Page 12 of The Dragon’s Stormwoven Bond (Dragon Flight Academy #2)

Valen

I had work to do. So much freaking work to do. I wasn’t one to shy away from work, but man, things were piling up.

Despite that, I found myself enjoying my new job.

There was just something about watching these young dragons learn a new craft and show off their talents.

They had a lot of learning and growing to do to get into competing shape, but I was more than happy to guide them through it, and the idea of attending the competitions was exciting for me.

It had been years since I had been invested in them at all. I rarely had even kept up enough to know where the strong teams were from. But now I found myself reading about them, watching the footage, talking with the other coaches.

Being back here soothed both my beast and me.

It was great to feel like a member of the clan again.

I hadn’t realized just how outside of it I had felt these past few years.

A “few” being a hundred or so. Traveling and experiencing new things had been fun, but there was something about being back home.

But today, after the night that I had with my mate, work was the last thing on my mind. How could it be. He was and always would be my priority. Fate gave me such a precious gift, and I planned to make sure he felt that way every day, current blunder aside.

But that didn’t mean I could be a slacker. I should be focusing on what my practice schedule was going to be, how I would coach my team through the maneuvers they needed, or even out practicing those maneuvers on my own.

Instead, I stared off into space. My computer had long since gone dark from not being used. It hadn’t been intentional. The attempt was there, but memories kept coming back, memories I wished were nightmares and not real.

Every time I blinked, I saw the look of horror and hurt on my mate’s face when I returned home from dinner with his parents.

I would never forget it. It was like I broke him into pieces.

I’d never forgive myself. It might not have been my intention to be around that omega, but even at the time I knew better.

A knock on my desk—not the door, my actual desk—broke me from my thoughts. I’d completely missed the door opening, the footsteps coming closer, and the alpha scent in the air. I was worse of a mess than I thought.

I looked up to find Commander Emmen standing there with a raised brow and a look of amusement. I don’t know what he thought I was so pensive about, but it wasn’t the horror that had been going though me, that was for sure.

“Commander,” I said. “Sorry. I was lost in thought.”

“I see that,” he said. He pulled up a chair, turning it backwards so he could straddle it. I had a feeling in that moment I was talking with my longtime friend and not my boss, which was good. I was being a shitty employee now.

“Everything going all right with work?” he asked.

I nodded. If you didn’t take into consideration today, it wasn’t a lie. “I love it. I’ve been really enjoying it.”

“Good. I’ve heard nothing but good things.”

That was nice to hear. I felt like I was making some nice connections with the team, but there was always a learning curve and adjustment period. A team was just as much about the relationships as it was the skill. Communication and trust were key.

“And your mate?” And here it was.

“He’s great. He loves his job. I love being here with him.” That wasn’t at all what he was getting at. I’d bet money on it, but I wasn’t about to have a therapy session with my boss over how to fix what I messed up.

“So it’s that other thing, then, that’s weighing on your mind.” Emmen narrowed his eyes at me, asking without words what I was going to do about this situation.

I nodded. It was one thing to avoid talking about something, quite another to lie.

“If by other thing you that my oldest friend is also my father-in-law and does not know that I am mated to his son? Then yes, it’s that other thing.” It sounded awful when spoken out loud, on many levels.

“I thought it might be. I didn’t expect you two to go this long without telling him.” He wasn’t alone in that. But somehow one day turned into the current fiasco. “Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t heard by now.”

“I know.” Gossip ran quickly around here. If he wasn’t so old-school, it would be almost guaranteed that he’d have seen it on his computer.

“We’ve been able to avoid the conversation, but that won’t last much longer. We have to tell him.”

“No shit.” He shook his head.

I saw that he wasn’t going to pull any punches, and that was good. I needed it.

“How do I tell him?” I asked. If it were anyone else, it would be easy. But we had centuries of history. He wasn’t an acquaintance I knew in passing. “How would you want to hear the news?

Emmen snorted. “I’m just as old as you and have never been mated before, most certainly never had a clutch. I can’t even imagine what fatherhood feels like, let alone what having grown, mated kids will feel like.”

If he thought he was helping, he was wrong.

“We’re dragons. We speak with our senses most of the time. You don’t have to say the words at all. You just show up to his house with your mate.”

I sighed. That wouldn’t end well. “I know, I know. But we’ve hid it for so long now. Watch him burn the curtains down on accident.” He had more control than that… probably.

“Hardly. He’s not going to be mad. I mean, he might be mad that you didn’t tell him, but he’s a dragon just like the rest of us.

He’s going to be excited that he has a son who found his mate so young in life.

Even dragons our age wish for that sort of thing.

” There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Do you?”

“Wish for a mate?” Emmen’s face took off a faraway look. “I don’t know that there is one out there for me. I’ve given up.”

I had too, and here I was. But giving him platitudes wouldn’t accomplish anything other than irk him. At least that had been the case for me anytime someone tried to discuss my lack of mate.

“Meeting Pep changed that for me. Eryx is going to be disappointed. I’m not the dragon he wanted for his son. He told me so the first day I was back here.” And it had stung.

“Well, there’s quite a difference between thinking about a situation hypothetically and dealing with a situation in reality. Hypothetically, sure, an old dragon who spent so long sowing his wild oats might not be his first pick for his son.”

At least he hadn’t full out called me a player.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re a good man, and you love his son more than anything. He’ll see that. And also, it’s not up to him anyways. It’s up to fate. And Pep.”

“I know. I just... I’m scared. I don’t want to lose my friend.” And more than that, I didn’t want Pep to have struggles with his family. They had been close knit, and I was already driving a wedge between them. If this didn’t go well, that wedge could worsen.

“Then fight for your friendship the same way you would fight for your mate.” As if it were that easy. “Would it be helpful if me or someone like Zayne came along?”

I shook my head. “No. It’ll probably be just me and Pep. Maybe his brother.” Twin powers and all of that.

I checked my watch. Pep planned to leave work early to go to his family home later to grab a few things. After he got back, we needed to put together a plan. No matter what happened, we needed to tell his parents soon. It was eating away at both of us.

“I’m here for you if you need me.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it, Commander.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re older than me, you know.”

I laughed. “Yeah, but you’re the one who grew up and got the big-kid job, so you get the big-kid title.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously in love.” I tapped on my keyboard to wake up my computer. “Now get out. I need to get a lot of work done if I’m going to have a big-kid job one day too.”

He pushed himself to stand. “Still ridiculous.” And he headed towards the door.

“Yep, still ridiculously in love.”