21. Epilogue

Aldryn

I took off my shirt and grabbed a hoodie from the closet, then stared at myself in the mirror for a moment. Maybe I should just stick with a T-shirt? Definitely not a button-down shirt, but maybe a polo? No. That was too dressy also.

Eli came in from the nursery where all three babies were taking a nap. They didn't always nap in the nursery, but when they did, it was glorious.

"Are you almost ready? Your mom just got here," he asked.

I nodded. Mom had moved to the area not that long ago, and we loved having her here. She was making a lot of friends, and she doted on her grandchildren.

"I'm not sure what to wear," I said.

Eli looked me over. "What you're wearing is perfect."

"Is it too casual?"

Eli came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle. He kissed my neck. "We're meeting them at the nesting place, and we're having a picnic lunch. We're not exactly expected to wear three-piece suits."

I snorted. "I don't think I own a three-piece suit."

"Nor do I."

Leaving the note at the nesting place had paid off. A few weeks ago, we had received a message from one brother, then the next. We had spoken on the phone and texted each other, and now we were ready to meet. They were all pretty local now that they had all gone on their own journey to find each other.

Funny how life came together like that.

As I understood it, my brothers had each found their own mate along the way, much like I had found my Eli, or rediscovered him, really. I gripped his hand, and the two of us went to the car. After a quick kiss to my cheek before pulling out of the driveway, Eli said, "Everything's going to be fine."

"I know. I'm just nervous."

We were the first to arrive at the nesting place. Since I had started working at the park, I had added a little picnic table to the meadow where people could come and enjoy a lunch or take a break. Now, I would meet my brothers there.

Stone arrived first. He was different from me in that he had sapphire scales. His mate was Arvin. We shook hands, and then he pulled me into a hug.

"It's great to meet you in person," he said.

"It is." I grinned, my heart warming and my dragon humming with pleasure. He recognized his clutch-mate.

Tatum arrived next with his mate, Vinnie. He was an amethyst-colored dragon, and his mate was a phoenix shifter. Eli gushed over meeting an actual phoenix shifter, and I had to smile.

Eli was ever the gracious host, filling in conversation where I couldn't. Each of my brothers told us about their own journeys to find this location. Eli filled them in about ours.

"So the two of you have known each other since childhood?" Tatum asked.

I nodded. "I didn't realize we were mates until my dragon came out."

"But you knew?" Vinnie asked, with a knowing grin.

Eli nodded.

"Oh, that must have been torturous."

He chuckled. "It was, but it was worth it." He smiled up at me, then leaned up on his tiptoes and kissed my cheek. "I'm being spoiled now."

"That's great to hear. I'm glad that things have all worked out for us," Stone said. His own mate sat close to him, looking at him the same way my Eli looked at me.

"Cheers to that." We all lifted our drinks.

"We should be sure to make this a regular thing," Vinnie said. "Just because you guys didn't meet until now doesn't mean we can't all be family going forward. After all, there are several dragon whelps on the way that are going to want to visit their cousins. And goodness knows we're going to have to swap parenting stories."

"If my dragons are anything like me as a child, we are all in for some trouble," I said.

We all chuckled.

"Absolutely, we should make this a regular thing, especially since we are not far away now," Arvin said.

"Agreed."

We talked for a while longer, enjoying each other's company. Though we had not grown up together, we were as close as brothers now. I felt a kinship with them, not unlike what I felt toward my adopted siblings. We talked for several hours, finishing the meals that our mates had brought for us and going through several of the drinks.

Finally, when it was time to leave because we had babies to get back to, we packed up everything that we had brought on our journey and made the walk back to our cars. The three mates walked ahead of us while us dragons stayed behind.

"I'm happy to have found you all," I said. "I thought I was crazy when I began the quest. Thankfully, my mate kept me sane. And drove me crazy at the same time."

"Cheers to that," Stone said. "I'm happy to have found you all as well." He clapped me on the back. "It's been great getting to know you. And we definitely need to make this a regular thing."

"Of course. After all, we're the start of a new generation of dragons," Tatum said.

"We are indeed."