Chapter 6
HART
I couldn't wait to share my new intel when I arrived for my date with Silver the next morning. "A chocolatier in the village offers free hot chocolate with any purchase on Thursdays. They started making chocolate croissants early this summer."
Gold sighed. "I was still working my way through the bakeries. It would have taken me forever to find that place. Thank you!"
"Chocolate croissants?" Silver frowned. "I'll bring you one so we can taste them for ourselves."
"They must be pretty spectacular, if they're pulling the bakery crowd."
"I can't wait to taste the hot chocolate," I said. "Everyone but Santa raves about it." Santa was too loyal to Silver and Gold's, though even he admitted the competition's hot chocolate was tasty.
"Enough chit-chatting," Gold said, shooing us away from the register. "Go forth and sleuth! Wear my hat!" She tossed a seasoned fedora at Silver's head. He ducked.
I caught it and swooped it up onto my head, not even caring if it gave me a hat ring. "I'll have him back by the lunch rush."
"Have fun!" she called as we walked outside.
The cold blast of wind through the door pounded into my chest and made it hard to breathe.
Silver pretended not to notice as he nudged me out of his way.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and guided me toward the subway station.
I curled into him, my body absorbing his heat until finally, it didn't hurt to take a breath.
Already, I loved the perks of walking down the street beside my gorgeous dragon omega.
No. Not, "my" omega.
"Mine!" my reindeer insisted. "Mate. Bite. Claim."
I ignored him the rest of the walk to the subway, expecting him to calm down once we were on the train. He hated the subway, but since my visit to Silver's apartment, he seemed more comfortable underground, especially with Silver's hand clutched in mine.
We boarded the train and sat on a side-facing bench near the back of the car. "The hat looks good on you." Silver looked me up and down, checking me out.
"Is that all? Only the hat?" I teased.
I love the way his cheeks blushed deep red whenever I fished for compliments. He reminded me of how responsive he'd been to my advances. I longed to touch him again. The train car was practically empty. No one would see us.
My hand hadn't traveled far from his knee when a young mother and her toddler entered the car. The toddler was a little fussy, and the mother looked like she needed somewhere quiet. Our car certainly fit the bill.
"Later," Silver said, as though he could read my mind, or maybe he was talking to his dragon as much as I'd been talking to my reindeer lately.
Our stop was two blocks from the chocolatier's, but we could walk there through a wide underground tunnel etched from the glacier.
The stairway looked icy, but a magical spell provided traction.
The sign above the door warned of allergens, directing anyone affected to go around to the main entrance.
Inside, the chocolate shop contained rows of candy bins from floor to ceiling, of every variety of chocolate.
Each stack of bins had the same main ingredient covered in different varieties of chocolate.
The first stack before me held candy orange slices.
The top bin had them drenched in white chocolate.
The next one down, milk chocolate. Beneath that, a bin filled with semi-sweet chocolate orange slices.
And of course, at the bottom, a bin full of dark chocolate orange slices.
"I didn't know there were so many varieties," Silver said.
"How have I not known about this place?" I spun on my heel, taking in the different varieties.
Along the far wall near the stairway to the main floor, I found a display of candy that wasn't chocolate at all.
Gumballs, jellybeans, and colorful fruit flavors lined the wall. Each bin contained a different variety.
"They make their own rainbow candies." They were my favorite. I dipped the large scoop into the bin and grabbed a paper bag to hold the star-shaped delights.
"They have their own peanut clusters!" Silver called from behind me. He hadn't made it out of the chocolate rows yet. "Gold is going to love this place!"
I wasn't so sure about that. She seemed pretty adamant about the chocolatier stealing their business. So far, I had seen no one besides us.
That all changed when we arrived upstairs after paying for our bags of goodies. The main floor was packed with wall-to-wall customers. All but one table held the exact number of people it would hold. As I watched, a single person asked to sit at the table where there was a free chair.
When two people stood from their seats, I approached the man sitting on the same side of the table beside the empty chairs and tapped his shoulder. "Do you mind saving these seats for us?"
He glanced up at me and grinned. "Not at all. You can leave your coats here, if you'd like."
Silver huffed behind me. He said nothing, but he looked upset. "Jealous," my reindeer said.
"The place is packed," I explained to Silver as I removed my coat and hung it on the back of the middle seat. "I asked to save these seats, for when we have our drinks."
"Oh!" Silver's face brightened. "Great idea!" He pulled off his jacket and draped it over the back of the chair, and I set his sister's hat on the table between the two.
"Be right back," I said to the man sitting beside our stuff.
The line moved so fast, I wondered if one of the Santas was behind the counter. Instead, I found a beautiful arachnid fae with each of her eight appendages filling cups with hot chocolate, wrapping croissants in wax paper, and filling trays for each order.
She blinked all eight eyes at me and gave a slight bow of her head. "You are new here. Welcome! I am Laurie, the owner of this fine establishment. What is your name?"
"Hartley Comet." Some said you shouldn't give your full name to the fae, but I'd always found complete honesty was the best course of action with the fae.
She shook her head. "Not another one. If you cause a scene—"
"I won't," I said. "I'm nothing like my cousins." I hoped.
I placed my order, and then it was my turn to be jealous. Laurie fawned over Silver.
"I know you," she said. "You own Silver and Gold's! You and your sister inspired me to open this place!"
"That's so kind of you to say." Silver's blush tinged his cheeks.
"Please, try the croissants, on the house! They're nothing like yours, but they've been good for business."
"Thank you." Silver and I took our wooden trays back to our table and watched the breakfast crowd while we munched.
The line up to the counter had dwindled to a few stragglers, but it was standing room only.
Some folks even braved the cold and sat along the window ledge outside with their drinks wrapped in their hands.
"What's the verdict?" I asked after Silver took the first bite of croissant.
"They're made from a canister puff pastry, not baked from scratch." He sighed. "The chocolate filling is absolutely delicious. With our pastry and her chocolate, we could make something really special."
Laurie's upside-down head dropped into my line of sight above our table, and I yelped. I hadn't noticed the intricate webbing laced above the dining area.
"So sorry to interrupt, but you really think so?" she asked.
Silver glanced up at her, as though spider fae dropped in on his dates all the time. For all I knew, maybe they did. "I'd need to talk to my sister, but I'm certain she'd agree. We would love to collaborate with you on these croissants."
Laurie spun overhead until she was upright and pulled a pen from her apron pocket.
"Here's my number." She jotted it down on an old-fashioned order pad, ripped it off, and handed it to Silver.
"I have a part-time employee to help on the weekends, if you want to meet in person.
" She hid her eyes with her front four legs.
"I mean … thank you for the opportunity.
How are you all enjoying your croissants?
" She turned to the man beside us and then spun around to face the other three people seated at our table.
The whole time, it felt like she was still watching us.
Someone rang the bell for service, and she scurried back to her place behind the counter. Only then did I laugh. "What was all that?"
Silver took another bite of his croissant, ignoring my question. "So good."
Once we were back on the train, our bags of chocolate tucked into our coat pockets and another croissant and a dipping-sized container of chocolate sauce in a bag for Gold between us on the bench seat, I tried again.
"I don't understand. Gold was ready to go to war with the chocolatier when we left, and now you want to do business with her? "
"My sister can be … feisty." Silver's grin lit up his whole face. I hoped one day he would look like that when he thought of me. "Once she tastes this, I think she'll want to meet with Laurie."
"What's your plan?" I asked. "Make the croissant and fill it with the chocolate sauce, but then what?"
"We could sell them at both places and split the difference. She doesn't have as much room in the dining area."
"True, but she has more tables than you do."
He nodded. "We have more tables, but they would only collect dust. Most of our business is takeout."
I had more questions, but a familiar high-pitched laugh drew my attention to the front of the subway car. I hadn't even noticed we'd stopped at the village hub already. The next stop would be the bakery. The one after that was near the apartment complex my cousin Bopp called home.
"Look who it is! My LO-fucking cousin! Are you trying to hide in that ridiculous hat?"
"What's LO?" Silver asked.
"Large omega," I said, surprised my voice stayed even.
"That makes you an LOL!" Bopp laughed at his own joke, not caring that he was the only one laughing.
"Large omega lover," I whispered.
Silver huffed a laugh, but smoke rolled from his nostrils.
"I'll have you know I'm quite the lickable omega.
That's what it means, right? Lickable? Or did you mean lustrous?
" He scrunched his perfectly styled hair.
"Or did you mean luminescent? Ever wondered what a reindeer looks like when he's on fire?
" He stood up and grabbed the rail over my head, taking a step toward my cousin.
Bopp swallowed his laughter and took a step back toward the door. "Wait. I didn't. Let's not … I was only joking."
The train lurched, and Bopp fell into the seat by the door. He hopped up and pressed the button to enter the car in front of ours. Then he glanced over his shoulder with a nervous laugh. "How precious. An omega big enough to stand up for my spineless cousin."
"You're the one running," I reminded him when the door opened. He slipped into the walkway between cars. Silver waited for him to enter the next car before he sat back down.
"Large Omega Lover." Silver laughed. "That's the best he can do?"
"It's an old family tradition." I'd never been more embarrassed to be a Comet in my life. "Our grandpa called my dad and papa that when they first started dating."
"What kind of omega?"
"Reindeer." I sighed. "Papa's not that big, and Dad's small for an alpha. Together—"
"Together, they made you." Silver patted my knee. "That's all that should matter. Well, that, and if they're happy."
"I think so?" I loved my parents, but I didn't spend much time with them beyond Sunday dinners with the entire extended family.
To be completely honest, I was embarrassed by them.
They were the reason I'd tried so hard to win the time trials, so I had something good to tell my grandpa and granddad over dinner … except …
"That asshole," I growled. "He used Tinsel to take the focus off my success. The one time I did something Granddad would praise, and he glossed right over it because Skiff and Bopp had brought omegas to dinner."
Silver's hand had never left my knee, and now he gave it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry."
I shook my head. "No. It's fine. I'll find a way to get him back."
The words felt hollow, though. I didn't want revenge. I wanted Silver, and my whole family be damned if they thought his size mattered more than how perfect he was for me.