Chapter 6 Dray
SIX
DRAY
“So when are you going to tell him?”
I looked up from my plate to find Garrett grinning at me from across the table. Around us the family barbecue was in full swing, with kids chasing one another and people arguing about the best way to cook steak. My aunt was doing her usual sampling of the desserts.
“Tell who what?” I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I needed time to prepare an answer.
“Oh, you know, that omega who’s your fated mate.”
Every head turned toward me, and I inwardly cursed my cousin for bringing it up.
“I’m working on it.”
My father appeared beside me with a pitcher of iced tea. “Working on it, Dray? It’s been a couple of weeks.”
“He’s human. I can’t walk up and ask him to take his shirt off, and by the way, we’re fated.”
“Why not?” Anderson, my young cousin piped up. He was ten and had no filter. “He is, right?”
Yes, he is, and you’re dawdling.
“Your dad and I knew instantly we were mates.” Now Pops was talking. “He showed me his tat, I showed him mine, and boom.”
Gods, I couldn’t listen to a story about the first time my parents had sex, or the second or one hundredth.
“I have to go slow, Pops.”
My aunt Raine sidled up to us, eating fruit salad. “You’re tiptoeing, Dray. At this rate, he’ll be in a nursing home when you tell him.”
She’s right.
I tapped my skull, a sign to everyone my dragon was talking to me.
“Is your beast giving you a hard time?” my dad asked from his place at the grill.
“When doesn’t he?”
I can hear you.
They were right. I’d been working for Pax in between doing other work, and I’d do coffee runs and order food for us. I’d make excuses to go over there, saying I’d left a tool. But I hadn’t confirmed the tattoo, and without that, I couldn’t do the big reveal and tell him the truth.
I was terrified he wouldn’t believe me and he’d leave town and sell the house. After years of waiting, I’d lose him forever because I’d moved too fast or said the wrong thing.
“He’s grieving the loss of his aunt. I can’t dump world-altering news in his lap yet.”
“I understand.” Pops ruffled my hair. “But I worry about you because I can see the pain of being separated from him.”
“What you need is a plan.” Dad flipped a burger.
I had one, but it wasn’t working out the way I’d hoped. But much as I loved them, I didn’t need my family interfering.
“I’m hoping he takes his shirt off so I can confirm he has the matching tattoo.”
My families shared glances.
“That’s the plan?” Garrett banged his fist on the table.
Everyone burst out laughing.
“It’s a first step, okay.” I needed to go to the office and send out invoices to get my mind off this shit.
My dad abandoned the grill and walked over holding a spatula. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
I didn’t like the word “we.” When my family got behind something, they usually created pandemonium.
“We’ll invite him to something.”
I whisked the phone out of his pocket, thinking he was going to call Pax now.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be casual and low-key. When he meets us and spends time with the family, he’ll see we’re good people who care about you. Humans like that sort of thing, and he’ll see we’re normal.”
To a human, we weren’t normal. Even to other shifters, my family was eccentric because we breathed fire.
“We’re dragons, Dad. Mythical beasts according to human legend.”
“I’ll tell him you’re a good kisser.” My cousin grinned.
I let my dragon appear in my eyes, but Garrett wasn’t intimidated. “You have no idea what kind of kisser I am.”
“Neither will Pax if you don’t get a move on.” My aunt dabbed at her lips with a napkin.
Pops patted my arm. “We’re trying to help, sweetheart, because we want you to be happy.”
“I know.” I unclenched my jaw. “And I love you for it, but I need to do this my way.”
“Your way’s taking forever.” Garrett bit into a corn cob.
I tossed a roll at his head, but he ducked.
The next morning I was at the lumber yard picking up materials for Pax’s porch when my phone rang. It was Dad.
“What’s up?”
“I ran into your mate.” He wasn’t a good fibber, and my spidey senses picked up that this was no accident.
Shit, what did he do? How did he even know what Pax looked like? I sighed because in this town, someone would have pointed him out. Or Dad was stalking my mate-to-be.
“He’s a nice kid and very polite. We got to talking outside the hardware store.”
I cringed. “Dad, what did you do?”
“I invited him to your cousin Stephen’s birthday party on Saturday. There’ll be cake.”
I nearly dropped the phone. “You invited him to a five-year-old’s birthday party?”
“It’s a low-key family gathering. There’s no pressure, and he seemed excited about it.”
Somehow I doubted that.
“He said yes, and I gave him your aunt and uncle’s address. See you Saturday at two.”
I stood in the lumber yard with the phone in my hand, trying to decide whether to be furious or grateful.
This is good. My dragon ignored my family’s antics and decided Pax would fall into our arms at the party.
I called Dad back, but he didn’t pick up. Next was Pops.
“Stephen is so excited he’ll have a new friend at the party.”
I rolled my eyes. A five-year-old was thinking another guest meant more presents.
“Pops, you have to make sure the family doesn’t ask weird questions.”
“Why would they do that?”
I raked my fingers through my hair. “Tell them not to say things like how good we’d be together.”
Next I texted Garrett and told him what was happening. I need you to run interference.
This is going to be so much fun.
Garrett, concentrate.
Okay, I’ll do my best but can’t make any promises.
I spent Saturday helping my aunt and uncle string up decorations in their back yard, set up tables, and inflate a bouncy house which I hated because those things were dangerous. I made sure the stakes were secure.
Unlike most family gatherings, the entire extended family arrived early. But I was onto them.
“He’s just human,” I told Aunt Raine when she asked what Pax looked like.
“Who happens to be someone you’ve been waiting eight years for.”
“But he doesn’t know that,” I pointed out.
“Yet.”
Right on the dot of two, Pax pulled up, and sweat trickled down my spine and into my briefs. My dragon told me to calm down, but that was easy for him. He wasn’t out here with me having to brave my family’s reactions.
You’re not helping.
Pax was walking through the gate holding a wrapped present. But he was fidgeting with the ribbon on the birthday boy’s gift, and he paused a couple of times. I guessed he was wondering why he was here.
“Hi.”
“Hey. I hope it’s okay I came. Your dad was really insistent.”
“Everyone’s looking forward to meeting you.” That much was true. “But I should warn you, my family is a lot.”
“I like a lot.” He smiled, and parts of my body reacted. Not now. I didn’t want to scare him away before he met the family.
We walked around the side of the house, and I tried not to notice how good he looked in his jeans and sweater. And I did my best not to think about what was under that sweater.
“Hello, Pax. I’m Dray’s pops.” He pulled Pax into a hug. “We’re so glad you could make it.”
“Thank you for having me.”
Pops looped his arm through Pax’s and led him toward the throng of people eager to meet him. I trailed behind them, worried what my family members would blurt out.
“This is Aunt Raine, Stephen’s mom, and Uncle Noel is the birthday boy’s dad. And here’s Stephen himself.”
Stephen thanked Pax and ripped the paper off his present. He squealed at the box of Lego and raced off to build something.
“Are you Dray’s boyfriend?” Anderson piped up.
I should have been relieved he hadn’t said mate, but he’d watched enough human TV to know about boyfriends. I glared at him, but Pax shook his head.
“Just a friend.” He was more subdued than at our previous meet-ups, and his voice was kinda sad.
Another of my young cousins grabbed Pax and me, saying we were on their team for capture the flag.
We ran around the yard chasing the kids.
Pax was out of breath and he tripped, but I caught him before he hit the ground and we were face to face.
We were both breathing hard from running, and my dragon was pestering me to claim him or at least kiss him.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. The tip of his tongue poked between his lips as his chest heaved and sweat trickled over his brow.
“Are you going to kiss?” That was Stephen, and we jerked away from one another.
The kids raced into the bouncy house, and the adults sat and ate. Despite their promises, my family asked Pax a series of pointed questions, including if he had a boyfriend. Garrett was useless and joined in the rapid-fire questioning.
Pax was very sweet and either answered or batted away the questions. But he wasn’t the guy I’d spilled water and coffee on, nor the one who called me in the middle of the night. He scratched at his arm, and his answers were monosyllabic.
Something wasn’t right. It was as if his mind was elsewhere. The intimacy I’d experienced after saving him earlier was gone, almost as if it had never existed. But that might’ve been because he was bored at a child’s birthday party.
I caught him staring at me a couple of times before he turned away. I apologized for the family’s interrogation, and he brushed it off. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just tired. Unpacking plus a new town and a new life is challenging.”
He excused himself early, said his thank-yous and goodbyes, and left.
“Something’s wrong.” Dad put a hand on my shoulder.
“You think?”