“That track wherever anyone goes?” I remarked, “because that sounds a lot like being a prisoner.”
“I don’t know how many times or ways we can tell you that you’re free to come and go as you please,” Odem declared. “The wards are to keep others out. Weren’t you listening when Raven said there was war on the horizon? We’ve already experienced the first stirrings. If we can’t locate the dragons we’ve been searching for and stop them from continuing to hunt and harm fellow dragons, as well as other members of the shifter community, many more will be injured or killed.”
“Yes, I heard her and I would appreciate you keeping her away from me, since you’re supposed to be a protector.”
“She would never harm you.”
“Well, she’s not delivering my eggs!” I snapped. “I don’t appreciate being threatened, especially not with visions and nightmares or any of the other powers you all might have. Especially not when you’re all ganging up on me. Knowing I can’t be burned by your flames is cool and all, but I specificallyheard you say that it was because your powers can’t hurt me. I know how to read between the lines. That means theirs can.”
“None of my brothers would ever harm the mate of another.”
“Sounded like they were willing to make an exception for me.”
“I admit you brought out the protective side of them,” he replied.
“You think?”
“I’ll put the kettle on,” he said as we stepped back inside the house.
I didn’t know if I’d ever think of it as my home, more like a gilded cage so the freshly knocked-up mate wouldn’t fly away and bring about Odem’s demise.
And my own.
Despite what they believed, I didn’t have a death wish, and I didn’t want anything to happen to my eggs. I was probably going to suck at this whole fatherhood thing, but they were mine and I’d do my best to learn how to care for them properly.
Please let them be girls.
I could handle cute dresses and ringlet curls. I’d doll them up so adorably. Images of dresses and tiny matching shoes floated through my head. Picturing them playing in their room with a huge painted dollhouse furnished from top to bottom was a scary kind of thrill. I couldn’t deny them the childhood I’d never had. At least all the children I’d met so far had been happy, giggling little balls of energy.
I’d been a ball of energy, but it had definitely not been nurtured or wanted.
Sit down, be quiet, stop talking, shut the hell up!
I hadn’t appreciated those words as a child, but I understood the frustration of having voices yapping when all I wanted was silence so I could think. Still, they hadn’t been the kindest things to say in the moment, but how could he not get how overwhelming this was for me. And Ionus telling me about howomegas would be lining up for the opportunity to be mated to a protector hadn’t helped. Of course, they’d be lining up if they were told what the line was all about. I’d gone from knowing I was just another accidentally knocked up omega to oh, by the way, you’re special.
No, I wasn’t.
But I was here and I was going to have to make the most of it, for the eggs’ sakes, so when he sat the mug of tea down in front of me, I gestured to the seat across from mine, so he’d sit down.
“Are you sure?” He asked, hand resting on the back of the chair.
Nodding, I inhaled the scent of the tea while he sat, hoping it steadied my thoughts.
“I am willing to go through with the mating ritual,” I said. “Our eggs deserve the chance to hatch, but there had better not be any gross fluids involved.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me and said nothing.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I snapped. “If this involves you peeing on me to mark your territory you can forget it.”
When a horrified look crossed his face I could breathe a bit easier, knowing that it wasn’t part of the plan.
“Eww, no.” Odem replied. “It does involve a bit of blood though.”
“You’d better not be part vampire or I swear to you, I will contact every tabloid in the country and make a fortune telling that story,” I threatened. “Not that anyone would believe me, but if I’ve got to live with that bullshit in my head, so does everyone else.”
“Now you’ve got jokes.”
“I just want to know what’s going to happen when we get down to it,” I replied. “Well, I know fucking will be involved, but what’s the rest of it?”
