Be nice.
I am nice.Kami walked over and plopped the baby in Mercury’s arms. “Excellent. Can I have a cup of coffee?”
“You can. You know where it is. Come on, hailee, let me help you sit down.”
Mercury’s thoughts were just a buzz of nervous words; at least that was what it felt like.
It’s fine. Honestly, you’re not going to harm anybody. She’s just fine with you.
I don’t know, I’m not sure if I feel just fine.
“You are. Serious. I’m not worried.” He beamed. “I like the way you look with a baby in your arms.”
As Talon knew they would, those words made Mercury blush and duck his head, pleasure filling his thoughts instead of worry. “Thank you. She’s so tiny and sweet.”
“She’s probably not as young as you think she is. Like I said, she’s moving around pretty good these days on her own steam, but she is delicate, like Kami, and not like Reno at all.” He stared at the baby, her little cheeks flushed a rosy color, her lips pursed as she slept. She was adorable, and she looked like one of those children from American human cartoons—all innocence until she opened her eyes and mouth, and then fire came out and thunder happened and the world shook.
He chuckled because he adored her, but she was not however—what was the word?—easy.
“Are you maligning my girl?” Kami walked back in with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, grinning at Mercury. “See? You did just great with her. She hasn’t even woken up.”
“I’m trying to be very careful.”
Kami waved a hand. “Dude, she’s not that fragile. Just don’t drop her.”
Mercury’s mouth dropped open, and Talon fought not to roll his eyes. Kami was so not helping.
Kami plopped down on the couch, making sure not to spill his coffee. “Tell me about this keep you come from, Mercury. Talon says they suck.”
“Oh, I am sure they are not any worse than any other dragon keep, although it is very isolated up north. They’re very, what is the word I’m looking for?”
“Hidebound? Old-fashioned? Asshole-ish enough to lock somebody in a tower?” Kami raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms after he set his coffee down.
Mercury chewed his lip, and the baby let out a little bit of a squawk, so obviously he’d tightened his grip without thinking about it. “They said I deserved it—to be in the tower, I mean. That I had earned it by not being able to follow the rules.”
“Seriously?” Kami snorted hard. “Nobody deserves to be locked in a tower for doing something that comes naturally to them. What do you call it?”
“Sliding. They say it’s very dangerous, but I never felt like it was.”
“Dangerous for who?” Kami just kept poking at it like a sore tooth. “Dangerous for them if people found out, maybe because then you would be seriously in demand. It’s not embarrassing so much as it is something they didn’t want anybody else to know about. Because then you, as an omega, would have some sort of inherent value.” He leaned forward, holding Mercury’s gaze. “Spoiler, we have inherent value.”
“I think so too. They need us. Alphas can’t make babies by themselves.” Mercury actually looked surprised at himself.
“Right on! Even if you don’t have babies, you still have worth. You have ideas, you have talents, you have skills. Even if you never have a baby, you have worth—just because you’re you.”
Mercury looked down at little Miranda and up at Kami. “But I do want babies. Very much.”
Kami nodded, bared his teeth. “Again, totally valid. No one’s going to have any beef with that. The point is you do what you do, boo. You do what you want. You do what you feel like you need. And fuck the ones who don’t like it.”
Mercury blinked at him, eyes wide and shocked, and Talon chuckled softly. “Kami’s not particularly delicate,” he said. “Not like you are. He can burp his ABCs.”
Mercury blinked again and then started giggling. “No wonder I like you,” he said.
“Oh, very nice.” Kami nodded in approval. “That’s what we need—a little wicked. Otherwise, they’re just gonna eat you alive.”
Mercury’s eyes went wide, and Talon shook his head. “Not literally.”
“Goddess, no. Where the hell did you come from? That literally eating you alive was a thing to do.” Kami’s eyes were big as saucers.
