had an older brother instead? They'd be super overprotective of me around other boys. Snotlout wouldn't even get close to me... a thought that almost makes me long for them to be real. Or if they were a younger brother instead then they'd always want to play with me and we'd spend all day playing and laughing together.

But no matter what fantasies I can imagine, still keeping in touch with them isn't one of them. The sanctuary is too precious and the same would go for them. If I stay in touch with them it would risk their lives and I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

Though I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking this. Even if they do by some miracle exist I don't know them at all, so none of this matters anyway. Maybe that's more of a blessing than the curse it appears to be.

But at least little Jewel is happy, her big blue eyes are sparkling with bliss. After a little while she hops up into my lap, licking my face. "Ew! Hey, stop that!" I laugh, scooping her up and holding her at arm's length. She wriggles around a little, giving me her cutest face and biggest puppy dog eyes.

"Go play with Nightshade," I chuckle, setting her down on the floor. She lets out a tiny roar before scurrying off, her little pink tongue lolling out the side of her mouth.

I love that little angel. She's the cutest thing. I hope the other Night Furies will be like her when they finally choose to hatch. I'm already trying to decide on names in advance for them all and so far I've got one or two names per gender set up already.

Nightshade comes over with Jewel  riding on his head. Both of them spot me and smirk mischievously. "Um... what are you guys about to do?" I question nervously, backing up, but I'm stopped by something warm and fluffy that scurries over behind me.

"Valkyrie, you're in on this too?" I ask in surprise. She shakes her head, ranking with laughter. I guess she just felt like joining in the fun. Jewel rawked the plan to Valkyrie and the little Woolly Howl hatchling mimicked the smirks on the faces of the Night Furies.

All at once I'm licked to death.

"Ugh! Get off, you jerks!" I try to sound stern but my unstoppable laughter isn't helping. More dragons hear my shrieks and hurry over to see what's happening, then join in once they know I'm not hurt.

And as much as I wish they'd stop, I enjoy myself. Because here I am, surrounded by my family. Maybe not my birth family, but my true family. I was meant to be here all along. I was always born to be who I am today.

I was born to be...

The 'Dragon Master'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello to everyone reading this book.

This was the last chapter of The 'Dragon Master'.

But!...

I will be writing a sequel.

It's called The 'Dragon Goddess' and will hopefully be published soon.

Thank you to all of you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the book!

And at the top is just something I love so I figured why not put it up?