8. Seymour

Chapter 8

Seymour

I grabbed a duffel bag out of the closet and started throwing in enough clothes for a week. The last time I was at the house, my life had been flipped upside down in the very best of ways. This time? I felt like a visitor. It had never been mine-mine, but it sure had felt more like home than this.

And that was because this wasn't my home. Not anymore. Kai, Dante, and Gideon were. They were mine and I was theirs.

I still didn't know what was going to happen between all of us—not really—but they wanted me at their place, and I wanted to be there. That was enough for now.

Earlier, I'd called my cousin to let them know that I'd still be keeping an eye on this place, checking in on it daily, mowing the lawn, all that good stuff. But for the most part, it looked like I was going to be staying elsewhere. They pushed for more information, because of course they did. Part of me wanted to tell them everything, but a huge part of me wasn't ready just yet. I opted to keep things very surface level. There would be time to have the conversation later.

We chatted briefly, but I kept steering the conversation to boring topics like work. I knew that once we scratched the surface, there was so much I didn't know, and I didn't need my cousin waving red flags at me that weren't there. And they would—that was kind of their thing.

Packing didn't take long, and on my way back to the others, I stopped at the clearing where Albie was born for a quick shift. My dragon had wanted to get out and fly around, and I didn't blame him. He'd been feeling trapped, and I'd been keeping him at bay, which was not the norm for us. Usually, if he wanted out, I made sure it happened pretty quickly. But leaving Kai, Albie, Dante, and Gideon had not been an easy thing to do for him, and he was extra antsy. He already considered them his flight. And in a way, they were.

Since I was already out, I might as well take advantage of the nice day and give him what he needed.

I fell back and let my dragon take over. He took his wings, but to my surprise, he didn't fly to our normal spots like I assumed he would. He didn't even burn shit. Nope. He wanted to be where Albie was born.

He circled all around the area where we had been that magical moment, then landed, curling up in the sun and taking a nap. I could've woken him up, pushed him back, and taken over, but if this was what he needed, that was what he was going to get. He was a thousand percent better after his nap, and I was glad that I'd listened to him, despite my desire to be home with my mates.

I felt bad coming in close to dinner time, but the way my mates' faces lit up when I walked in had me feeling less awful about it.

"I stopped to let my dragon take a nap in the sun."

"That's what I did today too—only no dragon—all human," Kai said, "only by ‘in the sun' I mean with the curtains open."

I was glad he'd been able to get some sleep. It was a lot of work growing another being, birthing another person. And there was no solid sleeping with a newborn.

"You'll be proud of me though, Seymour," Kai said. "I saved you the last piece of cake."

I had to admit, the cake was the sweetest thing ever. It made me feel so much more welcome than I had earlier—not that they had ever made me feel excluded. It was me who instilled the feelings of doubt.

"You saved it for me?"

"That's what mates do." Kai's words meant more to me than he could possibly know. He probably hadn't even said it with that intention.

And just like that, there was my open door.

"That's what we are," I said, like it was fact, and it was. Just because we hadn't made a big point of it, didn't mean it wasn't so.

Dante put his arm around me. "It is indeed," he said, welcoming me further.

And Gideon? Gideon being Gideon winked.

It hadn't been the big, in-depth conversation I thought we'd have when the time finally came, but it was enough. They all saw me as theirs, which worked perfectly for me because I saw them as mine.

What our relationship would look like from here, none of us knew, but it would look like something, and that was enough. There was no need to force things into place or make things happen now . There was time for all of that, but what there wouldn't be was time for us to recapture these first few weeks with Albie. He had to be our priority.

"So, am I sharing the cake?" I teased.

"If you want to," Kai said, pushing himself up from the chair he was in. We'd set up a bassinet that had wheels so Albie could be with us in every room. He'd eventually need his own space and to have less clingy parents, but that time wasn't now.

Kai bent down to check on our sleeping baby before he came over and gave me a hug, and not just any hug, a full-on bear hug. I wrapped my arms around him, and he sank into me. My dragon purred. I didn't even know that was possible, but there he was doing it. I'd never seen him so content.

"I needed this," he whispered against my chest.

A few seconds later, four more arms circled us. We held each other, taking in our combined scents and just being together. It was beautiful. It was everything.

This was my flight.

My family.

My home.