Chapter 21

21

Alluresh

I watched the security footage of Allure and Tavi with my heart in my throat. I knew no harm had come to Tavi, but it would only take one wrong move, accident or not, on Allure's part to squash him like a bug.

He is my mate. I can sense his every move.

"He is small even for a human."

Not too small to carry our egg.

I watched on the screen as Allure sniffed Tavi's ass, then his swelling stomach.

He smells. It's so delicious.

I let myself smile in agreement as I saw Allure on camera back up slowly from Tavi, then take off in flight, claws leaving holes in the grass my landscapers were forever repairing. I remembered bits and pieces of it all from inside Allure's mind, but it was quite another thing to see the scene from a more objective vantage.

I remembered how Allure felt, breathless, charged as he flew out to sea. He had cried out. It wasn't the sorrowful or lonely cry I'd been used to in the past. This sound evoked pure happiness.

Just then, Tavi appeared at my office door.

"What are you watching?"

I waved him forward. He came to me so easily now, a reverse of his responses when he'd first arrived. He climbed up on my lap, settling himself on one of my thighs, his legs dangling on either side, too short to reach the floor. I wrapped my arm around his waist and held him to my chest and pointed to the screen with my free hand.

"It's Allure and me." Tavi spoke softly.

"Let me rewind it."

I showed him all of it, beginning with the shift. He laughed several times and pointed at the screen.

"Look at the way he runs. It's so cute. And the way he sniffs me. The warm air rushing over me feels so good."

I'm not cute. I'm ferocious.

"He would not ever refer to himself as cute," I admonished, both for Allure's pride and my own.

Tavi looked up at me. "What is he feeling there?" He pointed to where Allure had ripped his trousers.

"Utter contentment. Your scent makes him want more."

"If I could shift…" He drew a sharp breath. "If I was a dragon, too…"

"He loves you the way you are. You. As yourself. It has never occurred to him or me to want you to change."

Tavi turned and encircled me with his arms, rubbing his face into my shirt. "A proper mate would shift and fly with him."

"Remember what I said? He doesn't like other dragons. He wants to fight them. You—the way you are— are the proper mate for him." I kissed the top of his head. "And for me."

I lifted him up as I stood. He wrapped his legs around me and I carried him into the bedroom to prove my words.

Every morning at breakfast, Tavi announced the countdown to giving birth to our egg.

"Ten days to go."

I loved his countdowns. The egg could come early or late, but we both believed in Dr. Hayden's two-month prediction.

"Ten days seems fast," I said.

Tavi touched his stomach. "It seems like forever when you're the one carrying the egg."

His flat stomach protruded, smooth and round. He had the sexiest baby bump. And because he was young and healthy, he had no problems. He sustained his appetite and energy.

Allure played with him out in the yard every day. Giving my dragon the ability to shift and fly on a daily basis placated him. We argued less in my mind.

I realized Allure and I both suffered from a negative outlook that had spiraled. With Tavi in our lives, the bleak clouds and overlying shadows of the world weren't quite as large and looming. We had our own world and it filled me up.

One day, Noah invited me to a grand garden party with business associates we both dealt with, and their families, and for the first time in my life I was tempted to go. Tavi did not embarrass me. No one yet knew I'd freed him, and if they might disapprove I didn't care. I was giddy about my mate and our coming child. My instinct was to proudly announce it and show off.

It was ego for sure. My ego had always been stuffy if not outright miserable. All that had been replaced with pride and joy. And maybe a bit of revenge, wanting to show off in front of the rigid factions of wealthy dragon hierarchy that I had a willing omega mate through no force. I would ask Tavi to wear sandals with tight pants to show off his naked ankle with no more slave bracelet.

I went to find Tavi. I knew Noah was the one who'd owned him before. And the other people he would meet would still see him as a slave. This was all about me. Selfish. But I still wanted to ask him if he would go to the party with me.

He was nowhere to be found. I went all over the house and peered into both yards. No Tavi.

Finally, I checked my security footage.

I found him in the bedroom in the nest I'd bought sound asleep.

Staring down at him curled around fluffy pillows on the soft-walled round mattress that indeed was big enough for two, my heart felt like it might swell too big for my chest. His silken hair fell about his cheek and neck. Hugged to his chest was a plush dragon we'd bought for the baby's room. His childhood stuffed dog, Rawrar, sat beside him.

As I looked, I saw more items from around the house in the nest. Even though he wasn't a dragon, he had begun to hoard for our baby.

I had no doubt he would become the best papa ever.

I knelt by the nest as quietly as possible, but he must have sensed me through our bond. His beautiful eyes opened.

He held up his hand to me, fingers quirking. "Come join me."

I moved over the wall of the nest and sat beside him, bringing him into my arms.

Tavi nuzzled my neck. "This is where the egg will be kept safe and warm."

"Yes, it will be."

"I'm going to sleep here until it hatches." He patted some of the pillows. "It's very comfortable."

Forgetting all about the party invitation I spoke. "I've never asked you certain questions you deserve to answer."

He lifted his head. "Like what?"

"Well, I never really asked you what you want. Just for yourself. Beyond all this. I really never even asked you if you want a child."

"I told you I would like to take college courses. So you did ask. And I told you I want our child. Maybe I wasn't clear?"

I sighed. "Before you found out you were unable to shift did you dream a different life for yourself?"

"You're asking about my dreams?"

"Yeah. The dreams you hold in your heart just for you."

"No one has ever asked me that before."

"No?"

He shook his head. "Not ever. Not even my papa."

"Well, I'm asking now."

He turned and smiled at me, his eyes sparkling. "You turned out to be my dream."

"Nice dodge there."

"I'm serious. Of course I do want to go to college. I want to study different things like philosophy, psychology and literature. I always thought I would find my mate and have a family, but not until much later in life."

I nodded. "You are quite young."

He shrugged. "I felt old the moment I found out I was a set-omega."

"And your dreams turned to nightmares," I added.

He took my hand in his and held it to his chest. "Like I said, not anymore."

"I love you, Tavi. Very much."

His head leaned back. "I love you, too. And I love the way things turned out."

With my free hand, I rubbed his baby bump.

I wasn't going to any damn garden party, and I knew it. What had I been thinking coming in here to ask him if he would accept the invitation with me? An invitation sent by the man who'd shackled and sold him? The stuffy, superior dragon businessmen who were my peers would ogle him, make jealous snide comments behind our backs, and possibly try to buy him from me. Why would I stoop to put Tavi in that sort of scene?

I wished I could shout my love for him to the world. Everyone should know what a smart, selfless, wonderful mate I had—not to mention beautiful. But that wasn't the way our world worked right now. Maybe someday. It was my own dream that we could walk the cities and monuments of the world hand in hand and be seen as equals. But for now, what mattered was that I continue to treat him as the miracle he was, that I never forget he was half of my life now, my mate of the heart, of the soul.