The Platinum Dragon's Mate - Zoe Chant Page 0,37

herself to stay on one side of the room, too, just to keep from going over and sitting right in his lap.

“Um,” she said. “Do you want some tea?”

“Tea sounds lovely,” he said, with obvious gratitude.

It was dumb, but she loved that he liked tea. None of the other men she knew would admit to liking it, because they thought it was girly. Alaric was the only one who was even polite about accepting a cup.

Tea, of course, meant that she had to go outside to heat water over the fire. Fortunately, all the men were still clustered together over at the other side of the camp, which meant that she didn’t have to look them in the eye—or wonder whether she’d done a good enough job washing up. If any of them got a good whiff of her, she was pretty sure the jig would be up.

Part of the jig, at least. The part where they were mates was going to be a little bit more difficult to explain.

Would anyone even believe them? Athena and Santos, probably, right? But the rest—it seemed so coincidental, coming right after Athena’s own discovery.

Although maybe this was just a further sign that their clans were truly meant to unite, rather than fighting one another.

She hoped that was it. She hoped that she could convince everybody that that was it.

Even watched pots did boil eventually, so it was only a few minutes before she was able to escape back inside. Somehow, even that small amount of time was too long to have been away from Reid.

He must have felt the same, because when she came in, he’d gotten up from the table and was pacing back and forth in front of the door. He spun around to look at her when she entered, and probably would have taken her in his arms if she hadn’t held up the boiling kettle as a warning.

Clearly dissatisfied, he subsided, and she went to pour tea for them both, suspecting that he wouldn’t be put off for long.

And sure enough, once the water was in the cups and she’d set the kettle down, he caught her around the waist, dropping kisses on the back of her neck.

Squirming delightfully, Sage said, “We shouldn’t—”

“Why not?” he growled into her ear. “What can we do that we haven’t done already?”

That was a good point, but not quite a perfect one. “Shiloh’s going to come back from sulking at some point,” she said, already a little breathless. “We probably shouldn’t be in bed when he gets here, or we’re going to have some explaining to do.”

Reluctantly, he let her go. “We’re going to have to explain anyway, at some point,” he countered.

“Yes, but I’d rather be in control of how we present it, wouldn’t you?” Sage turned to face him. “My older brother walking in on us naked is not how I’d choose to do it.”

Reid sighed. “Okay. Yes. Does he often come in uninvited?”

Sage nodded. “I’ve never objected, really. I like having a home that’s open to my family when they want to come in.” Most of her family, anyway.

“Huh.” That seemed to give him pause, for some reason. “I’ve never thought about that. I wonder—” He stopped, and she felt a jolt of panic.

After a confused moment, she realized that it wasn’t her panic, it was his. “What? What is it?”

She’d never imagined what feeling someone else’s emotions might be like. It was very strange. She was clearly sensing it from him, and not herself, but it still felt very real.

“I just thought—I want to have a home with you.” He looked, a little wildly, over his shoulder at Rhiannon’s door. “And Rhiannon. Together. We should have a home all together. But—how are we going to negotiate a peace? What are we going to do about the war? I can’t—I don’t know—”

“Hey, hey, calm down,” she said soothingly. “Here. Have some tea.”

He laughed a little, taking the cup from her hand. It still sounded a bit wild. “Sorry. I. I’m not used to being the one who’s overwrought. Usually I’m trying to calm everyone else down.”

Sage was privately of the opinion that Reid worked too hard to be as calm as possible, all the time. It was strange to realize how certain she was of that insight, when she’d only known him for a day, barely. But she was.

Mates. She’d never had any idea what it might be like. When she’d settled down with Eric, she’d given up on whatever