Free Crouching Tigress Horny Dragon (Fire Mates #3) by Lexxie Couper Page B

been there. Instead, he’d bolted to the U.S. when the attention from Tyson’s public shift started to get on his nerves. Christ, what a tosser he was.
    “Is Sera okay?” he asked, watching dawn paint the eastern sky a deep purple-pink.
    “Kayla says she’s good.” The dry laugh that was always in Kellan’s voice made Ryan want to smile. “Your brother, on the other hand…”
    Ryan frowned at the dangling declaration. “What’s up with Ty?”
    Kellan chuckled. “Let’s just say he’s not coping and leave it at that. When he’s holding his babe in his arms, he’ll be a million times better.”
    “You got much experience with babies, Donovan?” Ryan asked, his gut a twisting knot.
    Shit. His brother needed him and he wasn’t there. Instead, Tyson had turned to a guy who was, essentially, a rival. As such.
    “Only those I deal with when giving talks at schools,” Kellan answered.
    A picture of Kellan surrounded by excitable young school-age children filled Ryan’s mind. Kellan Donovan, one of the most intimidating dragon shifters in Australia, a dragon with scales so black they seemed to devour any light around them and a fire blast so searing it once melted tungsten metal, was also the “face” of the state’s fire brigade educational unit and the man who spent a lot of his time when not fighting fires visiting schools for presentations.
    Ryan chuckled.
    “Yeah, laugh it up, Conley,” Kellan reproached. “One day I’ll be laughing at you with your own kidlets.”
    The comeback reminded Ryan exactly why he’d called his brother. Smile fading from his face, he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Any chance I could talk to Tyson?”
    “Hold on. I’ll check.”
    “Thanks, dude,” Ryan said.
    “ Oi, sis? ” Kellan shouted. Ryan had to jerk the phone away from his ear to save his preternaturally sensitive eardrums. Kellan would know that. One of these days, Ryan was going to thump the bastard in his sizeable arm. “Can Conley 2.0 talk to Tyson?”
    Conley 2.0?
    Ryan rolled his eyes. And then snorted back a laugh when Kayla’s faint answer came through the phone. “Not unless they both want Sera to rip their wings off.”
    “Hear that?” Kellan asked Ryan.
    “I did.”
    “Can I help you with anything?”
    The unexpected offer stilled Ryan, even as the unrelenting heat of the mating fire flared again. He hadn’t had that much to do with the dragon from Newcastle. Kellan wasn’t a rival to Ryan—Ryan was never planning to be an alpha, thank you very much. He was quite content with being an omega. Omegas came with zero responsibility—but Kellan was still an apex dragon with apex, alpha instincts.
    As if aware of Ryan’s uncertainty, Kellan sighed. “I’m not going to exploit your weaknesses, Conley, if that’s what you’re thinking. Just one guy asking another guy if he needs a hand with anything. If it helps, I know the Australian ambassador in the U.S. His daughter is a firefighter here in Newey.”
    For a moment, the urge to spill the beans to Kellan about everything happening to him rushed through him. Kellan was over a hundred years older than Ryan. He was experienced in facets of human and dragon life Ryan had yet to even consider. The word was, he’d dealt with more than one Extraho Venator in ways best not described. The other, more muttered word was, he was insanely good in bed and had defeated the mating fire’s power (although that rumor seemed ridiculous to Ryan now, given what he was going through).
    “Everything okay, Ryan?” Concern laced the question.
    Scrunching up his face, Ryan shook his head and clawed his fingers over the back of his neck. “All good,” he answered. “Tell that brother of mine he needs to send me a pic of the egg as soon as he can.”
    Kellan laughed. “Will do. And if it’s not an egg?”
    Ryan forced a shaky snigger past his lips. “Catch you later, Donovan. Thanks for being there for my family.”
    “Anytime, Conley,” Kellan