She yawned. “I suppose.”
He kissed her forehead. “Sleep, Emily. We both need it before we can finally start the beginning of the rest of our lives.”
As if his words were exactly what she needed to hear, Emily drifted off in the arms of her dragonman, eager to get their future started.
Chapter Sixteen
Two weeks later, Cam stood in front of his parents and brother as his father held out a wee box. Once Cam took it, his father said and signed, “This was my father’s, then mine, and now yours, son. We all wore it at the start of our new lives, and now it’s your turn.”
He opened it, revealing a brooch, the kind meant to hold together a traditional dragon-shifter outfit. There was a circle made of Celtic knots, and on the pin across the center was a dragon in flight. He’d seen it before in the pictures of his parents’ mating day.
His father took the brooch and pinned it on the fabric over his shoulder. Since Seahaven was a splinter clan, they’d decided to use a kilt color they’d designed, with blue, green, red, black, purple, and gold, representing all the dragon colors. Fabric over the shoulder held up the bit wrapped around the waist. Overall, it was like a great kilt used in the past by the humans in Scotland.
His mother smiled and took his face, bringing it down so she could kiss his cheek. “My braw lad’s all grown up now.”
Resisting a sigh, he replied, “I’ve been grown for a long time now, Mum.”
She released his head and tapped his chest before saying and signing, “You were lost for a wee while, but all it took was the right female to set you straight.”
Tor nodded. “Aye, Emily was exactly what you needed. What the clan needed.”
On the surface, his brother’s words might seem a bit much. However, Emily had forged relationships with all the dragon clans in the UK, as well as Clan Glenlough in Ireland, and they respected her. The leaders of those clans had been invited to the mating and celebration, and most of them had arrived a few hours ago.
Which meant Seahaven was one step closer to having alliances with the other UK and Irish dragon clans.
His dragon spoke up.You can talk and think about futures and alliances later. I want to mate Emily so we can finally kiss her.
They’d decided to wait, just in case a kiss set off a mate-claim frenzy, so they could be fully recovered.Then let me finish talking with our parents so we can head out into the main area.
His beast fell silent, and Cam looked at his mum, dad, and brother as he said, “Aye, Emily was what I needed. But if you want me to mate her and bring her into the family properly, then you need to go grab seats so I can head out, too.”
His mother smiled. “Aye, we’ll go. And as soon as your honeymoon is over, we’ll have a proper dinner and party at the house, too.”
Tor spoke and signed. “I have quite a few stories to tell her.” He winked. “If she doesn’t know you have a huge heart yet, she will after I chat with her more.”
“Of course she does. Now, go. I can’t be late to my own mating ceremony, especially with all the clan leaders here.”
His mother said, “I still can’t believe they all came. But I’ll have to chat with Finn and his mate at some point. I knew the lad as a boy, and maybe he’ll remember me.”
“I’m sure he will.” He kissed his mother’s cheek. “Now, go.”
They all said goodbye, and Cam looked in the mirror to readjust his clothes. After a nod, he strode out of the wee room and toward the big tent. He nodded at people as he went down the aisle. And even the Lochguard leader gave him a wink before Cam headed to the small, raised dais and waited for his future mate.
Emily fidgetedwith the skirt of her dress. Not because she was nervous about mating Cam. No, she wanted that more than anything.
It was rather that the clan leaders of Stonefire, Lochguard, Skyhunter, and Snowridge were all in attendance.
Sid had suggested Emily invite them, and at first, she hadn’t understood why they’d want to attend her mating ceremony. But Trahern had understood and written to her in an email:You’ve helped save a lot of their clan members. Of course they want to celebrate you.
Her and Trahern’s friendship was mostly intact, as they still exchanged emails and research. Trahern had also been working with Antony Holbrook on some secret research project, but the dragonman had sounded almost distracted in his messages. However, Trahern had refused to talk about it.
She thought it might have something to do with his mate, Grace, though. Dr. Sid had shared the pair’s progress, and Emily had been genuinely happy to hear that Trahern had found his person, too, even if he didn’t quite realize it yet.
He’d been unable to attend today because of working on a classified project, and Emily understood. She would always treasure her friendship with Trahern, but all that mattered was mating Cam and finally seeing if they were true mates or not. Either way, she looked forward to finally kissing her dragonman on the mouth and having him naked in her bed.
Well, he’d been naked before, but nothing had happened, really. Both because of his recovery, and because they had both wanted to get everything sorted in case of a frenzy.
There was a knock on the door, and Dr. Sid Jackson entered, followed by her mate, Gregor, who was another doctor Emily had become friends with on Stonefire.
