Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ronan
Human.
My dragon’s voice rumbled through my mind as I lay reading the end of a story to my gorgeous eggs, blankets tucked around them and the knitted egg socks they were nestled in, so only the very tips peeked out.
They’re amazing, aren’t they. I said, wholly and completely in love with them.
Priceless treasures. But it is time for you to set me free.
I could feel his need in the restless prickle of energy that shivered down my spine.
Yes, dragon, it is.
Reaching out to my mate, I asked him to join me in the nursery and to please bring Upalo with him, since I knew they were somewhere downstairs, making the second nest I’d requested in the living room.
I pressed my finger to my lips when they entered the room, since the girls were contently sleeping, gentle purrs coming from their eggs.
“Awe,” Odem whispered, “Just listen to them.”
“Storytime definitely lulls them to sleep,” I whispered back. “And it’s a good thing too, because you and I need to go outside.”
His eyes widened a fraction, before a slow grin spread across his face. “Flying?”
“I don’t know if we’ll get off the ground, but my dragon’s wings ache to be let out,” I said. “It’s time I tend to his needs too, after the way he’s taken care of me.”
Upalo rubbed his hands together. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Yup, it’s uncle-niece time,” I declared before pressing a kiss to the tip of each egg.
We exchanged places with the greatest of care not to jostle the girls, Upalo curling his arm around them and snuggling close, cuddling them the same way I did.
“I haven’t read these yet,” I whispered, passing him the three books that had been at the edge of the nest.
“Thank you.”
He had the first book open before Odem and I reached the door, his voice following us into our bedroom, where I changed into one of my maternity dresses, since that would be easy to remove once I was outside.
My dragon was not going to be patient much longer. Being able to walk down the stairs again was nice, but I’d miss being carried up and down in my mate’s arms.
Anytime.
Odem’s voice in my head was a sure sign that my thoughts had been loud.
Please.
I swear my dragon whimpered when he said it, so I lengthened my strides, grass tickling my toes when I stepped outside, barefoot.
Dragons don’t whimper!
So much for having time to take off my dress.
So much for not flying.
My thoughts were reeling as we launched skyward, before crashing snout first into the ground two flaps later, wings clumsy from years left unused.
Careful mate, Odem cautioned, sunlight making the red in his scales shine even brighter.
Caution wasn’t high on my dragon’s priority list, the sky spinning this time, before our tail took the brunt of the fall.
You’re stubborn in every form, aren’t you?
Our only response was to flick our long, forked tongue out at him.
Ours.
I couldn’t explain the shift in our connection except to say that the moment he burst free, it was like I gained a whole other awareness of what it meant to be connected to him.
And ouch, goddammit, even with scales the ground was still hard.
One poor shrub didn’t stand a chance when we landed on it, and explosion of greenery bursting out in every direction. Our tail smashed another one, as we lashed it back and forth, gathering momentum for another launch.
Three flaps, four flaps, five flaps. We looked down to see how high we were and plummeted when we forgot to flap. Odem would need to straighten the pole holding the birdfeeder and refill it after a minor collision sent bird seed everywhere.
Okay, lesson learned, constant wing flapping was a must, at least during takeoff. We’d figure out gliding later… once we stopped denting the yard.
Every earth rattling crash came from a greater height, drawing an audience of, well, damn near everybody. I was going to have to give serious consideration to charging admission for moments like these, now that they were becoming commonplace.
“Keep flapping!” someone yelled from below.
A booming voice thundered You’ve got this!
Sky.
The closer we got the bluer it was. The clouds growing more translucent.
Clouds.
Holy shit!
We were flying!
Joy was too soft a word for what we felt when we looked down and spotted the others far below us. And this time, we didn’t forget to flap.
Colors danced over our scales, tones constantly changing as the light struck them from different angles, the same as Opal’s shell. Then ruby hues twinkled at the edge of my vision, as Odem joined me. Our eggs certainly took after their parents.
More colors came into view, and as we banked into a turn I saw that the sky was filled with dragons now.
My mate shimmers like the moon, but with many more colors.
And my mate has a silver tongue, I replied.
Yup, and I know how to use it too.
You’re pretty proud of that, aren’t you? I asked, though I already knew the answer.
You know it.
Our family had joined us, and we could feel how proud they were of this accomplishment. We circled the compound, flying over our home and yard, always sticking close to our precious eggs, safely tucked inside with my brother.
The look on his face, startled at first, until he realized that it was me peering into the nursery window, and he gave me a bright smile and a thumbs up, was one that would be burned into my memory forever.
We were dragons.
My landing wasn’t graceful and resulted in yet another large dent in the earth.
Maybe we could turn them into fountains to commemorate the moment.
The butterflies and bees would certainly appreciate that.
An idea took hold, of assigning each one a specific theme and crafting special play spaces for the girls, where they could read or play or just lay back and daydream.
The tree I’d crash-landed at the base of could use a swing, and pretty flowers around the edge of the dent, and fairy lights that twinkled.
There was a mini-earth quake as dragons landed one after the other, but in my head it sounded like applause. Preening, I basked in the moment, the quick peek at my eggs I’d gotten through the nursery window the only thing that kept me from rushing back the moment my feet touched the ground.
Now though, I was more than ready to cuddle back up with them again and see if my mate could whip up a batch of scallops and deviled eggs. The pregnancy might be over, but some of those cravings had become my new favorite foods, and right now, I was starving.
Holy shit flying was exhausting.
Shifting back made me rearrange my priorities. Nap with the girls first, delicious treats later.
“You were stunning up there, mate,” Odem said, engulfing me in a hug when we stepped back inside.
It didn’t matter that we were naked in our kitchen, my mate never missed an opportunity to hold me.
“Let’s get you tucked back into the nest,” he said, and just like when I was still carrying the eggs, he carried me up the stairs and paused in our bedroom to sit me on the bed, so he could dress me in sleep shorts and a top.
“Thank you,” I said, stroking his cheek after he’d tugged the top over my head. “You were so amazing the whole time I was waddling around here, constantly bugging you for deviled eggs and seafood.”
“You want deviled eggs, don’t you?” Odem asked, nuzzling my hand.
Giggling, I cupped his cheek and drew him closer. “Perhaps.”
Turns out it’s impossible to silence your mate’s answer with a kiss when they can speak in your mind.
No perhaps. They’ll be waiting for you after your nap.
You are the sweetest, most considerate dragon in the world.
Which sea critter would you like to go with them?
You know me so well.
He chuckled against my lips as we broke the kiss, his eyes alight with mischief when he rubbed noses with me.
“If the girls take after you when it comes to seafood, we are going to have to invest in a fishing vessel,” he declared.
“Might not be a bad idea,” I replied. “With this rapidly growing family.”
“True enough.”
Upalo was midway through a story when we stepped back into the nursery, and I motioned for him to stay right where he was. There was plenty of room in the nest for me to snuggle up on the other side of the girls and listen to my big brother read to us.
I remember this, I thought as I closed my eyes, one arm wrapped around the eggs next to my brother’s. The nest was far softer than our old childhood leaf piles had been, but the warmth and love I felt was just the same.
I woke to my brother still reading, but the light in the room had changed, lengthening the shadows on the wall. My girls were no longer slumbering. They giggled as they listened to the story, all the way up until Upalo closed the book.
“Remember the little finger puppets we used to have?” I asked. “I loved the way you used them to act out the parts.”
“We should get new ones,” Upalo said, “and have puppet shows for the girls.”
“And marionettes too,” I said. “I always wanted to learn how to work one.”
“I bet they’ll love that.”
“I can’t believe I just flew,” I admitted. “And memories, like the finger puppets, are starting to come back.”
“You’re one with your dragon now,” he said.
“Is yours the same color?” I asked.
“No, but our mother’s is,” he replied. “Our father’s scales were almost as red as your mate’s. He’s where the lava inside of us comes from. I take after him when it comes to coloring, but we both received his gift of lava.”
“Our mother, what was her element?” I asked.
“Wind,” Upalo explained. “Like Canyon. We’re almost certain we’re related; we’ve just never found any proof.”
“Maybe we’ll find some soon, as more slumbering dragons are discovered,” I said. “Someone has to know where we came from and who we belonged to.”
“I just hope we find them all in time.”
“Me too.”
“I saw some amazing things in my travels,” Upalo said. “But nothing to ever rival those adorable eggs.”
“Did you really go all the way around the world?”
“Every continent,” he replied. “Seeking out remote places, hoping for answers, or at the very least, a clue that would bring us closer to them. We met other shifters too, some living in such deep seclusion that Kes was accused of witchcraft for pulling out an iPhone.”
“No way.”
“Needless to say, we got our scales out of there.”
Our laughter triggered another round of giggles from the girls, that was soon followed by my mate’s appearance in the doorway, carrying a silver tray with my plate and a drink.
“Your lunch is served,” he said, doing his best uptight British butler impersonation.
More giggles joined our laughter, mingling to fill the room with joy.
I stepped out of the nest so I could sit on the floor on the other side of it to eat while my mate took my place.
Seeing him gently stroke the tips of the eggs peeking up from the egg socks and blankets brought a prickle of tears to my eyes.
He truly was the sweetest, kindest dragon in the world. And the Goddess had blessed our girls with him for a father.
And me, when she’d made him my mate.
I stuffed a scallop in my mouth, reminded of the day he’d caught me standing in front of the open fridge looking like a desperate chipmunk with my cheeks stuffed full of deviled eggs.
I’d have been mortified if he’d taken a picture, though part of me wished he had for their baby books.
Just wait until the first time they smeared something on their noses. Oh, the pictures I’d take.
“There’s a tree outside that would be perfect to hang a swing for them,” I said in between bites. “You won’t be able to miss it. It’s the one with the impression of my dragon at the base.”
“Crash and burn a few times little brother?” Upalo asked.
“More than a few,” I said. “And I plan to immortalize every dent I left in the lawn, too.”
“It is a story I cannot wait to tell them,” Odem said, chuckling as he tickled the tip of Ruby’s egg where the red swirled into a lighter, pinkish hue.
“I once landed on top of an old mining shaft,” Upalo recalled. “One moment the ground was solid beneath me, the next I was tumbling head over heels into the darkness. I always wondered what they were mining there.”
“Was it before, or after you went to live with Daigle?” Odem asked.
Upalo grew quiet, his fingers growing still on Opal’s egg.
Three deviled eggs and a scallop found their way into my stomach before he answered. “Not long after Foley brought us to the mountains. The moment someone discovered what had happened they ordered the mine shaft to be sealed back up again.”
Now my mate grew thoughtful, silently using our egg for a touchstone until the soft purrs of her slumbering joined that of her sister’s.
“Do you think you could find it if you returned to the mountains?” Odem asked.
“I don’t know,” my brother replied. “Maybe. It was a long time ago and I’ve explored a lot of terrain since then. After a while, mountains start to blur together. I’d be willing to try though.”
“I’ll reach out to Ionus and let him know about the shaft so he can decide if it’s worth pursuing or not,” Odem murmured. “How far did you fall?”
“Far enough to feel like forever,” Upalo replied.
“But I could still see a sliver of light when I hit the bottom. It was wider there, with a bigger shaft that disappeared into the mountain. I didn’t stick around to see more than that.
My fall dislodged a bunch of dirt and rocks.
As soon as some of it came cascading down on top of me, I got my tail out of there. ”
Who could blame him. Getting buried alive wasn’t on my bingo card either. But if there was something more to that mine, then I hoped Ionus decided to investigate it.
Happily stuffed, with nothing left on my plate but a few smears of butter and garlic bits, I crawled back into the nest to rejoin my family.
“We owe it to them to bring them into a world where there is no fear, only love,” I said as I snuggled into all that warm fluff, our bodies forming a triangle around the eggs, allowing each of us to touch them.
“Aye mate,” Odem murmured, smiling tenderly at them. “We do.”