“Seriously?” Warin dropped down on the opposite end of the couch, leaning forward a bit as if he was ready to get all the juicy details. “Was it a little peck on the cheek? Or…”
Sasha was already shaking her head. “Nope. This was a kiss. Full on the lips. I’m not sure if there was any tongue involved. Baldewin, was there any tongue?”
There had been a beautiful caress of Tori’s tongue across his bottom lip and the most decadent slide against his own, but there was no way in hell he was going to admit that to these two.
“We are not teenagers. It’s inappropriate to discuss this,” Baldewin said stiffly.
“We are totally discussing this. Some of us have waited centuries to finally discuss things just like this,” Warin argued. He shimmied to the edge of the sofa cushion, his body positioned toward Sasha. “Did you see the whole thing? Who started it? How long did it last?”
Baldewin groaned. He may have spent a ridiculous amount of time fantasizing about finding his own mage, about kissing a mage, but what dragon didn’t wonder about finding their mate? Not that Tori was his mate. Even though Tori would be the absolute best mate there ever was.
He wasn’t thinking about that.
He was just attracted to Tori. The man was so incredibly sexy, regardless of whether he was smiling or frowning.
“I guess it’s no surprise Tori finally cracked. Baldewin has been quietly courting him since the first time they spoke,” Warin said matter-of-factly.
“What?” Baldewin gasped. “I have not—”
Sasha waved a hand at him to silence his protests, only interested in the dirt Warin was willing to share. “What’s he been doing?”
“He is constantly giving Tori little gifts.”
“I have not. Food doesn’t count. We all have to eat, and the mage hasn’t been eating properly. He’s only just now started to put a little meat on his bones,” Baldewin argued.
Warin flashed him a wounded look. “You haven’t brought me any food on this trip.”
Baldewin could only roll his eyes, because Sasha was already prodding him for more.
“And then on the night Tori sweetly made the glamour spell for us, I went out first. Baldewin took him to dinner and shopping—”
“He left nearly all his possessions back with his old clan. Do you think he would feel comfortable walking into Burkhard with only a couple changes of clothes? It’s the least we could do if we’re dragging him from Helsinki to meet with our clan.”
Warin’s smile was positively smug when he uttered the last two words: “Guitar strings.”
Yeah, okay, so maybe they weren’t particularly necessary. Neither was the stop at Black Magic to try the selection of chocolates and Riga’s famous Black Balsam herbal liqueur. And maybe his hotel selection had been a little over the top, now that Tori was allowing Baldewin to care for him.
“They made him smile,” Baldewin admitted in a low voice.
He didn’t regret any of it. He cherished every one of Tori’s smiles and laughs, tucking them away the same way a magpie snatches up shiny objects to add to his ever-growing secret hoard. Or the way a dragon hoards…
Baldewin stopped that thought sharply and nearly groaned at himself. Really? Was his dragon now trying to hoard Tori’s smiles? If it meant that all of Tori’s smiles were his and not for anyone else, then yes, his dragon was definitely trying to hoard all of Tori.
“So, then the question is whether you are looking at him as a gefreogen or a pego?” Sasha prodded.
Baldewin’s head snapped up, his temper flaring. “Tori is not a pego,” he snarled, which only sent Sasha and Warin into uncontrolled peals of laughter.
Oh, he had most definitely given himself away now.
There was nothing wrong with a pego. They’d all had one occasionally over the long centuries. It was simply a dragon term for a “friends with benefits” arrangement. It wasn’t like they were all sitting around celibate while they waited for their mate to magically appear. The strings-free coupling allowed them to find release and a bit of enjoyment.
But his mind rebelled at the idea of Tori sleeping with anyone now. He hated the idea of anyone laying hands on the mage. Tori was his, and his dragon agreed with him completely. As it was, the lizard was trying to give both Sasha and Warin the stink-eye for even suggesting it.
A gefreogen, on the other hand, was courting with the intention of making this person his mate. When a mage was declared a dragon’s gefreogen, it was a way of indicating to other dragons that this mage was being actively wooed, that there was a connection being pursued—back off! Not that the mage couldn’t walk away, but such a thing had never happened before.
Did he want Tori as his gefreogen?
Yes, Baldewin was pretty damn sure he did.
“Do you think it’s too fast?” Baldewin inquired.
That only resulted in more laughter from Sasha. Warin rolled his eyes, pushed to his feet, and walked across the hotel suite to grab the room service menu.
“You are asking the wrong dragon that question,” Warin replied a bit tartly.
It was true. Sasha and Cassie had clicked almost instantaneously. He had never seen a mage and dragon perfectly match so quickly. They had barely set eyes on each other and Cassie had been practically wrapped around the dragon, ready to use her baseball bat on anyone who tried to separate them. Baldewin had been wise enough not to even try. Of course, he’d also had his hands full with Cassie’s grandmother, Ha Na.
“There is no ‘too fast.’ When you know a mage belongs to you, that their soul fits with your own, why would you wait? Why waste a single second questioning and hesitating when we’ve all waited so long already?” Sasha argued.
“What if your mage believes that dragons are evil, backstabbing monsters?” Baldewin asked, making Sasha’s nose wrinkle. Even Warin sighed as he returned with the menu in hand.
“I don’t think he believes that about us any longer.”
Baldewin rubbed a hand over his scalp. “Maybe not, but it was a belief he was raised on. He was also taught he was useless and unworthy simply because he was born male and doesn’t do magic like the rest of the clan. I don’t want to rush him into anything when he’s still trying to accept us and himself. The only thing I want is for him to be happy.”
Sasha reached across and placed her hand on Baldewin’s knee, smiling gently at him. “Then you move at his pace. Let him know you are interested, but tell him you’re happy to move at any pace he is comfortable with. You’re a dragon. You’ve got centuries ahead of you.”
“And keep kissing him,” Warin added. “I bet he really likes the kissing part.”
That was probably a safe bet, but then Baldewin also really liked the kissing part. He was happy to try other physical parts as well. The man was like candy, and Baldewin wanted to lick every inch of him. Hmm…would Tori make any fun and interesting noises when he was licked?
And now Baldewin was interested in discovering that fun little tidbit about the man.
He looked over at Warin, who was engrossed in finding something to eat, or really, many things to eat.
“How are you hungry?” Sasha demanded.
“What?” Warin asked, eyes wide and innocent. “We didn’t have dessert. I thought I could order us something sweet from room service.”