Page 36 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

"I doubt it," he said. "We've gone swimming right after dinner before."

We cleaned up our picnic space, tossing everything we could into the recycling and compost bins before throwing the rest in the trash. Thankfully, most of the food was gone. Only a handful of pickles remained at the bottom of the jar. Galen unscrewed the lid and drained the rest in one gulp and then deposited the jar in the recycle bin.

The delay meant we walked alone on the path back to the main trail to the beach. I took Galen's hand and slid my fingers between theirs. "If there's anything I can do to help you against other dragons, I will."

Galen gripped my fingers tighter for a moment and grinned up at me with my former crush's face. "You're my mate. Your very existence has helped me immensely."

With only two sentences, Galen had returned my earlier elation. They were right. I had found my mate, something I hadn't even known was possible.

ChapterTwelve

Galen

Once Mac wasin the water with the children, he was a natural swimmer, as I knew he would be. He'd always balked at joining me in the quarry, and I hadn't pushed. Without arms, I had only my teeth and claws to pull him out if anything happened. Now, I could guide him into a float with my arms beneath his back or pull him to where his feet didn't touch and show him how to dragon paddle.

I could tell the moment his brain kicked in and he started to flail.

"Don't think about it. Let your instincts take over."

I swam behind him and balanced him on my lap, continuing to kick between his legs to keep both of our heads above water. "Kick like me."

He stared at my feet and matched my movements. Once he had the hang of it again, I moved back to where I'd been in front of him.

He noticed I wasn't holding him up anymore, and he laughed. "Thanks. This is fun."

"You'll come swimming in the quarry now?"

"Yes."

He already accompanied me and lounged on the stones at the water's edge, but his confirmation pleased me. We would be closer now, treading the same water, bobbing on the same waves.

A swell of homesickness caught me off guard, and I accidentally swallowed a sip of lake water. It tasted of gasoline and algae, nothing like the lube I'd lapped up earlier in the day.

"This water can't be good for the children," I said. "We should get out."

Mac helped me corral the kids toward the beach, where Punky and Lark waited with giant towels for each of us. I hadn't thought to bring anything like that with me, so I thanked them both. I also told them what I'd tasted in the lake, and Punky nodded. "We'll shower before we leave and then shower again when we get to the hotel. Thanks for the warning."

"You are all welcome in my quarry," I said. "All kobolds should know how to swim."

"Mac watched too many horror movies as a child," Lark teased. "Remember when you thought sharks lived in the water treatment plants? And farm ponds?"

"You'll never let me forget." Mac tried to frown but ended up laughing when Punky bent over and did his best impression of a shark, one arm raised up from his back like a fin.

"I don't remember sharks being scary," I said. I'd liked the movies we'd watched about the great white sharks hunting around a tourist island, but the creatures didn't look real. Mac had also played documentaries of the animals on his tablet. While they had sharp teeth like mine, they couldn't leave the water, and they couldn't breathe fire. Boring.

"I'll protect you from sharks," I promised Mac. I glanced out at the lake with my superior vision. Even in the dirty water, the largest creature I could see was a bottom-feeding fish on the far side of the lake, hiding in the shallows beyond the bridge. "There are no sharks here, though."

"Glad we got that settled," Mac muttered.

I started to walk away, hesitant to be near him and make him even more uncomfortable, but he ran to catch up to me and grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "You didn't mean to hurt my feelings. Lark and Punky didn't, either. They don't understand. They grew up here. They know the difference between fresh and salt water. They know where sharks live and where they don't. I still don't know if that was fresh water or sea water, and we were swimming in it."

"After tasting it, I can tell you it was supposed to be fresh water, but it is contaminated. That isn't the same as sea water, though." I grinned. "I will take you east of The Spike sometime. You can swim in the great sea and taste the salt on the air without fear of sharks."

I didn't tell him about the water dragons. It wouldn't have helped.

* * *

I expected the sex shop to be a dank cave with crevices full of toys, bottles, and other supplies meant to be hidden away. I did not anticipate bright purple-white lights and wide aisles with hanging wardrobes on each end-cap. Their leather aisle rivaled the harness selection in the dragonet barn. When Mac explained humans used riding crops and whips on their sexual partners, I ran for the door, nearly tripping over my feet in my haste.

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