Page 28

Merritt

Daddy was going to kill me.

“You were gone less than ten minutes. I was just going over last-minute details.” Daddy crossed his arms and glared at me as he leaned back against the car. “You said you wanted coffee and you’d be right back.”

I held up the coffee cup but that didn’t make things any better.

“I’m sorry?”

That didn’t make it any better either.

“Why did two women just congratulate me on our new job?” Daddy looked like he wanted to tap his foot and was barely restraining himself. “And when did we buy property?”

“I don’t know about that one.” I was as confused as he was about that. “I haven’t spent that much money here.”

Not even at the diner or at the bakery.

Daddy sighed.

Yes.

Crisis averted.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” I wasn’t sure I’d done it to begin with and I decided I probably should explain that. “I’m not sure I did it at all.”

Daddy’s eyes darted around the town and he huffed. “I believe you, and more importantly I love you, so I’d forgive you if you got whammied.”

He was too funny to be real sometimes.

“I don’t know if I got whammied.” Saying that with a straight face made me the best mate ever. “I don’t think so. I think the town just made a lot of assumptions?”

Something odd had happened but I wasn’t sure who’d done it to me…to us?

Daddy stood straighter and nodded. “One step at a time. We sort out their assumptions and work backward to figure out how to stop the nonsense at the source.”

He was really good at dealing with the crazy no matter what he thought.

“Yes.” Stepping closer, I kissed his cheek just to make sure I looked cute in case I’d done it without realizing it. “That’s a wonderful plan.”

He couldn’t decide if I was fucking with him or not and gave me his Daddy glare for a few seconds. “Thank you.”

Ha.

“You’re welcome.” Time to change the subject slightly. “So, I walked over to the bakery. I got coffee to go and talked myself out of a muffin because I’ve had way too many of those lately.”

Exercise.

I needed more exercise and less homemade goodies.

Daddy managed not to smile but I could see he wanted to. “Coffee. Okay, then what happened?”

Smart man.

“As I was waiting for my drink, two ladies passed me heading out.” I still wasn’t sure what happened and I wasn’t sure explaining it would help. “They paused and made small talk for a second. They seemed to think we’d already met because no one gave their names, but I was just nodding along.”

I’d figure out names later.

Daddy’s headshake said he didn’t like that habit either.

“After a bit, the shorter one, a mage, said she was glad I’d accepted because she knew I was the right fit for the job.” Frowning, I looked up at Daddy. “I think it was a dig at dragons but I’m not sure.”

“They’re so ridiculous around here. Just because a few trees have been burned down.” Daddy rolled his eyes but I was pretty sure he was being serious.

Dragons were weird.

“Um, then she goes ‘right’ in a questioning tone and I nodded.” That seemed to be the problem point. “I did it automatically. Then I stopped to think about what she’d said. I was focused on my coffee, Daddy.”

We had a big day and the coffee pot at the motel had died a fiery death that had set off the smoke detectors.

“You weren’t quite awake.” Petting my head, he looked like he wanted to sigh. “We should’ve stayed in the camper last night.”

“I pushed to stay on our routine.” Neither of us should blame ourselves for other people’s crazy. “We’re not going to guilt ourselves over that.”

It wouldn’t help at all.

“Then she smiled brighter and her taller friend—mixed, she has to be dragon and mage—patted my arm and said I’d made the right choice. Then she said something about making sure I told my mate and they walked off.” Quickly. They’d walked off very quickly.

Nodding slowly, Daddy seemed to be focused on something and I realized I’d been projecting the scene to him. “Yes, those were the women who walked by. They congratulated me and walked off.”

So we at least had a few details sorted out.

“When did the property thing come up?” That didn’t make any sense. Neither of us had been alone long enough to have even accidentally bought land.

“An older dragon, maybe one from the diner, passed them on the street and went toward the council building.” Letting his eyes wander over the sidewalk, he projected the scene to me. “He nodded and said he approved of the land and hoped the house would turn out well.”

“He’s a regular at the diner and I think used to be on the local council before he got too old? There’s gossip about it but I can’t remember the details.” I’d been skipping diner time too much lately. He’d slept with someone he wasn’t supposed to and that’d caused more drama. Shoot. I needed to remember that. “What next?”

“Then he said that Lorne’s mage mate is handy with building.” Daddy looked slightly confused at that point. “It’s good to know. Oh, and he said he was looking forward to the castle.”

What?

“Did you tell someone about the castle?” Had I? “Where did we talk about that?”

Hadn’t that been in bed?

Maybe it’d been at the motel?

Daddy’s shrug said his memory was as good as mine. “I remember being in bed for at least one of the discussions but we also talked about it on the swings. I think?”

Both of us questioning our memories and sanity wasn’t helping.

“So you didn’t buy land and you haven’t started talking to an architect?” He liked planning but that was a bit much even for him.

He could do a lot in ten minutes, though.

“No.” He seemed confident about that, but he also didn’t sound like he blamed me for asking. “I also have not spent enough money in town to have accidentally bought land or a house.”

Good to know.

“So…” Now what? “Did he tell you where our land was?”

That seemed important but Daddy shrugged. “No.”

People needed to be more helpful, insanity or not.

“I agree.” Daddy frowned as I realized I’d shared that too. “Don’t worry. We’ll get the hang of turning down the bond.”

Eventually, but we spent so much time together I wasn’t sure we’d get the hang of it any time soon.

“Maybe someone will know later?” Later was sooner but we had enough time. Coffee. I needed more coffee. “Could they have mistaken us for someone else?”

There were still a lot of random people wandering around from the different groups.

“I want to say yes but I don’t think there’s any chance of that being right.” Daddy’s sigh made my smile finally escape. “I’m not being dramatic. They’ve done something. I just know it.”

Yes, they’d done something…and yes, he was being dramatic.

“Because you’re smart and you always catch them. That’s part of the reason they like you so much.” And they might all just have a thing for cranky Doms?

Could whole towns share a kink?

“That’s horrifying.” Daddy’s face scrunched up like he’d smelled something gross. “Yellow. I don’t like that.”

He was the definition of dramatic.

“I understand.” It was cheek kiss and distract time. “No more crazy ideas.”

He’d get an ulcer if we kept it up, because he had enough on his plate. Between the plans for the portal and his family going bonkers, it wasn’t the time to be adding anything else. “Oh, did you hear? Kenzie said everyone needed matching shirts to go through the portal. He said this was more important than Disney, so they needed to match.”

Daddy blinked a few times. “Because families wear matching shirts to be able to spot each other in a crowd? Like those big family reunion groups?”

What could I say? He was so smart it was sexy.

“Yep.” He was also very grateful he’d declined going through the portal. “They’re purple and sparkly because he thought that would help everyone stand out in the desert.”

Best distraction ever.

“Has anyone researched what the best colors to wear on an alien planet are? Has anyone asked Toman what colors are offensive?” Frowning, Daddy pushed off the car as his brain started to whirl. “I don’t think anyone thought to ask him that. People never think about things like that until they’re confronted with it in real life.”

I wasn’t worried…they were all going to look like our resident Florida Man anyway…shirt color was going to be the least of their problems.

It kept Daddy going half the morning, though.

He was even studying everyone closely as we finished the hike up to the portal and hadn’t shot anyone dirty looks about how much they complained. “I’m still not sure.”

It wouldn’t have been a problem if Toman hadn’t given Daddy such a weird answer about clothing. We decorated ourselves more interestingly than they did and Toman didn’t know what his people would think about sparkly purple T-shirts.

Daddy wasn’t worried about our land or the new job we still hadn’t managed to get anyone to explain. So even with all the shrugging and confused looks that were completely fake, I was still counting it as a win.

“We’re here.” Wren’s excited voice was so loud as we approached the clearing that they probably heard him at the diner, but we were lucky he wasn’t bouncing all over the place any longer. “I can’t wait to meet your family.”

He was beyond excited and had no reservations at all, unlike the rest of his family who had just been told in the last twenty-four hours that Wren was going to another planet. Or plane of existence. Or something.

“Are they going to keep their clothes on this time?” Agent Murphy, the human the government had felt forced to send at the last minute, frowned…again. “There’s no closet.”

Someone should’ve warned him.

And someone should’ve warned us that he was suspicious and grumpy.

That was only sexy on my mate, but the man didn’t seem to understand that.

Daddy’s chuckle said I might’ve sent that through the bond.

Oops?

“Behave.”

No.

“Yes, Daddy.” Oh, got to make Agent Cranky Pants wince again. “Love you.”

No wince.

Yep. I was right.

Not homophobic, just a pain in the butt.

Daddy gave a long sigh.

Oops.

“ Sorry .”

Sending him a feeling I hoped he thought was me being apologetic, I put a good blank face on and did my best to look relaxed and happy.

No problems here.

Just sending some friends through the portal to another planet like we were on Star Trek .

“You’re so cute.”

Just if Star Trek was run by very dangerous My Little Ponies.

I wasn’t helping Daddy’s drama problem, but his mood had improved, so I was calling it another mate win. He even managed to smile when Wren dragged himself away from his mate long enough to bounce up to Daddy wearing a backpack that seemed to be the same size as he was.

“I’m going to have so much fun.” His wiggles made him look like he was going to shatter into a million pieces, but the way his mate kept smiling said he really was that excited. “I’m with my mate. I’m getting to explore somewhere new, and my mother cannot interfere. There is nothing to worry about no matter what, right?”

Daddy sighed.

Daddy huffed.

Daddy finally nodded. “The reminder about your mother helped. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Wren threw his arms around Daddy and gave him a big hug, dropping his voice to a whisper. “And thank you for taking such good care of me until I found my Daddy. He’s the best. I promise.”

“He’d better be.” Returning Wren’s hug, Daddy swallowed hard as a rush of emotions flooded through the bond. “You have fun driving him crazy and remember to just be yourself—”

“But not too much.” Wren giggled as he finished Daddy’s sentence. “I’m getting to visit another planet, drama llama. It’s better than anything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

“And you’ve dreamed big, birdie.” Daddy kissed the top of his head and then gave him a little shove. “Go find your Daddy and behave. You’ve got some first impressions to make.”

“I’m going to be a first impression they never forget.” His wicked giggle had Daddy rolling his eyes. “Oh, and thank you for everything. Your new house is going to be so pretty.”

Then the troublemaker bounced off to his Daddy, grinning like a nut and nearly floating he was so happy.

“For fuck’s sake.” Daddy’s glare said he was blaming Wren for our current predicament, so it was probably best that Wren was headed to another planet until Pierce calmed down. “This is his fault. I know it.”

Well, at least I was going to get my castle sooner than I’d expected.

And Wren had managed an amazing distraction so Pierce didn’t worry the whole time he was gone. “I think his mother needs a phone call…she’s going to miss him a lot, you know.”

He was just going to plot.

“I should tell her some stories to keep her distracted while he’s gone.” Daddy was nearly rubbing his hands together…it was sexy. And the glare he shot me was even sexier. “You are a little troublemaker too.”

“You know…” Stepping closer, I rested my head on his shoulder. “There are no closets outside…but there is a lot of privacy.”

He wanted to laugh but he couldn’t. “Be careful or I’m going to talk to you about all the bugs that are outside…and inside…and in places they shouldn’t be.”

Shoot.

Someone had tattled on me.

Sending confusion through the bond, I cocked my head. “I don’t mind bugs. But I was thinking about my mate. Shouldn’t you have been thinking about your mate too?”

His brows pulled together.

He was focusing on the bond.

He frowned.

“I’m always thinking about my mate. Sometimes I’m just thinking about how dangerous he is. Or how smart he is. Or that he’s an incredible mage.” Daddy made a soft thinking sound. “But now I’m thinking about taking him home.”

“If the trailer is a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’.” Kenzie started singing it in a bouncy fifties-type tune as he came around us and nudged us forward. “Time to clap and pretend to be confident. No worries. They’re going to be fine.”

Kenzie was worried that they would not be fine, but he was refusing to talk about it.

He was, however, baking so much the man who ran the bakery had complained to the deputy about the free competition.

“Hey, I’m not worried. I’m jealous. They’re getting to travel and they’re going to have so much to brag about when they get back.” Daddy’s glare made Kenzie fight off the giggles. “I’m a lot of things but not worried.”

Not out loud anyway.

“But let’s go see off the troublemakers and the attention-whores.” Daddy shook his head. “Some people just want to make history and get attention.”

That description seemed to fit half the town, but Kenzie nodded seriously. “Daddy’s not fit to live with. He’s very proud of being right that we’re aliens.”

And that got everyone wound up again, arguing and debating before Wren and his minions could finish walking through the portal…to another world.

“Daddy?” Leaning into his side, I rested my head on his shoulder again. “I think you just promised Wren you were going to live here.”

“Fucking great dragons above.” Daddy grumbled, going through a few more colorful versions of that curse. “He’s gone to another planet and he’s still driving me nuts.”

“Don’t worry.” I squeezed his hand, doing my best not to send giggles through the bond. “I’ll take care of you, Daddy. That’s what mates do.”

Especially little mates.

We loved and we protected and we threatened and we gave bedbugs to people who were dumb enough to try to poison our Daddies.

Little mates were the best mates.

Kenzie said so.

~~~

Don’t worry.

We’re not done with these cuties yet, so keep an eye out for more to come.