Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Sloan rolled over, sliding his hands over the bed, searching for Tyr.
But he came up empty. Damn it. Where was his mate? He was wanting more kisses.
He heard singing coming from somewhere in the house and smelled scents that made his belly ache wafting up to him. Oh, he was hungry.
He rolled out of bed and found his pants, his body deciding it needed food as much as he did his mate. So he went to search.
This house was amazing—dozens of little rooms, all beautiful and different, each one fascinating and leading him deeper and deeper into the core of the cottage, which was bigger on the inside, unquestioningly.
He wandered, and when he got to the kitchen, he saw a pile of his own belongings. So his brothers were here.
Oh, goddess. Good.
Brayden and Riley were sitting around a big kitchen table, eating some sort of pastry that looked like heaven—shiny and sweet and pillowy. Riley was staring out the window, expression dazed, while Brayden was chatting at Tyr, eyes lit up.
“I flew down! Have I said that? I flew down and it was amazing. I’ve never just flown without thinking about it.”
Tyr laughed, the sound somehow so throaty and sexy. Not sexual at all. At least not to anyone but him. “You will love flying out over the lake.”
“I will. Oh, thank you for offering to let us stay. I think Riley is going to hang out with Puck and the others for a few days, just to get to know them and the technology they have, but I’d love to stay here, if you were serious. I want to immerse myself in the village.”
“Of course. You both always have space here. Always. You’re our family. Ah, good morning, mate.”
Sloan gave Tyr a slow smile. “Good morning. It smells amazing in here.”
He took a kiss from Tyr, then a warm hug from his brothers. “We’re home. Are you happy?”
“I’m over the moon,” Brayden said, while Riley shrugged.
“I’m worried, but I’m here with both of you. That’s important.”
Sloan nodded, so honored that they were here. “What smells so good?”
“I made some honeyed pastries. I usually buy them, but I didn’t have time to go into the village, so… you’ll have to make do with mine.”
“Dude, they’re so good.” That was Riley, who never really looked away from the window. “You have to try one. And the not coffee-coffee stuff.”
“Not coffee-coffee.”
“Cazik,” Tyr offered. “It is served hot or iced. It is much loved. The cof-fi? It is kept on the mountain at Gavin’s keep.”
Cof-fi.
That was adorable.
“I bet. It would be a mess if we ruined the ecosystem here by introducing too many things,” Brayden murmured.
“Yes. We’re very, very careful about the flora and fauna. It’s important not to disturb things in a bad way, right?” Tyr offered him a mug of steaming light pink drink and a pastry.
“Oh, this smells amazing.” Pink. Wow.
I know, right, but it tastes delicious, and it has a nice kick to it. Riley almost cracked a smile.
Well, I can’t wait to try it. He smiled and took a deep sip, finding it more like a dirty chai than a coffee, but it was delicious, and he was more than willing to give up coffee forever to be with his lover.
“What do you think?” Tyr asked, and he beamed.
“It’s good. I like it. You’ll have to tell me how to make it.”
You are such a suck-up.
What? He’s my mate. I want to be able to make him whatever this is so that whenever he needs it, he can have some.
You have to admit, the house is amazing. Brayden looked absolutely tickled. I mean seriously, this place is wild.
Well, I’ve only spent real time in this room and the bedroom.
You dog. Like a horny granddad. Riley grinned wide, still staring out the window. Woof woof.
You boys have got to learn to be more quiet.
“What?” He looked at Tyr, confused.
“Everyone here does that, you know. Everyone.” Tyr came over, one hand barely stroking his arm.
“That’s one of the things we learned from everyone who came from your side of the veil.
Because you don’t have to be careful when you’re talking, you’re loud.
And everybody can hear you. So just make sure you focus like when you’re talking to one brother, and you don’t want the other brother to hear you.
If you’re talking to both of them, you have to focus just like that.
Otherwise, you broadcast.” Tyr grinned. “Justin taught me that word. Broadcast. Do you know Justin?”
Sloan shook his head. “I don’t think so. Does he, has he come up to the conservatory often?”
“Justin? Probably not. He is a baker. He makes all sorts of interesting foods too, and we do much business together. Trade. But he has sons. I believe you met Sebastian, the eldest. The kind alpha.”
“Oh, yeah.” There were two alpha children that he’d met.
Teenagers, both of them. Sebastian was sweet and dear unless someone was hurt.
Calm, sure of himself. Placid, like a deep ocean.
His compatriot, cousin, uh… Sloan wasn’t sure how they were related, or even if they were, but the eldest girl, Ariel, she was not like a calm sea.
She was like a forest fire. Wild and free and sharp and dangerous. But incredibly beautiful.
“So, this village isn’t very big, right? I mean comparatively.” He wanted to learn all the things.
“Um, I suppose that would depend on what you were comparing it to.” Tyr appeared a little confused.
“It’s a good-sized village. It has all the things one might need.
There are cities, of course. Huge, vast cities.
And there are tiny hamlets. And medium towns.
I would say we were more of a village than a town, but definitely much bigger than a hamlet. But the cities are enormous.”
“Do you like it?” Riley asked finally, looking over at Tyr. “The city?”
Tyr shook his head. “No, no, I don’t. I don’t see any need to go to the city. It’s too much, too big, too loud. And I think they smell terribly bad. And they really don’t have many bees. Ariel and Sebby say they might go to one for their collegiate studies. But I have no need to go.”
“All right, so I have a question then. What are the houses up on the mountain? Are they part of your village?” Riley finally turned to face them.
“No, but we are friendly, especially now that Cade has moved in between and he introduces us all to one another. My friend Cade mated with Poe, who is from your world, and they have built a house and have a family. Poe was hurt by the ones we fear. So was his daughter, and they came here. And now Cade, who is the head of the watch, lives in the house in between, so we’re connected.
One of the houses up there is the Cuelebres, so you will see them. ”
“Do you have a mayor?” Brayden waved a hand. “A leader?”
“We have an elder council. Poe told us all about a mayor, because he was a cowboy in the Old West.” Tyr grinned.
“I don’t really know what that means, cowboy in the Old West, but I think it was a keeper of the beasts.
Although he said he was also a keeper of a store at one point.
A general type of shop. But I like the sound of cowboy and Old West, especially when Poe says it.
It sounds very romantic. I think I might have been all right in the Old West.”
Goddess, his Tyr was so beautiful.
He’s a sweetheart, Brayden whispered to him. Genuinely a sweet guy. You’re going to eat him alive.
Stop it, I will not.
He’s kind of amazing. “Did you see the size of those bees? They’re the biggest things I’ve ever seen, and he just pets them. I swear I could hear the hives humming when we made love. Was that real?” he asked.
Tyr nodded. “Oh, yes, they’re part of us now. They are part of our family. We work with them, and they work with us. None of us can survive without the other.”
“Are they mean?” Riley asked. “They sure look like it. Look at the stingers.”
“If they sting you, they die.” Tyr shook his head. “Why would they hurt you unless you’re threatening them? Then of course they would hurt you because you’re doing something wrong. But it has to be something big enough that they’re willing to die to get it, though.”
“Wow.” Riley shook his head, eyes wide. “That’s intense, man. It’s really intense and it’s an amazing lesson.”
Tyr patted Sloan’s little brother’s shoulder. “It’s one of the best lessons that they teach us.”
“So, where are your parents?” Brayden asked, and Sloan grinned.
“I know this one. They live close to the sea. Near Tyr’s sister, who is mated to a merdragon and has merdragon babies.”
“Yes, exactly. We’ll have to go down and meet everyone. I want them to meet my mate. They will love you.” Tyr finished off his pastry, wiping up crumbs.
“Is the ocean far?”
“It’s just a small flight. We’ll go soon. Perhaps in a few days. The bees need me today.”
“They do,” Sloan agreed when both Riley and Brayden opened their mouths. “We were harming them, guys. By not coming over to join my mate. It’s not necessarily our fault, but it was happening.”
Brayden looked stricken. “I’m so sorry, Tyr! That’s awful.”
“It can be hard at this time of year anyway.” Tyr sighed. “But my queens…”
“Maybe they’re not really fully gone,” Riley said. “Maybe they’ll come back to you some way.”
“They always do. But I was worried for all my hives.” Tyr came to lean on him, as if he had to touch Sloan, arms dangling down Sloan’s chest.
So he reached up to pet Tyr, stroking his arms, then holding his wrists. It felt good, the contact, soothing, as if they needed to touch often and at length right now. “What can I help you do with the bees?”
“Do you want to come see them?” Tyr kissed his cheek. “All of you are welcome to. I promise, as long as you have goodwill, they’ll leave you alone.”
“Then I’ll come,” Riley said, and Sloan was proud of him, because he knew how hard this was for his brother. He probably just wanted to go back to the houses up on the mountain and look at technology and such. But he was making a huge effort.
Thank you, brother. He focused on sending that to Riley only. He wasn’t certain if he’d succeeded, especially when Tyr squeezed him a little.
Riley just tried for a smile. “You need to put on clean clothes, Sloan.”
He sniffed. “I probably need to bathe a little too.”
“You do.” Brayden wrinkled his nose.
Tyr’s laughter fell around them. “Come, mate. I will show you to our bathing room.” He pulled Sloan up, and as soon as they were out of sight of his brothers, Tyr kissed him, pressing against him hard. “Good morning, my mate.”
“Good morning, Tyr.” He stroked that little smattering of scales on one cheek. “So pretty.”
“Thank you. You are… I have no words.” Tyr kissed him again, gently. “Now, come and wash with me. I waited for you so that we could do it together.”
“Thank you, Tyr. Breakfast was amazing.” It was funny, because they had sat and talked for hours, and he knew so much about Tyr, but touching him was so amazing, so wondrous, that this was completely different. This was stolen moments. This was life together.
They walked to the bathing room, holding hands. “Oh, wow. Look at this.” There was an amazing huge tub that looked like it would fill continuously once turned on, and then a corner shower to just rinse off quickly. There were places for bees to perch in the shower, and he glanced at Tyr.
“If they get too wet, they can’t fly well. So I make sure when they visit, I don’t harm them.”
“That’s so cool.” He just— This dragon amazed him. He was so utterly at one with his bees. That was true dedication.
Tyr stripped him out of his pants, then turned on the shower. It was big enough for them both. “We will bathe in the tub together soon, but now your brothers await us.”
“True. They will come looking too. They’re terrible that way.”
“Siblings are that way,” Tyr said, stripping off his loose robe.
“Is your sister bad about that?”
“No. But my brother was.”
“Oh, Tyr, I’m sorry. Is he gone?”
“No. Not the way you mean.” Tyr’s shoulders hunched. “He left the village for the city. I— we don’t really speak.”
There was a story there, but he wasn’t going to go there on day one. He would tease it out when they were more in each other’s pockets.
“I’m sorry, love.”
“Thank you.” Tyr grabbed a bar of soap that smelled like, of course, honey. “We should get moving.”
“Of course. But you can talk to me about anything eventually. You know that.”
That got him a soft smile that was just for him, not the one Tyr had shown his brothers. “I know. Now come meet my bees once we rinse off.”
He kissed that sweet mouth gently, holding Tyr for a long moment while they stood under the water. Then he started to wash them both after taking the soap. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”