Page 61 of The Monster at the End of This Courtship

"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