21. Kai

Chapter 21

Kai

"I feel weird."

This pregnancy was so different to my first. I was worried because the baby appeared to be on one side, my right, as though they were being squashed. And my belly was an odd shape. Smooth on one side and constantly changing with the baby's movement on the other.

"Would consulting a midwife make you feel better?"

"Maybe." Having the healthy, happy baby in my arms would make my anxiety disappear, but that wasn't happening for a few months.

"I suggest we consult a dragon midwife or, failing that, one who is familiar with dragon pregnancies." Seymour was already on his phone, scrolling through lists of names.

I put a hand over his phone, and he glanced up. "Ummm, why would we do that?"

"Over to you." Dante pointed at my dragon-shifter mate.

"You've got this," Gideon added.

"What are you not telling me?" I recalled the conversation I'd had with Seymour the morning after we'd all had sex when he spoke of eggs. But that couldn't be. I put that idea out of my head.

"It's possible you might have an egg in your belly."

I giggled because he was correct. "Is this dragon humor?"

"Huh?" my three mates responded.

"I do have an egg. You made me an omelet this morning."

Seymour had me worried for a minute, thinking I'd be sitting in a nest in a cave waiting for the egg to hatch. If it was the same cave where his dragon had buried the chocolate, that would be some compensation, but I recalled him saying it'd be stale. Ewww. And covered in dirt. Nope. Not happening.

But I recalled a dream I'd had where I was devouring moldy chocolate and loving it.

"A baby dragon encased inside an egg." Seymour sat me in an armchair.

I was numb, my body unable to move by itself.

"But that can't be. I'm human. Where's the egg going to go?" I grabbed Seymour's hand in a vice-like grip. "No, you're wrong. The baby's been moving." I looked at my three mates. "You all put your hand on the bump while our little one wriggled."

Mate Number Three was wrong, though he would be disappointed not to have a little dragon shifter running around the house.

My three mates shared a glance, and for once, I didn't demand they spill what they were thinking. My baby kicked me during the night, so there were no eggs inside me, other than my breakfast ones.

Seymour continued to insist we consult a dragon midwife, and as there was no harm in that and I didn't want to tell him no, I agreed.

As we drove up to the midwife's residence at the base of a mountain outside Martlock, Seymour told me this wasn't the mountain with the cave and the buried chocolate, but he'd take me to the place if I wanted to.

The four of us squeezed into the midwife's office, and Marty, the midwife, got me on the examination table and prodded my belly.

"Interesting."

There was more jabbing. I was fairly sure that the midwife in Pineville was more gentle, but dragons were tough, and I may have been Marty's first human client.

"Interesting."

I didn't want my pregnancy to be interesting. I hoped for normal, nothing out of the ordinary, as expected, or looking good. No one wanted an interesting pregnancy.

"You have a live baby in your belly, and considering everything, they're a good size and about an average weight."

Wow. Marty could tell all that with his jabby fingers? But that was how it had been done for centuries. Perhaps Marty came from a long line of dragon midwives who'd passed their skills down the generations. Shame no one told him to be a tad more gentle.

"Oh." Seymour's face fell. Poor guy. He so wanted a baby dragon. If this little one was a bear shifter and Albie was a wolf, Seymour would be all on his lonesome.

Marty examined the other part of my belly, the "weird" side. "So interesting."

Again with the interesting.

"You are carrying another little one."

"Twins," everyone blurted out.

"No." There was more poking on my belly from Marty.

So some baby had snuck inside me, one not related to me, the same one who didn't move about and made my belly hard?

"Tell me."

"You also have an egg."

Seymour cheered, leaping up and down and planting kisses on my face.

This was too much, and Marty had to be wrong. As soon as we left, I'd demand to see another midwife. No eggs were allowed other than yummy ones my mates cooked.

"No." I cradled my belly, silently telling the baby they were fine. Me too. We were all doing okay. I was walking out of here and banishing any egg talk.

"Would you like a feel?" Marty was looking at me, but three sets of hands, none of them mine, were placed on my bump. I reluctantly added my own, and Marty put pressure on one side, saying that was the baby's shoulder.

"Awww," Dante said. "Our baby has a shoulder."

"So cute," Gideon gushed.

"Adorable," Seymour agreed.

They all looked at me. This was one of those rare moments when my mates irritated me. "I love that our baby has a shoulder."

"And now for the other side." Marty was kinda stabby as he pressed into my belly, and I grunted.

"Sorry, but it can be difficult to feel the shell."

My mates copied Marty, all performing little stabby stabs.

"Hey, cut that out."

"Sorry, love," they chorused.

"Care to put your hands on the shell?" Marty asked.

Everyone was staring at me again, and I'd be a party pooper if I said no. So I performed the silly stabbing action, and oh gods, what was that? It couldn't be. No, I refused to consider it. But if it wasn't an egg, it was a growth, and I should go straight to the closest hospital.

"What if the baby kicks the egg and breaks it?" My eyes filled with tears as I patted both sides of my bump.

"They are both separate and safe. No need to worry, dads."

As we pulled away from Marty's home, I had an overwhelming desire for chocolate. Maybe a bit of mold wasn't so bad.