Chapter One

Casimir

I let out a long, slow breath as Ren leaned in toward the screen. Down the hall, Melon and Kelp laughed from the dining hall turned nesting room. If I wasn’t on a video call with her, I’d have yelled for both of them to shut up. Actually, I wouldn’t have. I’d have left and gone home. The Medwin 2 wasn’t home anymore. That was a cavern room in a house built by a wild born dragon in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes I wondered if Ren had a room like that too that she told no one about. Hell, being out there made me think about her and the rest of them more than ever.

Ren’s big golden dragon eye leaned in. She wanted what she always wanted when I managed to get her on the phone these days. She wanted to see the dark pink star-shaped scale that sat over my heart. It was the same color as all her scales. When the damn thing first grew in on my chest I laughed bitterly. It was as if even across the galaxy none of us could escape our pasts. They were right there growing out of us.

I stripped off my shirt and showed her the star-shaped scale again. It was a small thing after everything she’d gone through. Her big golden eye twinkled at the one piece of me that matched her. I held my breath waiting to see if she’d relinquish herself back into her human form. She hadn’t done that since before it all fell apart.

“We still haven’t figured out anything about that woman I told you about before. Did you hear a story like that? One where someone gave up her name to save her eggs and then gave up her magic to the rest of her clan to let them open doors? You used to collect lore,” I said again as I had on every call since Izora tripped on mushie pizza unknowingly fed to him by his true-mate.

Ren backed away from the camera and the air around her whooshed. I broke the unspoken rule again. We didn’t talk about before. For Ren, there wasn’t a before. She flew away and Hean sank to the ground, frowning at me.

“I’m not going to keep luring her back here, if you’re just gonna upset her. I’d like to see her for more than five minutes after going through all that trouble. Mostly I visit her out there, Cas. When she comes back here,” he let out a long breath and ran his finger through his blonde hair as if I should’ve been able to fill in the rest of his sentence myself.

“There was a before,” I sighed. “There should’ve been an after too.”

“This is our after, Cas. Right here. What you see when I’m actually able to get her to come by for the call is the after. Frost in a pit of spikes, it’s more than any of us have the right to ask of her. You need to leave it alone. Even if she once knew something I doubt there’s enough of the human side left of her to recall it now. This isn’t what you wanted for her. This isn’t what me or anyone else wanted for her, but this is the way she chose to cope with it all.”

“Did you tell her about my egg?” I asked him, trying not to scowl.

Hean and I used to be friends back in the ‘before.’ Hell, he was family. He was still family because I refused to believe Ren would live out the rest of her days in her current condition.

“No, there really hasn’t been a good time. I don’t think ---” he rubbed the bridge of his nose again. “Sometimes I don’t know that she remembers who any of us are. Maybe me – because the magic’s still there. We’re true-mates. She knows you’re someone. She always smells happy to see you but it’s in the draconic way and not the way people are, Cas. I’m sorry. I don’t think she could wrap her head around why she should be happy about it.”

“I think you don’t give her enough credit,” I frowned at the screen. “I’m staying with a wild born dragon. You know, Izora’s mate. His mother is a wild dragon. Both is parents are. They come over for dinner and we go over there. They know he’s their kid. You’re not giving Ren enough credit. She’s made of stronger stuff. You’re not giving her enough—”

“Maybe not. Look, I’m going to go try to spend some time with my mate. Some of us didn’t catch a case of intergalactic zoomies and run away to another galaxy. Some of us still have lives to live here and while you may think my life – our life – isn’t enough for you, I’m glad to just still have Ren around. So fuck off and have a pleasant day.”

He ended the call, and the screen went black before we could resume our old argument. Ren was still Ren, dragon or woman. He was the one who didn’t get that.

“Bad call?” Melon asked from the doorway, and I swallowed down a sharp remark.

“Same as always,” I said instead, spinning the chair around to face her. “Kelp pass out on you again?”

“He’s an omega. He gets tired,” she shrugged.

I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Melon. I wasn’t in the mood to talk about Kelp or Ren. Hell, I wasn’t in the mood to talk period, but once you make an egg with someone you lose the right to a clean break. There isn’t a break. The relationship might change but unless they’re some horrible monster you’re stuck with them in one way or another. Melon and I had dissolved our friends with benefits and no strings attached relationship before she met Kelp, but my dragon was still in the stages of thinking Kelp would be better off dropped in the ocean to be with his namesake rather than in the nest with our egg.

“He likes to swim in the ocean,” Melon quipped picking up on my stray thoughts over the Starscale Flight link.

“Good because my dragon dreams of granting him that wish,” I chuckled.

“I’m rather glad you haven’t tried to follow through on that one,” she leaned against the doorway clad in a nightgown that hung to her knees. “I don’t want to fight you, Casimir. I don’t want to fight with anyone but he’s mine and that means something.”

“I think he’ll feel a bit better once the egg hatches,” I leaned back in the chair, ignoring my inner beast’s ranting. “It’s complicated.”

“I don’t think so,” she shook her head. “I know you like being all dark and mysterious and never telling anyone about your past makes that easier but it’s simple. You’re afraid he’s stealing your baby.”

“Can’t steal my baby,” I shrugged. “They’re mine and they’ll come out smelling like me and probably looking like me. Hell, maybe they’ll have a crescent instead of a star. I’ve talked to the council. I know my rights.”

She quirked an eyebrow and put it down.

“No one wants to trample on your rights, Cas,” she finally said after a long beat of silence. “You’re too Moony for your own good sometimes.”

“You’ve met a handful of us. You don’t know what it means to be a Moony,” I laughed, fighting the urge to lift her out of the doorway so I could leave the room.

“You think I’d try to take the baby from you. You’re too Moony,” she frowned.

“I like to cover all my bases,” I shrugged.

“Who’s Ren?” she asked. “Some ex girl, huh?”

I laughed and the sound shook my insides up. My dragon wasn’t in a laughing mood, but that was funny. That showed how much she didn’t know about my past. She didn’t know shit about me.

“Can’t know what you don’t tell me,” she frowned, picking up my thoughts over the group link. “I knew you were reserved and maybe the past didn’t matter while we were just dicking around, but it matters now. At least it might once you guys figure out how to hook us up to the gateways. Will that trouble come here?”

“Even if Ren came here, she wouldn’t be trouble,” I frowned.

“What about the guy?” she asked.

“Hean? Hean and I fought in high school. I kicked his ass, and he let it be after that.”

“Is that how Moonys solve everything?” she asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “We were stupid kids. Freshmen in high school, Mel.”

“Say it then.”

“Say what?” I arched a brow and then lowered it.

I knew what she wanted to hear – what her dragoness needed to hear. I crossed the room to stand in front of her and cupped her chin. I gave her a second to say no and pull free. I didn’t speak until her gaze met mine. Some of the vibrant light she had when I met her in the purple district was gone. She was tired – exhausted - in the way only the combination of meeting your true-mate while guarding an egg could leave you tired. Hell, I was tired too. I flew too much in the process of giving us both some much needed space. Too much energy went into thinking about the future of the baby inside the egg.

“Our egg is safe. Not only do they have a bad ass mama to watch out for them, they have me too. Our egg is safe. I don’t care where the threat comes from – this flight or the one back home, a threat is a threat, and if there is a threat to be dispatched, said threat will be destroyed. Hell, I’ll even beat someone up if they fuck with Kelp too much.”

Melon’s scent relaxed and she let out a long, slow sigh. She was bad ass enough on her own but she was exhausted. Sure, our hatchling was still tucked away safely inside their egg and the nest was safely inside the Medwin 2, but Melon was still a dragoness. She’d been constantly on guard since she laid the egg. Meeting Kelp hadn’t done much for energy levels either.

I opened my mouth to ask how his birth control was holding up, but stopped short. That wasn’t my business. If she wanted to have fifty eggs rolling around the nest at one time, it wasn’t my place to say anything about it.

“He’s not on birth control, Casimir,” she laughed, pulling her chin out of my grasp.

“No wonder you’re so tired. Probably already bloody dreading the fifty eggs that are coming this year,” I teased her.

“I won’t be the one laying them this time,” she smirked.

“Good,” I said, unsure of why, then added, “hey, even if Ren does come around when the gateway opens, she wouldn’t be a threat, okay? She’s family.”

“Thanks for the scrap of your past,” she frowned at me and started to turn to walk away.

“Hey,” I said before she got too far away.

“Yeah?”

I almost asked her why she was so fucking caught up in finding out my past but decided now wasn’t the time to pick that fight. We were both tired and Hean’s attitude left me wanting to fight someone.

“Try to get some rest, alright?” I said instead.

“And you go to the ball,” she said, and I swallowed a groan.

Autumn was coming in on Starscale 1. From what the locals said it was one of the longest seasons the planet experienced. To mark the beginning of autumn, the world leader, Hush and his mate, always hosted a masked ball. The whole crew had been invited but I decided to sit the event out even before I finished reading the invitation.

“Why would I do that?” I arched a brow.

“Well, if she’s not an ex, what’s holding you back?” Melon asked. “You like to have fun. That egg in the nest is proof of that.”

“It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not,” she shook her head. “You just like to be moody. Go to the ball. Have a good time. Let loose a little. Hell, let loose a lot, Casimir. Dance naked and wear your mask on your nuts for all I care. Actually, take a photo for me if you do that.”

“Don’t you have an omega to dress up?” I arched a brow and Melon rolled her eyes.

“Casimir, egg aside, we both know you’re not jealous of Kelp.

“I know. I pity him. You’re gonna dress up his nuts,” I shrugged.

She sighed at me and my dragon poked at my ribs from the inside with one of his long talons.

“He says I should be nicer to you,” I said to Melon.

“Eh, I can take it. I don’t know what that girl did to you but I hope someone can find your lost pieces one day.”

“CASIMIR!” Castor, my cousin and the captain of the Medwin 2, bellowed from somewhere beyond the ship.

“Duty calls,” I rolled my eyes.

“Hope it’s time for you to get dressed for the ball,” she said and sauntered away toward her nest.

“Yes, cousin?” I poked at Castor over our family link.

“I need you to run something up to the Star Room for me,” he said. “Check to see if Tritus and the others have found anything about the nameless one.”

“I guess I can,” I sighed. “Better than sitting around here and listening to Melon knock up Kelp.”

“Eh, be nice and maybe she’ll let you help next time,” Castor teased.

I rolled my eyes as I followed my dragon’s directional senses and ended up outside in front of the ship where Castor was. He held his baby to his chest. The child was mostly a squirming ball of blanket. A purple and blue leaf danced by behind them.

“How was Ren?” he asked gently, handing off a bag to me.

“About the same. As soon as I asked her about before she flew off and Hean got a stick bug up his a-r-s-e.”

“Sounds about like Hean. I mean, he’s been through the wringers too.”

“Maybe but she was mine first.”

“Ours first,” Castor frowned.

“Ours first,” I nodded.

“Take care of the little one while I’m gone.”

“Are you coming back tonight or are you staying out there with Iz and them?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I might hit the ball tonight.”

“Is that a joke?” Castor asked.

“Or did you want me to watch the baby while you guys went. I will,” I offered.

“No, we’re sitting it out. Sunny and Teddy are going. Not Fred, though. He and Elio are staying home too. Is Izora going?”

“Can’t pry him away from the nest,” I teased him.

“Good. You go. Keep an eye on those two. Sunny’s smelling up to --- Well, he’s starting to smell like Clarence, and I don’t know what to make of that.”

“Me neither. Then again, I never went around sniffing Clarence Moonscale.”

“Shut up,” Castor rolled his eyes but laughed anyway. “Thanks for running that over there.”

“I think we owe it to whoever she was. It’s a horrible thing to forget who you are.”