Chapter Eleven

Logan

As summer wound down, we debated whether or not we'd let Jessica go on the annual end of summer family camping trip. Each summer Darian and Wrynn organized whoever wanted to go and made travel arrangements to Hemlock Mountain. There we'd camp out with Sky, Rune, their kids and some other pack members. We went most summers since the tradition started, but I wasn't sure Jessica would be okay on her own.

"That's just it, though," Jessie said. "She won't be on her own. She'll be with the whole pack."

"I know and I trust them. Wrynn even said he'd keep her with their brood. She's just so young."

"She's almost seven. She's a strong swimmer and knows how to stay with the group. We should at least ask her if she wants to go and to take that into consideration," Jessie said.

"She's six. We decide," I laughed.

"I didn't say we leave it up to her. We ask and make sure she wants to go. I'm okay with her going, but I'm not okay with making her go if she doesn't want to."

"We wouldn't do that," I shook my head.

That evening we asked Jessica if she wanted to go and her face lit up until she realized we and the egg wouldn't be going with her.

"You can still go if you want to," Jessie told her. "Just because we have to stay home with the egg doesn't mean you have to miss out on everything."

"Will you still talk to me?" she asked, tapping her forehead to indicate she meant over the family link.

"Yes," we said at the same time and laughed.

"Can I think about it?" she asked.

"Of course," I nodded and she skipped off down the hall.

"Well, skipping is better than running. I told her no running once the egg came," Jessie laughed and stole a quick kiss after making sure she wasn't watching us from the hallway.

***

In the end, Jessica decided that she did want to go on the camping trip. I'd miss her, but knew it was for the best. She'd have a blast on Hemlock Mountain and Jessie and I would have a chance to rest before the baby arrived. We hadn't even talked about names yet. Names were always tricky with dragon eggs, because you had to pick two, just in case.

I stayed with our egg while Jessie took her off to the others. I teared up when the door shut behind them and had to remind myself that Wrynn and the others would never let anything bad happen to her.

I stretched out on my belly facing our egg. The purple was fading into a midnight blue as the egg grew. It was as big as both of Jessie's fists pressed together now. I wiped off a smudge with a towel I kept in the nest for just that reason.

"Hey," I whispered to the egg. "Are you awake in there or are you napping?"

"Does the baby even have ears yet?" my wolf chimed into my thoughts.

I wasn't sure whether or not the baby had ears yet, but I talked to them anyway. Words were energy turned noise and ears or no ears, babies felt energy. So, I told the baby all about the camping trip and how much fun their sister was going to have. I told them that they too one day would go on the camping trip and all the fun things we'd do when they were old enough.

I talked myself to sleep before Jessie came back from seeing our daughter off. When I woke up, Jessie was spooned in behind me asleep. I turned to face him and buried my head in his chest. After all these years, in his arms was still the place0000 I felt the safest. He was home, now and forever.

I curled into him, dozing off and on. Waking only to glance over my shoulder to check on the egg. All my stirring around stirred something up inside of Jessie. I cuddled back into him, his hard dick poking at me and I 0000000smiled against his shoulder.

"Do you want me to do something about that, Alpha, or do you want to go back to sleep?" I asked.

Without opening his eyes, he pulled me in for a long, soft kiss before sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. I pressed against him, reveling in his muscles and warmth as our tongues danced between our mouths. His dick throbbed against my thigh urging me on. It'd been a while since we had time for more than a quicky.

"Not in the nest," Jessie sat up a moment later as if realizing where we were.

Without waiting for me to answer he picked me up and carried me out of the nest and onto the sofa.

"Is this okay?" he asked. "Or the in bedroom or do you coffee first?"

"You," I said, tugging his shirt until he was on top of me on the sofa. "I like having coffee back, but I like you more."

"More than coffee?" He arched a thick, dark brow. "I'm a lucky wolf."

"You're about to get lucky, wolf," I teased him, running my hands down his back to squeeze his ass.

All the kissing and body-to-body touching left me hard and slick.

"Oh really?" Jessie smirked, his lips hovering just above mine.

"Well, if you remember how to take your pants off anyway," I said and squeezed his butt again.

He thrust against me, hard and thick. My toes curled around empty air, anticipating how much we were about to enjoy ourselves.

"Maybe I'll take your pants off instead," he teased, rising to his knees, and undoing my fly.

He made quick work of my clothes, laying them all over the back of the armchair so we didn't have to scurry around looking for them later. Next came his clothes. He pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it into the armchair too. I stroked myself as I watched him undo his belt and fly. His hard dick pressed against the fabric prison of his boxer briefs when his pants came off. I licked my lips, the phantom of his taste lingering in my memory.

Naked, he joined me on the sofa, knocking my hand out of the way to take my dick in his grip. He squeezed and stroked me as his lips claimed mine. I gave into his kiss and my hips rocked themselves in time with his fist as his hard dick pressed against my hip.

For a second, my brain scrambled wondering if we should've grabbed a condom from the bedroom. We didn't need a fourth baby so soon. I was up to date on my heat shots and birth control, but I had been too when our youngest was conceived.

"Right back," Jessie said, letting go of me.

I missed the warm touch of his skin against mine as he sprinted down the hall, but relief flooded over me. Jessie never made a big deal about wearing a condom, but sometimes stopping to get one left a gap for the world to interrupt us. This time nothing came between us.

I propped myself up on my elbow and took the condom from him when he returned. With him still standing, I wrapped my fingers around his throbbing cock and stroked him. I loved the curve of him, the warmth of his body radiating into my palm. Keeping a grip on him, I placed a slow promising kiss on the head of his cock before opening the condom and slipping it onto him.

Then I pulled him back onto the sofa on top of me. Our lips met in a hard kiss as I reached between our bodies to take him in my hand again. Sometimes I loved long uninterrupted hours of foreplay when we could fit them in, but today I needed him inside of me. I stroked him hard as I guided him to the slick opening of my hungry omegahole. He thrust forward, sinking into me and filling my head with all the warm familiar feelings being with him brought me. I wrapped myself around him, happy that no baby bump pressed us apart now.

Jessie kissed up and down my neck as we found the rhythm between our bodies. My hips rocked, riding over him and squeezing him tight. His mouth drifted to where his claim mark was still on my shoulder. He licked and kissed it as if recharging it, so no one forgot that I was his.

Pleasure spiraled over us and mingled on our mating link before raining down on us again. I lost myself to the warmth growing inside me with each thrust of his dick. I clung to him, letting my thoughts drift away. For a moment, I wasn't a professor or a parent or an uncle or whatever. I was just a man under his mate writhing in pleasure like I didn't have a single fucking care in the world.

Jessie reached between our bodies and took my dick in his hand. He held me in his strong fingers as our hips worked together, quicker, chasing down the release of the pleasure squeezing us tight. My breath hitched in my throat and Jessie kissed me, forcing me to exhale and breathe in again. He pressed his forehead against mine, pleasure and need dancing through his eyes.

"I'm close," I whispered to him even though he felt my pressing need over our mating link.

He stroked me faster, pumping his hand in time with our hips. I arched my back, letting him sink deeper into me as his thrusts came faster. He was close too. His muscles drew up tight and his brow furrowed like it always did when he was close to coming.

Everything inside me exploded all at once, making a mess between our bodies. Jessie's thrusts kept coming, drawing out my pleasure as he chased down his release, buried deep inside me. He growled, throwing his head back as the pressure built up inside him. I squeezed his cock hard, still riding out my own waves of pleasure. His dick trembled inside me and his growl morphed into a howl as he came. I held onto him panting, our bodies still moving together until the last of the pleasure was milked from both of us.

"I needed that," I panted as he pulled away to get rid of the condom.

"Me too. I need that more often," he laughed.

"We should do it a lot this week while we're alone."

"Might not be alone again for fifty years," Jessie teased me.

"Well, we better get it out of our systems then, huh?" I teased as he settled back onto the sofa with me.

"Nah, I never want to get you out of my system. Didn't anyone ever tell you?" he arched a brow.

"Tell me what?"

"That once you have a tracker's heart, they'll follow you to the ends of the worlds," he said and kissed me softly.

"I love you too, Alpha."

Chapter Twelve

Jessie

We lounged together on the sofa on the last night of our staycation. In the morning, I'd go to the airport with a few other pack members to pick up Jessica and to ensure everyone had a ride home from the airport. A movie played on the television, but neither of us had actually watched much of it. Our gaze was on the blueish-purple egg that was now the size of your standard issue toddler.

"Any day now," Logan yawned, his eyelids hanging low and sleepy.

I kissed the top of his head wondering how many more days we'd wait to meet our baby. The egg leaned slightly forward before slipping back into place.

"Did you see that?" I asked Logan.

"See what, Alpha?" He glanced at the television where the credits rolled down the screen.

"I think the egg moved," I whispered pulling him closer to me.

"Huh? Not yet," he shook his head, his eyes slipping shut again. "Not yet."

I let Logan doze off. I'd wake him up when the scratching started. The egg rocked back and forth as I the baby rocked themselves to sleep or at least tried to. It happened slowly. At first the rocks came minutes apart. Then seconds. Soon, the egg swayed back and forth.

"What? Is our pup dancing inside there?" my wolf chimed into my thoughts.

I smirked, but didn't answer him. When the rocking picked up pace, I wiggled out from under Logan and climbed into the nest. The baby wasn't likely to hurt itself, rolling the egg around in the nest, but I wasn't willing to bet our soon-to-be born child's safety on that belief.

I didn't touch the egg, not even to wipe away a smudge near the bottom, caused by all its rocking. This was a pivotal part of a dragon shifter's development. The baby needed to find their way out to us or at least get most of the way out by themselves.

"You peeing?" Logan mumbled, still mostly asleep.

"Is who peeing, mate?"

"You. Gone. Come back," he said, his voice scratchy with sleep and his eyes closed.

"You come here."

"Where?"

"Here in the nest."

"No, you come back. You're my heating pad."

"Our baby is rocking."

"Our baby is not a rocket," he shook his head without opening his eyes.

"Do you want me to put some coffee on, honey?" I asked, swallowing down a laugh.

"No. Come back to bed," he said.

"How about I bring you to the nest?" I asked, pushing myself upright and stepping out onto the carpet.

"Okay. Don't drop me," he yawned and turned over.

I watched his back rise and fall for a few moments before picking him up. More than I ever could be, Logan was a creature of schedule and habit. He'd taught long enough that his internal clock was set to the timing of Hemlock Academy. I lifted my mate gently, cradling him to my body, as I stepped back into the nest. There I spooned him as our baby rocked out inside their egg. The baby kept rocking, but curling around Logan's warm, sleeping form lulled me to sleep.

A wail broke through the quiet of the house and I dodged a flying elbow as Logan lurched to sit upright.

"Sorry," he mumbled to me as our gazes both fell upon the foot of a baby sticking out from the egg shell.

Logan laid down again. This time, pushing himself flat against the soft bottom of the nest to peer inside. There wasn't much light getting through that hole and I wasn't surprised when he rose up without seeing anything. He shook his head and I climbed out of the nest to put coffee on. Neither of us was going to fall back asleep now and Logan wouldn't leave the nest until he could do so with our baby in his arms.

Another wail cut through the house as I turned on the water to fill up the pot.

"Come on, baby. You got this. You can do this," Logan's whispers carried through the house as I started the coffee pot and sprinted back down the hallway to rejoin Logan and our hatching baby.

With me back in the nest, he pressed himself belly down and flat against the nest again. The hole hadn't grown, but when it did he'd be the first to know. I rubbed circles on his back as our baby wiggled their toes as if they were trying to wave hello.

Logan stroked the baby's toes, wiping away the bits of shell and membrane left on them. Then he tickled the bottom of the single foot that managed to escape the shell. The foot jerked up widening the break it had made upon its exit.

"A girl," Logan whispered as if all of campus waited to steal our secret away.

"Logana," I said.

"Huh?" Logan blinked.

"You got to name Jessica after me," I laughed.

"I like it," Logan grinned and tickled our baby's foot again.

Logana, with her head full of blonde curls to match her carrier's, broke completely free of her egg as the sun peeked over the horizon. She pumped her hands and feet into the air as we cleaned her up wiping away spare bits of shell here and there. She was beautiful. There may be no such thing as an ugly baby, but ours were the most beautiful of them all.

I leaned back against the ledge of the nest and Logan leaned against me, holding the baby. I held them both and kissed the top of his head. In an hour or so, I had to go to the airport to pick up Jessica, but the pack link was already giddy with the excitement of the new birth. Our middle daughter's howl was the squeaky high-pitched howl of a pup, but it broke through the noise as she celebrated the birth of her baby sister.

"I love you," Logan yawned.

"I love you too."

"Are you ready for this one?" he teased.

"Eh, she looks like she's gonna keep us on our toes like the other two."

"Gonna need more toes to keep up with them all," Logan laughed.