"Welcome to Silverthorne Manor," an older lady announced.

"Oh, Gerda it's so good to see you," Cassie said, giving the older woman a hug.

"It's good to see you too little missy. You haven't been by to visit in months," Gerda gently chided Cassie.

"I'm sorry Gerda I've just been really busy," Cassie blushed in embarrassment after being chided by a woman she considered a second mother.

"Well, I suppose you're forgiven," Gerda said. "That you bring two such handsome men home..."

"Gerda, you shush!" Cassie chided Gerda blushing again.

Gerda fell silent but she gave all three of them a knowing look.

"I will go get lunch now, as I know the three of you must be hungry," Gerda said, as she walked back towards the kitchen.

"Well, that was rather interesting," Dave decided with an innocent look.

"She said that to deliberately embarrass me," Cassie said. "I love her though, as she is a second mother to me and to Rena."

"She only wants what's best for you," Aaron suggested gently. "She wants you and your sister happy and probably senses that we are what could make you happy. I'm sure she'd love to have some children running through the halls again."

"That's possible, as she's incredibly perceptive. There's also the fact that I've never brought two men home at the same time, not while my parents were alive, two incredibly handsome men."

"I'm not sure your parents would have approved of you dating two guys at the same time," Dave said. "Even if those guys were friends. Most parents certainly wouldn't have."

"They would have so long as they were sure that you weren't trying to take advantage of me. They were incredibly open-minded, as you already know," Cassie said smiling sadly. "I miss them sometimes."

"Of course you do, you loved them, so of course, you miss them now that they're gone," Aaron said. "I certainly miss my parents sometimes and they've been gone a long time."

"I miss mine too," Dave added his expression sober.

"Well, it looks like we're all in the same boat in that way," Cassie said a little more cheerful. "Except my parents have only been gone three years more or less."

Lunch was delivered on a cart, just then so they changed the subject.

"Here you go I hope you enjoy your lunch," Gerda announced.

"I'm sure it will be delicious, Miss Gerda," Dave said

"That's missus," Gerda corrected but with a smile. "My husband is the butler."

"I apologize," Dave said.

"It's alright, you had no way of knowing, as I know I'm not wearing a wedding ring. It tends to get in the way in the kitchen, so I stopped wearing it and have it somewhere safe. It might even come loose and get lost, as that can happen and has to other people like my great-aunt who died a few years ago," Gerda said. "She was a marvel in the kitchen, just like I am."

Gerda left the three of them to their lunch.

"I didn't mean to make her sad," Dave said.

"You didn't," Cassie promised him. "You just made her remember some of the good times with her aunt. They were close as I'm sure you guessed and it was the aunt that taught her a lot about how to prepare food. Now let's see what Gerda prepared for us."

Cassie removed the silver domes that were over the dishes.

"It looks like chicken salad," Cassie said finally. "On toast points. There is also some fruit and another plate of ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches cut into triangles."

"Well, let's serve ourselves," Aaron suggested with a smile

They each took a portion of everything and each poured a glass of the tea that was available.

"This is great," Dave told Cassie after he'd one of the chicken, ham and cheese triangles and also one of the egg salad toast points.

"The tea is good too, though usually I'm a coffee fan," Aaron admitted.

"Gerda hates coffee, thinks it's bad for your health and refuses to serve it unless she's ordered to. When my parents were alive she did serve coffee to them as they were her bosses after all, so she couldn't really refuse," Cassie explained. "While I can order her to serve coffee, I didn't see the point as I can get my coffee elsewhere. I didn't think about the fact that you might not drink tea."

"This is fine," Dave said. "I do drink tea sometimes and so does Aaron, even if he prefers his coffee and so do I."

"Particularly in the morning, as it wakes you up faster than tea will," Aaron added.

"Aaron is not a morning person," Dave snickered goodnaturedly. "Never has been."

"No, I'm not," Aaron said calmly. "I just can't seem to wake up without at least 2 cups of coffee."

"I'm definitely not a morning person either, so you're outnumbered, Dave," Cassie told him with a smirk. "It was always difficult to wake up for school and unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to drink coffee at that age because it's supposed to stunt your growth."

"That's just a theory not fact though," Aaron said.

"I know," Cassie shrugged. "Still, it didn't matter because Gerda never would've served me or Rena something she considered bad for our health, not unless our parents had insisted."

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to start waking you up in the morning," Dave replied with mischief in his eyes.

"Don't you dare," Cassie said glaring at him. "I'm only up early when I absolutely have to be. If I want to sleep till nine or ten then I should be allowed too."

"She's got you there Dave," Aaron snickered. "Anyone who wakes me up before at least 9:00, unless it's absolutely necessary is going to get a pillow thrown at them."

"Really, 8:30 or 9:00 isn't that late, unless you have a job you have to get too," Cassie said defending Aaron's point of view.

"Well, I can see trouble in my future when you two gang up on me," Dave said his voice full of humor.

Both Cassie and Aaron grinned evilly at each other and then turned their gazes to Dave.

"Alright, fine, I won't wake you up unless necessary," Dave promised hastily, because otherwise he knew that Cassie and Aaron would find a way to get back at him. He had a feeling that the two of them together were going to be a menace, but there was nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, it just made life more interesting and definitely more fun.

"Good, make sure you remember that," Cassie told him with a satisfied smirk. "I don't technically have a job so why in the world should I get up at an ungodly hour. Yes, I help out of the animal shelter, but I usually go in around 11 or so and that's only a couple of days a week."

The three of them finished their lunch and Cassie went too thank Gerda for such a delicious meal. Once that was done the three of them left the Old Silverthorne estate.

~~~Dave, Monica, Aaron, Cassie~~~

"It's past time you had that talk with Cassie, fellas," Monica told her mates gently.

"Yeah, it probably is," Aaron agreed knowing exactly what Monica was referring to. "We've all gotten pretty close and even though Dave has been dating her for a couple of months longer I'm still just as close to her."

"I have to agree," Dave said. "Let's just hope that she accepts it. While Cassie has relaxed a great deal around us both we all know that what we're going to tell her would make most people think we were crazy. Even if we transformed in front of her she could just think she's having delusions. I'm actually hoping that she trusts us enough to at least listen to us without overreacting."

"Well, I can't tell you how Cassie will react since I've never met her," Monica said pursing her lips thoughtfully. "I know that was on purpose as we didn't want her to reject you guys out of hand just because I was already in the picture. We all know having me show up would've created the wrong impression if we'd done that right off the bat. Now that she's gotten to know you two well, it's possible she won't overreact."

"Well, we'll just have to accept whatever her decision is," Aaron said.

"Which might be a bad thing or good thing, as she could go either way. So many people would dismiss that dragons were real at all, even if we're dracons, which isn't technically, the same thing. We are related to dragons after all, but real dragons died off a very long time ago," Dave said. "While Cassie is usually pretty calm the story we have to tell her stretches into the realm of disbelief in this modern age."

"Why don't you bring her here," Monica suggested. "We're out in the middle of nowhere on purpose. She won't be able to go anywhere by herself, because it's miles from the city."

"That's probably a good idea," Aaron decided. "As much as I don't want to trap her somewhere she doesn't want to be."

"Let's hope she doesn't hate us afterwards," Dave said, "but really, this is the only place we can transform safely in order to prove to her that we aren't trying to pull her leg."

"I'll prepare a meal fit for royalty," Monica said. "Good food can often keep people calm because their bellies are full."

"I suppose we better not have any wine with the meal just in case she reacts in the wrong way. We want her calm and rational. We don't need her mind clouded because of a couple of glasses of wine," Dave said.

The other two nodded in agreement with that because they knew what alcohol could do to a person and it was different for everyone.

"She actually doesn't seem like a very big drinker," Aaron said. "She has one glass of wine whenever we share lunch."
"Still, lets not take chances," Dave said. "We want things to go as perfectly as possible."

"We can all agree to that," Monica said.

~~~Dave, Monica, Aaron, Cassie~~~

A few days later

"I've been wondering when you were going to introduce me to your home," Cassie said.

"You should of brought the subject up," Dave said. "Me and Aaron live out in the boonies, just within the city limits so we can take advantage of city services."

"Why live so far out?" Cassie asked curiously.

"Well, for one thing we don't have any annoying neighbors," Dave said. "We don't have some unmarried woman coming to ask us for a cup of sugar, just so she can flirt with us."

Cassie laughed at that example, but it was also truer than most people thought.

"Yes, it's a rather long drive into the city, about an hour depending on traffic. Still, the privacy is worth it. Also, some thief is less likely to try to rob us all the way out here, since we are fairly well off. I admit it's not to likely to happen in the city, as we'd have a very high tech alarm system. Still, we wouldn't get as much privacy, which is important to Aaron and I," Dave explained. And for more than one reason, Dave thought

Of course, the main reason they lived, so far out of the city out was so they could transform into their dragon forms and go for a fly, but Cassie wasn't aware of that quite yet. "You'll have a magnificent lunch and I hope you enjoy yourself," Dave said

"I'm sure I will," Cassie assured him. "I really want to see your home, as you said, it's fairly large."

"It is probably a little bit bigger then your parents house that we visited a few times," Dave shrugged. "Here we are," Dave said finally, as he pulled onto what looked like nothing more than a dirt road, but as they drove Cassie started to see life. They finally came upon manicured lawns and plenty of flowers of different varieties all in bloom, after they had passed under an archway of trees that went on for at least half a mile.

"This is gorgeous," Cassie said.

"Thank you your appreciation is appreciated," Dave said with a smile on his lips.

"How can I not appreciate it? All these flowers and the archway of trees are gorgeous," Cassie complimented Dave sincerely. "Very well trimmed and contained."

Dave parked in the garage, which had a lot of different vehicles.

"So you're bit of a motorhead," Cassie told Dave teasingly.

"So Aaron and I like cars," Dave shrugged. "We can certainly afford to buy anything we want."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Cassie said. "I'd probably do the same thing if I had the space for storing cars."

"How can you tease me for liking cars when you're the same way?" Dave teased her right back.

"You didn't know that though, until just a second ago," Cassie shot back with a grin.

"You know this means I can tease you about it, now that I know," Dave told her with a serious expression, though there was a glint of laughter in his eyes.

"I don't mind that at all," Cassie said. "It's all in good fun."

The two continued to tease each other, even as Dave led her to the elevator that led to the main floor. Cassie hadn't realized it at first, but the garage was at least a few feet underground, so it was no wonder that there was an elevator, though she was sure there was also some emergency steps just in case the power went out or something. They were required by law after all.

The elevator doors opened and Dave gestured Cassie inside before he joined her and once he was past the doors he pushed the button for the first floor.

"I'll give you a tour of our home after lunch," Dave promised, as the elevator rose swiftly.

"Sounds fine," Cassie said looking forward to it.

It was less than a minute later they arrived and the doors opened into a small alcove.

~~~Dave, Monica, Aaron, Cassie~~~

The little alcove that led to the elevator was simply decorated. There was a plant on a table in one corner and the walls were painted a simple white, but other than that it was rather plain. It was only the little alcove that led to the elevator though, so it wasn't like it had to be fancied up.

Dave led her down a short hallway that led into what looked like the den. Now this room was a bit more fancy though still comfortable. The furniture looked comfortable but also antique. The end tables, on either side of the couch and the table in front of it, Cassie recognized as being from a famous furniture maker that had been long dead. She had always been somewhat interested in antiques and had considered taking it up as a career, which she still might do. It wasn't about the money either, but the satisfaction of having a career you loved.

"Well, this looks comfortable," Cassie said.

"It's meant to," Dave said. "Who wants to sit on uncomfortable furniture when they are spending time with someone or even just watching a movie. It makes no sense why some furniture maker would make something that wasn't meant to be sat on other then for a brief time."

"Because people go for the fancy a lot of times instead of the comfortable," Cassie said.

"True," Dave admitted.

"They see them as display pieces, not pieces to be sat on," Cassie said. "They don't think about the fact that one of their family, their husband for example, would like to sit in there and do whatever, like read a book or the paper, but isn't comfortable doing so, because the furniture is for display and isn't built to be sat on for very long. It is usually the wife that picks out the furniture or some female relative at least."

"Not all the time, as some men do it themselves and most of them go for comfort not for display pieces, but still, you're right, the majority of furniture buying is done by the wife or some female relative and they don't always think about comfort."

"Which is why all that uncomfortable furniture, is so popular," Cassie snorted.

"So let's go find Aaron," Dave said. "He should be here, as he wasn't going anywhere.

"So why could I not bring my car?" Cassie asked. "Why did you have to bring me?"

"Well, for one thing you would've had major trouble finding it," Dave explained,"at least the first time. Aaron and I figured it was better if one of us drove you at least a couple of times so you'd have an easier time finding it whenever you wanted to come out by yourself.

This was true so Cassie nodded. They had taken a rather convoluted route at least in her opinion. While she could understand wanting privacy living out here in the middle of nowhere was a bit strange to her. On the other hand, everybody was different. If everybody was the same personalitywise life would be very boring.

"You'll have to drive me home though," Cassie pointed out.

"We don't mind," Dave said. "If we did we just would've given you directions and perhaps, escorted you in one of the cars."

"It's just that place is so far into town," Cassie said. "I hate for you to go to the bother and waste gas."

"We have to drive that distance into work every day but Sunday," Dave reminded Cassie. "Today is Sunday so we have all day to enjoy ourselves before Aaron and I open the shop tomorrow. Since we're going to make the journey anyway we'll just take you back to your apartment first."

"There is that," Cassie agreed. "It's a good thing you told me to bring an overnight bag. I immediately knew I'd be staying all night."

"And you don't mind that?" Dave asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not, or I never would've agreed to come," Cassie said simply. "We've been dating for a long time now and I know I can trust you. You and Aaron are good men and aren't going to murder me and bury my body out on the grounds. For one thing, that would be incredibly stupid something you and Aaron are not and for another, I've warned several people where I was going, just in case. They'll sound the alarm if I'm gone more than a day or two, unless they hear from me."

"Well, that was smart," Dave admitted unoffended. "Not that either Aaron or I would harm you, but it was still the smart thing to do. You can never be to careful."

"Also, you should know that Gerda approves of you both, which made my decision an easy one, as she's a good judge of character," Cassie added with a wink, "and so does, Teri."

"That's good," Aaron said coming in to the living area.

"I wondered where you were," Dave told Aaron with a raised eyebrow.

"I was in the shower," Aaron said causally. Aaron's hair was indeed wet, though most of the moisture had been soaked up probably with a towel, so at least he wasn't dripping on the furniture or the floor.

Dave said nothing, as he could guess what Aaron and Monica had been doing. A shower would have been absolutely necessary so Aaron didn't smell like he had just had sex.

"It's very nice to see you again Aaron," Cassie said in saucy voice, causing Aaron to visibly gulp at the innuendo. "I've heard I'm here for a spectacular meal and then I'll be staying overnight."

"You didn't have to agree you know," Aaron said.

"Don't be silly, of course, I was going to agree," Cassie said. "I've wanted to see where you lived for sometime and now I finally get my chance."

"I'll go see if Monica was done with lunch," Dave chuckled.

"Who's Monica?" Cassie asked

"Our cook," Aaron explained calmly, even as Dave headed in the direction of the kitchen. "She's been with us far a long time."

"I was under the impression that Dave did all the cooking," Cassie said.

"He does do a lot of it," Aaron said. "Monica is for those times that Dave is too tired to cook or just doesn't feel like it. She's well compensated for living out in the middle of nowhere."

By us making love to her, Aaron added in his thoughts.

What Aaron said was not entirely truthful, but it also wasn't a complete untruth either.

"She cooks a lot of things on a regular basis and puts them in the freezer, mostly when Dave and I are at the shop," Aaron added.
"That makes sense," Cassie said nodding. "Just because you know how to cook doesn't mean you have time for it occasionally. You might be too busy doing other things that you don't even think about making a meal."

"Which is why Monica freezes a lot of things so we can just heat it up, especially me," Aaron chuckled. "I can not even boil water to save my life, so I'm glad she does. I can make something like a sandwich though as that's simple and doesn't require going anywhere near a stove."

"Everyone can make a sandwich," Cassie giggled. "Still, I can understand you might get tired a sandwiches, as I certainly do, when I eat a lot of them, just because I'm not in the mood to fix anything more complicated or to order out."

"Lunch is ready folks," Dave said coming back into the room. "Would you prefer the kitchen or the dining room Cassie," Dave asked. "It's your choice."

"The kitchen is fine," Cassie said. "There's no need to use the dining room when there's only four of us, as I am assuming Monica will be joining us for lunch."

"That's good as that's where Aaron and I usually eat," Dave said. Dave led the way towards to the kitchen, which meant going through the dining room and then going to another door.

The kitchen was quite roomy, Cassie noticed. This was no small kitchen where only one person could work at a time. This kitchen had to be at least three times the size of a normal one and several people could work if necessary to prepare a meal. It was really nice, very modern and also homy at the same time. She was sure that any professional chef would love to work in such a well set up space, with all the newest kitchen gadgets.

"This is really nice," Cassie said looking around

"Thank you, I really like it," said a female voice. Cassie turned to see a beautiful woman with red hair done up in a messy bun to keep it out of her face, as she cooked.

This must be Monica, Cassie guessed accurately. She had been expecting someone at least in her 50s, but Monica couldn't be any older than Dave and Aaron. Of course, it was possible that she colored the white streaks in her hair, but the red looked natural and not gotten from a bottle, but on the other hand if you didn't want somebody to be able to tell you colored your hair you wanted it to look natural. There were also other signs of how young she still was. Her face was unlined, except for some crows feet around her eyes and mouth. The skin still looked dewy and young.

Cassie said nothing, but knew what was happening thanks to her father's journal. She had never known about the journal, when both her parents had been alive three years ago. The journal had been given to her by Gerda on their orders, after the passing of her parents. Rena had also gotten a journal though it was photocopied from the original.

She had read the journal and her dad had written all about their heritage as far back as he knew anyway. She hadn't wanted to believe it at first, but when Dave showed up in her life and then Aaron, well she'd had no choice but to believe it. The journal had gone into detail about the possibility of having two mates or very rarely three, despite her human blood and if that was to happen then she was not to deny it, as that would be very stupid.

If you do try to deny the attraction you'll feel for your dracon mate(s) it was spelled with a C, then you will be sincerely unhappy rest of your life. Of course, it is also possible you'll only have one like me, as that is what happens a large percentage of the time. When I met your mother I knew she was the 'ONE' The One was capitalized and also emphasized, as if her beloved father wanted her to know how important a mate was.

Her father then had gone on to describe exactly what to expect.

Since that's exactly what happened when Dave had made her sweat and wet herself with her fluids... which hadn't taken more than a few minutes for him to accomplish. Well, she hadn't been entirely sure as some humans had that effect, though not on her so far. But also, she and Dave had grown close quickly, more quickly than was usually normal, which was also a sign. When Aaron had entered the picture and started flirting with her with Dave's full approval she had known, as before she had only had suspicions but really hadn't known with any certainty, though the sparks that leapt between their hands had been a major clue as to Dave's true identity. She had pretended she hadn't seen the sparks but she had, even if Dave hadn't noticed her noticing them.

She hadn't even remembered the journal at first, though she had kept it out of respect for her dad. She had gone back and reread it the same day after she had met Dave, just to make sure she remembered everything right, since it had been around three years since she had read it the first time. She still had trouble believing it, as she and Rena had not been taught this when they were young. If the dragons were real, even if they could be human and were most of the time she could understand why they were was so careful and only transformed when they were absolutely sure they were alone with no phones, no video cameras and no humans around to see them in their other forms.

Cassie knew that witches were real, but dragon shifters was a little hard to accept, any kind of shifter really, even if they called themselves dracons. She had looked up the word and it basically meant dragons, so they were calling themselves what they were, even if most people would never know that. Unless like her they looked up the meaning.

She was looking forward to surprising them and knew they would be pleased once they got over their shock because it was always a chancy thing to tell someone like that a species like shifters were real, as you never knew how someone was going to react if they were human. She was guessing, but now that she'd met Monica, she knew she had to be Dave's and Aaron's first mate, which was why Monica still looked so young. According to her father the dracons lived a long time, so long as they didn't have too much human blood, so they couldn't transform like her.

There must be a way to lengthen her lifespan, as she couldn't see Dave and Aaron letting one of their mates die in less than a hundred years. That was for a later though.

At the moment she was hungry, so she was going to enjoy this lunch that Monica had cooked and they could discuss the rest afterwards.

~~~Dave, Monica, Aaron, Cassie~~~