Page 65 of The Monster at the End of This Molt

Robin and I got a few hours here and there to ourselves, but we used that time to clean the house, sanitize the backyard, and make extensive grocery lists. If we weren't careful, the babies would deplete our full cupboards to crumbs within three days. And I'd never seen anyone go through so much water. They drank a full case each week, sometimes in less than a week if they were close to molting.

Still, at the end of three months, I was sincerely regretting my life choices. I wanted to spend time with my fated mate. Alone. Apparently, that was too much to ask the dragon gods, the universe, fate, and whoever else was listening to me whine.

Thankfully, we had good friends. One Friday afternoon, Tuft dropped by the classroom after Lark had released the kids a little early for the day. "What are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

"We're on egg watch," Lark and I said at the same time.

Tuft fixed me with a withering glare. "Pretty sure your eggs hatched three months ago. I've met your children. Remember all the awesome art supplies I gave you?"

I grinned. The kids loved their art supplies. "Yes, but?—"

"No buts. Lark and Punky can handle the doting grandparent job. You and Robin need a night off."

I felt those words in my bones. "We definitely do, but now's not the time."

Tuft curled his hand into a fist and even raised it to his chest, but then he shook his head. "You are the only kobold on this plane who can infuriate me to violence."

"Infuriate?" I laughed. "Your drama is only outmatched by your extensive vocabulary."

"Are you two done flirting?" Lark rolled his eyes. "It's pizza night at the cafeteria, and I promised Punky we'd deliver pizza to our expecting children."

"I'll help!"

Now it was Lark's turn to glower at me and shake his head. "I agree with Tuft. You and Robin deserve a night off. Punky and I have been preoccupied with our alpha boys, or I would have seen it sooner."

Tuft stuck out his chest and preened from the praise. "See? I was right. Er. Axel was right. He said you looked like death warmed over today in the cafeteria."

I hadn't even seen Axel. When I stopped by to pick up sack lunches for me and Lark, I focused solely on selecting one with meat and one without.

"We're hosting movie night," Tuft said, "and Penelope insisted we make it a sleepover. Dinner at five. Movie starts at six." Our four had bonded immediately with Tuft and Axel's clutch. Like us, they had one of each: alpha, omega, beta, and female. After a few molts, the age difference wasn't as noticeable. Granted, they had a few years between them, while Robin and I still had a full-ass adult life between us.

Our age difference didn't bother me as much as it once did. Leaving The Pavilion until he was old enough to mate had helped in that respect. Most of Robin's friends assumed we were the same age when they met me. Robin liked to tease that I had gotten older, but I would never grow up. That wasn't exactly true. Raising our little ones had aged me at least a hundred years.

Tuft snapped his fingers in my face. "Did you hear a word I just said?"

"Movie, sleepover, got it."

"What movie?"

"I … missed that part."

He shook his head. "You might as well skip sexy times. You and Robin need a good night's sleep." He snapped his fingers again, and I jumped. "No, that's perfect! We'll make it a weekend sleepover! We can take the kids for a visit to Galen, and then we'll stop by the fortress for Windsor's painting class and have dinner with our older boys. You'll get your kids back on Sunday morning, and not a moment sooner."

I tried for a long-suffering sigh, but it ended on a giant yawn. "Sounds wonderful, actually."

Tuft grabbed my arm. "Say goodbye to Lark."

"Goodbye, Lark."

"You're not allowed to turn your phone on again until Sunday," Tuft said loud enough for Lark to hear him as we walked into the hallway. "Got it? If there's baby news this weekend, it can wait."

"Yes, Sir."

"Damn right." He dragged me down the hall to Robin's office. I sank onto the comfy couch as Tuft relayed our weekend plans. "You two are going to grab a pizza from the cafeteria, go home, and talk about your sexual fantasies. And then tomorrow, you might have enough energy to do something about them."

I thought I'd seen the end of Robin's adorable blushes at the mere mention of sex, but apparently, fantasies still did it for him. We'd talked a lot about desires, limits, and hard boundaries, but only in the moment.

Tuft had hit on something, and I wanted to know more.

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