21. Marcelo

Chapter 21

Marcelo

"It's so nice to get out of the house." I peered in a chocolate shop window.

We were at the mall after I'd been housebound for a few days, thinking the eggs were due. My tummy was tight, and I'd experienced some cramping.

Jackson followed my and Brooklyn's lead because what little he knew about live human births was ten times more than his knowledge of laying eggs. Heck, even I had to confer with Brooklyn and other dragons about what to expect.

Some nights I woke up, wondering if it was all a dream that I had two mates, one of whom was human, I was pregnant with eggs, and we'd prepared a nest for our eggs.

"Sit," Brooklyn instructed.

My mates helped me onto a seat, and Brooklyn strolled into the shop, returning with a box of chocolate-coated ginger, my favorite. I sampled a few of the morsels, enjoying the combination of the sweet chocolate contrasted with the ginger before offering the box to Jackson and Brooklyn.

"Yum." Jackson only took one, probably because he'd woken up a few nights and caught me in the kitchen, stuffing my face with these same chocolates. Brooklyn wasn't fond of ginger, so he refused to sample any of the chocolates. Goody! More for me.

"I'd love a hamburger. But not the fast-food variety. One made in a nice restaurant that comes with a giant salad and loads of fries." There was no definitive timeline for hatching dragon eggs, so I might be on the nest a while and missing out on restaurant food.

"Who are you and what have you done with our dragon mate?" Brooklyn ruffled my hair.

I wasn't a fruit and vegetable lover but forced myself to eat three vegetables and two fruits every day for the babies. I was a carnivore, just like my dragon.

"I've become partial to salad." I sniffed, and they helped me stand. The walk, or the waddle, to a restaurant took a while, and we chatted and pointed out items in the stores' window displays.

But every few steps, I'd pause and grunt and rub my belly. My tummy tightened; you could bounce a ball off it. Of course I wouldn't.

Jackson got on his knees and held his hands underneath me. People started, and Brooklyn and I guffawed.

"You look as though you're going to catch my poop." That sent Brooklyn on another laughing spree, and I held my ribs, trying not to laugh because it hurt so much.

"I've never seen an omega lay eggs, I thought you might pop them out here."

"There'll be no popping." How I wished it would be that easy, and Brooklyn and I explained once again to Jackson that laying an egg could take as long as pushing out a live baby.

"Guys, let's forget the burger." My head fell forward, and I concentrated on my breathing. "Or perhaps we could get it to go." I took another step, and my belly cramped. "Then again, maybe not. Owww!"

"Let's go back to the car." My mates steered me around, and we headed to the parking lot.

But I so wanted those deep-fried potatoes. "The fries are calling me, saying ‘Marcelo, you need us in your belly.'"

"I'll come back later and buy you fries and a burger," Jackson assured me. "Because if you give birth in the mall, how will we get the eggs home?"

That would be the least of our problems, considering how many humans would witness a man laying eggs.

"I'm good. I'm gonna make it," I panted.

"Home?" Brooklyn asked as we reached the exit, and the security guard asked if we needed a wheelchair or an ambulance.

"Nope. The eggs are coming, and I'm going to deliver them in the car."

My mind raced, wondering how to remove the eggs from the back seat and get them safely home and into the nest.

"What about the ball pit?" Jackson suggested. We'd just passed the children's play area.

"Balls?" Brooklyn asked, which was followed by me groaning.

"Owww. Owww."

Jackson peered at the kids' playground. "Look, the ball pit has a separate entrance from the rest of the playground, so if we close it off, no one can get near to peer in through the mesh on the sides. It's very private."

"That would disguise the eggs." Brooklyn nodded.

"But you can't turf kids out." I didn't want an army of children calling for me to apologize for denying them their fun.

"There aren't any in there at the moment." Brooklyn stood on tippy-toes.

"Stay here." Jackson raced to the ball pit and grabbed the "Closed for cleaning" sign from the attendant and hung it outside the entrance.

"What are you doing?" The guy took hold of his walkie-talkie, and I pictured our human mate getting arrested, or at the very least tossed out of the mall, never allowed to return.

Brooklyn helped me over to where Jackson was explaining this was an emergency. Brooklyn and I shared a look with the guy because he was a shifter.

"Dragon shifter about to lay eggs." Brooklyn pointed at my belly.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" The guy gave us a thumbs-up.

My mates helped me inside, and the attendant told us I wasn't the first shifter to give birth here.

Brooklyn paused and asked if the pit had been cleaned each time. The guy nodded, saying he told his boss someone had puked in there.

It wasn't how I imagined our children coming into the world, but that was parenthood. You had to be prepared for the unexpected. But my belly was protesting, wanting me to squat and push out our eggs.

The attendant told everyone the kids' playground was closing and shooed everyone out while my mates undressed me, and I sank into the pile of balls. The attendant assured us they were cleaned at the end of each day, but I wondered about the kids who'd been in here this morning.

Brooklyn pointed out the eggs' shells were the perfect protection for our babies and for me to stop worrying about germs. My mate understood my paranoia since becoming pregnant, when before, he had been the more germ-obsessed.

"Am I really doing this?" I asked my mates as Brooklyn squatted behind me, and Jackson shoved his coat on top of the ball under me.

All thoughts of not being home and being far from the nest were pushed from my mind as pain took hold of me. Nothing prepared me for the agony of bringing eggs into the world. Brooklyn took my weight as I strained to get the first egg into the world.

"You're doing so well." Jackson's face was a mask of terror and awe, but he was such a love, trying to encourage me. He held my hands as I bore down.

"I think… I think an egg is coming." All and any eggs I had were coming, but that could be in the next few minutes or tomorrow. I grunted, not wanting to yell and alert the shoppers I was giving birth.

Jackson waved his hands, his mouth opening and closing, though no sound was coming out.

I pushed, fearing my body would break in two, and an egg slid out onto Jackson's jacket.

"We have an egg. A beautiful egg." Jackson peered at it and stroked it.

"Pick the egg up carefully because another is on the way," I told our human mate.

"I have some blankets," the attendant whispered.

With the egg nestled in a blanket at my side, I pushed again, and the second egg emerged easily. I was an expert at giving birth now.

Our two eggs were on either side of me, and Jackson was telling them the story of how we met.

"Any more?" Brooklyn asked.

"Yes." How many I couldn't tell, but I wasn't done. A cramp gripped my belly. I knew the routine now. A lot of pain, the egg came out, and that feeling of relief as if I was floating on air came over me.

The third egg did what Jackson had said the eggs would do; it popped out. It was inside me and then it wasn't. The easiest laying of an egg ever.

The three of us admired the eggs, and my mates kissed me, but we had to get home to the nest. The attendant, whose name was Sven, brought three grocery store carts, and we wrapped the eggs in the blankets. Brooklyn handed the guy cash. "The cleaning fee," he said, and Jackson helped me get dressed.

I wanted to sleep beside my three babies in the nest, and with each of us pushing a cart, we made it to the car.

It was a tight squeeze in the back seat with me and three eggs, and Jackson yelped when Brooklyn hit a pothole, even though our alpha mate drove so slowly other cars honked their horns at us.

My mates carried the eggs inside, slung inside a blanket, and they held each end tightly, similar to a stretcher.

With the eggs in the nest and me beside them, I craved sleep, but I was also hungry. That hamburger and fries sounded damned good right now.