“Yes, I really am. Odem, I love you so much it scares me.”
I tugged him as close as I could get him with our girls between us. “Don’t be scared, I’m not going anywhere.”
“The only two people I ever loved were my mother and my brother and they both disappeared and left me with that abusive asshole,” he sobbed into my shirt. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“I wanted you to have your own special place. I know how much your clothes and shoes mean to you. You even have mirrors that allow you to see all the way around you,” I pointed to the trio of mirrors. “That other door leads into our bedroom.”
“Our bedroom.” And more tears. “I suck. I’m a horrible mate. I asked for my own bedroom. I don’t want it, Odem, I want to be with you and the sunshine pillows.”
“Sunshine pillows?”
“Yes,” he sobbed again. “You smell like sunshine and I can’t sleep without that scent.”
I didn’t mean to chuckle, but it couldn’t be helped. “My love, I’ll mark whatever you want with my scent so you’re never without it. Come on, I’ve got one more thing to show you.” Jacob had delivered the furniture earlier today.
We walked across the hall to the girls’ room. “Ta-da!” I announced as I flung the door open.
“Wow. He made these by hand?” Ronan ran his hand across the first one. “Ruby. Where did the beautiful ruby he embedded into the headboard come from?”
“Our horde.” I was super proud of myself for coming up with that idea.
“And the Opal for Opal is from your horde too?”
“Our horde and yes. Two of the most exquisite and valuable pieces I’d collected. All the furniture is made of white oak and when I told him about your butterfly and dragonfly he carved those into the footboards. The really cool thing about these cribs is that they transform into toddler beds, so they’ll use them for many years to come.”
“I’ve never seen anything like them. Matching dressers and the rocking chair. I can see us in here reading them bedtime stories. Oh, Odem,” he cried again. “Our girls will always know they’re loved. Did you hear that my tiny butterflies,” Ronan rubbed his belly, “Daddy and Papa love you so much. I can’t wait for you to see all the beautiful things we have for you.”
My heart melted like ice cream on a warm summer day.
“Can we build the nest in the center of the room?”
“We can but then if you want to shower you have to go across the hall to our room.”
“We can’t leave them alone,” his dragon nearly roared. “Never.”
“Ssshhh, you’ll scare the girls.” That time I felt a tremble in our connection with them. Guess I had my answer. “That will not happen. I can stay with them when you need to shower if you really want the nest in here. But, we absolutely have to get it set up soon. You look like you’re about to pop.”
Awe, snap, there went that hand on his hip and the attitude was back. “Are you calling me fat?”
“Never. You’re with child, two of them, and they are very healthy,” he huffed, guess that wasn’t good enough. “Ronan,you’re absolutely glowing. I’ve never seen a sexier, hotter, pregnant mate.”
“You better not,” he smacked my chest. “I am the only pregnant mate you’re allowed to check out. Got it?”
I saluted him, earning another slap. “Aye, aye, Captain!”
“That’s right, and don’t you forget it. Now, time to move my stuff. I’ll direct you where to put it all.”
I hadn’t a doubt in my mind that was how this was all going down.
“Alright, Queen, sit at your make-up station. You can arrange that while I do the rest.” By the time I got it all moved in and his majesty was pleased, he was half asleep. We’d taken to showering together the bigger he got at my insistence. The fear of him slipping in the shower gave me nightmares, so I’d taken on the duty of washing and drying him. Not a hardship by any means but it was a sweet ass excuse to finally get something I wanted. We’d barely snuggled into bed before the room filled with my mate’s sweet snores.
“So far, there are no direct matches to Ronan’s blood and the new dragons,” Larkin mentioned as the morning meeting commenced. “Though I will tell you, many are absolutely terrified. I don’t know what they’ve seen but we must find a way to get them to talk.” Larkin sighed.
“Spit it out, Larkin.” Ionus was in quite the mood this morning.
“After we wrangled the blood from the two prisoners and ran the samples, they came back with trace matches to Emerson’s.”
“What?” Caro bellowed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
