9
Dante
Now that weknew for certain that Gabriel was pregnant, the excitement began to build. First things first, I wanted to let my brother know - and Ruby, too, since we considered her part of thefamily.
It was the weekend, so Gabriel had the day off from training with Ryu. The sun had just began to dip down, and we had just finished another bout of in-bed activities when I reached over to the table and grabbed my cell to call Lorenzo. I was startled when Gabrielgasped.
“Is that aphone?” Gabrielcried.
I raised a brow and held itout. “Yes…?”
“Can I see it?” Gabriel asked, sounding like a kid on his birthday. I handed it to him and he rolled it over between his fingers as if it was a preciousobject.
“My love, sorry to be blunt, but have you never seen a phone before?” Iasked.
He blushed. “Sorry. But no, we didn’t have them in my pack. I’d only heard about them through rumors and inbooks.”
I thought about what a strange and backwards place he was from, but I didn’t say anything out loud. Gabriel examined the phone to his heart’s content, then asked, “Who were yougonnacall?”
“My family,” I said. “It’s customary to inform the rest of your family when you know you’re havingababy.”
“Oh!” Gabriel’s eyes lit up, but then he gasped and looked worried. “Oh, gods, what if they don’tlikeme?”
I let out a sound between a growl and a laugh, and clapped him on the back. “First of all, they will, because you’ve met most of them already. And second, if they didn’t like you - then tough. You’re my mate, nottheirs.”
“I’ve met most of them?” he said curiously. “Lorenzo,right?”
“And Ruby. She calls herself a servant, but ugh, I hate that word. I consider herfamily.”
Gabriel smiled and leaned his head on my shoulder. “You’re so sweet for a big scary dragon, youknowthat?”
I puffed out smoke. “Yeah,yeah.”
“Is that everyone?” he asked. I could hear the caution in his voice - he didn’t want to offend me, which wasimpossible.
“No.” I held his hand and smiled. “My alpha-father will be thereaswell.”
“Oh, gods, do I have anything nice to wear? I don’t want him to think I’msomeslob.”
I groaned and wrapped my arms around him. “He won’t. And I already have an outfitpickedout.”
“You do?” His browsraised.
“Of course,” I said. “I’ve had an outfit picked out for special occasions for a while now. I have a lot of time to do shopping while you’re training with Ryu,afterall.”
He smiled and said, “Okay. I trust you to make me look like a fine upstandingomega.”
“Done and done. Can I have my phone back now? Otherwise these dinner plans are never going togetmade.”
He handed the phone back to me and I rang upLorenzo.
“Hello?” his voice came after the first ring, as italwaysdid.
“Hey, man.Youbusy?”
“Not at the moment. What can I do for my brother?” heasked.
“I, uh… Have some news to share with the family. You wanna call dad and I’ll call Ruby and we can meet at theSkyCafe?”
