Chapter Four
Laken
Inside my office, I sat the Moonys down and told them the truth about my visions.
“I don’t get visions the way some dragons do,” I said after admitting to the bit of seer blood pumping through my veins. “I get feelings and vibes most of the time. I only get visions when I touch people and not normal visions either. Took me FOREVER to understand what I was seeing.”
“What do you see?” Sunny asked, not looking at Teddy.
“The face of the last person they slept with,” I shrugged, spitting out the words before I chickened out. “It’s not very helpful. It’s not even a premonition or anything. It’s something that already happened.”
Teddy nodded and Sunny turned bright red.
“Look, Sunny,” Teddy started and Sunny shook his head.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Sunny said.
“I only came because it was me or the captain. Liam wanted to find Laken. He’d already seen you two. He hasn’t told your parents. I don’t think anyone has yet but if Castor came here he’d have called Medwin in a heartbeat and I was trying to give you some privacy and--- If it wasn’t for Liam I would’ve given you all the space that note said you needed.”
“Do you two need a moment?” I asked, ready to excuse myself and let them talk it out. If there was ever something romantic between them it wasn’t there now.
“No,” they both said at the same time.
“Secrets breed contempt,” Teddy said.
“And there’s nothing to talk about,” Sunny added.
“I’d be okay if there was. This happened recently, huh?” I asked, realizing I was older than both of them.
“Last night,” Teddy said and Sunny shot eye daggers at him.
“It’s none of---” Sunny started and stopped.
“I’m gonna go. I’ll send Castor or maybe I’ll ask Fred to come talk to you all,” Teddy shook his head, starting to stand up. “I don’t want to mess anything up for you.”
My jaw clenched. I definitely missed more than them sleeping together. Casual sex happened. Drunken romps happened. When you weren’t mated, as long as it was consensual, it didn’t matter all that much.
“Wait,” Sunny said and my heart lifted a bit. Maybe he wasn’t the asshole after all.
“Yeah?” Teddy stopped short of the door.
“Stay because if you go back and send someone else with Liam’s message they’re going to get it out of you,” Sunny said.
“Are you trying to protect my feelings or your own?” I cut in.
“Huh?” Sunny glanced at me and I asked him again.
“What’s that even supposed to mean?”
“Last night, you didn’t know I existed. Last night was last fucking night,” I said, narrowing my eyes on him. “I don’t care if you participated in an orgy or took a train last night. So, if you’re all bent out of shape on my behalf maybe ask me before you stick your whole head up your ass.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go, Sunny,” Teddy shook his head. “We should’ve talked first. I knew you’d do this. You talk a big game about how casual sex is for you but it’s not and that’s perfectly fine. I was the idiot who took you at face value when you said you wouldn’t do --- wouldn’t be like this afterwards. It was just sex, Sunny. No one’s in love. No one’s gonna be heartbroken. No one had to even be weird about it but here we are. It’s a small solar system. You’re not going to be able to avoid me forever, but I’ll do my best.”
“Hold on a minute!” I said before Teddy could leave or Sunny could spit out his retort. “Don’t I get a say in this? I’m the one the message was for, right?”
The Moonys shared a look that I couldn’t read. Their thoughts were quiet over the Starscale link too.
“Are you two staring each other down or talking?” I asked, not wanting a fist fight to break out in my office.
“Neither,” Teddy sighed. “Look, Liam had a vision of you having a vision of that nameless door lady, okay? He wanted to get in touch and talk you through whatever he saw. He knew you responded to Sunny because he saw him with you in the ritual. Apparently, I was there too, but the future changes. I’d have called,” he glanced at Sunny, “and I did but you didn’t answer. Which, fine whatever. Take it up with Liam or your parents or Castor. Hell, take it up with everyone waiting to meet their true-mate after the doors get here. Seriously, take it up with any of them and I’ll stay out of it.”
“No,” I said.
“What?” They both asked, narrowing their eyes on me.
“You two would’ve worked this out if Sunny and I hadn’t met today. Shut up!” I added because they both opened their mouths to speak. “Look, you would’ve. Probably not as lovers but you’d have been friends. You’re both too damn old to let sex make you into primordial single celled organisms about this. You have fucking brains and hearts. I don’t have to be a part of you working this out, but you need to work it out. I appreciate you taking care of Selt. It was a good call. It drove home a point that none of the Moonys are on their own, but I could’ve done it myself. So, it’s not about who needs to win a pissing contest or whatever. It’s simple. If you were both there, the ritual probably called for both of you. I have a feeling that a lot of magic runs in your veins too, Teddy, and a feeling in my balls that you’re going to be scrotum deep in magic before the decade is out. Take it or leave it but if you leave it here you can take it up with the mateless dragons too.”
“You’re the one making it weird,” Sunny said to his friend, and I sighed.
“How?” Teddy asked.
“You weren’t there when I got out of bed.”
“Because you stayed in bed waiting for me to leave. So, I did. You wanted space you got it. You wanted a break from 1 and you got it. I was in the wrong. I knew this about you and I was --- No, actually, no,” Teddy shook his head. “We’re friends, right? Well, at least we were or were supposed to be. I’m not sorry. It happened. Stuff happens. It wasn’t a bad night. I’m not in love with you but I’ve never been in love with anyone. Not exes on Earthside. Not hookups at my purple district book club. I’ve never been in love and that doesn’t mean I’m going to be celibate. I kept it to myself because we didn’t talk about that stuff. You got hung up on what it all meant to you after your first hook up in the purple district. You figured that out about yourself. I don’t know what you were thinking last night.”
“That it would be different because we were friends,” Sunny spat out the words.
“And it is! I cooked you breakfast! I let you have the house to yourself! What was I supposed to do, Sunny? I’m not a Frost-damned mind reader.”
“May I interject?” I asked, unsure if it was my turn to speak or not.
“What?” They both asked and then laughed and flashed me a sheepish look.
“I’m going to say this. If it happens again, fine, whatever. Just let me know. I don’t think it will but I’m just going to say that you two are okay in my book. If that takes the pressure off of whatever you’re fighting about.”
Teddy opened his mouth and shut it again. His thoughts were airtight over the Starscale link.
“Not my place to say what I think it is,” he shrugged. “For me, nothing’s changed. NOTHING!”
Sunny relaxed visibly for a second.
“Look, I’m actually going to leave now. Sunny, are we cool? Do what you need to do. I’ll buy you time with everyone else – even Liam and them. Just don’t dwell on it, okay? Have fun. Congratulations.”
“We’re okay,” Sunny nodded, and Teddy nodded in my direction before leaving.
“Any chance you want to tell me what that’s about?” I asked, circling my desk and sitting down on his lap.
“No,” he shook his head. “You know enough. We hooked up last night.”
“Let me take a guess. You’re both obviously alphas. This is about who was on top, or did he not want to take turns or something?” I pried a little.
“Don’t you want to talk about this whole ritual thing?” Sunny tried to change the subject as his face glowed redder with each word he said.
“To be honest, I’d forgotten about that,” I laughed. “You’re a compelling dragon, Sunny Moonscale. You’re all I can think about.”
“I’m not going to hook up with Teddy again.”
“Obviously,” I nodded. “He’s into hookup culture a bit, at least, and you’re not. I haven’t been interested in it in a long time either. Nothing wrong with it, though.”
“Do we have to talk about this right now?” Sunny asked, rubbing his thumb into his forehead.
Out of habit more than concern, I pulled his hand away from his face and checked his pupils. It wasn’t easy to give a dragon a concussion and I didn’t think he hit his head in the arena, but stranger things had happened.
“I’m fine,” Sunny frowned. “I’m sorry all this bullshit---”
I shook my head to stop him.
“Don’t apologize. Don’t. I’ve watched dozens of pairs of mates meet. None of them go smoothly. Not the way you’d imagine. Not that instant everything works out. Hell, I asked the council to let me fight you and I was ninety percent sure who you were to me. We had very little chance of a normal start after that.”
“I meant the Teddy stuff.”
“The Teddy stuff is you stuff and you stuff is me stuff now,” I shrugged. “Seriously, take it from someone who has lived a while. It’s better to work this stuff out in the short term than let it drag out. I’ve seen friendships end over a kiss on a dance floor. Don’t let that happen to you two.”
“That would never happen with us,” Sunny said, his words almost snapping.
“Lots of dragons have said that. I’m not saying you have to chase him down right this second or anything. Just keep it in mind. I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
“No, you think I should talk about it.”
“Yeah, I want to know your hang-ups because there’s this pesky thing called magic pulling at us and tugging us together. Making me want to drag you into the shower and rip your clothes off. So, yeah, I want to know your hang-ups. I want to know everything about you. I’m not as levelheaded as the arena would make you believe.”
Sunny was quiet for a long moment, leaving me to wonder if I’d said something wrong or if he were a dragon of few words. I’d heard about Sunny here and there. He didn’t seem like the silent type.
“I just don’t want him to see me differently,” he said eventually.
“Why would he do that?” I asked.
“Were you a therapist before you were a gladiator?” Sunny laughed.
“No, but I’m the best at deflection. So, you can’t sneak it past me.”
“Sex changes everything, right?”
“No, not always,” I shook my head. “Look, I want to have this conversation, but I can feel the sweat drying under my scales. I’m going to shower. You can join me, skip it, wait your turn, or whatever you want. I’m not ending this conversation, but I don’t want ingrown scales come tomorrow because I didn’t wash soon enough after rolling around in the dust with you.”
Sunny stood up taking me with him. I grinned as his muscles flexed as he spun in a circle, discerning which room held the shower. Then he headed that way without asking. Usually, I showered in the arena’s locker room but wasn’t about to get naked with my true-mate for the first time in front of anyone else. I didn’t want him to keep his hands to himself. I wanted his hands and mouth and dick and whatever else he wanted to rub on me all over me.
He grinned. He was better at picking up stray thoughts over the flight link than we gave any of the Moonys credit for. It was a nice smile and soon I hoped to see him wearing nothing but that smile that pushed all my buttons in the right places.