Page 3 of The Ruby Dragon's Unconventional Mate

“They want me to be an alpha, Logan. They all—all of them—want me to be an alpha.” And Logan knew it.

Logan crossed his arms and stared. “They want you to be a guardian. And you are. A good one.”

He shook his head. Logan just didn’t get it, because hewaswhat he was supposed to be. But Lars was an omega, and he had to hide it from the wing, and he wanted some cookies.

And a hug.

He really wanted a hug.

Logan reached out, fingers twining with his. “Does this work?”

“It’s something. I’ll take it.”

“Well, if you want a hug, come out from behind the desk, and you can have that too. And then you can come home with me, and we’ll ply you with food.”

He gave a watery chuckle. “No, I have to make an appointment with the assholes. But I’ll probably run into town and get a coffee and a cookie, anyway.”

“Sounds good, bro.” Logan squeezed his hand. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too. But I am still not happy. Got it?” He winked at his brother.

“Got it. Go get ’em, tiger.”

He rolled his eyes. “Rar.”

Chapter

Two

Bryant Markham wanted a coffee. Not a pod coffee, or even a homemade espresso drink. He wanted a professional espresso with real steamed milk.

Good thing there was an exceptional coffee house on the little business loop of Oro Escondido. He’d missed it when he’d headed home to care for his twin.

Oh, he might be used to a little more variety and all the modern conveniences, but he kind of liked Oro.

Even if not all of Oro liked him. Or Lachlan.

Bryant sighed. Lachlan was being a little…stubborn. He’d agree to share the job of platinum guardian with Lachlan, and they were going to be amazing at it, but Lachlan was hiding some.

That was one of the reasons they had agreed to come to Oro Escondido, after all. Lachlan was licking his wounds, and Bryant had come with him because where his twin went, so did he.

The fact that Lars McCallum was here complicated things unbearably.

He parked out on the street, noticing the bookstore was open. Often he came for coffee too early to get in there and buyanything, but he liked the owner, Amber, and he adored Teaball, her familiar.

Lachlan would love it here too, if he’d come out.

He was, honestly, refusing to come out. Which had made him a wee bit unpopular with a couple of the guardians. Mostly Lars, who’d been charged with their ‘training’.

That was a giant pain in the ass and awkward as hell.

Flighty and pale, too pretty for words—the dragon just made him want to bite something. Hard.

And he would bite Lars given the opportunity, but—well, it was one thing to chase a guardian omega from another wing.

It was another thing altogether to have a dalliance with one in the same wing.

If Lachlan hadn’t needed this, so badly, they never would have come here. He never would have hurt Lars.

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