“Have you eaten tonight?” I asked while Ambry and Odie chatted about what they wanted on a pizza.
“Not yet but—” Teal started but I wasn’t having it.
“No buts. You stay. Sit on yours,” I said, pointing to the floor on the other side of their cute little circular coffee table.
“I don’t want to int---” he started but I shook my head.
“Please stay,” Odie said a second later. “You saved us from being stuck in the parking lot forever. Not to mention you gave me a ride to work tonight.”
“That’s what family is for,” Teal shrugged.
“Yeah, and to feed you,” Ambry teased.
“Yeah. You can’t have your dragon flying off the handle because he’s hungry. Not just because of these new developments either,” Cobalt pointed out.
“I know,” Teal sighed, gave in, and sat down until the app said the delivery guy arrived downstairs. He was too nice to make some poor delivery driver navigate the steps with the half dozen dragon-sized pizzas we ordered. So, of course, the ever-selfless bastard did it himself and arrived at the apartment hopping on one foot because somewhere along the way he stubbed his toe because he forgot to put his shoes back on before running down there. I tried to look at it but he waved me off muttering about him being the one who went to medical school.
“One of us had to,” Cobalt pointed out as we opened all the pizzas and set them out on every surface that wasn’t currently being sat on. Their living room was cozy. Their sofa was a blue, comfy memory foam model but Cobalt and I could barely sit on it side by side.
“It’s a loveseat, dumbass,” Teal rolled his eyes. “Yes, I had to be the healer because eventually we’re going to have kids. Probably,” he added looking to the omegas. “Probably will have kids and it had to be one of us, so no one ate a doctor. Though, I said it then and I’ll say it now, if you two chose a different doctorfor whatever reason, I’ll survive. After watching how many issues our grandcarrier had finding one, if you have one you like, by all means keep them.”
“No,” Odie shook his head. “I haven’t found a decent one ever. Always shoving the antidepressants. Sorry, those pills aren’t going to chase away real events that actually occurred. Mostly they just make my dreams more vivid and that’s the last thing I need.”
Odie paled when he finished speaking and Cobalt set down his pizza because his fingers trembled again. I bit my lip. It was going to be a long few days. Hell, if we couldn’t find a way to sooth Odie’s anxiety it was going to be a long lifetime.
“It doesn’t count as oversharing with them,” Ambry said. “At least I don’t think so. I think Teal sort of counts as one of them. At least that way.”
“Teal’s the last person who is going to poke fun at someone for talking about trauma. They’d revoke his license and cook him on an open fire or whatever it is the medical profession is doing to exiles these days,” I tried to make a joke.
“It’s more common than you think too,” Teal said, picking up another slice of pizza. “Lots of patients with trauma stop seeing medical professionals in general because the usual approach doesn’t always work. It can be frustrating on both ends but pills don’t solve everything.”
We fell into a long moment of silence. As much as I wanted to keep my full attention on Ambry, I couldn’t help but watch Cobalt out of the corner of my eye as he fed Odie a slice of pizza. The foreign anxiety still buzzed through my brother and I didn’t like it. Out of all of us, I considered him the most unshakeable. Nothing scared him or stopped him from getting what he wanted. The only one whoever got in Cobalt’s way was Cobalt.
“Everything changes now,”my dragon sighed.“Everything has to change. Two new people and their friends and Ambry’sdad. Things change to fit new people. Besides, Cobalt can break someone’s neck or rip their head off just as well even if he’s a little bit anxious.”
Cobalt chuckled but Teal shot me a warning look. That was the problem with being a triplet. Often none of us had privacy inside our heads.
“What are we missing?” Ambry asked, wiggling around on my lap to face me.
I swallowed down a groan as my dick stood up under all his squirming around. He smirked at me but the mischief fled his expression as quickly as it had shown up.
“Nothing, really. My dragon was rambling and Teal didn’t like what he had to say,” I shrugged. “He wasn’t even talking about him.”
“Let’s not start ripping heads off, Clarence,” Teal rolled his eyes.
“But, Medwin, it’s the only way these idiots will learn to listen,” I said, deepening my voice the way our grandsire did whenever he tried to seduce our grandcarrier into seeing things his way.
Everyone laughed and for the moment Odie’s anxiety disappeared.
After dinner Teal insisted on cleaning up and told us that he’d check into other options for our matingmoon just in case we changed our minds. The guesthouse wasn’t out of the question but the thought of our grandparents peeking through the windows to see if we’d exchanged our claiming vows yet wasn’t my idea of a good time. Cobalt and I offered to walk Teal downstairs but he declined the offer and promised to bring back the Wing before heading home.
Ambry yawned and I realized we’d stayed up all night as if it was already the festival. I wasn’t quite ready for bed. Everythinginside me buzzed from the excitement of the night but if science was to be believed omegas needed more sleep than alphas.
“Everyone needs to sleep after being up all night,” Cobalt said aloud.
“Probably,” Odie yawned. “I’m not sure I can, though. Thrashing around the bed and beating everyone up isn’t my idea of fun.”
“You might be too tired to dream,” Ambry said.