CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Vallis
Nightshade Bear Territory
I didn’t need to worry so much about Lero getting inside his head about how quickly his touch brought me over the edge.
Sure, it only took a few minutes the first time but the good thing about how long it’d been since I’d been touched was that it didn’t take long for my dick to be hard again.
Maybe that was from sucking on him because as soon as I came, I was ravenous for him.
I stripped away his pants and buried my face against his dick, breathing in his scent.
I licked and kissed up and down his shaft, worshipping my mate as his breaths grew heavy with pleasure.
I reveled in every little sound that my mouth coaxed from his and as soon as he came he was tugging me back up to the top of the bed for a long, slow kiss.
“Hey! Pregnant mate of mine! Don’t tug on me!” I laughed, but real worry tinged my thoughts.
“I could carry your ass through a blizzard and all three of us would turn out fine,” Lero laughed and kissed me again.
Then his hand wrapped around my dick, and I had to take him at his word because I was too tongue-tied to argue with him about it.
This time the pleasure was deeper and moved in tighter spirals, but it didn’t overwhelm me.
Lero went slow in his strokes and squeezed just the right amount.
I let him consume my thoughts. After two weeks in the hospital, it was nice to think about him and nothing else.
We kissed hard while he played with my dick, coaxing another orgasm out of me.
I roared this time, the sound rattling my own brain as warm, sticky streams covered his fist. We definitely needed a shower before the going away party.
We lingered under the hot water, washing each other. We left the shower door open because though his shower was made to fit several people, the confinement of it was too much. He’d left it open without my asking and I silently wondered if he felt my newfound claustrophobia too. I hoped he didn’t.
The whole village was headed to the square at the same time as us.
Walking hand in hand with Lero it felt as if this had always been my real life.
I wasn’t sure how things were unfolding on my home world but I couldn’t go back.
Hopefully, without Pami, they’d carry on peacefully as always.
Plus, I was sure I’d run into Nashen eventually.
He always ventured out for books. Hopefully he didn’t blame his sister’s death on me.
I shook the thought away as we reached the picnic tables.
I wasn’t sure where to go, but Lero led the way to where his grandparents, Mori, and Preston already sat.
Wess sat next to his mate holding both of their babies while Baby Andy dipped his hand into a cup of what looked like apple juice before shoving it into his mouth.
“Broug would’ve loved this place,” my bear rambled off into my thoughts, and I froze for a second. I thought I had worked through all my grief while I was underground but that was the thing about grief. It lived in your cells and replicated itself with each and every divide.
“Still good?” Lero asked, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. “We can still go home. No one would blame you. I’ll snag us some more of the goody bags too.”
“Yes, to the bags. No to going home. If I start hiding away now, I might never come out. Besides, everyone is looking at us.”
“That’s because we’re a good-looking couple,” Lero teased. “They’re in awe.”
“And they’re not allowed to tease us like they’d tease a lot of new couples because of what happened. That and because of you, Sharon Claudis croaked,” Lero’s bear cut into the conversation.
I let out a long, slow breath and followed Lero to the table where his family had gathered.
Ivan flashed me a knowing look. I almost asked how long it took to feel normal, but I knew better.
Normal was over. The coffin and Broug’s death would be a dividing line between before and after.
Whatever happened now, I had to find a new normal.
Lero squeezed my hand as he sat down at the picnic table.
I glanced around the gathering. Some other pregnant shifters sat in lawn chairs to avoid bumping their pregnant bellies on the table itself from the proximity of the benches to the tables.
Food was everywhere. From the looks of it, whoever cooked had been doing it for weeks because each table was filled to the brim.
Lero dug right into the food but for a moment I was frozen again.
How many days had it been since I was locked underground?
I shook my head. That math wasn’t going to help me.
Lero held up a fork with a bite of baked potato on it and I took it before starting to fill my own plate.
Broug might never see the Nightshade Bear Territory but at least he was safe from Pami now.
My heart skipped a beat. Maybe he wasn’t safe at all. Maybe she was tormenting him in the afterlife since she too was dead. My heart pounded against my ribs and Lero and Ivan reached out for me at the same time.
“That’s not how the afterlife works,” Xenos announced, either picking up my thoughts from Lero or over the group link.
“There are rumors that some victims get their revenge after death but I assure you, whatever waited for Pami through her door, it was not Broug waiting to be hurt by her again. I don’t know how or who works this stuff out in the in-between because true-mates aren’t supposed to be able to do what she did. It should’ve hurt her too much.”
“Sorry,” I shook my head. “We have lots of time to talk about this later and Mori is about to leave and….”
“Does it help to talk about it?” Mori asked, meeting my gaze from across the table.
“I don’t know,” I admitted and Lero squeezed my knee.
“That’s okay. Not knowing is the best place to be,” Ivan chimed in. “If you don’t know that means you have lots of possibilities. Do you want to have a memorial for Broug?”
“Probably,” I nodded.
“Then we’ll do it,” Barry said, finally looking up from his plate.
Baby Andy stared at me from across the table. His eyes lit up with recognition. Had he seen me when I was invisible?
“We don’t talk about that,” Preston said, sliding a tiny bite of meat into the kid’s mouth to distract him. “Andy is too young to tell us clearly what he sees. If he sees anything out of the ordinary at all.”
“He does,” Mori said and Preston kicked him under the table.
I laughed because this was their normal and it was nice that someone got to go back to their normal, even if it was only temporary.
“Are you allowed to say how you’re getting the egg to the ship?” I asked, hoping to thrust Mori’s attention-loving self into the spotlight. Maybe then I wouldn’t be the center of attention.
“Yes,” Mori said. “It’s not that big of a secret.
Outside of Sharon, Annila really didn’t have many enemies.
She was fairly well liked for most of her life.
We’re using one of the draconic moving trucks.
Jeth and I will ride in the back with the egg and we’ll take our time getting there.
Another truck will meet us on the other side of the Atlantic to get the egg to Nic’s house.
They’ve already gotten the nest set up. We’re leaving from the Raven Hollow Territory and it’ll take about a week or so to get there.
We’ll have draconic watchers the whole way.
So, if the ship goes down, we’ll be able to save the egg and not drown or get eaten by something. ”
“Sounds like something out of one of Nashen’s books,” I said, mostly to myself.
“It sounds like you really thought it through,” Lero said.
“Well, it’s Annila’s baby,” Mori said, staring at his meatloaf.
A puppy jumped onto the bench next to him and I half-waited for someone to shoo him away. Instead, he clambered into Mori’s lap and laid down. I was such a dick. I poked Mori’s sore spot because I was tired of having mine poked.
“I think Annila would’ve loved the drama,” Barry said.
“The whole saga of taking a ship across the ocean to deliver a dragon egg born of a deceased carrier. It’s very--- Well, draconic.
The ship is being built by dragons who flew over from New York just for this job.
Same people who build the ships for Clarence’s Pheromone Cruises.
The guards have been hand-selected by Clarence and Medwin. It’s quite the procession.”
“Two ships actually. That way if attackers show, they won’t know which really hosts the egg,” Jeth said, sliding in next to Mori who scooted over to give him space. Snowy, the puppy, whined his protest at being shuffled around but wagged his tail when Mori handed off a bite of his meatloaf.
“Sounds like a solid plan,” I nodded.
The rest of the feast went off smoothly.
I mostly listened to everyone chat about their lives and followed Lero around as if our hands were dragon-glued together.
If he minded, he didn’t say anything. That evening when we went home I half-expected him to ask if I was really okay.
I didn’t have a real answer. I was and I wasn’t.
Only Lero didn’t laugh. Instead, he kicked off his shoes and motioned for me to do the same.
He took off his shirt and then mine. For a second, I thought he wanted to have sex on the living room floor and I would’ve been down for trying.
Instead he led me to the sofa and we laid down.
He pulled the knitted blanket from the back of the sofa over our heads and for a moment the world was silent.
It was just again as it had been while I was invisible to the rest of the world.
“It’s a feast tradition. You get to nap or pretend to nap afterwards,” Lero grinned.
“Are you tired?” I asked, brushing a lock of hair away from his handsome face.
“Not really, but I thought you could use a little quiet.”
“Funny how being under the blanket helps. It should make it worse.”
“Brains are strange. Plus, this blanket has little peepholes,” he laughed.
“And you’re here,” I said, leaning in so that my forehead rested against his. My eyes drifted shut and I breathed in his scent, sucking him down into my lungs. I imagined his scent spreading out through my body and my muscles finally let go of their tension.
It was dark by the time I woke up. Lero was still there, half-sitting up and reading a book on his phone while I rested my head against his stomach. His free hand played with my hair. I laid there a long time after I woke, reveling in the softness of his fingers.
“Grandpa brought by some leftover desserts from the feast. They’re in the fridge if you want a treat,” he said, letting me know he knew I was awake. “And I can stop reading if you need me.”
“Can we stay like this for a while?” I asked.
“As long as you need to,” he said, his thumb swiping across the screen of his phone to the next page.