"And furthermore-wait, what? Who's going to jump me?" She stopped looking annoyed and switched to confused. "Is that why you're being ‘Mr. I'm Going to Stand in Front of You'? Because if it is, you can just knock it off. I'm not a weakling who needs to be protected. I'm mostly a dragon, remember? I kicked a demon through a window."
"Whoa now," the demon dog said, backing away from where it had been sniffing her knees. "Let's have none of that sort of talk around here."
"It is my job to protect you," Rowan said, self-righteousness all but oozing from him. He waved a hand at the still-growing number of wyverns and their mates gathered at the entrance of the cabin. "I don't know most of these people. Do you? No, I didn't think so. Therefore, I am fully within my rights to protect you from them."
"I don't need protecting," she objected, waving at the mass of wyverns just waiting to pounce on her. Or so it seemed to Rowan. "No one here cares one hoot about me."
"Oh, we care," May said, smiling. "But not the way that Rowan evidently thinks."
"Most certainly not in that manner," Gabriel agreed, his gaze narrowed on Rowan. "Ah, that would explain much."
The other men were examining him in the same manner, which made Rowan feel itchy, annoyed, and oddly antagonistic. He thought seriously of treating each and every one of them to a sound beating.
"Indeed," the wyvern named Drake said, nodding. "A new dragon."
"A new wyvern," the man with the blond woman said. "That makes it even worse."
"Much worse," Gabriel said, with yet another nod, and a somewhat sympathetic smile. "And if Sophea is his mate-"
"We'll be lucky to get out of here without him challenging us all to physical combat," Drake finished.
"Is that a slur?" Rowan asked, his desire to get rid of the wyverns almost overwhelming. "Because if it is, you're on. All of you. At the same time if you like."
"What the hell, dude?" Sophea asked, pulling on his arm until he glanced at her. "What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like the world's biggest ass?"
"Don't blame him. It's not really his fault," May told her. "Wyverns get this way about their mates when they're new-the mates, not the wyvern-and in Rowan's case, he's got both things going against him."
"I don't fight women," Rowan told May, her attention to Sophea generating the direst of suspicions. "But if you have designs on Sophea-"
May laughed at the same time that Sophea whapped him on the arm. "Right, that's it. It's bad enough you acting possessive when you have absolutely no right to do so, but to extend that idiocy to May, of all people, is just beyond enough. Stop it. Stop it right now, and continue to stop it in the future."
"Hiya," the head said in a chipper voice, smiling up at Sophea, and thankfully for Rowan's peace of mind, distracting everyone from staring at her. "I'm Gary. It's Gareth, really, but no one ever calls me that. You're a dragon, too? Everyone is a dragon these days. Or at least a mate of one."
"I have every right," Rowan told Sophea. "It's my job to protect you."
"First of all," Sophea said with an odd expression on her face. It was as if she couldn't make up her mind whether to laugh or to yell. "Your perception of rights is way off base. Just because we've done the sheet tango doesn't mean I'm suddenly helpless."
"Rowan, there you are! Hello, you must be May and Gabriel. We haven't met before, but I've heard about you from Aisling and Ysolde. I'm Bee, Rowan's sister. And I assume you know Constantine?"
Rowan's eyes narrowed on his sister's wyvern. He didn't particularly like the man, especially his habit of calling him the Dragon Breaker. "Bee. What are you doing here? This is Sophea. She's my mate."
"Whoa now! I don't recall agreeing to that," Sophea said, then suddenly turned to face the massive number of dragons who were now filling the cabin. "Your sister? Uh … hi."
"Hello," Bee said politely, gesturing toward the man next to her. "This is Constantine. Have you met everyone? Did you guys see a big splash of light thing, too?"
"Mate?" Constantine asked, squinting at Rowan. Suddenly, he sucked in his breath. "Christos! Am I seeing things?"
"No," Drake said. "Your eyes do not lie. The Dragon Breaker appears to be a dragon."
"A wyvern, in fact." Gabriel frowned slightly. "But what sept?"
Rowan decided to take matters in his own hands. They were capable hands, good hands. Sophea liked his hands-she'd told him so. He straightened his shoulders and said in a loud, authoritative voice, "Everyone out. Go away. All of you. Except Bee. She can stay for a little bit. The rest of you, pack up the head and the talking dog, and leave."
"You're all dragon people?" Sophea asked, ignoring the fact that he, the lord and master of the cabin, had proclaimed an order. "So, we're all like related? I've never had a family before-this is kind of neat. Why doesn't everyone sit down so we can have a chat."
"No one is sitting," Rowan counter-ordered. "There will be no chatting."
"Hi, I'm Aisling. This is Drake. We're green dragons," one of the women said, stepping forward to point at everyone, clearly ignoring what Rowan had just said. "Jim is my demon. I'm a Guardian, which is kind of a demon wrangler. That's May and Gabriel, they're silver dragons."
"We've met," Sophea said with a dark look at them.
"Go away," Rowan said, making shooing gestures. "We are busy coping with things. Important things. We will talk to you later."
"That's Ysolde," Aisling continued. "Her dragon is Baltic. He's the one leaning against the wall looking bored. His father is the First Dragon, by the way."
"Hence the bored expression," Ysolde said wryly. "The First Dragon is the biggest pain in the ass … but I digress. It's a pleasure to meet you both."
"Bee and Constantine you met, and I think … yes, that's Aoife and Kostya just coming in now."
"Are we late? We saw the most amazing light show just as we got to the ship," Aoife said, squeezing through the mass of bodies. Following her was a man who glared at Rowan. Rowan glared right back at him, feeling it was the only right and proper method of greeting another wyvern. "Hiya, Rowan. Bee says you're working with a wyvern's mate? Oh, hello, I didn't see you because of the others in my way. I'm Aoife. I'm Rowan's other sister. This is Kostya. He's the one who's scowling."
Kostya shot Aoife a look. "If I am, it's because you insisted we join the others. I told you that we were not needed here."
"Kostya," Drake said, nodding toward Rowan. "Take another look."
"Why? It's just the Dragon Break … " Kostya stopped, frowned even more, then raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He's a dragon."
"Yes," Rowan said, flexing his fingers. He wasn't the least bit surprised to see that they were now dragon fingers again. "And we are still coping with that fact, and would like to continue doing so in private."
"A red dragon?" Kostya asked, glancing at Rowan's hands.
"The red wyvern," Gabriel said slowly. "Interesting that the First Dragon chose that sept for him."
Rowan sighed and said to Sophea, "They aren't listening to me. Why aren't they listening to me?"
"You're being rude."
He shot her a hurt look, wanting to explain to her that foreign, intense emotions were in possession of him now, and he was doing his best to cope with them. She apparently read his expression accurately, because her gaze softened, and she patted him on the arm. "It's okay, pumpkin. I know this is hard for you. But you might want to give them a little slack. They're just a bit surprised. After all, they thought you were the big bad enemy, and now you're one of them. One of us. Give them a little leeway for having the rug pulled out from under them."
"I don't want to. I don't want them looking at you." He felt a moment of surprise at that. He'd never been an overly possessive man when it came to his romantic partners, and now here he was wanting to throw every single man bodily out of the cabin. And off the ship, for that matter.
"Why?" Sophea asked, looking more curious than annoyed by his statement. "You weren't like that before … oh. It is something dragony?"
"Yes," Baltic answered, pushing himself away from the wall. He gestured to the others. "And the former Dragon Breaker is right-we should not be here while he adapts to being a dragon. A wyvern. Such is not an easy task, and less so when he was not born to it, as we were."