Page 97 of Nine-Tenths

"Would she?" he asks, and then sits back on his heels. He’s got such a contented look on his face that I can't help but reach out for his hand. Warmth blooms in the hollow of my throat, and I swallow hard against the tears that threaten. I've cried enough lately. Even if they're happy tears, I'm not in the mood. "Will your Mum be upset that I'm British?"

"You're Canadian now, Marquess Niagara," I remind him. But his question is like a blow to the gut.

Will Mum like Dav?

Yes, I think she'll like the person he is.

Will she be alright with him being a dragon…?

That, I can't answer.

My family has been tentatively happy for me. But I can still hear it, in every phone call, over every text—Are you sure? A dragon? He hasn't been back in weeks, mo leanbh, who's to say with someone like him? They're so different. They're not like us.

Dav cares what my family will think. Before, it always seemed like the wrong time to introduce them. I was being greedy. I wanted to keep Dav to myself, for just a little longer.

And now.

Now it doesn't matter what they think, I realize. There's something both comforting and horrifying about that realization.Liking him won’t change the fact that this is a forever thing.

Doesn't matter what you think, either,a dark little voice says, but I push it aside.

We're not doing this today. Today is going to be good. Just me and Dav reconnecting, and as much sex as I can get him to agree to.

"It'll be okay," I finally answer Dav.

Eventually, I don't add. He might hear it anyway, though.

He flips his hair out of his eyes, and slaps my butt playfully.

"Up, up, come on! The dawn breaks and the world awaits."

"Oh no," I groan and reach for the pillow to block out his sunny cheer. "Mornings suck, I don't care how nice a good morning grind is. No."

"Stay here until I'm out of the shower, then, lazybones," Dav says, and springs toward the extremely self-indulgent, and extremely fancy en suite.

I don't blame the guy. This place was built back when outhouses were still a thing. If I were him, I'd have converted the whole bedroom beside the master suite to a palatial bathroom, too.

Too trained by my morning shifts at Beanevolence to slide back into a doze, I decide I might as well try to get my clothes in order while I wait for my turn. I didn't fold mine like Dav did, and hope I didn't fling my shirt into the fire by accident.

I reach for my phone, still on silent, then I change my mind and leave it on the nightstand. I’m sure Hadi left me a scolding in my texts, and I'm not in the right headspace to deal with it. The rest will just be Mum and the twins checking in.

Nobody knows yet, I realize.

I let a strange dragon whisk me away on her motorcycle, because I was desperate to see Dav. In retrospect, it was pretty stupid. Good thing it actually worked out and I'm not dead in a ditch. Or chained to a wall in her own nest, or something. God only knows what would happen if one dragon decided to take someone that belonged to someone else.

Is that something dragons might do?

Try to take me away? For… reasons? Politics? Petty disagreements? Power plays?

Dav had seemed horrified when I suggested another dragon might try to horn in on his territory in the bedroom. Maybe that goes for the whole thing?

I have no idea what I've gotten myself into.

Right. Clothes. Focus on that.

I findnoclothes on the floor, though.

What I do find is a bathrobe on the back of the door. Dav took his into the bathroom. I saw it. It’s red. This one is hunter green. Which is a color Dav has told me I look good in.

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