“Probably,” I nodded.
“Then we’ll do it,” Barry said, finally looking up from his plate.
Baby Andy stared at me from across the table. His eyes lit up with recognition. Had he seen me when I was invisible?
“We don’t talk about that,” Preston said, sliding a tiny bite of meat into the kid’s mouth to distract him. “Andy is too young to tell us clearly what he sees. If he sees anything out of the ordinary at all.”
“He does,” Mori said and Preston kicked him under the table.
I laughed because this was their normal and it was nice that someone got to go back to their normal, even if it was only temporary.
“Are you allowed to say how you’re getting the egg to the ship?” I asked, hoping to thrust Mori’s attention-loving self into the spotlight. Maybe then I wouldn’t be the center of attention.
“Yes,” Mori said. “It’s not that big of a secret. Outside of Sharon, Annila really didn’t have many enemies. She was fairly well liked for most of her life. We’re using one of the draconic moving trucks. Jeth and I will ride in the back with the egg and we’ll take our time getting there. Another truck will meet us on the other side of the Atlantic to get the egg to Nic’s house. They’ve already gotten the nest set up. We’re leaving from the Raven Hollow Territory and it’ll take about a week or so to get there. We’ll have draconic watchers the whole way. So, if the ship goes down, we’ll be able to save the egg and not drown or get eaten by something.”
“Sounds like something out of one of Nashen’s books,” I said, mostly to myself.
“It sounds like you really thought it through,” Lero said.
“Well, it’s Annila’s baby,” Mori said, staring at his meatloaf.
A puppy jumped onto the bench next to him and I half-waited for someone to shoo him away. Instead, he clambered into Mori’s lap and laid down. I was such a dick. I poked Mori’s sore spot because I was tired of having mine poked.
“I think Annila would’ve loved the drama,” Barry said. “The whole saga of taking a ship across the ocean to deliver a dragon egg born of a deceased carrier. It’s very--- Well, draconic. The ship is being built by dragons who flew over from New York just for this job. Same people who build the ships for Clarence’s Pheromone Cruises. The guards have been hand-selected by Clarence and Medwin. It’s quite the procession.”
“Two ships actually. That way if attackers show, they won’t know which really hosts the egg,” Jeth said, sliding in next to Mori who scooted over to give him space. Snowy, the puppy, whined his protest at being shuffled around but wagged his tail when Mori handed off a bite of his meatloaf.
“Sounds like a solid plan,” I nodded.
The rest of the feast went off smoothly. I mostly listened to everyone chat about their lives and followed Lero around as if our hands were dragon-glued together. If he minded, he didn’t say anything. That evening when we went home I half-expected him to ask if I was really okay. I didn’t have a real answer. I was and I wasn’t. Only Lero didn’t laugh. Instead, he kicked off his shoes and motioned for me to do the same. He took off his shirt and then mine. For a second, I thought he wanted to have sex on the living room floor and I would’ve been down for trying. Instead he led me to the sofa and we laid down. He pulled the knitted blanket from the back of the sofa over our heads and for a moment the world was silent. It was just again as it had been while I was invisible to the rest of the world.
“It’s a feast tradition. You get to nap or pretend to nap afterwards,” Lero grinned.
“Are you tired?” I asked, brushing a lock of hair away from his handsome face.
“Not really, but I thought you could use a little quiet.”
“Funny how being under the blanket helps. It should make it worse.”
“Brains are strange. Plus, this blanket has little peepholes,” he laughed.
“And you’re here,” I said, leaning in so that my forehead rested against his. My eyes drifted shut and I breathed in his scent, sucking him down into my lungs. I imagined his scent spreading out through my body and my muscles finally let go of their tension.
It was dark by the time I woke up. Lero was still there, half-sitting up and reading a book on his phone while I rested my head against his stomach. His free hand played with my hair. I laid there a long time after I woke, reveling in the softness of his fingers.
“Grandpa brought by some leftover desserts from the feast. They’re in the fridge if you want a treat,” he said, letting me know he knew I was awake. “And I can stop reading if you need me.”
“Can we stay like this for a while?” I asked.
“As long as you need to,” he said, his thumb swiping across the screen of his phone to the next page.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lero
Nightshade Bear Territory
Mori left a few days after his going away party. I offered to get in my truck and be part of the convoy that drove with him to the Raven Hollow Territory, but he declined. I tried not to be butt hurt about it and I mostly succeeded. Sure, I made clothes for a living, but I was still a bear.
