Page 3 of Matched By the Dragon

“Dead wife?” I asked. Alby had mentioned something about her, but I’d forgotten in all my panic.

“She died six months ago from a liver ailment that shows up in bear shifters,” he nodded. “It was a rough road.”

“That sucks! I mean I’m sorry.” I blushed.

Why was I blushing? He was just another alpha. I wasn’t trying to be rude… I just….

“I know what you meant and it does suck,” he nodded. “A lot. Even now. I mean, I don’t think I’d tell you this under normal circumstances because that’s the number one dating advice everywhere: Don’t talk about your dead mate with potential love interests. But it sucks. She was sick for a long time and that sucked too. It sucked that they caught it too late. It sucked that the transplant somehow got the disease too. So it was like all her pain was for nothing. It sucks that she never got to have the kids she wanted. She never got to see Paris and Australia like she wanted. It sucked that when she was gone, I was both broken and relieved. It just f-ing sucked.”

I had a feeling he would’ve used the actual word if the babies weren’t there with us.

“So, acknowledging that it sucks is better than an apology.”

“Did Raziel tell you about me?” I asked.

“I’ve heard more about you from gossip than Raziel. I haven’t known him long but he doesn’t seem like a gossip. I talked to him maybe twice before he walked up and shoved a box in my arms and said ‘Take this to the address on the card and don’t leave until you talk to Brad.’”

“I’ll kick him later,” I grumbled.

“Just let your stick do the work,” he laughed. “That hurt.”

“Well, it wasn’t supposed to tickle. My parents killed Jac. They killed him because he wasn’t my true-mate and apparently my babies embarrassed them before they were born.”

“Fucking assholes,” he spat out the words.

If Resin and Oaklan had been a little older I would’ve covered their ears, but that was a good way to describe my parents.

“I had heard the story,” Durin admitted. “But stories change when they get passed around.”

I tell him the whole story of how Jac’s death and my parents’ lies and then how they kidnaped Baby Resin.

“Well, take me or leave me, if someone tries to kidnap your babies, and they manage to escape you, I’ll finish them off,” he nodded, leaning back against the tree. “Are they why you hit me with a stick?”

“It’s complicated.” I said, setting down the flashlight because the cubs were rooting around my chest. When they couldn’t get to my nipples through my shirt and the carrier Resin was the first to shift down into his tiny human baby form. Oaklan followed his brother’s lead. I wiggled them out of the baby carrier and Durin reached out to steady it. I snarled at him but didn’t bite him as I moved the boys one at a time under my shirt to latch on.

“I got time. It’s all I have,” he shrugged. “Well, you guys now too, but mostly time until you decide I actually have you.”

“Well, I hope it’s eternity then because I haven’t even been able to explain it to my therapist.”

“What else am I going to do?” he shrugged.

“Go work or something. I don’t know.” I said, leaning sideways against the cave wall to be comfy and still keep an eye on the alpha.

“Don’t work. Haven’t even looked for a job. I worked in finance before Liza got sick. Between that and what she left me from her trust fund work is pointless. I don’t need much. I sleep on a cot at the temple and help them out. I hunt if I don’t like what they’re serving that day. Been to Mama Dragon’s a few times.”

My mouth watered at the mention of the restaurant.

“Won’t they miss you?” I asked. “Even though I think Raziel mate-bombed us the way he did Alby and Bennie…. I bet they’ll miss you.”

“Eh, I’m not employed and volunteers come and go.”

“Why are you here? Like why did you leave Hemlock Mountain?” I asked him.

“Because Liza was everywhere and it was either leave or step right off a cliff,” he shrugged and my heart sank into my belly. I didn’t want him to hang around but I didn’t want him to off himself either.

“Well, don’t do that, okay?” I said because what the hell do you say to someone after they say something like that?

“Okay,” he nodded. “So are you going to tell me what’s up?”