Page 22

Merritt

“I didn’t pick the spot. Honest.” I just hadn’t told them no. “I’ll keep it short and meet you over at the council’s office if you’d like that better.”

Daddy raised one eyebrow, making his views on that clear. “You think I’d leave you alone in the diner?”

No.

What had I been thinking?

“I wanted to make sure you knew you had the option, but I know my Daddy.” Looking appropriately skeptical, I rolled my eyes. “I was being polite, but I knew you wouldn’t leave me.”

Keeping my fingers crossed I hadn’t gotten myself in enough trouble that he’d pay attention to what I wanted for breakfast, I looked both ways and started us across the street. “Do you have something to keep you busy? You’re not good bored.”

And he sighed.

“Yes. I have a few things to research. I’m looking at our options for the drive down and I’m putting together a list of places we could live.” His slightly frustrated expression said it wasn’t going well. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you.” Kissing his cheek, I ignored the sigh from the little old lady who passed us because I was pretty sure she was one of the ladies who’d tried to poison Daddy. “I know you’ll figure out wonderful options for us.”

He’d stay busy trying, at the very least.

“You’re sweet.” Kissing my head, Daddy made a thinking sound. “There are a lot of options, though.”

There were.

“I think that’s part of the fun.” And part of his process too. “I still think we should ask Florida Man what he thinks of Orlando. I’ve never been to any of the parks down there.”

I managed not to laugh as he groaned, but it was painfully hard.

“Don’t try to give me a heart attack. It’s just not nice.” Daddy let out a few more dramatic sounds and sighs as we finally approached the diner. “Especially not before we go in here. I’m sure there’s something going on.”

He was probably right, but I hadn’t been looking for it before.

“I think part of the problem is that no one is searching for a spell like that when they come here.” And with magic, intent was a huge part of it. “I’m paying attention now, though.”

Mostly because I didn’t want to accidentally overshare and give Daddy a heart attack. Saying he didn’t like sharing would’ve been a massive understatement.

“Thank you. I know you’ll figure it out.” Letting out a deep breath, Daddy reached for the door. “It’ll be fine.”

He didn’t sound believable at all, but I liked how he worried about me. Telling him that wouldn’t help the situation, though, so I stayed quiet as he held the door open for me. “Thank you.”

Every eye turned to us but that was just because they were nosy, so we both ignored the patrons. After giving the woman who owned it a wave, I went toward the other mages and dragons who were involved in the medical field in some way and Daddy sighed before heading over…oh.

To Wren…and his something.

It was the confused Daddy guy.

It just got more and more interesting, and for the first time, I regretted actually having a role that needed a meeting.

“Gentlemen.” Originally Mrs. Phillip had technically been part of our team, but thankfully we didn’t have to deal with her anymore. “Good morning.”

Everyone at the small table nodded and returned my greeting, but they were too distracted to do much more than that. They were focused on the fun stuff like Daddy talking to Wren in a frustrated whisper and the naughty men at the back of the diner who seemed to be trying to decide what people did with a spreader bar.

How they’d been allowed to bring that into the diner I didn’t know, but the emergency room doctor who liked to frown as much as Daddy seemed to know what it was. “For fuck’s sake.”

Yep.

“I don’t want anyone to explain it to me.” The tall man who was the most nervous nurse I’d ever met shook his head. “I’m good not knowing. But I just. It’s not appropriate, is it?”

His name always escaped me but luckily it didn’t matter because the doctor shook his head. “No. It’s not.”

“We’re just going to ignore it, though. It’s not important for this meeting.” Besides, in about ten seconds we were going to be the most interesting thing in the room. “What is important is deciding who we’re sending through the portal.”

We were not going to let the group as a whole make that decision.

The room went so silent we could’ve heard a pin drop.

“I don’t care what they think.” Wren’s voice held a decisiveness I hadn’t heard from him before. “I’m an adorable squirrel and he’s my mate.”

That was the Wren I knew…and it explained a few things…and it also gave everyone in the room enough gossip to last for at least the rest of the day.

“There are squirrels too?”

Oops. Our nervous nurse was never going to recover.

“Don’t explain that either.”

It was going to be an interesting day.

****

“So…” Daddy hadn’t managed to eat anything while we were at the diner, so I handed him the breakfast sandwich I’d gotten to go. “Couple of bites.”

Then we’d get him out of his shock and hopefully ready for the next meeting. All I was currently getting through the bond was stress and surprise and a few fuzzy Star Trek images.

Daddy had a very good imagination, but I wasn’t sure what was going on unless Wren had decided to share some kind of new kink. I didn’t think that was reasonable, though, because no one would’ve let us leave without asking more questions.

The only ones we’d gotten were about squirrels and the spreader bar…and of course…their thoughts about who should go through the portal and how that would work.

It was good to see that the locals agreed with our plans so far, but it was frustrating we didn’t have more plans. Daddy especially didn’t like that part, but we were making progress. He didn’t seem to remember that part until he ate the sandwich, though.

“Your meeting.” Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, he blinked and came back to life. “I didn’t catch most of it. Wren was. His. That.”

Wren’s mate was what?

“It’s his mate, right?” My question was simple enough that it got a nod from Daddy right off the bat. “It’s good he found his mate. We’re going to start there. Your family can’t be too frustrated because it’s a mate bond. That’s the most important thing. Period.”

Even my family couldn’t complain too much about that.

Being able to focus on one thing at a time seemed to help Daddy and he took a breath that made him steadier. “Yes. That is the most important thing. Wren has a mate. He has a mate that seems to be nice. He was nice when we met him.”

That was a great start really.

“He seemed open-minded too. Wren needs that and it seems like the guy has someone who can answer his questions now.” Wren probably liked being able to teach his Daddy how to be a Daddy. “That’s good too.”

Nodding slowly, Daddy stood straighter. “Yes. He was clearly curious about the kink stuff and nothing we’ve heard from Wren over the past couple of days says they’re not a good fit. Wren has been a very happy little squirrel.”

That sentence made Daddy smile, and I could feel some of his stress easing.

“See? That’s a great start.” Squirrel acceptance wasn’t always easy. “I have questions about that part, but I can ask them later.”

And I got an even bigger smile from Daddy as he shook his head. “Yeah, that should be the most interesting part of the conversation but it wasn’t.”

The more I got to know Daddy’s family, the more I realized that did not surprise me.

“He even figured out when to gag Wren. That shows he’s open-minded and smart.” And had the ability to handle his mate. “He also hasn’t pissed off the locals yet either. He said he was from…from somewhere else, right?”

Had he said where he was from?

“I should remember that but I’m giving myself an out because I’d just met you.” That had been slightly distracting, so I didn’t feel bad about it. “I remember he was nice, though, and he was curious. Steady even when things were weird.”

“Things were weird, alright.” Daddy started shaking his head. “And yes. I don’t think I gave him enough credit for being steady under pressure.”

“This town is weird and the portal just makes everything more confusing right now.” I liked chaos and crazy, but not everyone was used to it. Just because I had a high insanity tolerance didn’t mean other people weren’t more sensitive.

Daddy barked out a laugh and another Star Trek image flashed through the bond. One of the blue aliens from the early show if I was reading the image right.

Why was he…

Daddy hadn’t…

“Daddy?” As we approached the building where the council met, I slowed us down to nearly a crawl.

“Yes?” Daddy kissed my head but I heard him quietly mumble about not giving the guy enough credit as he straightened.

“Where is Wren’s mate from?” I really should’ve asked that question more clearly and sooner.

Daddy sighed.

“ Merritt .” Wren’s bubbly voice had us coming to a halt and had Daddy sighing again. “You have to see my costume. Daddy got it for me. Meet my Daddy. I’m so cute. You missed it but that’s okay. You were busy.”

Dragons above.

“No.” Wren’s Daddy frowned at his happy boy and gave him a perfectly firm Daddy voice. “Even I know we don’t talk about any of that around other humans.”

Humans.

“Have we decided when we qualified as humans?” I ignored the rest of the obvious fun and focused on Pierce. “I remember hearing a discussion about if we’re aliens or not. I know the deputy has decided we’re aliens but I also know not everyone agrees with that.”

I was pretty sure the human locals were debating that too, but I wasn’t going to bring up some of the weird conversations I’d overheard. If the local dragons and mages were happy believing they blended in, I wasn’t going to burst their bubble.

Daddy shrugged. “Some people think it’s still up for debate but we’ve been living here several generations and some of us are even assholes. I think that qualifies us as human. Just human plus.”

“Like an upgrade on your subscription.” Wren was bouncing on his toes and then rocking back down on his heels. “I think that’s a good way to describe it. I’m an upgrade. We have to tell the men at the diner we’ve figured it out.”

That was going to be fun…but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to see the original discussion or watch for the fallout.

“I feel special.” I ignored the way Wren’s Daddy was trying to decide if we were cute crazy or strange crazy, but since he was trying not to smile, I decided it didn’t matter. “I’m human plus.”

I didn’t feel like an alien, so that might’ve been what counted.

It was enough that I decided I wasn’t going to debate it anymore either. So I turned back to Wren and focused on the fun part of the conversation. “I heard you were a very cute squirrel. Was it a game or are you a squirrel and a little?”

Wren’s Daddy was just blinking and seemed to be back to the cute or crazy mental debate, but he was watching his boy like Wren was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen, so I liked him. Wren, on the other hand, shrugged as he bounced again. “Mostly pretend. I like to talk. Squirrels don’t get to talk enough. The men at the diner are debating which is better but squirrels get to wiggle more. But since I’m just a squirrel sometimes when I’m little, I’m counting it as playing pretend. The pups are pups a lot and I’m just having fun.”

“That’s a good way to explain it but I’m sure the diner men are going to have questions.” Oh, the diner. I glanced around between everyone. “Um, I’m pretty sure there are some hospitality spells built into the foundation of the building. I’m not going to be able to figure out the specific ones with everyone in there.”

Too many shenanigans and just talking in general made it difficult for a variety of reasons.

“They’re all too distracting.” The understatement made everyone chuckle, even Wren’s Daddy. “But I’m confident that there are spells that make you want to relax and stay longer. Those types also generally make you want to share and talk more too.”

The rest of the spells being tossed around were ridiculous things from the other patrons, like the teenage boys in the corner who’d been trying to poison each other. Those spells had been mild and at most they’d have spent entirely too much time in the bathroom, but one good glare and mouthing the word red had stopped the nonsense.

Wren sighed and Daddy just rolled his eyes. Wren’s Daddy nodded like it wasn’t a surprise, so he might’ve already noticed at least some of the chaos. “So…yeah…the locals are nosy and slightly insane but the diner isn’t helping the situation.”

“At least it’s making everyone’s opinions on going through the portal clear.” Wren seemed to naturally find the bright side in any situation. “I like not having to guess what they’re thinking. It’s going to make going through the portal a lot less stressful. I don’t like it when I have to worry about what people are thinking.”

Oh.

Daddy’s eyes widened and he seemed to reset like a computer doing the whirly thing. Wren was patient and his Daddy just stood there watching Pierce reset. After a few seconds, Pierce took a deep breath and his computer was up and running again. “Meeting his relatives is important. You don’t want to make a bad impression, though, so I’m going to suggest asking questions about local customs and social norms.”

He was so cute.

Wren’s Daddy frowned, though. “He doesn’t have to change who he is for anyone. I have learned that human social custom very quickly.”

Well, at least he hadn’t picked up any bad habits from us yet?

“I don’t mind learning the rules.” Wren wiggled and bounced up on his toes to kiss his Daddy’s cheek. “It’ll be fine. Like a game or playing pretend. I can be boring if I need to.”

Wren’s Daddy didn’t seem to know what to say but Pierce did. “Games are fun but just make sure to have private time to be yourself. Are…are you going to be able to bring some toys?”

Adorable.

But it was a good question…and Wren wasn’t afraid to answer it either.

“This is what I was thinking.” He looked entirely too serious for a conversation about what toys he was taking to another planet.

I never thought I’d be able to say it, but this was more fun than Star Trek .