Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
A listair hummed as he made cookies.
He had no idea why he wanted to make cookies. Especially close to supper. He just did. Oatmeal scotchies. They’d sounded so yummy.
Reed sat at the kitchen counter, nursing a cup of hot chocolate, and Alistair tried to think of ways to draw him out. The poor kid was just like a turtle, drawn into his shell.
“How’s the cocoa?” he asked.
“Good.” Reed gave him a ghost of a smile. “Thank you for letting me stay with you and Des.”
“You’re very welcome, Reed. You were very kind to me. But—” He stopped, stirring chips into his batter. “I get the feeling you were a captive there too.”
“I was.” Reed shrugged, a tiny motion he couldn’t really say he understood. It was a little hopeless maybe. “I’m sorry they took you, but I’m thankful to you and your mate.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled, then put a tray of cookies on the counter to wait for the ones to come out of the oven. Then he would put this tray in.
“Dammit, Hamish, I said I didn’t want—” Des stopped on his way to the fridge, were he and Hamish had been headed when they burst into the kitchen. “Oh, hello, love. What are you two up to?” He gave Hamish what looked like a warning glare.
“I had the urge to make cookies, and Reed is keeping me company.”
“Ah. Are there any baked yet?”
“No.” A pan was about to come out, but if he let Des and Hamish have at it, they would be gone in about ten seconds. Still scorching hot.
“Ah, damn.” Des winked at him, and Hamish smiled.
“Maybe I’ll bribe Reed here to bring me some when the first batch comes out.”
Reed’s eyes widened, and his cheeks flushed bright pink.
Interesting.
“No one touches the cookies until I get to eat one.” He waved a cookie scoop like a weapon. He was ready to bang on knuckles.
Des held up his hands. “Never let it be said that I steal cookies before my time.”
“Ha! You are a cookie thief. Despoiler of chocolate chips.”
Des blinked at him while Hamish hooted and even Reed giggled a little.
Des finally gave him a wicked smile. “More a despoiler of you, my love.”
“Anytime, babe.” He chuckled. “Unless I’m making cookies.” He slapped Des with the spatula when his mate reached for him.
“Ouch.” Des glanced at Reed. “So how are you settling in, Reed?”
Reed immediately turned red and looked down at his coffee cup. “Um, well, Mr. Alistair asked me to be his personal assistant.”
Hamish perked up. “Yeah? So you’re sticking around?”
“If I’m allowed.”
“Of course you are,” Alistair said, and then his timer dinged. He grunted when he bent, and Des eased him aside.
“I’ll get these, baby.”
“Thanks.” He wasn’t so big he couldn’t bend over, but he was feeling unwieldly, for sure.
Very privately, he thought he was having twins.
Des put the tray on the counter, and then slid the other pan into the oven. “What clan are you from, Reed?” Des asked.
Reed’s gaze met his, panicky for a moment. “The Haverness clan, sir.”
“He was there against his will too, Des.”
“Hmm.” Des studied Reed, then looked at Hamish, who nodded. “So were you kidnapped?”
Reed sighed, and then shook his head. “Kind of? I was more given over as a tribute. To try to keep the peace.”
Alistair put his hands on his hips. “Wait. Your clan gave you to those fuckers? On purpose?”
“Yes.” Reed seemed to shrink, his tone miserable.
“Reed?” That was Hamish, his voice gentle. “Who are you?”
He got a guilty look from the young dragon before Reed answered. “I’m the third son of Garmen Haverness.”
Des pressed his lips together for a moment, his face reddening. “The clan alpha?”
“Yes, sir.”
Hamish groaned. “Oh, fuck me.”
Reed’s eyes flashed gold for a moment. Something like longing appeared and disappeared in them so quickly Alistair wondered if he’d imagined it.
“What’s wrong?” Alistair asked, not quite grasping why his mate was worried.
“We’re trying to negotiate peace with both of the clans in question. And now we’ve screwed it up for them.”
Des grabbed a cookie, and even though it burned his fingers a bit, he stuck it into his mouth to give himself time to think.
Alistair and Hamish were both staring at him, and Reed was all hunched into himself, looking miserable.
Reed looked into his cup. “I wasn’t there of my free will.”
Ha. He’d known it. Poor guy. “So, what about staying here? Are you happy to do that?”
“I am.” Reed sighed. “I don’t think I can go back where I came from.”
“Okay. Then you can start on Monday. Between now and then, you should get Hamish to show you around and settle into the rooms I have for my PA,” Starry said.
“Your PA has rooms, but you don’t have a PA?”
“Des is a little touchy about people getting close to me,” Starry said, eyeing him.
Des bared his teeth.
“I guess he knows me already, huh?” Reed focused on Starry and not him.
“Yes, and he thinks you have reason to be grateful to us.” Alistair winked.
“Well, I do.” Reed rubbed his hands up and down his arms. “And I like you, Mr. Alistair.”
“Alistair. Mr. is for humans.”
Des cleared his throat. “Reed. Did they hurt you? The Galandel clan. Were they cruel?”
“One of the guards hit me a couple of times when I first got there, just to show me what could happen if I fought them…”
“Oh, hell no.” Starry poked Des in the chest. “You are not sending him back there.”
“Of course he’s not,” Hamish put in. “Right, Boss?”
“No. No, you can stay.” Des grinned, an idea coming to him. “In fact, I need to make some calls. We can keep you as tribute, and then it’s your clan and ours against the Galandel.”
Yeah, that would work well. He grabbed another cookie, and this time Starry did smack him.
“That’s enough, you. Don’t disappear for days.”
“I won’t.” He talked around the cookie he stuffed into his mouth. “Kumar will handle most of it. I’ll be back to help. Good cookies.”
“Out.” Starry leveled the spatula at him.
He and Hamish left the kitchen, and Hamish glanced at him. “We’re not sending him away.”
It was a statement, not a question.
He chuckled. “Yeah. You can have him if he’s willing, Hamish. I see how it is with you two.”
“Thanks, Boss. But you’re right. This could be a big break.”
Des nodded and called his personal assistant. “Get your ass to my home office, Kumar.”
“Yes, sir.”
And forty-five minutes later, Des had negotiated a peace with the Haverness clan, agreeing to house and feed Reed and give him a job. Easy peasy. And they had pledged their support with the Galandel clan.
Boom.
Kumar waved him and Hamish away after that. “Shoo. I have a lot of paperwork to do.”
They left, laughing, and he nudged Hamish with his elbow. “Take Reed to supper early. Have fun.”
“What are you going to do?” Hamish asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Indulge my mate. I think a long, warm bath and dinner in bed.”
“Oh-ho. Lazy alpha.”
“Bah. Just enamored of my Starry.” He hurried to the kitchen. “Cookies done?” he asked Starry.
“Yes.”
“Reed, will you dine with Hamish? He’d like to take you to supper.”
“He would?” Reed flushed again, his cheeks burning with red spots.
“I would. Come on, sweet.” Hamish beckoned to Reed, who followed Hamish out the door like a happy pup.
“So, did you do all you set out to?” Starry asked.
“I did. We’re in a good spot, thanks to you. Would you like a bath?”
“Oh, my goddess yes. My back hurts. I would love to soak.”
“Come on, then.” He would text his dinner order to the staff while the bath was running.
When Starry sank into the water, his big belly pointing up, he moaned, then held out a hand. “Oh, this is perfect. Come in with me, Des. I missed you.”
“Mmmm.” He stepped into the bath and sank down. “You are getting round, my love.”
“I am getting huge.” Starry chuckled. “But I’m not as close to my time as I would like.”
“I know.” He had the due date on his calendar, circled in red.
“Are you happy, Des?”
“Hmm?” He grabbed a sponge to soap it up.
“About the baby. You never say.”
He blinked at Starry. “I don’t?”
“No.”
He pulled Starry onto his lap, the sponge forgotten. “Baby, I am ecstatic. I love you so much, and I am so incredibly proud and happy to be having a baby with you. I’ve been trying to make peace with all the rival clans so our baby will be safe. That’s why I was so frantic.”
“Well, if you stay here with me, you can stop anyone from hurting us.” Starry leaned on his chest, sighing with happiness as he settled half on Des and half in the water. “This is yummy. Thank you.”
“Not as yummy as supper will be.” He winked, and Starry laughed.
“As long as it’s not fish.”
“Not a tail in sight.”
“Good.” Starry grabbed his hand to put it on his belly.
And Des could stay just like this for the rest of his life. Starry loved his baths all the time, but since he’d gotten pregnant, it was really something Starry craved.
They floated, Starry humming, the baby kicking.
And he smiled, because he was right where he wanted to be.