Chapter 8
Dain
How was it already Christmas?
I growled and glared at the garland that currently wrapped its way around the banister of the stairs. I stopped short of tearing it down. That wouldn’t earn me any points with the household staff, and my boss would probably take exception to it. He enjoyed the holidays. Hence the decorations.
I tolerated Christmas on a good year. And this was not a good year.
“Come now, Dain,” my boss’s voice echoed behind me, sending a chill down my spine. I hadn’t realized he was there. It was my job to know where he was at every moment, and I’d failed. “Where’s your Christmas spirit? I asked the staff to decorate a week earlier than normal, and you’re grumbling about it?”
“Sorry, sir,” I said.
My boss jogged down the stairs in front of me, and I moved to keep up with him. For some reason, he seemed to be in good humor today. I kept an eye on all parts of the hall as we walked to his office. We might’ve been in his home, but I could never be too careful with his safety.
Once we were inside his office, I secured everything and let myself relax a little. He settled in to work, whistling a tune that sounded a bit like “Jingle Bells.” Was he doing this to torment me? Probably.
“What has you in such good spirits today, boss?” Jayson asked. He stood on the opposite end of the room than me.
“Oh, just one of my favorite things—another child of mine coming out of the woodwork to ask me for money.”
I raised a brow. “Pardon me, boss, but I did not see that on the agenda for today.” When there were visitors to the manor, the security team should be brought up to speed. Always. No one was allowed on the property without our knowledge. Usually it required several background checks and additional staff on hand.
Today I had none of that. Just another thing that set my temper up a notch.
I sent a look at Jayson. He shook his head slightly. He too had not seen that added to the agenda.
“I like to keep you two on your toes. You don’t get to know everything about me.” Cael smiled that smug smile that his enemies wanted to slap off his face. I wouldn’t mind doing that right now.
“I beg your pardon, sir, but it is literally our job to know everything about you. We can’t keep you safe if we don’t know who is coming to see you. Has this child of yours been properly vetted?” Also, was this truly one of his children or was it just a broke young dragon who wanted a piece of the pie? Chances were high that it was the latter. Despite the rumors, most of which my boss had started, he didn’t have that many illegitimate children running around. If any at all.
“Indeed,” my boss said, his voice sounding bored. He tossed a pen onto his desk and leaned back. He checked the time on his watch before crossing his arms behind his head. “They should be here in just a few minutes. Apparently, my long-lost son is bringing a friend with him, a bit of moral support, I suppose. He’s a dragon omega.”
My spine straightened at that. I’d encountered a dragon omega not too long ago. He hadn’t scented at all like my boss, though. If it was one of Cael’s children, I assumed I would have noticed. When I had come back from being called back to work to take care of Theo, that omega had slipped away, clearly not interestedin spending any more time with me. The guard at the time, Soren, had even given me a vial that he had found in the room—a perfume that was meant to mimic a mate bond. I’d been tricked. I’d cursed myself ever since then for being swindled in such a way.
I wasn’t too proud to admit I’d been in a sour mood ever since. More than one of my colleagues had made comments. Not to me, they weren’t brave enough for that, but they talked amongst themselves.
“Boss, we really should have had time to prepare,” I said.
“Oh, you two can think of this as a training exercise. I trust the two of you to keep me safe, no matter what sort of trouble this omega and his little friend bring you. It’s more fun this way.”
I had been in these types of meetings before. When his “children” came forward, he determined if they were truly his or not. They were not. They didn’t get money. If they were, they would get some. Cael was an honorable man who took care of his own. In all my years of being his guard, none of them had ever been his.
Already, I felt bad for this omega dragon. He was about to get a lesson in trying to trick one of the smartest businessmen in the world.
The boss picked up his phone and checked the notification. “Ah, they’re here. Let them in.”
Jayson opened the door. Sometimes I wasn’t quite sure who was actually running this household—me or my boss. I was supposed to be up on everything that was going on, yet Cael knew before I did that his visitors were here.
Jayson looked just as perplexed as I did. Yet here we were, along for the ride.
It was his scent that hit me first. It was as if the world slowed down.
Nym walked into the room. His hair had grown longer, and he pushed it back, letting his fingers run through his curls. His mask wasn’t on now, of course it wasn’t, and he wore regular clothes instead of a tuxedo. The faded blue jeans were snug around him, like they didn’t quite fit right, and his oversized shirt went to the middle of his thighs.
But it was him. The omega I had met the night of the ball.
His scent was just like I had remembered it.
