Page 9

Chapter 9

Malric

I didn’t regret my night with Ollie. Not a single bit. I could never regret it, and I doubted very much that it would be a one-time thing. It did, however, throw a wrench into some aspects of my life, and I wasn’t sure what to do about that.

Like my relationship with my son and Kier. I doubted very much that they would appreciate me dating their manny. They would be happy I found someone, sure, but there was no denying that awkwardness would abound. My head was racing with possibilities on how to protect Ollie from our joining messing with his job, and each time, I came up with exactly zero.

Unlike me, Ollie snoozed peacefully, while I’d been up for over an hour.

“Oh,” Ollie sighed and stretched next to me. His head rested on my chest and his arms reached into the air, stretching the sleep away. “You’re thinking awfully hard for this early in the morning.”

His sleep-filled voice had my dragon perking up. He was all-in with Ollie. I was too. I just wasn’t sure how that was going to work.

I chuckled and kissed the top of his head. “I can’t help it,” I said. “Did the kids sleep through the night?”

Ollie laughed outright. “Goodness, no. You slept right through it, though. They were up twice. Flint slept through the fussying, but Opaline and Ruby were both up.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have—”

“Nonsense.” Ollie cuddled closer once he finished stretching. The whole length of his body was plastered against me. “It’s my job to take care of them.”

“Still, I was here to help.” And instead, I distracted him.

“I don’t think the plan was for you to stay the night,” Ollie said, pushing up on his elbow and looking down at me. He was absolutely delicious-looking in this state—hair mussed, pillow lines on his face. His teasing smile had me feeling all fluttery. “Or was it?”

How was I supposed to answer that? I opted to skip over it completely and to change the subject instead. “What’s your plan for today?”

“As soon as Tavian and Kier get home, I have the afternoon free. Maybe we could grab dinner?”

“I’d like that very much,” I said. “I have some work to do. I should get up and get going soon so I can get it done. Unless you need help with the kids?” I didn’t want to leave him, but also, my job still needed to be done. Also, it was probably better to tell my son about Ollie than have him discover it on his own.

“We should be fine. The kids will be getting up soon. I should get their breakfast going.” He laid his head back down on my chest.

“You don’t seem in a hurry to do that.” And I wasn’t in a hurry for him to leave my side.

“I realize it’s been a while since you’ve had babies this young, but the rule is: never wake a sleeping child. If they’re going to sleep, I’m going to let them.” He snuggled in closer. “And besides, I like being here with you.”

“I seem to remember the other rule being: sleep when the baby sleeps, but I’m not going to argue with you.”

“I appreciate it. It’s interesting that the ‘experts’ were spouting that nonsense back then too, don’t you think?”

I winced at the “back then” comment. But he wasn’t wrong. My last clutch was one hundred and fifty years old. Several lifetimes separated Ollie and me.

We were quiet for a moment longer, and then Ollie sat up again, looking at me. “Is this going to be awkward with Tavian? Because you and I—?”

I grasped his hand and kissed his fingertips. “No, it doesn’t have to be. You and I are adults, right? Tavian will have to deal with us.”

I spoke with more confidence than I felt. Tavian didn’t like me being alone, but also… this was Ollie, not some random omega I met somewhere. It was different.

“Of course. And I mean… I never expected to find my mate. But now that I have, I—”

I stilled, holding my breath. Mates.

We weren’t. We couldn’t be. Could we?

Ollie must’ve sensed my unease. He went quiet as he looked at me, his body still.

“Ollie,” I said. “We can’t be mates. Our chemistry is off the charts, I’ll give you that, but—”

He scrambled away from me, pulling the sheet over his body. Fuck. I sure knew how to turn a mood on its ass, didn’t I?

“What do you mean?” His voice quivered.

The cold air hit me like a bucket of water, and I reached for him. He scrambled farther away.

“I realize that you had— That you lost— I’m not— But what we have is—” He shrank in on himself, and I hated that I was the one who caused that to happen. His eyes darted around, confusion scrunching his forehead. It was like I was watching him break before my eyes and all because of me.

“You… It’s just impossible. Ollie, we can’t be mates.”

He recoiled like I slapped him.

“I know what I feel,” Ollie said. “You do, too. But I understand why you’re denying it.”

He wasn’t wrong. Never before had I felt anything as explosive as this—except for with my previous husband. But that ship had sailed. You only get one mate in life, and I had lost mine.

“Ollie, I care for you a great deal.” I slapped my mouth shut before I found myself in a it’s-not-you-it’s-me speech that would only lead to more heartache.

He winced. “Let’s not talk anymore.” He got out of bed, keeping the sheet wrapped around him.

“I’d like to rescind my offer for dinner,” he said, not meeting my gaze.

“I—Ollie, please. Let’s not—”

He shook his head, then walked away.

There I was, left with my thoughts—the absolute worst place to be. How could I have messed up something so beautiful so quickly.

I tried once more to talk to him when I made coffee in the kitchen after I had gotten dressed, but he shook his head. I didn’t want to keep pushing and make it worse, but also, the notion of giving up broke my heart.

“Later we can talk.” Which wasn’t a never. I was going to have to take it. “It’s too much right now, please. Your son will be home soon, and I need to get the kids ready. I’m working.”

I would be long gone by the time Tavian arrived. He’d walk in here and immediately sense something was wrong if I stayed. Or possibly even if I was gone. There was no winning here.

It was best to go. I left the house and went straight to my office. Even though it was Sunday, I could sit here and get work done. My house would be too empty and cold for right now. If I was there, I’d never be able to stop thinking about Ollie. Ha! As if location mattered. I wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking of him even when I was trying to bury myself in work.

I didn’t deny that what we had felt the day before was as close to what having a mate felt like as I had ever gotten since losing Chastain. But it was impossible, right? I couldn’t have two mates. There was no way. I’d never heard of such a thing.

When my phone rang, I jumped out of my seat. It was Vlad, one of my advisors and oldest friends. We chatted for a while about the reason he called, some sought-after work advice.

“Is everything all right? Malric, you seem very distracted,” he asked.

“Well, I… I met someone,” I said.

“That’s wonderful. You’ve been alone too long. Who’s the lucky person? Anyone I know?”

“Do you think… could a dragon have two mates?” I asked. I hadn’t expected the words to just tumble out, but there they were. I could trust Vlad to be discreet. He wouldn’t take my question lightly.

I expected him to gently let me know that it was impossible. Yet, his answer was immediate.

“Of course. I mean, it’s not often, obviously, but why wouldn’t a dragon be able to have two? Or any shifter for that matter?” He spoke with complete confidence and matter-of-factly.

“You’re that sure?” I said. “I just assumed I would never find anybody that I could care for as much as I did Chastain.”

“Well, you’ll love them differently, obviously. I can’t begin to even pretend to understand what it would feel like to lose a mate the way you did, but look at Charlisle the paralegal from our southern branch. He has two mates. The three of them are a triad. Why wouldn’t you have two mates? Hundreds of years apart, of course. But why not?”

My stomach dropped like it was hit with a ton of bricks. I knew Charlisle. How had I not pieced that together? Of course, it was possible. The evidence had been there all along.

Why not indeed? I’d been looking at this all wrong.

“Oh, shit. I hadn’t thought about it like that.” If a triad or more of mates was possible, though it was rare, why wouldn’t I have more than one mate a century apart? Never in the past hundred years had it occurred to me that it would be possible. I was too clouded with my grief over my loss that any sort of happiness with another person was unfathomable. “Fuck. Vlad, I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

There was no thinking to it. I had.

“Well, hopefully you haven’t forgotten how to grovel.”

At first, I thought he was teasing me, but he was dead serious. Good thing I never let pride get in my way. I was willing to grovel like it was my superpower.

“Courting rituals have changed over the years, so you might want to brush up on those. But I’m told that flowers are still an acceptable form of apology—not that I would know. I’m perfect and never have any issues with my mate.”

I rolled my eyes at that because I knew it wasn’t true. His mate preferred chocolates over flowers, that was the only reason he never resorted to the fragrant beauties.

“I forgot about your perfection.”

“If only you could be as perfect as me.” He chuckled.

Fuck. There was no way Ollie was ever going to forgive me.

“I have to go. Thanks for calling.” I hung up before I could hear anymore. I had work to do and a lot of it.