4. Caspian

Chapter 4

Caspian

D imitri. He was…gorgeous. I was still coming to terms with the fact that my One was an alpha, but I had a feeling I wouldn't mind so much. I had switched more than once with previous partners. It was sort of ingrained in us to want to please our Ones and mates. Did that mean Dimitri would be willing to switch every so often? I slowly shook my head. Why was I even worried about this? We had just met and had barely spoken. All I knew was his name, that his parents were still alive, and his grandfathers were Alpha Sergei and alpha mate Chin. How about that for a family line? I grinned. We would probably have at least one baby dragon. Would he look like Dimitri?

"You are smiling. It is a good thought, then?"

"It is."

"Care to share? Or is it a secret?"

I looked up at Dimitri. "Umm…I can share if you'd like. I'm getting ahead of myself though."

Dimitri glanced at me, then back ahead. "I can wait if you do not feel comfortable with sharing. I will never be upset with you sharing your thoughts or feelings with me though. I might be a dragon alpha, but I do try to be understanding and not impulsive."

"I don't mind sharing. As I said, I was getting ahead of myself."

Dimitri started up a walkway that led to a town house on the end, like he'd mentioned. He opened the door, then stepped back to allow me to enter. "We can discuss any and everything inside. I do not wish for you to remain out in the cold."

I grinned as I passed by. Inside, it was dim, but after the door clicked shut behind us, Dimitri reached beside me and flipped a switch. "Can I take your coat?" he asked.

"Oh, sure." I took it off, handing it to my One. I had every intention of simply using magic to store it elsewhere, but if he wished to take it, I wasn't going to not let him be the gentleman that I knew he most likely was. Dimitri placed it on a hanger that was inside what I discovered was a closet beside the door.

"Would you like something to drink? Perhaps a meal? I would very much like to take you out on a date at some point in the very near future."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't need to be romanced, Dimitri. You're my One, and either of us can fight it all we want, but the end result is going to remain: we will end up mated." I shrugged at his shocked expression. "How old are you?"

"I am just over three hundred. Why?"

"Because I'm about half that, and I'm not exactly a young omega that needs to be reassured or that you have to romance in order to prove something to me. Although I will admit that I am a bit surprised my One is an alpha."

Dimitri stopped, and I halted beside him. "You were expecting to be a sire?"

I shrugged. "I do go both ways, but in the past few decades, it seems as if most of my companions have been either omegas or they are humans that fill that role." Dimitri looked as if he was thinking deeply, and I wanted to reassure him that I wasn't disappointed. "It's not an issue for me. As I said in the bakery, one of us would have to be the carrier. I've honestly never thought it would be me."

"We will discuss that more, then. I cannot carry children, as I do not have that ability."

I nodded, then started thinking about that.

"You know, now I'm thinking."

"What?" Dimitri stopped again.

"I'm wondering if I've always had the pouch to carry children? If we did ultrasounds on a bunch of warlocks, would we discover differences?" This was something I definitely needed to ask the doctor. There was no doubt that I would be seeing one in the near future. "Oh, how long are dragon gestations? Do you know?"

"Ja." Dimitri tugged on my hand and pulled me toward the back of the house. His back room was open and had a cream-colored leather sofa centered in the room, with a light wood coffee table in front of it. There were matching end tables on either side, and both had stacks of books on them.

"Do you like to read?"

"Ja." Dimitri gestured to the sofa. I sat, and he sat right beside me. I stared at him, waiting. He didn't make me wait long. "I do read. I have always loved to read. I spend a lot of my off time flying though."

"I would imagine that brings you a sense of peace."

"It can. Here, it does. I have lived through times that it didn't."

I nodded. We would get there. We had the rest of our very long lives to learn everything about each other.

"Why do you wish to know about dragon gestations? You are a warlock."

"Yes, but since my One isn't another warlock, I will have the gestation length that dragons do." Dimitri winced. That told me dragons had longer gestations, which made sense if you thought about it. "You have one of the longer ones, I take it?"

"Ja. Six months."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I could deal with that. It was technically only six weeks longer than a warlock's gestation, so it wasn't too terrible.

"Well, if I were to mate with another warlock, it would have been four and a half months." I shrugged. "Six months isn't too terrible."

"Ja. I can't help you with that. I can help make you comfortable, but I cannot carry the baby for us, I am sorry."

"You want children?"

"I would like at least one, ja. The number of children is up to you though. I will accept it if you do not wish to have children, but I do not feel that is the case."

I grinned. "No. I want children. I'm the oldest of three. My fathers wanted more, but they were only ever gifted with the three of us. I would like more. I've spent a long time working and saving, and my hope was to not work for some time after I found my One. I'm not asking for you to support me financially. I have more than enough to do that."

Dimitri's brow furrowed. "I have funds. We will have housing here. Or we can go back to Spain. I do not need to be an enforcer. I joined because I was ready for something different, and they needed more enforcers." Dimitri shrugged.

I snorted. "I want to stay here if you are all right with that. I adore Drew and little Flora. I would love it if our children could grow up near Sebastian's. My brothers and I have always been close, and Sebastian leaving has actually been a big adjustment." Unlike Lorenzo, I had the ability to come and visit whenever I got the urge. He had to ask for a lift from either me or our father.

"We can stay here. My family is everywhere. My parents are currently in Australia."

"Do they live there?"

"Ja." Dimitri nodded. "My parents aren't who you would expect."

I grinned and turned to the side to get comfortable. "How so?"

"My mother is English. She is a fox shifter and met my father when she was on a quest to search for her mate. Her name is Mildred, but she goes by Millie."

I couldn't help but smile. "She's really a fox shifter?" The size difference between them must have been drastic.

"Ja. My father was doing the same. He was flying though, and his dragon urged him to land and search the area. He found her, and we have been told he flew home with her on his back."

"Do they still fly together?"

"Not as often as they used to. They are in Sydney. I do not know how they do it."

"We live in Madrid. But my omega father is a Eurasian lynx. He can shift in the condo and does often. The same with Lorenzo. It's not really an issue for me or my sire."

"Do you live with your parents?"

I couldn't help but snort. "Gah, no. Lorenzo and I live in the same condo building but on different floors. Our fathers live on the other side of the city, closer to the firm. We can keep my condo and use it for a vacation home if you'd like. I don't want to get rid of it, but we don't have to spend a lot of time there."

"I have never been to Spain. I would like to visit, maybe move there one day. But the ability to fly every day here has made my dragon happy."

I wanted to keep his dragon happy. If he could shift here, I saw no reason to leave the area. My brother was here, and I had no doubt that at some point, Lorenzo would relocate here as well. I didn't know what that would mean for my parents, but they would have to figure something out. Papa was already unhappy that he was so far away from his only grandchild. When he realized he was going to have another early next year in the same area, I had a feeling Father would be selling the firm and would be joining the council, and they would be relocating here.

"You are smiling. Something has made you happy?"

I focused on Dimitri. "Many things, actually, but yes. I was thinking about my fathers."

"What are they like?"

"My papa is going to love you. His name is Arturo. I was smiling because our father is no doubt going to end up having to decide to sell his law firm. Papa is going to insist on moving here once he realizes his grandchildren are going to all be in this location. There is no way that he's going to stay in Madrid without complaining daily to our father."

"I will move there. We do not need to remain here if that is where makes the most sense. I am not that tied to the council."

I shook my head. "No. You can fly here whenever you wish. You won't be able to do that in Madrid. There are too many people. Even if you don't want to stay with the council, we can remain in this area. There is nothing that says children must stay near their parents, is there?"

Dimitri grinned while shaking his head. "Nyet. I have not lived near my parents for several decades. We visit often, but that is the extent."

I tilted my head. "Are you not close to them?"

Dimitri shrugged. "I have five siblings. We are scattered far. Most are in Russia, but one lives in Australia, and another lives in Canada. They truly are all over."

"Five? So you are number what of six?"

"Four. First is Andrey. He is a dragon. Then Alexander. Also a dragon. Beatrice is a fox shifter, then there is me. The two youngest are twins: Kira and Pyotr. They are both fox shifters."

I couldn't help but smile. "That is a large family. I'm not sure I want quite that many, but I would love at least three, possibly four. I don't think I'll have twins, but I know it can happen if a warlock is mated to a shifter." I shrugged. I would imagine the possibility would be a bit higher since he already had twins in his family, but I was the carrier, and we didn't have twins in ours that I could recall.

"I am happy with one. If you wish for more, I doubt that will be an issue." Dimitri took my hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb again. "I do not mind if you wish to not work. I, too, have funds. Lots of them. Neither of us has to work ever again. I think that is most likely the case with most paranormals once they reach our age?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I work because it gives me something to do. I don't necessarily need to. And for a while now, even before Sebastian found Drew, I was starting to feel as if I wanted to find something else. It can be difficult when you work for your family law firm though. There are certain expectations of you, and they can make things awkward if you start hinting that you wish to leave. Sebastian didn't have any pushback because he was joining the council."

"Your parents cannot keep us apart. It is not allowed."

I snorted. "Trust me when I say there is no chance my father will win against Papa if he so much as makes a complaint. Papa is all about family, and really, so is Father. But we are in the middle of a really large case at the moment, and I'm feeling a bit guilty already about leaving it all to Lorenzo. He will have to pick up what I will no longer be doing."

Dimitri nodded slowly. "Hear me out?" I nodded in return. "You are a warlock. Is it not possible for you to go to Spain during the day and then return here after work?"

I grinned. "I could. I do not wish for that to be expected of me though. It's possible I can do it for a few weeks until things are more settled. But Madrid is eight hours ahead of us. I would have to leave you in the middle of the night unless I waited until lunchtime to go into the office. That might be a possibility. But I'm curious if your dragon would be all right with me so far away?" Wouldn't he be possessive? I thought dragon alphas were supposed to be super possessive and protective of their mates and didn't like for them to be far from them.

"I will be, yes. But it will only be for a short time? You will have a fertile period, no?" I nodded. That was another thing I wasn't really expecting. Well, not to be the one experiencing it. I had thought I would be helping an omega or carrier through it. "You will discover that I am most certainly protective as well as possessive. But I do not see an issue with you being at work for a short time. Will my dragon have problems if you are gone for long? Most likely. But if I remain an enforcer, we will eventually be separated while I am on assignments."

That was true. But Sebastian had said their assignments weren't that long. The longest had only been a few weeks.

"What are you thinking?"

"About Sebastian, actually. He has been on assignments before. I don't think he's been on any since his daughter was born though. He's been busy, and we don't talk nearly as often as we used to."

"Does that upset you?"

I shrugged. "It is simply how life is. He is busy now. He has Drew and Flora. They both take up his time now, and Lorenzo and I only have work and each other when we aren't working. Sometimes we will spend our evenings together trying to relax; others, we are doing our own thing. We are all at different stages in our lives. That's how things work. Same with you and your siblings?"

Dimitri nodded. "Ja. I am not as close to any of mine as you seem to be though. We all love one another a great deal, but we do not talk every day. We are happy with once a month."

I chuckled. "I can understand that. Sebastian moving here was a change to start with. Once he met Drew, that was another. Then Flora arrived." Every event in his life pulled him away a bit. Did that mean we weren't as close? No. It simply meant he had other things that took his time. He still found time to talk to us, but it was understandable that he didn't talk to us every day. "Sebastian makes sure he reaches out every couple of weeks, but it's not always a long phone conversation. Sometimes it's just a text. Lately, it's pictures of Flora. Those really make Papa happy." I couldn't help but wonder how Papa would react to my own child. Granted, I didn't have one yet, and I'd not yet been claimed, but I didn't see that as being too far in the future.

"What do you see happening between us?" Dimitri asked suddenly.

I thought about it a moment before I grinned. "Well, you said you are over three hundred."

He nodded. "Just barely, but yes. What does my age have to do with it? I am not too old for a mate if that is what you are concerned about."

I chuckled while shaking my head. "Not at all. But I would say that you have waited long enough for your mate. You're here, I'm here, and I really don't intend on returning to Spain. I will get my things, sure, but I like the idea of being near my brother and his family. Also being near your grandfathers. And you said you could fly here." Dimitri nodded. "Then I would say that when you are ready, we will figure out how to find our way to the bedroom and see where that takes us."

I had never really thought about it before, but after I said those words, I saw Dimitri's gaze darken.

"We should date."

That wasn't what I was expecting. Not after the way he had been looking at me just seconds before. "Sure. If that is what you need or want. I don't need it though."

"I have little food here. I take most meals at the council or with my family. We will need to date for you to be fed. You will need to eat. It is evening mealtime."

Ah, so that's what he meant. Possibly. "Just so I understand," I said. "Are you saying we should go out to eat? Or are you saying we should wait for a few weeks before we claim each other?"

Dimitri's eyes widened at my question. "Nyet. We need to eat. I will take you on a date, and we will eat. Then we will come back here and discuss things in the bedroom."

I couldn't stop my smile. "Is there really anything to discuss?" I asked. "Although, I should probably ask you where you want your claiming mark. Is there any place on your body that is super sensitive, in a sensual way?"

Dimitri nodded slowly. "Ja. I have several."

I smiled. "Good. You can decide which one you want your claiming mark to be while you take me out to eat somewhere." I gave his hand a squeeze before I stood. "I'm hungry and certainly agree we should eat before we expend more energy."

It took Dimitri only seconds before he was on his feet, once more towering over me. I wasn't so sure about his taller height earlier, but I had to admit I could certainly get used to it. Dimitri looked as if he was going to say something, but instead, he laced our fingers together before he pulled me from the room. It looked like I was going to get not only a meal but a date with my newly discovered One as well. I certainly wasn't going to complain about that.