Chapter 4

Grady

Part of me wanted to soak up the sense of accomplishment I felt at having found my mate.

Part of me wanted to soak up the way the magical compulsion had popped like a soap bubble.

Part of me wanted to pat my mate on the head and tell him that I'd keep him safe from his friends.

And part of me wanted to check and see if we were on some kind of show where they put hidden cameras everywhere.

But before I could do any of that, I had to handle my mate's insane friend and get us away from the ancient audience that wasn't even pretending not to stare. "Um, my mate's apology?"

We weren't going to forget that because he seemed like he was trying to sink under the table.

"Thank you." The Daddy who seemed to be in law enforcement didn't even pretend not to be the Dom in their relationship as he turned to the chatty troublemaker.

"Kenzie?" His low tone had the cheerful drama queen sighing.

"I'm sorry, Alick. I forgot my manners because I was very excited for you." He should've stopped there, but he didn't. "And I was excited for Lorne that his idea worked and then I got excited because Carrick hadn't accidentally killed your mate. And then I remembered how hot he is."

The naughty little whose name seemed to be Kenzie would've kept going but his Daddy groaned. "Come on. Let's leave Alick and his mate alone so they can get to know each other better without an audience."

It was a very good plan, so I nodded. "Thank you."

My mate, Alick, waved a hand without looking up. "Thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome." Kenzie's Daddy was trying not to laugh, but that quickly faded as he turned to focus on me.

"Let's get a few things straight. I'm human, but I'm a damned good shot and I could hide your body where no one would ever find it." It was an impressively delivered threat with nearly dead eyes, but he wasn't done and gestured between the two friends. "Their best friend is mated to one of the strongest mages I'm pretty sure has ever existed, and we have enough lunatics in this town that I could get someone to eat you without too many questions."

"Lorne says human shapes are crunchy but I don't think he's eaten anyone." Kenzie's smile said he thought he was being helpful but I wasn't sure what'd given him that idea. "Chomp. Chomp."

Our audience laughed, even the ones who seemed human, but Alick seemed smarter and started shaking his head. "You're not going to eat my mate."

I would hope not.

"I have no plans to do anything that would require you to hide my body." That seemed like the broadest promise I could make and it satisfied the officer. "I also appreciate the privacy to get to know Alick. I've been looking for him for a while."

That actually got my mate to pop his head up.

"I didn't mean to give you a compulsion or hide from you when you got here. I've been feeling weird for the past couple of days, so I kept working to help ignore how anxious I was." His face scrunched up making him look younger than he probably was. "Sorry?"

"I have no idea if anyone needs to apologize." Besides the friend who seemed to have started all of it to begin with, but I decided to sort that out later. "So let's just table that discussion for the time being and get to know one another?"

Alick took a deep breath and sat up, looking like a nervous sub instead of like he wanted to die under the table. "I'd like that."

Well, it was one step in the right direction.

And definitely felt more normal.

"I'm Grady." I held out my hand, giving him the chance to decide if he was going to take it or not.

He did.

When we finally touched, I could feel the bond starting to stir and I knew without a doubt that he was mine. I wasn't sure what he could feel as a human, but his smile brightened and he blushed, which was a good sign to me. "I'm Alick. I'm…I'm glad you're finally here."

"Me too." Ignoring the sighs and awws coming from around us, I nodded toward the door. "Under any other circumstances I would love to have lunch with you, but I'm not sure this will work."

He chuckled as I gestured around the room, relaxing back into the booth. "Yeah, they've had enough gossip for now."

That was one way to look at it.

"I have questions about the local culture." Glancing around at all the nosy expressions, I frowned. "Lots of them, but I'm going to be patient."

Alick was almost giggling, and his laughter sounded like it'd lost some of its grown-up-ness, which made me wonder again if I was reading into things. "I think you've already been really patient."

"Me too." Trying not to overwhelm him if he was inching toward being little in some way, I gestured toward the door. "This is going to sound like we're in a movie that would scare your friend Kenzie, but would you like to go see my van?"

Alick's eyes got wide before he giggled and looked excitedly toward the front of the restaurant. "You're Canadian, so Kenzie says you can't hurt me."

Rolling my eyes got another happy sound from him. "His judgment is…well…I'm going to put that aside for now too."

That got laughs from most of the room.

Clearly, I wasn't the only one who thought that little dragon was interesting.

"Do you really have a van?" Leaning against the table, Alick rested his elbows on it and grinned. "Is it big and white?"

His imagination was going to be an interesting place.

"No, but it is a travel trailer where I can make us lunch or dessert if you've already eaten. Then we could hang out and talk where we have some privacy." That didn't sound too dangerous. "But if you yelled out, we'd be close enough that someone would hear."

"Why would I need to do that?" His face scrunched up again. "You're my mate."

"I wasn't sure how much you knew about what that meant and I didn't want you to be nervous." I was probably being overly cautious but I'd rather be seen as a worrier than scare him. "However, you're right. We might've technically just met but I'm your mate, and I know what that means."

It meant he was mine.

But we were strangers who'd met under the oddest circumstances I'd ever heard of, so we were going to start from the beginning.

Whatever that was going to be.

"I've always wanted a mate." Something not quite grown-up was shining from his eyes, but he didn't lose that innocence as what must've been half the town sighed again like we were adorable.

"Then can I make my mate lunch or a snack?" I held out my hand again, palm up to try to show him I wanted more than a shake this time. "Or dessert?"

And I got another giggle.

"I like dessert but I haven't eaten yet." That told me he was either still big enough to make good decisions or hungry enough that he wanted real food first. "I'd like to have lunch with you."

Pressing his lips together, he inhaled quietly and seemed to be doing his best not to look nervous as he took my hand. "Let's go."

Our audience found that to be adorable as well, but they let me lead him toward the door and no one else threatened to eat me, so I thought we were making progress on several fronts. We even almost made it out the door before they tried to kill Alick again.

"Who's supposed to tell him what a little is?" The ancient-looking man who'd been sitting behind Alick didn't seem to realize quite how loud he was. "He might not know how to internet that."

Alick managed to hold in his groan until we actually left the building, but once we had the tiniest bit of privacy, his free hand came up and covered his face. "Mates are always compatible. Mates are always compatible. Mates are always compatible."

Trying not to laugh, I nodded in case he was peeking and could actually see me. "Yes, they are. I'm glad you know that."

Sighing again, he widened his fingers so I could see he was looking at me. "You know what a little is?"

"Yep." And it seemed like he did as well. "And I know what a Daddy is too."

Alick sighed in relief, but his head fell forward like he was exhausted. "Thank the dragons above."

His dragon-like curse made me question just how human he really was. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem really dragon for a human."

Laughing softly, he shrugged and stood straighter again. He clearly liked what I'd said but I wasn't sure why. "I've lived here all my life and my friends have always been dragons. I understand the human world better than they do, but yeah, I guess I'm not quite your average human."

When he peeked over at me as we approached the trailer, I realized he needed a clearer response about how I was feeling.

"Well, I appreciate that, so please don't change." Aiming for teasing, I sighed. "And I'd rather you understand the culture than think I'm crazy."

Snickering, Alick shook his head. "Nope, the bar for crazy is set really high around here."

"I noticed." My genuinely dry response and the way I rolled my eyes got another laugh from him as I opened the trailer. "I'm not sure what was more interesting, your friend or our audience."

"Both." Grinning, Alick poked his head in the door and looked around curiously. "Kenzie is utterly unique, but so is the way everyone reacts to him."

"Oh yeah." Gesturing for him to go in, I waited until he was comfortable and smiled as he inched in slowly. "I'm not sure what I was expecting when I walked in the restaurant, but that wasn't it."

My goal had been to find the local magical community I could sense and see if they knew what was going on, but the magic pushing at me had definitely affected my common sense.

Alick knew that too.

Pressing his lips together so he wouldn't smile, he aimed for an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry you had to keep following me around. I wasn't avoiding you or trying to make it difficult."

I winked before giving him a stern glare. "I'm not going to tell you how many times I imagined spanking you over the last few days."

It took him a second to get his giggles and little side under control before he even attempted to look innocent. "I'm sorry, but I think that proves you know what a Daddy is."

Laughing, I shook my head and followed him into the trailer. "I do."

Blushing faintly, he seemed pleased with that as he stepped over to the table. "I'm glad."

Me too.

"Door open or closed?" Pointing out how excited I was that he understood the lifestyle seemed a bit pushy, so I tried to get us back on neutral ground since I'd already said more than I should have.

Alick gave me a skeptical look but that seemed to be more about changing the subject than the door. "Closed. But was there a reason you stopped flirting?"

Hmm.

"Dragon answer or polite answer?" That got a chuckle out of him as he sat down.

"Dragon." Looking slightly more confident, he settled back in the small bench and stared up at me. "I've gotten used to either very forthright answers or very weird ones."

Laughing, I glanced toward the restaurant as I closed the door. "Or both."

He was back to grinning again as he nodded. "Yep. But from you, I'd rather have a straight answer. I don't need you to bounce around the subject if I ask a question."

"Because you like it or you know how bad we are at it?" I couldn't resist teasing him and got the cutest eye roll.

"Both." Shaking his head, he looked at ease and like we'd known each other for a long time, not just a handful of minutes. "Dragons are amazingly bad at changing the subject and being subtle. Mages are better."

I had to agree with that. "Yeah, my brother's wife has a lot of mage relatives and they're much better at it than any dragon in town."

He perked up like I'd said something interesting. "My friend Lorne has two mates and one is a mage. It's not really that common around here."

"The two mates part or the mage and dragon part?" Neither made sense, so I waited for his answer.

"The mage and dragon part." Cocking his head, he studied me. "Your expression says that's just a local thing."

Nodding, I answered him as honestly as I could. "I grew up bouncing between Canada and Montana, and there were mixed matings of all types in both areas. Until my brother mated Erin, my family was seen as odd for having mostly dragons on the family tree. I think that's just a the locals around here are weird thing."

Alick was trying not to laugh but his grin gave his thoughts away. "That's highly likely."

Oh yeah.

His neighbors were a special breed of interesting.

"I know I changed the subject accidentally, but let's go back to the original question." Sitting straighter, Alick was so focused on me, I had a feeling his brain was going in circles even though I didn't understand why. "The flirting one, please."

Please because he was polite or did it make his sub side happy?

Did he want his Dom to approve of his manners?

Reward him for being good?

"I can't decide if I want to know what you're thinking." Frowning, he looked like he wanted to wiggle but was stopping himself. "Having a mate is weirder than I expected."

Laughing, I nodded, not bothering to deny it. "But it's going to be better than we expected once we work out the kinks."

A cheeky grin flashed over his face. "I don't want to work them out too much."

Oh yes, mates were always compatible.