Page 12 of The Dragon’s Emberlinked Mate (Dragon Flight Academy #3)

Rhythe

I held my mate’s hand as we walked into the night. Somehow, in the last few hours, the sun had set and the stars lit up the night sky. It was gorgeous.

“So you’re telling me I spent the entire evening just making small talk with Lord Malric’s mate, and I didn’t even realize it?” He’d been so nice, and I had a feeling we were going to become life-long friends.

Emmen chuckled and pulled me tighter against him. “Indeed, you did. You’re a natural.”

I wouldn’t call it being a natural. We just so happened to have a lot in common, and a love of schmoozing with people we didn’t know wasn’t one of those things.

“I don’t think so. I mean, he’s my age or a little older.” If he wasn’t there, the night would’ve looked much differently.

“A few years older, I think. And he’s a mouse shifter. Yet you were able to talk with him easily. Give yourself some credit, Rhythe.”

I loved how my mate was always trying to lift me up. It was sweet. But also, I wished he didn’t need to do it.

“I thought he might be a mouse,” which by all accounts made him being able to easily talk to me more impressive than the other way around. The whole predator/prey thing tended to impact our comfort levels far more than it should.

“But I worried maybe my senses had gone haywire. How did that work? Lord Malric is—” I almost said ancient, but then I realized who I was standing next to. In that regard, our matings were very similar.

“That’s a story for another day, but I will tell you he was hired by Lord Malric’s son as his manny, and still does a lot of that work.”

“Wow.” Unlike my mate, Lord Malric had been happily mated before, but his late mate went to live with the goddess.

Being your future grandkids’ manny made perfect sense given our lifespans, but it still highlighted their age difference.

“Indeed. He and Lord Malric will be staying at the house with us for the next week.”

I stopped in my tracks. I’d known they would be visiting, but the part about them staying there for an entire week somehow flew over me. I was usually better about things like that.

“They need a room that’s ready for that length of stay. They need, um… I don’t know what they need. I’ve never hosted to this extent before.” My parents had, but that wasn’t the same. All I did was be well-mannered when they arrived and followed my parents’ instructions.

Emmen cupped my cheek. “That’s all been taken care of. That’s what the household staff is for.”

I let out a long sigh. And when he said household staff, he meant multiple. I wasn’t sure I’d even met them all. They worked hard at not being in our way. It would be easy to forget they were even there most days.

“That will take some getting used to.” It was a thousand times better than cleaning all those bathrooms each week, though.

I would say that. “It’s for the best. I’m not exactly a great host, even without the staying-over part.

Closest thing to a dinner party I’ve ever hosted was ordering pizza so we could watch the game from the seventy-inch TV I had in my dorm room.

” That had been fun but didn’t come close to preparing me for this.

“How did you fit a seventy-inch TV in a dorm room?” That was what he got out of it.

I grinned. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“I’m pretty sure we have rules against that.” I doubted it. It wasn’t like we hid bringing it into the dorms. There would’ve been no way to do that even if I’d wanted to.

I put a finger to his lips. “Don’t tell the Commander. I don’t want to get in trouble. I’ll do anything not to get suspended.” I winked.

Emin growled low in his throat and pulled me against him. “Anything?”

“Anything,” I said, putting a little heat behind my gaze.

“You’re killing me, mate.” He gave me a far-too-quick peck on the lips. “If I know Malric, he’ll want to chat about this evening, so perhaps we can table this discussion. I’ll deal with your punishment for breaking the school’s rules later.”

“Yes, Commander,” I said, and laughed.

I pushed at Emmon’s chest, stripped, then leaped into the night sky, letting my dragon form take over my body.

Since becoming mated, my shifts came quicker, my wings stronger.

Perhaps it was the bond I shared with Emmen, but I had a feeling it had more to do with the way he had saved me.

Sometimes it almost felt as if I could feel the electric power of his thrumming through my veins.

It didn’t take long for Emmen to fall in next to me, his dragon considerably larger than mine.

He was such a striking navy blue. Together, the two of us flew into the night until we reached our home, his body always between me and any terrain that might get in my way. I loved this protective side of him.

I landed on the balcony in my dragon form, then shifted back.

Emmen, the show-off that he was, landed on the balcony mid shift, going straight from beating his wings mid flight to landing on his feet like he was some kind of magician.

His shift was so smooth, so majestic, and his body…

if we weren’t about to have company, there would’ve been no way I’d be able to keep my hands and lips and tongue off of him.

“Show-off,” I said.

He chuckled. “You’re welcome to give it a shot.”

I snorted. “I’m more likely to take out some of the railing.”

He pulled me against him and kissed my lips. “I’ll tell you a secret. I crashed hard the first time I did it in front of people, not my family. My parents were having a party and everyone was there to witness it.”

It was difficult to think of him ever doing anything less than perfect.

I laughed. “That’s hilarious.”

“If you say so. Come, we’ve got guests to greet, and the two of them will likely want to have a drink celebrating a successful fundraiser.”

I kept my feet planted. “I’m nervous,” I admitted.

Emmen kissed my cheek. “That’s understandable, mate, but you already know Ollie. You’re good friends with him now.”

“We talked for a little while.” I wouldn’t call it good friends, but we were headed there and that did give me comfort.

“Yes, and he’ll be very excited to talk with you more. With any luck, we’ll be able to convince Malric that we don’t need to stay up all night.”

“Can’t hack it, old man?”

“Watch it, sir. You’re already on thin ice. I don’t want to have to add to your punishment.”

I had no idea what this “punishment” would entail, but I was confident that I wanted him to add a whole lot more to it.

“Yes, Commander,” I sassed and walked into the house.

We got dressed and went directly to the library, where Lord Malric and Ollie were already waiting. Somehow I missed that they were ahead of us. Had I known, I wouldn’t have dawdled so much on the balcony.

Lord Malric held out a hand, and I shook it. “Rhythe, it’s fantastic to meet you.”

“You too, sir.”

“And congratulations on your mating.” He was beaming. I could see why Ollie spoke so highly of him. He had power, there was no denying that, but he was also really warm and welcoming.

“Thank you.” I leaned into my mate’s side. “Fate was kind to me.”

He looked at Ollie and then gave a knowing nod. “My mate has been telling me all about some of the ideas you had.”

“Ideas?” My voice squeaked in an obnoxious way. I hadn’t remembered giving him any specific advice. I was simply shooting the shit with him.

“You were telling me about how your brother was struggling to find help, and you ended up creating a master list of all of the child care options he had. Imagine if we could do that on a larger scale. Taking care of a whole nest of eggs and hatchlings is so difficult. Malric and I were blessed with just one, but his son has three. We love them dearly, but it’s a handful.

Especially with two working parents, which is more the norm these days. ”

I had mentioned that, but not with any intention other than it was something I could talk about with him that was a pretty safe topic. But if it was helpful, all the better.

“It really is. I don’t know how my parents did it when they had their large clutch. Even with my brother and me, they were expecting one and got two. It’d be so much easier if we found a way to provide that child care option without having each individual parent having to find the help they need.”

“Exactly. While I’m here this week, let’s talk about this more, because I really think you’re on to something. What if we could have the tech team build an app, and we could have a whole service available to our young parents.”

“Like a manny share, but on a larger scale?” I wasn’t sure how we got from me helping my brother out to this place, but I was there for it.

“Exactly!”

“Where we can all use the same resources, like how humans do,” I said.

“I don’t even think we’re needed anymore, Emmen,” Lord Malaric teased.

“I don’t think so either.”