Page 81 of The Dragons’ Eternal Mate

“Hello?” Orsen’s greeting was more of a question.

“Orsen,” Ma said, voice quieter now, “this is your uncle, Dane Devaux.”

“Uncle?” His brows shot up as he reeled back a touch.

Ma looked at Dane, her expression as pleased as punch.

“That’s me. I made my way here as soon as I got the call.” I remembered how Ma had said she’d be reaching out to her brother, just like my mates had been contacting nearby hoards, shoring up numbers to stand up to Byron and Cyrus. “But it seems like you guys managed to take care of the situation before I set foot in your lands. Lydia has told me all about the challenge yesterday. I’ll admit I’m thoroughly impressed with what I’ve heard.”

Dane reached forward and shook Orsen’s hand. Orsen clapped his other hand on top, and the two of them smiled. Next to each other, I could actually see some family resemblance. It was clear Orsen got his height from both sides of the family tree.

Wait, who’s Lydia?

I was just about to open my mouth and ask who Lydia was, when it dawned on me that that must be Ma’s actual name. She had insisted on simply being called Ma; calling her by any other name felt wrong, somehow. I nearly laughed at the fact that after all this time, I hadn’t known what her first name actually was.

“It’s nice to meet you! You run a horde down south, am I right?” Orsen asked, releasing the shake with a grin.

Dane nodded. “I do. Just outside New Orleans. My family has been down there for decades now.” That explained his accent. “My son, Lawson, will be taking over the horde soon enough.”

“I have… cousins?” Orsen sounded surprised again, and it was kind of adorable to see him learning about his family. Even though it had been uncomfortable, I was glad Ma had told me about who Orsen’s father was. They both deserved this chance to connect with each other.

And it’d given us a huge advantage during the challenge.

Dane smiled, beaming with pride. “Several of them. I have six sons and a daughter. But I’ll tell you right now, she’s the one that rules the roost. She has every one of her brothers wrapped around her finger.”

“As she should.” Ma nodded, smirking.

Growing quiet, Dane lowered his head for a second and then met Orsen’s eyes. “I’m sorry I never got to meet you—until now. I should’ve come by more often, but… I couldn’t stand the idea of being in the same room as Cyrus.”

“Trust me,” Orsen’s brows rose, “that’s going around. But that’s the past. I don’t know about you, but I plan to seize this opportunity. I’d love to get to know you—and hear about my father.”

“And I’d be thrilled to tell you, son.” They shook hands again, which shifted into a hug, and I smiled from ear to ear, getting a little misty-eyed.

Orsen deserved this. They all did. We all did.

Rowan

For a few days, we got to enjoy our little bubble. Ma was busy showing her brother around, and me and my guys were far too busy doing… other things.

Usually naked things.

Orsen, unfortunately, was constantly busy, but when he did appear, we would have a few stolen moments together.

In bed. Or the laundry room.

Or round the back of the clinic… Not my proudest moment, but I missed him.

After I finally had the energy to get dressed and shower, which of course was just another excuse for my mates to enjoy me being naked, I realized that I’d been thoroughly hogging their time. Being in bed with four Alpha dragons for hours had a way of making you forget everything beyond the moment. Unfortunately, they were all needed outside the bedroom after everything that’d happened during the challenge.

Once I’d crawled out of bed, I made my way to the kitchen in desperate need of something to eat.

Ma and Allison were there when I arrived, and I was promptly taken care of by both of them.

“Those boys of yours need to take you on a date!” Ma said, shaking her head. She was covered in flour as she and Allison worked on loaves of bread. Little Baby Rowan was asleep in his bassinet next to me while I sipped on a steaming cup of mint tea.

I chuckled. “All in good time. There is a lot of work to do now they have to deal with absorbing Byron’s lands into North Oak.”

The four of them had been working nonstop. Orsen had taken the lead, as he’d won the challenge, and their responsibilities as Alphas had nearly doubled. Byron’s lands were small, but there were a lot of families in the horde who were now part of North Oak. Over the last night or two, Orsen had ended up sleeping in a cabin a few hours away so he could get back to work in the morning on figuring out how to absorb Birch Creek into North Oak. It was a big undertaking, and naturally, a few dragons were still loyal to Byron and needed rooting out. On the occasions that he did manage to make it home, he passed out in my arms and was snoring before we could even say a sentence or two to each other.