Page 45 of The Monster at the End of This Molt

"Mine." Tuft swept in from behind me, when a moment before he'd been to my right. He set the ball for Robin in the front middle, who spiked it at the ground at the alpha's feet. We earned our point, and Tuft served again.

Tuft almost won us the game on his serves alone, but the omega to my left misjudged a ball that looked like it was going out, and it touched the line.

The other team's server lobbed the ball into no-man's-land between me and Robin.

"Mi—Not mine!" Robin shouted when his hand didn't connect.

I trusted him, I did, but I was there to back him up. He was tall, but he wasn't that tall. "Mine." I bumped the ball straight up and backed out of the way for Tuft to set the ball to Axel. He lobbed it into the same sweet spot between the front and back center, and we scored our point.

We won the first two games in a row, which was enough to stop play. Two players on the other team wanted to prepare for their kickball game, so the others offered Robin and me their spots to play for fun.

"Do your worst," I said to Tuft through the net. We'd lined up across from each other in the center of the front row.

"Oh, it's not me you need to worry about." He winked and pointed over his shoulder to Axel, who flexed his arms in a bodybuilder pose.

Despite the threat and the hardest game I had ever played "for fun," we all slapped hands at the end and said, "Good game."

I followed Tuft to where he'd left a towel and water bottle in the sand. "Thanks for the invite."

"Oh, sure, now he thanks me!" He threw his hands up. I thought he was making a grand gesture, but then he wrapped me in a hug. "It's so good to have you home."

"It's good to be here." I meant it, which shocked the hell out of me.

"We're all going to Coz and Grindl's house tonight after the game. Want to tag along?"

I blinked. "Me? Why?"

"Well, you and Robin. It's tradition, since he was a little guy. We used to meet at Punky's house, and then mine, when our little ones were the youngest, and then Grindl's, when they had their second clutch above ground." He grinned. "I think Grindl liked hosting so much, he talked Coz into a third clutch. Now we go over there for the sheer numbers."

"They're already teenagers?" I asked.

Tuft nodded. "Yup. And the others are all grown up and living on their own." He sniffled. "I was so sad when Balthus moved out."

"That's why you had this batch?" Axel had retrieved their four little ones from the daycare area in the main dragon pavilion. I'd heard the children shouting and playing while we played.

Tuft grinned. "We're still young. We figured, why not?"

"Hell, if Alma's still young enough, she's got us all beat."

Tuft stared pointedly at me. "What’s your excuse?"

I shook my head. "I’m not ready."

He patted my shoulder. "I get it. You're scared. I promise you, no matter what happens, nothing you do will ever let your omega down. He has loved you since the first moment he saw you."

Tears stung my eyes as I glanced over at Robin, who was still chatting with two members of the other team. "I don't want to hurt him."

"I know you." Tuft grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to meet his gaze. "You'll never hurt him on purpose. Accidents happen. You talk about them and get through them. Together. You got me?"

"I got you." I grinned. "I'm glad, too. If I didn't have you, I'd be bored out of my mind on Thursday nights."

"You're absolutely right, and we can't have that!" He turned back to Axel and their family. "Now come on, let's go to Coz and Grindl's."

Their cabin was still two over from Punky and Lark's, but it was much larger now, with a staircase leading to a second floor. Outside, Tuft pointed to the three small cabins at the far edge of the property. "Sunny, Briar, and Rory live in those. The rest of their kids still live at home. They had three eggs each time."

Inside, the house was organized chaos. Grindl supervised the other seven kobolds who lived in the house. Their oldest three sons added to the pandemonium, too. I recognized Sunny from the dragonet barn, though he and his clutch mates looked a lot alike. When we arrived, he and his brothers rounded up Tuft's hatchlings and marched them to the television to watch a movie while Coz showed us to the largest dining room table I had yet seen in any kobold home. It was almost as long as the cafeteria tables.

My chest swelled with pride as I took a seat between Tuft and Robin. Kobolds had come a long way from fighting over the grotto's heat vents. Now, we lived above ground like kings.

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