Page 57 of The Ruby Dragon's Unconventional Mate

Lachlan shook his head. “No, not long at all. When we—Bryant and I—were breaking off from living in our parents’ home. Of course. The Keeper of the Keys that we had stayed with our parents and, so, when Ama showed up, no one questioned it.”

So what if she hadn’t been a Keeper at all? “Well?—”

“No.” Bryant stared at him, and Lars held his gaze right back. “There will be no Keeper of the Keys in my home, around my child. Do you understand?”

Lars tilted his head, his lips tightening. “I understand that you have a position. I also understand that I might have a position as well, and that we can discuss it like adults. Is that clear?”

“Oh, that’s very nice,” Lachlan said as they stared at one another. “He needs someone that will stand up to him.”

“You are not helping,” Bryant snapped, and Lachlan shrugged.

“There have been Keepers of the Keys in our society for millennia,” Lachlan stated. “And for one bad apple, one mistake, one error. You’re going to deny your family an honor that is bestowed on so few?—”

“You almost died!”

“I didn’t die!” Lachlan’s wings flared. “Am I a little cracked? Absolutely. But I’m not dead, and I’m a guardian!”

The roaring was souring his cheesecake and hurting his head. “We don’t have to fight, guys. Not right now. This is supposed to be a celebration. Should a Keeper of the Keys appear, then we’ll talk about it. No matter what, they will be no one that Simon or Celeste don’t know, fair enough? Can we talk about it later?”

Bryant growled, and Lars made it a point to meet that energy with calmness. He understood why Bryant was scared. There were many reasons to be scared, but he also knew what he knew. Simon had been with his family for as long as he could remember, and if Simon said that a person was safe, then Lars would believe him.

Easy as that.

Finally, Bryant sighed. “You’re probably right, and I’m probably being an asshole. We’ll talk about it when it happens. We’ll talk about it. Fair?”

“Yes. We’re mated. We’ll figure it out together.”

Lachlan came up and gave him another hug. “You’re an amazing, wondrous dragon. I’m so glad to welcome you to our family. I can’t wait for Mother and Father to meet you. They’re going to love you.”

Bryant nodded, beginning to relax. “I think so, too. I thought perhaps we could invite them to come out this summer just to spend a week or two, enjoy our wing.”

“Oh, they can stay here!” Lachlan actually bounced a little bit. “There’s plenty of room. We’ll have picnics, cookouts, longwalks. I think it’ll be fun.” Lachlan winked at him. “My parents are, believe it or not, very charming people and quite fun.”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all.” Both Bryant and Lachlan were, when they were at their best, absolutely irresistible. “I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

“Excellent.” Lachlan stole a bite of cheesecake. “So, we’ll pack up all of Bryant’s things, and we’ll ship them over to you. Then you can find places for them in your house, and I will build the most wonderful child-friendly space ever for all of my nieces and nephews.”

“Is it going to be like a giant bouncy castle come to life?” Bryant muttered under his breath.

“Poor baby, you’re moving from a bouncy castle to a fairy-tale cottage. Whatever will you do?” Lars blew Bryant a kiss.

Bryant gave him a toothy smile. “Well, I will love on you everywhere, in every room of the house. I can’t wait.”

His cheeks flushed hot, and his heart started hammering, so Lars just nibbled on another bite of cheesecake. Because what else did a guy do when his mate made an announcement like that in front of his brother?

Lachlan laughed. “I like that. You really are good for him, Lars. He laughs again now.”

Bryant made an exaggerated face, grimacing wryly. “Why doesn’t anybody ever say that about me? That I’m good for Lars?”

“Oh, they do,” Lars told them. “Logan says that all the time. He says I need to be challenged, and that I needed to understand that it was okay for me to be who I am. So I guess we’re even.”

Lachlan clapped them both on the back. “See I knew you were going to work this out. Now, I need real food. Are you okay with your cheesecake, Lars?”

Lars pondered that. “Let me see where we are when I smell the food after it’s been heated up.”

“Fair enough. I don’t want you to be sick.”

“No, no sicky for my omega.” Bryant finally came to him and put an arm around him. And he felt immediately better. He kept forgetting that they were still forging their mate bond, and that sometimes they just needed to touch in order to understand each other. Words could be so unforgiving and weird, and tones and faces were hard to read, but when they touched, he could feel Bryant’s energy. He could feel how Bryant wanted to keep him safe and how worried he was about all the things he couldn’t control.

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