Page 21 of The Sapphire Dragon's Missing Mate

Stone climbed into the nest beside me.

“Happy Birthday, little guys.” He looked down at their sweet faces then kissed my cheek. “I love you, omega mine.”

“I love you, alpha mine. I love you.”

Chapter Seventeen

Stone

It was finally time to set out to the location on the sketch where we should meet my brothers. I couldn’t wait to meet them and to introduce them to my mate and the babies. The drive would take a couple of days, I estimated, and I hoped that our delay from my original journey wouldn’t have cost us the opportunity to find them.

I made a special harness so the babies could fly with us. It was more like a sack, lined with the softest of blankets and they should feel perfectly comfortable, and for about five minutes, I thought we could take off and fly on our journey. Maybe three minutes. When we first planned our trip, it had been to fly there with my mate on my back, but babies changed everything.

My mate was piling things we’d need by the door and as I stood there holding my sack, so proud of my craftsmanship, I quickly became aware that traveling with two children and a mate was a little more luggage heavy than the single dragon who’d arrived here. The diapers alone would be bulky enough to be a problem. The car seats, traveling playpen, portable beds, cooler for snacks for us, several bags of baby clothes…the items went on and on.

“Do we need all of this?” I asked.

“Yes. If we’re traveling, we need the babies to be comfortable. If they aren’t, they will make sure we aren’t, right?”

“Right.” They had loud ways of expressing their displeasure. But I wanted them comfy as well. “Glad your car is on the big side, though.” It was an SUV. “And I’m still not completely sure we’ll fit everything.”

“I have faith in you. And if you have to leave anything behind…what is that bag?”

“Uhh, just a bag.” I was filled with doubt that he’d appreciate my handmade baby flying bag. Maybe it would be better not to take them aloft until they grew older and could learn to hold on. “I was trying something.”

“It’s nice. Now…let’s see. I have onesies, jeans shoes…” He went on listing the things he’d already packed and going back for more. “You can start loading.”

I stuffed my great-idea sack in one of the duffels piling up by the door then grabbed two by the straps and got to work. The front seat was us, the back seat the babies, and fitting everything that meant fitting everything in the storage area behind the seat. And in the cargo rack. I was starting to feel like a dust bowl family traveling cross country instead of just for a week or a little more away with every intention of returning. Truly, I did not know what would happen once I connected with my brothers, but we’d be coming back and officially moving if that was our decision.

And I would kind of hate to have to move because this place had become home. It was where I met my mate, where we made love for the first time and mated a bit later. Where we conceived our babies and where they hatched. Home. Maybe my brothers would want to move here?

But I agreed with my dragon that finally setting out to get to my brothers had to happen. I needed to know them and see if they knew more than me about what happened to separate us. Having been raised by otters made me wonder where they grew up.

Finally, we had everything into the car with Jenga-like packing skills I never knew I had and off we went. One of our regular guests would be filling in as a temporary manager and had said if we ever decided to leave permanently, he’d be very happy to take on the job.

We said we’d let him know.

A lot of internet searching had gone into making the whole journey thing work out. Dragons thought in terms of flight, and mine was no different. As the crow flies did not work as well for a car as for wings. But we thought we had it figured out and, at the end of the first day, when we arrived at a motel we’d scoped out online, we were feeling pretty good about our research and my dragon seemed content. The babies had been very good for their road trip, so far, only crying when they were hungry or needed a change. Ryler and Tyler were born travelers.

And Arvin seemed to be enjoying the trip, too.

It seemed the only angsty one in the group was me. As we approached the end of our trip, I felt the strongest urge to turn and run. I’d gotten along without any of my birth family all these years, I’d lost most of those who were part of my childhood, and maybe I would do better just going with the family I had now. They were better than just about any I could dream of.

And speaking of dreams, there was that one where I dream walked with Arvin right at the beginning and had that whole rejection scenario. Could my brothers do the same? Might they reject me too? “Omega, maybe this is a mistake.”

He was looking out the window and turned toward me quickly. “You’ve talked of nothing but finding your brothers since you arrived at the cabins months ago. Your dragon says you have to find them.”

“But what if they don’t like me? What if they say they were better off without me? I don’t think I can handle the rejection.”

“That does not sound like the alpha I know.” He gave me a stern frown. “What are you doing in your head that is making you feel this way?”

“At some point, my parents gave me up, lost me, or otherwise let me go be raised by otters. I have no idea where my brothers were raised or if they were together. Did our parents keep them or one of them? Just why did any of it happen?”

“All those years you were with the otters, did you ask your adopted fathers any of this?”

“I tried a few times, but they said they didn’t really know anything. And I didn’t want to push it because they were so good to me. They helped me get a great education and treated me like their own son. Even when the alpha said I had to leave because of my dragon, they wanted to come with me.”

“Sounds like you scored in the adoption department.”

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