Adrian chuckled. It was always like this with Drayce. No matter what his mood was, the man could always make him laugh. Drayce could befriend the grumpiest, meanest person in existence and do it without even breaking a sweat. The guy was simply friendly and outgoing. How could anyone not love Drayce?
Which only made the entire situation with his family—his real, blood relatives—confusing. How could they not love and cherish him? How could they not see him as a critical part of their clan?
He swallowed a sigh and tried to shove those questions down to the dark shadows of his mind. There was a lot about the dragons of the Isle of Stone that he didn’t understand, and probably never would. To this day, he didn’t know if Clan Takahashi was the norm or the exception when it came to dragons. They were nothing like Clan Omari.
And like that, the one person he’d been trying not to think about was rising to the forefront of his mind.
“I’ll admit that I was kind of surprised that Haru didn’t sneak into our party,” Adrian murmured, trying so damn hard to keep his voice casual.
Drayce groaned loudly and gave a shudder. “Thank the gods for that one small miracle.”
That reaction seemed a bit much. Adrian dropped his arms to his lap and frowned. “Why don’t you like him?”
His companion straightened and looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What do you mean? Where’d you get the idea that I don’t like Haru?”
“Well, that reaction for starters.”
Drayce waved him off. He opened his mouth to reply but closed it again and smiled as the server returned. They remained silent as she dropped off their plates and refilled their waters. When they were all good, she slipped away, but Adrian doubted that Drayce even noticed. He was practically dancing in his seat as he took a huge bite out of his sandwich.
“You were saying…” Adrian prompted.
Drayce blinked at him with wide eyes. “What was I saying?” His voice was muffled as he spoke around a mouthful of food.
“Haru.”
“Oh! Yeah, I like Haru. He’s great.” Drayce finished chewing and took another drink of water. “He’s dedicated to his clan, and I think he’d do whatever it took to keep Cael safe.”
“But…”
“He’s fucking crazy.”
Adrian rolled his eyes and fought the urge to smack Drayce on the back of the head. “Yeah, I’ve heard you say that before, but what does that mean? Like, he’s dangerous? Or crazy like he’s going to start arguing with the cheese and wear his underwear on his head while creating his own religion of mushroom worshipers?”
Drayce froze with his sandwich inches from his lips and blinked at Adrian a couple of times. “Wow. Just…wow.”
“Drayce—”
“All right, all right, I get it. No, I don’t think he’s the kind to go cheese-arguing crazy. I mean that he’s got zero impulse control and he’s even more outgoing than I am. Whatever crosses his mind or interests him, he’s going to do. He probably drives Nori insane trying to rein him in. The only good thing is that he’s dedicated to his clan, and that’s got to help hold him in check. He’d never do anything to endanger his clan.”
Adrian shrugged and picked up his club sandwich. “And he’s Cael’s cousin. I doubt he’d do anything to endanger Cael or Cael’s reputation.”
“Yeah, that would be a much grayer area for him compared to clan politics. It would probably be best not to let him run wild right now. You know, considering all that’s happening.”
Okay, so maybe Drayce had an excellent point.
And Clan Leader Omari Nori would keep Haru on the Isle of Stone and out of trouble while Caelan was focused on saving all of Thia. Adrian wasn’t going to be seeing Haru anytime soon.
Something in his chest ached at that thought, and he struggled not to rub at the spot. He took a bite of his sandwich, but he barely tasted it. His mind was filled with midnight-blue eyes and a devilish grin on a pale face.
“At least it’s good to know you don’t think he’s dangerous,” Adrian mumbled.
“Haru?” Drayce snorted with laughter. “Nah, not to anyone who isn’t a threat to the Omari or his family. I bet he’s a total cuddler at heart.” Drayce’s next laugh was cut short, and he stared straight ahead for a second before shuddering. “Well, mostly not dangerous.”
Adrian sighed. He knew he was going to regret asking this. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Oh. Just…” Drayce returned the last few bites of his sandwich to his plate and leaned closer to Adrian, his voice dipping to a whisper. “Dragons tend to be really territorial and violent when they get attached to someone. Kind of possessive and overprotective.”
Adrian gasped loudly and widened his eyes. “No! You don’t say!” Every word ran thick with sarcasm.