“Don’t worry about the shirt, baby. We’ll buy another one.”
“One with you on it?”
Bennett smiled and Lucas closed his eyes. “Yeah, baby. We can get one with a black dragon on it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Bennett watched Lucas wring his hands for the hundredth time as they drove to his mother’s house. “What if they don’t like me?”
“I like you,” Bennett said simply.
Lucas smiled at him, which was his intended purpose.
“My family is your family now. Plus, the only one you really should worry about is Mom and she loves you.” Bennett pulled onto the dirt road, leading to his mother’s house. She lived a couple of miles from the main village. Forests surrounded the house on all sides except the front. It was perfect for shifting and frolicking, which Bennett was going to have fun doing with his mate.
“I’m just worried about the rest of them. What if they hate me?”
“Why would you think anyone could hate you? You’re perfect.”
Lucas smiled. “No, I’m not. I actually don’t make friends that easily and never have.”
“My mom loves you just like she loves me and so will everyone else. I guarantee that, baby.”
“How?”
“Becauseshe loves all of her kids that way. She’s a good judge of character and we all trust her on that. In everything, actually.
“My brother, Ladon, is the youngest of all of us. He came to Mom when he was seven years old. He’s a young dragon whose biological parents dumped him on a neighbor. Want to know the first thing Mom did when she got him here?”
Lucas smiled. “What?”
“She had all her kids come home for dinner. She said I should shift for Ladon to make him feel comfortable, so I did. Ladon has clung to me ever since.”
“She knows what to do to make someone feel at ease.” Lucas smiled.
“Yes. You should trust her to do that for you.”
“Okay. Thanks, Bennett.”
Bennett nodded.
They were silent for several seconds before Lucas said, “You spend a lot of time with Ladon, don’t you?”
“Yeah. We usually have a twice a week thing when my workload is manageable.”
“And because of me, you haven’t spent time with him recently.”
Bennett pulled up onto the long drive that led to his mother’s house. “Ladon understands about mates, baby. He’ll be okay.”
Lucas didn’t say anything as they pulled up in front of the house. Bennett shut off the engine. He waited for Lucas, watching him closely. He wouldn’t push Lucas to get out. Lucas needed his patience, so that was what he’d get.
Lucas looked at the house with curiosity, as if he could see through the vinyl siding and past the wood. Hell, for all Bennett knew, he could. He was sure even Lucas didn’t know everything he could do yet, despite Mom working with him that past week.
The house was a white, large two-story that appeared ordinary. Even the flowers around the sides and the boxes of greenery hanging from the windows were pretty, but normal. Maybe someone who knew about herbs and plants would pick up on the medicinal qualities for each plant but anyone ignorant wouldn’t have a clue.
He knew his mother kept certain types of herbs in those boxes and some of the flowers at the base of the house were poisonous. She hadn’t used them since Ramsey had come to be Alpha, but she tended them as if she was waiting for something. Maybe the shit storm that was about to go down because of Lucas’ presence in their town was it.
Lucas nodded to himself. He opened the car door and stepped out. Bennett did the same, shutting the door behind him and pocketing his keys. He rounded the front of his car and held out his hand to Lucas, who smiled as he took it.
