Page 9 of Unhaunt Me

“No, I’m going to tell the council to give you more time off than normal. If you two have all this shit to work out, you still deserve time for a mating moon.”

“Hard to work stuff out when he won’t tell me anything.”

“The claiming vows will do that part,” Roary shrugged as I turned away from the calendar. “Everyone reacts differently when they meet their mate. It’s always weird. When I first met Breezie I was one million percent convinced she was going to be a batty dictator like my mother and I’d have to sneak out in the middle of the night and move to Starscale 2 and become a gladiator.”

“That’s trauma,” I frowned at them.

“That’s my mother for you,” they shrugged. “Still, it’s a weird fucking reaction. I’d transitioned decades before and here was this beautiful woman who I was sure was going to be the death of me if she couldn’t see me.”

“She did, though,” I reminded them.

“Of course, she did. She’s my true-mate. That’s how I know tall, hot, and broody will come around too. For all you know his mother was like mine or his dad or uncle or someone. Maybe an ex. Maybe --- maybe anything, Trit. Really. Go home. Get ready for the ball. Don’t lose your slipper or anything and it’ll be okay. If it doesn’t go one hundred percent your way tonight you’re not going to turn into a pumpkin.”

“No. I’m gonna melt like an ice cube.”

“Well, at least then, someone might lick you,” they teased.”

“Fuck you.”

“Not me, friend,” they shook their head. “I’m mated off. Happily mated off.”

Chapter Five

Casimir

“Why did you ask him to the ball if you didn’t want to go?” Izora asked as I tied the mask behind my head. It was as black as the night sky back home and gave me a bird beak.

“Because he obviously wanted to. It was all over him.”

“The flight link,” Izora nodded. “Sometimes that’s mated life. You go to parties that seem sort of stupid and sometimes they are but it’s not as stupid if you’re there with someone you like.”

“What parties does Nycto make you go to?”

“Are you forgetting beetle season?” Izora arched a brow in the mirror. “He had me out there with wild dragons hunting down beetles. I thought they were meant to eat or something. No, we had to put them in baskets and fly them north so they survived the fall and winter. I’m still not sure how that works but I almost ate one and they’re not food apparently. But I’ll go again next year and the year after that and the next one if he wants me to.”

“I’m going to the damn thing, aren’t I?” I snapped and Izora frowned at me.

“Don’t do that. Don’t give that look. Makes my tail itch.”

“Is this about the ball? I can’t help but notice that you’re here and Tritus isn’t.”

“He drew the short straw on this one,” I shrugged.

“That’s up to him to decide about,” Izora said. “Maybe he did. Maybe whatever you think is so dark and mysterious is that dark and mysterious. Maybe it’s too much for him. Maybe he---”

“It’s none of his business and that’s the problem. It’s no one’s business.”

“Then don’t tell him.”

I gave him a dirty look in the mirror but he shrugged it off.

“I’ve seen enough of those as a healer that they don’t bother me. Don’t tell him. Let the claiming vows do it.”

My spine stiffened at the mention of that particular part of meeting my true-mate. I wasn’t a prude. Never been a prude. Had a reserved period after everything happened but never a prude. I’d been around enough to knock up Melon and then have a few other playmates while she nested with Kelp. If it were just sex and mating, he wanted, I’d give it to him.

“Are you worried about having too many kids at once?” Izora asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “Hey. Let’s not talk about this anymore, okay? Can you do me a favor and make a reason to video call Melon tonight? Just get eyes on the egg, alright? I know Castor will be home but just---”

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