“No, not okay.” Snorre held his arms open. “Come here, Harry, and give your grandpa a hug.”
Harry squeaked again.
Everard pulled out his phone and dialed his brother. Really, this was the outside of enough. Geoffrey had better pick up this time, and he’d better have a damn good explanation for what Everard had stumbled into.
As the phone rang, he held up a finger, halting Snorre’s advance on Harry.
“Hello?” came Geoffrey’s voice. It was rough, like he’d been sick. Everard glanced at Matthieu. Or, perhaps, on a three-day sexcapade with an omega he’d no right to touch.
“Listen here, brother,” Everard hissed. “You’ve been missing four days, as has the Topaz counsel. Father sent me on a quest to find you, and here you are for some reason at the Opal consulate, ‘indisposed,’ while a whole circus of insanity takes place around you. Snorre Jormun is here, for pity’s sake, and he’s trying to hug my mate. Now you get your skinny ass down here and explain yourself. Do you understand me? Because Father will expect an accounting of your whereabouts, and if you expect me to lie on your behalf, then you damn well better tell me the truth first. You have fifteen minutes, do you understand? Fifteen. Apparently, we’ll all be having tea, including Ian Brand’s omega—who smells like you, may I add—so don’t keep me waiting. I am in no mood to be trifled with, Geoffrey.”
“I’ll be there momentarily,” Geoffrey said, the old familiar steel rod stuck up his ass yet again.
“Good. One hopes you’ll be properly showered and dressed as well—or have you lost your sense of decorum along with your sanity and ability to keep track of time?” Everard disconnected the call, not waiting for Geoffrey’s reply.
Snorre grinned hugely. “If that doesn’t shake that boy out of bed, nothing will.”
“Grandpa?” Harry asked, looking at Snorre uncertainly.
“No,” Everard said.
“Yes,” Snorre countered. “Well, great-great-great-grandpa, but who’s counting?”
Behind him, Harry let out another squeak of excitement.
Everard decided that if Grimbold didn’t kill Geoffrey for this escapade, he might.
“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to give your grandpa a kiss?” Snorre leered at Harry.
Snorre, Everard resolved, would be his practice run.
26
Geoffrey
Geoffrey and Ian showered and dressed in record time, then made their way downstairs. They did not run, but it was a near thing. An Attendant waited for them at the foot of the grand staircase and showed them to the dining room where Snorre’s family and Geoffrey’s brother awaited them. Geoffrey saw at once that Harrison, his brother’s mate, was along to witness the debacle, as the boy made his presence known when he leaped out of his chair in excitement.
“Another bond!” he cried happily and hurried over to them, a half-eaten scone still clutched in his hand. Harrison circled around Geoffrey and Ian, looking at something that Geoffrey, for one, couldn’t see.
“Extraordinary,” Harry murmured. He peered at something invisible between Ian, Geoffrey, and Matthieu. “Just extraordinary! I’d hypothesized that mate bonds required certain color combinations to form, but I see that’s not always the case.” Harrison took a bite of the scone and chewed thoughtfully. “Perhaps the color bond is only a requirement for conception, but not mating. The two would often coincide, but this proves that it’s not necessary, and also that Opals are not necessarily a special case. Alphas can mate. Who knew?”
Snorre raised his hand. “I did.”
Erik tugged the old dragon’s hand down. Harry ignored them both.
“And a Topaz mated to an Amethyst! According to my calculations, it shouldn’t be possible, but Darwin sees the bond, too, so I’m not imagining it, thank goodness. I don’t remember this being here the last time I saw you two together. Is this new? Granted, that was Darwin’s hatching day, and I was not at my most observant, and neither was he. I apologize. But I wonder…”
“Yes, radish? What is your new hypothesis?” Everard gazed at his mate with a rather disgustingly fatuous expression on his face. His eyes then turned to Geoffrey and Ian, and that soppy gaze slid into something else. Incredulity, mostly, Geoffrey thought, but probably a good dose of disapproval and disgust as well.
It was, Geoffrey supposed, to be expected. They had broken one of dragonkind’s deepest taboos. There would be fallout. Geoffrey hated the idea of having to choose between his family and his lovers, but if he had to, he knew he would face censure and disownment to keep Ian and Matthieu by his side.
We are your family. You are mine. We are ours. Forever.
The thought wasn’t from Ian or Matthieu distinctly, but somehow from both of them at once. Their love surrounded Geoffrey like the soft, ancient quilt that lay on his even older giraffe bed. The feeling was comfort and love and security, and it made his heart ache from its sweet fierceness.
“Well,” said Harrison, clearly warming to his topic, “Let me explain. Mr. Jormun is mated to an alpha, but also to four omegas, as I understand it, and the alpha bond came last chronologically. Was that the case for you as well?” Harrison asked, all his eager attentiveness focused on Geoffrey. “Because I suspect that in order for an alpha bond to appear, there must be an omega bond as well. I could be wrong, though. I really need to do more studying! Finding subjects, though…” He tapped his partially eaten scone against his lip in thought.
Geoffrey had no idea how to answer the question, or any of the nonsense Harrison had let spill forth, so he stood there, mute.
