Page 13

Chapter 13

Malric

I arrived at my son’s home bearing another small gift, ready to pick up Ollie for our date. Another wasn’t the right word, the first book had been huge. Not the actual book and its value. I honestly wasn’t sure what the monetary value was. But those words, I couldn’t remember a time when I’d opened up to someone so freely before. It had been at least a century, that was for sure.

But with Ollie, I wanted to give him that, give him access to the me no one else got to see, not even my kids. It was the part of me reserved for my mate—for my Ollie. I wished I could’ve been there to see his face when he opened it, read my heartfelt words. I knew he liked the book… I’d seen him reading a more modern release of it. But that wasn’t what had mattered to me, it was if he had opened his heart to me, something I planned to discover today.

Our last conversation had been pleasant, but it did little to alleviate my dragon. He demanded I go to my mate and grovel. But Ollie was clear about his boundaries, and I would respect them even if it killed me. Which it wouldn’t, despite my dragon insisting otherwise.

I felt absurd going on a date at my age. I might’ve looked relatively young, but I felt all of my five hundred years. Then again, it was no more absurd than me having to pick up my date at my son’s home.

Tavian opened the door, a wide grin on his face. He looked me up and down, his gaze narrowing and his chin lifting. “You must be the man interested in Ollie. What are your intentions?”

I rolled my eyes even though I suspected that he was dead serious. “I did not give your mate the third degree when you began courting.” I’d wanted to but had managed to restrain myself.

“I don’t plan on giving Ollie a hard time at all. I’m going to reserve all of that nonsense for you. Because it’s fun.” He smirked. “His curfew is eleven. You should have him home no later than that. Also, no one calls it courting anymore.”

“I think he can set his own curfew, and I call it courting.” It was a perfectly respectable term. Or maybe it was super dated. Probably both.

“Well, if he doesn’t plan on coming home tonight, can you please let us know? I don’t care to stay up late, waiting or worrying. No judgment from Kier or me on if he stays the night with you.” It was difficult to tell if he was serious or if he was mocking me. This was such an odd situation. I understood that. But still… the navigation of it was perplexing me.

“We like Ollie.” It was impossible not to notice that he mentioned Ollie, not me. Fair enough. I was the one who had hurt him, after all. “We hope you have a nice date.”

Oh goody, I had my son’s blessing. “He’ll be back for work in the morning.”

Not that I would make any assumptions about where Ollie was going to be staying that night. He could make all of those determinations on his own—and also, let the proper people know where he’d be. It felt like the more open-ended way to leave it. If I promised he’d be back and then he wasn’t—weird. If I promised he’d be gone, but he opted to go home instead—awkward. Open-ended for the win.

“Ahem.” Ollie cleared his throat loudly as he looked between Tavian and me. Both of us hung our heads. “Ollie can make these decisions on his own; after all, he is a grown man.”

He was 4000% right.

“Of course. I’m sorry,” I said. I was going to be doing a lot of apologizing today, might as well lead in with one. Especially since my son and I had been negotiating his personal time for him.

“Ollie, I’m sorry. I was just giving my dad a hard time,” Tavian said.

“As well you should. But your dad is also an adult. I understand that this is weird and a touch awkward, but all of us are grown-ups, and we can manage.” Tavian and I might’ve been a lot older than Ollie, but he was the only one acting his age here. “I’ll let you know if I don’t plan on returning this evening. Regardless, my date has no bearing on my ability to do my job tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Tavian said. “Have fun.”

There was a comfort in seeing that Ollie felt relaxed enough around my son, his boss, to be himself like this.

“Thank you.”

Ollie walked out the door, and then it was just the two of us standing on the front porch.

“This is for you,” I said, lifting another small box.

“Another gift, Malric? You’re going to spoil me.”

That was 100% my plan.

“Courtship is serious—and any suitor who is worth their weight would have showered you with gifts long before now. I am behind the curve in this regard.” It was customary to share at least three gifts before an outing. The first outing should be chaperoned by a trusted family member of the omega. Thankfully the time of chaperones had long since passed. If my son was giving me that kind of attitude now, he’d have been unbearable as a chaperone. All in fun, of course, but I was fine doing without.

Ollie eyed me skeptically. “If you say so.”

He opened up the little box and pulled out the golden crocheted scarf I’d purchased from a local witch, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was for him. The color would make his eyes pop, and who didn’t love staying warm.

“This is very nice. Thank you. Oh! And it is warm! How is it so warm?” Ollie’s eyes dazzled as he wrapped the scarf around him and rubbed his face against the yarn.

“It is an enchantment. It will only ever be warm for you. It has been heated by my own dragon fire.” Because I couldn’t get him just any scarf. No. I needed to get him the most amazing scarf in existence.

Ollie stroked the material against his face. “Malric. I love it. Thank you.”

“I had a smaller piece made.” I pulled it from my pocket and held it out to him. The small piece was about the size of a postcard. It was loosely knit together. “It’s for your mouse. I thought that—”

Ollie sucked in a breath. Elation filled his face. “I love it. Thank you. Seriously. I am tempted to go shift right now so I can cuddle into it.”

My dragon rumbled his approval. Score one for me.

“You’re welcome. Shall we?” I held out my arm, and he took it… my dragon puffing up in victory.

Calm down. We still have a lot to make up for.

I led him to my car and opened the door for him. Was I being overly old-fashioned? Opening the door for him, closing it behind him, giving him my arm, following the norms of the days of old? Probably. But I didn’t care. It was how I knew to spoil him, and he needed spoiling. Lots and lots of spoiling.

“Where are we going?” Ollie asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

“Someplace I know that you’ll like.” And I did—but only because I overheard my son calling him for advice about a great place. It was when he was trying to set up a date night for him and his mate when Ollie first started. I hadn’t even met Ollie then, but my dragon knew on some level, because eavesdropping wasn’t my norm, but for some reason that call mattered. I saw why now.

We drove to the restaurant, chatting about the weather and the kids. He loved my grandkids, and that meant the world to me. The place we were going to was high-end and was known for its food and service, all that good stuff. But that wasn’t why it was a great choice for a first real date. That honor went to its view.

People traveled long distances to dine here, just to look out the windows as they ate. It was nearly impossible to even get a reservation. The only reason I’d gotten in so easily was because I somehow lucked out, calling at the perfect time, a reservation having just been cancelled. I could use my title, of course, or money for that matter, but I wanted to do this the right way, and using my power and position was categorically not that.

The restaurant was tucked away in the mountains, the entire dining room exterior made of glass, and tonight, the moon was high. You could not only see the areas surrounding the restaurant but also down to the city.

He gasped when we arrived. “I’ve always wanted to go here.”

“I know.” I parked the car. “My son mentioned that you recommended it when he wanted to surprise his mate. I listened.”

“Oh...” His cheeks pinkened. “Well, thank you.”

The food was great. The atmosphere—private enough that we could have conversations. And the company, of course… the company was fabulous.

For the night, we both put aside what had happened, not talking about anything too serious. We chatted about books we loved, places we’d gone to, favorite foods, all typical first-date kinds of things. At least I thought they were. It had been so long since I even considered going on one.

The night was absolutely perfect.

I placed my hand on his across the table. There was something I’d been wanting to ask him, something I was beyond nervous he’d reject. But it was now or never, and I was choosing now.

“I was wondering... would you—would you like to go to the charity benefit with me next weekend?”

His eyes dropped to the empty dessert dish from the soufflé we’d just shared.

“I can’t.” It was all but a whisper.

“That’s fine... if you have plans… this is pretty last minute.” It didn’t feel fine. It felt like my heart was being stomped on, but I refused to let him see that.

“No, it’s not that.” He bit the corner of his lip. “I don’t... I’m not fancy enough for that.”

“Fancy?” It dawned on me. He didn’t have a tux. Of course he didn’t. It was hardly normal wardrobe fare for most people. “How about we go shopping tomorrow then?” Problem solved.

Wrong.

“Oh, I don’t know... that would feel awkward.” He still wasn’t meeting my eyes. I hadn’t meant to offend him. To me it was another way to spoil him, but now that I thought about it, I understood.

“You know what would feel awkward? Being at such a special event knowing that my mate couldn’t attend because of some scraps of fabric.”

He turned his hand over so our palms were touching. He wasn’t pulling away. He was giving me more.

“Then I’d love to go shopping with you tomorrow.”

And my dragon felt like he’d just won the lottery.

I did too.