Page 80 of Brock’s Mate

Emon’s dragon said,

DB just grinned. “That’s okay then. If I can visit. They need their butts whipped at soccer on a regular basis.” He turned to Emon. “So what kind of magic can you teach me? Can I make my own interdimensional country, like yours?”

Emon burst out laughing. “Maybe when you turn eighteen.”

Epilogue

It was Valentine’s Day, and Brock and Desi were finally alone in their suite. They’d gone by the Lynx’s Den for a little while, claiming free Dirty Drinks because they’d met each other during Dirty Speed Dating.

Colt had given a token protest, just to be a dick, but Jaeda had loudly whispered that Brock needed to get laid, for heaven’s sake, and why was he trying to stand in the way of dirty sex?

Not that they needed to be drunk for that. Ever since they’d bonded, they’d barely been managing to keep their hands off each other for five minutes, especially after they got their French Maid and Sexy Butler costumes.

Even when they were interrupted by drones bearing bananas bedazzled with blue glitter and fake aquamarines.

So they’d sneaked out the restroom windows at the bar, and come home for a private celebration. Desi had already opened the chocolate-covered strawberries Brock had gotten her. And the chocolates. And there were dozens of roses and champagne.

Which were not really presents, she had been informed. And the incredible sex they’d just had wasn’t either, apparently.

Brock rolled over and got a small velvet box out of the night table drawer. “This is the real present,” he said. He handed it to her, his eyes full of hope.

She opened it. It was a ring—a pale blue stone surrounded by diamonds. She said, “I thought shifters don’t do engagement rings.”

“We usually don’t,” he said. “We don’t wear a lot of jewelry, because we lose it when we shift. And you and I are already bonded. But since you were raised human, I thought you might like it.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Only—is that an aquamarine?” She looked at him quizzically.

He gave her a crooked grin. “Yeah. I mean, I know technically, it would mean ‘stop’. But, it’s your safe word. Which really means trust. So I thought… it seemed right to me.” He grinned. “Plus, I couldn’t find a jeweler who’d set a banana in an engagement ring.”

Desi’s eyes filled with tears, and she let them spill over. She still wasn’t used to showing her feelings, but she knew it meant a lot to Brock when she did.

“I love it,” she said, throwing herself on him and kissing him. “It’s perfect.”

Then she said, “I have a present for you too. I made it.”

“Really?” He looked absurdly pleased.

“Yes.” She felt suddenly shy. “I hope you like it.”

He opened the box slowly, and she could feel his pleasure inside her, before he even got all the wrapping paper off. Just because she’d made him a gift.

When he took the lid off, he gazed down at the gift, and bit his lips. It was the pendant she’d been making the day he came into the studio. Only once it was finished and glazed with the blue-green glazes he’d admired in the first kintsugi she’d shown him, she’d broken it.

And put it back together with lines of gold.

Now he touched each of the symbols. “Perfection. Innocence. Heroism,” he murmured.

“That’s right,” she said. “It was for you all along.”

“I thought I felt called out.”

She shook her head. “These are the things you used to be, or thought you had to be. And when all that broke you, you felt like you’d let everyone down. That you weren’t you anymore. You weren’t… anyone.”

He felt the sting of tears behind his own eyes. He hadn’t realized she totally got it. Not like this.

Desi went on, “So I made this to remind you that even though those old parts of yourself broke, you’re not broken. You’re even more precious and amazing and magical.”

She’d even put it on elastic, so he could wear it and not worry about Changing. He slipped it around his neck, then pulled her to him and held her close. “I love you so much,” he whispered.