Chapter Twenty-Nine

Fred

It took a lot for me not to follow Elio to the bathroom. Despite not looking ‘that' pregnant he smelled like he might drop our egg at any moment. My dragon paced the sky of his inner sanctum, flying in circles as we waited for our mate to come back. I moved to the sofa ready to cuddle up to him and wait out however long it took.

Music from the party pulsed in the distance. In another life before Elio, before Lotus, and before my first egg brat was even thought of, I danced to music like that. Half-naked men and women on the stage. Glitter falling from the ceiling every few songs. Whatever fancy club drink my bartender had come up with for the week taking the edge off the fact Green Bay was a territory in chaos. I missed the music. I missed the dancing and grinding. Hell, I even missed the glitter. I didn't miss the violence of trying to live a normal life in a place that wasn't tamed yet.

"Fred, don't be mad," Elio called from the bathroom, jarring me back to the present moment.

"What happened?" I stood up, not letting my dragon's worry flood into my scent. The last thing Elio needed in an emergency was him to freak out. I had to be the steady one – the safe one – the one who could fix it all.

"They came," Elio said, opening the bathroom door before I got to it.

In his hands he held a bright orange hand towel. Orange was his favorite color. Whether for camouflage or self-love, I didn't know, but it was quickly becoming one of my favorite colors because it matched him. My heart leapt into my throat. Cuddling and cushioned in the orange hand towel was a bright green egg.

"It's okay," he said. "It happened so fast."

"They can do that," I nodded. "Are you okay? Do I need to call Izora?"

"No," Elio shook his head with a smile. "I --- I know this was supposed to happen in the nest and –"

I took a deep breath and his worried scent hit me. His dragon considered locking himself in the bathroom until the egg hatched. First time egg layers weren't always predictable. I smiled at him and kissed his forehead.

"You hold onto the baby," I said and gave him a few seconds to adjust his grip before I scooped him up.

His dragon was still on edge, but he relaxed a little as I headed across the house and up the steps to the south tower where, months ago, I'd built our nest. There were two up there now, because when the flight provided pack arrived Elio wanted to put it together. We jokingly called it the guest nest. That's where guests could come sit if they wanted to hang out with us during the nesting period. Outside of Marsin, Teddy, and the doctor we decided no one else was coming in our nest. We'd keep it as clean as possible for our baby.

I climbed over the side of the nest, still carrying my mate and child. In the center, I sat him down. As soon as his butt touched the nest, the tension fled his shoulders. His dragon purred his thanks and Elio curled up around the little egg wrapped inside the orange hand towel. I curled up around him, spooning him from behind.

The egg was small. They always came out impossibly small before growing to a height and width that seemed just as impossible. The music drifted up to us and we dozed off together. I dreamt of dancing with Elio and Lotus at Glitter Bomb.

Later we woke when Teddy and Marsin came looking for us. It was dinner time and since they figured we disappeared into the nesting tower, they sent the guests home. No one had met their true-mate, but they smelled like they had fun none the less. Teddy teared up at the first glimpse of the little green egg. He'd always been like that. Kind and in awe of the world.

That night the four of us ate dinner in the nesting tower. They'd gone out and picked up pizza and burgers from some local place I could never remember the name of. I kept wanting to call it Mama Dragon's from time spent stateside back home. It definitely wasn't Mama Dragon's, but the food was still tasty.

The next morning after Izora visited, Marsin flew to the Star Room to record the laying of our little green egg. I wondered if the guides already knew who our baby was in their past life. I kept wanting to say his. The whole flight said his every time they mentioned our egg, but I wasn't sure how they knew or why I suspected. Magic was almost never straight forward. It took the past of least resistance, but never explained itself. Sooner or later, the consensus of the flight would be proven one way or the other. For the moment, I was happy to nest with my mate while gazing at the vessel that housed our future child.