13. Tuft

Dragons were terrifying creatures. That was my assessment when we met with Mac"s smoke-and-fire-breathing friend. I wanted to ask their name and introduce myself, possibly befriend the beast like my friend Punky had, but it took far too much effort to keep from running away, screaming.

When we left with plans for the recreation park and pavilion, I was grateful for Axel"s calm nerves under pressure. We"d gotten what we wanted, and this would give me something to do with my days while Axel was in class, or soon to be at work building cabins with the construction crew.

Up until now, I"d been spared the mundane task of finding a job on Ignitas. Weld and I declared each other mates while I was still in training, and then I was pregnant with our eggs. I"d finished my training over the months I should have been caring for them.

My meeting with Priestess Alma about my career was postponed by Reemergence Day. Instead of planning my future, I"d met Axel. All talk of jobs was put on pause while we discussed bringing him up to speed as quickly as possible, and then there was the chance he could move back to Earth and leave me without a mate once again. Priestess Alma had spent our hour-long sessions counseling me through my grief, and then my new mate, rather than walking me through the omega job openings. Two months later, I was still jobless.

Not for long. I had a feeling our recreation league was going to need a coordinator, someone who could set up teams for unmated singles and matched pairs so each team had the same number of alphas and omegas, a few spares to play if someone couldn"t make it, and plenty of refreshments to be had between games. Axel had suggested taking it indoors, too, with actual basketball and volleyball teams instead of pickup games.

And balls. We would need dozens upon dozens of balls, rackets, and probably someone to fashion some baseball gloves for us, unless we could just catch them with our hands.

I needed to do some research, product development, and acquisition from Earth. Axel had worked in a sporting goods store, so I riddled him with questions on our way down the mountain.

"We"ve talked about volleyball, badminton, and some multi-purpose fields for kick ball, softball, and baseball. What other sports would you like to try?"

"You forgot tennis, sugar. Ooh, and the dragon seemed interested when I mentioned using the grass courts for pickleball, too," he said.

I must have missed that while I was praying the dragon wouldn"t eat us.

"I"m thinking of making this my full-time job," I confessed. "I"ll put together a proposition for Priestess Alma and hope she"s on board. I can make sure we have extra balls and nets, and I can work on the team schedules."

Axel frowned at me, so I rushed on.

"I"ll make sure we have the right numbers of alphas and omegas on each team, and we could have a different night for betas, and even a youth league or gym practice for the school kids."

"That"s a lot of work," he said.

"I scheduled and planned performances for our local sports stadium in my past life," I shared. "A few recreation leagues will be easy." I hoped. First, I would need to learn the kobold computer version of spreadsheets and word processing. "Do you think Priestess Alma will think it"s a worthy cause?"

"I"ll be surprised if she thinks it"s a one-person job," he said. "Maybe you can get a couple of betas to help you form the beta league."

"Great idea," I said, thinking through my possible assistants for the beta and youth leagues. "Thanks for the suggestion. I bet Punky and Lark would be willing to help, too."

We were scheduled to babysit their kobold hatchlings in a few days. I was equally nervous and excited.

Axel looked over his shoulder toward the top of the mountain, and the now unseen dragon cave. "I hope Weld is all right," he said. "That dragon seems like they could turn on him in an instant."

"Weld can take care of himself," I promised. "I"ll check in with him tomorrow morning."

"What about tonight?" Axel asked. "Would you like to eat dinner with me?"

"Absolutely!" I thought of nothing else all day. "Only dinner, though. I need to draft my proposal to Priestess Alma before I meet with her tomorrow after her omega class."

Axel was quiet through dinner, but so was I. On my phone, I tapped out a list of kobolds I would need to contact for permission to add them to my proposal. Axel watched me with interest, but he didn"t interrupt. I"d often irritated human partners by being too focused on a project, but Axel didn"t look perturbed. If anything, he seemed amused when I picked up my phone a third time in as many minutes to type another note.

He opened his mouth to talk when I had another great idea, and I motioned for him to hold that thought while I jotted yet another note.

Only after I finished typing, I realized what an ass I"d been. "I"m sorry!"

"You"re a little carried away with your project," he said. "I"m like that with new ideas, too. It"s cute."

"Is cute a southern word for annoying?"

"No." He laughed. "Why? Where did you grow up?"

"Minnesota. You know. Five states north of Texas."

"Sounds cold." His frown was more of a squint. "Not that Texas has any room to talk. These last two winters have been brutal."

"We don"t really have winter in Ignitas," I said. "Not above ground, at least."

"The grotto was colder than anywhere else I"ve been." Axel shook his head. "I can"t believe you all were trying to hatch eggs down there."

"We didn"t think we had a choice." I stopped short of asking him where he thought we should nest. He had a cabin with a south-facing window to let in the most light. That window was in his living room, not his bedroom, but we would make it work for us when it was time.

When? If was more logical. Axel was still working through his feelings. He had progressed from never to maybe, but I still wanted to take it slow to protect my heart. He was a great guy, and I didn"t want to ruin it by moving too fast for him. It had been hard enough for me to adjust to kobold life, and I"d left nothing behind on Earth.

Axel had left behind a fiancée, a baby that wasn"t his, and a job he liked, though probably didn"t love. I wanted him to be absolutely sure he was sticking with me before I got pregnant again.

That didn"t make me want him any less, though. He held my hand as he walked me back to my room in the fortress, and when he kissed me goodnight, it took all my willpower to break the kiss, say, "Good night," and shut the door between us.

I had a bit of help from my next-door neighbor saying, "Get a room already!"

Axel was a sweetheart, and I didn"t deserve him. I kept waiting for him to realize I was no good for him.

So far, it seemed fated mates were sexually compatible, thanks to all the slick I produced and the excellent orgasms I"d had last night, but that wasn"t enough to build a relationship. Axel was the kind of guy who married a woman who was pregnant with someone else"s baby … I mean, as far as guys went, that made him fantastic for me, but I came with my own baggage. Not "secret baby with someone else," baggage, but baggage, nonetheless.

I finished my presentation early the next morning, so I texted Weld to meet me for lunch in the grotto. Our old cavern would give me a chance to practice my presentation in relative privacy. Even the elders who had holed up in the grotto for years were now taking advantage of the cabins aboveground.

"There"s talk of building a retirement community center with its own recreation facility," Weld shared once I finished my presentation. "Rather than rebuilding the wheel, you could ask Priestess Alma if your project could be looped in with theirs. You"re going to need help, and I wish it could be me, but it won"t."

"You"re leaving, then?"

He nodded. "As soon as I bond a dragonet, I"m going to fly with the dragon and Mac to the next settlement over. It"s called The Grid. They have a mated dragon pair who considers the kobolds their hoard, but they"re going extinct. Mac and I will be taking some adult betas and orphaned alphas and omegas there, ones too young to mate but who have met their fated mates. The theory is they"ll be able to learn better when they aren"t distracted by their mates."

"And you"re going with them, for Robin."

He nodded. "I don"t want to leave, but I can"t stay. He"s way too young for me. I"ll return when he"s twenty-five."

"Axel"s final molt happened before he turned twenty-five," I reminded Weld.

"Even more reason to leave," he said. "I want Robin to learn glamor magic, so he can have the same experiences we had on Earth. Some changelings who haven"t found their mates have gone back to Earth for higher education."

"Are they going to come back?" I asked.

"Once they reconnect with their fated mates, they might return, or they might choose to stay at the Grid. It will be up to them."

"How long before you"ll bond your dragonet?" I tried to avoid sounding needy, but I had to know if he was leaving soon.

Weld chuckled. "Mine is one of the surprise clutch, same as yours. I will be here for the birth of your first hatchlings, if you hurry up and fuck him already."

My face burned. I didn"t want to talk about sex with my ex, that"s for sure. "We"re taking it slow."

"He"s a great guy, Tuft. I"m happy for you."

"Thank you."

"But …" Weld waited for me to finish my thought. He knew me too well.

"But I"m worried I"ll fuck it up."

"How could you possibly fuck it up?" he asked. "Name one thing that breaks up human relationships, and I"ll tell you why it won"t ruin yours."

"Cheating."

"Have you found yourself attracted to anyone else since you met him?"

"Not me," I said. "Axel was engaged to a woman."

"He also thought she was having his baby, so that"s more proof he would do the right thing, not that he would cheat. Next?"

That was my biggest concern, but the next thing to pop into my head had been bothering me for days. "Compatibility. We like the same movies, but we don"t really have much in common."

"You have a shared history of being kobold/human hybrids," Weld said. "You"ve effectively ruled out the possibility he"ll return to Earth. It would be too weird to try to relate to humans, now. We can glamor our appearance, but nothing changes it back to what it used to be. If a human comes anywhere near your snout, they"re going to wonder what the hell they"re kissing. And knots? Can you imagine?"

"Fine, you have a point," I admitted. "Status."

"Status?" Weld scoffed. "I thought being with me would have taught you that lesson."

"Lesson?" It was one I hadn"t learned, apparently.

"Status doesn"t matter here. Everyone"s good at something. Coz is fast. Lark has magic. I"m strong. We all work with the priestess and the betas to find where we"ll best fit the community. Axel"s strong, too." Weld grinned, and one of his sharp front teeth slipped free. "If he ever gets bored building cabins, he could work the farms."

"You were the closest alpha to my ideal mate before I met him." I"d been thinking about that a lot, lately, too. Weld had been overbearing, sure, and he"d threatened Coz and Grindl and kicked them out of their home, but he"d done that for our babies to have a chance. Looking back and knowing they"d never had a chance, it seemed stupid and mean now, but at the time, I was grateful for his strength.

"I don"t trust myself," I whispered. "I want to love him, but I"m so bad at it."

"You"re really good at it," Weld reassured me with a bit of a smirk. "I"m not talking about sex. You"re a loving, forgiving partner. You"re smart and kind. You"re sweet and fun. He"s lucky to have you." He nodded with finality as he led me to the cavern opening that would take me back aboveground close to the priestess"s office. "Trust me, and trust fate. You"re going to be great together."

Thankfully, I didn"t have time to worry about fated mates as my presentation time drew near. My future career demanded attention first.