9. Dum

Chapter 9

Dum

I was in trouble. Matty said, "I know what you've been doing in the castle all morning."

" How did you know?" I asked, and then realised belatedly that I'd sort of confessed. Oops.

"Because I'm magic, Dum."

And he was. Matty was so powerful that even Nana admitted he could be useful to the clan, and she hardly said that about anyone. It made me feel incredibly proud and also, at times like this, a bit frustrated that Matty was so cool and badass. How was I meant to do my thing if he always knew about it and stopped me?

"I was just—" I began to explain, but Matty cut me off.

"You know we're meant to be making an alliance here."

"And we are," I protested.

"No thanks to you."

"I just wanted to see," I muttered.

I'd wanted to know what the ridire would do when provoked. I wanted to know what kind of power he had so we'd know how to protect ourselves from it. I wanted to know whether he was volatile or staid.

It made my flesh creep to have a ridire in our midst and my dragon was going all sorts of crazy feeling protective of everyone . It had been easier to follow the ridire around than to be everywhere at once making sure our family was okay.

Unfortunately, my mate was a magical little genius and he knew about it. He stood before me, his arms folded and his dark eyes glaring at me.

"What were you thinking, Dum?"

From somewhere behind me, I heard Dee's voice, filled with delight at the prospect of me getting told off. Again.

"Yeah, Dum, what were you thinking?"

I twisted round to glare at her. She knew exactly what I'd been thinking because, firstly, she knew me better than I knew myself and always knew what I was doing and, secondly, this particular plan had been her idea.

She gave me a big grin, filled with teeth, and I turned back to my mate.

"I just wanted to see what the ridire would do, that's all."

Matty said, "He's not a ridire any longer."

"Yeah Dum," said Dee, unhelpfully. Traitor.

"He kind of is, though, right?"

"No, he isn't."

"But he is! He was trained by them. He uses ridire magic. I wanted to know whether we could stop him if he attacked us. Doesn't it make your skin crawl to have a dragon-hunter in our castle?"

To my surprise, instead of yelling at me, which is what Matty was great at, he stopped.

Hey, there were absolutely loads of things Matty was great at and one of them happened to be yelling at me. I never minded, since he looked so good doing it and I knew he did it out of love.

Some people never got that. Some people never understood that the reason Dee and I snuck around and poked and prodded people and touched things we shouldn't and fought people who were stronger than us is because we loved our family. We'd do anything to keep them safe. And sometimes we had to poke the bear to see how hard its bite was.

Matty understood that. And I understood him.

He worried about me. Okay, sometimes he thought I was reckless and maybe he wasn't wrong, per se , but he wanted to keep me safe, which was very sweet of him.

I smiled at him, filled with love for my mate and basking in the care he showed for me.

He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"You'd better not try it again. I know you like to think you can beat anyone but I seriously don't back you against a golden dragon. Ant's going nuts about that. He says they're practically myths, they're that rare and powerful."

I pouted. And if it drew my mate's attention to my lips, then who was I to complain?

"I don't know why the ridire had to come into our territory, that's all."

Matty closed the distance between us and put his hands on my hips. My nerves jangled at the contact. I still wasn't used to the feeling of my mate's hands on me. It was the best feeling ever .

"Dum, he's not a ridire . I don't want you to say that he is."

"But—" I began.

"He's not one of them any longer. He left them because he doesn't agree with what they were doing. You can't say he's still one of them because he was part of their coven once and he did things he's ashamed of."

A snarl ripped its way out of my throat and I pushed myself closer to Matty.

"Nobody's blaming you, Matty. Nobody thinks badly of you ."

I cursed myself for being too stupid to see what I should have seen before. My sweet little mate saw himself in that ridire .

No, I reminded myself, not a ridire . Kingsley.

Matty saw himself in Kingsley. Tricked into doing things he didn't want to. Brave enough to stand up to them. Strong enough to walk away.

Matty's voice was soft, which I loved and hated. I loved it because he so rarely showed that soft, vulnerable side of himself and I always felt special when he showed it with me. It meant he trusted me, trusted me to keep him safe and value him just as highly even when he showed weakness .

I hated it because I didn't want him to feel weak or unworthy, even for a second.

"I know," he said. "But I can't change my past and Kingsley can't change his. We both made our choices."

"And you got the best mates," I reminded him.

He snorted. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me, Dum. I was trying to have a moment here."

I'd ruined that moment, of course, but I'd done it deliberately. Matty's voice was stronger again and there was a strain of amusement running through it.

I slid my hands down his back to his taught little ass and squeezed.

"Do you want to have a moment in our bedroom?"

"Is that all you think about?"

I considered, breathing in his scent while I did so.

"Not all I think about. But you have been cock-teasing me all day by looking all stern and annoyed."

"Is that what does it for you, huh? "

"No, I'm just saying that you have looked all stern and annoyed all day. And you're hot. Maybe the two are unconnected."

The two were connected. He'd been looking pissed-off and protective of his brother, and that always made me hard. No idea why. But I was hoping Matty would drag me back to our room and ride me until I thought I'd die of pleasure.

To my delight – and, I admit, my surprise – he did just that.