Chapter Seven

Casimir

My breath came out in a smoke ring. That wasn’t the million-dollar question. That wasn’t even the one-hundred-dollar question. The Starscales didn’t even use dollars or money but that wasn’t the question that beat itself into my brain cells. It wasn’t the having a kid thing that scared me. We could barricade the nest somewhere and keep everyone away from it. It wouldn’t be as complicated as it was with Melon’s nest. There would be no --- I shook my head before the thought could finish itself.

The million-dollar question was if I could give him the claiming vows that he deserved. I didn’t need to know Tritus to know if he deserved them or not. I trusted myself – had to trust myself – enough to know that if I chose him, he deserved everything he wanted in this life and every one that followed it. Still, I wasn’t sure I could give him anything he wanted. Well, one thing I could give him easily enough if I planned it out ahead of time and kept his hungry mouth on every part of my body except my shoulder where my claiming gland lived.

“You gotta think that hard about it?” he asked, still standing by the stove.

“Do you want my help with your raging hormones or not?”

“I’m taking that as a yes we can go forward with things. I’m not playing this game. If you’re not ready for another egg you better go down to the pharmacy and grab some condoms,” Tritus said, cutting to the chase.

I beckoned him to me with a wave of my fingers. He made me wait. Damn him. He turned and poked at the potatoes inside the pot before crossing the room slowly. With each step he fiddled with the buttons and ties on his half robes as if his fingers forgot how to undo them.

“Nervous?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral.

Tritus smelled nervous – more nervous than I liked.

“A bit,” he said. “Just because I know something is carved into our destinies doesn’t mean my mere mortal mind trusts it to work out.”

“Come here,” I said, beckoning him closer

When he was near enough, I pulled him onto my lap and undid the fancy almost corset-like string on the back of his half robe.

“Ceremonial robes for a lot of things back home,” I said. “Well, back on Earthside. It’s not home anymore.”

“Because of me?” Tritus arched an uncertain brow. “Don’t do that. If they ever figure out how to get us on the Other World Gateway network, I’ll visit over there. I’m not some sort of weird purist. I’ve read so much about Earthside history that I think I might like to visit someday.”

I grinned at him. There was a lot I could’ve said about Earthside – the good, the bad, the ugly. He wouldn’t have liked it. He wouldn’t have liked knowing that those potatoes cost something per pound, and it wasn’t made up points that only mattered to an algorithm hidden somewhere inside the food council’s hall and that sometimes people went hungry because they couldn’t make enough money even if they worked hard enough. He wouldn’t have liked how Clarence managed to be overbearing and clueless at the same time and he wouldn’t have liked ---

“Okay, I get it. I’d hate it,” he laughed, and my spine went rigid. “Finally picked up a thought from you.”

“Sorry,” I muttered and slid my hands onto his ass, shutting my thoughts back down. Thinking about Earthside too loudly wasn’t an option. There wasn’t anything I could tell him. Fuck, Castor and I hadn’t even spoken about what happened in detail. And Ren? Well, Ren was Ren now, wasn’t she?

“You don’t have to –” I never found out what I didn’t have to do because I kissed him to shut up his questions. I wanted his lips moving soft and supple under mine. His arm wrapped around my shoulders as if he had to hold me in place. I kissed him hard, our tongues moving fast as if battling it out for dominance. He ground down against me and smoke rings came out of our noses at the same time.

I slid a hand to his ass and my earlier suspicions that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath it were confirmed. He squirmed around tugging the fabric out from under him until my hand could slide under it. His breath hitched and he pulled away for a second.

“You al—” I started to ask but he kissed me again as the fabric fell free from his body and pooled around the chair legs.

“Perfect,” he said against my lips in between kisses.

We kissed for a long time to the background music of the chicken sizzling in the oven and the potatoes boiling down soft on the stove, steaming up the room. I ran my hands over his now nude body, exploring my new territory. He was more muscular than the robes at the Star Room let on. He was strong and fit and ground down hard on my dick through my pants.

Something chimed and I silently cursed whatever phone was going off. I pulled Tritus in closer, deepening the kiss, or at least trying to until he pulled away.

“That’s the food timer, mate,” he laughed, nearly tumbling off my lap. I caught him before he hit the floor. “Even if we don’t eat right now, I have to turn it off or we’ll burn down the damn house and if we’re going to have eggs we need the damn house.”

“Go on then,” I patted his ass once I was sure he found his footing.

The age-old question that every dragon had at one time or another struggled to answer danced on the tip of my mate’s tongue: Food or mating first? Before I lured him over the answer would’ve been food. Now, his scrambled thoughts over the group link told me he wasn’t sure.

“It’s not fair that you can listen in on me but not vice versa,” he complained as he set to mashing potatoes and finishing up the dish.

“I’m not trying to listen in on you. You just think loudly.”

“I do not,” he said, his shoulder muscles tensing. “Grab the oven for me, eh?”

“Sure,” I chuckled.

“Don’t laugh. I’m not the only flustered one. I better not be anyway.”

“I have more practice at putting a poker face to work than you,” I shrugged. “I’m not flustered. I’m not even sure I like that word. I’m happy you’re nearby. That’s good enough for me.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Tritus sighed as I grabbed the oven mitt and rescued the food from the oven.

“This smells good and don’t say it like what, mate?”

“Like I’m the asshole.”

“I never said you were. Being horny doesn’t make you anything except horny. I know who the asshole is in this situation. I’m the one who knows the rule book front and backwards and still aren’t playing by the rules. I know that.”

“Put it all back in the oven on the warm setting,” he said to me, pushing the pan of mashed potatoes closer. “Keep it warm but ---”

“But what?” I asked as I put everything away for him.

“Then come here.”

“Right here?” I teased.

I waited for him to roll his eyes or laugh but he didn’t. When I came away from the oven, he pulled me close and nuzzled against my chest. When he gave me enough room, I undid the buttons and the tie and stripped from the waist up. Tritus nuzzled me again. Scales popped up from the friction between our bodies.

“It’s alright,” I whispered to him.

A kinder dragon wouldn’t have shown up to the ball. A kinder dragon would’ve flown off to Starscale 2 or 3 and saved his mate all the terror that would come along with unleashing my past.

“Stop that,” Tritus whispered.

“Stop what?” I asked, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him in close to me.

“I’ll hear you for a second and then you’re gone again.”

“It’s hard to keep control around you,” I reminded him. “My grip on the magic keeps slipping.”

“You can let go when you’re with me.”

“No, I can’t,” I said and kissed the top of his head. “It’s not just you and me in the universe, mate.”

“That would be fun for a few weeks until we ran out of food on our mating moon,” Tritus chuckled.

“Are you ready for me to help your horaginess?” I asked, trying to make him feel better.

“Do you want to?” he asked, looking at me through his lashes.

I cupped his chin and tilted up his face so that I could look at him head on. Everything that was impossible to say lodged itself in my throat. I swallowed hard and kissed Tritus softly. I let it go for a moment but kept hold of the magic that kept me quarantined off from the rest of the flight link.

My free hand slid down his arm until I found his hip. I kept hold of him as our tongues danced between our mouths. Blood pounded in my ears, mimicking the pulse racing through my rock hard cock. Tritus was hard too and slick. So fucking slick by the smell of him.

Still kissing him, I led him back to the table and bent him over it. He swallowed hard and I kissed up and down the back of his neck. Goosebumps gave rise on his flesh and a few spots sprouted up scales giving away the tiny bit of nervousness playing at his mind.

“You good?” I asked, running my hands up and down his back, smoothing away the goosebumps and playing with the edges of his scales.

“Better than good,” he nodded. “Keep doing that.”

“I plan to,” I nodded too even though he couldn’t see me.