“Mateo looks like he’s going to rip Seth’s head off,” I said quietly, glancing back toward the library.
Elana chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry about them. They’ve been going at each other for years. Let me guess, Seth is still calling him Matty?”
I nodded.
“He hates that. Why don’t you guys stay for lunch since you’re already here? I tried my hand at those fluffy soufflé pancakes again, and this time they didn’t flop!”
Mateo stepped around the corner. “Did someone say pancakes?”
Chapter 21
Graham
Iwatchedtheamusementon Meera’s face as Elana peppered Mateo with all the questions a mother would ask a son during our lunch.How’s work? How’s Eva? When are you two having children?
Mateo had been a scrappy, orphaned teenager on a path to self-destruction when Desmon took him in and gave him a job. At the time, Elana had lost access to both her children and had beengrieving. It turned out to be a perfect match. She had needed someone to mother. And he had needed someone to care.
The soufflé pancakes were delicious, though they were mostly air, and I’d gone through so many that I felt self-conscious until I realized Mateo was demolishing them faster than Elana could put them on his plate.
“Don’t worry about how much you’re eating,” Elana said. “I’m used to feeding this one here and Desmon. No matter how much you eat, you can’t out-eat a dragon. There’s a whole pile of bacon too.”
“Yeah,” Carly agreed. “There’s a giant griddle in the kitchen. She covered the entire surface with pancakes. Twice. We tried to make a giant one on the third round, but it flopped.”
“They’re really good,” I said.
“They are.” Meera speared another piece of bacon from her plate. “I’ve been to a place in New York that specializes in soufflé pancakes, and these are comparable.”
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Mateo said around a mouthful. “When we closed up your apartment, Eva grabbed a few sets of clothes from your drawers. She thought you might want them. We reused the duffel since we didn’t sense any magic on it, and there were no trackers. I’ll drop it off at Redrock tonight.”
“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful. I kind of feel bad borrowing all of Tansy’s stuff.”
“That’s for the best. You’ll be here for a little longer than expected with this new development,” I said. “We can pick up anything you’re missing.”
“Are you sure we should be out there after that?” Meera looked hesitant, and I hated that she no longer felt safe.
“As long as you stay close to me and we always have a way to get back to the SUV, it should be fine. But I can ask Seth if it’ll mess up his plans if we end up drawing more attention from our ghoul friends.”
I brought my phone out and sent him a text. I didn’t trust him not to pick up the phone in the middle of sex if I called, and I didn’t need to hear him and his mates going at it.
As we finished up our meal, Meera said, “I know this might be an ask, but can I see Om… er, the egg? I know it’s weird, but I feel like I know it, and I want to make sure it’s okay.”
Her question immediately had me thinking of her dream again. I wondered if it had been a mistake not to mention it to Seth when he was here. I made a note to message him later.
Elana immediately brightened. “Of course. You spent so much time with it on the run. A magic bond must’ve formed. I can feel it too now that I’ve spent several days caring for it.”
“Dragon eggs release a pheromone that entices people to care for it. Kind of like how babies are cute, so we don’t abandon them. They aren’t born yet, so they have to use chemicals,” I explained.
“It’s one of the reasons I’m not the one taking care of it in case we have to return it to the rightful owner,” Carly said. “I really don’t want to start a war because I can’t let go of an egg, and Desmon will do anything for me.”
Meera’s mouth formed a cute little O. “That makes so much sense now! The moment I held it in my arms, I knew I had to get it away from Karim.”
“It trusts you.” Elana stood. “Just leave the dishes. A family of brownies moved in, and they don’t like it when I try to help. Claim I’m doing it wrong. So now I have to deal with looking at the mess until lights out.”
Meera looked shocked. “They exist?”
“They do! I haven’t actually seen them, but they do leave me notes often. So now I leave bowls of cream and porridge out for them next to the stove. The last note I got asked for more honey in the porridge. I saved a whole pancake for them, so they should be happy tonight.” Elana looked to Mateo and me. “Why don’t you two catch up, and I’ll take Meera to visit with our little future baby.”
Meera was safe here, so I let her go, and I loaded several more pancakes onto my plate as the ladies stepped out of the dining hall.
