Page 19 of The Sapphire Dragon's Missing Mate

I sat down by the eggs and had a great chat with them about their awesome omega daddy who loved them so much, and in about three minutes he was back. There was no way he could have done a great job in that amount of time, but he was wearing different pants and pulling a shirt over his damp hair, and he seemed so much more relaxed.

“You look good with them,” he said, chewing on his lip. “Maybe I’m being selfish, keeping them all to myself?”

“Selfish? Never. But I did enjoy having a turn to hang out. If you want to do this again tomorrow? I’m all in.”

Chapter Sixteen

Arvin

“You really need to get outside, honey.” Stone squatted beside me, looking like he’d rather be having any other conversation other than this one. I didn’t blame him. It was embarrassing.

The worst part was that he was right. I did need fresh air. It had been over a week since I’d spent more than the time it took me to brush my teeth and take a three minute shower away from the eggs.

We were at the point where the babies were going to be born any day now. According to the midwife, they could be here as soon as tomorrow, which, giving some room for error, could mean any second. I didn’t want to miss a single moment of their hatching.

But I also hadn’t seen sunlight, except through the window, in a long time.

Those were the facts. What I was going to do with them, I still hadn’t decided.

“Stone, I know. ” And I needed the sunshine. “but what if they’re born while I’m outside?”

“Hold on. I have an idea.” He righted himself and left the house. He wasn’t angry or anything. His “idea” was obviously not in our cabin, but what it was? I had no idea. I was almost curious enough to get up and look out the window to see where he was heading. Almost.

“Your papa’s being silly,” I said, stroking each one of the eggs.

I wasn’t sure if eggs were like babies in the womb who could hear me, or if they could sense us close by. But I figured every word I said had an opportunity to get to them, and that made it worth it.

Even before I laid them, I talked to my babies. I’d told them so much since discovering I was pregnant. I told them about my grandmother and what an influence she had on me growing up. I told them all about my math class, which I’d managed to both finish and ace last week from the nest. I also shared with them all about Stone’s dragon and how they were going to be big and strong like he was.

When I discovered they were coming in the form of eggs and were therefore by default dragons, it piqued my curiosity. Would be the same color as my mate? Each other? According to Stone, we’d know when we knew. I didn’t have a preference.

I spoke to them about pretty much anything and everything that came to my mind. When I showered, I’d hear their father chatting with them. He did when I was around too, but it was still all kinds of adorable to listen to him share his favorite stories with them while I washed away the day.

I could only imagine them being good and done with all the chatter. They were going to be born and have their first words seconds later. “Please, please, please stop talking.”

A few minutes after he left, my mate came back in with the laundry cart.

“What are you doing?” There were no turnover cabins today and, even if there were, this wasn’t one of them.

“I told you I have an idea.” He took the couch cushions off and put them in the bottom of the cart. Then he piled our bedding in there followed by a bunch of the pillows I’d insisted we needed that the nest hadn’t had room for.

“You’re still not explaining what you’re doing.”

“Trust me.”

Of course, I trusted him. I just was clueless as to what it was he was up to. Next thing I knew, he was picking up one egg and then the other and laying them gently inside the laundry cart, and it all made sense. He was making a portable nest for our little ones.

“Okay, outside time,” he said, wheeling the cart right to the front door. “Get out there.”

I wasn’t going to argue. His plan was actually quite genius. I wasn’t sure why we hadn’t thought of it before. Probably because the house was so small, doing things like going out in the yard or grabbing a cup of tea didn’t feel impossible like I had heard was the case for so many other nesters.

Or maybe that was the human side of me, and I was going to suck at being a dad. I pushed the anxiety away. Stone and I had talked a lot about my worries over being the father of dragons. He assured me I was the exact father these babies needed. The sincerity of his words had me almost believing it too.

I stepped outside, narrating everything I saw to the babies—I described everything in singsong, from the river to the trees to the blue sky to a twittering bird on a branch.

My mate stayed right by their side, promising to keep an eye on them, just like when I showered, and let me know if they made even the slightest movement. I appreciated it and had to admit I felt a ton better. How could I not? It had been days—possibly a week.

“Thank you for that,” I said.

---