Chapter 29
Rowan
“Honey, I’m hooome.”
Rowan glanced up from the skillet he was cooking dinner in, smiling over his shoulder as Milo left a trail of Milo things all the way over to him.
He bounced up to place a kiss on Rowan’s cheek before hopping onto the counter.
Rowan shifted him bodily with one hand a little farther from the stovetop. Better to be safe than sorry, and Milo had a lot of wayward limbs. But he left his hand resting on Milo’s thigh.
He could cook with one hand; the pan just needed agitating at this point.
“How was your shift at the shop?” Rowan asked.
Milo looked a little tired, but it was a normal sort of tired, nothing like the exhaustion of before.
Rowan hadn’t even known how bad it was until he saw the subtle changes appear.
Rowan had met Milo when he was stretched too thin with little support for his dragon.
After mating, even just a couple of weeks later, it was like night and day. Milo was shining.
Milo kicked his feet against the counter, playing with Rowan’s fingers absently. “Long. But I’m bringing home the bacon, baby. Keeping you in buttoned-up shirts and plant pots.”
Rowan snorted. “Are you liking your new schedule?”
“Only working at the coffee shop is definitely easier to keep track of.”
“And healthier.”
“I was doing fine!”
“Tell that to the nine Red Bulls and the gallon of coffee you were drinking daily to get by.”
Milo huffed. “I still think you should up my limit. This is cruel and unusual punishment. Who drinks one coffee a day?”
“You’re allowed two on weekends,” Rowan said serenely.
Milo whined, which was usually a surefire way for him to get Rowan to cave instantly, but this was one thing he wouldn’t bend on. He wanted Milo around for a long time, which meant he couldn’t send his heart into an early grave. Rowan was in charge of it now and he didn’t take that care lightly.
He turned off the burner and let go of Milo so he could plate the food.
He’d gotten into cooking about the same time as Milo had moved in. Which wasn’t really a conversation that had happened, more like a thing where they had mated and then Milo just never left.
All the dishes Rowan made were simple, but he was getting better at it by the day now he had more time away from the stresses of the company. His father had been good to his word and scaled Rowan’s position back immediately, putting him in charge of one department only: hoard building design.
Rowan had never felt happier leaving the office at five like everyone else.
Not being on call for every little thing.
Not feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
He could come home at a reasonable hour and see Milo lying upside down on the couch or waiting for him in bed.
He could eat meals with him and go on small dates and not have to worry about being pulled away.
His mom seemed to like teaching him some “family recipes” too and Milo was effusive with the compliments even if it was just an omelet. He’d even gotten some new herb plants to add to Rowan’s hoard.
The domesticity was glorious.
“How’s the project coming along?” Milo asked as he watched him. “My hoard are getting too comfortable in your fancy-pants building, and they might tie themselves to some trees pretty soon to avoid leaving.”
Rowan laughed at the image. “Everything’s on track. The plumbers will be done any day now and then it’s the electricians, floors, finishing touches, and decorations. Two to three months is the estimate.”
“Can we go see it again?” Milo asked, following him to the table where the cutlery was already set out.
Milo had been anxious to see the building at every stage. Demolition, breaking ground on the foundation, when the scaffolding went up, when the walls went in.
Milo and Ethel were regulars and knew the foreman by name.
They sat down at the table and Rowan nodded. “I’ll make an appointment.”
“No need. Jeff said I should stop calling and just come by. It’ll be less of a headache.” Milo picked up his fork and took a bite of the fried rice. “Oooh, tasty!”
Rowan’s toes curled in happiness in his socks and he looked down shyly. “I’m glad you like it.”
Milo tangled their ankles together. “You make a good HouseMateDragonHusband.”
“That’s not the term.” Rowan shifted, unable to hide his true feelings of glee under his usual grumpiness. “I just like doing things for you.”
“If you want this dinner eaten and not all over our naked bodies while we get nasty on the table then you better stop right now, Rowan Rangecroft,” Milo warned, pointing his fork at him.
Rowan felt his cheeks heat. Tempting as that was, he enjoyed sitting like this with Milo almost as much as Milo sitting on him. Surrounded by their nest. All their belongings mixed together. Talking about their days.
Milo kept calling him a secret romantic.
“Oh!” Milo said suddenly. “I forgot to tell you! Lyra had to deal with this creep who kept talking about her cookies and she kicked his ass. It was so great!”
They finished their meal just like that, with Milo filling Rowan in on Lyra’s badassery and every other little thing that had happened that day. The steady chatter lasted through washing the dishes and getting changed into comfy clothes and all the way to snuggling on the couch.
Milo picked up one of his dragon books and cracked the spine, leaning back against Rowan. He lifted the book over his head until it was directly in front of Rowan’s nose.
“Ready!” he said.
“You know, I’m almost positive you can read.” Rowan pushed the book back a bit because he only saw a black blur in front of him with it that close.
Milo threw his head back and looked at him upside down, bottom lip pushed into a pout.
“You have to be nice to me or I’ll die,” he said. A mantra he clearly planned to milk until the day he actually dropped dead.
“That is not how anything works,” Rowan said.
“It could be.”
“But it’s not.”
“I am the first half dragon in three hundred years, Rowan. The registry dude said so when we went. He was all ooooh and aaaah and can I take a picture of you shifted. I’m a big deal.”
“You’re a menace.”
“But an important menace,” Milo said. And he was technically right.
Milo’s dragon registration process had been completely different from the usual, boring, “please state your last name and family breed, sign here, thank you and goodbye.” The entire building had congregated around him, asking to see his wings, asking him to come in for further questions, and worst of all, asking to touch him.
That was where Rowan had drawn the line. He’d swept Milo into his arms and let out a soft growl at the invading hands reaching for his mate.
They’d all gasped, eyes wide and awed as they watched Milo nearly climb up his body in an effort to get closer.
“So the stories are true,” someone had said, and Milo had asked which stories.
Which led them to a section of a bookstore filled with half dragon romance novels Rowan hadn’t known existed.
The Omega Dragon King’s Alpha Horde
Matched with the Dragon Commander
Ruined by his Billionaire Dragon Boss
They bought one. For shits and giggles.
Then Milo got obsessed with them, and with Rowan reading them to him. And Rowan was truly unable to say no to him.
They were currently on to a new pick. The Rake and the Drake. As soon as Milo had seen the unbuttoned, white-flowing shirt and titties out on the cover, he’d been sold.
“I’m still not happy with you going there again,” he said, plucking the book from Milo’s hands and flipping to the first page.
“I know,” Milo said. “But I don’t mind it. It’s for science.”
Rowan grumbled in his chest. “You’re not a test subject.”
“I don’t feel like one. It’d just be nice to know more about my own heritage. In whatever way possible.”
Rowan softened. “Don’t lose hope. They could still be out there.”
“If they are, they clearly don’t want to be found,” Milo said. He had been looking for his parents with no success. They’d left no clues when they abandoned him. “And I think maybe I should just let them have that.”
“Have what?” Rowan asked.
“Anonymity? Privacy? A life without me there? I guess it’s what they wanted, so it feels a bit weird pushing to find someone who doesn’t want you.”
“You want to stop searching?” Rowan asked carefully.
Milo paused for a second before nodding. “I think so, yeah. The people at the registry said they could try and find my dragon breed through some super special blood tests they have, and that’s good enough for me.”
“You sure?” Rowan asked.
Milo looked up into his eyes. “Do you care? About my breed. Does it…does it change anything for you?”
Rowan felt his heart stutter and he shook his head, cupping Milo’s cheek. “Nothing changes. Nothing ever will.”
“Then yes, I’m sure. If I’m enough for you and my hoard, nobody else really matters.”
“I love you,” Rowan said.
“Love you too.” Milo smiled, reaching up to kiss him softly on the lips before snuggling in again.
Rowan lifted the book back up and rolled his eyes at the ridiculous title.
“Oh…” Milo said. “Before you start. I got tea.”
“You don’t like tea.” Rowan frowned.
“I mean tea like…info, gossip, intel.”
“You sound like the world’s loudest, least secretive spy.”
“You’re being mean to me again. I could die!”
“Not. How. It. Works,” Rowan said again. “What’s the gossip?”
Milo perked up. “Where’s Ruben at the moment?”
“On tour?” Rowan wasn’t really sure where his brother was. The farther from his mate though, the better. He was still salty about the hug.
“Okay, but where, specifically?” Milo asked.
“Boston? I think,” Rowan said, racking his brain.
“Guess who is also in Boston. Allegedly by pure accident.”
“Millions of people are in Boston, Milo.”
“RAY!! Ray is in Boston. Not only that, but I just so happened to see their social media posts and they are apparently in the same hotel.”
Rowan widened his eyes. “You think they’re…”
“They are so together in Boston. They make such a cute couple!”
Rowan swallowed hard. “I don’t want my brother to break your best friend’s heart,” he said carefully. “Ruben doesn’t do…couples. Or romance. Or anything that resembles actual human contact besides the parts that need to touch to have sex.”
“They’ve been together since they met the night we mated,” Milo said. “I can’t prove it, but I can feel it in my bones. Must be a half dragon thing.”
“It really isn’t.”
Milo ignored him completely. “Besides, Ray can take care of himself. And also…Ruben legit can’t fuck my BFF over.”
“Can’t he?”
“Nope. Because then I’ll be sad. And then I’ll die.”
“That is still not how any of this works,” Rowan said.
“It might be.”
“It isn’t,” Rowan insisted.
“I still think we shouldn’t test it.” Milo flopped back down across Rowan’s lap. “Read to me!”
And Rowan gave him what he wanted.