Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I was planning on explaining that when one of the Canadian group members spoke up. “I don’t remember where he’s from.”
One of the Scottish contingent decided he had questions too. “Or his name? He was at that weird birthday party wedding thing. I remember that.”
Everyone started looking around, trying to decide which group was going to claim him, and it got even more interesting when they realized no one was speaking up. Alabama was, surprisingly enough, the first to make the leap. “Well, fuck.”
“That’s what I said when I first met Daddy Manny.” Wren grinned and leaned into his mate, who’d already learned the fine human art of rolling his eyes. “But I meant something different.”
It seemed like Daddy Manny knew he had his hands full.
Smart man.
No matter what he was.
Dragon, right?
Giggles and sighs went around the room but it gave the rest of the group time to catch up with us. Eyes went cartoon sized except for the Canadian group. They sighed and mumbled something about Americans always having to upstage everyone.
Since they weren’t wrong, I just ignored that part.
Merritt looked like he was going to hurt himself holding back his laughter and Kenzie didn’t seem to understand why it was a bad thing. I had a feeling he was going to have questions for his Daddy at some point, but Wren simply smiled wider. “Being special is hard sometimes.”
Our meeting was devolving quickly.
“So I’m sure we all understand why Wren will be included in the group.” There were several logical reasons, so everyone had to nod begrudgingly.
“Okay, I don’t know if this is a dumb question or not, but I’m going to ask anyway.” Florida Man shrugged. “If he’s…come to visit…why are we going?”
Another one of the Florida visitors frowned. “I’m going to point out that we still don’t know his name or if expert Wren has somehow…kidnapped him?”
They were strange, even for one of us.
“Why would I kidnap my mate?” Wren frowned, looking like he thought they were weird too. “Daddy Manny saw me. He smiled at me. He knew we were mates. We fucked like rabbits. It’s not rocket science.”
My sigh was timed perfectly with Manny’s.
Was his name actually Manny?
Had Wren actually said his name was Manny or was that just what he was calling his Daddy?
Fuck it.
“I’m Pierce.” I reached over Wren and ignored his giggles. “I should remember if I introduced myself when we first met, but I can’t. I’d just met my mate, so he was my focus.”
Daddy Manny, as Wren kept calling him, smiled and looked down at my hand like it was still strange as he did his best to give mine a casual shake. “I am Toman. My mate has decided to give me the human nickname of Manny. Nicknames are an interesting human convention you have picked up.”
I wasn’t sure if that sounded derogatory or not, and judging by Merritt’s snicker and Kenzie’s frown, I wasn’t alone.
“It generally shows that you have a special connection in some way—friendship or a mate bond are examples of those—but sometimes it indicates the person’s real name is difficult for other cultures to pronounce.” Since his name seemed to be pronounced like Toe-man, I was going to assume the mate bond part. “Being little sometimes will also influence the nickname thing.”
Wren didn’t say which one it was, but he was rocking side to side and smiling. “Daddy Manny is my mate.”
He was a pain in the butt.
“We’re all glad you found your mate.” Primarily because that meant no one else had to be in charge of him any longer. “We just need to figure out what that means for the portal and your personal situation.”
Were they going to stay there?
I wasn’t going to be the one to have to explain that to his mother.
Merritt’s coughing said some of that might’ve leaked through the bond.
“You’re very laid-back about this.” Florida Man seemed suspicious about that for some reason.
Shrugging, I tried to answer in a way that wouldn’t get the strange man more worked up. “I just found out about where Toman comes from. Moments ago, actually. So I’m processing this the best I can. I had guessed that Wren had found his mate but I was assuming he was from one of the other groups I hadn’t met yet.”
Eventually I was going to learn not to make assumptions when it came to Wren or the rest of my family, but for some reason I lost brain cells every time I had to deal with them.
“He is.” Wren beamed, wiggling closer to kiss his mate’s cheek. “He’s just from a group we hadn’t thought to invite.”
No.
“That is not how we’re going to explain this.” He made it sound like we were stupid for overlooking his mate. “He made the decision not to explain his presence, so we had no way of knowing he wanted to be invited.”