Chapter Nine
Sunny
“Are we good? Really?” Teddy asked as soon as the sounds of Laken’s footsteps fell away.
“I knew you’d bring that up,” I teased him, trying to break the tension.
“We don’t need to talk about the other night. I do need to know we’re okay and if we’re not how we get back to okay.”
“We’re okay and in the spirit of getting back to normal, I’m only going to say all of this once. As cliché as it is, it was a me thing. It was a good night. It was fun. Maybe it had to happen in some form for us to know where we stood on that whole closeness spectrum all the Starscale psychology books talk about. I had to figure out if I saw myself differently afterwards and if I did why and if that was okay.”
“I figured that’s why you were experimenting,” Teddy shrugged. “No one knows we messed around except for Laken unless you told someone else. Not even Liam seems to know. It’s not like I broadcast my sexual history on a billboard. I figured that’s why we hooked up that way. No one wants to try something new with someone who’s going to freak out if they don’t like it or tell the world if they do. I’m going to tell you what my dad told me about sex.”
“Do you have to?” I laughed.
“Not all of it,” he shook his head. “If everyone consents it’s good sex. It’s your body and your choice – not only when you say no but also when you say yes.”
“Can I ask a weird question?” I asked, opening a box of doughnuts and examining the sprinkles so I didn’t have to look at him.
“You were good at it,” he said, as if he read my mind. “Don’t worry about that. Like you said, it was a good night.”
“Do you have a setup to call Liam?” I changed the subject.
Relief flooded Teddy’s scent. There was a fine line between talking about it enough and going into details that were better left to that night. We’d reached the line and both stopped there. By the time Laken came back with a duffel bag over his shoulder we already had Liam up on Teddy’s tablet. The seer looked tired but content. He was pregnant again and Bobby was fussing over how much his frequent visions were taking out of him. He stood in the background flashing us all dirty looks as if we gave Liam the Omega Sight instead of his genetics.
“You can’t do it yet,” Liam yawned as soon as Laken sat down next to me. “In my vision you had claimed each other already and it sorta looked like you were going to sacrifice someone. He was all tied up to this big slab of stone that looked like an altar.”
“Was he blonde?” I asked.
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Because the only person who has pissed me off enough to sacrifice recently has been blonde,” I laughed, and Teddy nodded.
“Guys, we don’t believe in dragon sacrifice here,” Laken pointed out.
“I didn’t say you would sacrifice him. I said it looked like it was set up for that,” Liam sighed, and Bobby stepped closer to rub his shoulders.
“Too bad,” Teddy smirked, and I shot him a dirty look because Laken’s scent twinged to panic for a second before he realized it was a joke.
“Don’t poke him like that,” I snapped at Teddy over the Moonscale flight link.
“I was poking at Bobby more than him. Shit, Sunny.”
“Don’t ‘shit, Sunny’ me. We’ve given him enough complexes for a while.”
“I’ll try to behave.”
“Okay, you’re more like Fred every day,” I rolled my eyes.
“Should we just go talk to him?” Laken asked Liam, ignoring us.
“I don’t know. I’m not there. I don’t know the guy. All I know is he’s tied to the slab buck ass naked and you three are there,” Liam said.
“Anyone else with?” Laken asked. “Any clue when?”
“No one else is there that I saw and sometime after your claiming vows. The bite marks were on both of you,” Liam said.
“Were we all naked?” Teddy asked.
“No. Just the guy on the slab.”
“Good,” Laken said.
“How?” I asked. “I don’t think Selt is going to want to work with us. Not after---” I stopped short of saying what Teddy did to him.
“He knows,” Teddy said. “I was honest with him. I told your sire and mine too. I know it can cause a conflict, but he was running his mouth and calling Laken names. If he was being a dickhead to my mate, you’d do the same.”
“Your mate might do worse. Has the magic to anyway,” Liam said.
Teddy let out a long, slow breath and I fought off the urge to rub circles on his back. We’d never shied away from touching each other before but I didn’t want Laken to feel uncomfortable. Instead, Laken rubbed circles on his back. The ache wasn’t a new one for me or Teddy. I’d walked around knowing my true-mate was somewhere on one of the Starscale worlds since Elio and his brother explained what the star-shaped scales on our chests meant. Teddy knew his true-mate had a coin flip of being here. He was flight as soon as his sire responded to Elio.
“I’m not being a jackass. Believe me, knowing and not knowing both have their downsides. I knew,” Liam sighed. “I knew for so long and it hurt too. Not knowing means you get that moment of surprise. It means you don’t go trying to call him now and make him either think you’re crazy or make him do something irrational.”
“You don’t do anything irrational either,” Bobby said, narrowing his eyes on Teddy.
“I’m not yet,” Teddy said. “Well, except for planning which ancestor to sacrifice Selt to.”
“Fred,” I said under my breath and Teddy laughed.
That time, Laken laughed too.
“My grandpa,” he offered up as a suggestion.
“Probably a good idea,” Teddy nodded.
“So are you going to tell us more, Liam?” I asked him.
“I don’t think so,” he shook his head. “I think I’m going to lay down and take a nap so this one quits fussing over me. It’s after your claiming vows and you need the blond man. Probably Selt. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not there. I think this is the first time I’ve had an interplanetary vision.”
“Thanks, Liam,” I said. “We appreciate the help.”
“I do what I can. It’s my calling and my burden.”
“Get some rest,” Laken said. “We’ll figure it out and stay in touch.”