Epilogue

Aweek after our babies hatched, Weld knocked on our door with a handful of coloring books. Before opening the door, I glanced down at my dirty white t-shirt and worn khaki shorts. That wouldn"t do. I magicked a crisp white dress shirt and khaki pants from my drawer, and then added my rainbow suspenders and bow tie.

I opened the door with a flourish. "Weld!"

He flashed me a sheepish smile. "Hi."

"Come in!" I pointed to the only child in the room with me. "This is Windsor."

Balthus and Kelvin were outside playing tug of war with a glorified dog toy. Yes, they"d made it themselves from some rope they found in an old nest in the grotto. They"d painted it with the fabric paint Axel had brought home from Earth. Then, they"d braided the pink, brown, and black strands and knotted it in the middle and on both ends.

"It"s not what it looks like." We walked out the back door. I sat on the stairs, and Weld sat beside me. Windsor ran ahead to referee the game and call dibs to wrestle the winner.

"It"s exactly what it looks like." Weld laughed. "Your boys are having a great time. Tell me about them."

Pride crept into my voice as I described Windsor"s artistic side, Kelvin"s ability to remember the tiniest details, and Balthus"s carefree love of all things dirty or dangerous.

Instead of rolling his eyes at me or stopping me when I"d gone on for five minutes plus without stopping and barely taking a breath, Weld looked happy for me, for us. He even asked me questions when I finally paused to take a breath. We sat and talked so long, the boys tired of their game and decided to run off toward the volleyball courts behind our house.

"You did all this." Weld waved his hand toward the ball fields and courts in the distance. "You made something of your life besides being an egg-laying omega."

I"d been angry at the thought of being nothing but a brood mare, it was true. "Now that we can be in the sun and take shifts caring for the eggs, it"s not as bad as I thought."

"You mean it"s not as bad as it was." Weld nodded.

"What about you?" I asked. "You didn"t come all this way to meet our children. I was going to bring them to your alpha classroom once they start preschool next week."

He smirked at me, that same look that made me swoon a million times over. Now, I recognized a fellow worrier when I saw one. Weld was nervous. "I won"t be there next week. I came to say goodbye."

"You got your dragonet!"

His smirk morphed into a full smile this time. "I did. I would have brought him, but Mac said our bond would need a few more days to set before he can be around children. It will take us a few weeks to get to the next kobold stronghold. That"s plenty of time in the air to get him to trust me."

"Gods, be careful."

"Always." Weld pulled me into a hug. His scent, which had once been as familiar to me as breathing, now had a sour note that repelled me from his embrace.

"Sorry," I said. "I don"t know what"s come over me."

"It"s my fault." Weld toed a loose floorboard. "You have a stronger repulsion to my scent than to other alphas who aren"t Axel, now that you"ve found him."

"Don"t blame yourself." I"d never spoken more futile words. He would eternally blame himself for his mistakes. It was who he was.

"I"ll come back for Robin when he"s old enough."

"That"s just over twenty-four years from now." It could be less, thanks to the mysterious effects of the sun on our molting cycles, but I didn"t want to give him false hope.

"That"s why I wanted to say goodbye." Weld"s smirk was even more awkward this time, and he pulled me in for another quick hug. "I"m sorry I fucked things up."

"You didn"t." I focused on the fortress in the distance so I wouldn"t tear up. I had to say this, dammit. "I only freaked out half as many times, and only because things progressed faster with the sunlight."

He grinned. "I heard about that. You only had one day with them swelling your balls?"

"One day was more than enough, thank you."

Weld laughed and waved to Axel, who was fast approaching on … "Is that a dire weasel?"

"Everyone"s picking their partners today," Weld said.

Shit. I"d forgotten all about Sunset, the sweet little dragonet I"d bribed with treats months ago. I couldn"t help the pang of sadness in my gut. She probably belonged to someone else by now.

Axel yanked the reins too hard when he approached the cabin. His white dire weasel stopped, and his back legs flipped up, tossing Axel off. My mate landed on a cushion of air and laughed until he was hoarse. The dire weasel nosed him to make sure he was all right. Finally, he released the spell and walked over to us.

"This is Farnum." He turned to me and whispered, "That"s not a tie name, is it?"

"No. You"re safe."

He laughed and petted the sleek dire weasel"s nose. "Mac said they would usually turn the white ones out to pasture, but I couldn"t let him go. He"s so pretty."

"White is easily seen from the air," Weld whispered. "You"ll be fine, if the dragons stay friendly."

"We"ll build our own little stable so no dragons will see him." Yes, I used my sassy voice to disprove Weld"s misgivings. "And we"ll make him a little cape, so he looks like a superhero bouncing all over the fields."

Weld shook his head and grinned. "You two are meant for each other."

"I"m glad you"re still here," Axel said to Weld as he hopped off Farnum. "I have a gift for both of you."

He reached into a bag tied around Farnum"s neck and pulled out a rock much larger than the bag looked on the outside.

"Showoff." Weld pointed at the bag. "I"m getting stronger in magic, but my inter-dimensional space is about the size of a handbag."

"What is this?" I asked, touching the granite stone. It was rough on the top and three sides, and smooth on one side and the bottom.

"It"s a memorial stone," Weld said, his voice hushed. "For Statler and Waldorf." Weld grinned through his tears. "You never told me you named them."

"Those were the names we talked about," I said, wiping at my eyes.

"I remember now." Weld grabbed Axel"s shoulders and squeezed. "Thank you."

"I thought we could keep it right here, by the porch." Axel kneeled in the corner between the stair railing and the lattice blocking off the area beneath the porch. He placed it between two flowering bushes.

"In memory of Statler and Waldorf," the stone read above an image of two kobold eggs.

"It"s beautiful," I said. "Who etched it?"

"Notch, the beta who works at the quarry."

I threw my arms around Axel"s neck as he stood. "Thank you."

"It beats going to the cathedral." Weld patted Axel on the back.

"It"s so much more personal," I agreed.

"Whenever I"m back here, is it all right if I leave them a little something?"

"Of course," Axel said. "Our boys might steal it?—"

"They will not." I held my hand out to the rock and worked a confinement spell I"d learned while cleaning base plates. I created a barrier about a foot beyond the rock"s surface, and allowed only Weld, Axel, and myself access to the area inside.

Axel pulled me close and kissed my temple. "Good choice, sugar."

Weld pulled two toy cars from his pants pocket. He kneeled before the rock and placed the cars in the dirt at its base. He ran his hand along the rough top surface. "I was going to leave these in the cathedral beside the candles I lit. Thanks for giving us a place, Axel."

Axel spun me toward Weld, and then we all hugged. When it got to be too much, I stumbled away, wiping my eyes.

Weld called me back. "Don"t you have a dragonet to meet?"

"Right." Axel curled his arm over my shoulders. "I"m to take you to the dragonet stables. You have a date with Sunset."

"I"ll watch the kids while you"re gone," Weld said.

Once I caught my breath from the whirlwind of emotions, I hopped onto Farnum"s back with Axel. I couldn"t contain my excitement. This was my first dire weasel ride! I tried to wave to Weld, but my hand immediately clutched for Farnum"s fur when he launched toward the fortress and beyond, to the stables on the other side.

Getting off the dire weasel was a little more difficult, but Axel was there to keep me from face planting into the dirt.

"Sunset!" I called, shouting as loud as I could so she could hear me from her pen. Kolge, my beta assistant, stood beside her pen. He"d mentioned wanting a dragonet, too, but he would have to find another. When he tried to hand Sunset a treat, she launched into the air and flew to me.

When she landed at my side, she nudged me in the chest with her snout. She sniffed my midsection, like she could learn everything that had happened between the last time I"d seen her and now from my scent alone. What did I know? Maybe she could.

I magicked a piece of dog food from my secret stash at home and fed it to her. She made a sound suspiciously like purring and pressed her snout to my chest again.

"I thought so." Mac looked pleased as he approached. "She"s been turning her nose up at everyone else. I even had another omega try to win her over, but she wouldn"t hear of it. She had to have you."

"Is she ready to meet our family?" I asked, remembering what Weld had said about his dragonet and children.

"She"ll be fine around your children," Mac said. "Weld hasn"t formed the same bond yet, which is why his guy is still here." Mac pointed to the green dragonet chewing on his magical fence as though trying to escape. "We"re being overly cautious, though. I doubt he would hurt anything."

Sunset nudged me in the chest again, and I touched my snout to hers. My ears rang for a moment, and then I swore I could hear her thoughts in my head. She wanted to fly and play with the dire weasel she could smell on Axel and me, and she wanted to meet our children.

"Our family is complete now," Axel whispered as he led me and my little dragonet outside.

He was right. We had everything we could want at the end of our courtship. Babies. Bonded companions. The respect of our community. Love. It was more than I had dreamed possible when I"d lost Statler and Waldorf. Now, we had a beautiful tribute to them, and so much more. We had a home together, and a place where Weld and I could find comfort in what we lost.

The future was so much brighter for Windsor, Balthus, and Kelvin. I couldn"t wait to share it with them, and with Axel, my mate, who had made it all possible.

Outside, I called a harness for Sunset and leaped onto her back, and Axel hopped onto Farnum. "Let"s go home."

THE END