Chapter Eighteen
Ronan
There was no better feeling than having my brother back with me again. Knowing he was going to be here when the twins were born was a special kind of joy. Laying there in the dark, snuggling with my mate, I felt one of the eggs shift and rubbed the spot, excited to meet them and introduce them to Upalo, Canyon and Kes. Dragon babies imprinted on everyone in their families, learning early who was safe and could be counted on for nurturing and protection. I’d learned that from Alex while I’d been seated on the couch in his living room, Luna cuddled in my arms, sleepy eyed and asking for a story.
“See, you’re already bonding,” Alex said as he passed me a book.
Looking down into that sweet face while I read her story gave me my first glimpse of what life with my girls would be like. I’d never seen anything more adorable than little Luna layingthere, eyes fluttering, fighting sleep so she could hear every word. By the time I reached the end of the book and kissed her cheek as she lay there sleeping, the other dragonets were gathered around my feet, staring up at me.
Alex just giggled and passed me another book, which I read to them with Luna sleeping soundly in my arms. Instead of awkwardly struggling with how to hold her, while holding it and turning the pages, it came naturally enough that I even managed to turn the book around to show them the pictures.
“Soon,” I whispered as I slid from the bed and waddled to the bathroom.
They dug into my bladder more with every step, as if to sayvery soon.
And we still didn’t have a nest.
A horrifying thought swept through me as I relieved myself. What if we still didn’t have a nest when the eggs came? We’d have no place safe to snuggle our eggs. Surely not on the bed where one errant rock or wiggle might send them toppling off. The thought of one of my eggs striking the hard bedroom floor sent a cold chill through me. Eggs on the bed was out of the question! They would have a thick, round, fluffy nest to protect them, and they would have it today.
Determined, I finished up, washed my hands, and waddled to the nursery. All of the blankets had been washed and folded neatly in towering piles, leaving me with the daunting task of figuring out where to begin.
I eyed them up and down, looking for something that might help me decide, but all the colors were pretty and soothing, and none of the patterns stood out as ones I’d absolutely have to have on the top of the nest.
But I would want the softest.
We’d gone primarily for thick, fluffy fleece and the softest faux fur, so plush my hand sunk into the fibers when I stroked them.Those were the ones I wanted on top. The warmth from the fluffy faux fur and the heat of our bodies would keep them toasty while they finished growing. Mind made up, I began dividing the piles into top section and bottom, no easy task when some of the blankets were so thick I couldn’t wrap my arms all the way around them with my belly in the way.
The neat stacks had been reduced to messy piles, while unearthing one rather significant obstacle to my nest building task.
The blankets smelled wrong.
Every one of them smelled like fabric softener, not sunshine.
That just wouldn’t do.
I glanced between the blanket mounds and my sleeping mate on the bed in the other room. He had patrol tonight. Waking him wouldn’t be fair. The long flights and constant vigilance were exhausting, especially for a fun-loving dragon like Odem. Out of all the brothers, he was always the first one to get down on the floor and crawl around with the dragonets, and the one who typically wound up covered in whatever they were eating, because he never said no to ‘up’ even when sticky hands waved at him.
Our girls were going to have him wrapped around their tiny fingers the moment they waved their wings at him.
As I carried the first blankets over to the bed, I was reminded of the way he pressed his ear to my belly every time one of them giggled, and the way he’d lean over and whisper for them to behave whenever they started rolling around inside me so much they made me cranky.
They owned him heart and soul already. Those fluttery wings were just going to be the icing on the cake when we finally got to see them.
Carefully, so as to not wake him, I peeled the blankets off him and replaced them with the ones for the nest, layering themon his arms, legs, and torso, to get his scent all over them. It was a slow process, with quick cat naps cuddled to him and the blankets, but over the course of the day, I got the base of the nest built to my satisfaction.
It took up the bulk of the nursery floor, but there was plenty of space for us to curl up with our eggs. Feeling rather proud of myself, and hungry, now that the room snacks were gone, I carried a few more of the faux fur blankets over and spread them across him, hoping he’d wake up soon and feed our hungry, growing butterflies.
I never meant for one of the blankets to tickle his nose and make him snort. Fortunately, he wasn’t a dragonet, so no errant flames appeared the way they sometimes did from Alex’s twins. Their adorable cherub faces would flush as they swiftly apologized for whatever had gotten singed, or in some cases, like with Ionus’ newspaper, completely gone up in flames.
“Mate,” Odem rumbled. “What are you doing?”
“Shhh, just lay there, look pretty, and come up with a sticky sweet breakfast with a side of meat,” I insisted as I finished smoothing the blankets over him.
He chuckled at that, then laughed outright when I lifted his arm so I could tuck the blanket beneath it.
“These are supposed to be for the nest,” he insisted, stroking his fingers through the softness.
“They still are,” I explained. “But they smelled like fabric softener. I wanted them to smell like sunshine, so I’ve been putting them on you before adding them to the nest.”
