Mated in the Stars (Starscale Mates #6)

Chapter Thirty

Elio

The babies and I woke up in the middle of a sewing bee. A rush of motion fluttered this way and that. All the kids, minus the sleeping Teddy, worked in a circle on the floor with Fred and Teal. Had hell frozen over while I was out? Had Nelum discovered the secret to making everyone get along? I rubbed my eyes and slid Baby Amaranth under my shirt to feed him. Minter blinked around the room noticing that Duke had arrived sometime while we were asleep. He waved shyly at the crowd and leaned into my side. Nelum wasn’t back.

“He’s still at the main house,” Fred said, picking up my thoughts over our mating link.

“You left him alone to go through her stuff?” I asked him over our link.

“He asked me to. I went back and checked on him. You were out for a while. I even had him take whatever out of the closet that he didn’t want anyone else rummaging through. Now we’re making quilts and he’s working on something of his own.”

I bit my lip. Was I going to turn into a brute like alphas did when their mates were carrying eggs? Maybe. Just maybe. The thought of him over there all on his own didn’t sit well with me at all.

“He’ll just chase you off too,” Teal piped up. “I offered to stay and help him because I wasn’t as close to the situation.”

“What’s he doing?” I yawned.

“Something Lotus related,” Fred sighed. “The kids can stay with us if you want to go check on him.”

“I think I need to,” I yawned again, glancing down at Minter.

“Wanna go to sit with Daddy?” I whispered to him.

“You,” he shook his head. “Teddy no come still. Stay with you.”

I let out a long, slow breath, wishing Teddy would hurry up and get up already if only for my baby’s sake. I stroked his hair until he fell back asleep. By then, Baby Amaranth had finished eating. I kissed him all over the face before passing him off to Fred. My mate stole a kiss before he let me slip out of the house.

“At least it looks like Daliah and Sequin made up,” my dragon chimed into my thoughts.

“That’s something alright,” I nodded.

“I’m in here!” Nelum called as soon as I twisted the knob on the front door. “Just sending out some emails. It took me a bit to figure it all out.” He sat at the dining room table in front of an ancient laptop with a lot of papers in front of him. “Passwords are weird when you have to type them. I sat here shouting at this thing for almost ten minutes before I figured it out.”

“Whatcha up to?” I said, sitting down next to him.

“Planning a party for next weekend,” he said.

“For the baby? Like a baby shower or a mating feast?”

“Probably the latter if I had to name it but it’s for Lotus.”

I blinked at him. Had something about ‘communicating’ with his past self rattled his brains?

“She asked me to. Her last wish put in writing as far as I know was to bring everyone together. I don’t even know these people. I haven’t even shown Freddie the letter yet. But she has all their emails. So, I’m emailing them. I hope they believe me. They probably think I’m some crazy person.”

I blinked again and rested my cheek against my hand.

“I’m not sure Fred’s told anyone you’re back. Maybe Clarence or one of the kids told them.”

“Well, they’re about to find out if they still have the same email.”

Neither of us had ever thrown a party before where money was needed to negotiate things. So, by the end of the evening we had to let Fred in on things. I was pretty sure I knew how to use the bank card, but Nelum was afraid I’d accidentally spend all of his money instead of only some of it. So, we left the money parts to Fred.

“Do you think Teddy will wake up before then?” I asked Fred.

“I’m betting he will. I think it’ll be good for him to be back on Earthside for a bit. Reconnect with his siblings and stuff,” Fred sighed.

That night we slept in the main bedroom. I thought for sure, Fred and Nelum would seal it all up again with magic, but instead they opened the balcony doors and aired it out. Then we climbed into the fresh sheets and blankets to go to sleep. Nelum had bagged all the old ones up in a scent preserving bag for Fred. Things were moving forward, one tiny thing at a time. Maybe coming to Earthside was exactly what all of us needed.