“Not a strong enough incentive?” Warin suggested. He was proud of North. It was about time he chose what made him happy.
North put his phone on the nightstand before turning with a leer. “You’re definitely incentive. Come here, sexy. I feel like celebrating.”
Warin smiled as he pulled North back into him. He was all too happy to celebrate.
One year later.
North stood in the courtyard of Burkhard Castle, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was snuggled up in the coat Warin had bought him, but he didn’t feel the bitter winter cold. No, he was too excited for the cold. His grandpa was finally coming to see him. And if he had his way, his grandpa was going to stay with them permanently.
A low chuckle washed over him a second before strong arms snaked around his waist. Warin pulled him in tight, and North hummed softly to himself in pure happiness. This had been the best year of his life, and so much of it was thanks to the amazing dragon holding him.
“You’re nearly vibrating in your excitement,” Warin murmured. The dragon’s deliciously warm breath curled around his ear.
“You know I’ve loved every second of living here with you,” North started.
“Except for maybe that one second when Ravi was flying over the castle while dangling you by your foot,” Warin corrected and then shivered. “I could have lived without that second.”
“Yeah, not one of my better moments.” Over the summer, he, Ravi, and Cassie had gone out to play a game and enjoy the warmer weather. Things had gotten a little out of hand and, well, North found himself awkwardly soaring over the courtyard while being dangled by a single foot. Not one of his finer moments, and needless to say, Warin and Alric had been quite livid.
His next dragon-related flight had been with Warin and had required harness, helmet, and parachute—they’d gone the overly cautious route. Next summer North was hoping to at least lose the helmet.
“But as I was saying, I’ve missed Gramps. The video calls have been nice, but it’ll be better to have him here.”
“Do you think he’ll stay?”
North snorted and counted off on his gloved fingers, “Dragons, magic, surrounded by people centuries older than him, and his favorite grandson. Yeah, I think he’ll have no problem staying.”
And it would be wonderful to have a little family close. Since announcing to his parents he would be remaining in Germany and taking a job at Burkhard Castle, there had been little communication with them. His mother had tried to guilt him into returning a few times with talk of family and duty, but she had little to say when it came to respecting his needs, wants, and even who he was. It stung to lose those people as a part of his life, but Warin was always there to hold him and make things right again. He would have been so lost without his dragon knight.
Tilting his head back, North looked up at his dragon and smiled. “Have I told you today how much I love you?”
Warin grinned and kissed the tip of North’s nose. “Well, there was that wonderful good-morning blowjob, the distracting shower, and I’m pretty sure you shouted it in my general direction before running to your session with Lisette. Oh, and the post-lunch snuggle that had you whispering it in my ear. But I will never tire of hearing it.”
“I love you, my dragon,” North whispered with all the love overflowing from his heart.
“And I love you, my precious one. You are my North Star, always guiding me home to you and brightening my dark skies.”
North closed his eyes and basked in Warin’s sweet words as he laid his head on Warin’s shoulder. His dragon always had an interesting turn of phrase and he never, ever wanted him to change.
“I honestly don’t know why we tried to have a morning session with you, North. It’s clear you have plenty of reason to have no attention span today,” Lisette’s playfully stern voice rang out across the courtyard.
North’s eyes popped open to find a bundled Lisette walk toward them with Dieter beside her. Her eyes were narrowed in accusation, but a smile haunted her lips.
“Are you saying it’s better if I don’t practice today because my grandpa is arriving or because tonight it my engagement party to this beautiful hunk of dragon?” he called back.
“Yes to both,” she said with a laugh.
“—definitely not. They need a chaperone,” Alric was saying as he stepped outside with his lovely mate.
Cameron laughed, bumping his shoulder against Alric’s right arm. “Are you surprised at all? Cassie is my sister, and I’m not allowed to be alone with Ravi. At least they were practicing in one of the small, unused rooms.”
“Dare I ask what has gone wrong with Ravi and Cassie?” Dieter inquired.
Alric rolled his eyes, but it looked like the king was barely holding in a laugh. Cameron didn’t even try.
“Apparently, Ravi and Cassie were practicing a spell they cooked up called confetti bombs for the party tonight,” Cameron began.
“Oh lord,” Lisette muttered. She closed her eyes and gave a little shake of her head.
“They’re not going to use it, but one of the little used storage rooms may or may not have confetti permanently stuck to the walls.”
“I’m more concerned with how they actually got the confetti embedded in the glass of that one window,” Alric added.
Any questions North might have wanted to ask about Ravi and Cassie’s evil confetti-related plots were forgotten at the sound of tires crunching gravel as a car pulled into the courtyard. He could easily see Baldewin in the driver’s seat, but the passenger seat was empty. Tori likely sat in the back seat with his grandpa.
Earl Aldridge’s flight had been timed to coincide with a planned trip to Munich for some random supplies. North had wanted to accompany Baldewin and Tori, but he’d needed to be on hand to finish preparing for his engagement party as well as finish up some recent training with Lisette.
The car stopped, and North managed to remain still right up until Earl’s door opened and his head popped above the roof. With a shout, he darted across the courtyard and hugged his grandpa tightly, not caring if he was acting a little undignified in front of the King of the Fire Dragons.
“There’s my world-traveling grandson!” Earl cried with a cackle. “’Bout time I saw you again. Figured these dragons would tuck you away in their hoard.”
North snorted against his shoulder before lifting his head. “Except for the fact we’ve talked at least twice a week since I left Georgia.”
“Yeah, well, you still give the best hugs outta this family,” Earl muttered, his smile soft.
North lifted his head and narrowed his eyes on Gramps. “And now you can have my hugs all the time. You know I’m not gonna let you leave here.”
“Ha! Me living in Germany. That’s crazy. This is the first time I’ve been outta the US.”
“Well, let me introduce you to some pretty amazing people who are gonna help me convince you to stay.” North wrapped his arm around his grandpa and started to usher him over to the gathering of people.
“Baldewin and Tori were a fantastic start. Did you know that Tori is from Finland? Finland! Can you imagine? I’d never met anyone from Finland before.”