“You should have talked to me before sending anything,” he said.
“What! And have you sayNo, no, I’m far too miserable and self-sacrificing, leave me to rot in peace while my mate and her child grow old without me.” His mother sniffed. “Not in a million years, my love.”
Love.That’s what this feeling was. The sensation of being surrounded by his family. Not above them, as their leader, but among them.
As head of his clan, he’d been responsible for the safety and wellbeing of his family.
He’d forgotten to leave any room for them to care for him in the same way.
So they’dmaderoom.
“You lured him here deliberately,” Maya mused out loud. Thank god, she sounded amused rather than outraged. “You knew that if he thought another dragon was bothering me, he wouldn’t stay away.”
“Uh, yeah. We definitely knew that,” Braedan said, nodding vigorously.
“Or, more likely, you planned none of this and are lucky it turned out as well as it did,” Corin growled.
“…Maybe?”
Maya snorted with laughter. “So much for our investigation,” she said between giggles. “No theft. No mystery dragon trying to threaten or court me. Just your family giving you the push you refused to give yourself.”
“I thought I’d already pushed too far. I was determined to give you all the space, the safety, you deserved after I chased you here—”
“Yeah, what was that about?” Aedan burst out. “We thought you were finally going to make your move, and you went and left her here!”
“You thought himhunting me through the nightwas him making his move?” Maya cried out.
“Well, yeah. That’s the way we do things in our family.”
“You—” She turned to him, bemused. “What is he talking about?”
He told her, briefly, the story of his grandparents meeting. And his parents. The way his mother and grandmother had both stolen their mates away. And had no problem with the Blackburns’ duskfire.
“But not you?” Her eyes drew him in, warm and understanding. She knew why he hadn’t pursued her the way his family expected. He could never claim her the way a dragon should, while his duskfire was still a threat.
“Not me. And that is a problem we still have not solved.”
“I disagree,sir.” She tipped her head back, managing to peer down her nose at him despite their difference in height. “Remember, I’m taking you exactly as you are.”
“Uh, guys?”
Corin stared down at his mate, barely aware of the others talking around them. “And I you,” he told her.
The duskfire would always haunt him, but he could live with that.
“Guys,” Felicity hissed. “Mays! Wake up!”
“I’m kind of having a moment here, Fee,” Maya muttered, still gazing up at him.
“Well, hurry it up. Your mom just arrived.”
25
Maya
She couldn’t have heard that right.
Maya tore her gaze away from Corin, who had been looking the happiest she had seen him,ever, and frowned at Felicity. “What are you talking about?”
