Page 25 of The Ruby Dragon’s Unconventional Mate (Oro Escondido #3)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

“ L ars.” Bryant had come home to find that Lars was gone. And he’d taken his things. Not just an overnight bag, but a whole shit-ton of stuff. Most of his clothes. Slippy. All of his weird hair stuff. All of his cheesecake.

And, apparently, he was at Lachlan’s.

With Simon’s twin cousins.

“No. I tried to sit down with you and talk about it. I called you. Three times. You just kept saying no to me. No compromise. Not even any listening. So, until you can come to the table with a real intention to listen, I will be here with Lachlan.”

“Dammit, Lars…”

“What?” Lars gave a disdainful sniff. “Arthur and Alban are amazing, but you don’t even want to meet them. How insulting is that? I have known Simon since the womb, Bryant. He wouldn’t steer me wrong.”

“But I?—”

“Nope.” Lars hung up.

Hung up!

His damn mate was pregnant, and he’d been trying to see him for days, and he just kept?—

A scratching noise made him jump damn near out of his body, the sound loud and weird and coming from one of the windows.

What the ever-loving fuck?

How had he ended up at the fairy-tale house, potentially with the big bad wolf, while Lars was at the castle, having a slumber party with his brother, a ferret, a big cat, and twin-fucking-keepers?

He strode over to the windows that he thought the sound was coming from, and he peered outside. He didn’t see anything to begin with, but then he thought he spied movement in the rosebush outside.

Okay, so there was no way a wolf could hide in the bushes right there.

So, he headed outside, his body on alert, but he was now looking for an injured bird or a ground squirrel.

He circled the bushes, and he heard a rustle. “Okay, it’s all right. You can come out. I won’t hurt you.” If an animal was in there and injured, it ought to respond to his tone and to the magical suggestion he was sending out. “Come on, little bit.”

He heard a chittering noise, and then a little gray and brown weasel popped out of the bushes, tail moving, its bright eyes staring into him.

“Whoa.” Bryant took a step back. This wasn’t Slippy. Slippy was all gray and black. “Who are you?”

The weasel came to put a paw on his boot, and he heard it in his head as clear as day. “Andine? Your name is Andine.”

The tiny creature chattered at him, squeaking, and he blinked.

“Okay. Well, hey there, Andine. What can I help you with?”

He got a chaotic jumble of images. Slipknot. His brother. Lars. A pair of rainbow twins. Sadness that he and Andine weren’t there with them. A picnic.

“That’s all very well and good, Andine, but I don’t trust them.” He turned on his heel so he could walk back inside.

The little weasel popped around him to put her front paws on his leading leg as if to hold him outside. Then she scolded him. Loudly.

“Nope.” He stepped over Andine, ignoring her as he went back inside. Well, except he waited for her to come back in before he shut the door. “Look. I appreciate you coming to be my familiar and Slippy’s mate. I do. But I’m not ready to make nice. I told Lars how I feel about?—”

“But did you listen to how he felt?”

Holy fucking shit, Bryant almost had a damn heart attack right there, thinking that Andine was talking to him in a man’s voice from his own living room.

Or that someone had snuck inside to try to kill him.

Neither was the case; it was Logan, sitting on his couch.

“Shit, Logan. If I keel over dead, it won’t matter if I have or not.”

“Eh, you’re not that easy to kill.” Logan grinned. “I tried hard enough when we were in college together.”

“Yeah, yeah. What do you want?”

“Well, now I want to meet your familiar. Hi, Andine.” Logan held out a hand, and the little weasel ran right up his arm.

Traitor.

Andine chittered away at Logan, and he nodded as if he understood. “Uh-huh. I agree. He’s being a dick to my pregnant brother.”

Andine heaved a huge sigh, then turned to stare at him as if to say, see? I told you.

“Et tu, Andine,” he griped.

“Come on, man. You’re being seriously unreasonable.” Logan held up his hands. “And I even get why. But you have to trust your mate.”

“I do trust him.” Bryant wasn’t doing this with Logan.

“Lying is unattractive.” Logan blinked at him. “Try again.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said lying is unattractive, try again.” Suddenly, it was absolutely, perfectly clear who exactly the boss was in this wing. Not only that, Logan knew it, and damn, it pissed Bryant off.

“You don’t get to be my boss and tell me what to do about my mate!”

“One, I can do pretty much what I want to as long as I’m a decent dragon and protecting my people.

Two, you’re my people. Three, I’m not being the boss.

I’m being the brother—the older brother, which means I’m the boss, of course.

And not only that, you’re just wrong. I have my reasons.

Yes, no one’s argued that what happened to you sucked, but that dragon who hurt Lachlan was not a keeper. ”

“How do you know? You can’t just say Simon said. This isn’t a children’s game.”

“Simon went to his elders and asked. They have no reason to lie. Someone wanted your brother dead, but you and I both know when the line ends, the Keepers die. Their entire focus is to support the line. One generation after another. If you meet this new Keeper, and you don’t like him, you don’t trust him, then talk to Lars.

Discuss it with him.” Logan was petting Andine like they weren’t even fighting.

“He’s not angry at you because you don’t want a Keeper.

He’s angry at you because you made an ultimatum, and you’re not his boss; you’re his mate.

That’s not how it works. You talk about things.

Did he ever once say to you, absolutely, this person is coming to live at our house? ”

“Yes.”

Logan arched an eyebrow at him. “Think about it.”

“He’s the one who wants me to meet him.” It was a weak, weak argument, but it was the one he was going to use.

“Yes. He wants you to meet him. Don’t be a dick. They’re already living there. Look, you don’t trust them. They’re living with your brother and your pregnant mate already, and you’re not even there. So walk me through the logic here.”

“I want Lars to respect me enough to understand that I don’t want to keep this keeper,” Bryant snarled. He was tired of this shit.

“All right. What does Lars want?”

Bryant shrugged, aggravated as hell. “I don’t know. Someone to take care of things around here so that he doesn’t have to?”

Logan’s eyebrow lifted, and the air seemed to get incredibly warm even for him. “I would walk carefully, friend. I’ll put up with a lot. Not this. You are not allowed to disrespect my family.”

Bryant sighed and rubbed his forehead, suddenly ashamed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I know how hard Lars works. I don’t think I can do it. I don’t think I can trust another Keeper. I’ll never sleep again.”

“All right. And again, I’m asking how are you dealing with the fact that you have two Keepers with your brother and your pregnant mate without you?

What is it you’re really worried about? Because you’re sleeping now.

What is it that you’re actually scared of?

Because if it was them hurting Lars or Lachlan, your ass would be stalking that castle and we both know it. ”

Bryant sighed, shook his head. “I don’t want to have to kill anybody else. I don’t want to have to commit murder. It was justified, and I didn’t have a choice, and I know it. But it doesn’t matter. I still don’t want to do it ever again.”

“All right, that’s fair.” Logan held his gaze, and now it felt as if he was coming to Bryant as a friend. “So what you’re saying is you don’t trust yourself?”

“What if I was wrong? What if I misread the situation? What if?—”

Logan waved his hand. “You’re heading back into that stupid area again.

The bitch was killing your brother. She didn’t stop, and she paid the price for it.

She would have paid the price regardless.

She would have been jailed, her magic would have been taken from her, and she would have rotted in a cell.

Now. Quit flagellating yourself over something that’s done.

You rescued your twin. Now you need to go rescue your relationship.

Lars adores Lachlan, but he wants to be with you.

” Logan leaned forward, cradling Andine.

“He needs to be with you, and you’re missing the pregnancy.

You’re never going to get a first pregnancy ever again.

The next time you do it, there’ll be other babies. You’re wasting time.”

“I kind of hate you.”

Logan shrugged. “I get that a lot. You’d think it would bother me, but no, not really.”

“I know. That’s why you’re the gold dragon. Hell, that’s why Lachlan is the platinum dragon. He used to be just like you. But he’s cracked.”

“So let him choose what he wants. He seems to be doing fine. Jarrel likes this guy, by the way.”

“He never did like…her.”

Andine chattered, coming to lean on his leg.

“Okay, okay, fine. I’ll go meet these twins and talk to my brother and my mate.” Andine tapped his foot. “Yes, and you can meet Slippy.”

“She’s adorbs. Want me to fly over with you?” Logan watched him carefully.

“No. No, I’m good. Unless Lars would like you to come.”

Logan chuckled. “He didn’t ask me to come talk to you. I did that on my own.”

“Okay. Well, I can dragon up and go do this by myself too.” He took a deep breath, then let it out. “I love him. Lars, I mean. So much. You know that, right?”

“I do. But fear and shame can make us do crazy things.” Logan clapped him on the back. “He’s my brother, and you’re a good friend. I want you happy.”

“Me too.” Bryant chuckled. “I’m not sleeping, by the way. But because I miss him.”

“So, go get him, ruby dragon.”

“Thanks, Logan.” He nodded, then stepped out, holding out a hand for Andine. “Come on, little bit. Let’s go meet your mate.”

Andine climbed up his arm to sit on his neck, and she clung tight, even when he shifted.

He had a feeling she was going to be the best familiar ever.