Page 44 of Earth-Bound

I turned quickly. She had spoken from right behind me and her teeth were nearer to my exposed throat than I was comfortable with. She grinned at me. Behind her, Arram reached out and clasped a hand around her shoulder and dragged her back so she was pressed against their chest and, thankfully, she seemed content with that arrangement and stayed there.

Over by the door, Anthony shook his head. “I only know a little…”

Dum began to fuss round Anthony, pulling him out a chair and pouring him a cup of tea.

The young witch called Matty put his hands on his hips and glared at Dum. “You realiseI’m your mate, right?”

Dum blinked at him in surprise. “Yeah?”

“So why are you always fussing round Ant instead of me?”

Dum breathed out in a rush, as though he was relieved it wasn’t a more difficult question. If Matty had been glaring at me like that, I wouldn’t be relieved. But Dum just happily waved a hand at Anthony and said, as though it was obvious, “Because Anthony’s adorable.”

“And I’mnotadorable?”

Dum cocked his head and studied his mate, running his eyes over his form. “No, not really. You’re sexy. That’s different.”

Matty pouted. “I guess I can’t get mad at you for saying that. But it would still be nice if you fussed roundmeonce in a while.”

It was Dum’s turn to pout. “I tried that. You hit me round the head with a tray.”

“Oh yeah. I’d forgotten that.” The witch wrapped his arms around Dum’s neck and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Poor baby. Are you ok now?”

The way Dum’s face lit up was incredible. He buried his face in Matty’s neck and inhaled. “I am now.”

With two of the dragons wrapped in their mates’ arms, my feeling of being exposed to predators lessened. It gave me a moment to study Dimpy and Anthony. Anthony was watching me intently and Dimpy was watching him with a small smile on his face.

I raised my eyebrows. “Is there some way I can assist you?”

Anthony blushed again and mumbled, “Just never met an earth spirit before. Didn’t mean to stare.”

Dimpy leaned over and took his hand, stroking his thumb along the slender fingers. Even without being told, it was clear that these two were mates as well. There seemed to be a lot of them about.

Randall, who had been busy behind the counter, decided to come out and take charge. He waved his hands at the lot ofthem. “Sit down, you’re cluttering the place up. That means you too, Dum. Sit next to Matty.”

They all sat, though Dum grumbled something I didn’t hear.

Randall said, “I’ve text Broadmire and he should be here in a moment. Then you can tell us what you found up at the house.” He raised an imperious hand when Dum opened his mouth to speak. “But not before Broadmire gets here. It’s his house. He needs to hear about it, too.”

From the kitchen doorway, Broadmire spoke, making everyone jump.

“Yourhouse, Randall.”

“Ourhouse, Broadmire.”

The troll walked into the room. He sat at the next table over where he could hear everything but not be sat next to the dragons. A little part of me wished I’d done the same.

Then he asked, “So what did you find?”

Everyone turned to look at Anthony.

“Uh, well, there was a lot of, um…” He struggled to find the word he wanted, and settled for, “creepy stuff.”

Matty clucked his tongue. “Which was why I wasn’t going to let you go down there on your own.”

Dum pouted again. “I still don’t know why you wouldn’t let me go with you.”

“Because you touch shit you shouldn’t, Dum.”

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