“You’ll gas me out of the room?” he said, laughing until I managed to kick him in the shin with my heel.
Of course, that just made my heel hurt and my protector chuckle louder.
“You’d better be glad I can’t cook or I’d be serving you freshly roasted toads for dinner,” I grumbled.
“With a dab of hot sauce, I’m sure they’d be just fine.”
I punctuated his snarky ass remark with another loud bit of flatulence.
That was it. The very last straw. How the hell was I supposed to get him to stop laughing when even I was giggling now? Our girls were in full dragonfly mode, flitting around in my belly so much that every few minutes I farted again, like mount Vesuvius getting ready to erupt.
“Help me to the bathroom,” I snapped, grateful for my mate’s swiftness.
He got me there in time to take care of business, a dull ache radiating across my hips by the time I was done. Laying back down was the only thing I had the energy for. Not that I could get comfortable once he’d carried me back to the nest.
“Will you please tell your pokey little girls to pick a side,” I hissed. “I’d like to sneak in a nap before bedtime.”
He chuckled at that and leaned over me, peeling my dress back so he could kiss my belly. “Alright girls. Let’s hold off on doing the macarena until after you hatch.”
Snickering, I just shook my head and stroked my mate’s hair as he continued whispering to them.
“I bet you’ll learn all kinds of dances,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you and your cousin in your pretty tutus, learning to pirouette.”
“Too late,” I grumbled. “They’ve already got that one down pat.”
Even the sound of his voice wasn’t settling them today. It’s like they were determined to wedge themselves against my pelvis until my whole lower body ached.
Breathe and lay still.
Just breathe.
And lay still.
My dragon had whispered these words to me before, in a place I’d prefer not to think about. The rumble of his voice was like an anchor, a reminder that I wasn’t enduring this discomfort alone. While Odem promised the girls pink ballet shoes and ribbons for their hair, I lay there and listened, focused on keeping my breathing steady, even when the achiness grew worse.
When we hold them, every ache will be forgotten.
I could feel my dragon’s excitement at the prospect of wrapping his wings around them and cuddling them close.
Promise you’ll let me out.
I promise, dragon.
He’d more than earned the chance to emerge and be free after the way he’d protected me and gotten us safely into our mates’ arms, even if he hadn’t known that’s where he was guiding us at the time. I owed him a million thanks and more for that.
You forgive me?
There was never anything to forgive. You saved us. Would it be too much self-love to tell you that I love you, dragon?
He responded with warmth instead of words, scales appearing along my arm as he bubbled to the surface, making the ache easier to endure for a bit longer.
Then the ache inched toward agony and even breathing grew difficult.
“Odem,” I hissed, digging my elbow into his chest when I realized he’d fallen asleep.
“Huh? What?” he muttered, his jerking jostling me right in the middle of another shooting pain.
“So, don’t freak out or anything, but I’m in labor,” I declared once I’d blown out a long breath. “And for the record, it hurts like a son of a bitch.”
