Page 23 of Omega Haunting

“If the baby isn’t inside an egg a sonic might not work,”my dragon reminded me.

“Then I’ll have to invent one that does,”I shrugged.

“Three minutes until the stars reveal our fate,” Astral announced, opening the bathroom door.

“The stars?” I arched a brow. “Didn’t know astrology or astronomy were your things.”

“Not so much but the new test either shows a black window or a night sky. Night sky means I’m preggo,” Astral shrugged.

He smelled as excited as I was. My dragon swayed inside his inner sanctum humming a lullaby we often hummed to Elio’s kids.

“Astrology can be real, though. If you start from the right place and take it in general. The stars are alright for the fates of empires and planets. They don’t care much about the fates of individuals, though,” Astral rambled as the timer on his phone chipped away at the longest three minutes in recorded history.

“Good to know,” I nodded. “We read the stars a lot but we’re made of star dust. At least we are if some of our oldest lore is to be believed.”

“Do you believe it?”

“There was a guy – not a dragon just a guy – who fell in love with a star. They shared eons together. Happy eons but eventually the star burnt out like all stars do. So, the guy spent centuries going around and finding all the little bits of the star and when he found as much of it as he could he melded it to his skin. Having it there changed him. He breathed fire and eventually took a bigger, more metallic form that could survive how stars exploded. He carried his lover with him on his chest and each of their kids in turn did the same.”

“How did they have kids, though?”

“Probably before the explosion,” I shrugged.

“But did the star have… Ummm… Reproductive parts?” Astral arched a brow.

“Maybe but maybe they didn’t need them back then,” I shrugged again as the timer chimed.

I looked before Astral could and fire shot out of my nose. Excited fire. There in the window of the little plastic stick contraption was a starry night sky. We were gonna have a baby.

“You’re gonna have my baby,” I said, picking him and spinning around the bathroom.

He laughed and our lips brushed together for the briefest kiss.

“I’m having my baby,” he teased.

“Hmmmm… and did you do that all by yourself?”

“What if we conceived while I was on top?” he arched a playful brow.

“My baby,” I teased him again.

“Mine,” he laughed.

“I was talking about you,” I stole a kiss before setting him back down on his own two feet.

We made love there in the bathroom against the wall with the light going on and off whenever one of us accidentally brushed against the button. We were gonna be daddies. Weconquered magic and space to come together and in just over a month we conceived our first baby. As I buried myself inside of Astral again and again all I thought about was how much I loved him and how I’d do anything to keep him and our baby safe.

Chapter Thirteen

Astral

I’ve always heard that everyone dies famous in small communities. I was never sure whether it was supposed to be a threat or a reassurance. Ever since I met Marsin it felt sort of like a threat. While most of the pack did respect the time we sequestered our selves away for our matingmoon, I received a lot of texts and emails asking about him and the Starscales in general. Even a couple of magazines reached out wanting to interview him. The only one we ever agreed to was one started by someone in the GGB territory and aimed at omegas. Happy Omega Magazine. It was a short interview over the phone while we waited to see the doctor. Mostly the guy on the other end of the phone wanted to know how omegas were treated and how they fared in a system based on points and not money. In the end, he got the guy an interview with his uncle, Hush.

“The magazine will be good for them.”

“Or our omegas will be a good influence on y’all,” he teased.

“Cultural exchanges often benefit both parties,” I said, putting on my best mockumentary voice.

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