Page 80 of The Ruby Dragon's Unconventional Mate

“Yeah.” Bryant knew that, because Lachlan had believed for so long that he was never going to recover, and that he’d lost his chance at that. But now? Now he was back to life, having faith that this wing would support him, no matter what he looked like. “Well, I want that for him too. You make me so happy. I want him to find his mate.”

“Me too.” Lars fed him a strawberry, fingers lingering on his lips.

“Mmmm.” He loved that, how free Lars had become with his touches, with his loving. And an impromptu picnic was just the thing. Lars was smiling again now, his body language much more relaxed and engaged.

Bryant was going to have to remember to just spend as much time with Lars as he could. And get Lars’s friends to come over. They’d all gotten busy with their own babies, he knew, but dammit, Lars had been there for them.

“Don’t get grumpy at the guys,” Lars said. “They’re not being mean.”

“No, but they could stand to be a wee bit nicer, too.” He still had a little beef with Dakota and Samuel over how they’d acted when he first re-arrived, and he struggled with letting it go. He would. Bryant liked them both a lot, and they were good friends to Lars. But he thought Lars needed them right now.

“They’re texting all the time.”

“Well, we should invite them over.” He winked, then popped a mini cheesecake into Lars’s mouth.

“Oh…” Lars’s eyes crossed. “Those are good. I mean, the sammies are yummy, but those are great.”

“I’ll leave those for you, then.” Bryant had a wee croissant. Flaky and delicious. Arthur was really a marvel at baking, andwhat he didn’t do, savory wise, Alban did. And he sent it over in trade.

They ate so damn well.

“We’ll have everyone over in a week or so. I’ve been letting Arthur really settle in before we inundate him with kids and alphas and such.”

“Sure, baby.” He simply leaned against Lars, holding his mate, offering strength and comfort. And love. So much love.

“I can feel it along our bond, Bryant.” Lars gave him a soft, happy smile. “I know we’ve had some ups and downs, but I think we’re really cooking with gas now, huh?”

“We are.” He really believed that. Bryant knew he was hard to live with. Lachlan had told him that all the time before the incident. He wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. And generally, he got it.

Lars was pretty damn stubborn, though. And they were going to butt heads.

But they were really working together to make things happen, and to overcome Bryant’s worries and Lars’s having to come out as an omega…

Yeah. He was happy as hell.

And had tiny sandwiches.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

Lars hummed, sorting books onto shelves. He needed to rearrange them all, and while Bryant had done most of the heavy lifting for him, putting them on a table so he could sort them, he needed to get this done.

Slippy and Andine played in and out of the stacks of books, always careful not to knock them over.

And he could hear Arthur in the kitchen, baking up a storm of cookies for something. Some bake sale or some such. There was bread, too, which made his mouth water.

He loved fresh bread with butter.

The whomp of dragons landing made him glance up, and Bryant came out of his office, eyebrows raised. “Are we expecting anyone?”

“Nope.” He put a hand on his belly. “Not even this one just yet.”

“Hmmm.” Bryant went to peer outside as Slippy chittered happily.

So it was clearly someone they knew.

Bryant chuckled, then opened the front door for a dozen or so dragons to troop through, carrying little ones or baskets of stuff.

---