24. The End Of The Pregnancy
24
THE END OF THE PREGNANCY
Their timing was a disaster.
Telos’ contractions began even before they’d reached Mav’s ancestral home.
“Ah, my gallant steed,” Telos cried, wrapped around one of Mav’s dragon legs. “I feel something. Pretty sure our baby wants out.”
Mav looked down anxiously. “Are you sure? Maybe you just need the bathroom?”
Telos growled dangerously. “Repeat that, Mavvie Chicken, and I’ll have your balls.”
He groped around Mav’s scaly slit, where his cock and balls were tucked away. Mav jerked and growled, but he couldn’t do much while they were still in the air.
“I’ll fly faster,” Mav said tersely. “Hang on tight.”
He beat his wings harder and faster; Telos had to shut his eyes against the cold night wind in his face. His belly clenched in another contraction.
“How are you?” Mav asked after a while. “We’re almost there.”
“Oh, good.” Telos saw a few shapes flapping in the distance, too far for his hearing to pick up any sound from them.
“Who are they?” Mav asked.
“Get closer, and we’ll find out.” A few minutes later, Telos yelled, “Twenty-two cups of dried yogurt stains!”
Seconds later, three voices called back, “You jizzed too much in bed!”
Mav glanced at Telos incredulously.
Telos shrugged. “Why not? It’s a good way to identify someone midflight when they’re too far away.”
“I’d have chosen something safer.”
Telos checked the bundle against his back. “Well, Estie is still napping.”
Before Mav could reply, another contraction rocked through him. Telos hissed and clung to Mav’s leg, waiting for the pain to go away.
“Almost there,” Mav said. They flew closer to the mountains. Then he made his descent, and Telos clutched at his alpha. Estie whimpered in her carrier.
Telos smacked Mav’s scaly leg. “Slow down!”
Mav slowed down as Telos petted Estie through her blankets. The mountains and trees grew closer. Telos saw a long, winding driveway lit with golden lamps, leading to a mansion tucked next to a lake.
They landed close to the mansion’s front doors, where several dragons and butlers were swarming out.
“Baby, baby!” they chanted.
Telos scoffed. “Yeah, right. You don’t care about us, you just want to see me pop a baby.”
“Well, you’re an alpha,” said Henry, one of his brothers. Henry loved to look like a rheumy old man. “We’ll all look at your butthole, if you don’t mind. It’s not every day that we see an alpha birthing a baby.”
“We’ll even take a video,” Hudson said. He had tiny horns on his forehead resembling his boss’.
“In 4K resolution. For science,” Hans added. Hans’ favorite skin was a middle-aged man, tall, and thin.
“Ugh. No one needs to see my butthole in 4K.” Telos cringed. “You’d be scarred for life.”
“Especially after what we’ve done to stretch it,” Mav added.
Someone cleared their throat loudly. When Telos looked over, he found two stately golden dragons walking up—Mav’s parents.
They’d heard that entire butthole conversation.
Telos groaned, burying his face against Mav’s leg. “Just kill me now.”
“We’d need the baby out of you first,” Mav said dryly. He wrapped his arms around Telos and pulled him to his feet, holding him close. “Mom, Dad. This is Telos. Telos, my parents.”
Telos straightened his shoulders and held out his hand. “Ma’am, Sir. It’s great to finally meet you.”
Mav’s mom, Marian, took his hand first. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled down at him. “Telos. We’ve heard so much about you. Thank you for being there for Mav.”
She radiated power, strong and graceful, and Telos wanted to yield to her to preserve his own life.
Mav’s dad, Terry, took Telos’ hand next. “Welcome to our family.”
Telos choked up. For a long time, he’d doubted this day would happen. Except it was. He was meeting Mav’s family.
When he glanced at Mav, he found his alpha smiling at him.
Estie stirred at his back, kicking. When he plucked her out of her carrier, she stared wide-eyed at Mav’s parents—and shifted into a tiny golden dragon.
Telos melted. Everyone cooed. Mav rumbled, wrapping his scaly arms around Telos and Estie.
“I’ve never seen her do that before,” Mav whispered, awed.
“Me neither,” Telos said. Quietly, he added, “Would you like to be her dad?”
Mav’s breathing hitched. Disbelief and happiness echoed in Telos’ mind. “Y-yeah. Of course.”
Telos grinned and kissed Mav; Mav kissed him fiercely back. Then another contraction rolled through him, and he winced.
“To the birthing bed,” Marian said.
“Not yet.” Telos rubbed his belly. “I think we’ve got a bit of time. We can perform the ceremony first.”
Mav rumbled and swept Telos and Estie into his arms. He pushed through their family and headed into the mansion, where Hilly-Billy and Hadley were waiting with Dickens, Mass, and BH.
“Masters.” The butlers bowed and swept their arms toward the back of the mansion. Mav carried Telos and Estie down a large, gentle staircase with sconces flickering on the walls, to a deep underground cavern. Water burbled in here; a single stream led from the stairs to the concentric circles in the middle of the floor. It was all lit beautifully with sconces along the walls.
“My flight’s ancestors carved our Circle,” Mav murmured above the sound of the shopping carts following them down the stairs. “Each circle represents part of the world, such as animals, trees, oceans, and land. We’ll walk on the outermost two.”
Telos squinted at the concentric circles, their grooves etched deep into stone. They had been worn smooth, with simple drawings of nature carved around each circle.
Mav shifted back into a man, tucking his nose under Telos’ ear for a brief second. “Ready?”
“I’ve been ready for centuries,” Telos said, his voice breaking a little.
Mav’s gaze softened. He kissed Estie and handed her over to Hilly-Billy, before kissing Telos softly on the lips. When their families had gathered in the cavern—Telos’ brothers had all shifted into small pterodactyls so they could fit—Mav tugged Telos over to the Circle.
“I owe you something,” Mav said solemnly.
Telos blinked. Mav had been amazing these past few months. He’d been rubbing Telos’ achy feet and back, he’d run out at odd hours of the night to buy food that Telos craved, and he’d done most of the work moving Telos’ things into his—their—mansion. “What can you possibly owe me?”
Mav inhaled slowly. In a sonorous voice, he said, “Your butt wriggles like the sun and stars. If you were in my night sky, I would see your butt everywhere and it will fill my heart with bouncy joy.”
Telos stared. And began laughing so hard, he cried. “Oh, gods. You did it. You willingly read a terrible pickup line. Mavvie Chicken, I love you.”
Mav grinned, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Yeah?”
“Yes. We should get started on this bonding thing.” Telos dragged him onto the Circle, taking the second-largest circle while Mav stood barefoot on the largest one. Their shoulders bumped together; they were both so broad. Instead of holding hands, Mav slipped his arm around Telos’ waist, and held him close.
“Keep one foot on the circle at all times,” Mav said. “We’ll walk around the Circle thrice. When that’s done, we’ll be bonded.”
Their life spans would also even out, although with both of them being long-lived, Telos wasn’t sure it would make much difference.
“Definitely ready,” he said.
Mav smiled and announced to their witnesses, “Once for luck.”
They walked together slowly—because Telos’ belly was the size of a watermelon now, and he couldn’t see his feet. He felt around with his toes for the groove of the circle and took more steps forward. Mav squeezed his hip and angled a warm, private smile at him; Telos’ heart skipped.
When they crossed the first lap into the second, a gentle breeze picked up in the cavern.
“Twice as a promise.” Mav caught Telos’ free hand and brought it to his lips, kissing his knuckles.
“You are such a sap,” Telos said, pleased.
“You’d say I wasn’t sappy enough if I didn’t kiss you,” Mav pointed out.
“I’m always right.”
Mav grinned.
Another contraction hit Telos then. He gritted his teeth and leaned into Mav, who rubbed his hip. Then he nodded, and they continued to walk.
When they finished the second lap, all the circles lit up with a faint blue glow. A gust of wind whipped up around them for a heartbeat.
Then it was time for the final lap.
“Three times for a future well-told,” Mav said.
Telos held his breath. When they completed the third lap, every circle flared a brilliant blue, from the outermost to the middle. More wind swept through the cavern, and a swell of energy passed from Mav to Telos. Telos’ heart stuttered, then began to beat in sync with Mav’s.
They turned to face each other; Telos gasped when he spotted a gray hair on Mav’s head. “You grew old. By a tiny bit.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t given me more gray hairs,” Mav said dryly.
“Shut up.” Telos leaned in to smash their mouths together, and Mav smiled against his lips.
As one, their family cheered. The brothers began to throw cookies into the air—dick-shaped fortune cookies, Telos realized. Each with a little piece of paper sticking out of its tip.
When one landed on Telos’ round belly, Mav caught it.
“You should read it,” Telos said.
“I’m almost afraid to.” But Mav plucked out the white slip of paper, and unfolded it. “ Today is the day your dicks become one. How?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Telos began to say. Except his belly clenched in the strongest contraction yet, and he staggered. “I think my water broke.”
Mav chased out the brothers with the fancy video camera, but a number of them—pterodactyl-shaped—were perched on the furniture around his old childhood room. “Are we not going to have any privacy for this?”
Telos snorted. “This is the first addition to our lineage from this generation. I’m surprised my parents are not right next to you.”
“They’re making another of us,” Hong said cheerfully, dressed in his ancient Chinese robes.
“Ew,” the brothers said, cringing.
“I did not need to know that,” Telos added. He gritted his teeth when his body clenched again.
“Will it help if I stretch you?” Mav asked, his forehead furrowed. “I don’t want you to hurt.”
“I could just... alter my muscles,” Telos said. “But then I won’t get to yell at you. This should be like a birth scene from the movies.”
Mav rolled his eyes. “Well, you’re not flying in on a helicopter with the baby halfway out of you.”
“Let’s do that with the next one.”
“We’re definitely filming that birth,” Hex added, his wizard hat flopping over his face. “It’ll be aired on a permanent loop in the ancestral hall.”
Telos rubbed his chin. “I could be convinced.”
Mav groaned. He crowded against Telos as Telos paced, holding his hands out as though he was expecting the baby to fall out any second.
Then Telos sat on the edge of the bed, and pointed at the floor. “Kneel.”
Mav went down on his knees. “A little late to be proposing, isn’t it?”
Telos laughed. And he planted his feet on Mav’s shoulders, leaving his legs open as he pushed.
He made it easier on himself just because he could. He expanded his inner muscles and slowly eased their baby out, breathing hard from exertion.
Telos might’ve pushed a little too hard.
“I see—” Mav’s eyes grew round. He held his hands up to catch, except their baby almost shot right off his hands.
For a heart-stopping second, Telos thought their baby might hit the floor and end up hurt.
But Mav caught her just in time, pulling her close to his chest. Relief echoed through their mental bond.
“Fuck, that was stressful,” Telos said.
“At this rate, her first word is also going to be ‘fuck’,” Mav said dryly. But his face was all soft and sappy as he stared down at their daughter, cleaning her up so she could breathe. “Hey, Ariel. Welcome to the family.”
Telos could’ve exploded; his heart was so full.
When she began to wail, a collective “Aww” went up through the room. Pterodactyls and butlers cheered. Mav bit off the umbilical cord and stood, easing Telos back on the bed so he could place their baby on his chest. Telos cradled her gently. This was a baby that he and Mav had made together. She was just as important as Estie, and he couldn’t wait to be home with his family, all of them growing together. “Hey, little sugar pie.”
Ariel wrapped her tiny hand tiredly around his thumb.
“You did so well,” Mav whispered, kissing Telos hard on the lips.
“You were a good footstool,” Telos said with a laugh.
“A big, scaly footstool.” Mav leaned in to nuzzle their baby; Telos couldn’t help caressing her back, marveling at just how tiny she was.
It had been a long road to get here, an eternity of pining for Mav from afar. But Mav loved him now. Mav was willing to do anything for Telos; his love was in the gentle touches and searing kisses they shared; it was in the way his eyes lit up when Telos entered a room.
Telos was so, so grateful for it all.
“We’re going to make up a song for this special occasion,” he told Mav.
Mav made a face. “Please don’t put dicks and butts in it.”
“No promises,” Telos answered.
Mav leaned in with a warm laugh, kissing him again.