Chapter Sixteen
Sequin
The new house smelled like Dad and Teddy but not in a bad way. Their scents made it feel like home from the moment we walked inside. Dad had even taken care to find me a sewing machine nearly identical to the one I inherited from my carrier and to set up a sewing room. As soon as we unpacked the meager belongings I brought over from Earthside and the stuff Liatris had brought over of Xav’s, I headed straight in and started making baby stuff. I’d brought along a whole box of my favorite fabrics and it seemed Teddy had stocked some he thought I might like in the room too.
While I worked on clothing, stuffies, and bedding for our future hatchling, Xav set to make the nest. I almost asked if he needed help but that felt speciest. Just because he wasn’t a dragon didn’t mean he wasn’t knowledgeable about nests. I made a mental note to ask whether or not they used nests where he came from.
“Most of the time, carriers go fleshy to have their babies, but the babies don’t stay fleshy that long after being born. For weeks they’re just little tiny element balls that get away from you and get misplaced,” Xav chimed into my thoughts over our mating link.
“I hope our kid doesn’t do that. I’d spend the whole time afraid I’d step on them,” I sighed both mortified at the mental image and grateful for our link. Having it meant I was never truly alone.
“Not on them. You’d step through them. It might feel weird, but it wouldn’t hurt them. You’ve walked through me plenty of times.”
“Your icy self has been in my crevices,” I teased.
“I like your crevices,” he said, the smirk evident in his voice. “I get stuck in there a lot.”
“You don’t hear me complaining. Do you think I could make a pouch for the baby if they turned into an element?” I asked him.
“Maybe if they’re stone or earthy,” Xav said. “I get you want to prepare for all possibilities but there is a pretty good chance that our baby won’t turn into a ball of anything besides scales.”
“What do you think hatchlings do? Roll around like rollie-pollies?”
“I dunno. If I was a dragon and the right shaped sort, I might,” he laughed. “What? It would probably be fun.”
A few hours later, we met up in the topmost room of the house, designed to be the nesting room. It had big almost ‘garage style’ doors that opened up to allow a fully grown dragon to fly in and out. Xav had managed to put together the nest but the whole room smelled suspiciously like ash and ice. Not only his scent but the literal items themselves. The whole nest was covered in a soft plushie material that seemed to be piled up to form padding everywhere it was exposed to the air.
“Did it catch on fire while you were building it?” I asked him from the doorway.
“No, I just burnt some of the parts together to make them sturdier. The whole thing is encased in forever ice. It’ll stay nice and warm,” he said, motioning for me to try it out.
“Encased in ice and warm?” I blinked.
“Come on. Trust me. Have I frozen you to death yet, mate?” he said and flashed me that smile I couldn’t resist.
So, into the icy nest I went. Only he was right. Whatever the padding was, it blocked out the chill of the ice. It was toasty to the touch.
“It’s stuffed with the good ash stuff,” he said.
“Good ash stuff?”
“The stuff that comes off my fire. It stays warm forever, but the actual fire is all burnt out of it, so it won’t burn or spark embers,” he explained, climbing into the nest behind me. “To be honest, I’ve thought about this since our night in that cave. Building a nest is important dragon business and while I knew the basics I wasn’t sure how to make it good enough for you. I had a lot of time to plan things out while you napped during your heat cycle too. You’re my favorite dragon in the world. You deserve a one of a kind nest that only I can give you.”
I blinked back tears. I’d survived most of my carrying time so far without gaining much weight or becoming too hormonal but this man was going to be my undoing. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into him. I leaned against him, reveling in how strong his muscles felt against me. With Daliah off living her own life, Duke on the other side of the world, and Dad and Teddy on a different planet – all while I was on Earthside, for a long time it felt like no one had my back. It felt like I was on a dinghy at sea with nothing but my wits and charm to fight off the sharks and krakens.
“You’re not alone anymore, mate. Even if they all run away to do whatever with their lives, you’ll never be alone again,” Xav whispered to me. “I’ll be right by your side no matter what.”
“That’s why I’m crying,” I said, blinking fast again. “It’s always felt like I’m just another dragon. Just another one of my sire’s kids. Just another Moonscale. But with you sometimes you make me feel like I’m the only one in the world that you see.”
“Sometimes you are,” he shrugged. “You’re the only one for me, Sequin. You’re the only one I can imagine spending the rest of my life with. You’re the only one who knows me – all of me and that’s not something I’ve ever been able to let anyone else do. Anywhere except my home world my magic is strange, but I can just be ice and chill with you while you scroll on your phone or sew or whatever.”
“I like when you do that. I like it even more now that we have our link open. It’s like you breathe easier when you’re ice.”
“I do but this form has its advantages too. This form lets me hold onto you and wipe away your tears,” he said, doing both of those things. “It let us make our baby.” Xav slid his hands down onto my belly. “Heck, without it I don’t think we could’ve met at all. So, I’m both fleshy elf and icy mist and sometimes other things.”
“You’re Xav,” I grinned and leaned up for a kiss.
It started as a long, slow kiss as most of ours did. Then his hands cradled my face, and I knew I was a goner. Even without pregnancy hormones egging me on, that move always made me melt into putty in his hands. I leaned against him, deepening the kiss and sucking his tongue into my mouth. He tasted like vanilla and ice-covered ash. My dragon loved it. It was as if he ate candy fire for every snack.
Piece by piece our clothes came off revealing the slightest egg bump around my middle. It was almost enough to make me furrow my brows at it, but the growth was a sign of a healthy egg.
“Stretch out, mate,” Xav said, patting the nest.
I stretched out on my back while I still could. If my belly grew much more the position would be a no-go but for now it was the perfect position for Xav to lean over and kiss all over my egg bump. He dragged his mouth over my flesh, showering me in a million bits of affection. I ran my fingers through his hair, reveling in how soft it was under my fingertips.
“And how would you like to get off today, mate?” He nuzzled his cheek against my belly and glanced up at me.
I blushed. This man started an egg growing inside me and could make me blush. What sort of trickery was that? I bit my lip. The possibilities were endless when Xav asked that question. I glanced around the nest for where he hid the snacks. Xav was still under the impression that I never ate enough. So he kept some stashes everywhere.
“Oh, snack and jack,” he teased.
“I am peckish,” I shrugged. “Besides, you’re the one who got it started.”
Xav reached over me and pulled out a cloth bag from in between layers of padded, ash-stuffed fabric. He pulled out a bag of real fruit snacks and chips. We’d become experts at feeding each other while staying very busy with our other hands. That day in the nest was no different. We stroked each other while enjoying the food he’d stashed in the nest. He kept feeding me those healthy little fruit gummy snacks until I knocked them out of his reach. Salt was my latest pregnancy craving and blue cheese and vinegar chips were the only thing to hit the spot. Even then, he only fed me tiny bits of them, claiming I might choke on them otherwise. Anyone else I wouldn’t have believed but my choking crossed his mind every time we did this.
“Cum for me and I’ll feed you the whole damn bag,” he said, leaning over to steal a kiss. “You’re close. You feel so fucking close it’s almost enough to give me blue balls.”
I thrust my hips up, sending my hard dick through his fist. He was right. Every stroke pushed me closer to the edge and the salt on my tongue only made me think of other ways to pick up the same taste. Pushing the bag of chips away, I kissed him hard as our fists pumped in time together. I squeezed him hard, reveling in the moan crawling out of his throat and his delight raining down on me over our mating link. Ever prepared, Xav pulled a towel out of seemingly thin air right before I came. I saw stars flash before my eyes as my body trembled. My grip on him tightened and he drew in a sharp breath before his own pleasure poured out of him in warm, sticky streams. Our lips crashed together and we kissed hard as if we might perish the moment we pulled apart.
Eventually we did as always, collapsing in a heap of limbs with my head resting on his chest. Xav kissed the top of my head and reached for the chips. He made good on his promise to feed me the whole damn bag.
“You make being a good boy so easy,” I teased him.
“I think food and orgasms go together. They probably hit the same part of the flesh brain,” he shrugged and fed me another chip.