Mated in the Stars (Starscale Mates #6)

Chapter Seven

Nelum

“Mum?” I blinked at the dragon with the blue star on his chest. “Did you hit your head while wrestling my supper?”

“It’s a long story,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t have ---”

“Teddy?” The dragon with the red star on his chest said, cutting the other guy off.

“How about we all calm down,” the guy with the green star said, stepping between me and the one called Teddy. He kicked my bow and the fallen arrow away. I could stab him with any of my arrows or the dagger on my thigh just as easily as I could shoot him. So, I let him get away with it. This wasn’t the first world of weirdos I ran onto while hunting hogs. Probably wouldn’t be the last. Though, something about this particular world left its mark on me. The fucking star shaped parasite on my chest itched like a son-of-a-bitch.

“Is he who we think you’re talking about?” The green scaled guy with the extra scales making a line across his chest asked.

“Yeah, Xav. I think so,” Teddy nodded.

Teddy looked like a confused little boy. Somehow, I remembered what that man looked like as a confused little boy. I wasn’t going to feel my own forehead and give them the satisfaction of knowing their parasite worked on me and was giving me fevered hallucinations of him standing around with two other little kids, looking up at me like I might whip up a dinner every night or something.

“Who am I then?” I grunted.

“Do we even tell him?” the elf asked.

“Tell me what?” I asked, tired of them all talking about me as if I wasn’t standing right here.

If the elf hadn’t been an omega and the kid wasn’t with them, I’d have worried about other problems that might come up. Being alone with a handful of strange alphas didn’t always turn out to be a fun time. Though, unless “Mummy” was Teddy’s kink, none of them were looking at me that way. The guy with the red scale on his chest seemed to be mated to the omega. The last guy looked more as if he’d like to kick my ass than try to hit on me.

“Do you know what true-mates are?” Teddy asked, stepping around the green scale guy. “Give us space, Xav. We’re not pigs. He doesn’t want to eat us.”

“F PIG!” The baby shouted as he climbed up Teddy.

“Quit that,” Teddy whispered to him.

“You’re not my mate, Teddy,” I shook my head.

“No, but I think you are--- I think you were my mom.”

“I don’t know who you have me confused for, buddy, but I think you might need to see the healer. If there isn’t one here, I can recommend a few good ones,” I said, crossing my arms.

“He means in a past life,” the elf said.

“Oh, that shit. Yeah. Don’t care about it,” I shrugged. “I think---”

Teddy’s expression fell apart before he shoved it back together all in a single beat of his heart.

“I mean, obviously, I’m sorry your mom isn’t around anymore. I don’t think I was her but I’m not out here to figure out who I used to be. I know who I am. I’m Nelum: Son of a spell hunter and a chicken farmer. I guess you could say I’m a traveler of sorts now but I’m definitely no one’s mother. I’m not even anyone’s carrier. No babies in here.” I pointed to my torso.

“Do I?” Xav asked the elf.

What the hell had I missed? Did he do what?

“Yeah, I guess so, Xav. It’s for the best,” the elf nodded and a second later I was flat out on my back staring up into the purple canopy of the trees unable to budge a muscle. I should’ve stabbed him when I had the chance to. It would’ve saved me a lot of trouble.

“NO KILL!” the baby shouted. “NO KILL! SAY SORRY! SAY SORRY!”

“Shhhhh…. Buddy. It’s okay. Minter, baby, it’s okay,” Teddy held tight to his squirming and now wailing brother.

It wasn’t my fault I couldn’t open my mouth and tell the little guy that I wasn’t dead yet.

“Well, what are we going to do with him now?” Selt asked. “It’s not like we can just leave him out here. If the spell wears off, he’s gonna haul ass and never come back. His mate is here even if it isn’t Fred and Elio.”

“Dad’s gonna kill us if this is Mom,” Teddy said, still trying to soothe Minter.

Maybe I liked his dad more than I knew. Not enough to be his mom but enough that when I stabbed all these assholes (minus the baby of course) I’d spare him.

“If he kills them all there will be no one left for us to stab,” my dragon chimed in with his two cents.

At least whatever Xav the green scale did to me didn’t put the asshole out. He sat inside his inner sanctum licking his paw fur. I guess that was another bright side to this damnable place. If these dragons were scaly the winters probably didn’t get too bitterly cold around here.

“Are we staying?” My dragon asked.

I wasn’t sure. If our mate was here, maybe. If that’s what the star parasite on my chest meant, maybe.

“Not a parasite,” my dragon shook his head, tossing around his straw-colored neck mane. “Just a scale without fur. A naked scale.”

That was probably my luckiest break today.

“Should’ve stayed in bed or just eaten eggs for dinner,” my dragon sighed.

We were both tired of chicken eggs with ninety percent of our meals.