Page 25 of Delinquent Dette (Empty Nests #7)

Sten

Frikka was an attentive nester. Always had been. Maybe always would be.

Torfi and Fjallarr had hung around, determined to see their new grandpups. Sten had a hunch it was to see if they managed to make another bicolored pup. Frikka thought it was just to annoy him. Either could be the case. Torfi was hard to read.

The two eggs had developed in the two months since their laying. They were sharing more complex thoughts, liking warmth from Frikka more than Sten. Loving when many Dettes nested together. They liked Leo and loved when Peter or Jasper came.

Watching Jasper attentively snuggling their eggs made Sten’s heart ache for his son.

He so badly wanted to find his mate, but anxiety kept him from leaving his private space much.

He’d been pursued by Drakes hard in his youth and fearfully hidden since.

Shui had been introducing Jasper to single Drakes on and off, and it was largely a failure.

Horny bastards didn’t know how to just have a conversation.

Sten knew how to have a conversation…and be a horny bastard. But one was more important on a first meeting. Jasper just wanted to be a papa so very badly.

Sten’s phone rang that afternoon as he was in the kitchen, making bread yet again .

He’d have rather been doing the bread with Frikka, or was it making bread…

He never could get the saying quite right.

Frikka wasn’t ready, though. He’d healed, but his nerves had made him a little too anxious to enjoy sexy times.

Sten answered the phone, tilting his shoulder to the receiver. “Hey, Sten. I have a huge favor.” It was Suyin.

“Hmm?” Sten struck a lame across the surface of the bread before sprinkling some sesame seeds for effect.

“Frikka’s the only other one set up for it and is already nesting… The Drakes found a nest in the wilds. Dette didn’t make it.” Suyin sounded anxious. “They really need a nester.”

Sten hissed under his breath. “I’ll ask Frikka, but he’ll likely say yes. Rolf has an egg, too.”

“They’re related to him somehow. He got one sniff and nearly had a panic attack. We tried them with a stag couple and they’re just not thriving, either.” Suyin sighed heavily.

“One moment.” Sten trumped across the kitchen and shouted down the steps, phone still pinched to his ear with his shoulder to keep his dough-covered fingers off the screen. “Dette!”

“There better be bread behind that shout!”

“I’ll bread you later!”

“Breed!” Frikka’s correction made more sense.

“It’s going in the oven in a minute. Suyin called and has some eggs from the wilds that aren’t doing good. Nester passed on and they’re just not thriving.” Sten waited at the top of the stairs.

“How many?” Frikka called up.

“He wants to know how many,” Sten asked, listening for Suyin’s response.

“Three.”

“He says three!” Sten waited for a response.

“Bring them over. Nest has room.” Frikka’s voice didn’t carry a hint one way or the other in his opinion, but Sten knew he would do the right thing.

“He says bring them.” Sten went back to his bread, ready to transfer it to the oven. He grabbed the preheating Dutch oven with his bare hand—being a dragon had perks, and slid the bread inside before popping it back in.

“Ok. We’re on our way. Save some bread for me.” Suyin started, then halted. “The gluten kind, not the—”

“I would not bread you for any amount of gold. It would be a race between Frikka or Sile that would kill me if Bryn or Shui didn’t find me first.” Sten snorted and Suyin hung up.

Sourdough took too long to prepare more bread on short notice, but he’d just have to tell Frikka to share…but that would leave the Dettes insufficiently bread . He snorted at his own joke.

By the time the loaf came out of the oven, plopped onto the counter, and wrapped in a towel to cool, the doorbell rang, and Sten shuffled over to let Suyin in.

In his arms was a basket, three Slang eggs nestled in them. Sten reached out to touch the surface of each of them and received a hiss of displeasure through their bonds. They did not like a strange Drake touching them.

“Carry them down.” Sten jerked his shoulder toward the hall, in the direction of their vault.

Sten pulled out a serrated knife and committed the cardinal sin—cut into still-hot bread. They’d eat it too fast to matter, anyway.

He sawed into the crust with a delicate crunch and relished the scent that overpowered him. The crumb of the texture came out perfectly with evenly spaced open cells that never quite went through a slice. An utter shame to cut it so soon.

He put the bread on a tray, added the butter dish on the side, a knife, and added some sliced cheese of some cheddar variety they sold at the grocery store. Charcuterie? Nah. Snacks? Definitely.

He piled up a few drinks onto the tray and shuffled his way downstairs.

When he arrived, Suyin and Frikka had the Slang eggs nestled in against his belly and his own right with them.

“How are they responding?” Sten approached the nest with the tray held out and sat it by the Dettes with practiced ease.

“Better. I think they’re just tired.” Suyin stroked the shells and backed up a little before Frikka, in his dragon form, nuzzled at each of the eggs with a hot breath.

Hello, babies. You must be very scared. Frikka nuzzled them one by one again, eyes closed as if he were listening.

I’m sure the world is scary. You’ve had lots of cold and your papa went away and so many strangers.

You will be strong, happy little pups one day, I promise. There will be so much warmth and love.

“And bread.” Sten stole a slice and sat nearby, not close enough to frighten the babes. Eggs were sensitive to other dragons about.

Their two little eggs perked up with little fleeting notes of excitement and joy.

As far as they knew, there were more siblings in the nest to join them!

Frikka nuzzled his own eggs, too, before adjusting his body and folding himself around them with a purr of contentment.

Suyin, head tilted, closed his eyes and reached for one of the eggs, listening with a wry smile. “They’re calming quickly.”

They need a Dette to purr, to tell them they are safe.

Slang Dettes do not purr much, which affects their clutches.

See? Happy little pups. Frikka blew warm air over the tops of their shells and sighed once before shifting back, tucking a blanket neatly around the mixed clutch. “Sleeping, just as they should be.”

Suyin sighed, years coming off of his tired face as he leaned back and gestured at Frikka to take some bread.

Instead of dressing, Frikka wrapped a blanket around his hips and reached for a slice.

Suyin knew better than to take the first slice—even if he was a guest and entitled.

One did not take food from a nesting Dette.

So, when Frikka gestured for Suyin to take a piece, he did so with gusto and a little whimper of pleasure.

“Going to have to hit the gym extra tomorrow for this.” Suyin had more of his Drake father’s build, stockier and prone to carrying a little extra weight.

Bryn would never complain, and truth told, even when gravid, the male had looked fit to eat.

Despite this, he had his own standards and struggled a little bit less with his softer features these days.

Sten, for as callous as he could be, only chuckled. “Eat as much or as little as you like. Your mate looks at you like you own the moon and I do not see that changing over a little bread.”

“I think it is hung the moon ,” Suyin said through a mouth full of bread.

“Nah, we’re dragons. Own it.” Sten grinned. He knew better than to compliment the Dette’s body or call attention to anything. The best policy was to remind him of his Drake’s interest. It did the trick, it seemed, as Suyin reached for a second slice and beamed.

“Mh! Speaking of owning the moon. Powel is ranking up! He started this new venture where he’s taking the shitty dildos and doing a revenge-mail-type thing where he ships them in form-fitting packages, so it’s really obvious what’s in there.

People are eating it up!” Suyin grabbed a slice of cheese and checked on the eggs, satisfied with whatever he felt.

“He got that idea from me.” Frikka sniffed imperiously. “Also, send people bugbeds and the crabs.”

Suyin frowned. “Why would you send people crabs?”

Sten rolled his eyes. “Apparently, humans get infested with crabs on their penises and aren’t smart enough to get rid of them easily, so they spread them about.”

“Hold on. Leo would know more about this. I do not think humans get crustacean infestations.” Suyin pulled out his phone and dialed. It rang a few times before a voice answered.

“Leo, Sten was telling me humans get crabs.” Suyin’s brow furrowed as Leo yammered on the other end. “Ah…”

“Okay. Thanks!” Suyin nodded and made some interested noises. “Oh! Okay. That makes a lot more sense. That’s all! And yes, the eggs are in Frikka’s nest and they’re happy as can be, for now.”

Suyin hummed a bit and gave Leo a quick farewell before hanging up. “He says that it is not crabs, like real crabs. It’s lice that only infects the hair on their junk .”

“Junk?” Frikka tilted his head.

“Well, of course, human genitals are junk! Dragon ones are far superior!” Suyin huffed and enjoyed some butter on another slice of bread. “Bryn’s is, at any rate. I’ve had some bad Drake dick…”

“Eh.” Frikka made a hand gesture. “Sten’s is good.”

“I’ve had a few Drake dicks…they’re okay. Never had a human one.” Sten thought about it as Frikka cleared his throat.

“Frikka probably has a lot to compare yours to.” Suyin nodded happily.

“Eh… No.” Frikka cleared his throat before muttering under his breath.

“What?” Suyin perked up, brows raised high.

“Only Sten’s!” Frikka rubbed his hand over his face. “Seen a few… Never got that far with another.”

That surprised Sten. He figured Frikka had other lovers. “What about Dettes?”

Frikka shrugged. “That doesn’t count. Sometimes a Dette needs help through… You know.”

Suyin hissed and nodded. “Yes, a Dette is a good alternative if you do not wish to risk a clutch.”

“How’s Dette cock measure up?” Sten couldn’t hide the smile that wrenched his lips, nor the pleasant heat that spanned his face. The only Drake to have ever conquered that particular mountain!

“Eh,” Suyin and Frikka said simultaneously before laughing.

“I think the little ones are in good hands. We’ll look about finding permanent placement for them, but if you could nest with them, it’d be much appreciated.” Suyin stood and stretched before grabbing a slice of bread and headed out.

Frikka pulled the cover back and inspected the eggs, his face a stretch of pride. A nest of five—just like their first. Sten buried the hurt and smiled. The bond he shared with Frikka nearly sang between them. They were happy.