Page 77 of Burned

“We’re nudists,” Arson says, making Draydon chuckle.

“We could have dinner,” Lake offers, his expression tentative as he glances around at us. “Get to know each other.”

I nod. “You can meet my boyfriend’s family.”

My dad’s face lights up in a way I’ve never seen. “You have a boyfriend? When did this happen?”

“Recently,” I manage as my throat clogs with emotion. “This is Lord Drake. My dad, Njord Havaror.”

“Pleasure,” Lord says, even though his voice is guarded.

“No, the pleasure is mine. Sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”

“Dinner would be great,” Digby says. “I’m starving for some reason. I feel so empty.”

My dad gets to his feet. “What kind of accident was it?”

“Car.”

“Plane.”

“Hunting.”

“Wild animal attack.”Several people speak at once, talking over each other.

Lord coughs to cover a laugh. “We’re not sure. We found you in the woods and brought you here.”

My dad nods, averting his eyes from my mate’s nudity. “Thank you. Everything is hazy, but at least we’re alive and well. Even though… I can’t quite recall what I was doing before I woke up. Blank slate.” He frowns. “Actually, everything feels a little hazy, like I’ve just woken from a very long dream I can’t recall.”

It worked. It actually fucking worked.

“It’s probably temporary,” Dempsey says. “Bouts of amnesia are common after trauma. All you need is a good meal and a good night’s rest. Then we’ll get you home.”

“Where is home?” Digby asks as he follows the mates toward Lord’s house.

“Do we have a house?” My dad’s voice trails off. All I hear is Lake’s chipper voice as he plants the idea convincingly that they’re barley farmers in Norway.

Works for me.

I turn to Lord, cupping his face in my hands. “Are you okay?”

“I have my mate in my arms, my family is safe, and the threat is extinguished. I’ve never been better, treasure. All I need is right here.”

“Do we really get to have this?”

He nods as his eyes shift and his dragon peers out at me. “For the rest of our very long lives.”

Chapter

Twenty-Three

LORD

There was a time a few hundred years ago when Arson pissed off a powerful mage and she locked all five of us in a cage made of steel bars that were reinforced to be fireproof and unbreakable even by dragons. For fifty years the five of us shared a hundred square feet of space and shat in a shared bucket until I managed to convince the mage that my idiot brother had learned his lesson and none of us would cause her any trouble again.

Dinner with Alrick’s family feels longer than those fifty years. Not because they aren’t perfectly nice now, but because I’m dying to get my mate alone.

Xanthis’s cleansing seems to have worked perfectly, and they were extremely relieved when we all put clothes on before dinner. Lake distracted them while Montrose lifted their swords off of them, including Alrick’s, and I had the pleasure of using my fire to melt the offending weapons into a harmless pile of scrap metal, much to my mate’s delight.

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