Chapter 17
Aleric
My dragon was on edge. We had been in our new cottage for only a week, but it felt as if it were longer.
My dragon was pushing me to constantly be around Konrad, but my mate wasn’t having it.
He’d kicked me out of the cottage after we’d shared our midday meal, telling me that he needed a bit of peace and solitude while he tried to rest for a bit.
My mate was absolutely amazing, and if we only ever had just the one child, I would have zero complaints.
But my dragon kept telling me to go back to our mate.
I had to fight him because just as Da and Father had always told me to listen to my dragon, I also didn’t wish to irritate my mate.
So I made a compromise with him, and I was outside, chopping firewood.
Did I need to do such a thing? No. I looked at the long line of chopped and stacked firewood that was already waiting to be used.
Claude continued to do small things such as that for us, and all any of us could do was thank him while accepting it as another way for him to feel as if he were repaying us for what we’d done for him.
Specifically, what I had done when I rescued Konrad and the three others.
I gave up trying to argue with him that it was nothing and that I, too, had a mate come from there, but it was no use, so I stopped arguing and simply told him thank you.
A shadow flew over, and I looked up in time to see Father and Wilhelm flying over the area.
Konrad had talked to me about his concern for Wilhelm and the things that were possibly plaguing him after having been rescued.
I knew what he’d been referring to because many times I had woken up my own mate when he would suddenly start thrashing about in the bed beside me.
When he woke, he told me he had been dreaming about his time in captivity.
Konrad had me to help him through those moments.
Elias had Claude, and although we didn’t know for sure that those same dreams were causing Lukas fits, he had his own mate, Tobias.
Sadly, Wilhelm had nobody to help him in the middle of the night.
Which was why I had asked Father if he and Da could help us keep an eye on Wil.
He assured me they would, and ever since, Da and Father had both gone out of their way to include Wil in many extra things, from cooking to flying about the mountain regularly.
I watched the pair fly overhead until they were but tiny specks in the sky. It had been several weeks since I had taken to the skies with Father, but my dragon hadn’t wanted to get that far away from our pregnant mate, and Father had said he understood completely.
I went back to chopping wood, not sure what else I could do to keep myself and my dragon occupied.
I knew if I went inside, I would hover around Konrad and most likely keep him from getting the rest he needed.
Yet my dragon wouldn’t allow me to shift and go flying with my father, nor was he in favor of going to my fathers’ cottage to visit with Da.
I could really use his calming ways right about now, but my dragon wasn’t having it.
There was no way I was leaving the immediate vicinity of the cottage I shared with Konrad.
I check in on my mate through our bond and found him to actually be sleeping.
That was a good thing. He had tossed and turned the past few nights despite any attempts I’d tried to make him more comfortable.
I would rub his aching back, and he would find a bit of relief, but it seemed to be short-lived because he woke again a short time later.
I felt terrible for my mate. If I could take his pain away from him, I would, but sadly, I couldn’t.
Instead, I did everything I could to help him be as comfortable as possible.
I stopped chopping long enough to look at the pile of split wood I’d made.
It was smaller than some, but I realized my mind really wasn’t where it should be when chopping firewood, so I swung once more, gently set the blade of the axe in the chopping block, and started gathering up the wood I’d split.
I carried it over to the already stacked wood and added to it.
That only took a few moments, and I was trying to decide what other mundane things I could do to keep me busy. I needed something though, so I decided to go for a short walk. I had just reached the tree line that was off to our left when a familiar head popped out.
“Claude, how are you doing?” I asked. I waved to him, and he returned the gesture.
“As well as can be. How about you? And Konrad? Any baby news you need to share?” Claude asked.
I shook my head. “I wish I did. Konrad hasn’t had him yet, and he’s not gone into labor that I know of.” I thought about that for a moment. “I would know, wouldn’t I?”
Claude gave me a sympathetic smile.
“Would you like to sit and talk a bit? Or maybe come in for a drink?” I was rambling and being a poor host at the same time. Neither was good. Claude chuckling helped calm me a bit.
“I will sit for a few. I have a feeling Elias will wake soon, and I plan on being there when he does. Is Konrad feeling well?” We walked over to a large bench that Claude had provided when he finished the house.
It would be a perfect spot to sit with Konrad once the weather warmed up, but for now, I would gladly sit and talk with Claude.
I shrugged. “As well as can be expected. The day you arrived, you had mentioned how my son would be born soon, yet here we are, almost three weeks later, and still no baby.”
“All in time, Aleric. Babies come when they are ready. Yours will be here soon, and then all of the waiting will have been worth it.”
I sighed. If that were true, it would be such a relief.
“What brings you over this way?” I asked, hoping for anything to keep my mind occupied and off my very pregnant sleeping mate.
“Elias had asked about Konrad. I told him I would certain news would spread as soon as he had the baby, but I would come and ask if he promised to lie down and take a nap. He has started to tire easily, and he usually doesn’t argue too much when I ask him to take it easy.
He has been a bit restless today though. ”
Elias still had plenty of time before their son would be born, so if he was becoming restless already, did that mean his dragon was sensing something happing with Konrad? I’d not been around enough pregnant omegas to be able to answer those questions.
“I will share news as soon as I have it. Konrad is tired, over being pregnant, and looks miserable. I feel terrible about it all, but I’m not sure what all I can do for him.”
Claude placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
“Just be there for him.” Claude stood and nodded to me.
“Be sure not to wander too far, Aleric. You never know when you’ll need to be near your mate or when he might need you,” Claude said before he walked off.
I sat there, watching him leave. When he reached the trees, he turned and waved, but by the time I got my own hand raised, Claude had disappeared.
I’d asked Elias and Wilhelm what that felt like, and they said it was a lot like flying upside down and in circles in the sky.
Claude had offered to take me places, but I’d declined.
I wasn’t ready to be away from Konrad. The offer still stood, and I would most likely take him up on it when it came time to go to trade for things we needed, but until then, I was more than happy to stay here and not experience poofing from one place to another.
I sat on the bench, wondering what the day would bring. We had been through so much already, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of something impending. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was something, and it was going to be important.
Could it be that Konrad would give birth soon?
Claude had said to be sure I didn’t wander far.
He was a warlock and had magic unlike mine.
My dragon, too, wouldn’t allow me to go far.
In fact, I’d tried to leave the immediate area, and my dragon pushed for me to return.
I was going to listen to him and stay here.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Konrad would want more children. I did not care how many we had, but I knew I didn’t care to see my mate in his current state. He was worn down, and his body seemed as if it was at its limits.
Would things have been different if he’d not been held captive for months before I found him? I had to think so. He and the others had spent a great deal of time without food, and that still had some impact on them, and it had been months since I’d found them.
I groaned, frustrated with all of the jumble of thoughts going through my mind, as well as my inability to calm my own dragon. I needed to be doing something, so I stood and went back into the cottage. There were plenty of things that could be tidied up.
When I got to the kitchen, I immediately started washing the dishes that had been left sitting in the tub.
This was something that I did not want Konrad to be doing in his condition.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t capable; it was that he was already doing so much by carrying my son that the least I could do was clean up after the meal I’d made us a little while ago.
It didn’t take long to right the kitchen before I was left searching for something else to do. I gravitated toward the bedroom, and when I got to the open door, I saw my mate lying there on his side. His breathing was rhythmic, and I quietly left, knowing if I stayed, I would most likely wake him.
I needed to talk to Da, so I set out to the cottage that until recently I had called home as well.
I had many questions, and if Da couldn’t answer them, I most likely wouldn’t be able to find answers for them.
He had always been a calming force in my life.
It was the way of omegas, and although I had my own now, mine was the very source of my anxiety.
I needed Da, so that was my destination.
The wind had picked up a bit, but the sky was still clear.
The temperatures were cold still, and I had spent enough years here on this mountain to know that we would not yet get the warmer temperatures of the changing season.
We would have snow for a time still, and it was possible there would be more added to what was already on the ground.
My dragon fought me as I entered the trees that would take me toward Da, and when the cottage I shared with Konrad was out of sight, he pushed me to turn and return to our mate.
When I’d made it partway to Da’s, I discovered why when Konrad reached out through our bond.
His waters had broken, and he was in labor.
My mate was giving birth, and I wasn’t there.
My dragon called out a loud bellow, and I raced home as fast as I could to be with my mate.