by Joyee Flynn
“So why do you look so upset?” Dante asked as he stared up at his man, feeling confused.
“Because once again, I’ve screwed up.”
“By healing me faster?” Dante replied, his eyes going wide before bursting out laughing. “Oh yeah, you bastard! I wanted these bruises, stitches, and cast forever.”
“Well, no, I mean that’s not what I was talking about, exactly,” Austin sputtered, shaking his head. “I’m glad you’re healing faster, but it means we’re bound already and you are immortal without me ever having asked you.”
“You didn’t do it on purpose, Austin,” he said gently as he reached up and ran his thumb over the dragon’s bottom lip. “And I would have said yes anyways. You need to forgive yourself as much as I do for some of this crap. We need to live for the now and the future, not focus on the past.”
“Amen to that.” Kelley chuckled from the doorway. “No more issues, no more drama, just happy, happy healthy people who give me lots of hugs.”
“Whatever you say, love.” Austin snickered and rolled his eyes. Then he got serious after everyone had a good laugh. “Where’s the doc?”
“He’s out of state with an issue,” she said as she came over to the bed. It was then he noticed that she had a medical bag with her. “But it seems you forgot I was a nursing student in a previous life.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t finish,” Austin hissed as she moved Dante onto his stomach. “You don’t know what he could need.”
“Austin Lung, do you really think I’d ever do anything to hurt him?”
“No, of course not, but—”
“But my ass,” she said and cuffed him upside the head. “I can tell just by looking at him that all Dante needs is the stitches to come out. They’re starting to scab over and need that taken off. We’re going to soak him in a hot bath and give him his pain pills to make sure he doesn’t feel a thing. Then I’m going to take them out and treat the scabs. This is easy peasy. In a few days we’ll ask the doc about the cast.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“I never did, if anyone cares about my opinion,” Dante said as he glanced up from Austin’s lap.
“Thank you, sweets,” Kelley said with a wide smile and kissed his forehead.
“Yeah, you feed us and are the boss of this house,” Garreck said with a giggle. “You are the last person I want to piss off!”
“Pretty much.” Dante snickered and got cuffed upside the head as well.
“Garreck, put something besides your mouth to use and go draw him a bath, no bubbles.”
“If you only knew what I did with my mouth before you got here,” Garreck muttered as he left the room.
“Oh my god, he did not just say that!” she exclaimed then glanced down to see the sheet Austin had pulled over Dante’s naked ass. “I so didn’t even pay attention to the fact you were naked.”
“You were too focused on the problem,” Dante said, giving her an out. “How about I get cleaned up, take my pills, and we’ll get you back up here to perform surgery when we’re done?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Kelley snickered and slid off the bed. “And after saying something so sweet in my defense, I think someone should get whatever he wants for dinner tonight. So what’s it going to be, Dante?”
“Does it have to be something you made?”
“You don’t like my cooking?” she asked, a pained expression crossing her face.
“No! No, Kelley that’s not what I meant,” he answered quickly as he pulled the sheet around him and scrambled off the bed. “I love your cooking. Your lasagna might be the most heavenly thing I’ve ever eaten. I just think if you’re performing surgery, you shouldn’t have to turn around and cook, too!”
“Oh,” Kelley replied, the sadness leaving her features and being replaced with a smile. “That’s much better than what I thought you meant.”
“I vote for Vietnamese food. What do you think?” he asked, giving her a half hug. “I had this grilled duck lo mien thing once that was to die for. I have no idea where it was from, but there’s gotta be a place around here, right?”
“I actually know the place you’re talking about,” she said with a wink. He laughed and kissed her cheek as she got everyone’s orders. Actually, she and Austin knew what they wanted, but Dante and Garreck didn’t know the menu, so they basically told her what they wouldn’t eat.
After she left, his mates helped him into a hot bath and made sure to clean his back. Garreck also gave him his pain meds and some water. When that was all done, Austin carried him back to bed and laid him face down on some towels. He placed a sheet over Dante and called for Kelley.
“I never thought I’d be in bed naked with a woman.” Dante giggled, the drugs long since having taken effect. “You’re the prettiest woman I’ve ever met, so no offense, Kelley. But I have no interest in girly bits.”
“None taken, you little twink.” She chuckled and moved to the side of him. “You’re hot, but you’re not my type either. I like my men to be able to grow some facial hair at least.”
“Ouch,” he gasped playfully, feigning hurt. “My poor pride.”
“I prefer hot twinks without facial hair,” Austin said from the other side of him.
They all chitchatted for a while as Kelley got to work. Good to her word, Dante never felt any pain. Every so often, he’d feel some weird pulling on his back and maybe some pressure, but it never hurt.
When it was all over, the food was just arriving. Dante threw on some clothes, glad that the stitches were gone and everything was healing nicely. Now if only he could get rid of this stupid cast and sling, his life could be complete.
As they headed down to the kitchen, Dante realized something. His life was complete, stupid cast or not. He had Garreck, who loved him, and that had been all Dante had ever wanted. But as fate would have it, he got another wonderful man in his life and a woman he was starting to love like a sister. Dante had a family for the first time in his life. It didn’t get much better than that in his opinion.
Chapter 9
The next few weeks were the happiest of Garreck’s life. Dante was better, mentally and physically. He’d been so glad when he saw how widely Dante had smiled when the cast had come off. It was like as soon as that constant reminder was gone, Dante had transformed into a happy carefree man.
And Garreck could read now. Sure, it wasn’t A Tale of Two Cities he was reading or something, but it was reading nonetheless. Last night he’d read Beauty and the Beast to the babies and his mates. The entire time Austin kissed their now-growing stomachs as Garreck had read. It was amazing how loving and gentle their big, badass mate was when it came to them or the children growing inside of them.
Their sex life had become off-the-charts hot. Garreck swore he’d been taken in every position possible in every room of the house, and he couldn’t be more thrilled. And while they started off as two men wanting him, they were now a family who all loved each other equally. Sure, Dante would always be his first love and the man who’d protected him all those years. But he loved Austin just as much.
It amazed him how he had no problem telling Austin when he realized that he was in love with the man. But when Dante and Austin had finally admitted it to each other, Garreck had bawled like a baby. To him, it was the last step in making them a true three-way, loving relationship. Now the circle was complete.
And they had decided to call one of the babies Todd after the man who had brought them together. If not for the sheriff’s determination to break the sex-slave ring, they would never have found each other. They were still working on names for their other baby, though. There was a running list that they liked from one of the baby books. Of course there was a list of the worst names they’d ever heard for shits and giggles.
They’d also started converting the room next to Austin’s master suite into a nursery. Austin had called in some contractors to put in a connecting door between the rooms. Their worrisome mate ha
d decided there had to be one because if there was a problem, they’d lose time racing out into the hall and then into the next room instead of just walking through the connecting door.
Garreck and Dante had cracked up at the idea that a connecting door was necessity. But if it eased their mate’s mind, they were more than willing to concede. Since Austin had left so many other decisions about the nursery up to them, a door was a small thing they could give him.
The nursery itself was awesome. Austin had ordered the most gorgeous, expensive baby furniture sets. And while Garreck had been thrilled they didn’t have to worry about putting it together, he cringed when he saw the price tag. Though his mate had money, they didn’t always have to spend so much of it.
“Yeah, good luck telling Austin he’s spending too much money on his children and his mates.” Dante had snickered when Garreck had brought it up. The man was right. Austin doted on them constantly. But now that Garreck understood it wasn’t about being a pampered pet, he was cool with it.
To Austin, it was his way of making up for the fact that he’d never courted them before they mated. Their dragon sent flowers, chocolates, and all sorts of goodies for them. And the days there weren’t deliveries, Austin normally brought some small gift home with him when he was out at the office. It was always something to spoil them or for the babies. The man was nuts about buying baby clothes.
It had taken them a while, but at least now he was starting to buy clothes for when the babies got bigger. At first he was constantly getting everything in newborn size. But after they had sat him down with Kelley’s help and had an intervention, Austin had been better.
They just had to explain to him that he now had gotten so many clothes for the babies that they would never be able to wear them all before it was time for the next size. Plus, the babies really could wear the outfits more than once. Now Austin had moved on to larger sizes. And just when Garreck thought their mate would chill out, they got more in the mail.
He actually special-ordered shirts in several sizes that had I love my daddies written on them. It had been one of the cutest things their sweet mate had done, and none of them had the heart to lecture Austin.
Garreck had just finished his morning assignment that Kelley had structured for him when his stomach started growling. God, could the baby inside of him eat. He swore he was going to be the size of a whale at the end of the four-and-a-half to five-month pregnancy.
Dante was fiddling around with the computer in Austin’s office while their dragon was at work. They had learned after Dante had gotten better that the man was a whiz when it came to almost anything electronic. Garreck had played on Austin’s laptop a bit and would keep doing it to learn more about what’s out there in the real world. But Dante was addicted.
He shook his head and chuckled as he thought about the conversation Austin and Dante had had last night. Kelley and Garreck had just stared at each other as the two men went on about macros and buried equations in some type of coding. As they rambled on, he’d gotten a chance to talk to Kelley some more about what she had learned from the dragon doctor about giving birth. While Garreck couldn’t fully read the pregnancy books they’d gotten, he wanted to be prepared.
As he reached the kitchen and went to push open the swinging door he froze at the sound of a strange man’s voice.
“You’re not Austin’s mate,” the man growled. “He’s gay, you stupid bitch. Where is he?”
“I am his mate, Peter,” Kelley replied with a shaky voice. Damn that woman! She was lying to a crazed man to help protect them. “Austin’s at the office. You know how he is, work, work, work, work. It gets old really.”
“Bullshit,” Peter hissed as Garreck pulled the cell phone out his pocket and wrote up a quick text for help. At that moment he was forever grateful that Austin had insisted he learn how to text and use the cell. “Austin said he had two mates. If you’re one of them, where is the other?”
“Wolf’s out running errands for Austin,” Kelley answered smoothly. “I can call them to come home if you want.”
“Do you think I’m that stupid?” Peter shrieked, and Garreck cringed when he heard a loud smack. That bastard hit Kelley! “You’ll alert them somehow that I’m here, and they’ll bring in the Calvary.”
“I’m his mate,” Garreck said loudly after he entered the room. He tried not to pay attention to the fact Kelley was holding her cheek and how pale she was. No, he needed to focus on the man holding the long knife and that had the gun tucked in the back of his pants. Peter whipped them around and held the knife to Kelley’s throat.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed and loosened his hold on Kelley. “A hot guy like my little dragon would never give some twerp like you a second look.”
“Oh really?” Garreck snickered and lifted his shirt. He knew it was stupid to egg the man on, but right then his only goal was to buy time and get that very sharp knife away from Kelley. Garreck turned to the side so Peter could see the pronounced baby bump he had. “I’m carrying Austin’s child. I am his mate.”
“He said no to me for some used bitch like you?” Peter snarled as he let go of Kelley. The second the man took a step towards him and away from her, Garreck took off. He raced out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Turning the knob, he yanked open the door and ran. Yes, it might not have been the smartest move to be out in the open with a crazy man chasing him.
But all he cared about was getting Peter away from Kelley and Dante. He needed to buy time until help arrived. And then he remembered that Tiny or Wolf would be at the guard station by the main gate. Since Peter had showed up the first time, Austin always had one of them on guard.
“Get the fuck over here you piece of shit,” Peter screamed behind him. Garreck didn’t even glance over his shoulder. He was too focused on getting to help. Unfortunately, when he got to the gate, he realized how bad things really were. Tiny was lying on the ground with so much blood it made Garreck’s knees go weak. The wound was in his head, and while Garreck knew that dragons were immortal, even a gunshot to the head had to kill them, right?
He didn’t have time to decide as he heard Peter getting closer. Garreck made a split-second decision and decided to circle back to the patio behind the house. Maybe he could get back into the kitchen that way and lock Peter out.
“Fuck,” he swore when he saw his plan backfiring. Peter had stopped running halfway between the house and the gate, watching him intently for Garreck’s next move.
“You’re not getting out of this alive, cunt,” Peter sneered as he stepped closer.
“Really? It’s obvious I’m male, and yet all your insults are for a woman,” Garreck said, rolling his eyes as he moved towards Peter. He needed to stay out of arm’s length distance, but if he could get close enough to then get around Peter, he’d have a chance. He might not be tall or useful in a fight, but Garreck could run, baby weight and all. “No wonder Austin doesn’t want you. You’re fucking dense, man.”
“He’ll want me when you’re dead.”
“Yeah, I can totally see Austin ignoring the fact that you killed his mates and friend and take you back. Totally sounds like him.”
“Who says he’ll think it was me? From what I hear, there’s a price on your head from your old employers. I just didn’t know if you were men or women or what you looked like. All I knew was my little dragon mated two pathetic ex-whores.”
“He’s not your anything, besides ex-boyfriend,” Garreck growled, tired of this man acting as if his mate belonged to Peter. Just as he got close enough to make a break around him, Peter lunged for him.
“No,” he heard someone roar as Garreck dove out of the way. He cringed when he felt someone cover him with his body and figured Peter was going to stab him. But then he heard Austin grunt. What the fuck?
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, my little dragon!” Peter cried out. Garreck started to panic then. Austin moved off of him, and he was finally able to roll over. His mate had a pinched face that told G
arreck he was in pain.
“I love you,” he said as he stood up and hugged Austin fiercely. “I knew if I distracted him long enough, you’d come save us.”
“I’ll always come for you, sweetheart,” Austin replied before sinking to his knees. Garreck helped ease him down, and it was then he saw the knife sticking out of Austin’s back.
“Where’s Tiny?” Wolf asked as he cuffed Peter with some type of extra-strong metal bands.
“Peter shot him,” Garreck answered, his eyes filling up with tears. He saw the pained expression over Wolf’s features and shook his head to answer the unasked question. Wolf threw back his head and roared, his voice sounding more dragon than human at the moment.
“Austin? Garreck?” Kelley yelled from the doorway.
“We need help,” he shouted back. “Tiny’s been shot in the head, and Austin’s been stabbed.”
“Call the King. He wants Peter,” Austin whispered, taking shallow, quick breaths. “Make sure they look at Tiny. You’d be surprised what we can heal from, sweetheart.”
“I hope so,” Garreck whispered as Kelley came racing towards them. “There was just so much blood.”
“Everything will work out, Garreck. I’ll never leave you and Dante, okay?”
“I know you won’t, big guy,” he replied gently as he leaned Austin against him.
“I’m going to pass out now. Kelley knows what to do. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Garreck cried as Austin went limp against him. Seconds later Kelley was there, and Garreck relayed what Austin had said.
“You stay with him. I know what to do,” she said firmly. He nodded as she pulled out her phone and started making calls. She raced over to the guard station as sirens sounded in the distance. Of course she called for help after he’d gone outside. The gates slid open for the ambulance came barreling through towards them.
