Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
“So what’s the deal, bro?” Riley asked him when they were settled into their rooms for the night after they talked to Myk.
Sloan paused in taking off his shirt, blinking. “About what?”
“Well, we saw Myk, we learned what’s left of his family is safe, and we can see this place is in good hands. Fae dragons as guardians. That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, so?”
Riley stared at him, eyes flashing. “So when are we leaving?”
Oh, he so didn’t want to have this conversation. There was no way on earth he was leaving. He wasn’t walking away from that little beekeeper, not for love or money. His soul had been caught, fascinated. Maybe mated.
He was going to have a really hard time explaining that to his brothers, though.
“Well, I don’t know; I kind of want to check things out. This is such a new situation.”
Now it was Brayden who looked at him, eyebrow arched. “Uh-huh. What part of it is new?”
Oh, come on, Bray. Help me out.
Not a chance. Work for it.
“Well, obviously the fact that Myk’s in a whole different universe? There are these new triplet dragons who are all these different colors and have fae in them. I mean, come on. There’s not a single part of this that isn’t new, right?”
“Not a single part of this that isn’t new? All right, I’ll play. I’ve got nothing better to do. What’s so fascinating about all this?” Brayden was just being a shit now.
“Well, you don’t find it amazing?” Sloan knew he sounded absolutely idiotic. He could hear it in his own voice, that he was just being a dipshit, but he didn’t quite know how to say. ‘Look, I’m going to stay with the pretty little dragon.’
You cannot possibly be in lust with a dragon that you just saw through the window.
I’m not in lust with the dragon I saw through the window, Brayden. Much.
“Sloan, man, that’s like a whole different universe over there. That’s not—that’s not cool.”
Now it was his turn to stare.
“Come on. What about it isn’t fascinating? They can fly whenever they want. They get to be dragons whenever they want.”
“They don’t have cell phones. They don’t have computers.” Riley was working up a whole head of steam.
“We don’t have a computer. We have a burner phone. It doesn’t have Wi-Fi. Try again.” Sloan didn’t think so.
“Okay, uh… We’re not…”
Sloan stared at Riley, waiting.
“We don’t—we don’t dragon.”
“Well, we don’t dragon because we can’t be…” he started, and Riley held one hand up.
“No, we don’t dragon because we like being human.”
Sloan stared at Riley. “I don’t dragon because it hasn’t been safe, and I’m not saying I hate pretending to be human, but we’re not human.”
“Well, it’s not like we’re full-fledged, you know dragons.”
“Yes, we are.” And that was another nation heard from.
Brayden looked at Riley, a curl of steam coming from his nose.
“I’m serious. We are dragons, full-fledged, and you can’t forget that we are not human, and they would not welcome us.
They’re more likely to welcome the vampires.
So far as they’re concerned, the only thing the vampires do is drink blood.
We are fucking mythological, fire-breathing creatures who get hunted by brave knights. ”
“What is wrong with you guys?” Riley stared from him to Brayden and back, then went to plop down on one of the beds. “You’re acting like… like you want to stay here or something?”
“I just want to see what’s what, that’s all. I just want to see what the deal is with this gateway.” It was fixing to be wintertime anyway, right? The perfect opportunity for them to sit and visit. “You know, it is about to get really chilly out there.”
Riley shook his head. “It is, and I know we need to find a good place to stop for the season. But— I don’t know, guys, this seems like a really bad idea.”
“You’d rather be sleeping on the ground?” They had a guest suite, for heaven’s sake. And his bed was huge. He was going to enjoy it.
“Well, no, but we could have a king bed and a walk-in shower at the Marriott.”
“All right, well, your argument is noted, and I don’t mean that in a sarcastic sort of way.” Sloan sighed and shook his head. “But I want to stay. If you two want to go then…”
Brayden shook his head right back. “I’m not going without you. We’re a team. All three of us.”
Riley stared at them both, lips parted. “Well, I guess I don’t get a choice in the matter then.”
“Sure you do. You can just go.” Sloan stared Riley down. “I’m not asking for forever. I’m asking for a few weeks, maybe part of the wintertime. I’m just curious.”
“You’re psychotic, that’s what you are. You both are. This is crazy.”
“Maybe.” Sloan could accept that as a possibility. After all, he was fairly sure he was trying to mate with a beekeeper from another dimension who he’d only just met through a window. There wasn’t really a situation he’d ever heard of where that was logical or particularly sane.
Still, it was the truth.
Brayden snorted. “Well, we are known for taking on stuff that no one else would because it’s a bit nuts. So what’s your deal?” He eyed Riley.
“They can’t come back over here!” Riley waved his hands. “Like, only Cosmo and his people can come to the human side. Once a dragon crosses the veil,” he made air quotes around the phrase they’d all heard their whole lives, “then they can’t come back to do anything on the human side.”
“That really bugs you, huh?” Sloan tapped his fingers on his chin.
“Yeah. It does. I don’t want to give up everything I know!”
They all sat there for long moments, then Sloan sighed. “We should get some sleep. Just give me time, guys. Just the winter?”
In his soul, he felt as if that would give him time to get used to the idea of Bray and Ri leaving him.
That made his heart incredibly heavy, in fact, but he also knew a dragon who left his mate could wither away and not thrive.
So, while he had no idea what to do, he had to do something.
I’m with you, brother, Brayden told him privately. Out loud, he chuckled. “This is a good place to winter. Quiet. Other dragons. Weird shit to explore. This house alone will take months.”
Riley looked back and forth between them. “Yeah, I guess it’s close enough to Pagosa Springs to get takeout. All right. We’ll stay.”
Relief speared through him. “Thanks, guys. I love you both.”
Brayden winked and grinned. “We know.”
“Most of the time,” Riley teased. “I’m going to bed.”
“I’m going to read a while,” Brayden added.
“Then I’m going to raid the fridge.” He might peer out the kitchen window and see what he could see…
Or go sit in the conservatory and look for the lights of Tyr’s village. He doubted he could see it from here, but that didn’t matter.
He just wanted to feel close to his sweet beekeeper.