Chapter 8
Dain
How was it already Christmas?
I growled and glared at the garland that currently wrapped its way around the banister of the stairs. I stopped short of tearing it down. That wouldn’t earn me any points with the household staff, and my boss would probably take exception to it. He enjoyed the holidays. Hence the decorations.
I tolerated Christmas on a good year. And this was not a good year.
“Come now, Dain,” my boss’s voice echoed behind me, sending a chill down my spine.
I hadn’t realized he was there. It was my job to know where he was at every moment, and I’d failed.
“Where’s your Christmas spirit? I asked the staff to decorate a week earlier than normal, and you’re grumbling about it? ”
“Sorry, sir,” I said.
My boss jogged down the stairs in front of me, and I moved to keep up with him. For some reason, he seemed to be in good humor today. I kept an eye on all parts of the hall as we walked to his office. We might’ve been in his home, but I could never be too careful with his safety.
Once we were inside his office, I secured everything and let myself relax a little. He settled in to work, whistling a tune that sounded a bit like “Jingle Bells.” Was he doing this to torment me? Probably.
“What has you in such good spirits today, boss?” Jayson asked. He stood on the opposite end of the room than me.
“Oh, just one of my favorite things—another child of mine coming out of the woodwork to ask me for money.”
I raised a brow. “Pardon me, boss, but I did not see that on the agenda for today.” When there were visitors to the manor, the security team should be brought up to speed.
Always. No one was allowed on the property without our knowledge.
Usually it required several background checks and additional staff on hand.
Today I had none of that. Just another thing that set my temper up a notch.
I sent a look at Jayson. He shook his head slightly. He too had not seen that added to the agenda.
“I like to keep you two on your toes. You don’t get to know everything about me.” Cael smiled that smug smile that his enemies wanted to slap off his face. I wouldn’t mind doing that right now.
“I beg your pardon, sir, but it is literally our job to know everything about you. We can’t keep you safe if we don’t know who is coming to see you.
Has this child of yours been properly vetted?
” Also, was this truly one of his children or was it just a broke young dragon who wanted a piece of the pie?
Chances were high that it was the latter.
Despite the rumors, most of which my boss had started, he didn’t have that many illegitimate children running around. If any at all.
“Indeed,” my boss said, his voice sounding bored.
He tossed a pen onto his desk and leaned back.
He checked the time on his watch before crossing his arms behind his head.
“They should be here in just a few minutes. Apparently, my long-lost son is bringing a friend with him, a bit of moral support, I suppose. He’s a dragon omega. ”
My spine straightened at that. I’d encountered a dragon omega not too long ago.
He hadn’t scented at all like my boss, though.
If it was one of Cael’s children, I assumed I would have noticed.
When I had come back from being called back to work to take care of Theo, that omega had slipped away, clearly not interested in spending any more time with me.
The guard at the time, Soren, had even given me a vial that he had found in the room—a perfume that was meant to mimic a mate bond.
I’d been tricked. I’d cursed myself ever since then for being swindled in such a way.
I wasn’t too proud to admit I’d been in a sour mood ever since. More than one of my colleagues had made comments. Not to me, they weren’t brave enough for that, but they talked amongst themselves.
“Boss, we really should have had time to prepare,” I said.
“Oh, you two can think of this as a training exercise. I trust the two of you to keep me safe, no matter what sort of trouble this omega and his little friend bring you. It’s more fun this way.”
I had been in these types of meetings before.
When his “children” came forward, he determined if they were truly his or not.
They were not. They didn’t get money. If they were, they would get some.
Cael was an honorable man who took care of his own.
In all my years of being his guard, none of them had ever been his.
Already, I felt bad for this omega dragon. He was about to get a lesson in trying to trick one of the smartest businessmen in the world.
The boss picked up his phone and checked the notification. “Ah, they’re here. Let them in.”
Jayson opened the door. Sometimes I wasn’t quite sure who was actually running this household—me or my boss. I was supposed to be up on everything that was going on, yet Cael knew before I did that his visitors were here.
Jayson looked just as perplexed as I did. Yet here we were, along for the ride.
It was his scent that hit me first. It was as if the world slowed down.
Nym walked into the room. His hair had grown longer, and he pushed it back, letting his fingers run through his curls.
His mask wasn’t on now, of course it wasn’t, and he wore regular clothes instead of a tuxedo.
The faded blue jeans were snug around him, like they didn’t quite fit right, and his oversized shirt went to the middle of his thighs.
But it was him. The omega I had met the night of the ball.
His scent was just like I had remembered it.
How was that possible? I’d held the vial in my hand—the perfume that mimicked a mate bond. Soren had found it in the room after Nym left. I’d convinced myself I’d been fooled, that what I’d felt that night had been nothing more than a chemical trick.
But here he was, and the scent was the same. Exactly the same.
Which meant...
My mind raced through the implications. If the perfume hadn’t been his, if his scent was natural, then—
“Ah, there you are,” my boss said, standing from his desk. “Come in, come in. Don’t be shy.”
Nym’s eyes swept the room, and when they landed on me, they widened. Color drained from his face. He froze in the doorway, and for a moment, I thought he might bolt.
I shot a look at Cael. In times like these it was important for me to know how he was going to react. I knew Nym was a dragon, and the friend that followed him in was some sort of fox. But just because Nym was a dragon didn't mean he was related to Cael. Was this a scam like many others?
Cael’s eyes widened briefly, so quick I almost missed it. Then his features cleared, and he put on a mask, hiding his emotion. “Well, this is a surprise,” he said.
“Hello,” Nym said. “I’m, um… Well, I already explained who I am in the phone call. This is my friend Preston.”
“Yes. And you want money.” Cael folded his arms over his chest.
“No. We need it. I never wanted to come to you and ask for this. It’s only out of desperation that I’m here now.
I don't want to live on your dime. Preston and I have a business plan, but we’ve been rejected by every bank in town because we’re two omegas without an alpha to help. ” A muscle twitched in Nym’s jaw.
“It’s a bullshit policy,” his friend Preston said. “I’ve been telling him for years to come here and get what was owed to him.”
“Is that right?” Cael’s eyes flashed as he looked at Preston.
“Yeah, you don’t get to go around fathering kids and then not taking care of them. Nym’s mom worked herself to the bone to provide for him.”
“That’s enough, Preston,” Nym said quietly, placing a hand on his friend’s arm. But his eyes never left Cael’s face. “I didn’t come here to make accusations or demands. I just... I need help. And you’re the only option I have left.”
I watched the exchange carefully, my instincts screaming at me that something was off. Not dangerous—not in the traditional sense—but wrong somehow. His attention kept drifting back to me, those beautiful eyes filled with something I couldn’t quite read. Confusion? Fear? Recognition, certainly.
“How old are you?” Cael asked, his tone deceptively casual.
“Twenty-two.”
“And your mother’s name?”
“Elara Thorne.”
Cael’s expression didn’t change, but I caught the slight tension in his shoulders. He knew that name. Which meant there was at least a possibility that Nym was telling the truth.
“What makes you think I’m your father?” Cael circled around his desk, approaching Nym like a predator sizing up prey.
Nym stood his ground, though I could see his pulse jumping in his throat.
“My mother told me. She said you two had a brief... relationship. Twenty-two years ago. She never asked you for anything. She raised me on her own. But she passed away two years ago, and she made me promise that if I ever truly needed help, I would come to you.”
“What kind of business are the two of you looking to open?”
“A bakery,” Preston interjected. “Nym makes the best pastries you’ve ever tasted. We’ve done pop-ups at farmers’ markets, built up a following. We just need a physical location and proper equipment.”
“Fascinating.”
“It’s honest work,” Nym said, and there was steel in his voice now.
“It is indeed. Well. This had been a surprise. It’s exciting because I’m not usually surprised.”
Nym and Preston exchanged a glance.
“I never expected this to happen, Nym, but you are indeed my son.”
Holy scales. That I didn’t expect. I didn’t doubt that Cael would be able to tell without a DNA test, the man had a sense for these things. But it was shocking. We’d had meetings like this in the past and never before had anyone actually been his offspring.
“The two of you will stay here. Dain will escort you to your guest rooms. I’ll look over your business proposal, but rest assured that I’ll provide for you and your friend from now on.”
Which meant I was about to spend time alone with the omega who had haunted my thoughts for weeks. The omega whose scent was currently filling the room and making it hard to think straight.
The omega who was definitely my boss’s son.
This day just kept getting better and better.