Chapter Nineteen
Ladon
Two months later…
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Blaze took my hand in his and kissed the back of it.
I nodded as I rubbed my expanded belly. “I’m not feeling like I can fly right now, and I’m still worried about what a shift will do to my egg.
” All the other dragon shifters from Cloudhaven had assured me both me and my egg would be fine, but I still worried.
I wasn’t anywhere near as graceful changing forms as them since I hadn’t shifted for so many years.
“I’ll be fine here. I’ll wait for you all to come back. ”
“You ready, big guy?” He turned to Kirin who was harnessed up, ready to fly with the dragons without the ability to do so.
In a few more years, he would experience his first shift back to his dragon form and learn to use his wings, but until then, he wore a harness and a helmet and was carried by Blaze.
“Yep.” Kirin knocked his fists against his helmet. “I can’t wait to fly again.”
“Okay, stand back for a moment.” Blaze removed his clothes and handed them to me before he shuffled out into the clearing, needing room to shift without knocking anyone over the edge of the cliff. Once he was on his hands and knees, his back arched and his skin rippled.
Kirin stood beside me and held my hand, watching him shift with wide eyes. “I can’t wait until it’s my turn to do that.”
“Soon enough,” I assured him, though when it happened, I was sure it would feel too soon. He was already growing up too fast.
Blaze’s face elongated as scales popped up all over his body.
Wings split his back open and flapped around while claws grew on the tips of his now-webbed toes.
In less than a minute, he was in his dragon form, beautiful golden scales with darker edges and a long, muscular body.
He’d told me that the day he rescued us from the sinkhole, his shift had happened much faster, but he hadn’t been thinking about changing forms, only getting to me.
As he swung his neck around, I held my hand out to his face. He blinked, his long eyelashes fluttering in the gentle breeze. “Take care of him.”
He nodded before flapping his wings and hovering just above the ground.
I moved Kirin under him to attach my son’s harness to Blaze’s legs.
It wasn’t the first time my mate had taken my son flying, but it was the first time from atop a cliff.
There were other dragons already flying over the valley below.
It was an end-of-summer tradition, though we’d never participated before with Blaze being on shift the previous years we’d been in Cloudhaven and me not trusting anyone else to take Kirin.
Once I was satisfied with their connection, I kissed Kirin on the head and rubbed Blaze’s scaly belly. “Okay, you’re good to go.”
Quickly rushing off to the side, I watched as they flew over the edge of the cliff, Kirin whooping with glee as he soared with his arms spread out under Blaze. They joined the other dragons with their children, weaving amongst them as the kids waved and shouted to each other.
A sudden pang twisted in my stomach. Yes, I was jealous at not being with them in the sky, but my envy had never felt so intense. I groaned when the feeling came again, bending over and holding my belly.
“Are you okay?” Garret, one of the mates of a firefighter from the same station as Blaze, came over and rubbed my back. “You’re really pale.”
“Not sure.” I sat on the ground with his help and tried to breathe through the pain.
“How long have you been eggbound?” He rubbed my shoulders and used Blaze’s shirt to wipe my forehead.
“A couple months.” I winced through another sharp pain. “Doctor tested me at the beginning of the summer.”
Garret shook his head. “You shouldn’t be out here. You should be at home, nesting. You’re going to lay your egg anytime now.”
“But I felt really good today. I didn’t want them to miss this.” Both had been talking about it for weeks, and after a string of days where I hadn’t had much energy, I believed I was finally feeling better from whatever ailed me.
He gripped my shoulder. “Well, you need to get home, or you’re going to lay your egg right here. I don’t think you want to incubate it on the side of a cliff.”
I shook my head as panic rose in my chest. “I don’t know what to do. The truck is at the bottom of the hill, and I don’t have the energy to shift or climb down there.”
“Don’t you worry.” He stood and headed toward the edge of the cliff. “I’ll make sure you get home in time.”
Sticking two fingers in his mouth, Garret whistled loud enough for the whole valley to hear.
Suddenly the flapping of wings grew closer, and several dragons hovered at the tree line.
Garret pointed to Blaze and a turquoise-scaled dragon. “You two have an emergency. Down here, now.”
The omega grabbed Kirin right before both dragons landed.
As another cramp took hold, I closed my eyes and suffered through the pain.
When I finally felt some relief, I opened my eyes and found Blaze and Loubaneau, Garret’s mate, in their human forms and clothing, on either side of me.
Holding me under my arms, they lifted me up while Garrett slid a basket stretcher under me.
“We always keep one of these up here, just in case,” the omega said.
Blaze nodded. “Lou is going to fly you home and I will take Kirin and Garret with me in the truck and meet you there.”
I reached out to him. “I’m sorry I ruined your flying time.”
He shook his head. “I should have known better. I should have stayed at home with you. But it doesn’t matter. You need to get there now. Lou will take care of you until I arrive. I love you.”
I didn’t have any time to respond. Blaze stepped back and I was swept up into the air. I hadn’t seen the firefighter shift back into his dragon form, but I was dangling below him while flying over the trees, heading back toward Cloudhaven.
I must have blacked out while in the sky, as I don’t remember anything until I was in my backyard and Lou and Blaze were carrying me into the house with Kirin rushing along behind them.
“Daddy, are you okay?”
The fear in his voice made me want to reach out and hug him, but I didn’t have the chance. “I’m okay. I’m just ready to lay my egg. You’re going to be a big brother soon.”
“I don’t wanna be a big brother if it’s going to hurt you.”
“Your dad will be okay.” After setting me in the nest I’d made in the spare room, Blaze held Kirin in his lap outside of the pile of pillows and blankets.
“This is normal for daddies to go through. He experienced the same thing when you were in your egg. We just had to get him off the hill and back home quickly. He’s okay now. ”
I reached out to them both. “Yes, I’m okay.” Pain sliced much lower in my abdomen. I turned away, trying to hide the agony from my son.
Garret brought a cold cloth and laid it on my forehead. Then he fed me an ice cube.
“Thank you,” I said between crunches of ice. I didn’t remember much about laying Kirin’s egg or even him hatching. It all seemed a distant memory overshadowed by the stress of raising him on my own.
“Do you want to go in the bathtub?” Garret asked. “I can draw it for you. It might relieve some of the pain.”
I shook my head as the pressure shifted, becoming heavy between my legs. I held a pillow to my face. “It’s coming now. I can feel it.”
Lou reached for Kirin’s hand. “C’mon, buddy. Why don’t you show me your collection of fire trucks. I’ve heard you got a lot of them.”
I was thankful the firefighter knew exactly how to get my son out of the room. With how worried he was for me before, I doubted he’d be able to watch me push the egg out.
“Let’s get your pants off.”
I lifted my hips as Blaze removed my clothes, not quite the same way he had when he’d gotten me into this situation.
“You’re wide open and ready to push,” Garret said from the edge of my nest by my feet.
For some reason, I had no problem with him seeing me there with my legs spread open. The dragons of Cloudhaven, and in fact all the shifters of the town, didn’t view nudity the same as in Saramto. It was a natural state to be in before and after a shift, and obviously when in labor.
Another piercing spasm. I pushed as I gripped Blaze’s hand as tight as I could.
“Good.” Garret handed my mate the cold cloth. “There was movement with that one. Just a couple more.”
Blaze wiped the cloth over my head. “You’re doing so well.”
As the next contraction hit, I wanted to take the cloth and smack him with it. The torment lasted so long. I pushed and pushed, but the egg wouldn’t come out. The distress left my body exhausted and I didn’t know if I had it in me to get it out.
“One more.” Garret gave me another ice cube. “One more and your egg will be out. I’m going to push on your stomach with his one. Help you out.”
I recoiled. “No. I don’t want the egg to crack.”
He shook his head. “It won’t. I promise you. Before I moved here to be with Loubaneau and start a family, I was a midwife back in Hawthorn. I’ve helped deliver many eggs. I know you can do this, and we’re going to get this egg out of you.”
I nodded, not quite confident in his words, but I didn’t know how much more I could take.
Another spasm. More torture. As Garret pushed on my belly, guiding the top of the egg, my opening expanded, burning with the stretch.
“You’ve got this.” Blaze kissed my forehead. “Almost there.”
Except I felt like my whole body was going to rip apart. I wanted to scream.
Pop!
My egg tumbled out between my legs. The pain subsided, but it didn’t stop.
At that point, I was focused on other things.
I reached for my egg and pulled it to my chest. I’d done it.
I laid another egg. I was going to sit on it and hatch it as I’d done with Kirin, but this time, I would have a mate to raise the baby with me, and a community of dragons and other shifters to help along the way.