But Terrance didn’t smile back. He dragged his hand over his face and reached for his coffee cup. “I need to call my boss.”
I would have beenadamant about waiting until Monday, but Terrance was brooding. When he suggested inviting his boss over today and laying it out for him, I agreed. Devon Hassel arrived at three.
The compact, wiry omega had such an air of unwavering professionalism he terrified me. If Terrance could be annoying with his insistence on rules and protocols, I imagined Devon being three times worse. I sat down next to Terrance on my patio sofa with a sense of impending doom.
“I understand you must be shaken, Lothair, but I assure you that the grounds are safe. Aside from your guy at the gate, I have three men patrolling and surveilling the property. Terrance supervised the checkup and upgrade of your security systems even before the incident. It might take a few days to find the perp from this morning, but it’s far from impossible. While the car and license plates were stolen, he’s been caught on several cameras around the neighborhood.”
“Erm. I’m fine, thank you,” I said. “I trust you with handling the entire situation. This is not why we need to talk to you.”
He narrowed his eyes, looking slowly from me to Terrance and back.
“Is there an issue?” he asked.
“Not the kind of issue you might expect,” Terrance said. “But I wouldn’t have asked you to come here on a Sunday afternoon if it weren’t serious.”
Devon leaned back in the armchair and stretched his legs in front of him.
“I’m listening.”
“We’re mated.” Terrance blurted out the sentence, tensing next to me as if he was bracing for impact.
Devon tilted his head to the side, his expression blank. “Beg your pardon?” Hints of an old accent made it into his voice. Was he originally British?
“We’re mated,” Terrance repeated. He gestured between us awkwardly.
Since Devon didn’t react in any way, I felt the need to clarify. “Terrance and I only realized this morning, before the incident, that we are mated.”
Frowning, Devon leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He glanced around. “To whom?”
“To each other,” we replied in unison.
His eyebrows flew up, and his lips parted. He waggled a finger in the air, pointing at us. “You two. You are mates. Like fated dragon mates. Really?”
He spluttered out a laugh.
Terrance scowled. “Do you find it funny, boss?”
To Devon’s credit, it was a little funny, especially considering how much Terrance hated me in the beginning.
“Sorry.” Devon pursed his lips and took a deep breath. “This will take some getting used to.” He still seemed to be suppressing laughter.
Terrance let out a frustrated grunt, then he cleared his throat. “As you can imagine, it puts me in an awkward position since Lothair is my client.”
Devon exhaled slowly and smoothed his expression. “Yes. I hear you.”
Then it looked like they were both waiting for the other one to say something because Terrance stared at Devon questioningly while Devon looked from me to Terrance and back with a slightly confused frown.
“Okay,” Devon finally said. “Are you like…bonding?”
Terrance winced. “It seems like it?” Helooked as uncomfortable as I’d ever seen him, and I’d put him in lots of weird situations since he’d started working for me.
“Like, you can’t stay away from each other, feel protective and possessive of each other, the…uh”—Devon gestured vaguely toward his groin—“physical changes.”
“I…do feel intensely protective of Lothair.”
I glanced at him, melting at his confession. “You do? Aww.” I wanted to kiss him, but he threw me an annoyed look.
“But we don’t seem to be experiencing the, uh, irrational urges you usually hear about,” he continued. “We can be apart for short periods of time. It’s not pleasant, but we can. I sense that my dragon knows another dragon alpha isn’t as vulnerable as a human omega mate would have been.”
