9. Tuft

Istared a little too long at the dishwasher by Axel"s kitchen sink. I would kill for a magic-powered dishwasher. Okay, maybe not kill, but as we moved to Axel"s separate bedroom, I was considering sexual favors in return for moving in with him. My rooms were more like an efficiency apartment or a hotel room, not a place to live. This, though. This was nice.

"Doesn"t Weld have a cabin?" Axel asked. "They all looked the same from the outside, but maybe my cabin is better stocked after standing empty for so long?" Axel was trying to find excuses for why his place was better than Weld"s, and he hadn"t even met the guy yet.

"Not anymore," I said. "I think he did before we met, but when we mated, we moved into the grotto together."

Weld still lived down there, in the same cavern we"d taken from Coz and Grindl. I knew him well enough to know he was punishing himself for stealing it, and for nothing. Coz and Grindl had moved their eggs aboveground and thrived, while ours didn"t make it.

"I"m sorry if my question upset you." Axel pulled out a chair at his kitchen table, and I sat in it, still dazed by the memory. He moved around me, setting the table and giving me space without me asking for it.

"No," I said. "I"d like you to meet Weld. I think you"d be friends. It"s just … it was for the best."

"Did it hurt?" he asked. "Laying the eggs?"

I nodded.

"If he hurt you, I"ll kill him." Axel sank into his seat and avoided eye contact with me by hiding behind the lid of his cardboard food container. His smelled like steak and oven-roasted vegetables. Mine was steak with fettuccini Alfredo.

"It"s not his fault," I admitted. "I tried to do it without him, but the eggs were too big. It took me too long to get the first one out, and by the time Weld was there to help, I think it was all over for our little hatchlings."

Axel frowned. "By yourself?"

"I didn"t want him to worry, so I sent him off to work that morning."

"What did he do that was more important than your hatchlings?" Axel frowned. "I don"t know much about this kobold business, but Merritt wouldn"t stop harping about how important it was to help our omegas through the egg-laying process." He cleared his throat and lowered his voice to sound more like his teacher. "From laying to hatching is your most important job as an alpha. Keep your omega healthy and happy."

"I was stubborn," I said. "I thought I could do it myself." I tried to smile before taking a bite of steak dipped in sauce.

"This is beyond first date conversation," Axel said, "but I need you to promise me. Whatever happens, we"re in this together."

I glanced up from my plate, where I"d been rolling my fork to load it up with noodles. "I can"t promise that yet." I kept talking to dissuade the hurt look on his face. "I want to, believe me."

"But?"

"I don"t know you well enough." I had trust issues long before I met Weld. I also didn"t want to screw this up, so I tried for damage control. "I mean, you"re an alpha, and you"re my mate, so you smell nice, and you"re gorgeous."

He preened more with each descriptor, but he still looked upset with me as I scooped up more noodles and shoved them in my mouth.

"I"m sorry," I said after I swallowed them down without choking. "I really like you, and I don"t want to screw this up."

He nodded thoughtfully as he speared an asparagus stem with his fork. We ate in silence, both of us focused on our delicious meals. His moan when he first tasted a carrot sautéed in honey made me blush. I blushed even harder when he fed one to me. Carrots weren"t my favorite things, but this one tasted better than any I"d eaten before, on Earth or Ignitas.

After dinner, he led me to his couch in front of a laptop. It was a model from Earth with an adapter so it could run on magic. "You asked what I did for fun," he said. "I didn"t do much back on Earth, to tell you the truth, but this computer is loaded with movies I never had a chance to watch. I was wondering if you wanted to watch one with me tonight."

"I would love that," I said. "Except …"

He cocked his chin and glared at me with a stern alpha look. Ooh. I liked that a little too much.

"I talk to the screen. A lot. It"s worse if I"ve seen the movie. My college friends hated watching movies with me."

Axel leaned in and his alpha scent filled my nostrils, taking away some of my fear. This was my alpha. He wouldn"t reject me over something as ridiculous as shouting, "Bye, bitch!" to Hans Gruber as he fell to his death, right?

"My friends had the same complaints about me." Axel laughed. "Sounds like we have something in common."

"What if that only makes us hate each other?" It wouldn"t bother me if Axel talked all the way through movie after movie, but I was afraid I would grate on his last nerve. "I treat every movie like a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show, if you know what I mean."

"Let"s start there, then," he said. "I"ve never seen it."

That"s how we ended up doing the time warp until eleven on a school night. I printed out the list of props, sayings, and actions for RHPS virgins while Axel made the popcorn, and then we began.

I"d never had so much fun watching a movie in my life, and that was saying something. I"d been to packed theater showings of RHPS on Earth, but nothing compared to Axel"s unabashed joy as he followed along with my notes and laughed when he got lost. He laughed in all the right places, screamed at the characters on cue, and if we both shed a few tears for Frank-N-Furter, who could blame us?

Axel was still wiping his eyes while the credits rolled, so I cleaned up our mess of popcorn. Half was on the floor after we"d thrown it at the screen.

Axel came up behind me and nuzzled my neck as I rinsed our dishes. "The next movie we watch won"t be so messy."

"Wow," I breathed, half because of the revelation and half because he was really turning me on. "You want to watch another movie with me?"

"Yes." He nibbled down the soft flesh just inside the scales at my neck, and I stretched to give him better access, arching my back and grabbing his hips to grind against him. His hard cock slotted against the seam of my pants, and I jerked away from him, almost racking my balls against a cupboard handle. I wanted to go slow, dammit. Still, I"d done that to him. I was happy to know I turned him on that much.

I spun in his arms and rested my hands on his shoulders, enjoying his body heat as it seeped into me. I met his gaze and leaned in, inhaling his alpha essence and waiting for a sign of consent. My breath hitched.

I considered asking if I could kiss him. I thought he was into me, but he hadn"t made a move.

Then, he leaned forward and met me halfway with a gentle brush of lips. That was all the invitation I needed. I slid my hands into his hair and gripped the back of his head to hold him in place. He surprised me by sweeping his tongue across my bottom lip, and then he was kissing me for real.

My alpha knew how to kiss. My knees wobbled, and I leaned into him more with each touch of his tongue as it slid against mine.

He cradled my ass and picked me up like I weighed nothing. He moved so fast, my head spun a little when we dropped to the couch. I straddled his legs, and time slipped away from us. The next time I looked up, it was midnight.

"I should go home," I whispered.

I wanted him to ask me to stay, but I also wanted to give him the option to breathe. We needed to take things slow, and fucking after our first date was even faster than Weld and I had moved.

Axel shifted me so I was sitting across his lap with my legs stretched out to his left. I wiggled my toes, long talons and all, and he twisted so he could rub my ankles.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You"ve been on your knees for a while. Do you still have feeling in your feet?"

I laughed. "Yes. I can walk home, I swear."

"I"m going to walk you home."

He met my gaze, and I couldn"t look away. That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. "Thank you. I can walk alone, but it would be more fun with you."

He kissed me again and helped me back to my feet. "We can"t have dragons swooping out of the darkness to steal you away."

"Neither of us could stop a dragon." I rewarded his silliness with another kiss. It was another half-hour before we finally left his cabin.

It was the first time since my arrival on Ignitas that I"d been outside after our two suns had gone down. The sky sparkled with galaxy dust and more stars than I"d ever seen from Earth. "Beautiful."

"It"s even better than looking through the window," Axel agreed.

"They all look so much closer than they were on Earth."

I was still staring up at the sky when Axel took my hand and slid his fingers between mine. Too soon, we were back inside the fortress, and he was kissing me goodnight at my door.

"I had a great time tonight," I said.

"You know what we forgot?" He flashed a wicked grin at me. "We still haven"t eaten the caramels."

"We haven"t!" Actual dessert had slipped my mind, he kissed me so perfectly.

"That means you have to come back to mine for dinner, another movie, and dessert. Tomorrow night?"

Too fast. We were moving too fast, and I needed to put on the brakes. "Let"s wait until we meet with Mac again. I have plans tomorrow." I didn"t until that very moment, when I decided I needed to visit Weld in the grotto.

"Until then," Axel drawled in that slow, sweet Texas accent that managed to come through even with all the language adjustments.

Until then, I would think about everything I wanted to do to my fated mate.

The grotto was as cold and sulfury-smelling as ever. Even the extra application of cologne wouldn"t hide the smell. I made my way through the steam vents and narrow tunnels to the cavern I"d shared with Weld. He wasn"t there, so I made myself at home.

I sat in the comfy chair Weld had moved down here for me. I"d spent hours in it, cradling our eggs in my lap, and watching them refuse nourishment before Priestess Alma declared them a lost cause. We hadn"t even named them.

Afterward, I"d lit candles and whispered prayers for Statler and Waldorf in the cathedral. Priestess Alma had suggested it to work through my grief. My twice-a-day trips progressed to once a day, and then once a week while my body and mind healed. I hadn"t been to the cathedral since Reemergence Day. Guilt surged through me as I rolled the chair forward and grabbed an old blanket we"d used to line the nest. It was damp and musty, but I didn"t care. It offered a little comfort while I lost myself in memories.

Eventually, I heard footsteps in the cave outside. Weld appeared in the doorway. "I thought I smelled you. You smell different, though. Like him." He grinned. "How"s mated life treating you?"

Something in my expression made him rush to my chair and kneel at my side, taking my hand in his. "What is it? Did he hurt you?"

"No. Nothing like that. I just …" I sighed. "I"m an idiot."

Weld smirked and shook his head. "You"re many things, but not an idiot. What"s the problem?"

I shared the details of my wonderful date with Axel, from our trip to the dragonet farm to making out like teenagers on the couch. "He smells divine."

Weld nodded. "I know what you mean. It"s hard to wait when you know your person is right in front of you."

Gods, I really was an idiot. Here I was, telling my troubles to someone whose fated mate was still a toddler.

"I"m so sorry."

Weld shook his head. "Don"t be. I"m glad you came. You"re scared, and that"s normal." His stare bored into me. "For a human."

I snorted. "We aren"t human."

"Exactly. I struggled too long with that truth. We"re kobolds. We have to believe in the fates, gods, biology, or whatever brings us together. You and Axel will fit together as well as Punky and Lark."

"You really think so?"

He nodded. "I"m sorry I led you astray when you first arrived."

"It wouldn"t have been any easier for me to accept fate. I had such a poor track record with guys." That was why I had fallen for Weld when I first arrived. He was an alpha interested in me for all the wrong reasons, which had been my vice on Earth.

"I can"t stay in this village," Weld whispered. "I don"t want to cause any trouble between Robin and his parents. I train the alpha children with Lark, but Robin"s been sneaking out of his omega classes to spend time with me. Lark will never trust me, not until he"s grown."

"Where will you go?" There were other kobold strongholds, but they were all at least a day"s ride or flight away. Priestesses occasionally visited us from other places, and several had been invited to move to our fortress, called the needle by visitors and the dragon alike.

"Priestess Alma mentioned a stronghold to the west. She hasn"t heard from them for a couple years. Mac asked the dragon about them, and their answers were … disturbing, as dragon answers are."

He sighed, and then he grinned. "You reminded me, I also want to stop by the dragonet stable to ask Mac about the newest hatchlings."

"I"ll go with you." It was as good a time as any to see if Mac had an update on the sand pit.

Weld noticed the blanket balled in my lap for the first time, and patted my hands where they gripped the soft fabric. "Let"s stop by the cathedral first. I haven"t had time since the reemergence."

I nodded. When he tugged the blanket from me, I let it go. I was grateful for his offered hand, lifting me from the chair.

Where before we would have walked hand in hand, or with Weld"s arm draped over me, we jostled elbows and brushed shoulders along the narrow tunnels. Once we reached the cathedral, we stopped at the largest shrine to the dragon. I lit a candle and Weld lit another using our magic. Then, we kneeled before the obsidian statue. I didn"t whisper this time, too self-conscious with Weld there. We"d lost our eggs, but that was in the past. He needed to see more of Ignitas, and I didn"t want my words of mourning to hold him back.

My eyes stung as I imagined Statler and Waldorf"s spirits floating beside us. I didn"t believe in heaven or hell. The kobolds believed their spirits returned to the creator dragon when they passed on, and to me, it seemed as good a belief as any. I wished our baby kobolds safe travels on their way to the spirit realm.

I didn"t miss them the way I missed my parents. I"d had longer to grieve for Mom and Dad, but the sting in my chest was still sharp and immediate when I thought of them, not the dull ache for our eggs.

I loved our little eggs because they were part of us, but it wasn"t the same. Without any happy memories of them, I worried I would forget them as soon as Axel and I mated. I wished they"d had a better chance at life.

I wiped my tears on my plaid shirt sleeve as I stood. I waited a few seconds before Weld stood beside me. He wrapped his arms around me, and I squeaked.

"I know we said no more physical affection," he whispered in my ear, "but you looked like you needed a hug."

From the wetness of his sniffles, he needed it as much as I did. There was a finality to the way he patted my shoulder before leading the way outside. The world had shifted while we kneeled before the dragon shrine. The door to our past failed mating had closed, allowing the one between me and Axel to fully open. Now, all I had to do was walk through it.