Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Ronan
Finally, we had a finished nest. An extremely warm, exquisitely fluffy nest that I sprawled out in after the last blanket was placed.
Sighing contently, I snuggled back against my mate, tugged his arm over me, and stroked the back of the hand that rested on my belly.
Even the girls were content. No pokey eggs in uncomfy positions at the moment. Everything was pure bliss.
Pfffffffff.
Sniff. Sniff.
Oh no he didn’t!
“Did you just fart in my nest?” I asked, shoving at his hand.
“Our nest and….”
“Did you. Just. Fart! In. Our. Nest!”
“It just slipped out,” he said, but it was the amusement in his tone that sent me over the edge.
“I cannot believe you!” I said, attempting to get up, but with his arm still resting on my hip, it was like trying to wiggle out from under a slab of concrete. “Farting in the nest is not allowed.”
The words had no sooner left my lips than an egg shifted like it was trying to rearrange my guts.
Pfffffffff.
It wasn’t Odem that time, and my mate didn’t even try to hold back his snickers.
“What was that you were saying?” he asked.
Grumbling, I lay there, utterly defeated, betrayed by dinner and the pointy tip of an egg. Even the girls giggled. I swear they were already saving their Papa’s bacon.
PPPPFFFFffffffffffftttttttt.
And that was the benediction. I hid my face in the soft fluff of the nest while my mate laughed at me. “I’ll just be quiet now,” I muttered as the babies’ giggles grew.
If he told anyone about this…. the problem with trying to come up with ways to make my mate pay for such heinous transgressions was that every idea that popped into my head just left me wanting him to claim me again.
Kinky bastard.
And I was no better.
Another pokey egg slid and I cut a fart that echoed through the room and jumpstarted my mate’s laughter again.
“Laugh at me one more time and see what happens to you!” I grumbled, face heating up.
“You’ll gas me out of the room?” he said, laughing until I managed to kick him in the shin with my heel.
Of course, that just made my heel hurt and my protector chuckle louder.
“You’d better be glad I can’t cook or I’d be serving you freshly roasted toads for dinner,” I grumbled.
“With a dab of hot sauce, I’m sure they’d be just fine.”
I punctuated his snarky ass remark with another loud bit of flatulence.
That was it. The very last straw. How the hell was I supposed to get him to stop laughing when even I was giggling now? Our girls were in full dragonfly mode, flitting around in my belly so much that every few minutes I farted again, like mount Vesuvius getting ready to erupt.
“Help me to the bathroom,” I snapped, grateful for my mate’s swiftness.
He got me there in time to take care of business, a dull ache radiating across my hips by the time I was done. Laying back down was the only thing I had the energy for. Not that I could get comfortable once he’d carried me back to the nest.
“Will you please tell your pokey little girls to pick a side,” I hissed. “I’d like to sneak in a nap before bedtime.”
He chuckled at that and leaned over me, peeling my dress back so he could kiss my belly. “Alright girls. Let’s hold off on doing the macarena until after you hatch.”
Snickering, I just shook my head and stroked my mate’s hair as he continued whispering to them.
“I bet you’ll learn all kinds of dances,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you and your cousin in your pretty tutus, learning to pirouette.”
“Too late,” I grumbled. “They’ve already got that one down pat.”
Even the sound of his voice wasn’t settling them today. It’s like they were determined to wedge themselves against my pelvis until my whole lower body ached.
Breathe and lay still.
Just breathe.
And lay still.
My dragon had whispered these words to me before, in a place I’d prefer not to think about.
The rumble of his voice was like an anchor, a reminder that I wasn’t enduring this discomfort alone.
While Odem promised the girls pink ballet shoes and ribbons for their hair, I lay there and listened, focused on keeping my breathing steady, even when the achiness grew worse.
When we hold them, every ache will be forgotten.
I could feel my dragon’s excitement at the prospect of wrapping his wings around them and cuddling them close.
Promise you’ll let me out.
I promise, dragon.
He’d more than earned the chance to emerge and be free after the way he’d protected me and gotten us safely into our mates’ arms, even if he hadn’t known that’s where he was guiding us at the time. I owed him a million thanks and more for that.
You forgive me?
There was never anything to forgive. You saved us. Would it be too much self-love to tell you that I love you, dragon?
He responded with warmth instead of words, scales appearing along my arm as he bubbled to the surface, making the ache easier to endure for a bit longer.
Then the ache inched toward agony and even breathing grew difficult.
“Odem,” I hissed, digging my elbow into his chest when I realized he’d fallen asleep.
“Huh? What?” he muttered, his jerking jostling me right in the middle of another shooting pain.
“So, don’t freak out or anything, but I’m in labor,” I declared once I’d blown out a long breath. “And for the record, it hurts like a son of a bitch.”
“L-labor?”
“Yes, labor, you know, egg laying time,” I growled, sucking in a breath and letting it out slowly before I wound up hollering at him. “So do us both a favor, go get the birthing blankets and for the love of all that’s holy, call the High Priestess and tell her to come get these eggs out of me!”
“On it,” he said, carefully climbing from the nest. “Uhhh, which do you want me to do first?”
Stammering as another pain hit, I grimaced, pressed my face into the blanket fluff, and growled out, “Pick one!”
There should have been a video camera set up in here.
It would have captured my mate scooping up the birthing blankets only to realize that he couldn’t spread them out because I was laying in the way.
He stood there for a moment, looking from me to the blankets and back again, before setting them down beside the nest so he could scoop me up and carefully move me out of the way.
By the time he had the birthing blankets covering the nest, Upalo appeared in the doorway, took one look at me and rushed to my side.
“Is it time?” He asked.
“It better be,” I said. “If this is just a preview, I’d like to go ahead and cancel my subscription please.”
“I’m afraid this is one of those things that comes with a no cancelation policy,” Upalo replied.
How I still managed to snicker was anyone’s guess, but it wasn’t comfortable. “No making me laugh!”
“Do you need anything? A cool cloth? Ice chips?”
“How about you keep the ice chips handy for the next time my mate decides to stick an egg in me. Make sure you have a bucket full too and pour them directly on his cock!”
“Ha, I’m already ahead,” Odem declared as he got me situated back in the nest, him on one side of me, Upalo on the other.
With the two most important people in my life beside me, I knew everything would turn out okay.
“Raven is on the way,” Odem said. “I’ve let everyone know what’s going on and they are all excited for us and can’t wait to see the eggs.”
“As long as they wait until after they, and I, are cleaned up and presentable,” I declared. “Otherwise, I will have to charge admission to anyone seeing me looking like a hot mess.”
It took me a moment of breathing and reminding myself that this would end with two beautiful eggs to cherish and lavish affection on, before I could finish my statement.
“Present company excluded.” Looking at my brother I met his gaze. “You are staying, right?”
“Of course I will. Nothing would bring me more joy than to hold your hand while you bring my nieces into the world.”
“Then we’ll always be connected,” I moaned.
“We already are,” he said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “There wasn’t one day when we were apart that I didn’t think about you, worry about you, and feel like I was letting you down by not being there.”
“You’re here now,” I said. “Which is perfect timing in my booooook!”
Howling, I gripped both their hands, my dragon offering more advice about breathing while I kicked my feet.
“We had better be close to the grand finale!” I declared.
“Well, how about I take a look and we’ll see,” Raven declared, a brilliant smile on her face as she stepped into the room.
“Yes, please and thank you,” I said.
Gone were the days when I didn’t want her anywhere near me. I was so happy to see her right now I’d have kissed her on the cheek if I could reach her.
“Oh yes, I’d say you are ready for act one,” she declared. “I can see a white tip already starting to emerge. Odem, I need you to slide behind your mate and support him through this next part. Upalo, you just keep holding his hand and encouraging him and we’ll soon meet the first little one.”
“I am so. Ready. For that. Part.” I panted. My dragon steadily encouraged me to breathe through the pain each time a contraction hit.
Fueled by the memories my dragon had shared with me, of the things I’d endured just to be here today, I breathe, breathe, breathed and pushed the moment Raven told me to.
“That’s it, that’s a good one, now take a moment and rest, breathe, and gather your strength for the next one,” she encouraged.
Her voice had the same calming nature as my dragon’s and helped steady me as the next contraction hit.
“Push, push, push, push, push,” she chanted while I did, until there was no more air left in my lungs.
“One more push and she’ll be here,” Raven said.
“You’ve got this bro,” Upalo said.
“I love you, mate,” Odem murmured in my ear.
So simple and yet so heartfelt.
I pushed with everything I had in me and felt my egg slide out and into Raven’s waiting hands.
“Her shell shimmers where the light touches it,” Raven said. “Perfectly formed and singularly unique.”
“That’s our Opal,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks when I glimpsed her shell.
“Precious Opal,” Odem murmured, completely choked up and as in awe of the moment as I was. “Just like her respective gemstone.”
“Little niece,” Upalo said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Sweet giggles came from our egg as Raven finished cleaning her and got her tucked safely into the blankets just as I was struck with a wave of pressure in my hips that hit so swiftly, I just started pushing.
“Looks like someone’s impatient,” Raven declared. “Ruby’s tiny red tip is already out.”
“Ruby is in a hurry to join her sister,” Odem said, hugging me close and keeping me well supported when it came time to push again.
The final time, thank the Goddess.
The relief I felt when she slipped free and the seemingly endless waves of pressure were finally gone was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It was like my body turned to liquid and melted against my mate in a boneless, pain free sprawl of limbs.
“Bro! Check her out! She’s a beauty.”
“Be with you in a second,” I groaned.
“You have made me the proudest dragon in the world today,” Odem declared.
I felt his kisses, but opening my eyes wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. I needed a moment to sort myself out after the ordeal I’d just been through.
“They are the exact same size,” Raven declared. “Beautifully done. Two more fine additions to the Denarius family.”
I managed a thumbs up, still sprawled on Odem, sweaty hair plastered to my face. And yet I’d never felt better, knowing I’d just accomplished something I’d never dared to dream about.
My babies were here.
Slowly, I gathered my strength, and inch by inch, with a great deal of help from my mate, was finally able to sit up so I could see Ruby for the first time.
The brilliant hues of her shell prompted another round of weeping when Raven held her out so I could cuddle her.
Odem’s arms wrapped around me and we held her together, peering down at her dazzling red shell.
“Welcome to the world, Ruby,” I whispered, and pressed a kiss to her shell.
Her giggle matched her sister’s musical laughter, growing louder when her Papa kissed her too. The eagerness on Upalo’s face, when Odem extended our blanket wrapped egg to him, was proof of just how excited he was to have just become an uncle.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs, like an entire herd of elephants was suddenly charging through our home.
Guess me looking my worst was about to be a spectator sport after all.
But shockingly, I was completely okay with that, if it meant seeing the same looks on my new brothers-in-law’s faces as I currently saw on my blood-brother’s.
At least Raven had thoughtfully covered my lower half when she’d heard them coming. Caro led the charge, with Emerson right beside him, Alex jumping up and down, head appearing and disappearing as he tried to peer around them.
“Come meet Opal and Ruby,” Odem said as Raven placed Opal in my arms.
I leaned and rubbed my nose against her shell, kissed her, and cuddled her close. “Little lady,” I whispered. “These are all your uncles. I pity the dragon who ever tries to take you on a date.”
Chuckles filled the room, which just grew in intensity when Odem said. “They’ll have to get through me first.”
“Congratulations,” Ionus said when he was finally able to make it through the doorway. “You two truly did a fine job. Welcome, baby nieces.”
The room was crowded with bodies now, all oohing and aweing over our girls. Their knowing, right from day one, just how much they were loved and cherished, was worth far more to me than vainly waiting until I’d had time to compose myself.
This day was all about them.