Page 39 of Our Haunted Omegas
“I know he did something so that no one knows whether you’re the heir or your brothers. What does that mean for our kids?” I asked.
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that for a long time,” Cobalt said, squeezing my hand and walking again. “For that to happen, my grandparents would have to die, and my parents, and me and both of my brothers. Or at the very least be incapacitated.”
“So like any kid any of you have would be---” I tried to put the puzzle pieces together.
“We don’t worry about it a lot but we’ve talked about it in the past. Probably the eldest from each of us. We don’t do the whole heir and a spare thing. Not even my grandparents did it. Sunny wasn’t born to be the spare. He was born because my grandcarrier wanted another baby. We’ll all do what we can but yeah, technically, any of our kids might end up in line to be the next flight leader.”
“People might want to go to war with my babies,” I frowned.
“Not if they know what’s good for them,” Cobalt said and squeezed my hand. “If that changes your mind about kids, I get it. I’ve thought about what would happen if I was with someonewho couldn’t have kids and adoption is okay. I want a family. Between you and me, I’m not reproducing to carry on some family legacy. Outside of Frost and Juda pushing their way into the Other World and letting the true-mate magic come over here, I don’t think a lot of it is worth replicating.”
I grinned. The Moonscales had led the flight for as long as anyone could remember. They led the flight since our founders Frost and Juda moved on and their kids took over. Their twins went their separate ways and because of that we had a dragon flight. Well, technically, I’d have descended from the other side of that line. The wolfy side but it was all so mixed together that no one knew their elbows from the assholes these days.
“I love my flight. I love the pack too. I’d fight to protect either if it came down to it but I’d never have a kid and say ‘this is on your shoulders now.’ We got lucky. Our carrier wasn’t having any of that bullshit. He’s over the moon at what Teal’s doing. He’s already thinking about our mating feast. He’ll wait until everything calms down of course but we’ll have a feast. Maybe two if my grandcarrier has his way.”
“You’re going to make me hungry,” I laughed.
“Do we need to go back?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“Not yet. I’m okay. I have snacks in my pockets too. Habit from the war.”
“Mate, I have snacks in my pockets and my carrier would never let me near a boxing match much less a war,” he teased.
I patted his pockets, feeling out what he brought to eat through his pants. He had a couple of protein bars and what felt like a bag of gummy snacks. I reached inside and took out the latter.
“All blue,” I said, holding up the bag in the dim light of the setting sun.
Further away from us back at the house the hot tub started up and Cobalt and I exchanged a hopeful look.
“And all yours if you’re hungry,” he added a second later.
“I’ll share. I’m not stingy.”
“I like to see you eat.”
“In a dragon provider way or in a kinky way?” I asked, opening the bag.
“The first but you’re always nice to look at,” he said and grabbed my butt.
I swerved to avoid his hand but wasn’t fast enough. Clutching the bag in one hand I tried to grab him back but he dodged, hopping over a root sticking up in the path and catching my waist when I didn’t step over it in time. I blinked away the edges of the flash back that tried to invade my mind. Tripping was a death sentence back when…
“Have a gummy dragon,” Cobalt said, sliding a single finger into the bag of candy and pulling one out, the tail hooked onto his finger. He dangled it into my mouth and I tried not to laugh as I sucked it in.
“Cherry?!”
“They’re all blue but they’re not blue flavored,” he laughed, shoving one into his own mouth.
A twig snapped somewhere in front of us and Cobalt shoved me behind him like a polar bear might charge out of the bushes and gobble me up. A shadow shifted, almost human, but not quite. He stepped forward, his hand still behind him on my side. I walked with him, my ears straining until we reached the bushes. The shadow was gone but Cobalt still breathed smoke into the bush to chase out any would-be stalkers. Then he squatted down ruffling through the foliage and came up empty handed.
“I think the shadows are playing with us,” I said, grabbing his butt now that I knew there was no threat except the setting sun playing tricks on us.
“Sometimes back home trauma brings wraiths,” he squinted into the forest.
“Not me. I’ve seen priests at the temple of Juda. I’ve had my aura cleansed and all that. Ambry too. Believe me, if there were wraiths following me around, I’d know. I sit in the dark a lot.”
“Okay,” he said, not sounding fully convinced but he took my hand and started walking again.
His jaw was tight, and I fought off the urge to offer him a massage. I didn’t want my naked knees or ass on this part of the forest floor. Too many pointy weeds waited to pierce my butt cheek and make friends with the shrapnel.
