Page 29 of Bitten in the Wild

“I think we get to choose how we build ourselves at some point,” I sighed.

“Yeah, look at you from social butterfly to one half of a set of hermits,” Casimir smirked.

“Happy hermits,” I shrugged. “If it makes you feel any better eggs are pretty soundproof.”

“I hope so. If those assholes traumatize my kid, I’ll fucking rip both of them limb from limb. Hell, they don’t even have a council for that.”

“I don’t think they encounter that very often here.”

“What would be the protocol back home?” he asked.

“I’d recommend not fucking in the nest if both parents weren’t involved,” I shrugged. “I don’t think we have an official protocol, but that would be my recommendation. I’m not just saying that because I’m on your side. Meeting true-mates fucks with everyone’s head, though, and you have to admit Melon has a wild streak almost too big for this world to hold.”

“And the fucker is an omega,” Casimir rolled his eyes.

“Do you want me to see if Waj will pinch him for you?”

“Don’t tempt me, Izora Moonscale,” Casimir let out a laugh that reached his eyes, the first non-stoic expression he’d worn since arriving.

“You can stay tonight, maybe longer, but tomorrow and every day after you’re going to have to check on your egg. That’s your right and it’s your ship.”

“Castor’s ship.”

“Well, more yours than theirs – excluding the egg of course from that statement.”

“He can sleep in any of the bedrooms except ours,”Nycto yawned into my thoughts.

“Come on. My mate is wanting me to come back to bed. I’ll show you where to sleep or actually,” I glanced over at Waj, “he seems half ass nocturnal. He can show you. Take him to bed, Waj.”

Waj waved for Casimir to follow him down the slide and he did without complaint.

Chapter Twelve

Nycto

Having Casimir around wasn’t as taxing as I expected it to be. He took to cooking meals and cleaning up after Waj whenever he was around during the weeks of my egg carrying. To be safe, I tossed all the mushies and anything else I assumed wasn’t in the diets of the Moonscale dragons out. Then I gave him free reign of the kitchen. He was working to keep himself busy while he waited for his egg to hatch and for his baby mama to grow tired of giving it to her new mate. The latter might take a few lifetimes, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

Casimir was a quiet roommate. When he wasn’t cooking or out exploring (I gave him a pass and the council just had to deal with it) he explored my books. He wasn’t great at reading the older draconic language, but he was learning. He had to since he had run out of the Earthside books he brought with him. Mostly he read and smelled somewhere between irritated at Melon and her true-mate, Kelp, and smelling like someone stole all the sugar he planned to dump into the pots of coffee he drank every day. I didn’t ask about his past but figured he spent a fair bit of time lost to it. Waj got into the habit of tossing apples at him if he looked too sad. Mostly the dotter kept it up because usually Casimir caught them even if it looked like he wasn’t paying attention.

Despite having a roommate now, Izora and I still lived as if our lives only revolved around the growing relationship between us. The more I learned about Earthside the less certain I was that I wanted to know anything about Casimir’s past. Izora’s war stories were more than enough for me. When being inside made us feel too cooped up we went for long flights and I introducedhim to the rest of our neighbors. Most of them weren’t too interested in him but that was true about most townies. Though, the longer he lived with me, the less of a townie he became. Soon he was running around nearly naked all the time and only dressed when the rest of the crew came for visits, which they did on Mondays, the day before our weekly dinner with my parents. Casimir usually tagged along to those because we thought he needed more socialization than Waj and checking in with Melon about their egg every day. His going back also allowed us to ask him to retrieve the photos from the machine that Izora insisted on taking daily.

A few weeks passed and soon my dragon refused to take control and refused to allow me out of the nest room except to go to the bathroom. He didn’t ram at my ribs, but instead used his magical bulk to hold me in place. That’s when Casimir’s presence became a boon to us because the closer the time grew to lay my egg, the less I wanted Izora out of my sight. Actually, I preferred my mate within touching reach of me at all times. Izora was a doting mate who also wanted me within touching reach.

I didn’t feel pregnant. At least not in the ways he and Casimir described some furry shifters looking and feeling. I felt bloated and ravenous. Extra horny too. Too much of Izora wasn’t enough. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought I was in a heat cycle instead of carrying an egg. Only one egg. Another one never showed up in the photos Izora took with his doohickey machine.

“One hatchling is a good number to start out with,” Izora laughed one afternoon, picking up on my thoughts over our mating link as we lounged in the nest eating mint chocolate chip ice cream that Casimir was kind enough to bring us back from town.

“Probably. I always thought it would be at least two of them!” I laughed. “Mom has so many.”

“Well, I’ve never got to examine a wild dragon, but I’d say there are some genetic differences between shifters and them. Wild dragons grow up quicker than shifter hatchlings.”

“True,” I conceded even if something felt off about just a singular hatchling.

“Are you ready to let me take a shower now?” Izora teased, pushing himself upright.

“I guess so,” I sighed. “But I might finish the ice cream while you’re across the room.”

“You’re eating for two. I can live with that,” he kissed my forehead before climbing out of the nest.

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