Joyce licked her lips with a quick gesture, innocuous and innocent seeming to the untrained eye, but for a snake… She screamed.
Dray flinched, Tripp cringed, and Ian fumbled to take her drink as he waited for the inevitable violence.
Her shrill scream dissolved into sobs of joy. “Grandbaby! I’m going to be a grandma! Or wait, a grammy? No. Nanna? No…”
Dray huffed under the weight of his mate’s mother’s hug, arms wrapping around him as fitting as any tree snake. She had the thin, vain feel of an emerald. When her bright gold eyes slitted for a second, it made sense. “And you’re a snake, too!”
She held Dray out at arm’s length by his shoulders. “Why didn’t you introduce us? Why not tell us sooner? Tripp!”
She wheeled on her son, with anger flaring in her wide-set eyes. “It’s a long story…”
“Want me to tell it?”
“Shhh.” Tripp gave Dray a pleading look before he snorted with laughter.
Ian gave Dray a knowing look, an imperceptible nod, and a gesture to just spit it out. The milling few people around were likely family or close friends. Dray shrugged and pulled his jacket off, smiling as Joyce squeaked and bounced excitedly. “So, Tripp and I met at a bar a while back after his breakup. It was a flash-in-the-pan kind of thing, and neither of us got numbers, but we found one another again and—well…” Dray gestured to himself.
“Ohhhh.” Joyce’s lips formed a softOof understanding. “Well, we are animals at heart, dear. Sometimes we can’t help it. Still…”
She glared at Tripp while hugging onto Dray again. “Keep it in your pants, bucko!”
Dray pursed his lips. “But…”
They made eye contact, Joyce and Dray. Joyce’s cheeks reddened. “Well… Never mind.”
Tripp pulled out a chair for Dray. “Come on, Mom, you can grill him more in a moment. He’s been on his feet all day, and we have house shopping to do soon.”
“Oh! Yes, of course.” Joyce flapped her hands a little and let Dray take a seat around a smaller table, Tripp at his side.
Ian wasted no time in talking about his military tattoo, and Joyce made a few polite remarks about Dray not quite being what she expected, but he was a snake, he was giving her a grandbaby, and the rest…they’d just have to learn to love.
Shelby came up as a note, Joyce doing her best to politely ask if Dray and Tripp met before the breakup, but even one of their friends who joined in, nearby, brushed the notion off. Shelby had been unfaithful forever, apparently, and many of them were too nervous to say anything. Dray didn’t think Tripp needed that reminder, but they clasped hands under the table, as if it didn’t matter anymore.
And as far as weddings went? Dray was happy with the courthouse, but his parents insisted that in the next few weeks, there would be something at the club, informal but intimate. Dray deserved his time to shine, and they wanted to meet his dad.
An involuntary shudder rode up his back. His papa was a lot.
“So, about this house shopping…” Joyce grinned and immediately set the topic to nursery décor.
Did Dray want a nursery? Sure.
Did he want one right that moment? No.
Did he want to go home and spend the first night ever with his mate? Definitely.
So, when Dray gave his first deep yawn, Joyce fawned and smacked Tripp’s arm a few times, urging him to take his mate home and rest.
Ian caught up with them as they headed out. “Listen, Dray. It’s hard being mated to a rattler. The mating bite—”
Dray pulled the collar of his shirt aside. “Indigos are immune.”
The visible sigh of relief that left his lips seemed to breathe right into Tripp as he puffed with pride.
“Don’t fuck this up,” Ian said, giving Tripp a gentle shove. “But I’m rooting for you.”
Chapter Eleven
Dray
