Authors: Joyee Flynn
“I’m not fucking leaving you alone with him. You know what you did last time,” he snarled. “You are not to be trusted.”
“What is going on?” Garreck asked, glancing at him before looking back at the dragon. “Why is Dante so pissed and acting like my keeper?”
“Tell him,” he answered when
Austin
looked at him for help. Dante flopped back on the couch across from the bed, ready to intercede if he needed to.
“I shouldn’t have bitten you.”
“It’s okay. I wanted you to,” Garreck replied slowly. “But what was that thing that latched on inside of me? That was kinda scary before I came again and passed out.”
“It was my mating knot,”
Austin
explained, burying his face in the smaller man’s curls. Dante had to give it to the guy. He did seem to feel remorse for what happened. “When I bit you, I claimed you as my mate. That knot extends when dragons have sex with their mates to give our seed a chance to get you pregnant. Our DNA does something to our mates that can change a man’s internal structure so he can give birth to our child.”
“You said you weren’t sure you wanted to keep me,” Garreck said softly after a moment as he pushed off of
Austin
. Dante was shocked when he walked over to him and sat down on the couch. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around Garreck to comfort him. “Why mate with me and try to knock me up if you are not sure you want me?”
“I’ve never had the inkling to bite anyone before. I wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t realize I’d done it until after I had my orgasm and the mating knot came out.”
“So you don’t want to keep me? It was an accident?”
“Yes, it was an accident,”
Austin
said as he stood up. Garreck started to shake against him, and Dante held up a hand to tell the dragon to keep his distance. The large man listened, immediately sitting back down. “It doesn’t mean I don’t want you as my mate, sweetheart. I’ve never wanted to bite someone before, so that tells me a lot. I’m just devastated I did it without your permission. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Yeah, asking me first would have been nice,” Garreck mumbled as he snuggled up against Dante. “Why are you here comforting me? You don’t want me either.”
“We can talk about that later, baby,” he said gently. “Let’s deal with one issue at a time, okay?”
“So what happens now?” Garreck asked after a few minutes of silence. “I’m your mate, and you might have knocked me up. Which I didn’t know was possible, by the way.”
“It’s only with mated dragon shifters, not normal humans.”
Austin
nodded and then rubbed his hands over his face. “What do you want to happen, sweetheart? I’ll do anything you want. Do you want to leave?”
“You’d just get me pregnant and kick me out?” Garreck sniffled, burying his face in Dante’s shirt as he started to shake harder. “I thought you said you wouldn’t make me leave?”
“No, I’m not kicking you out or making you leave,”
Austin
said quickly. He got off the bed, ignoring Dante’s dirty looks and knelt in front of Garreck. “I’m saying I understand if you want to get away from me because of what I’ve done. Dante can take you to one of my other houses, or I can buy you your own house far away from me. Just tell me what you want, sweetheart. I’ll do whatever you want to make this right.”
“Don’t you want me to stay?” Garreck asked, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Why are you immediately talking about me leaving?”
“Yes, I want you to stay,”
Austin
whispered, reaching out to brush away his tears. “I just figured after what I’ve done you’d want to get as far away from me as possible.”
“You said it was an accident, right? You weren’t trying to trap me or knock me up without asking what I wanted first.”
“Yeah, it was an accident, but that doesn’t make it okay.”
“No it doesn’t,” Garreck said with a nod. “But it helps me try to understand what’s going on. If you didn’t mean to do it, I’m not just going to run away from this. I mean, you said you still want me here. But do you want me as your mate or just as an obligation since you fucked up?”
“I want you,”
Austin
whispered and leaned forward to kiss Garreck. Dante found himself getting hard at the sight, not feeling jealous at all. “It’s faster than I would ever have planned, and it wasn’t the way I would have done it if it had been on purpose. But I’ve mated us, sweetheart. I want my mate to stay with me always and to fall in love with you like mates should.”
“Do I have to answer right now?” Garreck asked, glancing at Dante for the answer.
“No, baby. You can take all the time you need,” Dante replied as he ran his hand down Garreck’s back. He glanced over at
Austin
, letting him know that it wasn’t up for debate. When
Austin
nodded in agreement, he felt a little better about the situation. While the dragon fucked up majorly, he was doing everything in his power to fix it. “Would you like to take a nap? Or do you want to just watch a movie and relax?”
“I’d like a nap,” he answered, nodding as he pulled away from
Austin
, moving closer to Dante. “Will you stay with me? I don’t get why you are always around, but you make me feel safe.”
“Whatever you need, baby,” Dante whispered as he helped Garreck stand.
“Do you want me to have dinner sent up here? Or do you think you can stand the sight of me later?”
Austin
asked as they crawled into bed without him.
“We’ll come down for dinner,” Garreck answered as he lay on his side, resting his head on Dante’s shoulder. He looked over Dante to the dragon as he spoke. “I’m going to have questions about all of this and what it means for me. But for now, I just need to process. I’m not going to run or leave with Dante, Austin. I just need to think.”
“That’s much more than I deserve,”
Austin
said, giving a weak smile before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
“What should I do?” Garreck whispered a few minutes after the dragon left. “Will you leave if say I’ll be his mate?”
“No, baby, I’ll never leave you when you need me.”
“Why?”
“That’s another conversation for another time, Garreck.” He sighed, wrapping his arms tighter around the smaller man. “You’ve got enough on your plate right now. Just know that I’ll be here for you no matter what you need or want.”
“It’s like you love me, but you really don’t,” Garreck mumbled with a yawn.
“If only you understand how much I love you,”
Dante thought as sleep pulled them both under. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Garreck. He loved the smaller man so much that he’d pretended to use him for years as his pet to keep the other slaves away. He loved Garreck enough to not be intimate with the confused younger man in that crap hole they were held at. Hell, he’d offered to take the horrid jobs that upset Garreck, no matter what it did to Dante.
He just loved Garreck. And now he was mated to the dragon and might be having his child. But yet, he turned to Dante for comfort. That was a good sign, right?
Chapter 3
“I need you to pick up some pregnancy tests, love,”
Austin
said in the phone a little while after he left the men in bed. He’d called Kelley while she was out running errands. “And whatever someone who’s pregnant might need. I’m sure there are vitamins and stuff for morning sickness if he gets it.”
“
Austin
, what happened?” she asked, her voice laced with concern. “Did you mate with Garreck?”
“Yes,” he choked out, as his eyes started to burn. “I didn’t mean to, Kelley. I did it without his permission. I claimed my mate without realizing it. He’s never going to forgive me.”
“Oh,
Austin
,” she whispered, sounding just as emotional as he felt. “He’ll forgive you. I see a lot of love in that little guy. And he wants you. He was asking me if you were gay, and I could see a wicked gleam in his eye. Just give him time to adjust, okay?”
“How do I make this right?”
“Presents normally work when you fuck up with a loved one.” She chuckled and then clucked her tongue. “What would any normal twenty-one year old want?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted, rubbing his hands over his face. “I want to give him everything. And not just because I mated him, Kelley. From the moment I saw him, I knew I would give him everything he ever wanted, Dante, too.”
“You have feelings for both of them.” She didn’t bother to ask, merely making the statement.
“Yeah and there’s something between them, too. Dante admitted to being in love with Garreck for years, but he’s not acted on it. I don’t know what that all means. And I know we’re all going to have to talk about it later, but what I’ve done comes first.”
“He’s not running away from you though, right? I mean, he’s still there after you talked to him?”
“No, he’s not running. He said he wouldn’t.”
Austin
sighed. “He’s taking a nap with Dante since he feels safe with him.”
“Well, he’s known Dante for a long time,” she hedged. “It makes sense he would seek comfort with someone he knows. But he’s not running,
Austin
. That’s a good sign that you can make this right.”
“You can get a man flowers, right? Maybe I should get him some roses, too.”
“I think that’s a great idea. I’ll stop at the florist on the way home.”
“Thanks, love. What would I ever do without you?”
“You’ll never have to find out.” She snickered and then hung up.
He felt better after talking to his friend. Kelley was right. It was a good sign that Garreck wasn’t running from him. And he’d do whatever it took to make this right and give his mate a great life. To take his mind off of his immediate worries while he thought of a game plan,
Austin
spent the next few hours working.
The next time he looked up at the clock, he realized it was after six and Kelley probably had dinner ready. He stood and stretched before making his way into the kitchen to check on her.
“Finally coming out into the world?” she teased as she put a baking sheet with bread sticks in the oven. “I got them a bunch of clothes, a Wii, and a bunch of games. I figured that would be something every guy would want. I also got three dozen roses and set up for another arrangement to be delivered tomorrow.”
“Yeah, one time of flowers isn’t enough.” He chuckled nervously. Gathering up his courage, he looked his housekeeper in the eye. “Do you think less of me for what I’ve done?”
“God no,
Austin
.” She gasped and threw her arms around him. “You made a mistake, okay? And you’re doing everything you can to make him happy and apologize. You didn’t intentionally hurt him or beat him. There’s a big difference, and I’m proud of you for trying to make this right.”
“Thank you,” he whispered, hugging her back tightly. “Should I go get them for dinner?”
“Yes, it will be ready in about five minutes,” Kelley said as he pushed him to the door. “Now go get your mates so we can feed them. They’re way too skinny, and if Garreck’s pregnant, he needs to eat right.”
He nodded and left, not commenting on the fact she said mates as in plural. It seemed Kelley had already decided he’d be with Dante, too. The idea made him smile, but he didn’t know if it would be a reality. For now, he had to fix things with Garreck and talk to Dante before daydreaming about being mated to them both.
Austin
was just about to knock on the door when he got to Garreck’s room, but froze when he heard the most gorgeous voice singing. He quietly opened the door, peeking his head in. Dante was sitting up in the bed with Garreck’s head in his lap, singing to the smaller man as he ran his fingers through Garreck’s hair. It took him a minute to recognize the song and was shocked when he placed it.