45. Blaze

Morgan's mate, Lew, twitched his head. I saw that he was a warrior, even if he was smiling and happy now. He looked around automatically and I admired that he was so aware of everything. Alfie had told me all about him, but on the basis he had never actually met the man until ten minutes ago, he'd got all his information from Morgan, and Morgan might be a little… biased.

Apparently he was meant to be some incredible warrior who'd been in the Fife Army. He was also meant to be the most gorgeous man in the world, but already I could see that was total bias on Morgan's part. The curaidh was strong and tall and good-looking, but he just couldn't hold a candle to the kind of vibrance that Alfie had.

Lew scanned the room and, when his eyes reached the door, he jerked back suddenly.

His first instinct was to yank his mate back into his arms, even though Morgan was in the middle of saying something to Alfie at the time. Morgan was cut off mid-sentence as he was practically lifted off his feet and shoved behind Lew.

Lew growled, "Ridire!" with enough alarm in his voice that he would have got everyone's attention, even if they hadn't caught the word.

Instantly, Morgan went tense and Dane and Seren began to growl openly.

Kingsley stayed where he was in the doorway, only he stopped leaning on the door-frame so casually. He stood upright, sensing imminent battle.

Glimmer appeared in the middle of the group suddenly, even though I hadn't seen him go there at all.

He grinned wide as he said, "This is my mate, Kingsley."

"Oh, yeah, of course," said Seren. He shoved forward to stand in front of Lew, who still didn't look like he was going to let Morgan out from behind him for the foreseeable future.

Kingsley said, "I'm not actually a ridire any longer."

Glimmer grinned harder and said, "I told you that you still looked like a ridire."

"I'm not even holding any weapons." He lifted his arms away from his body, as though to demonstrate how unarmed he was. He sounded exasperated.

I could see why. As far as I could tell, he was a perfectly ordinary – albeit physically fit – man in ordinary clothes, lounging in a doorway. Why the dragons all bristled at the sight of him, I couldn't tell.

And it was funny, to see great warriors like Lew and Dane look scared of one human.

On the other hand, I'd seen Kingsley fight, and he was absolutely efficient and merciless. They were probably right to look so wary.

Alfie drew all of their attention.

They might not realise it but they all looked when he spoke. He didn't have to raise his voice to be heard. He commanded everyone in the room, and he didn't even notice.

"Nobody's going to fight. You're not allowed to hurt anyone in the castle. It's- it's a new rule."

I smiled to myself at my sweet mate.

Glimmer slid over to his mate and stood casually beside him. He smiled in the coldly disturbing way I'd come to recognise was deliberate. It was half a threat.

"Kingsley is my mate."

He said it as though it meant so much more, and I understood, I really did. He meant that Kingsley wasn't a danger to anyone, that he deserved respect and trust, and that there would be serious and bloody retribution if anyone tried to harm him.

Again, Alfie spoke. "He's clan."

Glimmer nodded.

And, slowly, the rest nodded as well.

I only just heard Glimmer murmur into Kingsley's ear, "My treasure."

Morgan peeped out at me from inside his mate's arms.

"I don't think Nana knows about Kingsley. Are you really going to create an alliance with the Hoskins clan?"

I might have been imagining it but I thought I saw the same longing in Morgan's eyes that had been in Alfie's when he talked about his brother. They'd missed each other so much. They'd spent their lives together until a year ago, and then Morgan had been snatched away from Alfie.

Lew leaned down and whispered, "Our clan, Morgan. You're a Hoskins now."

Alfie held me tighter but his voice was steady. "I want to. I'd like an alliance."

Glimmer spoke, from where he was leaning against Kingsley. He looked content and smug.

"We already have an alliance. Once you officially reinstate Morgan and Seren into our clan, it means our clans are allied through those matings. Two matings. A doubly-strong alliance. And Lady Hoskins has already consented to the alliance, too, or she wouldn't have allowed four of her clan to enter our territory without her protection. She entrusted them to our care."

Lew said, "Nana said to call her when you're ready to discuss it. She wants to invite you to our territory, too. To cement the alliance. Having the clan elder visit will make it clear to everyone that the alliance is strong."

I frowned as I thought that through. "Why didn't she come here, then?"

Dane gave a cut-off laugh that he tried to turn into a cough. "Well, uh, dragon elders are… territorial. They need to be to protect their clan. If she'd come here with Alfie so new to his role, his dragon might… see that as a threat. An invasion."

"Oh."

Alfie asked, "Will I be alright to visit her? She won't see me as a threat?"

"No, she's been elder a long time. She's imprinted on her clan and her territory and is content with her protections."

"I'd like to stay here for a while and make sure everyone is fine before I leave. Besides, I can't go yet. Rhod and Glenwise haven't come back yet."

Seren pulled a face. "Where did they go?"

Alfie shrugged, but there was tension in the movement. It was bothering him more than he let on. "We don't know."

"Huh. Maybe Nana can help you look for them. She knows loads of people."

"Will she? That would be great!"

Seren nodded. "I'll ask. If you're sure you want them back."

Alfie growled suddenly, and it startled me so much that I looked round at him. Seren held up his hands.

"Alright, alright, if you're sure. I'll ask her when we get back. Okay, tomorrow. Okay, okay, today," he said, as Alfie kept growling. "I suppose the faster they're back, the faster you'll visit our castle."

Morgan peeped out again and said, "I can't wait to show you the beach."

Seren already had his phone out – although actually it looked like he took his mate's phone – and was scrolling through for his elder's number. "Excuse me a moment."

His mate followed him out of the room and I wasn't sure whether he would always do that or whether it was because he had to walk past Kingsley to get out. Not that Kingsley was moving anywhere. He had his arms around Glimmer's waist and was watching us all with interest.

When Seren came back in, he stayed near Glimmer, too.

"Nana says she'll ask around about Rhod and Glenwise. She says it might not be too hard to find two dragons without a clan. That's unusual. Depends if they went together or not."

Alfie squirmed a bit. "They left together."

"She'll call if she finds out anything. And she says you're welcome to visit when you're ready. I could hear Gramps in the background, planning a party to celebrate the alliance. He said it was going to be all our mating parties at once."

I cringed. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that.

Alfie asked, "Uh, do I want to know what a mating party is?"

Seren laughed. "I'll tell you all about it."