He nodded, sipping his own coffee.
“So, why are you here so fast?” I asked. “Wasn’t the purpose of this to have some time away from here because it wasn’t safe?”
He sighed and placed his coffee cup on the ground.
“I tried, I really did. But I couldn’t stay away. My mind was screaming at me that it wasn’t safe for you or me, for us, not to be together. So I got the shit I needed figured out with the archives, then got back,” he explained.
“What about Mom and Skylar. Farrow?” I asked.
I guess I should’ve thought more about this last night, but I’d been preoccupied.
Now, though, it wasn’t lost on me that they weren’t here.
“I left them in Alaska at the new reserve,” Keifer answered.
My brows rose in response.
“With who?” I asked.
He grinned.
“The boys.”
I laughed.
Derek, Ford, Alaric, Jean Luc, Ian and Dorian were the ‘boys’ he was speaking of.
They were a rough bunch of dragon riders that had formed a tight knit group with Keifer and I.
We were now what you would call a ‘motorcycle club’ in the real world. But in our dragon rider world, they were my brothers.
The men that I would trust with my back…and my mate.
Speaking of my mate, I sensed her before she actually showed in the open doorway.
I turned to stare at the entranceway and smiled when I first caught sight of her.
“What’s with that look on your face…?” Keifer asked. “Oh.”
I watched as Brooklyn, in only one of my t-shirts, walked around the counter and walked straight into my arms, hitting me and making me nearly spill my coffee.
She buried her face into my arm and sighed.
“Good morning,” I rumbled.
“Mornin’,” she murmured.
“You want some coffee?” I asked.
She shook her head instead of answering.
A sound from the doorway had me turning to see Blythe, in much the same state as Brooklyn was in, walking in like she had lead weights tied around her feet.
She walked straight to Keifer and buried her face into his chest.
I shared a look with my brother, one of commiseration and happiness, all jumbled into one.
“So what are you ladies up to today?” I asked.
“I’m taking Brooklyn down to the hospital and introducing her to the staff,” Blythe answered.
“Honey, we don’t have any staff at the hospital yet. Who’re you going to introduce her to?” Keifer asked, sounding confused.
Blythe blushed, burying her face into his chest again without answering.
“You’re going to see Angus,” Keifer guessed.
Ahh, that made sense.
Angus used to be my father’s bonded dragon and had lost a wing trying to protect my father from dying.
He hadn’t been able to do it, and Angus had been a bitter dragon ever since.
Or, at least, he had been until Blythe had come into the picture.
Blythe was carrying a king inside her womb, and the moment she got close enough to Angus, the baby and Angus had bonded.
It’d been a surprise to us all.
That never happened, not even with Keifer.
Angus was a cantankerous old bastard, and the only person that’d been able to get through his thick shell was Blythe.
But I wasn’t so sure that she needed to introduce Brooklyn to Angus just yet.
“Blythe,” I started.
Brooklyn pinched my side.
“Ouch!” I shied away from her touch. “What was that for?” I asked as I rubbed my side to relieve the burn.
“You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do,” she said. “And I want to go meet him. She said he was lonely.”
I tightened my mouth.
“He’s not lonely. He’s a jacka…” Brooklyn covered my mouth.
“Shhh,” she hissed. “Blythe said he could hear really well, and I don’t want him to hear you and eat your face.”
I snorted, sticking my tongue out to lick her hand.
She squealed.
“Ewww,” she said, rubbing her hand down the shirt that was covering her thighs.
I grinned.
“I’ve got to do a little work this morning, and it’ll probably take me into the afternoon if I’m lucky. If I’m not, it’ll be this evening. If not into the night. It’s a new account, though, and I need to do the first part myself before I pass it off to my team,” I said.
Her brows furrowed.
“You have a team?” she asked in confusion.
I grinned.
“Yeah, I do.”
Keifer snorted.
“I think what she’s getting at, bro, is she doesn’t know what exactly you do,” Keifer supplied helpfully.
I frowned.
“I know you own a computer business that does stuff with computers,” she admitted.
I nodded.
“I own a computer business,” I told her.
Keifer and Blythe both snorted this time.
I sighed.
“He owns Dragon Techware,” Keifer supplied.
Brooklyn gasped and turned around, her mouth opened wide.
“But that’s the biggest software company in the world!” she cried.
I grimaced.
“And the government is trying to sue you!” she continued.
“The government is trying to sue you?” Blythe and Keifer asked in unison.
I brought my fists up to my eyes and rubbed as if that’d help with the tiredness.