Chapter 38

Thirty-Eight

I stood immediately,scooting in closer to the egg. The crack was very obvious at this point, wide enough I could have stuck my fingers into it without too much trouble. From the depths of the interior, I could see the point of a wing. It twitched as I watched.

Moone, the mother of half the dire wolves with us, let out an encouraging wuff and nosed at the opening.

I looked down at her in something that might have been alarm. Well, curiosity too, but mostly alarm. “Moone, you’re not planning to nurse this baby, are you?”

She gave me such a look in return. That patented you are being obtuse. Of course I am look.

My mind tried to imagine a sharp dragon beak latching on to a tender teat and winced. “Surely that’s not going to work?”

Moone huffed at me again—stupid male—and went back to trying to lick the baby through the crack.

I had been outvoted.

My cousin smacked me on the shoulder to get my attention. “Theon. The core’s shrunk a little.”

Eh? Holy shit, she was right, it had. Not by a large degree, but certainly a noticeable amount. I heard the knights rumbling to each other over what that meant. To me, it seemed obvious enough. The core really had been set to protect the dragonlings until they hatched. Our earlier theory wasn’t wrong, and this was living proof.

“Theon, move!” My mother impatiently grabbed me and pulled me to one side. “You want the baby to imprint on both you and Jake.”

I saw sense in her words the second she said them. As the two masters of the duchy, we both needed to be the dragons’ masters, so it was crucial we were very front seat and present during this moment.

Jake slithered through people to get closer. I held out a hand for him, grasping his fingers and pulling him in snugly against my side. Moone took a step back for Jake, making room.

Now wait a damn minute. “Moone. How come you’ll move for Jake but not for me?”

The mother wolf ignored me, intent on her dragonling.

“It’s the potato chips, isn’t it?”

She flicked an ear at me—correct—and went back to ignoring me.

I glowered at her. Some gratitude she showed. I’d have been upset, except I loved Jake beyond all reason as well, so…not much of a leg to stand on there.

Jake put one knee on the ground and got his eye lined up with the crack. “Hi, little one. Yes, hi, there you are. Won’t you come out?”

There was a shift inside the egg, little claws clinking against the hard shell, then the crack abruptly expanded.

Oh? Jake’s cajoling seemed effective. I knelt down next to him, putting fingers into the crack and shoving it some, assisting the baby. The shell was hard as hell’s foundation, so the hatchling must have been incredibly strong already to make any kind of headway.

Grandma Haera called out behind me, “I need water and towels, now! You, get my fuzzy blanket I brought with me, he’ll be cold up here once born.”

Trust my grandmother to inject common sense into this moment.

Actually, speaking of common sense— “The rest of you, move the eggs not hatching into the wagon. Quickly, quickly!”

Jake shot me a quizzical quirk of his brow. “Why would you wait— Oh shit. We have to feed them.”

“We do not have enough food on us to feed four hatchlings over the three days it’ll take to get back to the castle.” A fact I’d just realized. “We’ll barely manage with the one.”

“Yup, you’re beauty and brains.” Jake smacked a kiss against my forehead.

I may have blushed. I felt my cheeks heat. One of the many things I loved about this man was how special he made me feel on a regular basis. I was never in doubt of where I stood with Jake.

The knights swooped in to grab the other eggs, the dire wolves splitting up so that some followed, hopping up in the wagon to snuggle their eggs, while three stayed to support the egg hatching. Literally propping it up with their own bodies, sometimes licking the shell as if to give affection and support.

“Why do they lick everything?” I grumbled rhetorically.

“They’re doing a status check,” Jake answered, his attention on the dragonling and not on me.

“A what?”

“A status check. A canine’s tongue and nose can pick up on a lot of information, so when they lick something, they’re literally doing a test with their senses. They can sense illnesses, emotions, and general well-being just through breath or taste.”

They could do all of that? I knew a canine’s senses were keen, especially a wolf’s, but that much? Wait. “How did you acquire this knowledge?”

Jake paused, then his brows compressed for a second. “I can’t for the life of me remember where I learned that. It was part of some kind of scientific study. Anyway, they’re likely doing status checks on the baby. You guys are as good as a heart monitor, I swear.”

I had no idea what a heart monitor was, but I could guess from the name and let that one pass.

The hatchling made another hard shove, and this time the egg cracked open completely, falling into pieces on all sides. The hatchling gave itself a shake after being freed, then looked up at us with large golden eyes.

“How cuuuute,” Jake crooned.

It was indeed that. Adorable in every word. The scales were a midnight blue that shimmered in the firelight, almost iridescent, those large eyes set in an elongated face. It had all the size of a wolf pup, and yet I knew it would grow to be massive as an adult. The growth spurt must be insane.

Grandma Haera passed Jake warm water in a bowl and a towel, then me a blanket. Without instructions, assuming we’d catch the hint.

“Come here, baby,” Jake said softly. “Come here, let me clean you up a little. Would you like milkies after?”

The dragonling went straight into his arms, sniffing at Jake’s neck and chest, and was that a wagging tail I saw?

“Oh thank the gods.” Mom leaned back, a hand over her heart. “He does like you. I half feared he wouldn’t imprint on you.”

I had rather shared her concern. But the way he snuggled into Jake’s lap without a by-your-leave said he liked at least one of us.

Jake managed to juggle baby, towel, and bowl with some assistance, wiping him down. Then I offered my grandmother’s very soft blanket, which was happily snuggled into, only a snout poking out. It was cold up here, and I was sure that a young one just born wouldn’t have any kind of tolerance built up for this kind of weather.

Moone nosed in, trying to encourage the baby out. It wasn’t having it. The baby made a noise of protest and tried to burrow underneath Jake’s arm.

Jake gave the wolf a pat on the shoulder. “Moone, I know you mean well, but I don’t think nursing is a good idea. That beak’s sharp enough to bite a rod in two, and the teeth are even sharper.”

Moone whined in protest.

“I mean, you can try it at some point, but I’m thinking we offer the baby something its mother would have fed it first. Like meat.”

Dad rocked back and forth on his feet for a second. “If memory serves, my friend who tamed a dragon fed it all sorts of meat. Fish especially, as they are easy to catch where we live. But it did love bread, too. Treated bread like candy.”

Now that was the first I’d heard of this. “A carnivore that likes bread?”

“Also thought it strange, but no loaf was safe on baking day, I’ll tell you that.” He chuckled at some memory. “We spent many a decade trying to dragon-proof the ovens to no avail.”

Huh. Note to me, this would likely be a problem in the future. Although how I’d deal with it was anyone’s guess. I wasn’t smarter than my ancestors, that was for sure. If they’d never found a solution, odds were a solution couldn’t be found.

We might be screwed in the near future.

Ara pressed in closer and offered the baby a bite-sized bit of steak. “Let’s see if he’ll eat this. Hey, baby, want to try this?”

That little head popped back out of the blanket, nostrils flaring as it took in the scent of meat, and then snatch. The bite disappeared in a second flat.

Ara nearly jumped at the speed, then laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Happy munching sounds came from the baby before his head reappeared again, looking around hopefully.

Ara offered another piece, which was happily consumed, and I swear to you the dragonling started purring. There was this deep rumbling feeling coming from the baby, strong enough I felt the vibrations in my own chest.

“Aww, he’s happy.” Jake took a piece from the bowl this time and offered it to the baby, which was happily taken, the purring increasing. “I can hear the purrs. Actually, this is a great idea, Ara. Everyone come feed the baby some meat. Let’s try to establish everyone as friends and family here.”

Now that was a good idea. Food equaled love for most babies, after all. This one didn’t seem an exception.

I watched as he and Ara made the rounds with the knights, everyone taking turns offering the baby a bite. It felt strange to watch this play out. Almost surreal.

Mom nudged my shoulder and jerked her chin to indicate the dragon core. “Look.”

I did as directed and blinked in surprise. “Wow, that really has grown much dimmer.”

“It has. I think our theory is proven now.”

“I’d say. I still want to wait until we’re home before hatching the other three.”

“Oh, I think you’re smart to wait. That baby just ate enough steak to feed three grown men and is only now slowing down.”

Yeah…which did not bode well for the trip home. We only had so much food supplies on us, after all. I wondered if we could safely feed it potatoes?

“Well, Son.” Dad resumed his seat next to the fire, legs kicked out casually in front of him. “You’ve got new flying guard dogs for your territory. I don’t know what they’d protect you from, per se, but I do know this. No one sane is going to come after your people while these dragons are alive.”

I snorted. “That’s a fact.”

“That’s if they can fly,” Grandma Haera noted with something of a cynical smile. “Look at how delighted everyone is to feed the baby. Now imagine your whole duchy indulging all four of them whenever they look remotely pitiful.”

Oh…no.

Oh gods, they’d be overweight in no time.

“You see my point.” Grandma Haera cackled, slapping her leg in amusement.

“You’re laughing because you don’t have to deal with this,” I groused at her.

She kept laughing, not denying it.

Some help she was.

More practical, Dad asked, “What are you going to name them all? It needs to be something short and sweet, something you can easily call over a distance. For that matter, where are you going to keep them until they’re old enough to be outside? Can’t be the barn, it’ll be too cold for them this winter.”

And to think, I’d thought finding the source of the miasma would be the end of my problems. Ah, how naive I had been. “One problem at a time, Dad. Let’s just take this one problem at a time.”

Although knowing what a soft heart my Jake had, the first rule would likely be, “No, the babies cannot sleep in the bed with us.”

Wish me luck enforcing that. I did not imagine it going over well.

First step, at least, I knew what to do. Namely, packing up and going home, as there was nothing more we could do here. The sooner we got home, the better.