Page 12

Teddy

By the time Othoni and I managed to make our way outside it was almost sunset and the town almost looked as good as it did before the storm tore through. The last of the clean up crews were driving off. We made our way back to the café where I’d had lunch with Marsin and Astral and didn’t pass by anyone who needed help. The only work being done was the replacing of a shop window but it looked as if the wolves had it under control.

By the time we slid into the booth, the sun was setting, and I was ravenous. Lunch felt like a lifetime ago as we placed our orders and played footsy under the table. We both went for breakfast foods again. I was addicted to the stateside white gravy and Othoni ordered French toast ticks with extra cream and a side of a steak. We ate in silence, our feet always touching under the table as if one of us might fall off the face of Earthside if they weren’t. Sitting across from Othoni was surreal. It was hard to believe only a few hours ago, I was planning out a decades’ long nap. Now, I was wondering about what our kids might look like. I’d never seen a dragon with jaguar spots but there was a first time for everything.

We were discussing how much dessert we should have when the little bell above the door chimed signaling another guest had come in. I half-expected it to be Mori but instead Jacob Leem sauntered up to the counter with a shorter man on his arm. I had never met Jacob’s mate but was relieved he was out and about with him and not trying to hunt me down to talk to Dern. Tonight, I might’ve swallowed him whole. Neither my dragon nor myself were in the mood to put up with him. Tonight, and all the foreseeable future was about Othoni. The rest of them could take a long walk off a short cliff and forget to bring out their wings.

“They don’t have wings,”

my dragon chuckled into my thoughts.

“He’s not my biggest fan,”

Othoni whispered.

“Well, tough titty for him then,”

I shrugged. “Let’s just order the whole cake. Whatever we don’t eat we can give to Mori. He eats like a bear anyway.”

“True,”

Othoni laughed.

“Was it about Dern?”

I asked him. “Whatever Jacob doesn’t like about you?”

“Sort of. I don’t know. He bristled my fur the way he talked to Dern like he was a kid. He’s an old, sick wolf but that doesn’t mean he’s not an adult. If I ever get that old and someone talks to me like that I’m going to claw their eyes out of their heads and eat them. Then I’m going to plea senility when the authorities show up.”

“Do you think they’re having the same conversation about us right now?”

I asked him as we waited for the server to come back by to take our dessert order.

“He’s your ex right?”

Othoni asked.

“Not my ex. Just a guy I hooked up with while my mum was dying,”

I shrugged. “Well, before that, I guess. When we still thought there were treatment options. I’m an ass, Othoni. He was hot and lifted his tail, if I’m honest. He knew what it was, though.”

“If he knew how does that make you an ass?”

Othoni asked.

“I’m not sure but I feel like one,”

I laughed, leaning back in the booth.

“Not that I have any serious exes but I think that’s a social thing. Someone’s ex comes around and either they’re the victim or they’re the asshole. You’ve never claimed to be a victim. Jacob isn’t either. Maybe we’re both bloody assholes.”

“Probably. Though, it sounds like you grew out of it, and he didn’t. Not with the way he talked to Dern and before you say anything. Dern shot you. You’re not his doctor. You don’t owe anyone anything.”

Across the restaurant Jacob rolled his eyes, and I fought off the urge to pull my mate across the table and tongue kiss him until the scent of our arousal filled the café. That’d show his furry ass. That’d show everyone. My dragon rose up on his haunches inside his inner sanctum and I let out a long breath. I wasn’t about to fight Jacob. He was trying to do his job even if he was a twit.

“You smell so annoyed with him, mate,”

I whispered. “Stop it. My dragon is going to make broiled wolfshank if you don’t and I don’t want to eat him!”

Othoni laughed and the sound echoed around the dining area. Everyone in the café turned to look at us.

“They’re newly met, folks,”

Jacob spoke up. “Most of us here know how it is.”

I opened my mouth to say we didn’t need his help, but the server came back and asked us if we had decided on a dessert.

“We’ll split a cake with them,”

Othoni said, pointing at Jacob and his mate. “Put it on our bill of course. Chocolate with lemon buttercream.”

“How did you know Jacob’s favorite?”

I whispered across the table when the smiling server left.

“How do you?”

he shot the question back at me.

“I used to hook up with him. Did you read my mind, though?”

I blinked.

“I wish! We’re not that far along yet. It’s my favorite too. Well, one of them. What can I say? Bears eat a lot of cake and I’m surrounded by them back in the Nightshade Territory.”

“Duly noted,”

I grinned and reached across the table to take both of his hands in mind.

“Don’t eat him for being rude to Dern. That’s a good way to send mixed messages,”

Othoni grinned at me.

“If he can’t speak dragon that’s on him,”

I shrugged. “But for you, I’ll try to keep my hunger in check. Maybe I’ll just eat you later.”

Othoni blushed and I braced for him to kick me under the table. I’d have deserved it for bringing such talk to the table but instead he stuck his tongue out at me and lapped the air. Thankfully, his back was toward the majority of the restaurant. I was about to lean over and lick his tongue when the bell above the door chimed again. This time it was Mori and he looked more bemused than ever. He stopped by Jacob’s table and the pair of them had a whispered conversation before Mori spotted us and waved.

“Huh?”

Othoni blinked, sucking his tongue back into his mouth as he turned to look over his shoulder and find out who I was waving at.

“Just Mori. He’s talking to Jacob,”

I announced as if he couldn’t see it for himself.

“I hope Dern’s okay. That’s what I was going to tell you,”

Othoni said, turning to face me again and lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper. I ran my thumbs over his palms. “What I was going to tell you when I ran off before the storm to find you. That old wolf has one paw through his door already. If you want to know what he has to say about your carrier, you better do it sooner rather than later. You can stay away out of spite all you want but if he dies before he can tell you, you’re the one who’s missing out.

“Well, no one’s going to find out anything about Lotus tonight,”

Mori said, sliding into the booth next to Othoni. I scooted over with him because I wasn’t ready to let go of his hands yet. “Have you guys already eaten or are you waiting on your food?”

“We’re waiting on cake,”

Othoni announced. “But order. We’ll hang out while you eat.”

Mori glanced to me and I nodded. As happy as I was to have found my true-mate I wasn’t about to leave Mori on his own in a strange town. He could take care of himself, no problem, but loneliness was a son-of-a-bitch. As much as he was the odd man out when it came to romance, I didn’t want him to feel like the third wheel or unwanted any time the three of us hung out together.

“Thanks, guys,”

Mori grinned as the server appeared at the booth’s edge to hand him a menu and a water glass. After glancing at the menu he ordered the mashed potato pancakes and gravy. Once the server was gone, he filled us in on the little he learned about Dern while we rubbed off on each other.

“I’m worried about him, though. He was coughing a lot when I left,”

he whispered. “That’s what I was telling Jacob. He might be assy but he is Dern’s doctor. His communication skills suck furry donkey balls, but he knows what he’s doing. He delivered Astral’s baby, right, Teddy?”

Mori pointed out as if to remind me.

“I don’t hate Jacob. I have no patience left for him or anyone else. I had some but then I got shot, Mori. I’ll talk to Dern, if you think it will help, but he’s so senile that he brought a gun into a room with a baby he loved. He loves that pup. He loves Astral and the whole damn pack. Everyone knows it. If he’s that far gone, I don’t know if he’ll be able to tell us anything.”

“Maybe he won’t, but Ormund will. Ormund’s already dead and he doesn’t have any reason to lie to us. Plus, I think Dern’s mind is fine. I just think he has a different definition of what’s right and wrong. Besides, if that news,”

he pointed under the booth at his stomach. “Was sprung on me and then someone tried to cut me up, I’d be shit bucket crazy too. Seriously. I’m going to have nightmares about it, Teddy. I don’t know if you can understand what that had to be like. I’m not saying you’re a cave-alpha but it’s not something you’d ever have to worry about and---”

“It’s okay,”

Othoni said, dropping one of my hands to wrap his arm around Mori’s shoulders. “No one’s allowed to try that. I will disembowel them, and Teddy will eat them, and I think Teddy does get why it messes with your head. Hell, I didn’t even hear it from him and it’s messing with my head. Teddy’s going to talk to him one way or another because after someone goes through something like that of course they’re going to be a little fucking crazy.”

“I already said I would,”

I added but neither of the omegas looked at me.

I tried to think of what my carrier might say to them, but Marsin was right. Mum had been dead long enough that she would’ve grown so much as a person in the decades since she’d been dead if she were still alive. I no longer knew what she’d have said or done or even wanted from me except in broad strokes.

“Are you okay?”

Both omegas asked at the same time.

“I wasn’t trying to be mean. I’m sure it bothered you too,”

Mori said.

“I was trying to think of something to say,”

I said. “Then trying to think of what my mum might’ve said about it all.”

“Freddie, get the gun,”

my dragon chimed off into my thoughts and I almost laughed.

“Your mother would’ve been mortified,”

Mori said. “I don’t even need to have known her to know that. Any normal person would. I’m not surprised that he wasn’t willing to tell it twice. Though, I have to get him finesse points for wanting you there first, Teddy. He really wanted you to meet Othoni.”

“He told Astral he only helped him meet Marsin for his own selfish means,”

I shrugged. “He gets something out of it.”

“No, he doesn’t,”

Mori shook his head. “From how it was explained to me he did it all for Ormund and whatever promise he thinks he needs to keep.”

“Don’t make me shoot anyone if you die first,”

Othoni said, meeting my gaze.

“I’d eat them myself.”

“Ormund probably could,”

Mori said as the server sat down his food in front of him. “Anything else?”

“Bring me another plate, please,”

I said because seeing Mori’s food made my stomach growl for more than cake.

“Me too, please!”

Othoni grinned at the server.

“Feels like I’m at home,”

Mori laughed, and it was good to hear him laugh.