“Do you think you’ll succumb to your heat again?” Grimbold asked when Wally returned the spout to its locked position.
Wally shook his head. “It feels like it’s over.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes?” With a nervous lick of his lips, Wally pressed the water bottle back into Grimbold’s hands. “Is it not supposed to be over?”
Grimbold gave Wally a lingering, disbelieving look, then lay on his back and smiled at the ceiling. Not for the first time since they’d started to share a bed, Wally marveled at the beauty of his body. While Grimbold was an older dragon, he was still spry. His arms were sculpted with subtle muscle and his chest and shoulders were broad and powerful. A small taper led the eye from his chest to his waist, then down to his solid thighs and the curve of his muscular ass. Wally imagined what that ass might look like while they were making love, its taut muscles working smoothly under Grimbold’s skin, and found himself blushing. It felt very strange that such an attractive dragon would want someone like Wally, but here they were. Grimbold had risked his life for Wally, and Wally had risked his in return. Now that Grimbold had laid his claims on him, there would be no going back.
“No, Walter,” Grimbold said at last, the smallest hint of overjoyed laughter in his voice. “It’s only been three days. You should be suffering from the worst of your heat right now, not recovering from it.”
Wally frowned. “Oh. Did I do something wrong?”
“No. In fact, I think you’ve done something right.”
Grimbold rolled over and tugged Wally into his arm, drawing him to his chest. Wally, flustered and thrilled, made a small noise of contentment and slotted himself against Grimbold as best he could. Fragments of the last three days flitted through his mind like the torn pages of a magazine scattered in the wind.
Mind-blowing pleasure.
Delirious want.
Wonderful fullness.
Hot, plentiful cum.
Wally shivered and kissed Grimbold’s pectoral, wishing he remembered more. The first time they’d made love was emblazoned in his brain from start to finish and would always be, but the times that had come after that had all run together, made senseless by his heat. What he wouldn’t give to recall it all with perfect clarity.
“I, um, I’m not entirely sure what you mean,” Wally admitted. He frowned and lowered his head, embarrassed. “I overheard the doctor say that we wouldn’t be able to conceive, so that can’t be it. We’re not… we’re not compatible.”
“Yet you bear my mate mark.” Grimbold cupped Wally’s cheek and ran his thumb over its swell. “Everard is a clever child, and his mate has a brilliant mind, but there is still margin for error. Perhaps they were wrong.”
Wrong,Grimbold’s dragon gloated in agreement.Very wrong. Mated. Happy. Mine.
“I suppose time will tell,” Wally said in a quiet voice, trying not to let his excitement show. If he believed this with all his heart, he’d only be let down if it turned out to be a fluke. “If it is a clutch, then in three months, I’ll lay.”
“There’s no need to wait that long.” Grimbold pressed a kiss to Wally’s jaw and freed the ring from Wally’s grasp. Absentmindedly, he slid it into place on Wally’s finger and began to caress it while he also stroked the back of Wally’s hand. “When we’re done here, I’ll call Everard and schedule an examination.”
“What are we doing here that would stop you from calling him right away, sir?”
A smirk curled Grimbold’s lips and brought a spark of life into his eyes. “You.”
It was the answer Wally had been hoping for. Cooing in pleasure, he allowed Grimbold to sweep him into his arms and roll them over. Soon enough, Wally’s thighs were hooked over Grimbold’s hips while the ancient dragon lay claims on him in the plainest way he could.
What a fine future it would be if this was their forever—hundreds, if not thousands, of years spent in each other’s embrace, raising one impossible clutch after the next. It gave Wally something he thought he’d never have—devotion that made him feel safe, happy, and whole.
* * *
A lizard in a lab coat sat on the examination table, its formidable claws piercing the paper covering. Wally, who was dressed in a medical gown and nothing else, stared at it. It stared back, then flicked its tongue in his direction.
Wally, uncertain and confused, looked to Grimbold for guidance. If Grimbold noticed the lizard, he didn’t acknowledge it—he did his best to look everywhere but at the reptile in question.
Eventually, the lizard seemed to grow bored with their disinterest. With a swish of its tail across the paper, it tromped toward the edge of the examination table and appeared to contemplate hopping down. Before it could hurt itself, there was a knock on the door, which opened a moment later to admit a familiar young man. He was the same one Wally had met that one time, many months back when Grimbold had brought in a doctor to have Wally examined.
“Hello!” the young man said brightly. Like the lizard, he wore a lab coat. Unlike the lizard, no amount of disinterest appeared to deter him. “I’m Dr. Harrison Lessardi-Drake, which is a mouthful, so you can just call me Harry. And this is my assistant, Steve.” He gestured at the lizard. “I forgot if I introduced myself the last time we met, so I thought it’d be good manners to introduce myself again. Plus, now you know who Steve is.”
Steve flicked his tongue.
Wally, not sure if he was being rude to the strange omega’s assistant, flicked his tongue hesitantly in return. It might have been his way of saying hello.
