Page 20 of The Ruby Dragon’s Unconventional Mate (Oro Escondido #3)

Chapter

Eighteen

“ S o, we have news.” Lars set a load of groceries down on Lachlan’s counter, noticing it had gone from concrete and stainless steel to warm wood tones and grouted river rock since his last visit. Castle was so much nicer than brutalist mansion.

“Yeah?” Lachlan unpacked bags, making happy noises over the cheesecake that the market had sent him. Not that Lars wouldn’t devour half of it tonight himself, but hey. He had a right.

He was preggers.

“What’s up?” Lachlan asked.

“We’re pregnant,” he and Bryant said at the same time. The expression on Bryant’s face reassured him every time they talked about this. He looked so happy. So in love. And Lars loved putting that look there.

“What?” Lachlan glanced back and forth between them. Then he beamed, coming to kiss Lars’s cheeks one after the other before going to give Bryant a huge back-slapping hug. “Gods, that’s fantastic! I’m going to be an uncle!”

Bryant grinned wide. “Right?”

Lachlan glanced at Lars. “Have you told Logan yet?”

His cheeks heated. “Officially? No. But Dakota and Samuel were with me when I figured it out, so he knows. We decided that made it fair to officially tell you first.”

Lachlan did a little dance, which made Jarrel hiss when Lach almost stepped on him. “So when?”

“February. The coldest part of the year, of course.” Lars grinned at Lachlan, stroking his belly. “That will make for an amazing holiday season, though, won’t it?”

They would have Halloween, Christmas together as a couple, before they were parents. See how the other one handled presents and big meals and overbearing family and?—

He laughed. That was borrowing trouble.

“Lars, I think, is still a little panicky. I? Am so happy I don’t have time for that.”

“So, I’ve decided I need a child-friendly space for Uncle Lachlan to have visitors. I think I’ll co-opt your rooms for the space, Bry.” Lachlan grinned at Lars and wrapped one arm around him. “I cannot wait to see the nursery plans.”

“Oh! Oh, wow. We hadn’t even talked about that.” Lars turned to Bryant, freaked right out.

“Not yet. We will.” Bryant grinned at him, then Lachlan. “So what? Like a playroom and a nap room?”

“I was thinking that, yes. When I need to keep them longer than a few hours. It would be nice to have a space all the kids are familiar with.” Lachlan beamed at Bryant. “I expect to be babysitting often. You’ll need date nights.”

Lars thought that Lachlan was way more functional than Bryant thought. “Of course. You’re going to be the baby’s beloved uncle.”

“I am.” Lachlan just danced him around, then stopped dead. “Oh. Are you having morning sickness? I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine as long as I only try to eat what the bean wants me to eat. If I go past that… Oh, bad. But motion isn’t bothering me at all.”

“We have to promise Lars at least half of the cheesecake,” Bryant said solemnly, his eyes twinkling.

“Of course! I would never deny my new brother’s pregnancy cravings.”

“So wait,” Lars blurted. “You never thought I was an alpha?”

“Oh, sweet Lars,” Lachlan said. “You might have fooled betas and omegas in your wing. Even alphas. But a guardian? No.”

“Oh.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “So do you think everyone in my wing is just pretending I’m an alpha so I can be a guardian without any weirdness?”

“Possibly. Isn’t that sweet?” That was Bryant, and Lars had to think on that one.

“I guess? I mean, it could be super sweet in theory, but I did worry about it for a very long time. About people finding out, and me getting Logan in trouble, and me not being allowed to mate with Bryan…”

Lachlan’s face took on a sympathetic expression. “Oh, Lars. That sounds awful. I’m sorry you had to go through that.” He led Lars to the kitchen island, where he handed him a fork and then slid the cheesecake over.

Lars blushed hard, his cheeks just burning, but he dug in, because it tasted so damn good. Something about the cheesecake, it was really magical. The sweet, sour flavor. The creamy texture. The burnt-ish top…

“So we need to get you packed,” Lachlan told Bryant, tapping his fingers on the table. “It’s time.”

“Damn, just try to get rid of me, why don’t you?”

Lachlan chuckled and shook his head. “No. No, you need to be with your mate. You’ve got to find your familiar. You’ve got to find your Keeper of the Keys. You’ve?—”

Bryant shook his head, smoke pouring from his nostrils. “No. No, there won’t be any of those.”

Lars glanced at Bryant and offered him a small smile.

“If you don’t want one, we won’t have one.

But I’ve spoken to Simon and to Celeste, and they say it simply isn’t right.

These dragons are called, bound to serve a family, to protect it.

I’m not sure what happened, but I do know that when I spoke to Simon and Celeste, they were both horrified. ”

“Of course they were horrified. One of their own tried to murder my brother.” Bryant snarled, making Lars draw back, stung. “Look, I love you. I honestly do.” Bryant shook his head. “But I don’t care. They can say that it doesn’t happen all they want. It did.”

It still didn’t make any sense at all. “Had she been with your family long?”

Lachlan shook his head. “No, not long at all. When we—Bryant and I—were breaking off from living in our parents’ home. Of course. The Keeper of the Keys that we had stayed with our parents and, so, when Ama showed up, no one questioned it.”

So what if she hadn’t been a Keeper at all? “Well?—”

“No.” Bryant stared at him, and Lars held his gaze right back. “There will be no Keeper of the Keys in my home, around my child. Do you understand?”

Lars tilted his head, his lips tightening. “I understand that you have a position. I also understand that I might have a position as well, and that we can discuss it like adults. Is that clear?”

“Oh, that’s very nice,” Lachlan said as they stared at one another. “He needs someone that will stand up to him.”

“You are not helping,” Bryant snapped, and Lachlan shrugged.

“There have been Keepers of the Keys in our society for millennia,” Lachlan stated. “And for one bad apple, one mistake, one error. You’re going to deny your family an honor that is bestowed on so few?—”

“You almost died!”

“I didn’t die!” Lachlan’s wings flared. “Am I a little cracked? Absolutely. But I’m not dead, and I’m a guardian!”

The roaring was souring his cheesecake and hurting his head.

“We don’t have to fight, guys. Not right now.

This is supposed to be a celebration. Should a Keeper of the Keys appear, then we’ll talk about it.

No matter what, they will be no one that Simon or Celeste don’t know, fair enough? Can we talk about it later?”

Bryant growled, and Lars made it a point to meet that energy with calmness.

He understood why Bryant was scared. There were many reasons to be scared, but he also knew what he knew.

Simon had been with his family for as long as he could remember, and if Simon said that a person was safe, then Lars would believe him.

Easy as that.

Finally, Bryant sighed. “You’re probably right, and I’m probably being an asshole. We’ll talk about it when it happens. We’ll talk about it. Fair?”

“Yes. We’re mated. We’ll figure it out together.”

Lachlan came up and gave him another hug. “You’re an amazing, wondrous dragon. I’m so glad to welcome you to our family. I can’t wait for Mother and Father to meet you. They’re going to love you.”

Bryant nodded, beginning to relax. “I think so, too. I thought perhaps we could invite them to come out this summer just to spend a week or two, enjoy our wing.”

“Oh, they can stay here!” Lachlan actually bounced a little bit. “There’s plenty of room. We’ll have picnics, cookouts, long walks. I think it’ll be fun.” Lachlan winked at him. “My parents are, believe it or not, very charming people and quite fun.”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all.” Both Bryant and Lachlan were, when they were at their best, absolutely irresistible. “I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

“Excellent.” Lachlan stole a bite of cheesecake. “So, we’ll pack up all of Bryant’s things, and we’ll ship them over to you. Then you can find places for them in your house, and I will build the most wonderful child-friendly space ever for all of my nieces and nephews.”

“Is it going to be like a giant bouncy castle come to life?” Bryant muttered under his breath.

“Poor baby, you’re moving from a bouncy castle to a fairy-tale cottage. Whatever will you do?” Lars blew Bryant a kiss.

Bryant gave him a toothy smile. “Well, I will love on you everywhere, in every room of the house. I can’t wait.”

His cheeks flushed hot, and his heart started hammering, so Lars just nibbled on another bite of cheesecake. Because what else did a guy do when his mate made an announcement like that in front of his brother?

Lachlan laughed. “I like that. You really are good for him, Lars. He laughs again now.”

Bryant made an exaggerated face, grimacing wryly. “Why doesn’t anybody ever say that about me? That I’m good for Lars?”

“Oh, they do,” Lars told them. “Logan says that all the time. He says I need to be challenged, and that I needed to understand that it was okay for me to be who I am. So I guess we’re even.”

Lachlan clapped them both on the back. “See I knew you were going to work this out. Now, I need real food. Are you okay with your cheesecake, Lars?”

Lars pondered that. “Let me see where we are when I smell the food after it’s been heated up.”

“Fair enough. I don’t want you to be sick.”

“No, no sicky for my omega.” Bryant finally came to him and put an arm around him.

And he felt immediately better. He kept forgetting that they were still forging their mate bond, and that sometimes they just needed to touch in order to understand each other.

Words could be so unforgiving and weird, and tones and faces were hard to read, but when they touched, he could feel Bryant’s energy.

He could feel how Bryant wanted to keep him safe and how worried he was about all the things he couldn’t control.

But that was what Lars could teach Bryant. No one could control everything. One had to believe sometimes that things were going to happen the way they were supposed to, and his mate had to give himself over to things like love.

They sat together over food, and Bryant had recovered from his anger, which Lars knew was based in fear. Alphas got all grr when they were scared, especially for people they loved. And Lachlan was still injured, he was pregnant…

So much change.

Are you making excuses for me, love? Bryant asked.

No. I’m reminding myself that no dragon is infallible, and that we all worry about things. We live on the edges of a world that doesn’t hardly believe in magic, let alone dragons. It’s a lot of pressure sometimes. Like we’re caught between two worlds, and we’re getting smooshed.

That’s exactly what it feels like.

Lachlan fed Jarrel a bit of chicken. “Do you see how they ignore me, Jarrel? What a good kitty. Such a good boy.”

“Okay, okay, we get it. We’ll stop talking amongst ourselves.”

Lachlan beamed at them. “How about we clean up, and then we go huddle together on the couch and watch a movie.”

“Pillows and blankets?” Bryant asked.

“My cheesecake?” Lars added.

“Only if I get a fork too.” Lachlan smacked his lips. Gods, he was funny.

“Done.”

They all kept talking about moving to the other room, but stayed in the kitchen. Lars started to droop, so Bryant took him to the couch and covered him with a blanket. “Be right back.”

“Mmmkay.”

He never did find out what movie they chose. He fell asleep far too soon.