“Mine wants to pin Bridget down and smell her,” Bas said.
“Bridget, the Hawk Girl? That’s no surprise. I’ve never seen you goofy over a girl before.”
“She’s staying here with us.”
Apollo sat bolt upright. “What?! Since when?”
“Since you’ve been sulking in bed all day.” Bas caught him up on everything since he had seen him that morning, including that a dream monster was hunting Bridget.
“I swear, I have one bed day, and everything explodes without me,” Apollo complained and drank his tea. He was looking less sad and washed-out now that he’d had some gossip to fuel him. “And your dragon? How’s he taking things?”
Bas rubbed at his face. “It’s happy that she’s under our protection. That she’s close. She smells really good. No impulse to bite her, but it really wants to feed and fuss over her.”
“And you think that your dragon is separate from you?” Apollo cast his eyes to the angel painted above him. “Don’t be an idiot, Basset Bear. Your dragon knows you better than you do.”
Bas grunted. “Probably. I can’t follow his lead and tackle her in the flowers though. Bridget has trauma. She’s been treated badly, Apollo. I can’t just be like Kian and kidnap her until she realizes she’s in love with me.”
Apollo laughed. “No one can get away with that but Kian. You have convinced her to trust you enough to come and stay at themansion, so that will give you some time to get to the bottom of her trauma.”
“I can’t charm it out of her like you could. I’m not good at that kind of thing.”
Apollo flicked him in the side of the head. “Don’t be an idiot. Charm has nothing to do with it. You are the most patient and kindest out of all of us. Give her some time, hunt your monsters, and she will open up when she’s ready.”
“You promise to behave around her?”
“I’m not promising anyone that.”
“At least try and be gentle. I really like her, Apollo. She’s prickly as a cat, and I just want to pat her no matter how much she bites,” Bas replied and then turned red when his brain caught up with his mouth.
Apollo cackled because he could be a right bitch when he wanted to be. “You guys have got a classic black cat and golden retriever energy, and I think it’s adorable.”
“Shut up. I’m not a golden retriever.”
“Hmm, kind of are.”
“You are worse than me with Lachie.”
“Am not. I’m impervious to his charms. I am the black cat here.”
Bas took his phone out of his pocket and held up the photo of sweaty Lachlan Ironwood. Apollo choked on his cookie and coughed crumbs on himself.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Do you want to tell me why you aren’t having a hard run at this? Because look at him, Apollo.Loookkk.” Bas passed him the phone, and an expression of utter misery passed over Apollo’s face.
“He was training with my sword,” he said, zooming in. “I didn’t think he would actually use it.”
“Well, he is. You should also know that the other night wasn’t a date. His dumb ass thought if he made you jealous enough, youwould get mad enough to talk to him,” Bas said. He tried to take the phone back, but Apollo held it out of his reach and, with a few quick taps, sent it to his own phone.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s not the kind to settle down, and that’s all my dragon wants to do. It wants to have Lachlan Ironwood’s babies and…” A look of horror passed over Apollo’s face. “Oh my god, can I get pregnant now my dragon is awake? Is Mpreg really a thing with dragons? Or is that just fiction? Because I am not ready to be a mother, Bas!”
“I think if it were a thing, you would have laid eggs by now, whore bag,” Bas teased.
Apollo hit him with a decorative pillow.
“I amnota whore bag. And I use protection every time, magical and otherwise, thank you very much. You haven’t been laid in so long, you are probably blowing dust,” Apollo snapped back, and they both cracked up laughing. “God, I hate you. How dare you cheer me up when I was determined to be miserable all day.”
“I’m not sorry. Besides, I wanted to talk to you about the dragon thing before I talk to Uncle Taranis.” Bas grinned. “I’ll give you twenty bucks if you ask him about the Mpreg thing. I want to be there to witness the response.”
“He will probably need Quinn to explain it to him,” Apollo replied, and they both collapsed into fits of giggles again. Knowing Quinn, she had probably written a dragon Mpreg serial.
