Chapter Twenty
Nelum
I woke up to find that Elio was still out cold, and that Fred had gone over to visit the kids. I peeked in on the egg and grabbed a shower and a meal before stepping into my boots and grabbing my bow. As my heat receded, new thoughts and memories flooded my brain. I needed to hunt and clear my head. Sure, I could’ve shifted into my dragon to hunt but there was something magical about having the bow and arrows in my hands. Something soothing and challenging at the same time.
A few hours later, I brought down the purple antlered buck I’d followed for miles. To be on the safe side, I did call Laken to double check that they were still in season. Hunting laws and customs varied from world to world, and I didn’t want to get Fred and Elio into trouble. By the time I shouldered the buck, I had more questions than answers. I needed to talk to the guys but that would have to wait since I was miles from home and didn’t feel like flying with a dead buck. I didn’t want blood or anything in my fur. Then I’d need to skin this big boy up and dig a roasting pit after he was ready. I sighed, wishing I thought ahead to ask one of them to meet me halfway. Only, I wasn’t sure I’d catch anything when I left the house. It wasn’t the heavy lifting or the hard work. I was used to that. I missed them. I missed them both and I missed someone I used to be because she made a lot of people happy. Before meeting Fred and Elio, I thought I wouldn’t pursue anything about her outside of what I found online. Now, I knew I had to watch or read whatever she left for me. I had to know what I wanted myself to know. I wasn’t her anymore. I couldn’t go back to being who I was back then. I was me now and I knew exactly who I was. Now, I was just more than I was before.
Fred was coming out of Teddy’s house when I arrived home. Like the big brutish gentleman he was, he rushed over to take the deer from me and managed to steal a kiss while doing it. I laughed because that was so Freddie.
“Want me to take care of it while you clean up?”
“I don’t mind doing it,” I said. “Wanted to talk to you anyway. It’s a touchy subject. I’m not sure if I should talk to you or Elio. Half of me feels like I need to march over to Teddy’s house and ask his permission.”
“What’s up?” Fred asked, his scent turning to worry.
“That stuff I left for myself on Earthside. I think I need to see it,” I said, following him across the lawn to the designated place to clean and skin hunts.
“Okay. Clarence found the easiest way between here and Earthside, that’s definitely something we could do. Now, it’s my turn to feel like an asshole, though,” he said and met my gaze.
“We have to wait until the egg hatches. Maybe mine too if I lay before then. I don’t want to get stuck on Earthside. I mean, it’s probably not a bad place…. Actually, I don’t know why I don’t want to get stuck over there,” I laughed.
“Being stuck anywhere but home feels like a pain in the ass.”
“I don’t know that I want to be stuck in her life, honestly,” I admitted after taking a second to think about it.
“We wouldn’t stay in London. We’d get things taken care of and then we’d visit somewhere else. Probably the GGB. If we got stuck, I’d rather be stuck there. We could have a fresh start or at least a real vacation. Then we could come home after our egg hatches.”
“The place with the dancing place,” I smirked.
“Yep. Glitter Bomb. My eldest was conceived above that club. Hell, I think a lot of babies were conceived in that club apartment over the years. I think one of my cousin’s kids live there now. So, maybe more babies are being conceived there. It sort of tickles me to have built something that breathed literal life into a place.”
“FRED! GET THE KIDS!” Elio shouted from inside the house.
The yard filled up with dragons instantly as if every warrior was summoned to a battlefield that I hadn’t known about. Teddy flitted past us, his wings outstretched with Minter on his hip, gripping onto a neon green crayon for dear life.
“What’s wrong?” I grabbed Freddie’s hand.
“It’s the egg!” Elio shouted again, quieter this time and almost everyone stopped in their tracks.
Running into someone’s nesting room uninvited wasn’t a good idea. Before I had time to ask if I was invited to watch the baby hatch, Freddie scooped me up over his shoulder and sprinted toward the house.
“Spray down with the hose first! You’re not dragging guts into the nest!” Elio called out as Teddy and Minter slipped into the house.
Marsin, Elio’s brother, was there to spray us down without much warning. I cursed like a sailor in the language of my birth but Freddie only laughed as the water drenched us. Inside the house, I stopped to change but Freddie didn’t bother. I guess water was allowed in the nest.