Page 18 of Dragon Keeper
You are such a suck-up.
What? He’s my mate. I want to be able to make him whatever this is so that whenever he needs it, he can have some.
You have to admit, the house is amazing. Brayden looked absolutely tickled.I mean seriously, this place is wild.
Well, I’ve only spent real time in this room and the bedroom.
You dog. Like a horny granddad. Riley grinned wide, still staring out the window.Woof woof.
You boys have got to learn to be more quiet.
“What?” He looked at Tyr, confused.
“Everyone here does that, you know. Everyone.” Tyr came over, one hand barely stroking his arm. “That’s one of the things we learned from everyone who came from your side of the veil. Because you don’t have to be careful when you’re talking, you’re loud. And everybody can hear you. So just make sure you focus like when you’re talking to one brother, and you don’t want the other brother to hear you. If you’re talking to both of them, you have to focus just like that. Otherwise, you broadcast.” Tyrgrinned. “Justin taught me that word. Broadcast. Do you know Justin?”
Sloan shook his head. “I don’t think so. Does he, has he come up to the conservatory often?”
“Justin? Probably not. He is a baker. He makes all sorts of interesting foods too, and we do much business together. Trade. But he has sons. I believe you met Sebastian, the eldest. The kind alpha.”
“Oh, yeah.” There were two alpha children that he’d met. Teenagers, both of them. Sebastian was sweet and dear unless someone was hurt. Calm, sure of himself. Placid, like a deep ocean. His compatriot, cousin, uh… Sloan wasn’t sure how they were related, or even if they were, but the eldest girl, Ariel, she was not like a calm sea. She was like a forest fire. Wild and free and sharp and dangerous. But incredibly beautiful.
“So, this village isn’t very big, right? I mean comparatively.” He wanted to learn all the things.
“Um, I suppose that would depend on what you were comparing it to.” Tyr appeared a little confused. “It’s a good-sized village. It has all the things one might need. There are cities, of course. Huge, vast cities. And there are tiny hamlets. And medium towns. I would say we were more of a village than a town, but definitely much bigger than a hamlet. But the cities are enormous.”
“Do you like it?” Riley asked finally, looking over at Tyr. “The city?”
Tyr shook his head. “No, no, I don’t. I don’t see any need to go to the city. It’s too much, too big, too loud. And I think they smell terribly bad. And they really don’t have many bees. Ariel and Sebby say they might go to one for their collegiate studies. But I have no need to go.”
“All right, so I have a question then. What are the houses up on the mountain? Are they part of your village?” Riley finally turned to face them.
“No, but we are friendly, especially now that Cade has moved in between and he introduces us all to one another. My friend Cade mated with Poe, who is from your world, and they have built a house and have a family. Poe was hurt by the ones we fear. So was his daughter, and they came here. And now Cade, who is the head of the watch, lives in the house in between, so we’re connected. One of the houses up there is the Cuelebres, so you will see them.”
“Do you have a mayor?” Brayden waved a hand. “A leader?”
“We have an elder council. Poe told us all about a mayor, because he was a cowboy in the Old West.” Tyr grinned. “I don’t really know what that means, cowboy in the Old West, but I think it was a keeper of the beasts. Although he said he was also a keeper of a store at one point. A general type of shop. But I like the sound of cowboy and Old West, especially when Poe says it. It sounds very romantic. I think I might have been all right in the Old West.”
Goddess, his Tyr was so beautiful.
He’s a sweetheart, Brayden whispered to him.Genuinely a sweet guy. You’re going to eat him alive.
Stop it, I will not.
He’s kind of amazing. “Did you see the size of those bees? They’re the biggest things I’ve ever seen, and he just pets them. I swear I could hear the hives humming when we made love. Was that real?” he asked.
Tyr nodded. “Oh, yes, they’re part of us now. They are part of our family. We work with them, and they work with us. None of us can survive without the other.”
“Are they mean?” Riley asked. “They sure look like it. Look at the stingers.”
“If they sting you, they die.” Tyr shook his head. “Why would they hurt you unless you’re threatening them? Then of course they would hurt you because you’re doing something wrong. But it has to be something big enough that they’re willing to die to get it, though.”
“Wow.” Riley shook his head, eyes wide. “That’s intense, man. It’s really intense and it’s an amazing lesson.”
Tyr patted Sloan’s little brother’s shoulder. “It’s one of the best lessons that they teach us.”
“So, where are your parents?” Brayden asked, and Sloan grinned.
“I know this one. They live close to the sea. Near Tyr’s sister, who is mated to a merdragon and has merdragon babies.”
