Chapter 13
thirteen
VI
I didn’t fall asleep.
An hour and a half later, I walked my frustrated backside into the kitchen. Eli had put my cooking stuff away, so I opened up all the gorgeous cabinets and dug through the gigantic pantry to find everything I needed.
I’d texted Randa while I was packing to let her know I was back in Scale Ridge, and she promised to be there by the evening. She was off at Mate Mountain, so I still had a few hours until she got back to town.
I got all my ingredients out on the countertop and pulled out my hand mixer (the stand mixer would’ve been louder, and I didn’t want to wake up Eli). I was cracking eggs when I heard his light footsteps in the living room, and my stomach clenched.
I kept going, not wanting him to think I was stopping for his sake.
Even if I kind of itched to make a run for it.
There wasn’t anywhere to go, so my itch was pointless.
Eli sat down in one of the bar stools set up across the island from where I was working. He watched me for a few minutes before he finally said, “I could smell your frustration from across the house, Spaghetti. What’s up?”
“Nothing,” I bit out, grabbing my hand mixer and turning it on so I could pour my anger and stress into creaming butter, eggs, and sugar.
He didn’t look convinced.
I ignored him as thoroughly as possible.
“Is this about people trying to change your mind?”
His words were the trigger I couldn’t ignore, and my frustration exploded. “Why do they think they know better than me? Why would they get to decide how we live? Why would they even care ?”
“You matter to them, so they’re offering advice that they think is helpful.”
“Well, they’re wrong.”
“I know. The only person who can decide what’s right for you, is you.”
“Exactly! Just because something works for them doesn’t mean it would work for us. And it doesn’t mean we want it to work, either. Being roommates is much safer in the long run. There’s less risk for both of us. More security. More freedom.”
Eli was silent for a heartbeat.
I went on, “We’re not going to fall out of being friends like people can fall out of love. You’re not going to change your mind about joking around with me. Neither of us has to be the one who loves more, so we’ll be balanced. We’ll have peace. Everything will be simpler.”
When I looked at Eli, he dipped his head in a small nod.
“We haven’t figured out the details, but we’ll get there, right? Hell, we can figure them out now. I’ll pay half the bills, and we can both buy our own food. I’ll be in charge of dinner, you can keep the pantry stocked with cereal, and?—”
“Breathe, Vi.” Eli reached across the countertop and set his hand on top of mine, over the hand mixer. He turned it off, and I set it down with a shaky breath. “We’re mated. Permanently.”
Panic swelled in my abdomen. “That doesn’t?—”
“Let me finish.” He released my hand and leaned back in his chair. “Whatever we decide to be is between us, but we are mates. There’s no changing that. We’re going to live together for the rest of our very long lives, in whatever capacity we choose. If we do it as friends, that’s fine.”
His words eased my panic a little.
“But we’re not two separate units anymore. We’re not splitting bills. We’re not assigning meals to one person or another. We’re a team. That doesn’t require romance, but it’s still a partnership.”
I breathed a little easier with that.
He wasn’t insisting on a romantic relationship.
He was giving me the facts. And the facts were that our souls were bound. Our lives, too.
“What do you suggest, then?”
“I suggest that we treat this as a contractual joining of lives. We put most of our money in a joint account that we have equal access to. You keep your old account on your own for your peace of mind, and beef it up with some of our shared funds so you know you have an escape route if you need one. But we both get paid in the joint account, and make financial decisions together.”
That was… reasonable.
Since we were sharing lives.
It wasn’t my ideal, though.
“I’d rather split the bills,” I said.
“Splitting bills would lead to resentment for you and guilt for me. Our incomes are extremely uneven, and I would always have more money than you,” he said bluntly. “We’re not doing it. If we’re sharing lives, we’re sharing money equally.”
He had a point.
I wasn’t really the kind of person who could just ignore a big red flag like that. It would irritate me if he bought a nice car when I couldn’t afford one, or ordered us an expensive dinner and didn’t let me contribute.
So… he was right.
Sharing an account was the only way to approach it without creating arguments or unhappiness.
“Alright, you win.”
Eli’s lips curved upward. “Wow. Those are three words I never expected to hear from you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not completely unreasonable.”
“I never said you were. Just stubborn. Which is a sexy trait, for the record. I like your stubbornness.”
“You’re only allowed to like it during heat,” I said, lowering my eyes back to the start of my cupcake batter.
He chuckled. “What else are you frustrated about?”
“Just that. I guess I don’t like hearing people tell me that I’m wrong, or that my decisions are a mistake.”
“No one would like hearing that. You can tell their well-meaning asses to screw off.”
I couldn’t prevent a half-smile. “It might be kind of nice for us to be a team. Except when it comes to telling my parents about us… that’s going to be all on you.”
His lips stretched in a grin. “Your parents love me. We’ll tell them how unexpected it was, I’ll kiss your cheek, and they’ll be thrilled.”
“For once, I think I’m glad you’re right,” I admitted.
He let out a booming laugh. “Get used to it, Spaghetti. I’m charming when I’m right.”
I snorted, but couldn’t deny that.
The man was always charming.
I picked my hand mixer up and started on my batter again. Since Eli was awake, I kind of regretted not going with the stand mixer from the beginning. But, I wasn’t going to the effort of switching halfway through.
“What are we going to do about our day-to-day life?” I wondered. “I work from home, but I only need a kitchen.”
“My apartment at Mate Mountain has a kitchen, but there are larger living areas for mated pairs there. We could claim one of them, and set it up as a home base. Then we could go back and forth from here to there as often as we want. I work forty or fifty hours a week managing the prison guard schedule and tackling whatever else Jasper throws at me, so I’ll need to be at the Mountain a good portion of the time.”
I nodded. “What’s it like there?”
“It’s hard to explain, and depends completely on what part of the mountain you live in. A lot of the space is bland, without much furniture. Randa has been trying to make everything more comfortable, but it’s a big place, so it’ll take a long time to get it there.”
Well, I liked the idea of helping my sister spruce it up. I wasn’t much for interior decorating, but I was a pro at assembling furniture that came in boxes, and hanging art on walls. I’d always ended up with those jobs while Randa did the artsy decorating thing.
“Well, I’m sure I can work there just as easily as I can work here, assuming you’re okay with shuttling groceries,” I said.
“It’s not a problem to add whatever you need to the mountain’s shopping order,” he agreed.
“Then that should work. I’ll like being close to Randa. Hopefully. Assuming I don’t hate Mate Mountain.”
“You won’t hate it. It’s peaceful there. Maybe too peaceful sometimes, but there’s a gigantic kitchen.”
I leaned toward him. “How gigantic?”
He grinned. “Gigantic enough to feed an assload of dragon shifters three to five meals a day. We have a handful of guys assigned just to cooking, but they hate planning the menu and shit like that. They just rotate the same few recipes every week. If you ever wanted to take charge, they’d be thrilled to follow your lead.”
I leaned even closer. “You realize you’re describing my dream job, right?”
“I’m aware.”
“We’ll go tomorrow,” I said.
Eli’s grin widened. “Deal.”
Would I hand over my recipe creation job for Brynn’s coffee shop if I could get paid to consistently make and change the menu in Mate Mountain? And have a handful of shifters following my orders in the kitchen?
In a heartbeat.
It would be like having my own restaurant, but all the customers would be hungry dragon shifters who would devour whatever the hell I put in front of them.
I liked the freedom of my job, but I was really tired of trying to make up cupcake recipes. There was only so much I could do with cake.
And I missed making real food.
“How much would they pay me?” I checked.
“Depends how good you are.”
I flashed him a look. “I’m the best.”
“Then you could ask for however much you want. It’s been a long time since we’ve had someone who actually tries to make new food.”
“Why didn’t you just hire a chef?”
He gave me a look.
Right.
Brynn wasn’t even allowed at Mate Mountain, and she was their sister. Male dragons and their mates only.
“Well, I’m not going to complain,” I said. “Maybe I’ll even thank you for surprising me with a mate bond if it pans out.”
He laughed. “That’d be the day.”
“I know.”
“You should learn how to make that one meal we had in Switzerland. I think it was…”
“It’s already on my list,” I said.
“I need to see this list.”
I pulled up the note full of new recipes to try, and handed him my phone. Up until a year earlier, I’d kept up with the list, adding and trying new things constantly. That was when Randa was still at the apartment to appreciate them with me, though.
Cooking for myself seemed a little pointless, so I hadn’t experimented since then.
“Do you care if I add a few things?” Eli asked.
“Knock yourself out. I’ll add them to the rotation. And I’ll probably want to make dinner most of the time, just for the record.”
“That’s all yours. If you ever don’t want to, just tell me, and we can order in. Or go to the dining hall if we’re in Mate Mountain.”
I agreed, and he started scrolling through my list. The scrolling launched a long discussion about why I wanted to try those things, which led into another conversation. That one required me pulling out my recipe book, which was both digital and physical, and letting him flip through the pages.
The cupcakes were long-since done, but he was barely a quarter of the way through the book when we heard wind rushing outside, followed by an impatient knock at the front door.
Eli gave me a knowing look.
It had to be Randa.
“Come in!” I called out.
She tried the door, but it didn’t open.
I lifted an eyebrow at Eli. “I thought you didn’t lock doors.”
“For you, I do.” He winked, and I rolled my eyes.
The door’s keypad beeped as it unlocked, and Randa swung it open a moment later.
Her eyes lit up when they landed on me. “I haven’t seen you in forever! You look so good!”
I thanked her and tossed my hair playfully as she and Jasper walked into the kitchen hand-in-hand. Neither of them was in a hurry. Randa wasn’t really one for hurrying. Ever.
Which was fine.
Honestly, I often envied her calmness. It’d be nice not to feel like I had to charge at everything as fast as humanly possible.
My brain just didn’t have that setting.
“A mate bond looks good on you guys,” Randa teased, throwing her arms around me for a hug. I squeezed her back tightly, not realizing how much I needed the contact until it was happening.
“Does it?”
She laughed. “Yes. But how bizarre is it that we’re both sisters and sisters-in-law now?”
I snorted. “Let’s not think about that. It’ll weird all of us out.”
“Our babies will probably be genetic siblings or something.”
A laugh escaped me. “There will be no babies for me.
“I don’t know, eternity is a long time to go without changing your mind. Fifty years from now, maybe you’ll be lonely or bored.”
“That’s what Eli’s for. He’s volunteered to be my permanent taste tester.” I gestured toward him.
“Hey, that’s my job,” she protested.
“Not anymore,” Eli announced. “I’ve claimed it.”
Randa sighed dramatically. I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t stop myself from smiling.
She snagged a cupcake off the plate. “Want to come check out my new cabin while the guys chat?”
“The honeymoon cabin? Of course.” I looked at Eli, waiting for him to protest. Supposedly, Randa’s new place wasn’t too far. Ten or fifteen minutes deeper into the forest than Eli’s.
…Which was mine too.
That was strange to think about.
“Have fun. We’ll eat all of these while you’re gone.” He gestured to the cupcakes.
“Go ahead. I have to remake them anyway.”
I needed to adjust the amount of fruit.
Again.
It was my fourth time doing the same damn thing to those cupcakes, and I was getting frustrated.
Thankfully, I was a few months ahead with the seasonal recipes Brynn and the other owners loved to feature, so I had time to keep working on them. But tediously adjusting small amounts of ingredients definitely wasn’t something I was passionate about.
I would make them perfect, of course. There was no alternative in my mind. But that didn’t mean I would enjoy making them perfect.
Randa kissed Jasper before following me out to my car. I didn’t wave at Eli or hug him or anything. That seemed awkward.
It did feel foreign to walk away from him after spending a solid month together, but foreign wasn’t bad. Just new.
“You’d better tell me everything,” Randa whispered, after she shut the front door behind us.
“It’s really not that exciting,” I warned.
She gave me a glare that said she disagreed.
We got in my car, but I didn’t start talking until we were down the road from the guys.
And, at her request, I told her everything. Starting with the night of her wedding reception, and all the way through. She didn’t get every detail about the sex, but enough to put the whole story together.
We stayed in my car when we reached her cabin, her eyebrows high on her forehead as I finished the story.
She was quiet after I wrapped it up, but I expected that. Randa often processed things before she responded. She needed time to think.
So I waited, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel and trying to resist the urge to tap my foot too. Waiting and I weren’t good friends. Maybe that was another reason I didn’t like baking. When I was cooking, there was always another component to work on. The sauce, or the side, or prepping for the next meal. But with baking, I had to wait.
And wait.
And wait.
It got old, fast.
When Randa finally spoke up, she asked, “Do you want to hear my real thoughts, or do you want me to support you?”
My stomach clenched. “You know the answer to that.”
She sighed, and bit her lip.
I waited.
Again.
“I’m not taking sides,” she began.
“There are no sides to take,” I countered. “Me and Eli are on the same side. He agrees with me.”
She hesitated.
“Randa,” I all but growled.
She turned to face me, lifting her knee up onto the seat as she did. “Okay, so, here’s the thing. Jasper knew we were going to be mates before the bond actually started.”
I blinked.
He what?
How?
“He couldn’t stop staring at me, but he wasn’t planning on getting close to me to trigger the bond. You know the story how I sat down next to him and he accidentally drank from my glass, right? But he’s mentioned repeatedly that he wouldn’t have been able to stay in his seat if I’d talked to another guy. And definitely wouldn’t have if I’d tried to go home with someone else. Even before the bond is formed, the possessiveness is there.”
My forehead creased. “He couldn’t have known I was his mate. It’s been two years since the first time we met, Randa.”
“And you’ve been flirting and fighting the whole time.”
“I’ve slept with other guys since then,” I pointed out. Only two, and both encounters had been absolute shit, but still.
“But has he ever seen you with one?”
I thought about it.
The only time he would’ve seen me with another guy was at the club, when Randa and I went out with Elodie, and he tagged along. He’d interrupted my conversation with another guy a few times, and had made sure Randa and I were heading home before he drove away with Elodie.
That didn’t mean he knew I was his mate, though.
He was just a good guy.
I knew him well enough after our month together to be damn sure of that, and I told Randa as much.
“I’m not saying he’s not a good guy. Eli is one of the best men I know. I’m just saying that it seems like a pretty big coincidence, all things considered.”
I unbuckled and got out of the car, and she did the same. “Sometimes coincidences happen.”
“Sometimes,” she agreed, but didn’t look convinced.
We stepped into her new place, and she gave me a tour of the cabin. Jasper had already thrown out the leftovers from their last visit, leaving everything immaculate. He’d even folded their laundry before leaving it in the dresser and closet, something Randa would never have done.
She was lucky to have him.
I oohed and ahhed over how gorgeous everything was as we walked around, like usual, but she didn’t seem as happy as I would’ve expected. We drove back after a while, but she stopped me in the car with a hand on my arm before I got out at Eli’s cabin.
“I’m really, really glad you’re happy,” she said, her expression hesitant. “And you’re one of the most logical people I know. I love both you and Eli, but I can’t get out without making sure you know exactly what I think is going on.”
“Randa,” I started.
“Just listen. There’s a decent chance Eli knew what you were to him before you took him home. Before you slept together. He didn’t want you looking at any of the other men at the party—that’s a very possessive move, and dragons aren’t possessive about people without damn good reason to be. They’re prison guards, right? They’re raised and trained to be impartial. But he wasn’t impartial with you. He didn’t want you going home with anyone else.”
My throat swelled slightly. “Even if he did,” I began, but she cut me off again.
It was one of the first times in her life that she’d done so, so what she was saying was important to her.
“And if he knew, if he’s been flirting with you this whole time because he’s known you were his, then he doesn’t just want you to be his friend. He might be playing along, but if he really knew this whole time and kept coming back anyway, he wants you as his mate. Romantically.”
She went on, “And if you want to play roommates, and pretend otherwise, that’s totally fine. You know I’ll support you. But as someone who knows dragons, knows you, and knows Eli, that’s what I think.” She let out a long breath and sat back against her seat. “Rant over.”
“I appreciate you trying to look out for me,” I said honestly.
My voice was quieter than it had been.
“You’ll consider it?” she asked.
“I will.” I didn’t want to, but what choice did I have?
Randa didn’t stick her neck out if she wasn’t sure about something. She went with the flow as much as humanly and supernaturally possible.
She squeezed my hand, and after another minute went by, we finally got out. “Don’t tell Jasper what I said,” she whispered. “He keeps telling me not to get involved.”
I scowled. “Men.”
She gave me a sheepish smile. “He just believes in waiting until you have the full story to speak up. He was worried I’d put a wedge between you guys without reason. But I would’ve felt horrible if I didn’t tell you my theory and it ended up blindsiding you.”
“Thank you.” I put an arm around her back, giving her a quick hug, and she did the same.
When we went back inside Eli’s cabin, he and Jasper were playing a video game—and sure enough, all the cupcakes were gone.
It was nice to have someone enjoy my desserts, though. It made me feel good.
It had been too long since I cooked for someone other than myself. And Eli, if you counted the spaghetti that one time.
Randa dug a board game out of one of Eli’s closets, and the guys shut off the TV. I didn’t bring up what she’d told me, but I thought about it.
I thought about it a lot.
While I had fun with our game night, I couldn’t help but notice how often Eli looked at me. Every time he grinned, his gaze went right back to me.
And every time it did, my stomach got just a little bit tighter.
What if Randa was right?
I wasn’t sure I could handle that.