Page 78 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

"Neither would I," I admitted. Both of our children were conceived there.

Mac blushed. For a moment, I thought I'd said the quiet part out loud, but he cleared his throat and motioned Papa toward the pavilion, where Clementine sat on a bench with Slate on one side and Opal on the other. At first, I thought they were watching something on a tablet, but then I realized she was holding a thin book with bright illustrations.

"These little ones are ours," Mac said, "and the older girl is Clementine, our friends'—"

"Clementine is our friend," I interrupted.

"Our friend, yes." Mac grinned at me. I got the impression he was teasing me, but I could be friends with a four-year-old kobold if I wanted.

Clementine was more than Punky and Lark's daughter to me. She'd shown me anything was possible, even breaking my paragon's curse.

Maybe my proximity to Punky during his pregnancy had nothing to do with her birth, but I liked to think she was my gift to The Spike, to show them what was possible. Now, we also had the gift of Opal. Already, three omegas at The Spike had hatched female eggs since Opal.

With the curse broken, there would be even more female hatchlings and beta mates. We had plenty of time to discover what that meant for both kobolds and dragons, starting with the days-long reunion party already underway.

Clementine shook Papa's hand with a solemn nod when I introduced him. She had just turned four years old (eight in human years, according to Punky, who had based it on a child development handbook from Earth), and already she was taller than my kobold father. It would have been easy to believe he was no different from the other beta kobolds of his time. Now, everyone but our two children towered over him.

"Are we taking the dragon bus to the other side of the pavilion?" Clementine asked. "Lux wanted us to meet up with them."

"I would like to see my other children," Papa said, though he frowned at my paragon's proximity.

"They want to see you," Clementine whispered.

"Not Rain. They'll wish I hadn't come."

"You don't know until you talk to them." Mac hoisted Slate onto his shoulders and lifted Opal from the bench, balancing her against his hip.

I lowered my neck to the ground again to give Mac and Papa better access to pull themselves onto my back. Slate and Opal were already adept at climbing, and Clementine scrambled up my side without help.

It was much faster for me to walk and carry them to where my paragon and siblings stood across the pavilion from us. Paragon scoured the crowd, smoke pouring from their nostrils. I knew they could sense Papa getting closer, but they didn't know where he was.

"Stay on my back. Papa. Hold Slate in your arms."

"They won't hurt me," he grumbled.

Slate moved to protect him anyway, their little claws digging into the soft flesh between my scales.

"Look who dared to show up." Paragon's voice rumbled across the last twenty yards. Sensing their fury, the kobolds mingling around them hastened to the food stands along the edge.

"Papa?" Lux squinted at the kobolds on my back. "Slate's almost as big as you!"

I heard our papa snicker as I slowed. Mac patted my shoulder to be let down, but I wouldn't let them debark, not yet.

"You can be civil," I said. "No fire, and no swearing." I added the last part for Opal's benefit. She had picked up a few curse words from someone whose name started with M and ended with C, though my dear mate tried to blame Punky. When Mac then claimed she learned them from Clementine, I burst out laughing and almost lit the playroom on fire.

I did not want a fire here today, not after all Axel's hard work to build this beautiful pavilion for me. For us. This was a place for everyone at The Spike to come together. My paragon and siblings hadn't yet earned their place.

"There will be smoke," my paragon said. "And some selective word choice."

Good enough. Papa was the first to slide from my back, followed by Clementine, who helped both babies down my wing and led them beneath me, where I could shield them with my body if needed.

Mac stood by my side, his hand still on my wing as though considering climbing back aboard for a quick exit.

"Goff." Paragon lowered their head at an angle so they could sniff him from his feet to the tips of his ears. "You smell the same." They sank to the ground to see him better. "I've … missed you."

Papa staggered on his feet at the words, and I had to blink a couple of times to confirm I wasn't dreaming. Mac clasped his hands to his chest the way he did when watching a heartfelt movie scene.

"You did?"

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