“You don’t need the money anymore, do you?”
He shrugged, looking down. He poked at a small rock on the ground between his bare feet, then he took two pebbles and began juggling them in one hand. “Well, in a way, I do need more money. Once you’re famous, your life gets pricier, the most expensive thing being privacy. The property costs thousands a month to maintain. Then my staff and security.” He winked at me, still juggling the stones effortlessly. “Fame earns you a fortune but costs a fortune. So I’ve invested in some businesses on the side. Nothing risky. If things go south, and I get myself ousted from the industry, I’ve got a few golden eggs stashed in a safe nest.”
“Where’s your family?”
He looked at me with his eyebrows raised, letting the stones fall to the ground. “My family? I thought that was common knowledge.”
“I don’t read the tabloids, sorry.”
“That’s a good thing. Don’t apologize.”
“So?”
“I don’t have one.”
I frowned. How was that possible? He was a shifter. Alldragons came from huge families and had many children in turn. “Are you estranged, or do they live abroad?”
“I was born from a forced bond.”
I blinked. That was a thing of the past, wasn’t it? “What?”
“My alpha father was fifty-five and still hadn’t found a mate. He got desperate, so he dated my dad. Knowing they weren’t mates, he knocked him up. He didn’t even tell him about shifters until after the heat. Predictably, it didn’t work out. He met his true mate shortly after that, and my dad was left seven months pregnant with a dragon baby on the way. My alpha father offered to raise me, to take me off his hands,”—Lothair made quotation marks in the air—“but my dad refused to give me up.”
“Where’s your omega dad now?”
Lothair shrugged. “Got cancer and died when I was twenty-one.”
My chest tightened and my stomach turned. “Shit. I’m sorry, Lothair. And your alpha father?”
“Somewhere in New Zealand. Neither of us cares enough to keep up with each other.”
What was I supposed to say to that? “I’m really sorry.”
He sighed and stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back. He looked up at the moon. A small cloud drifted by the shining orb, its edges glowing silver.
“I wasn’t into shifting at first,” Lothair said. “I spent my childhood hiding all my skills. At school, I ran slower, jumped shorter, and got beaten up like every other kid, not defending myself the way I could have. I hated being a shifter. My omega dad explained what he could, but he wasn’t part of the community, and I didn’t want to be. To my teenage mind, you all seemed like a bunch of selfishjerks.” He smiled apologetically. “Then I got hung up on superhero movies, but not because of saving the world or helping the poor and whatnot. I was more pragmatic than that. I realized I could use my skills to earn money. That way, something good could come out of my useless heritage. I didn’t have to be a dragon, but I could be superhuman, and I loved that. The rush was intoxicating. Addictive.”
He looked at me, smirking like he always did.
“My omega dad was already sick, but at least he saw me become successful. I got my first big contract at twenty and paid off our mortgage. He was so proud of me.” He swallowed and exhaled slowly. “I got him the best care. He had his own room at the hospital, and they were really nice to him. I visited as much as I could and… I was there for him. I held his hand when he died. I’m grateful I could do that.”
“You were a good son,” I said. It sounded inadequate to my own ears.
He gave a jerky nod. “So, there it is. My pathetic life story as you can read it anywhere online. Just without the dragon detail.”
“I had no idea forced bonds were still a thing.”
“It’s rare, I hear.”
Stunned, I recapped what he said. Suddenly, so much about Lothair began making sense.
“Being a shifter must mean something different to you than it does to me.”
He glanced at me, his gaze soft and vulnerable. I didn’t know him at all, did I?
“It’s a tool,” he said. “A perk. Something good that I got from something shitty. I don’t resent it anymore, but I’m not particularly proud of it.”
How much space in my heart was occupied by mybrothers? My parents, annoying cousins, my grandpa and granddad, my old pops with his chipped mugs, and the horrendous amount of cake he’d fed me throughout the years… In my head, being a dragon equaled family. And even though I had very little time for them since I’d started at Cassidy and Hassel, working six days a week, they were a constant in my life. They were tolerant, supporting me and waiting patiently for when I could visit or call.
