Page 21 of The Dragon's Stormwoven Bond

It had been years since I had been invested in them at all. I rarely had even kept up enough to know where the strong teams were from. But now I found myself reading about them, watching the footage, talking with the other coaches.

Being back here soothed both my beast and me. It was great to feel like a member of the clan again. I hadn’t realized just how outside of it I had felt these past few years. A “few” being a hundred or so. Traveling and experiencing new things had been fun, but there was something about being back home.

But today, after the night that I had with my mate, work was the last thing on my mind. How could it be. He was and always would be my priority. Fate gave me such a precious gift, and I planned to make sure he felt that way every day, current blunder aside.

But that didn’t mean I could be a slacker. I should be focusing on what my practice schedule was going to be, how I would coach my team through the maneuvers they needed, or even out practicing those maneuvers on my own.

Instead, I stared off into space. My computer had long since gone dark from not being used. It hadn’t been intentional. The attempt was there, but memories kept coming back, memories I wished were nightmares and not real.

Every time I blinked, I saw the look of horror and hurt on my mate’s face when I returned home from dinner with his parents. I would never forget it. It was like I broke him into pieces. I’d never forgive myself. It might not have been my intention to be around that omega, but even at the time I knew better.

A knock on my desk—not the door, my actual desk—broke me from my thoughts. I’d completely missed the door opening, the footsteps coming closer, and the alpha scent in the air. I was worse of a mess than I thought.

I looked up to find Commander Emmen standing there with a raised brow and a look of amusement. I don’t know what he thought I was so pensive about, but it wasn’t the horror that had been going though me, that was for sure.

“Commander,” I said. “Sorry. I was lost in thought.”

“I see that,” he said. He pulled up a chair, turning it backwards so he could straddle it. I had a feeling in that moment I was talking with my longtime friend and not my boss, which was good. I was being a shitty employee now.

“Everything going all right with work?” he asked.

I nodded. If you didn’t take into consideration today, it wasn’t a lie. “I love it. I’ve been really enjoying it.”

“Good. I’ve heard nothing but good things.”

That was nice to hear. I felt like I was making some nice connections with the team, but there was always a learning curve and adjustment period. A team was just as much about the relationships as it was the skill. Communication and trust were key.

“And your mate?” And here it was.

“He’s great. He loves his job. I love being here with him.” That wasn’t at all what he was getting at. I’d bet money on it, but I wasn’t about to have a therapy session with my boss over how to fix what I messed up.

“So it’s that other thing, then, that’s weighing on your mind.” Emmen narrowed his eyes at me, asking without words what I was going to do about this situation.

I nodded. It was one thing to avoid talking about something, quite another to lie.

“If by other thing you that my oldest friend is also my father-in-law and does not know that I am mated to his son? Then yes, it’s that other thing.” It sounded awful when spoken out loud, on many levels.

“I thought it might be. I didn’t expect you two to go this long without telling him.” He wasn’t alone in that. But somehow one day turned into the current fiasco. “Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t heard by now.”

“I know.” Gossip ran quickly around here. If he wasn’t so old-school, it would be almost guaranteed that he’d have seen it on his computer.

“We’ve been able to avoid the conversation, but that won’t last much longer. We have to tell him.”

“No shit.” He shook his head.

I saw that he wasn’t going to pull any punches, and that was good. I needed it.

“How do I tell him?” I asked. If it were anyone else, it would be easy. But we had centuries of history. He wasn’t an acquaintance I knew in passing. “How would you want to hear the news?

Emmen snorted. “I’m just as old as you and have never been mated before, most certainly never had a clutch. I can’t even imagine what fatherhood feels like, let alone what having grown, mated kids will feel like.”

If he thought he was helping, he was wrong.

“We’re dragons. We speak with our senses most of the time. You don’t have to say the words at all. You just show up to his house with your mate.”

I sighed. That wouldn’t end well. “I know, I know. But we’ve hid it for so long now. Watch him burn the curtains down on accident.” He had more control than that… probably.

“Hardly. He’s not going to be mad. I mean, he might be mad that you didn’t tell him, but he’s a dragon just like the rest of us. He’s going to be excited that he has a son who found his mate so young in life. Even dragons our age wish for that sort of thing.” There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

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