Page 45 of The Dragon's Stone Hearted Mate
“I’m stuck not going to the place dead people are supposed to. I talked to the elves, and they said they believe I can go to Earthside. So, if you want me haunting your house, I’ll go.”
“Maybe not until after Mori cleanses it. I don’t want that negativity affecting you.”
“You’re so protective. It’s cute in an old man way,” Cutter laughed.
“Old? Am I old to you?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “I meant it in a way that means I’m not hitting on you and that I appreciate you wanting me to be safe. Safe is a hard thing for me. Oh! Look at me being all dead and rude!” he laughed, picking up the marshmallow bag and offering it to me. I took one out and found a stick.
As I watched the fire, I wondered if being here to help others was enough to make the chaos of life worth it. Maybe that was the only thing worth it. At least for me. Not everyone started out with a wing up like Torvan and I had and it didn’t seem right not to pitch in where I could. It wasn’t always financial support people needed. Sometimes, they just needed you to roast marshmallows and agree that they could have a scratching wall in the bedroom at the house you agreed to let them haunt.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rho
Earthside customs cracked me up. Everyone seemed to think that the alphas were in charge of everything but omegas would always be the keepers of the hearth. And as such, I told Morvan he wasn’t stepping a single taloned toe back into his childhood home until Mori, Crilus, and me made it habitable again. The house was a beautiful old dragon brick stone but the energy was thick and gooey, and I didn’t want it all draping itself all over my dragon again. So, the three of us set to work. It took two weeks to clean the place from top to bottom and for Mori and Crilus to cleanse the place of all of the bitterness that resided in energy form within the walls. Morvan offered to pay the guys for helping us, but he might as well have gouged them in the eyes for how well they took that. I reminded Mori that he was trying to start a business but apparently, he wasn’t starting it yet and his carrier would beat him around the knees with a broom if he charged for spiritual cleansing.
“I’m paid in information,” he teased me as we wiped down the downstairs hall that held the most gooey-uck energy. It was where Torvan’s bedroom had been. We sealed it up for now, locking in the energy but leaving it alone in case the day came where Morvan wanted to revisit the space his brother had called home.
“Info, huh?” I blinked at him.
“Yeah, you’ve told me all about being a gargoyle while we worked. That’ll probably come in handy someday. Besides, I’m stuck in London because of the Postcard Men. Fuckers won’t tell me what’s up but apparently, I’m needed here. Maybe this was why.”
“Maybe,” I shrugged. “Morvan’s still willing to pay you, though.”
“It doesn’t feel right to take his money. He’s lost his brother and who he thought his brother was. That’s a lot to lose and you all are family. Crilus has claimed the triplets in one way or another. He’s my cousin. That makes us family. Just make sure I’m invited to the mating feast. Preston too. He keeps complaining about the London food. He’s cooking up a couple of pot roasts tonight because he’s starving,” Mori chuckled.
“Well, we can’t have a bear starve on our watch and of course you’re invited to whatever feasts we have. Cutter will be there too.”
“Poor Cutter,” Mori frowned. “As a kid I had nightmares about being stuck like he is.”
“I think he enjoys some parts of it. Mostly the all you can eat parts of it,” I said. “It’s not an ideal place for anyone but he’s making the most of it.”
“Hey! What’s that?” he asked, setting his towel down on a nearby table.
“What’s what?” I shot back at him and looked down the hall.
“No,” he shook his head. “What’s that yellow thing on the back of your hand.”
I glanced down at my hand holding the towel and found nothing. Then at the other one and my heart skipped over itself. Most of our previous children had hatched from eggs but occasionally one was born the way all gargoyles are brought into this world: by stone.
I dropped the towel and put one hand over the other.
“Are you okay?” Mori asked.
I opened my mouth to say I’d never been seen in public in this condition but then remembered Mori was a shifter and not one who had spent a lifetime being my lover. He didn’t know the grape-sized stone growing on the back of my hand was a baby.
“Yeah. Umm… I think I need to go home. Shit! I don’t vroom—Drive?” I’d forgotten the word for operating one of the modern metal travel boxes.
“I can take you home. Do you need help?”
“Um…. Your dads are midwives, right?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “They deliver a lot of babies.”
“Ummm… This is pregnant,” I said, nodded at my hand that was still covered by the other. “I need to go home. It’s not great to be out and about. It can fall off. It will fall off when it’s ready and I don’t want anyone --- It’s not you. You wouldn’t step on it on purpose or Crilus but---”
“Mate?”Morvan’s voice cut into my thoughts.
