I didn’t know what they were talking about, but their relaxed voices calmed my nerves. Well, some of them.
“Should I... do something?” I asked.
“Listen,” Cobalt urged.
I was so confused, but when the eldest alpha dragon gave me a suggestion, I listened. I shut my eyes and listened as hard as I could.
A jolt ran through me. The muffled sound of high-pitched squeaking caught my ear—and it wasn’t coming from the baby ferret’s mouth. The baby bit and scratched the eggshell.
“Baby ferrets aren’t born with teeth,” I pondered out loud. “Is that a dragon trait?”
“No,” Jade replied. He gave Aurum and Saffron a meaningful glance. “But it is a trait oftwindragons.”
My eyes widened to the size of plates. “Twins!?”
At the same time as my exclamation, the baby ferret ripped off a chunk of shell. It dove into the newly-formed crevice and dragged out a second ferret—its twin.
I stared in awe and disbelief. It was a miracle.
“Twins,” Aurum said, his shock echoing my own. Then after a pause, as if the truth had finally sunk in, he blurted out, “TWINS?”
Cobalt had a fond, nostalgic expression. “We told you the story, remember? About how the two of you hatched?”
Aurum and Saffron exchanged a look. A silent mutual reminiscing seemed to flash between them.
“That’s right,” Saffron murmured. “We shared a golden egg. Nobody knew there were two of us inside until one of us almost suffocated, but the other helped him escape.”
My heart flipped at the story while relief flooded to the tips of my body. Our egg hatched without quite so much drama.
“Never mind that,” Viol interrupted in a growl. “We need to get these babies cleaned up.”
He brought some towels and warm water. The twin ferrets were covered in egg residue. They mewled as I wiped them gently with the damp towel. It relieved me to hear both of them squealing loudly. Thank goodness they were healthy.
As the last of the residue was cleaned up, I noticed something odd stuck to the twins. They had tiny growths between their shoulders. I almost panicked again until Jade noticed them too, and laughed.
“Well, would you look at that,” he remarked. “Your twin ferrets have wings!”
“Wings?” I asked.
I looked closer at the nubs. Without the gunk in the way, I saw them clearly now. Tiny folded wings perched on the backs of my twins’ shoulders. I was so glad my babies were ferrets, and on top of that, seeing them inherit a special trait from their dragon father filled me with indescribable happiness.
“They’re perfect,” I murmured through a wide smile.
Aurum pressed his cheek affectionately to mine. “You can say that again. Man, what are the chances we’d have twins?”
“Thereisa genetic component,” Jade pointed out.
Saffron’s brows rose hopefully. “Does that mean my fated mate might have twins, too?”
Jade nodded. “It’s certainly possible.”
Sensing the commotion—and having eaten their fill of pancakes—the other dragonets waddled over. Ruby, Heather, and Lazuli stared up into my lap with curious eyes.
“Looks like they want to meet their new cousins,” Taylor said. He hoisted Ruby into his arms so he could see, but not touch, since the ferret twins were too small to play with the dragonets for now.
Muzo lifted Lazuli with a grunt of effort. In a short amount of time, his dragon daughter was too heavy for the short omega to carry. “Look, Laz!” he encouraged. “Those are your new family members.”
Viol held Heather, since their parents were currently busy. I thought Viol looked natural carrying a toddler in his strong arms. He spoke to them in a soft voice. “Do you see your cousins?”
