“Yeah? Join the club.” Cade sat in front of me, stacking his blocks then clapping for himself when his toy dragon knockedthem over, so I cheered him on. “I just don’t get why he hates me. He’s just so flipping mean.” Hateful. Hurtful, and a million other not very nice words all rolled into one shiny package.
“Here I thought it would be funny for you to get the snarkiest mate. Not so funny now that it’s happened. He’ll come around brother, I’m sure of it.”
Glad one of us was.
I wish I knew when Ronan went to bed so I could go home. Running into him right now wasn’t high on my list. Had we been fully mated, I could reach out through our link and feel his emotions or even ask. I wonder… “Hey Caro, what happens if we never fully mate.”
“That’s an Emerson question for sure.”
“Oh shit,” Emerson said from behind us. “It’s never been written, at least I’ve never come across it in our archives. As dragons it’s in our blood to complete the mating bond as soon as we find our mate. I mean, you saw what happened to me when Caro and I tried to ignore it. Nearly drove me mad.”
“A mistake I will forever berate myself for, my love.” Caro rose and embraced Emerson. I was jealous of the love they shared, having wanted the same for myself for so long.
“I’m afraid that since they’ve technically started it that it would be treated the same as if a mate was rejected.”
“Great, could’ve done without that bit of info, Emerson.”
“I’m sorry, Odem, but you know I’ll never lie to you. Caro, if they don’t complete it soon, they may both parish.”
“You’re just full of happy news today, aren’t you.” Fuck man, I had another question but was afraid of his answer. Well, fuck it, might as well get all the bad news in one go. “Here’s a good one for ya, what happens to the eggs if Ronan allows us to fully bond. Will they parish? Will the bonding injure them?”
This was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. If we fully bond then Ronan and I survive. But if we complete the mating ritual would we risk losing the twins?
Emerson shrugged. “I don’t know. Again, it’s never happened, or at least it hasn’t been noted in the archives.”
“Fantastic, leave it to me to be the first. Yay me!”
Fuck. My. Life.
I think I’ll have wallpaper made for my office with those words on it.
“You have to talk to him,” Emerson pleaded.
“Unless Ronan has a death wish,” Caro added.
“Not helping brother.” Being as nasty as Ronan was, he just might.
“How can you talk to someone who despises your mere presence? He keeps telling me to shut up and stay out of his life. He literally hates me.” The levels of serious fuckery? Fucked-up-ery? Just plain old fucked up this mating was is off the fucking charts.
Goddess, what did I do to deserve this and is it too late to fix it?
“I’ll do it,” Emerson offered. “I have a few choice words for him.”
“My love, do you think that’s for the best?”
“I do. We survived a similar nightmare, so we have the only real-life experience with this. If this isn’t fixed and soon, we may lose not only the babies, but Odem too. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to lose any of them.” Emerson had taken a firm stance. If I ever doubted his loyalty to me before, which I hadn’t, I’d believe in it now. “The stones. Has anyone checked Odem’s?”
Great question and one that had the three of us on our feet. Caro scooped up Cade and we bolted down the tunnel. Ionus, Mattias and Quint joined us from their respective sides, having sensed a problem.
“Caro,” Emerson gasped. My stone, a solo flame at the base shining within it, nowhere near the bold lighting of Ionus and Caro’s.
“This is not good,” Ionus bellowed. “You must complete the mating ritual, Odem.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, brother. How do you propose I do that? Take what’s not being offered to me?”
“No, of course not. We’d never perform such barbaric acts. Has anyone taken the time to explain to Ronan the implications of not completing the ritual?”
“As soon as I open my mouth, he spouts out hateful things and tells me to stay away. So no, I’ve not had the chance, dear brother.” Never had I felt such anger. Happy, easy going, the life of the party, so to speak. That was my nature. This, whatever this was, flowing through my veins currently, wasn’t me.
