“Everything okay here?”
“Fine,” Brogan says, his tone more curt than I’ve ever heard it.
“Good. Look, I think we need to have a conversation, but I really need a nap and Soren looks like he’s about to drop.” I say. “Let’s go home.”
Brogan squeezes me harder and drops a kiss to my temple.
“You sure you’re okay?”
He nods and swallows hard, letting out a heavy sigh. “I just… can’t stop thinking that we could have lost you and it’s driving me out of my mind.”
“I’m right here,” I say softly and he presses his forehead to mine, nodding and letting out a slow, shuddering breath.
“I think we could all do with a nap, and I don’t want to be apart from any of you. Finn, do you think we could all share your nest, considering it’s massive?”
My dragon grins and nods. “Of course, little treasure.”
I grab each of their hands while they both get a firm grip on Soren.
And we head home.
We’re all quiet on our return. Finn and Brogan disappear off to get changed while I take a quick shower with Soren, each of us helping the other to strip off our clothes and then slowly lathering the other up with soap to wash away the scents and memories of that basement. Neither of us says a word, instead focusing on taking care of the other before the waves of exhaustion take us over. It’s quiet. Intimate.
When we step out, Soren wraps me up in a towel and pulls a massively oversized shirt over my head, and Brogan throws a pair of pajama pants at Soren’s chest, which he slips on. The four of us then climb into bed. I have Brogan and Soren on either side of me while Finn lies with his head on my thighs, his arms threaded around me.
???
Soren
I wake up feeling a lot better than when I passed out. The events of yesterday were a blurry smudge of confusion once I got knocked out the first time. By the time I had my second head injury, it devolved into a series of muddled images.
Note to self: Stop getting hit in the head. It’s not fun, and it sends you a little loopy.
I remember staring up at Echo like she was the only light in that dark basement. I remember not really being aware of the words coming out of my mouth.
Shit. Did I tell her I love her?
Because I do.
I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m feeling. I want to be around her all the time, want her to be safe and happy, and feel like I want to be a better version of myself for her. It must be love.
She melts my ice cold heart a little more with every smile.
Her smile is what I see first thing when I wake up, surrounded by the million faintly spicy smelling sheets and pillows of Finn’s nest. My eyes are no longer blurry and my head’s not pounding anymore. And then she runs her hand over my hair and I feel myself relaxing, just as she shifts and I get an eyeful of her glorious tits. I’m then a confusing mixture of hard and soft, eyes darting between her chest and her beautiful face as her smile widens slowly and I cotton onto the fact that she’s caught exactly where my attention keeps drifting.
“Feeling better, handsome?”
“Yeah.” My voice is rough with sleep.
“Good.” She sits up and gives me a little wink as the sheet falls away, revealing creamy thighs and my dick grows harder. “I need to talk to you.”
Brogan scrambles to sit up beside me, while Finn shifts slightly so that his head is once again in Echo’s lap as he absentmindedly runs his fingers up and down her leg.
“After we found out that I, er, that I’m supposed to be your destiny weaver and that I would be tethered here to the garden, you told me I should take some time. Work out if I really want to be here.” She aims this at Brogan and I clench my jaw.
“You said fucking what?” I glare at him. He told her she could leave us? Abandon us like we’re nothing? What the fuck.
Brogan just flips me off. “I wanted Echo to feel like she had a choice, so if she stayed, we’d know it was a choice and not that she was trapped here.”
