“Are you our sister’s mate?”
“Are you nice or mean?”
“Are you a good boyfriend?”
“We’ll beat you up.”
“Yeah, we’ll beat you up.”
“Only if you make her cry, though.” Caleb was the voice of reason between the three of them, and all of the kids agreed. They circled Christopher, giving him dirty looks, but the dragon seemed unbothered with this dramatic turn of events.
“I promise I won’t make your sister cry,” he said. He looked up at Allison when he said this. “And yes, she is my mate.”
Allison smiled, grinning at him.
Mate.
It was such a powerful word for such an incredible thing, and she couldn’t quite believe that she’d been lucky enough to find that with Christopher. She’d managed to find someone who would love her, adore her, and care for her, and she was going to love him right back.
“I’m happy to hear that,” Allison’s mom said. She smiled at Christopher and then turned to Steven. “I do say, it reminds me of when you and I realized we were mates.”
“That was a fun time,” Steven’s eyes twinkled, and the couple turned to hear back inside. Yvette and the little dragonlings followed, and Allison walked slowly over to Christopher.
“So,” she said.
“So.”
“Mates, huh?” Allison wiggled her eyebrows happily, goofily, and Christopher just laughed.
“Mates,” he promised, and he kissed her.
Allison knew that the future was bright and that their road was going to be wonderful. Christopher was an incredible man, dragon or not, and she couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life loving him. Now and forever, she was his.
BRIAN STOOD IN HIS office and walked to the window that overlooked the city. Oh, it was beautiful, but he couldn’t relax. He couldn’t calm himself down enough to enjoy what he was seeing. That had always been his problem, hadn’t it? He’d always considered himself to be the big brother of the group. That was stupid since they were triplets. They were literally all the same age. Still, he’d felt a sort of pressure to perform.
He’d always felt like it was his job to make sure that everyone else was okay. Recently, it seemed like that was all he did. He took pride in the fact that he cared for his brothers, but now he wondered what cost it had been at.
Declan and Christopher were both very happy with their mates. Zoa was incredible, and she’d been a wonderful asset to their company. Her accounting skills truly were fantastic. Christopher’s mate was a sweetheart, too. The fact that they all worked together hadn’t been detrimental to the company at all. In fact, it had seemed to make the organization flow even more smoothly.
Now, as Brian looked out of the window, he wondered whether or not things were ever going to look up for him. He was a busy man. He was too busy to find a mate. He always had been.
His phone rang, and he reached for it. He didn’t bother looking to see who was calling. He simply swiped his finger across the front and answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” the voice on the other end of the line was smooth and sultry. Instantly, he pulled the phone back to see who was calling him, but the number was blocked. Weird.
“Can I help you?” Brian asked, all business. It was late for someone to be calling him with a work-related issue, but it wasn’t unheard of.
“Actually, that’s what I’m calling about. I hope that you can. My name is Winter, and I’m a writer with Dragons Daily.”
“The tabloid?” Brian was irritated. Why the hell would a tabloid writer call him on his private line? A better question would be how she even got his number in the first place.
“No, that’s Dragonette Daily,” the woman said calmly. “It’s a common mistake. Don’t worry.”
He wasn’t worried, and the idea that he might be worried was a bit grating. Who the hell was this woman? Why did she want to interview him?
“Dragons Daily is a nationwide newspaper for shifters.”