I like it better than all the ones you’ve discussed. Please don’t name our baby Mortimer.
“That was a joke,” I said out loud.
When Kirion gave me a confused look, I clarified.
“Tanekan likes that one. He brought up Mortimer as a dealbreaker again.”
Kirion laughed. “I love him. He’s funny. You’re both so wonderful.”
“He thinks you’re wonderful.”
Tanekan also loved Kirion’s nest and commented that the set omega’s instincts were dragon-like. It wasn’t only my bond with Kirion that grew, but Tanekan’s as well.
“So do you like Remington?” Kirion asked.
“I do. It’s the best one yet.”
Kirion smiled and lay back on soft pillows. As I stroked his stomach, he took a short nap.
Kirion’s contractionsbegan after two months of being pregnant. Live births could go nine months but not egg laying. After he laid it, the egg would need to be kept warm and well-guarded for about eight weeks. Then we could look for pips. It was a fairly quick process compared to mammals of the shifter world. But dragons weren’t mammals strictly speaking, though in our human form we had warm blood and nursed our young.
Kirion went straight to the nest and stripped. He lay down with a light blanket, his favorite, and let the contractions take over. He was brave. I was not. I was on the phone to the baby doctor every hour. Unless something was abnormal with the pregnancy or Kirion seemed distressed, this was a very natural process. I had to hear those words over and over from the doctor before I believed them.
Kirion lay on his side watching me. “Put down that phone and get over here. I’m having an egg.”
“Laying. We call it laying.”
“Right. But I’m having it and I need you to be here and hold my hand or something.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked for the twelfth time.
“It’s contractions. It feels a bit overwhelming, and it hurts for the duration of the contraction, but I’m fine. I’m not sick. It’s all happening. Now.”
When he turned his back to me so I could massage it, the blanket fell away a little. I saw his backside, beautifully firm, and his spread cheeks showing me his hole. It was slowly spreading open. I thought it might be difficult to watch, but now I changed my mind. Kirion was so handsome. Everything about him was lovely and I was amazed by him every day. Now I was watching a miracle. A set omega wolf was laying my egg.
“Kirion, I think I see something.”
“Maybe just massage my lower back without looking. It’s sort of gross, right?”
“No. It’s beautiful. You’re a gift to me and so is this child.”
“I think I want to kneel now.”
I helped him to his hands and knees while rubbing at his lower back. He spread his knees and crouched almost like his breeding pose when he’d been in heat, but not quite. He kept his knees forward and wide, his hips canted down. The blanket fell forward toward his neck, keeping him warm and secure as he strained with each contraction.
I kept up a litany of encouragement.
“There you go, that’s right, push into it but stop when it lets up.” I’d read a couple of books about it, and about how to help my husband, how to keep him calm and steady.
I’d never experienced this with Rupert. When egg time came, he had wanted to go to a private clinic and have the egg there. I was to sit in the waiting room and try not to fret. When Malin hatched we were both there but Rupert swept him up and kept him close for months so he could nurse him. I only got to hold Malin when Rupert slept.
No wonder I hadn’t bonded with our son. I’d been kept away.
This wasn’t going to happen here. Kirion insisted we would co-parent. He wanted me there alongside him every step of the way. I didn’t have to worry about being left out, left behind.
Kirion and had already made plans to tend the egg together. He wanted me there. He wanted me close.
Our bond flared at my thoughts of the egg.
