“Good riddance is all I can say,” Gem mutters before turning his attention to the menu and telling the girl what he wants for lunch. “I’ll also have one of those adorable hot chocolates with bear marshmallows please. I’ll enjoy drowning them.” Liam glares at him, but Gem ignores him while the girl enters his order into the tablet.
The rest of us place our own orders, and Violet scurries off to take care of them. “You need to stop seeing Gianna. It’s only going to cause problems when we find our mate,” I tell him, my dragon very upset with our friend’s selfishness right now. He keeps pushing to shift and fry his ass—not that we could, because our bond makes them immune to my fire.
There’s a stubborn set to his lips, and he crosses his arms. “I don’t want to, and you can’t make me.”
“Look, we get it. We’ve been waiting for our mate for a while, but Aramis must have a plan for us. Giving Gianna hope is not doing anyone any favors. You’re just breaking her heart. You know we can’t mate with her,” I remind my stubborn friend.
“Unless she ends up with our mark,” Liam argues belligerently.
“The likelihood of that is slim. My dragon can’t stand her,” I tell him.
“Neither can my wolf,” Brodie adds, and when Liam looks at Gem, he shakes his head. His usual smirk is gone, and he looks sad for our friend.
Liam slumps down in the booth, looking defeated. “My bear is getting unruly. He doesn’t particularly like Gianna as a person either, but he does like fucking her, and he wants someone to care for. He doesn’t really care who it is anymore,” Liam admits quietly, and Gem holds out his hand. Liam takes it, and Brodie and I watch as phoenix flames appear, helping to soothe Liam’s bear. Phoenix shifters are healers, both of the body and soul, sohopefully that will ease the bear a little so Liam can start making better decisions.
We watch as some of the tension in Liam’s body eases, and he breathes out a large sigh. “Thanks. I’m sorry. He’s really riding me hard. It’s becoming tricky to hold him back. Maybe I should take a leave of absence for a while. Move back home away from temptation.”
“Don’t be too hasty. You know the goddess often blesses more shifters than normal during a coronation year. Hopefully by the time a new king or queen has been crowned, we will also have been blessed with our mate,” Gem reasons, and some hope comes back into Liam’s dejected eyes.
“At least we don’t have to worry about being tapped as a mate for the next king or queen. Being in a bond saves us from that,” Brodie remarks. “I don’t envy all those single shifters waiting on tenterhooks to see if they are going to end up being selected as a possible mate for the new royal.”
“I feel sorry for the new royal. It must be hard enough to figure out how to coexist with an animal without the added pressure of picking a mate, let alone more than one.”
The others murmur their agreement as Violet returns to the table with our drinks.
I asked Gryffin once when we were younger how his dad picked his three moms, and he said his dad just knew. Apparently he had a connection with the three of them he didn’t have with the other potentials, although he did have to date them all to give them a chance. How confusing that must be for a recent human.
I smile at the sight of the two little dragon marshmallows floating in my coffee. Brodie gets a goofy grin and scoops up one of the wolves in his with a spoon and studies it closer before sticking it in his mouth. His eyebrows jump. “Oh, they areminty,” he exclaims. “I told her to make wolves and dragons,” he says, his mouth full of marshmallow, and Gem gags.
“Jesus, Brodie, where are your manners? No wonder the goddess hasn’t deemed us fit to grant us a mate yet.” The phoenix shudders and stirs his hot chocolate, being unnecessarily rough with the bears floating on top and grinning wickedly when they start to melt and drown.
“Ridiculous,” Liam grumbles, taking a sip of his black coffee, nothing floating in his. I’m pretty sure he’s just being a stubborn asshole. He has the sweetest tooth of us all and would usually have multiple marshmallows covering the top of his.
“Your lunches won’t be long. Justin is just frying the bacon for the BLTs,” Violet tells us.
“When do you think Colbie will get back?” Brodie asks, and the girl’s eyebrows jump in surprise. He quickly realizes his mistake in showing too much interest in a human. “Ah, we need to ask her a couple of questions regarding the other night,” he explains, and the girl nods, but I can see she doesn’t believe him.
“She will be in tomorrow, but we aren’t expecting it to be busy because of the parade and the party, so she will probably close early, and we are closed on Sunday because of the holiday, so Monday will be the next time she’s back in the café.”
Brodie winces. “We will be involved in the parade and party tomorrow. We’re pulling security for the parade, and our bond has been invited as guests to the party. That’s okay, we will come in on Monday and talk to her.”
Violet walks away, and Liam growls at Brodie. “What the fuck are you playing at? You think I’m bad for showing interest in Gianna, but that’s not as bad as sniffing around a human.”
Liam is right. Brodie should forget about the human. Sure, she was pretty, and she wasn’t easily intimidated when we collected Archie, but she’s not for us, even if she smells delicious, like cupcakes and cream cheese frosting. My dragon would liketo give her a lick to see if she tastes as good as she smells, but we won’t. That’s only a road to heartbreak for all of us.
“Gods, you’re such an asshole.” Brodie flips Liam off, and Gem watches eagerly, like he’s waiting for them to brawl in the café. Our phoenix is mischievous and likes to stir up trouble.
“But he’s right.” I agree with Liam, even though it hurts to admit it. “Colbie is human and isn’t for us.”
Brodie’s aggravation drains away, and his whole body slumps. “I know, but my wolf likes her. He wants to roll around and cover himself with her scent.”
“Huh.” Gem sounds surprised. “That is unusual. Humans usually don’t smell like anything to me, but you’re right, she does smell nice, like cupcakes.”
“And frosting,” I add, my dragon licking his lips.
“It doesn’t matter, she could smell like the best thing ever, and we still couldn’t do anything about it. If I have to forget Gianna, who is at least a shifter, then you need to forget about the pretty human baker.”
Brodie smirks, but Liam hasn’t even realized he admitted he found the human attractive.
