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Claire nodded. “Have you considered, though, that some obsession in the mate bond is completely normal? We’re designed to be naturally drawn to our mates.”
Holly cocked her head. She hadn’t really thought about that. “That’s a fair point.”
“I think, given your experience, it’s natural for you to be a bit cautious. I also think they are drawn to you like you are drawn to them. Take it at your own pace, for sure, but don’t be afraid if that pace is a little faster than others. I mean, my mates tried the slow, give-me-space thing, and that didn’t quite work out for them.” Claire giggled, and Holly laughed with her. Claire’s Triad had definitely been obsessed with their shy, sweet mate. “And remember, you don’t have to figure it all out now. You have the rest of your lives to do that. So, enjoy it at whatever pace you want to enjoy it at.” Claire echoed Holly’s words to Claire when she had first discovered the Triad were her mates.
“When did you get so smart?” Holly joked, and Claire smiled.
“I had an excellent teacher,” Claire replied.
Holly picked up a blade of grass with her fingers and twirled it between them. “So, you’re saying I should give them a chance and be open to them?”
“I’m saying you should go at a pace that you feel comfortable with,” Claire corrected.
“I want them,” Holly whispered, voicing the thoughts that had been on her mind since the moment she laid eyes on her mates. She did want them. She’d wanted someone to fight for her and protect her from the pain ever since she was a little girl. She wanted that. She just didn’t know how to let them in.
Growing up, the only relationship she had to look up to was that of her parents, and it was filled with fighting and passion. Although it worked for them, she didn’t want that for herself. By the time she spent a lot of time with Andy and Helene, they had been settled into their relationship for years. Holly wasn’t sure how to build a relationship with someone, much less multiple someones.
“Tell them that,” Claire said, just as softly. “They’re likely struggling to figure out where to go from here too.”
“Okay.” Holly nodded. She could do that. And she could also start being more open with them, both emotionally and physically. She did want her mates. She also didn’t want to fuck anything up because she had never had a relationship before.
“Good.” Claire squeezed her hand.
“Holly!” Someone shouted her name in the distance. Holly, Claire, and Puck turned to see Kieran jogging toward them.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said as he got closer, “but Malcolm just received an urgent message from his parents. He told them what we found out at the shifters’ territory. They’re asking to see us immediately.”
CHAPTER12
Holly followed Kallan’s broad back out of the portal, immediately stepping onto the familiar gray-blue stone of the Dragon Mountains. Roderick and Mara, Malcolm’s parents, stood a few paces away waiting for their arrival.
“Holly!” Mara—Malcolm’s mother, affectionately known as Momma Mara to almost everyone—enveloped her in a warm embrace.
“It’s good to see you, Momma Mara.” Holly returned the gesture just as warmly. She couldn’t remember the last time her own mama had hugged her like this, so she treasured each of the motherly hugs Mara gave.
“You’re skin and bones, dear. Are they not feeding you?” Mara glared over Holly’s head at her mates.
“They’ve been great,” Holly said, pulling back and squeezing Mara’s hands. “We’ve just had a busy few weeks.” Truthfully, Holly didn’t have much of an appetite after she used her Empath magic, and she had been using it more than usual recently.
“Well, come, come. Let’s go to the meeting hall. You can eat while we tell you what we’ve found.”
Mara led the way, and they settled at one of the long tables in the Great Hall.
“Before we tell you what we found,” Roderick said, “we’d like you to tell us what that shifter said. Kallan told Malcolm, who told us, but I find there’s value in hearing it straight from the source.”
Holly nodded and launched into a short recap of that night—of how the shifter’s violence and anger had stood out to her, what she was able to cajole out of him during interrogation, and finally, what he had said about Maxios providing Roland and Vanya with a “key safety measure” in exchange for the missing Metallicum.
Roderick’s eyes narrowed when Holly said that last part, and she could see his dragon reflecting back in them. Roderick looked at Mara, who nodded. “We wanted to make sure we heard the story correctly before we shared our suspicions,” Roderick explained, “and that’s really what they are—suspicions. We have no concrete leads.” He looked back at Holly.
“We’ll take a suspicion,” Holly said. “We don’t have any concrete leads to go on.”
“After the battle, Arran and I came home and started cleaning house with Maxios’s clan,” Roderick said, referring to the other dragon-clan leader who had also served on the elected Councilmember seat.
“Most of the dragons in his clan had no idea what he was doing, and the ones who did believed the lies he had told them—that the Fae had betrayed their alliance.”
Roderick looked apologetically at Kallan and Kieran, who waved him on. Mara picked up where he left off.
“But there were a few that knew and wholeheartedly followed him. One of them slipped up during questioning and said something interesting about an order of events we hadn’t realized before. This dragon helped break into the Fae lands and steal the Fae Metallicum. He was a part of their transport team, and he told us the dates that it all went down.”
