Page 23

Pierce

“I get to pick and choose where I’m little and when I want to have people stare at me, Daddy.” Wren was on his third round of that conversation with his Daddy, so I just ignored it. He’d win but it was going to take a while to get there. “If I want to be boring and blend in, that’s my right as a pain in the ass.”

Dragons above.

Merritt was doing his best not to giggle as he sat on my other side at the conference table and Kenzie was just nodding along seriously, but the rest of the room finally decided to stop ignoring what Wren and his Daddy were arguing about.

Unsurprisingly, it was Florida Man who spoke up first. “I have a question.”

That was not a surprise either.

“Yes?” I was doing my best to play stupid, but I knew at least part of what it was going to be about. “Did you have a question about the plan before we started?”

“Yes. Um. Kind of.” Cocking his head, Florida Man, whose real name seemed to be Alabama for some reason, focused on Wren. “I don’t mean to be rude this time, but it seems like you’ve decided you’re going through the portal. So…what do you actually do and why are you taking toys through?”

Well, as far as questions went they were actually fairly good ones and Wren had probably been expecting both because he gave him a beaming smile. His Daddy was smart enough to look worried and I had to respect him more for that. “I’m a little and I’m the only wilderness and survival expert the council was able to find. For some reason, even dragons don’t seem to like roughing it, but we do like toys.”

That actually got chuckles from around the room and Kenzie nodded seriously again. “Even my dragon likes pillows and toys. I think roughing it is a human quality. No offense.”

Wren blinked for a moment. “None taken. I learned from a human, so you might be right. He was my first crush, so I had to do a good job.”

I didn’t need to know that.

“Don’t tell your mother that.” The age difference alone would give her a heart attack…much less the fact that I was pretty sure he was talking about one of our older, slightly distant cousins.

Wren’s grin made me roll my eyes. “That’s why she tried to send me to that behave yourself camp.”

Ignoring that, because he’d won on that front too, I turned back to our Alabama Florida Man. “He’s actually an expert in his field and the best choice unless we want to bring in a full human.”

Everyone winced.

Drama queens.

Merritt’s shoulders shook but he managed not to laugh out loud.

“They’re not contagious.” Or weird just because most of them didn’t seem to be as colorful as the rest of us were. “There are a lot of them that would be very proficient in this situation and having a backup expert would not be a bad decision.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to send them through a portal to another world with only one person who could find water or help figure out what to eat just in case. Wren’s mate didn’t scream wilderness expert even though he’d done a good job of blending in.

“That explains some of it.” Our resident Florida Man nodded but he didn’t look away. “I’m pretty sure we’re missing a few details, though.”

Since he wasn’t stupid, just strange, I nodded. “You are. That was going to be one of the first things on the agenda.”

Shockingly enough, we had things that I thought were more important. “We can rearrange that list, though, but after this I’d like to narrow down which of the medics will be going and a few things like that.”

Merritt had been filling me in, but I knew with Wren’s drama I’d missed some of the details. We had to iron them out, though, because people had lives they needed to get back to. “I want to give the locals enough time to complain before the team starts planning.”

We also still had to figure out who was going to be monitoring the portal. Everyone agreed that it was important but they were playing hot potato with it, as Merritt liked to say. The only thing we had agreed on was that the locals would not be primarily in charge. There weren’t enough actual grown-ups in town to make that work.

“As you can see, the council group has expanded to include Wren’s new mate. They met recently and he’s also here about the portal.” Understatement of the universe right there.

I was planning on explaining that when one of the Canadian group members spoke up. “I don’t remember where he’s from.”

One of the Scottish contingent decided he had questions too. “Or his name? He was at that weird birthday party wedding thing. I remember that.”

Everyone started looking around, trying to decide which group was going to claim him, and it got even more interesting when they realized no one was speaking up. Alabama was, surprisingly enough, the first to make the leap. “Well, fuck.”

“That’s what I said when I first met Daddy Manny.” Wren grinned and leaned into his mate, who’d already learned the fine human art of rolling his eyes. “But I meant something different.”

It seemed like Daddy Manny knew he had his hands full.

Smart man.

No matter what he was.

Dragon, right?

Giggles and sighs went around the room but it gave the rest of the group time to catch up with us. Eyes went cartoon sized except for the Canadian group. They sighed and mumbled something about Americans always having to upstage everyone.

Since they weren’t wrong, I just ignored that part.

Merritt looked like he was going to hurt himself holding back his laughter and Kenzie didn’t seem to understand why it was a bad thing. I had a feeling he was going to have questions for his Daddy at some point, but Wren simply smiled wider. “Being special is hard sometimes.”

Our meeting was devolving quickly.

“So I’m sure we all understand why Wren will be included in the group.” There were several logical reasons, so everyone had to nod begrudgingly.

“Okay, I don’t know if this is a dumb question or not, but I’m going to ask anyway.” Florida Man shrugged. “If he’s…come to visit…why are we going?”

Another one of the Florida visitors frowned. “I’m going to point out that we still don’t know his name or if expert Wren has somehow…kidnapped him?”

They were strange, even for one of us.

“Why would I kidnap my mate?” Wren frowned, looking like he thought they were weird too. “Daddy Manny saw me. He smiled at me. He knew we were mates. We fucked like rabbits. It’s not rocket science.”

My sigh was timed perfectly with Manny’s.

Was his name actually Manny?

Had Wren actually said his name was Manny or was that just what he was calling his Daddy?

Fuck it.

“I’m Pierce.” I reached over Wren and ignored his giggles. “I should remember if I introduced myself when we first met, but I can’t. I’d just met my mate, so he was my focus.”

Daddy Manny, as Wren kept calling him, smiled and looked down at my hand like it was still strange as he did his best to give mine a casual shake. “I am Toman. My mate has decided to give me the human nickname of Manny. Nicknames are an interesting human convention you have picked up.”

I wasn’t sure if that sounded derogatory or not, and judging by Merritt’s snicker and Kenzie’s frown, I wasn’t alone.

“It generally shows that you have a special connection in some way—friendship or a mate bond are examples of those—but sometimes it indicates the person’s real name is difficult for other cultures to pronounce.” Since his name seemed to be pronounced like Toe-man, I was going to assume the mate bond part. “Being little sometimes will also influence the nickname thing.”

Wren didn’t say which one it was, but he was rocking side to side and smiling. “Daddy Manny is my mate.”

He was a pain in the butt.

“We’re all glad you found your mate.” Primarily because that meant no one else had to be in charge of him any longer. “We just need to figure out what that means for the portal and your personal situation.”

Were they going to stay there?

I wasn’t going to be the one to have to explain that to his mother.

Merritt’s coughing said some of that might’ve leaked through the bond.

“You’re very laid-back about this.” Florida Man seemed suspicious about that for some reason.

Shrugging, I tried to answer in a way that wouldn’t get the strange man more worked up. “I just found out about where Toman comes from. Moments ago, actually. So I’m processing this the best I can. I had guessed that Wren had found his mate but I was assuming he was from one of the other groups I hadn’t met yet.”

Eventually I was going to learn not to make assumptions when it came to Wren or the rest of my family, but for some reason I lost brain cells every time I had to deal with them.

“He is.” Wren beamed, wiggling closer to kiss his mate’s cheek. “He’s just from a group we hadn’t thought to invite.”

No.

“That is not how we’re going to explain this.” He made it sound like we were stupid for overlooking his mate. “He made the decision not to explain his presence, so we had no way of knowing he wanted to be invited.”

This was not my fault.

“I’m just going to leave the I told you so’s out of the conversation, but this is a very good example of why we need someone watching this side of the portal.” I glanced around and was glad to see nods along with a few sighs.

The locals knew they’d fucked up six ways to Sunday and were ready to make some changes…as long as they didn’t have to be the one sitting outside with the bugs.

“I think you actually said, ‘I told you so,’ so I’m not agreeing with the whole you trying to pretend to be polite.” Florida Man was getting distracted and slightly worked up.

I was going to point that out when Kenzie spoke up and distracted everyone. “So…someone is going to tell the coming through the portal story, right? I’ve been patient but it seems like we’re brushing over the good parts. So I’m not going to be patient any longer. I also need to know if Daddy’s right. Are we aliens?”

The Daddy in question sighed and nodded to himself as he efficiently held up the wall while watching Toman slightly suspiciously, but that was probably to be expected.

He was definitely an alien even if we weren’t.

“I’m voting to table the alien discussion for now. We have enough on our plate without trying to make that determination.” And we hadn’t been sent to discuss that, so I wasn’t going to deal with it. “But yes, we do need more information. Thank you, Kenzie.”

“You’re welcome.” Sitting straighter, Kenzie used his extensive knowledge of storytelling to start things off. “I’ve read enough to know where to start. We need to know if we’re still sexually compatible, we need to know when you figured out the portal was open, why you decided to come through, if you’re some kind of specialized hunter or military soldier, and why you look like us. We look human and so do you. Oh, and how do you speak English?”

He paused, cocking his head and making an exaggerated thinking expression that made his Daddy smile. “I think that’s a reasonable start.”

I agreed.

Toman seemed to be working on keeping a blank face, but judging by Wren’s giggly grin, he wasn’t worried about what his mate was feeling. “Mates are always compatible. I think that explains the first question.”

It was obvious that all Kenzie was reading was romance novels, but I wasn’t going to be the one to explain that to Toman.

That was Wren’s job.

“On our side, the portal is in an area that has been desert for the last million years as you would count time. That slowly leads into the more populated areas, but even the dragons of the desert do not venture that far on a regular basis.” Toman paused before shrugging and it almost looked like Wren was feeding him the right gesture based on how focused their expressions looked.

“A…beacon might be the right word…was placed there after the portal closed unexpectedly. It allows us to be informed of any movement.” Frowning, he gestured around the room. “It is not located in a currently habitable space as yours is.”

Around the town…he’d been gesturing toward the outside.

Okay.

Everyone started to open their mouths, probably to complain about the lack of actual people watching the portal, but they quickly closed them when they realized how stupid that would’ve been.

“There were notifications over the last six of your months. However, when we checked through a small device that allows viewing, nothing was found. We assumed the spell was faulty.” His frown said they shouldn’t have made assumptions either. “It was not. The first creatures to cross to our side were insects and animals that were gone before we were able to check out the notification.”

Oh.

That would’ve been a problem.

A few people around the room started muttering and whispering softly to the people around them, but their gazes stayed firmly on Toman. “It has been so long since the portal was active our viewing device was angled in a way that was not conducive to viewing the portal itself. Outside of our regular monitoring and study, we were more worried about small…what is the word, my mate?”

Toman paused, sending some kind of thought or image to Wren, who perked up quickly. “A cult or a very small, interesting religion.”

A cult.

“Ah, thank you.” Toman didn’t look worried but everyone else’s interest went up again and even Kenzie grinned. “The viewing is mostly to observe their safety. They do not always bring enough water when they visit the portal twice in our year.”

So the portal had been closed so long they were only watching to make sure their version of the locals didn’t accidentally die of exposure.

Got it.

We were definitely related.

“There was a great…excitement when insects and what I have now learned is called a fox came through the portal.” His expression looked like he wanted to shake his head. “That is when we realized what had happened and a small party was sent through.”

How small?

“One returned home to explain we could make the trip safely and the other waits by the portal. He has come into town enough to absorb the language but he was confused and has chosen to stay away.” Toman usually had a pretty good blank face but he was trying not to smile this time. “Our search for food led us to meet some of your locals.”

Great.

They’d gone to the diner.

Lips pressed together around the table and most people managed not to laugh. Even Kenzie knew it was the best he was going to get, so he ignored it as he focused on the newcomer. “Welcome to Earth. We’re still debating who’s the alien and who’s not, but you get to be an alien. Congratulations. We’re glad you found your mate and that you’re not some kind of cannibalizing dinosaur.”

The room went silent as Toman turned to Wren again, who was happy to supply a visual. “Oh, you call those dinosaurs.”

Wait.

“I have heard your debate.” Toman wasn’t nearly as confused as he should’ve been. “We have not found an origin species on our world, so we were assuming they came from here?”

Interesting.

“Have you found ways to keep them out of your homes?”

And that was how you stunned a room full of mages and dragons completely stupid.