The (Not) Satisfied Dragon - Colette Rhodes Page 0,52

not to wake them, giving myself a moment to work through how I was feeling after the past day's events.

Sore. So much for healing magic.

Overwhelmed. I had never allowed myself to think of my mates as a permanent part of my future. Letting myself imagine life with them — not just today or tomorrow, but months, even years in the future — would take some getting used to. Hope fluttered cautiously in my chest at the idea that I'd get to keep them.

Whatever else I had going on, hope was the dominant feeling. I hoped that maybe I could have a normal, happy life with my mates. Well, maybe not normal. I still wanted to run for Council alongside them and push the boundaries of what a gold was expected to do, but maybe I could have a life that wasn't ruled by anger and vengeance. It was more than I ever thought I'd have.

“You're awake,” Ezra mumbled, burying his face in my hair. His voice was thick from sleep and he sounded far younger and more relaxed than he usually did. Something had changed between us. There was a contentment that hadn’t existed before. I felt like we were settled. It made me desperately want to consummate my matings with the others.

“I'm surprised they're all still sleeping,” I breathed, not wanting to wake them up.

“This bed is much more comfortable than the other ones,” he yawned. I hadn't even considered that. The beds in the other rooms were child-sized, they must have all been miserable sleeping in there.

“You're all going to sleep in here now, right?”

“If you want us to,” Seff answered. All of them were rousing, rippling muscles stretching all over the place. Gods.

“How are you feeling beautiful?” Levi asked. I really hoped this urge to scratch him and mark him as mine faded soon. It wasn't fair of me to feel jealous about his past. Was it? I shook my head slightly and Oren's arms tightened around my waist.

“A little sore. I guess my healing magic doesn't work, uh, there.”

“It's intent, remember?” Ezra said, sounding like he was trying to hold back a laugh. “You didn’t intend to heal yourself.”

“Well, that's embarrassing,” I mumbled.

“Don't be embarrassed,” Levi assured me instantly. “I'll run you a bath, it'll help with any soreness”

How do you know that? Did you run her a bath? I almost shot back, biting down on my lip to stop the question blurting out. Ugh. I really didn't want to sit down and have a conversation about this with Levi — it was much easier to ignore it and pretend it wasn't an issue — but maybe I'd have to.

I had a long, leisurely soak in the lavender-scented bath Levi had run for me while my mates prepared an enormous cooked breakfast. If they wanted to pamper me, I wasn't going to object. By the time I'd emerged, dressed in an indigo dress and feeling far more comfortable than I had when I'd woken up, they were setting out an enormous bowl of scrambled eggs, a platter of sausages and bacon, and a stack of sliced bread that was almost as tall as me.

There was a knock on the door just as we sat down to eat, and Hiram groaned dramatically.

“Seriously? I'm starving,” he moaned.

“Then go answer the door and find out what it is they want so we can eat,” Ezra replied lightly, grabbing a slice of bread while Levi piled food onto my plate. The asshole, being so nice to me when I was feeling irrationally furious with him. Hiram left with a pout, eyes fixed longingly on the bacon.

//It's Ilia,// he announced, pulling open the front door and greeting him.

//Invite him in for breakfast,// Ezra replied, chewing on his food. How did they make that look so easy? Aside from the glazed look in their eyes, there was no indication that they were even communicating with each other.

“Want to sit with me? We need more chairs,” Levi asked, giving me a tentative smile. He definitely knew something was bothering me. I awkwardly slid my plate next to Seff's instead, giving Levi an apologetic look. “Fair enough. Can we talk after breakfast?”

Did we have to? Ezra was looking between us with one eyebrow raised from the head of the table, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of it.

“Sure, let's do that.”

Seff moved back so I could sit awkwardly on his thigh, before continuing to eat his breakfast like it wasn't