“Like, it’sactuallyokay, or you’re just saying it’s okay so I don’t bite their heads off?”
He let out a laugh. “Actually okay, but thanks for caring.”
The fight drained out of me. If my mate said it was okay, I’d take his word for it.
Matteo went silent. Gaius and I exchanged a glance. There was nothing to do but wait until Matteo finished reading the letter.
After what felt like an eon had passed, Matteo let out a long sigh and put the letter in his lap. When I noticed his eyes were wet, I got worked up.
“What did it say?” I asked, hoping for their sakes that their words didn’t hurt him.
Matteo took a few moments to reply. Finally, he blinked away the tears and said, “They apologized to me.”
“Really?”
He gazed down at the letter meaningfully. “I don’t know how much of our conversation they aired on the show, but it must’ve been enough to change their perspectives. They said they didn’t realize how much they’d hurt me back then.”
“What about the article Talon was talking about?”
Matteo shook his head. “They saw that, too. The whole thing was on air. They said it wasn’t true. Vani and Keaux are starting a new project, and they mentioned TalonStorm’s break up, but they didn’t actually say anything negative about me. The tabloids put words in their mouths and blew it out of proportion. Talon just ran with it.”
“Asshole,” I growled. “I wished I’d booted him off the island earlier.”
Matteo smiled. “You know? I’m glad you didn’t. If you did, the truth might’ve stayed hidden. It had to get ugly before it got better.”
Grumbling, I pulled Matteo closer. “I guess. Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s a dickhead.”
He rested his head on my shoulder. “That we can agree on.”
“So, are you going to contact them?” I asked.
“I want to. It’s honestly a weight off my chest that there’s no bad blood between us,” he said. “But the envelope had no return address. Maybe they were nervous I’d take the letter poorly?”
I waved a hand. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. We’re rich dragons, remember? We have ways of finding people.”
Matteo grinned. “Aw, how sweet and creepy.”
“Hey, it’s for love, so it’s automatically not creepy.”
He chuckled. “Somehow, that makes it sound even creepier.”
I rolled my eyes and kissed him, dismissing the half-baked argument.
Twenty-Three
Matteo
It turnedout Taylor wasn’t lying about the accelerated pregnancy. Within three weeks, I was swollen all over and my back killed me.
Thystle suggested talking to Taylor about it, since he was previously the only omega on the island. As much as my mate wanted to help, he was an alpha with no experience being pregnant, and he wanted me to have the smoothest journey possible. He helped out in other ways, of course, but discussing pregnancy with my fellow omega friend was priceless.
We met in the living room—well,oneof the living rooms in the sprawling dragon castle. This one was thoroughly baby-proofed so Ruby could crawl and explore to his heart’s content without adults worrying about him. He tested out his stubby human limbs on the rug.
Thystle joined us, since he never let me out of his sight except to go to the bathroom—and even then, he lurked outside the door ‘just in case’ I needed help. It was honestly quite sweet.
“So, being pregnant, huh?” Taylor began in his matter-of-fact tone. “How do you feel about it so far?”
I glanced down at my curved belly. It happened so fast that it felt surreal.
