21. How To Hilariously Miscommunicate

"I'm expecting a visitor,"Blade said to Joey one evening. "We'll be meeting him in the backyard."

"Right now?" Joey yelped. He was in the middle of getting dressed, wobbling as he tried to shove his foot into his pants.

Blade caught Joey's shoulders to steady him. "Who knows when he'll actually show up? Griff operates on his own schedule."

"Who's Griff, anyway?"

"My older brother. He's... odd." Blade huffed fondly, steering Joey to the bed so he could sit down to put his socks on. "Actually, I was thinking... We could wait in the backyard. I'll shift for Katie."

Joey's heart skipped. It hadn't been long since the attack on the mansion. Blade had gotten a friend to reconstruct the protective barriers around the property, and he'd tilled the earth in the backyard so it didn't look like a battleground anymore.

But Blade had dragged his feet on showing his dragon to Katie, because it would forge a real connection between them.

"Are you sure?" Joey breathed.

"Yeah." Blade kissed Joey's forehead. "I think she deserves to see that she's not the only dragon here. I'm just sorry that I haven't done it sooner."

Joey's heart fluttered. Oh, he loved this man. "Now?"

"Yes." Blade grinned and scooped Joey into his arms. Then he walked into the nursery where Katie was gnawing on a colorful teething toy. "Hey, kiddo."

Katie flung the toy aside, reaching for Blade excitedly.

Blade moved Joey onto one arm, picked Katie up with his other arm, and made his way downstairs into the backyard.

The sun was setting. The sky was all reds and pinks, and Blade had turned on some outdoor lights. Blade handed Katie to Joey; Katie was watching Blade, though. She always seemed to be drawn to Blade, as though she could sense what he was.

Blade shucked his clothes off. Then he shimmered, his body growing, majestic wings sprouting from his back.

Katie watched him wide-eyed. And she shimmered, too, her eyes turning red, her little wings fluttering.

Joey was glad she'd only been wearing diapers, because there was suddenly a tiny purple dragon in his arms, her mouth opening as she breathed sparks at Blade.

Katie growled. Blade grinned and growled back. It was so adorable that Joey handed Katie over, watching them nuzzle each other.

He snapped a picture on his phone. "I never knew why Hong wanted me to watch The Golden Dragon until I saw your dragon form," Joey said dryly. "Then it made all the sense."

"He keeps trying to spill my secrets before I'm ready," Blade grumbled. He cuddled Katie in his forepaws, dragging Joey closer to tuck his snout under Joey's shirt, breathing onto his belly.

This. This was family, and Joey knew it was everything he could possibly want.

"I love you," he blurted.

Blade smiled. "I have been thinking. It's perhaps too soon right now, but someday... Would you like to be bonded to me? We would perform a ceremony. Our lifespans will adjust so we live just as long as each other."

Joey's heart skipped. "Yes, I'm ready for that."

Blade's rumble was low and pleased. He rubbed his snout all over Joey's chest. "Mine."

Katie growled and flicked her tail happily, pouncing on Blade to gnaw at him.

Before they could do much else, a dark shadow swooped in from the sky. Great wings flapped powerfully, and a blue dragon landed in the backyard with a thump.

"Blade," the new dragon roared. "Dad said you have three mates in your possession. Three!"

Blade froze. He exchanged a look with Joey, and frowned at the newcomer. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The dragon stalked forward with a snarl. "You have three mates living with you. All of them with dragonets!"

Blade opened and closed his mouth. The dragon glanced at the mansion and cocked his head, listening. "I hear voices. Are they your other mates?"

Blade curled himself more tightly around Joey and Katie. "I only have one mate," he said blankly. "This is Joey, my mate. Joey, this is my brother Griff."

Griff snorted disbelievingly.

"What I did tell our dads was that Joey and his two friends are staying with me. All three of them have babies. Not all dragonets. So there are three men and three babies here right now."

Griff stared hard at Blade, curving his neck forward. "The other two men are not yours?"

"Wren might be spoken for," Joey said hurriedly. "But I don't know about Quinlan."

"Quinnnlannn," Griff growled, rolling the name over his tongue. "He is here?"

"Yes," Blade said slowly.

"He can bear children?"

Blade hesitated. At that moment, Quinlan strode out of the mansion with his baby in his chest carrier. "Someone said my name?"

"Quinlan," Griff said, leaning forward with his nostrils flared. "You can bear children."

Quinlan shot the blue dragon a wary look. "Yes. What's it to you?"

"I want a mate. You shall be my mate." Griff reached forward, snatching Quinlan into his arms.

"Hey!" Quinlan yelped, kicking. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I am bringing my mate home," Griff rumbled. "Mine."

Joey stared at the dragon in shock.

"Griff," Blade said in warning.

Before anyone could say another word, Griff snapped his wings open and took off into the darkening sky.

"Griff," Blade roared. "That's kidnap!"

"Mine," Griff roared back.

Quinlan's yelling faded into the distance.

"Holy fuck," Blade growled. "I always knew he was off, but not this off."

"What do we do?" Joey yelped.

Blade sighed. "I'll call my dads. They'll deal with him."

He scooped Joey and Katie into his arms, carrying them indoors. He didn't do this often in his dragon form; Joey took the chance to admire how easily Blade moved through the huge doorways and up the grand staircase.

"Will Quinlan be okay?" Joey asked.

"Yeah." Blade sighed. "Griff isn't bad. Just stupid."

He brought them to their bedroom, where he deposited Joey and Katie gently on the bed. While Katie hiccupped flames and clawed at the fireproof bedding, Blade grabbed his phone, tapping on it.

"Dad," Blade said. His hearing was sharp enough that he didn't have to put the call on speaker mode to hear the other end. "Griff kidnapped one of Joey's friends. He said you told him I had three mates. When he found out I only have one, he grabbed Quinlan for himself. And flew off. Baby and all. Yeah. I'll let you handle that. Thanks."

He ended the call, tossing the phone on the bed.

Which turned out to be a bad idea, because Katie grabbed at it immediately, orange sparks falling out of her mouth. Joey snatched the phone out of her hands; she scrunched up her face and whimpered.

"There, there. I'll get you something else to play with," Joey said. "Phones are not toys."

He rocked the little dragon in his arms, careful not to crush her wings. Eventually, Katie began chewing on Joey's shirt.

Blade was watching them, his mouth pulled into a soft smile.

A thought occurred to Joey. "You said your name is Blade because of how well you wield your sword."

"Yes...?"

"But what was your name originally?"

Blade winced. "I don't like it. Benedict."

Joey tried to wrap his head around that. "You look more like a Blade than a Benedict," he said eventually.

Blade grinned. "You think so?"

Joey nodded. Blade clambered onto the bed, folding himself around Joey and Katie.

"Mine," Blade declared.

"Joey,"Blade said in that fondly-exasperated tone. "I thought we agreed on eight carts."

Joey gave an innocent smile. "I thought you meant eight more."

Blade snorted and cupped Joey's nape, dragging him closer. "I'm going to let you get away with it just this once."

They both knew this was not the last time it would happen.

Eleven shopping carts skidded madly around the backyard, narrowly missing each other. They flapped their flaps and squeaked their wheels, and the sight of them filled Joey with so much joy.

He'd named the newcomers, too. Wheel-I-Am had followed them home one day, and Carty Mary was Blade's lure-practice cart from the store. From there, Joey had brought more carts home: Carta Rosa, Cartting Hill, Leonardo DiCartio, Carty McCart, King Carthur, and Carthoven.

"It almost counts as theft," Blade said slyly, squeezing Joey's shoulder.

Joey grinned. "You can always punish me again. Sir."

Blade laughed. He ran his hand over Joey's belly, which was now half the size of a watermelon and growing every single day. "Maybe when we get back."

"You'll be only too happy to punish me, anyway." Joey followed Blade to his car, buckling Katie into her car seat before climbing into the passenger seat.

Blade reached over to rub Joey's belly. He couldn't go long without touching it; their baby was growing, kicking.

Another hard kick came from within. Joey grunted. Blade winced, but he also looked so excited. "Fuck, I wish this wasn't so tough on you," Blade murmured.

"You can make it up by letting me sleep in after the birth," Joey said.

"Of course."

They tangled their fingers over Joey's belly, looking fondly at each other.

Katie kicked and babbled in the backseat. "Wa wa wa!"

Joey's heart warmed. "Hey, Katie. Doing okay?"

She beamed when Joey peered at her. Joey smiled, and Katie blew a spit bubble.

They'd just received the news a few hours ago. The police had tracked down Katie's original kidnappers, who admitted to murdering Katie's parents. It was horrible news. Katie didn't have any extended family, and so she could now be officially adopted by Joey and Blaze.

"I still don't know how to feel about Katie," Joey mumbled.

Blade squeezed his nape. "Her parents were dead long before you found her. There was nothing we could've done to save them. We'll raise Katie as our own, treat her like how her parents would've."

"We will." Joey leaned in to nuzzle him.

They drove to the Cartfalls police HQ, where Blade worked. Joey hadn't been back ever since he'd begun living with Blade; he'd kept out of trouble, so there wasn't any reason for him to visit.

But he remembered the officers who had sneered at him for stealing food months ago, and squirmed.

"It'll be fine," Blade murmured. "If anyone even looks at you the wrong way, tell me."

Joey got out of Blade's car carefully. He scooped Katie out of her car seat, and Blade wrapped a protective arm around his shoulders.

They strode into the building. Uniformed officers bustled from one place to another.

Several officers glanced at Blade first, nodding at him. Then they looked at Joey, and Joey saw the way a handful of officers did a double-take.

Two officers seemed as though they were going to say something, until Blade caught their eye.

"This is my mate," Blade announced, loudly enough that their mouths snapped shut. "I expect every single one of you to treat Joey with respect."

His words were laced with an unvoiced threat: Disrespect him, and you will wish you hadn't.

Joey blushed, his heart fluttering. It didn't help that Blade's power and command went straight to his insides, and he wanted to offer himself to his dragon right then and there.

Blade grinned down at him and steered him into an office. A big one, with glass windows and a door and everything. Blade pulled up a second chair behind the desk, and sat Joey and Katie in it next to him. Joey flushed even hotter. He'd known Blade was kind of high up in the food chain, but he hadn't realized Blade was this high up.

One of Blade's officers came in with a stack of papers.

"Katie's adoption papers," Blade said. "You'll sign them along with me."

Blade sat Katie on his own lap so Joey wouldn't have to struggle with her, since Joey's belly was getting so round.

Then the signing began.

It felt so official, scribbling his name next to Blade's on so many pages. After what felt like a million signatures, the officer took the paperwork away.

Blade turned to Joey with a warm smile. "She's officially ours."

Happiness bloomed in Joey's chest. Blade pressed Katie into Joey's arms and pulled them onto his lap, kissing them both.

"Ours," Joey said, his voice choked with emotion.

"Ours," Blade rumbled, brushing his hands over them to mark them with his scent. Then he rubbed Joey's belly, too, and it felt like everything was right in the world.

When they finally left the police HQ, Blade drew Joey into another kiss. "You're finally ready for my dragon knot," he whispered in Joey's ear. "I want to knot you while there's still space in your belly."

"It's not going to fit," Joey spluttered. He'd seen Blade's fully-shifted dragon cock by now, and he'd helped to stroke it so it unloaded all over him.

But fitting it inside?

Blade's smile was dark and hungry. "I will make sure it fits."