Page 18 of Dragon Thief of New York
Otto nods. “Dragons are usually pretty territorial about their mates.”
“I’m not a—oh, I guess I am now.” She leans back from the table. “Fuck, this is weird. Why don’t I feel all possessive and shit?”
I touch her arm again, unable to stop myself. “It’s probably just because…”
“You were his first,” Otto quietly finishes for me. “He’s your mate too.”
The rest of dinner is awkward, with stilted conversation about Lincoln’s school and what we all do for work. Once Ottoshares about the art classes he’s taking at NYU and his design internship, Lincoln perks up and the two of them talk for twenty minutes with little to no input from Kat or me.
After everyone finishes, Lincoln goes off to do homework, while Otto and I do the dishes. Kat doesn’t even protest, which seems strange from the little I know of her. She just pours herself another glass of wine, then sits back at the table and stares out the window.
“Shit, did we break her?” Otto whispers as he hands me a plate to put in the dishwasher.
I just shake my head, unsure what to say or do.
“You could’ve told me you were mated already.” His voice is quiet, but there’s an edge to it. “I thought… I mean, I wanted…”
“Oh.” My eyes widen with realization. “You thought we might be mates?”
Since dragons don’t recognize their mates until both of them are twenty-three, we wouldn’t have known until today—Otto’s birthday.
He blushes and turns away from me. “I hoped, maybe. Before I saw Kat. But it doesn’t matter now. I mean, Kat is… everything.”
“I understand.”
“Linc,” Kat suddenly yells, her voice carrying. “I’m going out. Don’t leave the apartment.”
Her son peeks his head back into the kitchen just as she stands up. “Where?”
“Just out.” She’s already halfway to the door. Otto grabs a towel and hurries to dry his hands before following her.
Lincoln gives me a concerned look. “You’ll watch out for her?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He nods once, then returns to his room as I hurry after Otto and Kat.
“So, where to?” Otto asks as Kat pushes the elevator button. It opens before she answers. A woman pushing a stroller steps out, smiling at Kat.
“Hey Kat, I keep meaning to call you.” The baby in the stroller cries, and the woman leans over to replace the pacifier. “Can Lincoln babysit this weekend? I’ve got a date.”
“I’ll ask him.” Kat steps into the elevator, barely looking at her friend, who replies by giving me a questioning look. I smile, but don’t stop to introduce myself because Kat’s already pushing the button for the elevator to close. She pushes it three times in a row as if the action will make the door close faster.
Otto steps in first, and I follow just before the door shuts.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Otto asks Kat.
“About what? That you made me a dragon without my permission? That I’m now trapped in a relationship I didn’t ask for? That I let a man a decade younger than me eat me out barely two hours after I met him?” The last bit gets an eyebrow raise from me, but she just keeps going. “Or should we talk about how you,” she jabs her finger at my chest, “are my son’sdad!”
She roars the last word, and a blast of fire leaves her mouth. It melts the controls on the elevator, causing it to jerk to a stop, an alarm sounding. The fire singes the hairs on my arm, but I don’t feel any of it. All I hear is the last word echoing in my mind.Dad. Dad. Dad.
“Shit.” Otto pulls Kat into his arms, pressing her face against his chest. No doubt trying to smother any additional flames at the same time as comforting her. His eyes find mine, but I can barely concentrate.
Dad.
The walls feel like they’re spinning and closing in at the same time. A riot of feeling squeezes the breath from my lungs. “H-how do you know?”
She sniffles, shaking her head against Otto’s chest.
