Donnal’s head tilted.What kind of a job?
How would he know? “What were you doing before you got trapped in the room?”
Well, I suppose you could say that I kept the treasury. It was my job to make sure the keep had enough—enough coins, enough jewels, enough resources to function.
Oh, that was a good thing. “Ah, then you’ll work with Jack. I’m pretty sure that’s what Jack does, and I know he needs help because he’s got a lot of children.”
He thought that Donnal and Jack could work well together; they were both kind of growly.
Mercury? Mercury, hon, where are you?
He rolled his eyes.I’m down here talking to Donnal in the med bay. What do you need?
Kami chuckled.Oh good. That’s who I wanted to talk to!
Oh? Did you find him a stone?Mercury almost bounced, but that would jiggle the baby, so he tossed over another cupcake instead.
I did. And so I’m bringing Cain. So that we can get this dealt with.
That was perfect. He didn’t tell Donnal though because he thought maybe the guy would get nervous and he didn’t want that. He wanted to be able to just sort of get it all over with at once. Boom, bang, done.
So Mercury made small talk until Kami and Cain walked into the med bay. He also fed Dannol a couple more cupcakes because he was going to need his strength. Getting a new stone was a tough process.
Dannol raised his brow ridges, his eyes starting to glow, as he looked at Kami and Cain. “What is going on?”
“We have a new stone for you, Dannol.” Cain smiled gently, as he did most of the time. “I hope you’re going to like it.”
“I picked it out specifically for you,” Kami said. “That’s what Talon and I were just doing. We had to go get it.”
Mercury frowned just a tiny bit. “Is my mate okay?”
“He’s fine. He’s actually on his way, just in case we need some physical help.” Kami looked at Dannol with a wry expression. “Sometimes, this is kind of painful, and it takes a couple of other dragons to hold someone down.”
“Yes, unfortunately, bonding with a new stone is much harder when we’re adults than it was when we were babies. The older we are, the harder it is. It also doesn’t help that you’re an alpha, not an omega.” Cain spread his hands as if to apologize. “But I do hope you’ll allow us to help.”
“You can trust them,” Mercury told Dannol. “They helped me get my stone. It was hard, but it was so worth it.”
Smoke curled out of Dannol’s nose.I want to trust all of you, but I’m not sure I can. It’s been a very long time since I could trust anyone, and I’m feeling heart sore.
“You can do it. I know you can. You’re a fine braaken,” Cain said.
Dannol eyed Cain, as if weighing him.Very well. I can try.
“I’m very proud of you.” Mercury beamed at Donnal. “It’s going to suck at first, but it’s going to be great afterward.”
Talon came in, staring at them all. “It’s going to suck, but I watched Mercury go through it, and I’ve been through it myself. I did it without a mate. I still think his was worse. It’s sort of like swallowing fire.”
Dannol grinned, showing his teeth and trying to be brave.I can handle that.
“Mercury, you stay back. I don’t want you getting bumped or battered in any sort of way.” Cain smiled at him. “I have to protect our pregnant omegas.”
“Or you could just protect all the omegas.” Kami winked at him and then held up a chunk of rough ruby. The stone was big and looked incredibly heavy.
As soon as Donnal laid eyes on the stone, it began to shine with a fire inside.
Kami beamed and waggled his eyebrows. “Yep, this is the one!”
Do you mean it?Donnal stared at Mercury.You really mean it? That this can all be real? That I can come home?
