I grinned, excited to see his cute ferret form. “Should I carry you around in my pocket? Or wear you around my neck like a scarf?”
Mylo giggled. “You can, if you want. Won’t you get tired of that, though?”
“Nope. An alpha never tires of venerating his omega.”
Jade’s brows rose. “Wow.Venerating? It seems your vocabulary has expanded along with your rapid maturation. I’m impressed.”
Before he could deflect it, I balled up a napkin and threw it at his head. Mylo gasped, then burst out laughing. A proud grin stretched over my face.
Jade let out a good-natured sigh as he retrieved the paper weapon. “I suppose I deserved that one.”
Twenty-Four
Mylo
“So,how long do ferrets gestate for?” Aurum asked.
He looked so big when I was in my ferret form. Since our conversation with Jade, I spent most of my waking hours curled around my mate’s neck. I really hoped this plan worked to produce a kit.
“Not that long. About 42 days,” I explained. “So, a bit more time than a dragon egg.”
Aurum nodded. “Guess we won’t know what the baby is until it comes out, then.”
I imagined both a baby dragon and a baby ferret in my mind. I wouldn’t be unhappy to birth a dragonet, not at all. I would love them just the same as a ferret kit. But deep down, I felt a duty to bring new black-footed ferret shifters into the world.
A month had passed since we conceived. There was no doubt about my pregnancy now. My chubby ferret tummy was rounder than usual, and since I spent all my time in such a small body, every little change felt dramatic. There wasn’t much time left until we found out what I’d give birth to.
Until we became parents.
My heart fluttered at the idea. My parents hadn’t done a bad job raising me, but I wanted to do better. I’d support my child in their interests, whatever they may be. I’d never put down their passions, or their appearance. I wanted to make my child feel as confident and proud as Aurum mademefeel.
A gentle finger scratched the top of my head. Instinctively I closed my eyes and leaned into it. Being petted by my mate was so nice.
“Should we keep working?” he suggested.
“Oh, right. Good idea.”
Aurum strolled into the living room—which, with its high ceiling and luxurious decorative pillars, was more of a chamber. “All right, here we go. See anything you like?”
I searched the room. My eyes snapped to a silky blanket draped over the back of the leather sofa. The fur on the back of my neck rose in excitement.
“That one,” I said, pointing to it with my tiny finger.
“Got it.”
Aurum picked up the blanket and brought it closer so I could examine it. My whiskers twitched as I pressed my nose into it. The blanket wasn’t too big or too small, and the texture was soft and warm.
“Perfect,” I said.
Aurum grinned in satisfaction. “Into the ferret den it goes.”
I beamed back at him.
In the last two weeks, my denning urge flared up like fireworks. My ferret instincts gained strength since I spent more time in this form. Every cell inside me screamed to make a proper nest so my baby could be born into a cozy and safe environment. Obviously, the dragons’ castlewasthe ultimate safe location, but my animal instincts doubled down anyway, and in my quest to kit, I wasn’t about to ignore them.
With me wrapped around his neck and the blanket tucked under his arm, Aurum returned to his bedroom. I’d already staked my claim on the dresser in his room as my nest site. Not the dresser itself, but the narrow, dark space beneath it. It sounded odd to great, powerful creatures like dragons, but ferrets liked squeezing into tiny crevices.
Still, Aurum never tried to dissuade me. He always respected my choices.
