Kai stared warily at Diamond as he stood in front of Renee, waiting for the dragons to react to him.

Diamond had been a frequent target of his pranks, and Kai wasn’t sure how the white-haired, rainbow-eyed dragon would react to him being back in the mansion.

“No more storms?” Diamond asked, folding his arms.

“Of course not,” Ruby said, walking forward to pull Kai into a big hug. The tall man with dark, reddish hair, tanned skin and green eyes clapped Kai on the back before letting him go. “You’re cool now, right?”

Kai nodded hesitantly. “I won’t do that again. Inside, I mean. Or without being asked.”

“Look at him,” Dom said, striding up alongside them. His pitch-black hair was shot through with purple. “I wouldn’t have thought it.”

“Thank you for your advice, Amethyst. All of you.”

Diamond raised an eyebrow. “It helped?”

“It did,” Kai said.

“Wait,” Renee said. “What advice?”

“My dragon handbook,” Kai said. “They each wrote advice in it.”

“Well, I definitely need to see that.” She came out from behind him, as he tried to push her gently back. “Stop that! Stop hiding me. I’m fine coming out.”

Ruby chuckled. “Possessive new mate. I remember that.”

“Remember?” Dom raised a dark eyebrow. “What are you talking about? You’re still like that every day. We all are.”

“True,” Diamond answered with a nod. He stepped forward to Renee, extending an elegant hand. “My name is Alastair, and you are?”

“Renee,” she said, taking his hand for a quick shake. She was quickly introduced to Dom and then Red, and then they all took a seat around the table in the dining room.

It was the best place to talk.

“So when are the others coming back?” Kai asked. “And where is Marina?”

“She went to be with the oracle during the birth,” Diamond said.

“Any news yet?” Kai asked.

“No,” Ruby said. “Though with Sapphire and Aegis there, we doubt anything will go wrong.”

“They’ve assisted in every other birth so far. Dragon birth is different from human birth, but with Sapphire’s healing and Aegis’s abilities, so far everyone has been fine,” Diamond said.

Renee wrinkled her nose. “That’s reassuring. Who all has babies?”

“Me and my mate Faye,” said Ruby. “Also Zach and Erin, Luc and Hallie, and Dom and Lana.”

“Zach is the onyx dragon, Luc is sapphire, and Dom is amethyst,” Kai clarified.

Renee rubbed her forehead. “I might need someone to write it down for me.”

“It’s okay,” Ruby said. “We’re family, you’ll figure it out soon enough.”

“So what did they do with the intel we gave them?” Kai asked. “About the wolves?”

“Well, the oracle is obviously worried about the plant, and we haven’t found anyone within miles of the mansion, so they must have left. Who knows. But we are seeing if we can get a wolf in the Tribunal on our side. There’s one there that shows promise for actually helping us. Most of the elite wolves stick to and viciously protect their own, but there are hopefully one or two willing to go against them. With our help, of course.”

“Of course,” Kai said. “But obviously none of the dragons can be out on their own now. So Seaton—”

The front door creaked as it opened, bringing a gust of cool air with it as the dragons stood in the dining room, looking out into the foyer.

“I was just about to say that your brother had been called back and was getting here today,” Ruby said.

Seaton was walking in, his arm around his mate, Jenny. Kai took Renee’s hand and pulled her out of her seat.

“Come on, let’s go meet my brother.” Kai said.

“And Jenny, that’s the one who took you all in when you washed up on that beach, right?” Renee asked.

Kai nodded. He’d told Renee a lot more about his life ever since they were mated. Now that they were at the mansion, she’d be getting a crash course in a lot of dragon info.

But for now, he just wanted her to meet his brother.

Seaton looked tanned and happy. He had straighter blond hair than Kai, and lighter blue eyes. Plus less intense features.

When he reached his brother, he reached out a hand awkwardly, and Seaton grabbed him, pulling him in for a hug. Then he looked over at Renee.

“Your mate?”

Kai nodded, putting his hand in Renee’s again and bringing her forward. “Seaton, Jenny, this is Renee.”

Jenny stepped up beside Seaton as they both shook Renee’s hand.

“Should we go eat lunch and talk?” Seaton asked. “I’m famished. And I have no idea what’s going on that they called us back here.”

Renee was looking all around the foyer, and Jenny noticed, putting her arm around the other woman and giving her a squeeze.

“I know it all seems so foreign now, but I promise you, this world is awesome.”

“Kai is awesome,” Renee said with a smile, looking over at him. “That’s all that matters. I can figure out the rest.”

Jenny nodded. “That’s how I feel about Seaton.”

The two women smiled shyly at one another, and Kai hoped that they could be friends. It might be lonely at the mansion sometimes, if he and the other dragons were sent on missions.

“Red, Dom and Alistair are in the dining room, if you want to go say hi. I think they’re going to make lunch soon,” Kai said.

“Where are the girls?” Jenny asked.

“They’re downstairs with the little ones,” Ruby said, walking out of the dining room. “There’s a movie on in the theater, and they sent the guys up here to make lunch. I’m sure if they knew you were here, they’d want to come up.”

“It can wait,” Jenny said. “I’ll see them at lunch. And all the babies.” Her eyes glowed.

Kai looked at Renee, wondering how long it would take for them to have their own. Were they ready? Did anyone ever feel ready at all?

Seaton and Jenny walked into the dining room with Ruby, and Kai could hear them talking to the other dragons as well.

Everyone was already growing so close here, and it would take time for him and Renee to catch up.

Renee gave his hand a squeeze, and Kai looked down at her curiously.

“So Kai, about that handbook?”

He felt himself redden and started heading for the dining room. “Uh…I think I’ll go help with lunch.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said.

And as his mate chased him, laughing, Kai felt himself relax once more. No matter how chaotic or uncertain the world was on land, as long as Renee was here, there was nowhere he would rather be.

* * *

* * *

I hope you enjoyed Kai and Renee’s story. If you did, I’d love it if you would leave a review to help other readers find it. Feel free to tell me your thoughts on what you want next! I really enjoy all of your fun comments.

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Newsletter:

If you haven’t read Seaton’s book, the first in the Awakened Sea Dragons series, you can get it here:

And if you haven’t read the Awakened Dragon’s boxed set with the original dragons, you’ll want to grab it while it’s still on sale!

Contains Onyx Dragon, Sapphire Dragon, Ruby Dragon, Diamond Dragon, Amethyst Dragon and Emerald dragon all in one place for the same price of one book! A special gift for my readers.

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