12. The Dubious Honor Of Being Courted

12

THE DUBIOUS HONOR OF BEING COURTED

Sometime after Pinks had put Zarrie and himself to bed, footsteps stopped outside his door.

He listened to Galent's slow breathing, the steady drum of his heart. "Quit lurking. I know you're there," Pinks muttered.

Galent huffed. Then the doorknob squeaked. "I brought you my blanket."

Pinks had stuffed his cum-soaked blanket into the washer earlier, but it had still been going when he'd gone to bed. He'd wrapped himself up in some of the larger shirts he'd found in the dresser, making a face every time his toes stuck out too far into the cool air. "Or I could just... shift."

In the moonlight shining through the window, Galent raised an eyebrow. "But you haven't."

"I will now!" Pinks kicked off his makeshift blanket and sleep clothes. Then he reached for the wildness in his heart, the part of him that wanted to howl at the moon.

The change swept through his body, pulling in his limbs and pushing out fur. His bones creaked and compressed, and everything grew sharper.

When he opened his eyes, he saw every detail on Galent's face—his eyelashes, the patterns in his irises, the stubble along his jaw.

And his scent.

Galent smelled even more amazing when Pinks was in his wolf form. His scent was a remarkable blend of oakmoss, smoke, and mineral stone, and Pinks ached to push his snout against the man's skin, and fill his lungs with that scent.

"Pinks," the giant murmured. He looked even taller as he approached.

Galent dropped the blanket at the foot of the bed. Then he caught Pinks' snout between his large hands and petted his face, strong, firm touches that made Pinks shudder with pleasure. Galent rubbed Pinks' neck and chest, scratching him lightly; he kneaded Pinks' shoulders and down his back.

It felt like heaven.

"So this is your weakness," Galent said with a laugh.

Pinks huffed and burrowed into his arms. The giant moved him closer to the wall. Then he lay on his side next to Pinks, running one hand up and down Pinks' body. It wasn't enough. Pinks shoved Galent onto his back and climbed onto his chest, so both of Galent's hands would be free to pet him. Galent complied, scratching his fingers lightly through Pinks' fur. Pinks tucked his nose against the side of Galent's neck.

"Are you warm enough like that? Do you need the blanket?"

Pinks shook his head. He huffed against Galent's throat, licking his pulse. It thumped strongly against his tongue.

Galent was a good mate.

It surprised him to realize that. But he didn't hang onto that thought for long. Galent's hands stroked up and down his back, and the easy movements lulled Pinks into a sense of security. He fell asleep.

He woke to a cooling mattress, and soft shuffling sounds.

Pinks pricked his ears, immediately alert. An intruder was in his bedroom.

But Zarrie was still in her crib, sleeping soundly. His heart thumping, Pinks swiveled his ears to find the intruder's location, then carefully lifted his snout off his paws to see what he was dealing with.

His closet doors were open. Galent stood in front of the closet, squinting as he swept his phone's flashlight down the pages of a book.

Pinks didn't even have to read the title to know what book it was.

699 Pickup Lines For Your Wriggly Heart Muffin .

He sneezed in distaste.

Galent snapped his gaze up immediately. "Did I wake you? Oh."

He shoved both his phone and the book behind his back. "I'm being extremely innocent and not pawing through your closet."

Pinks rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, I found a good one." Galent sat down next to him, opening the book again. He flipped to a particular page and shone his flashlight on it. "I will follow you to the ends of the Earth. I will howl into you, with my heart and my butt. We'll do butt dances with each other and wriggle until our balls jiggle and get sweaty. That is how I will celebrate your wriggly muffin for the rest of our lives."

Pinks whined and covered his eyes with his paws.

"No? How about this one?" Galent flipped to another page. "I'll give you my packs and my pecs. Even though I only have two pecs and six packs to contribute to our pack, you will get to squeeze them as long as you're my mate."

Pinks whined louder and shoved his paws over his ears.

Galent chuckled and wrapped his arm around Pinks, drawing him up against his side. "Right, no more terrible pickup lines. How do I woo you?"

Pinks shoved his nose under Galent's knee, then into the crease of his thigh, searching for the spot where his scent was strongest.

Galent sucked in a slow breath. "There is something I could show you."

He began taking off his clothes. Pinks tilted his head to one side, watching as Galent stripped completely. The giant stood.

With a golden shimmer, he shifted. He grew larger, wider, two leathery shapes unfurling from his back.

Galent's dragon form spanned the entire bedroom. There were two short, blunt horns at the top of his scaly sapphire head, several sharp teeth lining his jaws. He stood back on his hind legs and stretched his neck, a long tail curled around him.

He was beautiful.

Regal.

Pinks forgot to breathe. Would Galent really choose him, when he could have his pick of anyone? Dragons were rare. Wolves weren't. Zarrie was a rare species, too, but Galent hadn't fussed over her being an angel.

Pinks whined, curling into a ball. Then he grew mad at himself because it wasn't as though he wanted Galent to like him!

Except he sort of did.

The mattress squeaked. He looked up, only to find the dragon climbing onto the bed, gathering Pinks against himself.

"Thought you might like this," Galent rumbled, his voice much deeper and rumblier than before. He sounded amazing as a dragon, too.

Pinks watched in surprise as the dragon curved his entire body around him. Galent's smoky breath rustled through his fur, and he laid his snout on top of Pinks' shoulder.

"Time for sleep," Galent said.

Pinks wanted to stay up longer to wrap his mind around this. But with the rhythmic rise and fall of Galent's chest, he'd fallen asleep before he even knew it.

" I'll be your cream, your fish, your manatee

I'll be your soap, your Pope, be your Galent steeeed "

Pinks whined and pulled the pillow over his head. "What is with that warbling? This is the fifth day you're waking me up with it!"

There came a rumbling laugh. "You hate it, but Zarrie loves it. See?"

Pinks pricked his ears. To his surprise, Zarrie was giggling on the other side of the room. He lifted the pillow off his head to peek at Galent, who was playing Peek-a-boo with her—except when Galent flipped open his hands, his face was a dragon's, and he snorted a plume of fire.

Zarrie squealed, kicking her legs.

"Sure, teach her to play with fire," Pinks grumbled.

That wasn't the only time Galent had done his fire demonstration. The giant had been cooking all their meals, and often, Pinks had Zarrie in her high stool, feeding her nibbles of soft food while Galent chopped up onions and potatoes to fry. Galent would always preface the demonstrations with a lecture on fire safety, but none of it went into Zarrie's ears. Hopefully, she would understand it when she grew older.

"My house is fireproofed, anyway," Galent said before pausing. "That'll really help if you conceive. Actually, maybe we can try again, if you don't."

Pinks burned all the way to the tips of his ears. "We haven't even known each other for a week!"

"And already I want you to father all my dragonets," Galent purred. He scooped Pinks onto his bare front, their hips covered by Galent's blanket. "I want to bring you home and roll you around in my bed so it smells like you."

Pinks bit his lip and blushed harder. "You really want me as your mate, huh?"

"Yes." Galent nuzzled him fondly. "And I want to claim you in my dragon form, too."

Pinks stopped breathing. He wracked his brain, but— "I don't remember seeing anything on your dragon form that would... You know." He flapped his hand at Galent's hips.

Galent grinned. "It's hidden. I'll show you when we have more space. Actually, I think our supplies are running low. I should just move you into my home."

"But—But your dragon form is huge. " Pinks boggled. "How is it going to fit? In me? "

The giant raised an eyebrow. "You took me easily, as a human. I'm sure you'll fit me as a dragon just fine."

Pinks flushed. "I'm—I might be naturally stretchy, but I'm not that stretchy!"

Galent kissed his temple softly. "Then we'll train you until I fit."

Pinks gulped. Galent grinned and kissed his nose. "How are we going to get to your house?"

Galent sighed. "I'll have Handsome pick us up. I'll have to message Ace and the rest—their brothers, at least. Ace and Raptor have set off on the rescue mission."

Pinks stopped breathing. He'd been thinking about it on and off, over the past few days. "D-d'you think it'll go okay?"

"We have a good chance. Ace and Raptor are great. I fought alongside them during the Eggplant Wars, and they watched my back just as much as I did theirs. They're brave and fierce. Your friends will be in good hands." Galent said it with such conviction that Pinks relaxed slightly.

"I feel guilty not helping."

Galent frowned. "The last thing we want is for you to put yourself in danger, and be caught again. It's too dangerous. The guys on the mission—they don't have mates yet. Ace and Raptor, Crush and Duke, Mav and Telos."

It was Pinks' turn to frown. "But Mav and Telos... They're mates, right?"

Galent blinked. "Really? They're both alpha types."

"You haven't seen them with each other," Pinks said, glancing at Galent's phone on the nightstand. "Look at the chats. They're terrible at being mates, and there's a pool on when they'll actually get together."

Galent reached for his phone, scooping up a squishy ball that Zarrie had flung out of her crib. "Here, Baby Zee. Catch!"

He tossed it lightly so it bounced off her shoulder. Zarrie babbled and went crawling after it.

Pinks settled next to Galent so he could read the messages too.

Telos

I forgot to tell y'all, but Doc bought me a bag last week!!!!!

Yaeger

... Doc?

Griff

Gasp!

Onyx

Oh, my word.

Valor

Really?

Doc

I guess I did.

Mav

What.

Why the hell are you talking about this right now.

Telos

Because we're stuck in a car going east. Because y'all dragon types can't just fly. Duh. What else am I supposed to do!? Blow raspberries up your shirt???

Mav

Fuck off

Telos

Anyway, it's the most amazing, unique, wonderful, one of a kind bag

It has taken the center spot on my fireplace mantle

It has dinos on it!!!!!!

Doc

Correction - it has your face on it

Telos

Same difference

Doc is the best

Mav

Yeah, sure. Get you a children's bag and you're over the moon

Sure you don't belong with the babies?

Telos

You're just jealous that you didn't get a bag too

Yaeger

Ah yes, dramatic silence

Mav

We were in a no reception zone

Telos

He's lying, we totally had reception. Someone secretly wants a dino bagggggg

Give Mav a bag too, Doc

Give him one with my face on it

Mav

I really hate you.

Galent and Pinks looked at each other.

"That... seems like a very volatile relationship," Galent said carefully.

"I really hope it plays out like the movies," Pinks said. "One of them almost dies and the other screams and cries, fearing for his life. Then they realize that they can't live without each other and they run through the rain to kiss like star-crossed lovers."

Galent laughed. "Is that how you think it'll go?"

"Who knows? But I do know that everyone's waiting for them to kiss. It's killing me, and I haven't even known them for that long. You should get in on the pool too while there's time. Something might happen during the rescue."

Galent raised an eyebrow, but he typed into his phone. "Did you join the pool?"

Pinks sagged. "I have no money. They let me put in three boxes of chocolate chip cookies and a can of sardines, though."

The giant narrowed his eyes. "No one wanted to spot you a twenty?" Before Pinks could think of an answer, Galent puffed out his chest. "Actually, no. It's better that way. I'll add to the pool for both of us, under your name."

Pinks' eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Are you serious?"

"How else am I going to prove that I'm committed to you? Besides." Galent grabbed his pants off the floor. He got out his wallet, and counted out a few hundred-dollar bills. "Here. So you can't say you have no money."

Pinks gaped. He gingerly took the crisp bills, bringing them closer for a sniff. They smelled new, too, like Galent had just gotten them fresh off the printing machine. "You didn't print these, did you?"

Galent snorted. "No, the bank has nice notes if you ask."

"I've never even held this much money in my life." It was a bit overwhelming, to be honest. "Don't you need it?"

Galent shrugged. He didn't even look worried about parting with that much money. "I don't need it. And I suspect you'd feel more comfortable having a bit of spending power."

Pinks gulped, his throat tight. "Thank you."

"I want to prove that I can provide for you. This is just part of it." Galent wrapped his arm around Pinks, pressing a kiss to his temple.

Pinks left the bed to carefully tuck his money into a rolled up sock. What would he even buy first? Things for Zarrie, probably. All the things he wished he could lavish on her, but never got to. And maybe he would get a set of nice clothes for himself, a stack of pretty paper he could fold into origami animals.

He returned to Galent and rubbed his stomach. It had been growing increasingly warm. "My stomach feels weird."

"Yeah? How so?" Galent turned toward him, covering Pinks' stomach with his large hand.

"It's like... I need to burp." Pinks straightened to try and relieve the pressure.

He burped.

To his surprise, a tendril of smoke left his mouth.

They watched in silence as it rose through the air and dissipated.

"You burped smoke," Galent whispered, his eyes wide.

"I've never done that before." Pinks' thoughts raced. "Does that mean—?"

I'm pregnant?

Galent bowled him down onto the bed and tucked his face against Pinks' throat. He took a deep breath. "You smell like smoke."

Pinks' heart stuttered. "Oh. Are you sure it's not from you breathing on me?"

Galent nipped his shoulder lightly. Then he nuzzled Pinks all over, the corners of his lips twitching up. "Mine. You have my baby."

He scooped Pinks off the bed and lifted him into the air, tipping his head back to give a quiet roar.

"Mine," Galent said, grinning.

Pinks' heart fluttered. He had a baby in his belly again. But it wasn't just any child; it was Galent's. It needed all of his protection, just like Zarrie did.

In her crib, Zarrie growled. Two pointed gray ears popped up on her head.

Pinks sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh."

Galent looked back at him. "You didn't know?"

"No! I thought she was just an angel." Pinks squirmed excitedly. "Put me down."

Galent brought him over to the crib and set him on his feet. Pinks scooped Zarrie into his arms, coaxing his own wolf ears to pop out on top of his head. Zarrie tried to grab them.

"Awww, Sweety-Pinks. Look over here." Galent clicked his tongue. When Pinks turned, he found Galent holding up his phone. "There we go. You two look perfect."

He turned his phone around to show Pinks the picture—Zarrie and himself looking straight at the camera, almost in surprise. Galent turned his phone back and tapped some buttons. When Pinks stepped closer to see what the giant was doing, he found that picture set as Galent's home screen wallpaper.

Oh.

Galent hurriedly shoved his phone into his pocket, his face turning pink. "I think you might not be ready to see that."

"I don't think I am." Pinks flushed, glancing at Zarrie. She still had her wolf ears, and she looked adorable. So he tipped his head back and howled softly, just enough that she could hear it.

Zarrie giggled and stuck her fingers into Pinks' mouth.

"That's not loud enough," Galent said. "You should howl with feeling. "

Pinks opened his mouth. Galent couldn't possibly know what he was talking about. But the giant threw his head back and howled, loudly. It sounded terrible, and it didn't mean anything in wolf speak.

Zarrie tipped her head back and howled, too.

Pinks gaped at them, speechless. "I—I didn't want to disturb the neighbors!"

Galent grinned. "C'mon. What're you waiting for? Join us."

Pinks huffed. But he threw his head back and howled; Zarrie wriggled excitedly and joined in; so did Galent.

"It figures," Pinks said when they'd stopped. "The first person to get Zarrie to howl isn't actually a wolf. "

"We're not defined by our species." Galent caught Pinks by the waist and drew him closer. Except Zarrie's hand shot out, and she grabbed Galent's bare arm.

Galent's entire body spasmed like he'd been struck by lightning.

Gray swept through Zarrie a split second later. Except this time, she grew heavy like a rock, and she didn't turn back into flesh and blood.