by Jill Haven
Bishop drew in a deep breath. “Well, that’s over now, and there are some crack dragons we can get out here if you’d like to try to go on the offensive and root out the remaining Cloud dragons.”
Vince nodded and after that we all sat around and fired back increasingly outlandish battle strategies as the wine flowed.
“Bishop needs to stop staring. He’s freaking Evan out,” Seth leaned closer to me to whisper somewhere around my fifth glass, but he wasn’t quiet enough. Vince’s gaze flew Bishop’s direction and he glowered. Bishop glanced down at his plate as it arrived and some of the tension seemed to be broken. Evan leaned forward to see around Seth to smile at me.
“You’re a doctor, Mr. Hardwick?”
“Yes, and please, call me Mason.”
“And Seth was saying you delivered a baby?”
Evan’s eyes were alight with curiosity, and I wondered exactly what Vince had or hadn’t told him because Vince drilled me with a look that seemed to be a warning. “Yes. Carlisle’s mate is a Divine Omega, and he had a baby not long ago. A little she-dragon.”
“Can you tell me how—”
“Not at the dinner table,” Vince said sternly, and Evan flinched.
“Oh, yes, I can see where that wouldn’t be a meal discussion,” Evan breezed, but he poked at his food after that and didn’t talk to anyone but Seth. Between Bishop staring and Evan sulking and not eating his food, Vince’s mood took a nosedive.
“Evan, if you’re finished, why don’t you go to your room and retire. You look tired,” Vince said after a while.
Evan’s head snapped up and his face flamed that true pink only blonds and redheads seemed able to achieve. He slid a look across the table toward Bishop and smiled slightly.
“Now, Evan.” Vince smashed his fist on the table and Seth’s cup jumped. Evan stood, took his notebook and pen from the table, and practically ran from the room.
“That was a real jerk move,” Seth said. I dropped my hand to his leg, but he shook me off.
Vince glanced at me almost like he was waiting for me to tell my omega what for, and I nearly laughed in his face. No way was I going there.
Vince shook his head and smiled at me but turned to Seth. “You’re a guest, and an outsider, so I’ll forgive you for not knowing better, but it’s not polite to question an alpha’s decisions,” Vince said, some of his good mood slipping back into his voice. “We keep Evan safe, and in exchange, he listens to me about anything I consider important. You’d do well to learn from him.”
Seth snorted, and I could already see him gearing up to piss Vince right off, so I laid my hand over his on top of the table. He turned to stare holes into me, and I slightly shook my head. He screwed his face up, and I braced myself, but he glanced around the room, studied Vince, and something came over his face. Maybe he was able to appreciate that even though we were all allies, this was a slightly precarious situation, because for once in his life, he kept his mouth shut.
Bishop set his silverware down on his empty plate and cleared his throat. “Carlisle is Princeps Draco, but I lead our clan’s dragon guard. We haven’t had a good cause to be out and about for a long while. I would gladly lend my support to your cause, Vince, so long as Carlisle is in agreeance. I’ll stay here until the matter is handled and put myself at your command.”
We all gaped at Bishop, including Vince.
“Uh, yes, that is a good idea, Bishop.” Carlisle seemed confused, at least to me, but he rolled with Bishop’s decision anyway. “That’s… uh, how many men?” Carlisle eyed his glass of wine, picked it up, and drained it.
“Five men, but they’re all over one hundred and fifty and they’re all well-trained.”
“Excellent,” roared Vince. “Avens, bring more wine.”
11
Seth
“Don’t you have patients to see or something?” I asked.
Mason shrugged.
Even though his legs were longer, he was careful to walk with me and not ahead of me, or so it seemed, as we made our way along the path. It wasn’t much of a trail, just a trek worn by deer and a few dragon feet over the last few weeks—namely ours. “I’m not much into this nature shit, you know,” I grumbled, even though I didn’t honestly mind too much. The woods were peaceful in a way the city could never be.
Mason smirked. “I know. You’ve told me every time you come out with me.”
The weather was nicer than it had been, everything getting warmer and more like spring should be. Being farther south than New York where I grew up, this early spring was weird for me, and always seemed too soon in the season, like I got ripped off by not having a real winter, but I was ready for some sort of change this year, so that was fine. We’d come back to Haiden’s house after the debacle with Vince, and I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that whole thing. As much as I’d worried for Haiden, I absolutely hated the way Evan had jumped when his asshole uncle told him to go to his room like a little kid, especially since I was pretty sure he’s older than I am.
I bumped my shoulder to Mason’s. “You still keep asking me to take walks with you, though.” The trailed wound lazily and into the murky woods, which I was still a little jumpy about, but Mason seemed to know that too, because he draped his arm around my shoulders.
“Yep.”
I jabbed him in the side with my elbow.
“You’re not happy.” He wasn’t asking me a question, it was a statement of fact, and he wasn’t wrong.
“I’m not unhappy, there’s just… not enough hustle here. Nothing happening.”
“How can you possibly think that? We’ve literally had a small war raging not too far from our front door.”
Sighing, I leaned against his side. He always held me closer when I did that, even if I was arguing with him. I liked how reliable he was that way. “I don’t know, it’s just too quiet.”
Mason groaned. “What would be perfect? I got you a surprise that I hope helps. I’m assuming you lost some computer equipment at some point?”
Tilting my head back, I tried to catch his eye, but he was busy staring at some trees and smiling like a jackass. “Yeah, why?”
He shrugged. “When we get back to the house, you’ll see.”
“Let’s go now.” I tried to turn around, but he only laughed and struggled with me, nothing serious, just us straining against one another. The strength play got to me fast and I went on my tiptoes to plant a kiss on the smooth, warm skin of his neck. “Now?”
“Cheater,” he sighed. Like I cared if I wasn’t on the up and up. “Walk with me, please? Relax.”
“Urgh, fine.” I sped up so that he had to chase me. He laughed as I made him jog with me through the rest of our usual three-mile stroll through the woods. Before I knew it, we were back at the house and inside. He made me wait while he hung up our coats and I tapped my foot until he picked up a plain cardboard box from beside the front door.
“What is that?” Jade asked. Out of everyone who tended to come through Haiden’s house, I liked her best. She was no bullshit and no drama, at least most of the time. Her long black hair was pulled up in a girly hair-claw thing, and gleamed, and she wore a black shirt that swooped down in front to show her tits off, but she also glared at anyone who looked. Her yelling at people was funny as hell and broke up the boredom around here.
“Mason’s distracting me,” I said as he unboxed what I realized fast was a laptop. I snatched it from him and raced over to the coffee table, checking it over. It looked built out by someone, wasn’t any specific brand. I set it on the coffee table. He seemed confused when, after I opened and started the laptop, I didn’t let the operating system start, but instead pulled up the DOS menu and poked around to see what my new girl was running under the hood.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
I glared at him and he backed away with his hands raised. Jade snickered from nearby. The computer was all right, maybe not exactly—or at all—what I would have chosen for myself
, more like what a little old lady might use if she had a WoW addiction and had spun a wheel to choose storage space. “It ain’t too bad.”
“Great,” he grumbled, but he slid a hand along my shoulder until he was cupping the back of my neck, and I tilted my head back to smile at him. “I have to go back to Charleston tonight. Do you want to come with me, or stay here?”
I held my breath and shook my head. “No.” I hated to admit it, but I felt safe here, and I had no desire to be anywhere out in the open at the moment. This was the third time he’d asked me if I wanted to go see his house in Charleston, but I hadn’t agreed to it yet.
“Is this a buy-off ’cause you’re leaving me?” I forced a laugh, but seriously wondered.
Mason scowled and Jade chuckled. She twiddled her fingers at me, and I waved back and then she made herself scarce. Somewhere farther back in the house the baby cried, but the sound stopped abruptly, and I assumed Haiden must have picked her up. I liked all the hubbub here.
“Not at all.” Mason frowned. “Don’t you like the computer? One of the nurses at work has a husband who works with computers, and he put this together for me.”
Wincing, I cleared out of the DOS and restarted the machine, allowing the operating system to do its thing. How to answer. I liked that he’d tried, but… ugh. Better go for honesty. “I would have rather built my own, but this isn’t a terrible job.”
His face fell, and I felt like shit. I never seemed to say the right thing.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to surprise you.”
“It was sweet.” I stood up and cupped his cheek. He leaned into my palm. My heart fluttered and I leaned up and dropped a quick kiss on his lips, but the sound of the computer humming pulled me toward it. I’d missed a keyboard, and this sweetheart did have a sleek silver keyboard that lit up. The lights would crap out sooner rather than later, but right now it was pretty.
Mason settled his hands onto my waist and kept me with him, gripping me when I would have turned away. “I’m… still learning how you are, Seth. It will take me some time to do all the right things. Please don’t shut me out because I fumble.”
I stared at him and smiled. “I won’t. I mean it. This was a good try, and it’s not a bad gift, and I’m sorry I didn’t jump and down and squeal like a girl, but, you know, that’s not me.” I shrugged. “You’re going with Carlisle?”
“No, by myself. I have to see a few patients tomorrow or there will be hell to pay with my staff. A few people won’t visit anyone else in the clinic.”
My heart did a weird tumble. “Oh, okay. Yeah, I’ll stay here and play with my new toy, don’t worry. No stupid things outta me tonight.” I didn’t bother telling him I could get up to plenty of stupid things with Wi-Fi access and just this new shiny computer he’d dumped in my lap, but he seemed to realize it without me saying so because he gave me a long look.
I guess I was sort of upset about him going, no matter what I said, because I sat there playing around on the computer for a long while, ignoring him, even though I didn’t have anything much to actually do. I posted on Facebook. I checked my STEAM account. I ran through every social media account I had and even checked on Discord, completely stone-walling Mason’s attempts to get me to hang out with him before he had to leave. Instead, I sat on the floor with my back to the couch and my new computer on the coffee table and did what I’d always done with the screen, used it to shut out the world. I regretted the choice to be a prick when he set his bag by the front door and quietly got his coat out of the closet to sling it on.
I scrambled to my feet and ran over. He didn’t glare at me, but his lips were pinned into a thin line. I stepped closer and he didn’t tell me to fuck off, so I threw my arms around his waist. The smells of food cooking in the kitchen had my stomach growling and I heard Carlisle and Haiden laughing. “You’re not going to stay for dinner?”
“No, I should go,” he said softly and hugged me closer to his solid chest.
“You can’t buy my love, you know.”
“I wouldn’t try,” he whispered. I rested my face against his chest and needed to sink right into him. Part of me wanted to change my mind, wanted to beg to go with him, but the thought of being in a city again had me all twitchy, as much as I missed it.
“Please be careful,” I whispered.
He let out a happy little sound and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. That warm, squirmy electricity that lived in my chest freaked out and zipped around inside me and trembled between us. He gasped and then he was using a hand to tilt my jaw so he could attack my lips with his. Everything was hot and frantic and then he pulled back gasping as I ground my hard-on against his thigh. When did I get so turned on? Fuck knows, but I wanted him.
“I’ve got to go, or I won’t be able to,” he whispered against my lips.
“I’m not stopping you.”
He smirked and shook his head, and I hated it when he stepped back. He picked up his bag and left. I thought about going outside to watch him leave but decided I couldn’t without doing something stupid like throwing myself at the car and refusing to let him, so I slunk back over to the computer. I picked it up and took it into the room that Mason and I had been sharing. My eyes were doing a stupid thing where they kept getting wet, and I set my computer on the bed and swiped at them with my fingers until they stopped their crap. It took a while.
Light rapping filled the room from someone at my door. I wanted to groan, but I knew that pattern by now. “I’m by myself, Haiden. You can come in.”
“I know you are,” he said before he even had the door open. He didn’t have the baby with him at the moment, and he was dressed a little nicer than usual tonight, in a sleek tight green shirt and jeans that hugged across his thighs and weren’t as baggy as usual. I whistled and he flushed, slipping his hands into his back pockets.
“What’re you up to?”
“Jade is going to watch Charlotte so Carlisle and I can have a night out,” he said softly. He always seemed to speak like there was a sleeping bee draped across his tongue unless he had a reason to be loud, but I kind of liked that. I’d had it up to the gills with guys who thought they needed to shout and be an ass to be heard.
“That’s nice.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. It was Carlisle’s idea and I’m not really happy about leaving the baby, but whatever.” He frowned, looking perturbed.
“Speaking of asshole alphas who make decisions instead of asking omegas…”
Haiden laughed, low and husky. “Is this about Mason?” He came in and sat himself carefully on the edge of the bed beside me. I could tell he was used to being wary, and that twanged something in me. I knew that feeling.
“No, not actually. We’re almost never alone, us two, you realize that?”
Haiden tilted his head and furrowed his brows as he looked at me. “No, I guess I hadn’t. I don’t really mind. I spent a lot of time by myself in the past, and I like having a house that’s… I don’t know. Full. Happy.” He shrugged. “Don’t you like it?”
“Eh, maybe?” My chest did a weird jig and I stopped trying to think about it. “I like hanging out with you and the kid.”
Haiden gave me a small smile that pulled the scar on his jaw in a new direction. I wanted to ask where he got it, but I’d seen too many scars not to know they always came with the kinds of stories that curled hair. “See, the thing is, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about the omega at Vince’s—”
“Divine Omega. We’re different from regular dragon omegas,” Haiden said in a helpful, let’s get things right, tone that was one of the few things he did that drove me bananas.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I know. We’re Divine Omegas, I just, shorthand, guy, come on.”
“Fine,” he said with a laugh.
“Anyway, let me tell you about his mook uncle. I mean, Vince is all right by me because he helped us get away from Vladimir, but—” So I told Haiden all the bad feelings I’d had for that guy Evan while I was watching
the way he dangled on the end of his alpha uncle’s string while he was at dinner with us.
“Seth,” Haiden said with a sigh, and he waited until I was staring into his clear green eyes before he went on. He shoved up his glasses even though they were already sitting on his nose. “I think maybe you have a problem with alphas. Carlisle doesn’t bother me. I like the way he treats me.”
“Well, yeah, he seems like he’s fine with you,” I shrugged and ducked my head. “And he’s real sweet with Charlotte.”
“He is,” Haiden said softly.
“And Mason’s all right. Sometimes,” I tacked on quick, and Haiden laughed.
“I’d agree there too.”
“But this asshole, Vince—”
“Maybe you just don’t know him well enough to understand how they work?” Haiden asked hopefully, and I scowled.
“Or maybe he’s an asshole. I watched him send Evan to his room like he was a little boy. It was beyond fuckin’ demeaning.” I gritted my teeth and thought about that, and maybe out of everything, that’s what I hated most. He disrespected Evan, and Evan just listened, and that wasn’t okay. It wasn’t right for anyone to live that way.
Haiden surprised me when he reached over and grabbed my hand. “Hey now,” I grumbled, but he just stood and tugged at me until I followed him. He didn’t drop my hand until we were standing outside a room that smelled overwhelmingly like… I shivered. It smelled like sex, I guess, like Haiden and Carlisle combined. He dragged me through the door and my skin prickled. Carlisle sat in a window seat across the bedroom with the baby cradled in his arms. He was talking to her in a low, sing-song voice in a language I didn’t understand, and her eyes were wide, following his every word as she cooed back.