That night I couldn’t sleep. I woke my mate, and we took another walk around the clearing perimeter. It was a full moon, and I’d read that people and animals' behavior changed at that time of the month. Maybe it would encourage our eggs to get moving.
But a sharp pain in my belly had me gripping Dray’s hand.
“I need to get to the nest.”
“Now?”
He’d been so calm before, and now his voice had risen a decibel or five hundred.
The walk to the structure was never-ending, and when we got there, my mate helped me strip down. He phoned his folks, but by the time they arrived with Aunt Raine, I was kneeling in the nest.
“Your body will tell you what to do.” Aunt Raine and Dray’s dad were on one side of the nest, with Dray on the other.
The pressure was intense, and Dray breathed with me as I whined and panted.
“I can feel one egg.”
There was a lot of discomfort, but my body was taking over as Raine had said. And it felt right. I grunted and clawed at the blanket beneath me while Dray murmured encouragement.
“The egg is coming.”
Raine was behind me with a cloth, and I grunted as I squeezed out the egg.
“It’s so beautiful.” My mate kissed my brow and wiped the sweat with a cloth.
Raine placed the egg beside me. I stroked the shiny hard shell while Dray rubbed his cheek over it.
“That’s our baby, Pax. And you kept them safe all these months.”
I couldn’t stop the tears, and some spilled onto the egg. Dray hiccuped and sniffed, and his tears fell onto the egg and mingled with mine. The full moon peeked inside the structure, and our tears glistened on the shell.
The second egg came fast, but I wasn’t done. I delivered the third one as the moon slid lower in the sky. All three had threads of gold and silver trailing over the shells. They were our children,and whether in egg form or babies, I never wanted them out of my sight again.
Dray kissed me. “You laid three impossibly beautiful eggs, and I’m so proud of you.”
We lay down and curled around the eggs because I needed to be in contact with all three. Raine and Dray’s dad covered us up and went to make tea. Pops arrived with food, and everyone praised me and admired our eggs.
“I’m staying right here other than to go to the porta-potty. I can’t bear to be away from them.” I stroked one, then a second, and the third.
“And neither am I.” My mate pulled me close as we admired our babies.
It would be a week or more before they hatched, but we’d keep them safe and warm until they were ready to meet us.
SEVENTEEN
DRAY
The waiting was harder than I'd expected.
We'd been in the clearing for eleven days, watching the eggs and keeping them warm. Nothing had happened, not even a wriggle or a crack. Pax was the patient one, whereas I, the dragon shifter, was anxious and biting my nails as I imagined the day we’d have our three kids in our arms.
I pulled the blankets covering the eggs to the right to make sure they were all snuggly and wondered if today was the day.
Pax fidgeted and circled the nest. Every second round, he’d check the eggs and sometimes adjust their position. I’d learned not to say they were fine because he’d respond with, “Are they? How do you know?”
And then my dragon would start with,Yes, how do you know they’re fine?
And I’d have no answer. They were intact, with no hairline cracks, and they were warm.
