27. Pregnancy #2
“Who knows? Last I heard, Uriel and Bruiser were still butting heads.”
“Which heads?” Emre snickered.
Zenith grinned and pulled a tray of sizzling bacon out of the oven.
Emre drooled. He had developed a craving for bacon just like he’d done when he was pregnant with Abbie, except this time around, Zenith was spoiling him with all the bacon he could eat.
“Bacon,” Emre moaned, stuffing his mouth with the crispy, hot rashers. “Oh bacon, my love!”
Zenith snorted. “My brother Griff would be happy to write you a song all about bacon and cocks.”
“Including bacon-wrapped cocks?”
“Griff told me he once read a book where the omega wrapped bacon around his cock to tempt his wolf-shifter boyfriend into, ah, licking it off him.”
Emre gave it careful consideration. Zenith laughed.
“Would you?” Emre asked, his thoughts spinning. “Fire doesn’t hurt you. Oh gods, you can even wrap raw bacon around your cock and cook it with fire; you’d be completely fine.”
“We should try it sometime.” Zenith grinned and knelt in front of him.
He pressed his face to Emre’s baby bump, kissing it all over.
A heartbeat had fluttered to life this morning; they had been trying to listen to it, although Abbie and Bean had made it difficult when they’d both howled their little lungs out.
Zenith had sent the pups on a walk with Buttwheel and Huxton.
When they returned, Buttwheel had followed Zenith around, eager to be better friends.
Emre and Zenith had also been extending friendship gestures to the other cart, the one Ronald had tried to use in his schemes.
The cart seemed to feel guilty though, and was slow to accept their friendship.
When Emre had finished the last of the bacon and licked his fingers clean, Zenith took his hands.
“Let me show you your new nest,” Zenith said eagerly. The alpha was almost trembling; he was so excited.
Emre’s heart skipped. “You didn’t have to put in all that effort for me. You already have me.”
“I want to do nice things for you, sweetheart. If I manage to win your approval, if you like it...” Hope flashed through Zenith’s face. He cupped Emre’s cheeks and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “C’mon, let me show you.”
He swept Emre into his arms and carried him upstairs, to the room next to theirs. This room had been out-of-bounds ever since Zenith had recovered from his injury; Emre had caught the scents of sawdust and sweet oils every time he passed the locked door.
Now, Zenith flung the door open and stepped aside to present his gift.
It was a sunlit room with pastel pink walls and sheer, fluttering drapes.
In the middle of the space was a low wooden platform, so close to the floor that the pups could easily climb up in their wolf shapes.
All its edges had been rounded so they wouldn’t hurt the pups, and piled on top of the platform were several fluffy blankets and some large pillows.
Emre made a soft sound in his throat. “This looks amazing.”
“Yeah?” Zenith beamed. “You haven’t seen all of it.”
He led Emre further into the room, handing him a remote. When Emre pressed the first button, blackout shades lowered over the huge windows, blocking out the sunlight.
“In case you want a nap without any sun in your eyes,” Zenith explained.
Another push of the button raised the shades.
Emre circled the nest, eyeing the ball pit on the far end.
Next to it was a pool of stuffed toys. Further along the nest was a small bookcase, filled with a few of Emre’s favorite books.
A mini fridge and cabinet had been installed too, filled with some of Emre’s favorite snacks.
Emre stared at all of it, speechless. He had thought the world of the temporary nest in their bed, but this...
No alpha had put such thought into building a perfect nest for him.
“I...” He choked up a little, trying to find the words to describe how cherished all this made him feel.
“Do you like it?” Zenith peered at him hopefully.
“Yes!” Emre’s voice cracked. “I don’t ever want to move out.”
Zenith grinned, and grinned wider when Emre took his hand and tugged him into the nest.
“Sit,” Emre said.
Zenith sat in the middle of the pillows and blankets. Emre crawled into his lap, cupping his alpha’s handsome face.
“I don’t know what I did in my past life to deserve you,” Emre whispered, his heart full.
Zenith shrugged. “You didn’t have to do anything. In fact, it’s the other way around—”
“Oh just kiss already,” Huxton said from somewhere in the mansion. “Or would you like me to improve the mood with some pickup lines?”
“Shut up!” Zenith and Emre said, grinning at each other.
Emre traced Zenith’s beloved face with his fingertips, following the arch of his eyebrows, the swell of his cheekbones, the brush of his lashes. He caressed the bow of Zenith’s soft lips, and placed a kiss there.
“Mark me?” he whispered. “I want your bonding mark.”
Zenith shivered, delight shining on his face. “Yes. On your neck?”
In response, Emre tipped his head sideways, offering himself to his alpha.
Zenith growled and gripped Emre’s hips, burying his face against Emre’s neck. “Mine.” He kissed Emre all over—his ear, his jaw, down his throat to his pulse point, then the crook of his neck. “Here?”
“Over the scar,” Emre said. “For a new beginning.”
Zenith rumbled in approval and kissed Emre’s scar, where Ronald’s bonding mark had once been. Then he grazed it with his teeth and bit down hard, breaking skin.
Pain and pleasure twisted through Emre like a lightning bolt.
All at once, a faint, tingling warmth spread through his body.
As Zenith pulled away and licked off the droplets of blood, thin, swirling lines unfurled across Emre’s skin—gold like Zenith’s scales, sweeping down his arms and over his back, wrapping around his sides and down his thighs.
Emre’s heart thundered. This felt like belonging, like a promise.
Zenith sucked in a quick breath, his eyes growing wide. “That’s my color.”
“Yes,” Emre whispered. “I’m yours.”
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” Zenith helped Emre stand, peeling away Emre’s clothes so he could admire the new markings.
Then he began kissing every single inch, with a slow, reverent adoration that robbed Emre of his breath.
Zenith turned Emre onto his belly and kissed down his back; he licked the markings that curled around Emre’s sides, biting lightly on the lines wrapped around Emre’s thighs.
When he had marked it all with his scent, he shrugged off his own clothes and flipped Emre onto his back, sliding his cock home. “Mine.”
Emre shuddered and spread himself, offering his mate everything. “Yes.”
“Mine,” Zenith growled, looking into Emre’s eyes and driving his cock deeper.
The friction lit Emre up inside; he clutched at Zenith and moaned.
Zenith increased his pace, striking Emre’s prostate once every few strokes, then hitting it with increasing frequency until Emre writhed and clawed at him, his balls pulling tight.
“Come for me, sweetheart,” Zenith growled, closing his lips around his bonding mark and biting down again.
Emre came with a scream, his body clenching. Zenith swore and pulled him close, his cock pulsing as he came deep inside Emre.
His knot swelled the fastest it ever had, locking them together and pressing so perfectly against Emre’s prostate that Emre’s eyes rolled back, and he came again.
“I can’t wait to bond with you,” Zenith said, right before he kissed Emre.
“Mmm?” Emre panted, out of breath and in a daze. “Didn’t we just—?”
“Dragon bonding,” Zenith murmured. “We just did the wolf bonding, but there’s still one more to go.”
“We can’t do it right now?” Emre slurred.
“No, the Circle’s at my flight’s ancestral home. We’ll have to go there and walk it together. With my family as witnesses.”
That sounded... kind of intimidating, actually.
Emre blinked himself out of his daze, feeling the faint stirrings of panic. “Are they going to like me? I feel like I’m just knocked up all the time right now.”
Zenith laughed. “With how many dragonets you’re bringing into the world? They’ll really like you. Just, you know, don’t go into labor while we’re in the middle of walking the Circle. My brothers’ mates keep doing that. I’m a little traumatized.”
Emre frowned. “Is that a thing?”
“It’s not supposed to be! No one wants to walk the Circle with a baby half-hanging out of them! It’s just that my brothers seem to have crap timing. I hope that isn’t us.”
Emre paled. “Fingers crossed?”
“Better cross our cocks too, just in case.”
“Please write that into a book,” Huxton said.
“Stop eavesdropping,” Zenith retorted without any real heat. “One day, you might hear something you really regret.”
“Never,” Huxton declared.
“Please don’t knock me up again for the next three years,” Emre begged, burying his face in Zenith’s chest.
Zenith winced and rubbed his back. “I’m sorry. I should’ve done better.”
“It’s not your fault. It was... Well, an accident. But I think we know better now.” Emre sighed. “It’s just so uncomfortable, being bloated all the time. I keep having to pee.”
Then he looked up and found all of Zenith’s family watching them.
Mortified, Emre buried his face in his hands. “I just talked about peeing in front of everyone.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve all peed before,” Ace—or was it Raptor? One of the twins—said brightly. “In fact, sometimes Raptor and I try to piss on each other in a true pissing match.”
“That’s not what a pissing match is,” said Blade the police officer.
“You only say that because you’ve never done it before,” Raptor said smugly.
Blade rolled his eyes.
Griff puffed out his chest. “I have a song about pissing!”
Griff’s omega, Quentin, hurriedly clapped his hands over his mouth. “Not right now,” Quentin said. “We’re not here for pee songs.”
Thiago, one of the older dragon brothers, grinned. “We’re here for birthing-babies-in-the-middle-of-walking-the-Circle songs.”
Zenith glowered. “Don’t jinx us!”
Thiago held up his hands innocently, but his eyes glinted with mischief.