Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
“ S o is he pregnant?”
Denise was making cookies, and Hayden was sorting out lights to put on the Christmas tree while he sat at the kitchen table. Daniel had taken Jacks out to play in the snow, his big, adult sippy cup full of milk.
“Hmm?” Hayden tried to make the noise non-committal because, really, it was like four or five days from the solstice, so it was a little early to make that call.
But he was pretty sure from the milk drinking and emotional roller coaster Daniel was on that, yeah, he was pregnant.
Dragons rarely took time to start feeling it like that.
“He’s drinking milk by the gallon. We’ve had to double, triple our order easy, and I’ve made sure that we put in a bunch of canned milk too.” Denise rolled her eyes. “Also, he burst into tears this morning when Jacks refused to put his little booties on.”
Hayden winced. “Yeah, I think Jacks is a little worried that maybe there’s another baby coming.”
Denise nodded. “I think you’re right. We need to start talking about things like nurseries, cribs, all the things that we need to get up here before the next huge snowstorm hits and we’re committed to only snowmobiles. Also, have you noticed that he is a little frosty?”
He nodded. “I know, I know.”
In fact, Daniel was blowing ice a lot these days.
It was kind of handy.
No, actually, it wasn’t handy at all. They lived in the mountains where there was a ton of snow. They didn’t really need things to be cooler, but it was who his mate was, and so he was going to be happy about it.
Damn it.
“All right, I suppose I should talk to him.”
“If you don’t, someone else is going to make that decision, namely me, and you know how that goes.”
Rita shook her head at Denise. “No, just let it be. But he does need to come up with ideas, and with two babies, it’s almost inevitable there’s going to be a familiar coming; you know that.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t seen one; Jacks didn’t have one?—”
“Are you sure?” Rita snapped.
“Well, I’m assuming?—”
“You’re assuming that the baby just lived when his parents didn’t?”
He was beginning to feel like maybe he was out of his league in this discussion.
“Okay, so maybe Jacks did have one that didn’t survive. I don’t know, but I know we’ve never had one here.” His tone was as placating as he could be. “But I’ll talk to him, I promise, and I’ll try to make sure the house stays as warm as possible, too.”
He knew he could generate an awful lot of heat when he wanted to.
Rita rubbed her arms and made a brrr sound. “Thank you. That would be very nice if you did that.”
“Of course. Maybe I should have him practice. So when he accepts that he’s doing it, perhaps it’ll be easier.”
Denise nodded once. “Then he can control it. It’s tough to balance something when you’re not aware of it.”
He nodded and went to the window to look at Jacks, who was literally zapping snowballs out of the air as Daniel tossed them. Tickled, he started laughing, motioning the ladies over.
Then they all stared.
Rita chuckled softly. “I have to say now that he’s out, he’s so much happier. You can tell the sheer frustration level in his little body has just completely eased up. He’s so excited to share this with his Dan Dan.”
Hayden nodded, “I think you’re right. He was so good and trying so hard to be controlled, but he’s a baby. Babies need to be themselves.”
“Yes, and so do dragons and dragon mates. Daniel is going to have so much fun with you, and he’s already an amazing father.”
Suddenly Denise stiffened, standing still in shock, her lips parting. “Oh, goddess.”
“What?”
“Hayden, get outside now!”
He glanced out the window, and in the few seconds that he’d looked away there was a mountain lion out there with his son and his mate.
He roared, and he saw Daniel move, seeming to snatch Jacks right up out of the air and hold him close.
It looked like Daniel was talking to it.
“How on earth did I end up with a mate who talks to mountain lions,” he asked as he rushed out into the snow, his dragon wanting out so badly.
Daniel looked over at him when he rushed out. “Do you know this kitty?”
“What?”
“The kitty? Do you know him? He says you do. Jacks says you do too. That he belongs here.”
He looked at his son. “What?”
Dis mine meow meow! Dis mine meow meow kitty.
It’s yours?
Jacks nodded, so definite. Dis mine meow meow.
Daniel pursed his lips. “I think he’s been hurt. There’s an old gunshot wound, and he looks really raggedy. I think that he needs to come inside.”
Hayden hummed, staring at the mountain lion. Come inside, it’s warm, and we’ll get you some food. Have you been traveling far?
The big cat sighed like a weight had been lifted off him. And he came to lean against Hayden’s leg as if Hayden should know who he was, but he didn’t.
He had an image of Jacks as a teeny-tiny baby though, and of Jacks’ parents, he thought, a male and female dragon.
You’re Jacks’s familiar.
He had a distinct feeling of protectiveness and love that washed over him.
He reached down and put his hand on the cat’s head. Yes, come inside. We’ll take care of you, and you can take care of Jacks.
He got a rough chuffing sound from the cat, and Jacks clapped his hands happily. Inside-inside-get warm.
Hayden nodded. “Come on you lot, let’s get inside and get everybody warmed up. We’ll get some meat for our new friend here, get everyone else some hot chocolate.”
Daniel had declared hot chocolate “just chocolate-favored hot milk,” so that worked. Anything he could make himself believe was just some kind of milk—frozen, heated, whatever—would work.
Milk, milk, milk, milk, milk. Jacks had that chant down pat.
“I think I earned some milk.” Daniel grinned. “Maybe our friend here has too.”
Hayden nodded on their way inside. The cat right at his heels. “What do you think his name is?”
There was another rough chuff from the cat, and he had a total image of the name Dusty in his head.
Daniel chuckled. “I think it’s Dusty.”
“I think you might be right.”
“You brought it inside?” That was Denise, who sounded utterly incredulous, and she backed away from them as they came in the kitchen door.
“Denise, this is Dusty. Dusty, Denise. And that’s Rita. They are our house spirits.”
Dusty bent low into a stretch, his head down, his tail curling up, obviously giving them some respect.
Rita clapped, her laugh delighted. “Oh, what a sweetie. He can totally stay.”
Denise gave her a long stare. “He can stay. Yay. What are we supposed to do with him?”
“Feed him. Let him protect Jacks. I bet he can watch Jacks for us when we don’t have the time. It’ll be great.”
Hayden laughed because that was kind of his feeling too. He didn’t think Jacks was going to be able to escape Dusty and maybe he wouldn’t want to since he thought the kitty was amazing.
Meow, meow, my kitty.
Yes, love your kitty . To Denise, he said, “I think we need hot milk for everybody. Some of it with chocolate and marshmallows. Please.”
He needed to beg a little bit nicely because she was still looking pretty outraged.
She rolled her eyes. “Warm milk for Jacks and the kitty. Hot chocolate marshmallow milk for you and Daniel.”
“Sounds perfect. Thank you, lady.” He kissed her cheek before steering Daniel to sit down at the table and take off his coat, while Hayden dealt with Jacks’s snowsuit.
Daniel tilted his head. “So if Jacks is getting a protection kitty, does that mean something’s coming for us?”
He exchanged a look with Rita and then Denise. They both gave him an “I told you so” sort of eyebrow wiggle.
“Not exactly love. It does have meaning, and I’ll talk to you about it in a little bit. But let’s get warm and have our hot chocolate first, huh?”
“Light on the chocolate, heavy on the milk,” Daniel said with an odd kind of giggle. Hormones were such a bitch.
Rita nodded. “I can do that.”
Soon everybody was having their treats.
It was easy to put Jacks down before the fire in his little pack n’ play, with Dusty settling right beside him on a blanket.
Hayden pulled Daniel into the curve of his body on their great big couch, and Daniel rested against him heavily.
Finally Daniel heaved a big sigh, put his empty mug aside, and asked, “Is everything okay, love?”
Hayden nodded, putting his cup next to Daniel’s. “Yes, I think so, but we do need to talk.”
“Okay, talk.”
Hayden took a deep, deep breath, let it out, and just said, “I think you might be pregnant.”
Daniel stilled, tilted his head. “Okay, I mean I could be, but it’s only been a few days. I mean, literally a couple of days. Nobody has symptoms in a couple of days. It’s just not a thing.” Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. I mean, it’s an exciting thought, but ? —
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s wishful thinking. There are certain things you need to know about dragon anatomy.”
“Certain things? Maybe lots of things.” Daniel snorted a few things. “Okay, we’re pretty sure I’ve got dragon something going on because I’ve got these weird, ugly scales popping up.”
“They’re not ugly,” he protested immediately. “They’re amazing. They’re beautiful.”
“They’re blue with the periodic yellow. I don’t think people like blue and yellow together.”
“I think you’re beautiful.” Hayden turned Daniel’s face to his. “Stunning. My own ice dragon.”
Daniel wrinkled his nose. “You’ve noticed that too, huh?”
Hayden had to stare. “Mate, periodically while we’re having sex, we make it rain, we cause little storms together. I noticed.”
Daniel chuckled, “Yeah, well, I kind of like that part.”
“So do I.” He kissed Daniel’s temple. “It’s not like I said I didn’t.”
Daniel blew out a little cloud of frost. “So, what about dragon anatomy?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed that Jacks is growing at an accelerated rate.” He knew Daniel had noticed that. They’d talked about it. Many times.
“Uh-huh.” Daniel’s tone was cautious.