Page 15 of Iced Heat

I waited for Sequin to shoot me a dirty look, but his eyes stayed on his sister and the tension fled his shoulders. He wanted the damn wedding. I wasn’t fond of big fancy events, but weddings were a once in a lifetime thing for mated pairs. If I could leave home, help stop a fascist overtake of the world I studied on, and move onto a world full of dragons I could get married in a fancy ceremony or ritual.

“How long?” Sequin asked.

“As long as you need. Dad might not be thrilled. Her parents will be less than thrilled but it’s not about them. It’s about us and them – our them. Him and Rosemary.”

“What if I said a year?” Sequin asked.

“That would mean it would probably be after you’re a daddy,” she said gently. “Unless you decide against kids.”

“We haven’t talked that far but it would probably be after that, yeah,” Sequin nodded, still leaning against me.

I did my best not to imagine his belly full of my baby or babies. Multiples ran in both of our families. Where would we even live? My vote would always be the Starscale World, but I had less to lose than him. My family included him, his brother, Liatris, Selt, and the baby. He had so many more people to consider.

“We’d travel while you did whatever you needed to and then come back a few months beforehand and get it all together. We could call and email or send smoke signals. Whatever worked. They’re right, everyone, that is. We probably do need time apart right now. Not too far though. Not emotionally anyway. Just space.”

“They are right,” Sequin said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Sorry I hated all your stuff.”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you I liked it. I shouldn’t have blamed it all on Rosemary. I think she kept trying to talk to you alone while you sewed to let you know but…. Well, we all know how you are about that room.”

“You never liked to sew,” Sequin pointed out.

“I still don’t,” she shook her head.

“How about you two take today and hang out? I’ll meet back up with you tonight,” I offered, wanting them to have time to say goodbye for now, even if it left me jittery all day. Besides, I needed to check on the guys I came with and took off on last night without warning.

“Are you sure?” Sequin asked, turning in my arms. “I mean…” he glanced down at my hard dick.

“It’s not going anywhere. I get to keep it,” I teased him and he blushed. “Like I said, take some time. Work things out and then we’ll figure out where we want to matingmoon. I’ll go whereveryou want. Besides, don’t you have to figure out how you’re gonna tell your dad and stuff about postponing the wedding?”

“I’ll take care of that part,” Daliah volunteered. “I think he might be relieved to go back to Starscale 1 for a while.”

“Probably,” Sequin nodded in agreement and then glanced back at me. “I want to hang out with her but only if you’re sure. It’s so hard not to touch you.”

“I know,” I said and leaned my forehead against his. “But I’ll be here and you’ll be here and then we can tell everyone else to fuck off while we do the same.”

Sequin smirked and blushed deeper.

“Alpha, if we’re gonna go our separate ways even for a few hours you’re gonna have to stop talking like that.”

“I’ll do my best but no promises,” I teased and stole a kiss before he pulled away.

Chapter Eight

Sequin

The next morning Xav and I woke back up at the Scale B&B house I stayed in before going home for Dad and Teddy’s return. I had worried a bit about how Xav’s icy side would do in the tropics, but he told me not to worry about it. It turned out that he was an all-seasons ice cube and didn’t melt away the moment our bare feet hit the sand. Once again, we landed too tired to do much more than to crawl into bed. Xav wasn’t a fan of the plane I chartered but flying all the way down here the old-fashioned way would’ve left me down for the count. Though, Xav spent most of the flight as an icy breeze confusing the other passengers, but then again, I was my sire’s son, and everyone expected me and my friends to be strange.

I woke up with my face nuzzled into his chest and all wrapped up in his arms. Everything inside me called out for him as my inner beast blinked two big draconic eyes framed by vulpine-esque eyelashes. Xav smelled so good. Even the smell of his purple-butted cigarettes was growing on me because it meant he was nearby. I kissed his chest because I couldn’t resist. Maybe the island was a bit on the warm side for him because he’d taken his shirt off before we crawled into bed last night. Little green scales marked his chest here and there. I fought off the urge to kiss every last one. Was it the warm breeze? The mating response? My oncoming heat? Maybe it was just him. Maybe Xav had always been the answer. He sorta solved the war of the scales between Daliah and me or at least nudged us in the right direction.

“It was all part of my evil plan to get you alone,” he murmured, still half-asleep after picking up my stray thoughts over oneflight link or another. I wasn’t sure if he was on the Moonscale flight link yet, but he would be as soon as we exchanged claiming vows.

“As soon as he knots us,”my dragon corrected.

It really was the same thing if you asked him.

“It is not. We’ve let plenty of guys knot us. That doesn’t mean we let them claim us,”my inner beast corrected me.

“What are you gonna do with me now that you have me all to yourself?” I asked Xav and ignored my inner beast’s ramblings. He could ramble about every knot he’d ever seen if you let him get revved up.

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