Page 17 of The Manny's Fiery Dragon Bond

When my phone rang, I jumped out of my seat. It was Vlad, one of my advisors and oldest friends. We chatted for a while about the reason he called, some sought-after work advice.

“Is everything all right? Malric, you seem very distracted,” he asked.

“Well, I… I met someone,” I said.

“That’s wonderful. You’ve been alone too long. Who’s the lucky person? Anyone I know?”

“Do you think… could a dragon have two mates?” I asked. I hadn’t expected the words to just tumble out, but there they were. I could trust Vlad to be discreet. He wouldn’t take my question lightly.

I expected him to gently let me know that it was impossible. Yet, his answer was immediate.

“Of course. I mean, it’s not often, obviously, but why wouldn’t a dragon be able to have two? Or any shifter for that matter?” He spoke with complete confidence and matter-of-factly.

“You’re that sure?” I said. “I just assumed I would never find anybody that I could care for as much as I did Chastain.”

“Well, you’ll love them differently, obviously. I can’t begin to even pretend to understand what it would feel like to lose a mate the way you did, but look at Charlisle the paralegal from our southern branch. He has two mates. The three of them are a triad. Why wouldn’t you have two mates? Hundreds of years apart, of course. But why not?”

My stomach dropped like it was hit with a ton of bricks. I knew Charlisle. How had I not pieced that together? Of course, it was possible. The evidence had been there all along.

Why not indeed? I’d been looking at this all wrong.

“Oh, shit. I hadn’t thought about it like that.” If a triad or more of mates was possible, though it was rare, why wouldn’t I have more than one mate a century apart? Never in the past hundred years had it occurred to me that it would be possible. I was too clouded with my grief over my loss that any sort of happiness with another person was unfathomable. “Fuck. Vlad, I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

There was no thinking to it. I had.

“Well, hopefully you haven’t forgotten how to grovel.”

At first, I thought he was teasing me, but he was dead serious. Good thing I never let pride get in my way. I was willing to grovel like it was my superpower.

“Courting rituals have changed over the years, so you might want to brush up on those. But I’m told that flowers are still an acceptable form of apology—not that I would know. I’m perfect and never have any issues with my mate.”

I rolled my eyes at that because I knew it wasn’t true. His mate preferred chocolates over flowers, that was the only reason he never resorted to the fragrant beauties.

“I forgot about your perfection.”

“If only you could be as perfect as me.” He chuckled.

Fuck. There was no way Ollie was ever going to forgive me.

“I have to go. Thanks for calling.” I hung up before I could hear anymore. I had work to do and a lot of it.

Chapter 10

Ollie

Don’tfocusonit,don’t think about it.

Don’t focus on it. Don’t think about it.

Don’t focus on it. Don’t think about it.

That became my mantra for the past two hours since he left. Of course, all I was doing was focusing on it—thinking about it. How could I not? I found my mate and he rejected me. Maybe that was me being dramatic, but he didn’t recognize me, and wasn’t that the same thing?

I changed the sheets in my bedroom, vacuumed, swept, spritzed around a linen-scented room freshener, as if I could wipe the scent of Malric from the house. It was impossible, his scent was everywhere, a sweet torture.

I pretended it was all for the happy couple, who would be returning home today. I didn’t want them to think there was any part of this weekend that was difficult. They deserved their time away.

The children were happy and content, playing on the floor. Thank goodness they eased into their day and hadn’t been too upset about their fathers being gone. I didn’t think I could’ve handled three distressed little ones this morning, not in the way they’d deserve.

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