“I won’t…” She hesitated, and I couldn’t help but glance over at her. “But I will ask if you had a good time.”
My face heated. I couldn’t lie; Nina would see right through it. I’d never been very good at it, and she was a dragon, heightened senses and all.
Because Ididhave a good time. Over the past six years, I’d never been particularly concerned with dating or hooking up with anyone. If I needed something, I simply took care of it myself. That was all I knew. Well, it turned out, having a player two at the controls made a significant difference. Nix’s magical fingers had turned me into a puddle of goo in a few precisely placed, effortlessly skilled moves.
Was he just that talented, or was it because he had previous knowledge of how to elicit the best orgasms from my body?
Nope, not going there.
“I think it’s pretty obvious I had a good time,” I muttered, rolling my eyes as Nina grinned.
“Hey, that’s a good thing!” She shrugged, folding her arms over her chest. “At least one of us will be enjoying some much-needed orgasms. I’mpainfullysingle. By choice, of course.”
“Why?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, happy for a reason to take the attention off me.
Nina’s stare dropped while she thought carefully for a moment. “You know what, I was going to be diplomatic when I said this, but the simple fact is, the idea of Jenkins delivering my baby gives me the heebie-jeebies. I’m not short for man options given how outnumbered us girls are, but I just can’t do it.”
A burst of laughterescaped me as my hand shot up to my mouth, a failed attempt to stop it. Nina smirked, shaking her head.
“I actually understand that. Truly.” I nodded, trying to show I was sympathetic to her concerns. “Though, youaremy friend, Nina. If you were to get pregnant, just send me a message. I’d happily come here for the birth.”
Her eyes lit up. “Do you really mean that?”
I bobbed my head, dropping my clothes to the bed before walking up to her. I laid my hand on her shoulder, offering a contained but genuine smile.
“Of course. It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done to make me feel welcome here. Plus, if I can save you from Jenkins’s creepy hands, then I’m all about it.”
She surged forward, hugging me. It was strange to think that merely offering to be there for her was such a powerful gesture. Still, I didn’t like Jenkins in the slightest, so I could see why having him around made it difficult for people to live their lives freely. They didn’t trust the very person who was responsible for their health. That was an issue.
Which, of course, made me think of my role here and whether I’d be staying. I tried to keep that off my face as I stepped back and smiled at Nina. She grinned right back, sitting on the bed. Before I knew it, we were deep in conversation about pregnancy and babies, and how best to thwart Jenkins at anything he tried to do.
I… enjoyed it. It felt normal. And with everything going on, all that was firmly on my plate, feeling normal was a gift I wouldn’t turn down.
After all, I still had four Alphas to think about, and that situation was anything but typical guy troubles.
Greylen
Dusk was easily my favorite time of the day—when the sun had just set, and there was still a slight glow in the sky as darkness fell. It was quiet and peaceful, warmth clinging from the last rays of sunset.
Personally, the cold that haunted the dead of the night didn’t suit me. If I ended up in my office, working on the books several hours after sunset, I used a space heater to keep it toasty.
I sighed as a memory rose to the surface. Back at the cabin, when I’d been working late and everyone else was asleep, I’d gone to put the space heater on, only to be joined by Emmeline. She’d curled up in my lap while I worked, acting as ahumanspace heater, keeping me comfortable until the sun rose the following morning. We didn’t speak—we simply enjoyed each other’s presence.
It’d been the unique way Emmeline and I had connected. She had a gift for being what each of us had needed.
On the very rare occasions we brought up the topic of losing our mate with another dragon, they all seemed to think the worstpart would be losing your sexual partner. I supposed it made sense. Dragons were hypersexual creatures. We loved getting our dicks wet whenever we could. Young dragons, in particular, would have any number of sexual partners in their youth, but once they found their mates, well, that was it for them—or rather us…me.
Somehow, despite being mated to four horny dragons, Emmeline had managed to keep up with us. She’d been a perfect match ineveryway, though, not just in bed.
Then again, sometimes it felt like Rowan, as she was now, would be a better match for us. She was more suited to life in a horde. Would that have been the same if we’d had the opportunity to introduce her to our life here?
We would never know.
It was the comfort I missed—the joy of simply having her close. Her presence was calming and electrifying all at once. Steadfast and secure. Until it wasn’t. Because she had left.
There was no way to know what might have been, and I didn’t want to dwell on what-ifs. What good would it serve?
“Guess who the luckiest fucker in the world is?” Nix declared as he walked onto the porch. His hair was more of a bedraggled mess than usual, and his shit-eating grin should have let me know what he’d done. And yet, somehow, I found myself surprised.
