Page 16 of These Little Heirs
“No,” I shook my head. “One of two things happened. Either he planned to send a guard against everyone’s wishes the whole time and thus he sent you because he knew you could be that guard or he never planned to send a guard – which is very unlikely knowing who he is – and he used what we expected ofhim to get his way by sending you as my mate and as a guard. You’re trained to be a guard.”
The word tasted sour on my tongue. Killing someone for kidnapping a kid or planning to kill your family was a legal grey area. It mostly fell under laws concerning self-defense and natural instincts. The law concluded that most adults had a drive to protect children – any child – from harm. It also concluded that most alphas probably have that urge with omegas too and some people have it with anyone minding their own business and suddenly finding themselves in danger. Mostly the law didn’t give a flying fuck about your safety once you put someone else in danger or harmed them.
“You don’t smell happy about that.”
“My line of work is complicated,” I shrugged.
“My misunderstood dragon,” Ciro sighed.
“Stop that. I’m not sure if you’re trying to be patronizing or turn me on,” I snapped.
“I’m not being patronizing. I meant what I said back in the lift. If rut is anything like heat, it’s hell if you can’t get your needs met. It’s also not fun to get arrested or have to bail someone else out and I’d know that too. I’ve been arrested for bar fights and punching out idiots and once for stealing a car but that was a misunderstanding, and the guards found out when it blew up while they were trying to arrest me. I saved that idiot by stealing his car because I heard it ticking.”
“That’s hot,” I grinned and considered stopping to kiss him but at this rate I’d never get him fed.
“And I do think you’re misunderstood. You’re holding so much power. It doesn’t matter which order you were born in. You’re the triplet who sees how much power the three of you hold. You’re holding it and it’s trembling in your hands and you want to shape it into something fierce and good and they all see you as a rebellious heir. It’s bullshit really. Some of the guardsthink so too. Why do you think they only caught one of them at the factories? Not all guards are willing to put in the effort to arrest people for planting fucking flowers. We think it’s a waste of our effort. Whoever arrested your blonde, golden retriever of a friend is never going to hear the end of it.”
“Indigo calls him a golden retriever too.”
“He’s always cheerful and polite. Not many dragons can say that,” Ciro shrugged. “Indigo’s going to get him out, right?”
“Yeah. He’ll be home soon. Indigo that is. Morvan probably will go to his own house and all that,” I said.
“Losing brain cells again, huh?” Ciro laughed and playfully bumped me with his shoulder.
“Indigo’s been really quiet.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to hear us fuck. I mean if I had a brother, I wouldn’t want to hear him get head,” Ciro shrugged.
“No, that’s not it. We’ve shared partners before and before you ask, no one expects you to do that.”
“The cuddling is ---?”
“Fine if you want to. They’re family. They’re annoying sometimes and maybe so am I, but they’re family. We’re probably strange from the outside but you’re not expected to participate in anything. You get as much privacy as you like. I know it’s a joke that gets tossed around that the three of us don’t have boundaries but we do and they get enforced.”
“You got us kicked out of the nest. I know you have boundaries and I had to cuddle Cobalt’s leg because his chest was taken,” Ciro laughed and for a second everything inside me ached. He should be able to be held whenever he wanted to.
“Don’t smell so sad about it. Honestly, I was just glad to be included. Tigers are pretty solitary. Lions live in groups. So while I’m fine being independent and can make it on my own it doesn’t mean I want to be on my own.”
“You’re not on your own anymore. Hell, once you became a guard you weren’t on your own but now you’re really not. I know sometimes families have trouble integrating new mates into the group but I don’t think the three of us have that problem. So, be you and be comfortable. It’s like insta love but with a group and not just me.”
“You really annoyed me earlier,” he said as we took the steps up to the porch. What had taken us so long to get here? We kept stopping to hug, kiss, and just hold onto each other. “With the whole stealing my underwear thing? For a minute, I thought you knew and were fucking with me. Though, they are my favorite. So I am going to need them back.”
I stole another kiss before leading him inside and fishing out his underwear with my toes from their hiding spot under the sofa. His whole face turned a glorious shade of crimson when I held them up to him. He snatched them and clutched them to his chest like a man who hadn’t nearly swallowed my dick a few minutes ago.
“You did throw them at me,” I laughed.
“I know but you were so worked up about your shirt and my being here and you smelled so good and --- “
“You lost your brain cells. How about I give you some back and we’ll---”
Wingbeats outside drew my attention and Ciro scrunched up his underwear into an even smaller ball as if Indigo would dash inside just to see their crumpled edges.
“Do you know which one is my room?” I asked.
“I can sniff it out,” he nodded.
“Wait for me there. I have to check in with Indigo ---”
