Page 8 of Mated in the Stars

It was probably the first time he heard my mate refer to his children like that.

“I’ll tell him to act extra pregnant,” Teddy laughed, leaning back in his chair.

Minter squirmed in my lap, reaching across the table to grab a piece of chicken from Teddy’s plate. He scooted it closer so his little brother could reach it. Would they all be as kind to Minter as he was? I didn’t worry about their eldest brother, Duke. He was a grandfather already. He knew kids and grandkids. Daliah met her mate not too long ago, but she and Sequin were the supposed snobs to hear Sunny talk about it. Though, what one person considered a snob might well be what another person considers private or shy.

“Dal and Seq are good,” Teddy groaned and kicked Sunny under the table.

“No kick!” Minter shook his finger at his older brother. “Go ouch!” He said to Sunny.

“Ouch!” Sunny groaned, drawing out the pain he probably didn’t feel.

“Go sorry, Teddy! Go sorry!” Minter insisted.

“Sorry, Sunny.”

“It’s okay,” Minter said. “Now be friends.”

Sunny gave Teddy a one-armed hug and Minter resumed eating his stolen chicken.

“Dal and Seq are good. Maybe not as outgoing or umm---” Teddy started but seemed stuck to find whatever word he was looking for.

“Boisterous, outspoken, willing to make a scene,” Fred offered up.

“Yeah, all those things. More Cromwell. Though, less so than they used to be. At least the last time I saw them. Even now when we talk on the phone and stuff they seem chiller. Sequin is b--- He’s ready to come over here to see if his mate’s here.”

“He’s looking for his omega too?” I asked.

Teddy and Fred shared a look I couldn’t read, and they both laughed.

“What?” I asked, looking back and forth between them.

“He would be looking for an alpha,” Sunny said. “Sequin is as big as the rest of them, and I think meaner than the rest of them. Everyone assumes he’s an alpha but ---” Sunny stopped short and squared his shoulder.

“What? Is omega a dirty word now or something?” I asked, fighting the urge to cross my arms because Minter was on my lap.

“No,” Fred and Teddy said at the same time.

“Then why is it so funny?” I asked.

“Just because everyone thinks that. He alternates between embracing it and being enraged that everyone assumes something so intimate about him,” Teddy explained. “It’s why Daliah is so protective over him. He’s still living with her even though she’s met her mate. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. It’s not as common in Moonscale London as it is in other places, though.”

“Eh, screw Moonscale London from the sounds of it,” Liatris shrugged. “If they have a problem with him being an omegabecause he’s tall or something it’s bs. If they care so much about where he lives and it’s not with them, it’s weird.”

“It is,” Fred nodded. “People love to talk, though. My parents included. That’s why they haven’t met anyone who came from Duke’s loins. I don’t think Dana and Drea, his eldest granddaughters, would even recognize them if they walked up and grabbed their noses.”

“They’d headbutt them and run away,” Teddy laughed. “It’s been a few years, though. Maybe they’re to punching and biting instead of headbutting now for all I know.”

“Chicky-chicky!” Minter said, looking up and down the table as if he could call the cooked flesh to him.

Teddy handed him another piece of chicken and he cheered as if he’d been given the first bite of food he’d seen all week.

Chapter Five

Fred

Outside of guarding Elio, our unlaid egg, and my children here on Starscale 1, I spent most of the previous six months helping Liatris explain to everyone that opening the gateway wouldn’t be an instant fix for anything. The door he opened wouldn’t connect directly to Earthside or any other world in particular. It would connect to one particular spot in the Other World and from there dragons could travel and find other doors. Someone might stumble through our door onto the world and that’s why it had to be guarded around the clock. The morning of the ceremony I still wasn’t sure if Hush and the other world leaders understood the situation but we’d done our best to explain it to them.

I had Clarence Moonscale in my ear babbling about being ready to locate the door in the Other World as soon as it was opened. He had a team of dragons ready to start the search. Medwin, his mate, was more than ready to be reunited with their second born, Sunny. I didn’t blame them. I missed all my egg brats but would let him go through the trouble of mapping out the path here. It would give him something to do besides annoy everyone else for a while at least.

---