“Truly, you don’t need to stay and help with this, John,” Griff said. He jerked a thumb at Chase and Hugh. “I may need to keep these reprobates out of trouble, but that’s no reason for you to be roped in as well. You’ve already done more than enough for me and Hayley. You should go, get some rest. We can handle this.”
John’s back stiffened. Only a coward would flee the field while his brothers-in-arms still fought. To suggest that he should do so…well, if Griff had been a sea dragon, John would have been demanding a duel to satisfy the insult to his honor.
He forced his muscles to relax. Humans could not be expected to understand proper etiquette, he reminded himself for the thousandth time. Griff didn’t mean any offense.
“I owe you my life, oath-brother,” he said, as levelly as he could. “Honor compels me to stand by your side in the face of any threat.”
Griff blinked. “I’d hardly call table decorations a threat.”
“I would,” Chase murmured as he wrestled with ribbons.
John tried to simplify the concept, as though addressing a very young child barely past first molt. “You said that accomplishing this task would please your mate. I am your oath-brother, which means I am sworn to guard your treasure as if it were my own. Your mate’s happiness is your greatest treasure, is it not?”
“When you put it like that…” Griff let out a long breath, shaking his head a little. “Well, I just hope I can return the favor one day.”
It was John’s turn to blink. “I do not follow.”
“I mean, help you with your mate,” Griff said, as though that explained anything.
“My mate?”
“Sea dragons do have mates, don’t they?” Chase asked curiously.
“Of course we do,” John said. “But I am a Knight-Poet of the First Water.”
Hugh glanced up, his white eyebrows rising. “I know you’re sworn to celibacy, but I didn’t realize you’d be bound by that even if you found your mate.”
John was rather startled that Hugh knew about that knightly vow. It was one that he’d never felt the need to share with any of his colleagues. Nonetheless, it was clear that even Hugh didn’t understand the real meaning of the vow.
“The situation would never arise,” he said. “I have no mate. No sea dragon knight does. Before we take vows, we must scour the seas, singing for our mate. I did so myself, circling the globe thrice round, and each time was met with nothing but silence.”
Griff’s brow furrowed. “But you just searched underwater. What if your mate isn’t a sea shifter?”
“That does not happen with us,” John said. “Sea dragons only mate sea dragons. None of us have ever found a mate among humans, or even other shifters. We are too different.”
“So you’ve contacted literally every sea dragon in existence, and know that none of them are your mate?” Chase’s usually merry face wore an unusually somber expression. “You poor bastard.”
“Oh, it is not a matter for sorrow,” John reassured him. “Only those without mates are permitted to become knights. I could swear myself to the service of the Pearl Throne, in the knowledge that my loyalties could never be divided between love and duty. Rest assured, I am well content.”
Griff and Chase didn’t look convinced by this, but then, they were mated. John supposed that they could not help but pity those who did not share that fortunate state. Hugh, on the other hand, seemed delighted by the revelation.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” he said, reaching up to clap John’s shoulder. “Nice to know there’ll always be at least one other unmated person in the team.”
“Your people too have a similar tradition, shield-brother?” John asked, curious.
He still did not know what sort of shifter the paramedic actually was. He’d never wanted to ask directly, for fear of breaking some unwritten human rule of courtesy.
“You could say that.” Hugh transferred his attention back to the wedding favors. “But enough chit-chat. By my count, we’ve got at least a hundred of these things to go.”
The fire crew went back to their tasks. John couldn’t help but notice that Griff and Chase were still casting him rather pitying glances.
It was irksome. He was the Walker-Above-Wave, Emissary to the Land from the Pearl Throne, Knight-Poet of the First Water, Sworn Seeker of the Emperor-in-Absence, and Firefighter for the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service! He was not accustomed to being pitied.
John set his shoulders, shrugging off their misplaced concern. He reached for the next box, vowing to prove his worth to his colleagues. Though this was not his accustomed arena of battle, he was determined to prevail.
If only these dry-beached things weren’t so small!
When he’d been a child, John had been taught that sea dragons were the noblest and most magnificent of the draconic breeds. He hadn’t fully appreciated the truth of that until, as an adult, he’d first stepped onto land. Even among his fellow shifters on Alpha Fire Team—none of them small men by human standards—he towered.