Chapter 18 Leonard Sullivan
Leonard Sullivan
Ansel
At first, I didn’t remember where I was. But before I could panic, I noticed a small Post-it on the pillow next to me.
Didn’t want to wake you up.
Come find me. <3 P
I smiled.
After showering in the en suite, I dressed in yet another bathrobe and walked out.
I looked in both directions, unsure where the kitchen might be.
Sunlight spilled into the house through large floor-to-ceiling windows in the atrium.
It must have been around noon. Then I heard quiet music from the left and followed the sound.
Passing alongside the pool, I noticed Pascal standing outside on the patio with a coffee cup in his hand. I searched the glass walls for a doorknob. There had to be an exit somewhere. Should I turn back and use the main entrance?
As I was looking for a way to get to my alpha, I nearly bumped into a man rounding one of the potted palm trees.
“Oh, sorry.”
I gaped, taking him in. I’d never met anyone as outrageously beautiful as this omega.
He was tall and willowy, with golden hair, a perfectly symmetrical face, full lips, and a noticeable baby bump.
He wore white linen pants with a loose cream shirt and was barefoot.
I paused at the collar around his neck. It looked unmistakably kinky but also sophisticated, the leather pale and the buckles delicate.
The omega had to be older than me, but not more than twenty-five.
He assessed me, narrowing his eyes as if he wasn’t sure whether to trust me.
But then he smiled brightly and offered me his elegant hand.
“You must be Ansel. My name is Leonard. Davidson is my husband.” He had a melodic voice, like a radio presenter, and moved with confident grace. Then it clicked in my head.
“You’re a dragon mate too?”
He could answer so many of my questions! I stepped closer to him on autopilot, but Leonard let out a tense chuckle, leaning away. I was being pushy, wasn’t I?
“I’m sorry, it’s so new for me. I only met Pascal when he crashed behind my cabin on Sunday morning. And now… Everything is happening so fast. I want to be with him, he’s great, but it’s so fast! Was it like that for you as well?”
Leonard tilted his head toward me and whispered conspiratorially, “I got pregnant a week after I met Davidson.”
Shocked, I pointed at his stomach. “Um…”
“This little bean is my second child. Our firstborn, Rufus, is out in the garden with Davidson.”
He jerked his chin toward the glass walls behind him.
Outside on the green lawn toddled a boy, maybe two years old.
Davidson shuffled behind him with his hands outstretched.
The huge shifter loomed above the child, looking even bigger in comparison.
Abruptly, the child began running, but Davidson caught him and swung him through the air.
My Pascal stood to the side, grinning at them, looking unbearably cute.
“Davidson and I have been together for nearly three years now,” Leonard said next to me. “But the beginning was wild.”
“How wild?” I breathed.
“We bumped into each other at a sex party. I panicked and ran away but got intercepted in the street by robbers. Davidson shifted, took them out, and flew me here. I thought I’d been kidnapped by a pterodactyl. Do you want coffee? Something to eat? You must be hungry.”
I was still processing what he’d said. “Um. Coffee with milk would be great. Thanks.” A…sex party?
Leonard led me through the maze of pillars and potted plants to a large kitchen area. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view of the patio from another angle. Pascal stood with his back to me. I wanted to go to him, but I also wanted to talk to Leonard.
“Just a second,” Leonard said. Then he pushed a glass panel aside and opened a previously invisible door.
“Pascal, your mate is awake,” he called to the men on the lawn. “I’m borrowing him for a little while.”
Pascal spun around, his eyes locking with mine. I waved, and he waved back. It felt wrong to be separated from him, but I forced myself to be rational.
“Papa!” the toddler shrieked, stretching out his chubby hand toward us.
“Play with your dad, Rufus. I’ll be right with you.”
The kid frowned, obviously not happy with the plan, but when Davidson rocked him and lifted him high in the air, he giggled.
Leonard closed the door, ambled to the coffee machine, and picked a white mug from the shelf above it. “They’ll be fine for twenty minutes without us,” he told me.
“Your kid is cute.”
“Thanks. He’s a darling. The separation anxiety is getting better now too. He gave us hell after my heat when we left him with his grandparents for six days, but such is life.”
“I feel for him. I might have a case of separation anxiety myself.”
A nostalgic smile lit up Leonard’s beautiful features. “Yes. The first week of bonding is the worst. Or the best. Depending on how you look at it.”
“How was it for you?”
“I was close to my heat, and the bonding affected me strongly, so even though I was afraid of Davidson, I couldn’t keep my hands off him.
It took only a week for me to go into heat.
He bred me on the first day. I already loved him so much I’d have died without him.
So if you need to talk about how fast things are going and how overwhelmed you feel, I’m not sure I’m a good reference. ”
He talked so casually about it. I could barely keep up. “Pascal said there’s contraception…”
The coffee machine quieted, and Leonard handed me a mug. “Don’t worry, Ansel. I wanted to have a child with Davidson. But you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. We can book you an appointment with Dr. Clearbridge, and he’ll give you an IUD.”
“IUD?” I thought I knew what that was.
“A device that gets inserted into your womb before the first heat wave. It’s a standard contraception method when pills won’t work for some reason, and they won’t for you. With the IUD, you’ll be fine. How old are you anyway?”
“Nineteen.”
With his eyebrows raised, Leonard blinked a couple of times. Something in his face shifted. “Nineteen?” he breathed.
“Um. We haven’t yet… Pascal insists on waiting. Taking it slow.” I chuckled helplessly.
Leonard exhaled. “Goodness.” Then he threw an arm around my shoulders. “Okay. Let’s talk. Do you want a drink?”
“It’s not even twelve.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Dear Ansel, you do need a drink. We’ll find you something to go with your coffee. There are fresh cookies in the lounge area that Rufus hasn’t found yet. We’ll talk, and we’ll have a good, hearty lunch later.”
At the bar, he poured me a shot of sweet liquor that tasted of hazelnuts and cocoa. It was delicious. We sat by the pool, and I scarfed down a cookie. As breakfasts went, the combination was outrageous, but I liked it.
Sipping his decaf with oat milk, Leonard began talking in a soothing tone.
“Ansel, are you still a virgin?”
“Technically.” My ears got hot. I must have been beet red in the face. “We’ve done stuff.”
“Hands? Mouths?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Are you lactating?”
“Not yet. But my pecs…are tight? Sensitive nipples.”
Leonard sighed, looking at me with a sadness that made me feel uncomfortable. Was there anything sad about my situation? Why?
“I’m not completely clueless,” I said defensively. “I’ve got a dildo and seen some porn. I even gave Pascal a blow job.”
That only made Leonard look sadder. “Oh, darling.”
I gave out an exasperated laugh. “Seriously, stop this. It’s enough that Pascal refuses to fuck me because he thinks I’m too young.”
“He’s just trying to protect you.”
“From him? That makes no sense. I think I’m falling in love with him.”
“Of course you are. You’ll love him more every day for the rest of your life.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Leonard rubbed his neck, then leaned back against the sofa cushions.
He stroked his belly in a seemingly instinctive, circular movement.
“It’s possible I’m projecting. I was a complete mess when I met Davidson.
Upon meeting the dragon, I broke down horribly.
It took me days to put myself back together.
See, the constant sex we were having was like a drug.
I couldn’t think. I wanted him, but I was terrified of him.
A part of me wanted to hate him, yet I craved feeling him inside me nonstop.
Thinking back, it was probably the craziest week of my life. The pregnancy grounded me.”
“I’m not afraid of Pascal,” I managed.
“That’s good. But look at it from his perspective. He’s heard all these stories about dragon mates going into shock or trying to reject their mates during the first few days. Then he bonds with a nineteen-year-old virgin. He’s terrified he’ll do something wrong.”
The “nineteen-year-old virgin” made me scowl at him, but he only laughed.
“Are you telling me that you’re not nervous at all about what’s happening to you?”
I sipped more of the sweet liquor and shrugged. “A little. But I trust Pascal.”
Leonard patted my knee, the gesture a little awkward.
“When I was at my worst, crying several times a day, Davidson called another dragon mate. You’ll get to know Lawrence soon.
He’s the nicest omega you’ll ever meet. Talking to Lawrence was one of the things that helped me the most.” He exhaled loudly.
“Except Lawrence is not here now. I’m not a very…
compassionate person, but I’ll do my best.”
“Okay.” I found it strange he would say something so unflattering about himself. He seemed nice enough, but I didn’t know him at all, of course.
“We’ll start from scratch. How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Happy? Excited. I’m still jittery from the break-in, but I know I’m safe with Pascal.”
“Scared, maybe?”
“The dragon doesn’t scare me.”
“No? Pascal loves you and will take care of you. You are indeed safe. But he’s also a monster that you never imagined even existed.”
I laughed. “I kinda knew a little bit.”
Leonard raised his sculpted eyebrows. “Oh? How so?”