7. Nicholas

"Of course."

My dragon was ready to mate, thinking Damon wanted it to happen now.

That's why he asked you to stay.

Nope. I'd explain later, but now I needed to be Damon's friend, even though we'd just met.

Maybe I should remind him he hadn't called his brother. He would want him here, and Sandy might be pissed thinking a stranger had comforted Damon instead of him. Thinking selfishly, I preferred to be one-on-one with Damon, me inhaling his intoxicating aroma, him telling me about himself, which might include the whereabouts of his mate, George's alpha father.

"Wow. Thanks." He peered inside the bag at the food. "I haven't eaten since this morning and had no appetite while I was in the waiting room." He pulled out an egg salad sandwich and lifted one slice of bread to study the filling. He sniffed it, and I chuckled, keeping my laughter in check because of George.

"Don't worry. They'd just made them before I scooped them up." Gods, if he got sick at the hospital from a sandwich I'd given him while his son was a patient, that would not be a good omen for our relationship. Mayo was often a culprit in food poisoning incidents.

Perhaps I should take it from him. I didn't want my mate to be throwing up on our first night together.

I rifled around in the bag. "There's roast beef as well."

But Damon took a bite of the egg one and a dollop of mayo nestled in the corner of his mouth.

"You have a little something." I pointed to my mouth. He didn't bother with the paper napkins I'd stuffed in the bag. Instead, he poked out his tongue and captured it with the tip. Gods, that was hot. I was transfixed, unable to move or even blink. My mouth gaped and a little saliva pooled in the corner.

Damon's brow furrowed. "Are you okay? Should I call a nurse?" He waved a hand in front of me, and I snapped out of my trance.

I gulped and a pleasant burning sensation kissed my cheeks. "Sorry… I was just… thinking of something."

He glanced down at his sandwich, the tips of his ears a rosy pink. I pulled out an apple and sank my teeth into it. Damon's head snapped up at the loud crunch from my teething sinking into the flesh and the sweet juice dribbled over my lips and chin.

A tiny smile graced his lips, and he tapped the bottom one. "Now you have a little something something."

I dabbed around my mouth with a napkin, and I noted Damon's gaze fixed on my fingers. My cock took notice, and I placed the bag of food on my lap to hide my hard-on.

George stirred, and Damon leaped to his feet and bent over his son. "Hey, it's Dad, and I'm right here." He waved the egg sandwich in front of George's nose. "I'm eating your favorite."

His son didn't wake, and Damon stroked his cheek and placed his brow on his son's. It was a tender moment between father and son, and I wondered if I should leave. But Damon sat and regaled me with funny George stories.

"He insists our neighborhood is populated by animals; bears, wolves, foxes, who live inside people."

That got my dragon's attention and mine. He can see us?

I suspect it's his vivid imagination.

"He concocts stories about them and how they change from person to animal."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was possible George's alpha dad was a shifter who had never told Damon of his true identity. I could ask Damon some roundabout questions, but as I was pondering what to say, George opened his eyes.

"Daddy?" Poor little guy. His voice was overlaid with fear, but Damon took his son's hand and kissed his cheek.

"Hello, my darling. How do you feel?"

George scrunched up his face. "I have a big owie."

Damon brushed hair off George's forehead. "I know. But you're going to get better, and I'm not going anywhere." He took the boy's hand. "The doctors will give you more medicine for your owie, but if you feel pain, you can give it to me."

"Okay." George yawned, and his attention diverted from his dad to me.

"This is my new friend." Damon introduced us.

George grinned. "Hello, dragon. I'm glad you came to visit." His eyelashes fluttered and closed, and his chest rose up and down slowly as he drifted off to sleep.

"Sorry about that."

Damon sat beside me, his thigh brushing against my own. "Probably the aftereffects of the anesthetic."

"It's fine." I wasn't sure that it was, and my dragon was doing a sniff test, saying he couldn't scent an animal in George.

He may not have one. Some young children talked about their past lives with so much detail that a real person could be identified from their description. But they usually outgrew those observations by age eight. George might've been sensitive to shifters, but in a year or two, he would forget we ever existed.

I finished my apple and handed Damon the bag. While I hoped to stay the rest of the night with him, I needed to think how George's ability to see the real me might affect our relationship—assuming we had one.

"I should shower and change. You have my number if you need anything."

The frown reappeared on Damon's brow. "I do?" He pulled the phone out of his pocket. "How? I only met you a few hours ago."

"You tried to call your brother but got me instead."

Nope, you got it wrong.

Damn, George seeing the real me befuddled me.

"Sorry, you're right." I held up my phone. "Neither of us has each other's number."

There was a silence, followed by a longer silence. Someone trundled past the room wheeling a trolley, but no words were said here. There was only George's gentle breathing. If he didn't say anything, I'd offer to put my number in his phone.

"I would like it. Please." He used face recognition to unlock his device. He nibbled his bottom lip. "Is it silly when we just met to think of you as a friend?" A pink spot appeared on each cheek, and I so wanted to pepper kisses over them.

"Not silly at all." We exchanged numbers, and I hesitated. Did I just wave, shake his hand, or hug?"

Hug. My dragon wasn't confused.

"Can you do something for me, please?" He looked at me through his long dark lashes that were identical to his son's.

"Anything." Perhaps to a human that was a rash offer, but he was my fated mate. I'd lay down my life for him.

"Would you put your arms around me? I need the warmth of another human being."

Human?

I told my dragon to pipe down because we were getting what he, what we both, wanted.

"Yes." I enveloped Damon in a big hug, his heart pounding against my own, his unique scent washing over me. I inhaled the fragrance of his shampoo and studied two tiny freckles on his throat. I longed to sink my teeth into his soft flesh or at least suckle it.

"Thank you." He pulled away. "May I call you some time when George is home?"

"I'll look forward to it." Please let that be genuine and not a fake, "Oh, we must do lunch," when you had no intention of meeting up. "Don't forget to phone your brother."

"I won't."

I backed up toward the door, not wanting to take my eyes off him. He took a step toward me but took hold of a sleeping George's hand as if suddenly remembering why he was here. Damon lifted a hand as a goodbye, and I slipped out the door, feeling as though I'd left a part of me in the room.

Why are we leaving?My dragon wanted to stay and nap on the floor or squeeze in beside George.

We have to let him sit with his feelings.

My beast didn't understand, and I explained Damon had to want us. To miss me. He grumbled as we made our way to the car, but I said we could shift.

I drove home with the window down, the phone on my lap in case Damon called, while the wind ruffled my hair. I had a mate though he didn't know it yet. And there was a missing alpha father to consider and George. It wasn't how I imagined my future, but my folks always said real life was messy, whether you were a human or shifter.

What they didn't say was how messed up it'd get when a shifter and a human got together and there was a young child in the mix.

I miss our mate. My dragon was ready to take his scales and return to the hospital, but I made him promise he had to stay away.

He has to come to us.