Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
“Mate?”
Tyr blinked up from the book he was pretending to read. The words were just swimming in front of his tired eyes. “Yes, love?”
“Do we have a basement?”
“A belowground? We have a cold storage underneath the kitchen.”
“Can I see it?” Sloan asked, and he nodded.
“Of course.” He rolled up, his back popping. He wasn’t sure why Sloan had felt the need to ask. This was his home too. There was nothing that was hidden from him. But Tyr would take him where he wanted to go.
They headed through the sunny little reading room that they’d been lounging in, back through the house into the kitchen and along to the pantry.
He opened the trap door in the floor, nodding to the ladder there. “It’s not a long distance down.”
Sloan climbed down and Tyr followed, lighting one of the lamps on his way to the bottom.
It was larger than he remembered, stretching back beyond the sacks of tubers and purple apples and glass jars filled with things he traded his honey for.
“This is spectacular.”
“It stays cool, and it’s a nice space to store foodstuffs.” He wasn’t sure exactly what Sloan was interested in, but he wanted to help.
“Cade told me that I needed to imagine what my spaces here at the house should look like.”
“Oh!” Well, that made sense. “Oh, of course. Do you like it down here?”
Tyr thought it was a little dark and enclosed, but everyone was different.
“Would you be opposed to having me expand down here?”
He shook his head. “Of course not. You’re welcome to do that, you know. Make whatever space you need.”
Sloan hugged him tight and kissed the top of his head. “I want this to be a place we both love. We could make big rooms or small rooms. Perhaps a pool? I like to swim.”
He chuckled, Sloan’s excitement energizing him. “Do you? So does my sister, very much.” His sister lived with her mate near the ocean, and he wanted to take Sloan to the ocean, but he had never seen Sloan so excited about something that wasn’t him.
This was the right thing to do, to encourage him to work on his own space down here.
“I think what I’ll do is start by making stairs down here. This would be far easier access and, if you have babies—”
“When.” He wanted babies.
“I mean when you have babies, it’ll be easier to walk down. Ladders and pregnant omegas do not match.”
Those words made him laugh. “Well then, you should sit here and close your eyes and imagine what wonderful things you will create.”
“Yes.” Sloan sat right down on the ground in the cold storage and grabbed Tyr and plopped him on his lap. “And you know, dearest one, you can create it with me.”
“Oh, but—” He had created a whole house.
“I want you with me. This isn’t just about me. But it is something I want. I want a place to swim, if it’s possible without disrupting the bees and the plants. I want a safe place, just in case we need someplace to shelter from storms or attacks.”
He opened his mouth, but Sloan put a finger over it.
They were facing one another, and he watched, laughing, as Sloan screwed his eyes shut tight.
“That’s how I think. I want a place for a game room for me and my brothers, and a new place for the hoard so I can move it underground. What do you want?”
“A place for warm sand to polish my scales. A place to swim with you. A whole room that’s all pillows and blankets.” Tyr played along, but he kept his eyes open.
Which was why he almost jumped out of his skin when someone not him or Sloan cleared their throat. Tyr shrieked, and Sloan was up in a wink, pushing Tyr behind him, ready to defend.
“Your pardon.” A little creature with a shock of red hair, shaped almost like a hat, and a bulbous nose, bowed at them from about three feet away. “My name is Salano. I am a tragaes.”
Tyr tilted his head. “Really? A house spirit?” He scrambled around Sloan to bow back. “Bright welcome, little friend.”
“A house spirit?” Sloan stepped up to peer over Tyr’s shoulder. “Hello, Salano.”
“I heard you call. You are ready for my help, no?”
“Are we?” Sloan poked him in the back.
He chuckled. “We are. We are incredibly grateful.”
Salano bowed to them again. “Then I will get to work.”
“Come on, love.” He took Sloan’s hand. “I think you did a very good job imagining your space.” He tugged Sloan over to the ladder, and he pushed at Sloan to go on upstairs.
“We’re just going to leave him in our storage cellar?” Sloan asked once they got upstairs.
“Yes.” He chuckled. “This is a huge honor. Our union has been blessed. I have lived here so long without a house spirit.” He had thought, especially after Cade and Poe found their house and moved in, that he was doing something terribly wrong.
He had never had a familiar or a house spirit.
Now Tyr thought it was because he hadn’t needed one. He had a mate, however. Soon, he hoped, children. He had new brothers.
So this was a wondrous thing.
“Okay.” Sloan frowned but moved about, making him tea. Sloan liked to be busy when he was thinking about things, Tyr had found. He liked to move, and he liked to do things to make others comfortable and happy.
It was one of the most loveable things about him.
Tyr turned to Sloan and hugged him, his soul full of joy. “We have a house spirit!”
“Okay, so what the heck is a tragae? I’ve heard of brownies and hobs and gnomes…”
“Ah, yes. Gnomes are what Puck and Jules and Andy have. Tragea are spirits of the home who help around the place as long as you feed them. We will have to see what he likes, no?”
“Maybe he’ll like pickles.”
Tyr trilled out a laugh, his scales rattling with it. “Perhaps. We do get a goodly many of those in trade from Joliah.”
“We do. Of all kinds of weird veg.”
“Yes, but in the winter, they will be lovely to add to hot dishes.”
Sloan kissed his neck. “They’re good in salads now. We just have a lot of jars of them.”
“That is because Joliah trades from her garden to everyone, including the winemaker, who gives her goodly supplies of vinegar…” He loved teaching Sloan about how their village worked. “Which reminds me, I need to bring her sea salt when I go to visit my sister.”
“When will we do that?” Sloan winked, because they teased each other all the time about his summer schedule.
“Why not tomorrow? Can you tell Riley and Brayden? I would like them to come.” They had a house spirit now. He could leave the bees for a day.
“That sounds amazing, love.” Sloan nuzzled his cheek. “Thank you.”
“It does, doesn’t it? A small seaside excursion, you can meet my sister, swim in the ocean?” He loved the idea.
“It sounds fab. I love my mountains; I’m a human world dragon after all. But I also adore the beach.”
“We’ll go tomorrow and explore, stretch our wings and fly.” He would let his sister know to expect company.
“Thanks, love. I’ll call the guys down. Maybe I’ll cook supper for us all?”
He knew Sloan was asking if he was okay with Riley and Brayden coming for supper, so he nodded happily. “Yes, please. I like your stew.”
“Stew. I’m on it.”
“There’s the bread I made yesterday, as well.” There should be plenty for them all to share.
“I love your homemade bread. It’s amazing. It makes me wildly happy.”
Tyr’s cheeks heated, and he ducked his chin, so pleased. “It’s just bread.”
“No. It’s your bread that you made for me.”
“Well, yes. You like it with honey for breakfast. How can I not make it for you?”
“That’s it. You want to make people happy. I love that.”
“And you want to the protect them. We all have our place. I’m just happy that mine is with you.” Tyr cuddled in close to his mate.
“So am I, my love.” Sloan hugged him, then took his hand. “Now, I know you’re tired. I think you should go rest while I make dinner, and I’ll call my brothers down. Then maybe we can go to bed early tonight?”
“I’d love that.” Tyr couldn’t help it. He had to smile at that because he didn’t think that sleeping was what his mate had in mind.
Tyr had found that while it had been easy to be alone before Sloan had come along, now he wanted all of the things, like touching and kissing and tasting. He wanted them often.
“I thought you might. I’ll go make stew.” Sloan kissed him one more time, and then turned him around and patted his butt, sending him back to his sunny reading area where he could nap a little bit. That suited him just fine. This way, he would have plenty of energy for the moonlight later on.