Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ronan
Human.
Yes dragon?
It is my turn in the nest.
My dragon was right. Tonight was his turn to guard our eggs while Odem was on patrol.
I paused to strip off my sleep shorts and crop top, my dragon happily taking over the moment I was nude.
We had a deal, him and I, when it came to my clothes.
He would not burst forth and leave confetti remains of my favorite outfits, on two conditions.
One, that we were not in danger and two, that I removed them promptly when he wanted egg time.
Our connection was steadily growing stronger, so much so that I’d understood, without him needing to break it down for me, that having egg time in dragon form was an important part of the bonding process between us and our dragonets.
While we might be one and the same, my dragon had the same urges to hold them in his wings as I did to cradle them in my arms, so on the nights that Odem flew patrol, my dragon emerged to wrap around the girls the same way Odem wrapped around the three of us when he was here.
With the greatest of care, we climbed over the edge of the nest to curl around our blanket wrapped eggs, snug in their egg socks, one wing draped over them as we settled in for the night.
With how full our day had been, washing the newest batch of clothes and blankets that had arrived, finishing the final suncatcher for their room, and putting fresh linens on their cribs in preparation of their impending arrival, we’d had an extremely full day.
Dropping off to sleep should have been easy, only tonight, my dragon didn’t close his eyes.
Instead, he lay awake, staring out the window, watching the occasional shadow of our mate appear and vanish in the distance as he and his patrol partner took watch.
It was comforting to know he was out there.
While I’d rather have him curled against my side, my kidnapping had shown me firsthand the dangers that lay hidden and lurking, looking for every weakness they could exploit.
As the mate of a protector, my dragon and I felt duty bound to never give them the opportunity.
We’d also made it our mission to ensure that our mate always had a proper send off before he left, a reminder of what he had waiting for him when he got back home.
In one piece, we always insisted.
Yes, we understood that there would be fighting, and that there might be times when he came home bruised, but we always whispered to him to come home safe and in one piece, a reminder of how much we loved and needed him.
We closed our eyes, for what felt like a moment, but when we cracked them open again, the light in the sky was different, the deep midnight hues having given way to paler streaks of purple.
Dawn would be here soon, and our mate would be swapping places with someone else, returning for early morning cuddles and warm tea sipped while catching up on our time apart.
Movement beneath my wing prompted me to shift it so I could press my nose to the wobbling Opal egg and nuzzle it.
Are you dancing in your egg?
Our little one giggled in response to our thoughts.
Imagine my surprise when I’d learned, the first time our dragon had shifted to wrap around them, that we could communicate with them the same way we communicated with their Papa.
My dragon had patiently explained that it was one of many reasons letting him out to have equal time with them was important.
In order for their dragon sides to grow and thrive in the same manner as their human ones, they needed equal interaction.
After seeing Cade with his wings out, and helping Emerson fashion a soft, surfer leash style tether that would allow Cade to fly without Emerson’s poor nerves winding up wrecked beyond repair, I’d come to understand that the children of the protectors were unlike typical dragonets.
Expect the unexpected had become a mantra around here.
Opal danced like there was a rave going on in her shell, complete with laser lights and slam dancing.
Oh shit.
Mate!
Yes, my love.
My dragon and I took a moment to center ourselves before answering, because this wasn’t a moment to cause panic.
Is your patrol nearly complete?
We have two more hours before we change shifts.
I do not think we have two hours before Opal makes her appearance, I conveyed to him as the first crack appeared. Her shell has a crack in it.
I’m on my way. I know it might be tempting but….
I interrupted, finishing his thought. Do not help her in any way. Emerson warned me that we’d be tempted and to keep my claws to myself. She is doing a fine job all on her own. Dancing and rocking her egg. I think she has been trying to wake her sister. Ruby’s is beginning to wobble now too.
Odem’s face appeared in the window in front of us, so we shifted our wing, so he’d be able to see both moving.
Ionus is on his way. I’ll be in momentarily.
We waved a wing tip at him, his excitement mingling with ours as another shell fragment hit the blankets.
My beading tray sat nearby, empty and awaiting the next project.
With the greatest of care, I plucked each shell fragment off the blanket with the tips of my claws and deposited them on the tray, intent on saving them and perhaps wire wrapping a few to add to their suncatchers.
A shadow appeared behind him, and my mate’s face was replaced with his brother’s massive snout and eyes that peered proudly in at the scene unfolding inside the room.
He might be gruff and stern as hell, but when I looked at my mate’s oldest brother, all I saw was a fiercely loyal dragon who loved his family and wanted, above all else, to keep them safe.
I knew he’d need to resume patrol, we could not afford to let our guard down.
This moment, as precious as it was, could also be used as a distraction by our enemies.
My dragon reminded me of that part, his instincts much sharper than my own when it came to warfare.
I wondered if it was something all dragons possessed an intrinsic knowledge of, or if there remained a great many pieces of our past that he was still protecting me from?
In time, I knew all secrets would be revealed, maybe even ones I wouldn’t want to recall, but one of the many things I’d already learned from spending time with Emerson was that knowledge truly was power, especially to our species.
I’d learn to handle whatever I learned about myself and my past, and together, we’d grow from it.
I heard the door open and close downstairs and my mate’s feet as he drew closer, pausing to knock on Upalo and Rory’s door, giving them a heads up on the latest happenings in the nursery.
They arrived sleepy-eyed to sit beside the nest, while Odem took the quickest shower in history, t-shirt on inside out, hair still wrapped in a towel when he appeared.
His timing couldn’t have been more perfect, or maybe Opal had been waiting to make certain her Papa was in the room before she shoved the tip of her wing through the wide opening of her shell and waved at us.
“Good morning to you too,” Odem said, snapping pictures while she giggled, excitedly waving it and dislodging a few more shell fragments along the way.
My dragon made it quite clear that he would not be shifting back out of concern over jostling the nest, nor would he be leaving it in order to shift, not while he was so securely wrapped around our little ones.
I couldn’t fault him in the slightest for that decision.
We were one. Not only didn’t the form we greeted them in matter in any way, but that was a dragon wing sticking through the shell, and my dragon firmly believed they should see dragon wings when they emerged from it.
Which was totally fair as far as I was concerned.
The party in Ruby’s shell was finally revving up to rave level, while Opal had slowed her dance to a lazy rhythm of slow, rocking motions that occasionally caused another shell fragment to fall.
“Ohhh, someone’s got a crack,” Upalo said when a line split Ruby’s shell, parting those deep red scales from one side to the other.
Ruby made a series of hisses, her shell wobbling with every one as smaller cracks spread out from it.
We saw a wing tip pop out, the first piece of Ruby’s shell hitting the blanket, followed by a second and third as she withdrew it, then jabbed it back out, widening the hole she’d already made, more of her tiny wing emerging each time she did it.
“Now we’ve got two wings!” Rory cheered, when Ruby finally extended her wing all the way out.
My dragon nuzzled their tiny wings, letting out a pleased, rumbly sound when our nose touched them and the wings wagged, pressing against each side of our face in a hug. When we drew back to give them space, they clasped wings, holding on to one another as their shells rocked more.
“Awe,” Odem murmured, tears on my mate’s cheeks as he took more pictures for their baby books. “You’ve been waiting to do that, haven’t you girls?”
Their giggles were confirmation that his words were indeed true.
Their rocking became a coordinated effort, helped along by my dragon’s instinct to keep his tail firmly wrapped around them and their blankets.
There was no risk of their wobbling sending them in opposite directions.
The first time their shells collided, several fragments were dislodged, giving us a first glimpse at their adorable faces.
Hello, beautiful butterflies.
Four eyes peered at me, framed by jagged shell fragments that shattered more when their shells collided again.
Oh, my clever girls. You’re helping each other emerge. I’m so proud of you. Just a little more to go, then Papa and Daddy can hug you.
“I see you,” Odem said. “Are you ready to finally see the lovely pictures in all your books?”
Giggles and hisses accompanied their continued rocking, still gripping each other’s wing tips tight, until the third time their eggs collided, and there sat my girls, with the curved tip of each of their shells still perched on top of their heads like silly hats.
The rest of their shells lay in heaps around them that we carefully cleared away while Odem took pictures of them.
The blanket would need to be removed, shaken out, and washed before it was returned to the nest, in case any pieces of shell fragments remained.
My dragon and I were both frozen, uncertain if it was an official hatching if they hadn’t shed the final pieces of their shells yet.
We’d been told not to help, not to touch or remove any of the pieces, so we kept our claws to ourselves and didn’t reach to pluck those final pieces off their tiny, beautiful little heads, but it wasn’t easy.
I could tell, when I glanced over at my mate, that he was struggling with the same thoughts too.
For now, we gave them this moment to cling to each other, blink and giggle before they shook their heads, dislodging the final fragment of their shells with a happy squeal.
“Yes,” Odem declared, casting his phone aside so he could hug them.
We wrapped our wings around him and the girls, holding them, nuzzling the trio with our nose.
Our happy mate, who’d waited so long to become a father, cuddled our cooing, giggly girls to his chest while Rory took pictures of the four of us together.
When he placed them in my wings so I could cradle them at last, they peered up at me, wings and tiny clawed paws waving as they enjoyed the freedom of being able to stretch them.
I couldn’t imagine how cramped those shells had grown, especially over the past week as they’d prepared for this moment.
I just knew they were going to love being able to sprawl out in their nest with all the space that awaited them.
Rubbing noses with Ruby, whose eyes were the same pale shade of green as her sister’s, I listened to her hiss and gurgle, especially when I pressed my nose to her belly.
“Someone’s ticklish,” Odem declared.
They both are. I said when I repeated the action with Opal and she let out a squeal.
Slowly, reluctantly, I lowered them so their Papa could carry them from the nest, my dragon receding, love and gratitude flowing between us as I thanked him, once again, for protecting me and getting me here safely.
Without him, this moment would not have been taking place.
Rory handed me my robe before helping Upalo finish gathering the biggest chunks of shell, the way I’d been doing while they’d been hatching.
They stripped the top layer of blankets from the nest when they were finished, while I sat in the rocking chair with my girls in my arms.
“Thank the Goddess for your safe arrival,” I cooed as I studied them.
“If it wasn’t for their coloring, I don’t believe I’d be able to tell them apart,” Odem declared.
“Same,” I said, cheeks damp with tears. “Look at those little toe claws.”
“I see them, and the adorable crescent shaped moons on the bottoms of their feet,” Odem said.
“Moons?”
I cocked my head, studying first the bottom of Opal’s foot, then the bottom of Ruby’s. On the bottom of Ruby’s left one were opal scales in the shape of a crescent moon, while on the bottom of Opal’s right one, were ruby scales in the same shape.
“Whoa,” I muttered, wondering if they had any significance.
Emerson might know, or Raven, who I knew would need to be called to examine the girls now that they’d hatched.
There would be plenty of time for that, once they’d been bathed and fed, not that I’d put it off any longer than that.
I’d grown to respect our High Priestess and her place within our clan.
“Rory, Upalo, are you ready to properly meet your nieces?” I asked.
“More than ready,” Upalo said, while Rory nodded, a sheen of tears in his eyes, much like the ones that wouldn’t stop dripping from mine.
Joy.
I could smell the emotion in the room, different from my mate’s sunshine scent.
It reminded me of crisp, fresh air, something I couldn’t wait for our girls to experience.
As I eased Opal into my brother’s arms and Ruby into Rory’s, helping him adjust his arms the same way Alex had helped me the first time I held Luna, I couldn’t help but feel like we would be doing this again soon, only in reverse, as he handed me a wiggling little dragonet niece or nephew to meet for the first time, and the scent of joy doubled.
Blessed Goddess, thank you for all that you’ve done for me and my family.