Greg… Dragofin Lair, Greg’s Nest

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“I can’t believe all this is down here.” She rolled over onto her stomach and propped up on his chest. “How many other secrets are you tucking away from me, Gryphon?”

He liked how relaxed they were. After video conferencing his parents to meet Zia and tell them of their pregnancy, a bond-strengthening night of lovemaking, and the best sleep he’d had in ages, Greg was in the right mood for anything.

His parents had fallen in instant love with Zia, and his mother had cried with joy over the news. With his parents notified and their blessing given, Greg found that he felt settled with the fact that he had a family of his own.

Zia drew little circles on his chest as she watched him.

“Did you hear what I said?”

He wouldn’t lie. “I did, but my mind drifted to how happy my parents were last night and how excited I am that we’re a family.”

“Your parents are wonderful. I can’t believe how much you all look like your dad. Your parents look like they’re our age.”

“Yeah, don’t like his looks fool you though. He had been around a long time before he mated with my mother. I don’t think he’ll ever slow down though. He still does occasional Guardian Warrior tours when my mother needs a break from him around the nest.”

“That’s funny. See you do have so many secrets. Who knew you had the best parents? I need to know now, Gryphon, what other secrets do you have up your sleeves?”

“This nest was never a secret to you. I just never got around to bringing you down here until now. Don’t forget; you can make alterations as you see fit.” He said eyeing the minimalist space. “I know it’s bare bones, especially compared to what Quinn and Wren have done with their areas. I never had the drive to make it more than functional—until now.”

“You’re going to get jumped again if you don’t stop being so wonderful, mate.” He loved how she called him ‘mate.’ “This bed is so comfortable, I don’t want to get out of it, and it has everything we need.”

“But I want you to make it yours. I believe that may be why I purposely left it as much of a blank slate as I did. I was waiting for you.”

“She pointed to her heart. “Aw, you get me right here.”

Zia was about to say something else when a chirping sound interrupted. She looked at him as if surprised.

He raised his hands in surrender. “It’s not my phone. The only person who would be calling me right now is in bed with me.” The phone chirped again. By the way she stalled he knew this call must be from her mother. “Zia, answer the call or I will.”

She blew a raspberry and scrambled over to her bag to fish out her phone. Instead of leaving, he stayed put and closed his eyes to give her a little bit of privacy and to grab the last few minutes of rest before they needed to go upstairs to meet Miss Connie and the Triplets.

Zia took in a deep breath, answered the phone and grew silent.

“No, Mami, I’m fine. I got caught up in things, that’s all.”

He didn’t like the immediate hike in her stress levels as she spoke. Greg wouldn’t interfere, but Zia had to work out her lingering issues with her mother. Soon, she was to be a mother, and the tension he heard was some major unfinished business his mate needed to resolve.

“I need to tell you something. What—no—not about Jeremy. It’s about my… fiancé.”

Greg cocked an eye open at that in the to see his mate pull the phone from her ear. He heard machine-gun fast Spanish barreling through the receiver.

“Mami, Mami, hold up. Why are you so amped up? Ever since I came back to Atlanta, you’ve been beside yourself. This isn’t like you.”

Greg heard more talking as Zia, made faces.

“Slow down. I can’t understand you. You’re speaking Spanish too fast. Uh-huh, you know what? I’m going to put you on speaker phone so that you can say hello to my guy. His name is Greg… I said, Greg. Um-hum that’s right.”

Greg shot up on the bed, put on the spot as she pressed the speaker icon and flashed him a devious smile.

“Where does this Greg live?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just say a quick hello—in English.”

“Zia, stop trying to get me off the phone with this game.“

Zia poked Greg in the side and motioned for him to say something. He didn’t want to meet her mother like this and shook his head no.

“Zia, I know you hear me. We’re done playing around with you. Where are you?”

Greg sent a boost of power to his mate to make it through this exchange. Her mother was intense. Zia remained silent, and he didn’t encourage her to do anything outside of what she felt like doing. Something about the woman’s energy was off and… antagonistic.

“Fine, be like that. I called to let you know that your father and I are here, in Atlanta.”

This time, Zia grabbed the phone and looked at it as if the thing were a rare object of hideous repute.

“If you’re going to stare and not speak, I want you to know that your father and I are worried sick about you. Since you won’t come to us, we’ve come to you. Please, Zia, meet us today for a session with your therapist. She’s in town and has agreed to do a session with us as a family. Please. You haven’t been yourself since your ordeal. You won’t talk about it, and now you make up stories about an imaginary fiancé and refuse to see Jeremy when all he’s done is try to help.” Greg listened as Zia continued to hold the phone frozen.

More was going on than he could have imagined. Zia checked out as if she’d flown away to another place more interesting than here as her mother spoke. The last thing he wanted to do was add to her issues, but he wanted whatever this was between her and her mother to be healed. If not for her then for their child.

He swallowed and spoke. “Hello, Mrs. Carter. My name is Greg, and I’m very much real.”

“Well! I-I don’t know what to say,” her mother stammered. “Why haven’t I ever heard my daughter mention you?” Her words were laced with suspicion.

“Because of this, Mami,” Zia said. “You make it hard for me to share my life with you. I am fine. I came back to Atlanta to see if Greg and I could make it work. We have and so there.”

“There what?”

“I’m here to stay.” Zia looked at Greg. Her non-verbal communication screamed of support. “I live here with Greg now.”

“You what? How do you know that so soon? It’s been less than a week.”

“I know, and you’ve hunted me down to make me do what you want. I’m here, and I’m happy.”

“Where do you live now? We could stop by.”

“No, and this is why I didn’t call you. I wanted to have some peace for just a little while before I dealt with this.”

“What do you mean, this? I’m your mother, not some piece of pesky trash. Zia, I came to Atlanta because I’m concerned about you. You’ve not been yourself for a while. First, you come home with severe scars that you don’t want to talk about. Then, the nightmares start, and you fight me tooth and nail about seeking help. Then you run back here only to disappear. Now, you expect me to believe that you’ve had this serious relationship all this time and that you’re staying here and getting married. Please, excuse me if I don’t buy what you’re selling. Zia, this is all a cry for help.”

“Stop it. Please, stop talking.” Zia threw the phone down onto the bed. “I’ve tried to be everything you wanted in a daughter only to fail each time. I’m finally happy, and you can’t stand it. You need to keep me close so you can smother the life and joy out of me.” Zia’s energy screamed as it forged forward. Greg debated interceding before she said something she’d regret.

He opened his mouth to ask her to breathe when Zia held up a finger.

“I’m good, baby. I know what I want and how I’m asking for it. Do you hear that Mom, I have someone who listens to me and doesn’t try to correct me to do what he wants all the time.”

Greg could hear the woman on the line sniffling. This was hard to endure, but he had to tread lightly through this minefield. Make one wrong move, and he’d do irreparable damage.

Instead of speaking he determined to be Zia’s support. Greg sat up and propped himself against the support of the wall behind. When he reached for Zia, she willingly came to rest in his arms. To seal the idea of his silent support, Greg brushed her lips with his and began to rub her arm with light strokes.

Tension ebbed away.

Zia’s mother continued to sniffle a few more minutes as Zia held the phone and waited. He tuned in to her as much as possible to gather that this was something her mother did. Zia would wait the woman out as not to become enthralled in her emotional cage.

Smart mate. After, when the time was right, they’d have some frank conversations about emotional entanglement. Greg refused to deny his mate all the tools he possessed to stay healthy and emotionally free to be herself.

Finally, her mother spoke. “Zia, I believe you, and I’m happy for you too. Would you please do me one favor, though?”

Zia looked up at him as she answered, “What’s that?’

“Would you please come to Dr. Rosario’s at 1:30 this afternoon? We’ve come all this way. Your father and I would like to have at least the opportunity to make peace with you. I don’t know what I can do to show you how much I love you, but at least allow me to try, please.”

Quicker than Greg expected, Zia had a reply. “I’m not alone as you can tell. I need to discuss this with my mate as our day was already planned. Let me call you back in a little while. Right now I have an appointment I need to get ready for.”

Her mother wouldn’t fold easy. “How about this… I text you the address and details, and you treat it as a late lunch. I’m sure your fiancé isn’t that overbearing that he would keep you from spending one hour with your parents who’ve come to town specifically to see you. Isn’t that right, Greg,” she said.

Zia shook her head for Greg to remain silent.

“Mom, I’m not going to make any promises. Like I said, my day was already planned. How about this instead, I call you back after I’ve spoken with Greg and we know what the rest of our day looks like. Or better yet, since you came to town, your schedule is a little more flexible. We can meet you for a meal tomorrow when we’ve had time to make plans. Yes, that sounds better. As for meeting with Dr. Rosario, you all have fun. I’m not interested in seeing her with or without you all, but please send my best.”

“But, mi hija, we had to pull a lot of strings to get this appointment.”

“I’m sure you did for how much she costs per hour. You made this appointment without my consent to be a part of it. I’m not sure how you got Dad to agree to this, but I’m sure there are many things you two can discuss without bringing me into the mix for your session.”

Greg got a neural link request from Lucien and took it as a reprieve from Zia’s mother’s pleas.

“Yeah, what’s up?” he asked when Lucien came through.

“You two lovebirds forgot you have an appointment with Miss Connie? She and the Triplets have been here for fifteen minutes already. Quinn took them up to the fifth floor. Let me know how much longer you’ll be before you make it up there.”

“Hold on, Zia’s talking to her mother. Not sure how much longer, give me a moment to get an ETA.”

Greg looked over at his mate and pointed to his head.

Instead of her miming a response, she asked, “What’s up?”

He went with the flow and said, “That was Luc. Our appointment is here. They’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes. He wants to know how much longer we’ll be.”

Zia smiled and said, “Mom, you hear that? My day has started. I’m late for a previously scheduled appointment. You and Dad have fun with the therapist today. Greg and I will try to catch-up with you tomorrow for dinner or something. How about you make a day out of it. Go check out the cool stuff to do downtown. It’s about time you and Dad did something that was just the two of you.”

Her mother stumbled to get her words out as Zia began to close the call down.

“Zia, please try to come. Please.”

“Bye, Mami, talk with you later. I’m super late. Got to go.”

Greg watched in disbelief as she clicked the disconnect button. It took a moment for him to process what she’d done.

“You hung up on your mother.”

“No, I saved myself from days of depression by doing what I needed to keep control of my life. Ever since I came back to Atlanta, my mother has been on twenty. She wears me out. To stay on the phone with her would have been a back and forth until she beat me into going to that intervention she had planned at my therapist today.”

“You think it was an intervention?”

“I know it was. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tricked Jeremy into showing up and trying to force me to be with him for my own good as she would have tried to spin it. You see how she didn’t want to believe you existed.”

“That might have been because you never mentioned me.”

“And have her trying to hire a detective to find out everything she could about you? Absolutely not.”

“Well, Lucien is still waiting. How long do you think it’ll take you to get ready?”

“Oh, yeah. What are these Triplets like? Should I dress business casual?”

That question threw him. What did Greg care about what she wore?

“I honestly don’t know how to answer that. The Triplets are friends. You can wear whatever you want.”

“Yes, but will they be dressed up or what?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it does.”

“Why, Zia?”

“Because, Greg, it matters to women. I don’t want to show up in sweats when they’re in dresses. It’ll look bad. First impressions are lasting.”

Now he was thoroughly confused with the way the conversation was going.

“Zia, they work as researchers in a lab at the University. I’ve seen them in jeans and sweatshirts when they’ve come over before.”

“Okay, that’s all you needed to say.”

“All right, I guess.” He had to stay on topic though. “Zia, now that you know what to wear, how long should I tell Lucien to entertain them before we get up there?”

She was already out of bed rummaging through the suitcases he’d brought down here last night. “Tell him we’ll be there in a half-hour.” She tossed over her shoulder.

Greg thought that was more than long enough for his mate to get dressed. “Hey Luc, sorry for the delay. Zia says to please ask them to wait for thirty minutes to give her time to get dressed. Do they have the time?”

Lucien said, “Yes, but maybe you ought to hurry her along. That will have been forty-five minutes. They came here to help us. I don’t want to take advantage of their time. Today is a work day for them.”

“I understand. If need be, I’ll help her get dressed.”

“No, that could lead to more delays if you two aren’t strong. Just hurry and get here as soon as you can. I know you need to be the good mate and not leave her to come alone, but do what you can.”

“I will, but she needs to decompress from that call she just had. I’m not going to go into detail, but it was intense.”

“Okay, I’ll keep them entertained. Sorry about how your morning started. Just want to ask, did this have anything to do with her telling her mother about being pregnant?”

Greg wanted to facepalm.

“No, that never even came up. I don’t want to think about how that conversation will go.” He looked around to see that his mate had turned on the shower in the other room. “Luc, I want you to know that you’re blessed not to have in-laws.”

“Told you.”

“Yes, you did. Let me get a move on. See you soon.”

Greg ended the neural link and grabbed a set of clean clothes. He went to the other bathroom on the other side of the nest to shower. When the hot water hit his skin, Greg replayed Zia’s call with her mother.

Something about that intervention didn’t sit right with him. Maybe Zia should try to meet with her parents today, away from a mediating therapist? After this meeting, he’d try to talk to her about seeing her parents.

That kind of family stress couldn’t be good for her and certainly not their babe. He wanted to support her, but Greg also wanted to have a healthy environment for their child to thrive and grow.

Zia’s contentious relationship with her parents needed to be resolved. If he could remove the feel of her walking into an ambush—that thought stopped him cold.

That was what it felt like for her and him. Her parent’s intentions might not be that, but it was an ambush all the same.

He finished his shower as his mind worked on the way to bridge the gap between his mate and her parents. No, scratch that, her relationship with her mother.

As he walked out of the bathroom clothed and ready to escort Zia up to the fifth floor, Greg considered how he’d need to approach this.

“Hey baby, you ready?” She called out as he neared their bedroom.

“Yes, I’m ready—”

Zia was dressed in a pair of slacks, nice blouse, and sensible flats, yet she looked professional and put together.

“What?” Do I look stupid in this? I haven’t worn regular clothes since before I opened the bakery. I know the clothes are a little dated, but I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends.”

He walked up to her and embraced his mate.

“Oh, love of mine, you could never embarrass me. You look wonderful—no matter what you wear.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Now, we have ten minutes to get upstairs.”

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to climb five flights of stairs that fast.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll carry you if you need me to.”

“Deal.”

Her phone chimed with an incoming message. Zia looked at the face of the phone, pressed a button to open it, and showed it to Greg. He focused on seeing the text message was from her mother—with an address and a note that said she’d see Zia today at 1:30 by herself.

“See what I mean? And, you thought I was rude.”

Yes, Greg had to tread very lightly on how to deal with Zia’s parental relationships.

He tried to make light of the situation as they got on the elevator that would take them up to the first floor of the Lair.

“We can call your mother back later on today. She’ll have had time to meet with the therapist and get a fresh perspective on how to approach the situation. She loves you, Zia.”

He saw the fear in her eyes at the prospect of calling her mother back.

Like the trooper she was, Zia said, “Oh, that will be lovely.”

“Note to self: when mate uses the word, lovely, she’s trying to find the silver lining in a real or perceived bad situation.”

“I am not!” she said, giving him a love tap.

He opened the door to the hallway of the Lair. Zia followed him to the base of the back stairway. He looked at her, really looked.

Zia was just as beautiful and full of love as ever. He took a moment to push past the outward persona to see her emotional shield.

The edges were frayed like they’d been under recent attack. His heart ached at how hard her aura worked to try to repair the damage she’d taken. He had to help her grow and heal from the past.

“What? You’ve got that faraway look you sometimes get,” she said low and throaty.

“That’s because I’m looking at you. The real you. Remember, I see you.”

“Always, and I love that you have yet to take off running in the other direction.”

“Never, my love.” Greg eyed the stairs and then Zia. “Are you ready for this?” He turned to offer for her to climb on his back.

Zia waved him off. “I’m stronger and more resilient than you think. I’ve got this.”

She took the first two steps in one and started the ascent to the fifth floor. Greg watched as his mate and the mother of his babe showed how strong she was in the face of whatever came her way.

He felt his face shape into a smile that had to be huge.

“Are you coming?” she asked on the landing of the first bend in the stairwell.

“Yes, and you’re right, we’ve so got this—together. Let’s go learn more about our future.”

“Woohoo!”

Greg climbed those stairs with a light step, staying behind his mate as she took each with a bold determination to conquer it. This was his life and family. The Goddess was great.