Page 18

Our Bond

Deke

P retty much the day after we moved into our new home, I knew I was going to have to ask Ozyn if he was ready to bond. I couldn’t take it any longer. Sure, we’d been doing stuff, but the constant tugging on the bond was becoming overwhelming.

The last month with him had been great. We’d moved on from handjobs to daily blow jobs. Frotting happened on occasion. My mate was open to touching and being touched. I loved every minute with him, even if we had shit to deal with in the pack.

Kade was pregnant, which was fantastic news. Truly it was. This time we were all relieved to hear it was just one baby. He and Blake were excited to bring their little one into the world. Ozyn had said Kade was fertile, they had chosen not to believe how easy it would be for Kade to get pregnant again. The Luna had blessed them once more. It did have Larken panicking about Dalton’s upcoming heat.

Our meal with them was put off with one disaster after another. More calls to the police about us. The new mayor got involved, too. Luckily the new mayor was part of the supernatural community herself. The nymph was Shelby’s cousin.

This was good news at least since it meant she was probably good. Shelby was well liked in the pack because she ran the cider factory like a dream. She had previously worked with Kade, coming to step in when the betas were asleep with the sickness, and kept things going smoothly. If her cousin was anything like Shelby then things were golden.

Amara, Shelby’s cousin, had reached out to us to ensure a smooth takeover. I liked the woman. She wasn’t one for bullshit and compliments. I had a folder of evidence against the aviary sent to her office. The aviary were sent a notice they were being audited in return.

Should have been the end of it. They should have scaled down, or even stopped their attacks. Instead they got more violent, sending more shifters to attack us and steal the babies. All unsuccessful, but stressful to live through.

Once more I offered to step back from my job because I was worried for Ozyn. He was making great strides in his therapy sessions with Georgia and her colleague, but it was a lot. I worried the stress would trigger a backslide.

I shouldn’t have doubted him though. He took it well, often supporting me alongside enforcers while we dealt with the issues.

A few times Ozyn had to take to the skies to scare off flocks of birds ready to descend on the pack! Of course, no sooner was he in scales than the police were calling to check he was still in our territory. Me and that cop, Hernandez, were getting pretty friendly. We were speaking more often than I talked with some of my friends!

Honestly, it was exhausting, but like Blake said, life had to go on for us. We couldn’t put things on hold until the aviary decided to play nice.

Hence the move.

It was needed. We had to have a space that felt like ours, not my sad bachelor pad. Dalton and Kade had both helped Ozyn pick out new clothes and stuff for our house. He was determined for it always to be light and airy inside. No one questioned him on it. His sons had brought jewels and gifts to celebrate our upcoming mating, so he could afford anything he wanted.

Watching Ozyn dress in a slim fitting shirt and nicely tailored slacks, I couldn’t help but appreciate the gift The Luna had given me in my mate. On the outside he was fully healed from his imprisonment. He’d put on weight, his skin had a healthy glow, his curly hair shone in the afternoon light.

He was a vision.

After we went to dinner with Larken and Dalton, I was asking Ozyn if he wanted to bond. I couldn’t put it off any longer. My wolf longed to sink our teeth into Ozyn’s neck, mark him as ours, making sure everyone knew he was taken. I’d proudly wear his mark. Did dragons mark?

“Ozzy? Do dragons bite their mates?”

Instead of answering, he rolled his eyes at me.

Okay, fine, it was probably a stupid question. He hadn’t said anything about bonding being different between dragons and shifters.

“You look nice. You ready?”

He looked me up and down. “Is that what you’re wearing?”

I resisted a laugh. It was good he was getting snippy. It was a sure sign he was comfortable with me and the lack of solid bond was affecting him too.

“Don’t you like it?”

His eyes roved my form, his cheeks flushed. “I prefer the other shirt. It brings out the color of your eyes.”

Maybe I pretended I couldn’t undo the buttons. “Could you help?”

Ozyn’s breathing picked up as he undid each button. The color on his cheeks and the way he couldn’t take his eyes off my chest was gratifying. The thrum of need pulsed between us. If it wasn’t for the dinner party, we would be staying home for the next few days.

Once my chest was exposed, Ozyn had to step away to adjust himself.

Still half naked, I came up behind him, encircling him with my head on his. “How about we take things further when we get home?”

“Further?”

Better to give him time to get used to the idea.

“I want to bond with you later. We have the next couple of days off. People will deliver food if you go into heat.”

“Do you want me to?”

“Huh?” His question confused me.

“Dragons can use their magic to stall a heat. I go into heat when I choose to.”

“What?” I tightened my hold on him in my surprise. He let out a little grunt. I let go, but he held fast to me. “Even with a mating bite?”

Ozyn frowned. “Have I not said this before?” I shook my head. “Dragons control their heat cycles. Though, I am not sure if a mating bite between a shifter and dragon will have the same effect. It’s possible I will still have control on whether I give you my heat or not.”

“No.” Mind blown! They could control it? “I’m sure Aldrin doesn’t know either. He’s literally looking for a safer way to repress heats for shifters.”

“Oh. He has asked for my blood before. Could that be why?”

“No, Ozzy. If he knew you could do this, he’d be beating down the door trying to figure it out with your help. Kade nearly lost his wolf, hell, his life because of heat blockers.”

“Oh!” I watched him process that information. “Well, after we bond… or do we have time to give a sample before our dinner?”

“I’ll give him a call and ask, okay?” I rocked Ozyn in my arms, moving him towards the bedroom where the shirt he wanted me to wear was waiting on the bed. “But I need to check. Do you want to have a heat? It isn’t necessary for us to bond. I think we’ll both feel better once we do, but a heat isn’t needed.”

“Do you want children?”

My movements stilled. Did I want them? I imagined Ozyn round with my babies. There would be at least two because one was unlucky, right? In my mind he was massive, his stomach so big he couldn’t see his feet! He glowed with health and happiness. Then there were the babies. They all looked like him except for one, they looked like me.

Babies, my wolf agreed. We want babies.

Sure thing, I said to both Ozyn and my wolf using the pack link and my soul-bond. Babies.

“Then I will give you my heat.”

“Aldrin has agreed to meet us here,” I said, putting my phone away to knock on the door. “Hope they don’t mind.” Larken and Dalton’s house was only a little down the street from us. When we had babies, it would be useful for Ozyn to have friends nearby when I was at work.

Unless he wanted to work and I stayed home. Something we needed to discuss. We were talking about having kids, our priorities were shifting. My injury had made me more cautious. Maybe not cautious enough. What if I got badly hurt again? Maybe it was time to seriously think about not being Head Enforcer anymore. Not just the vague offers I’d suggested to Ozyn. Really think it through. Put my family first.

Either way, with multiple babies, a nanny would be a good idea. I wasn’t sure if he would like an elf one. Maybe Safi since Ozyn trusted him and they had history.

I liked that idea. Safi was taking guard duties, but he struck me as someone who didn’t like to fight. With the regular attacks and inter-pack issues which always came up, he might not be suited to that job. I’d take a moment to ask him after I broached it with Ozyn.

Ingal, Dalton’s friend and their nanny, opened the door to us with one of the raccoon babies in his arms. “Hello, dinner is nearly ready. Come through, please.”

Ozyn automatically put his hands out for the straining baby. Ingal handed him over readily. My mate looked even sweeter with the little kit in his arms. To think he could be holding our own baby in a few short months was astounding.

My mate was a miracle. To go from the hell he had been in to offering to have children with me in only a few short months… I couldn’t wrap my head around his resilience.

I needed to show him how much I loved him.

We followed Ingal into the open kitchen-dining area where Larken was already plating up food at the stove. Dalton was wrangling the other babies, his ferret, Spice, on his shoulder. Priscilla watched everything from a cat tree in the corner one of the babies was trying to climb.

Dalton smiled at us both. “Hi. Gimme a sec to put these little ones in their playpen.”

“I forgot to ask, sorry, but Aldrin is coming over.”

“Um,” Dalton shared a look with his mate.

“Not to eat! He’s coming to take a blood sample from Ozyn.”

“I am not ill,” Ozyn assured our friends when their eyes widened. “Deke tells me Aldrin has been looking for a way to block heats without the side effects Kade suffered through.”

Dalton winced. “Yeah, that was bad. He looked like you did when you first arrived.” Another wince. “Fuck! that was rude. I’m sorry!”

Larken dropped what he was doing to come to his mate’s side. He rubbed his back and whispered too low for us to hear. The babies took that as their chance to scatter. Ingal scooped each one up and put them in the playpen.

I realized why it had a roof when the raccoon babies climbed to the top. The pillows also made sense when they fell. Were dragon babies this hard work? Would ours be shifters or dragons?

Ozyn’s smile was reassuring. “No. It gives me a point of reference. Kade must have been very ill.”

“He really was,” I said, taking Ozyn’s hand and leading him to the table. “Any seat?”

“Yeah,” Lark returned to the food. “Anywhere is fine.” He added a heaping serving to a plate before he asked. “Aldrin thinks you’ve got a way of stopping heats, Ozyn?”

“That’d be so handy. I can’t take blockers because they’re so bad and won’t work on me because of my super healing. I’m due to go into heat in a couple weeks already!”

“Yeah. We don’t know how potions will work either.”

The doorbell rang. “Probably Aldrin now.” Ingal went to open the door. He returned with the healer and his mate in tow. I should have known they’d both come.

“Ah, you’re just about to have dinner. We’ll keep this short, but I do require an explanation.”

Ozyn launched into it while Aldrin and James drew out the materials they needed to take his blood.

“Dragons, deltas and omegas, have always had the magic to gift their heats to their chosen partners. A heat usually has a more successful outcome when given freely. Yet, it can take a few heats with a partner until we become pregnant.”

The healers listened to every word with interest.

“We hold them back with our magic. It’s literally in our blood. From maturity we learn how to bring it forward or hold it back. Without magic we are forced to endure a cycle much like shifters. Forced heats are nowhere near as successful. Their pregnancies often end before roosting.”

“I badly want to ask about roosting, but dinner is waiting,” James said cheerfully. “Dakota is cooking for us, too. I need to check that you’re giving this blood freely and you consent to us testing it?”

“I do.”

“Would you be willing to provide other samples at a later date?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. This shouldn’t hurt.” James was skilled with a needle. I knew this first-hand. Ozyn didn’t even flinch when the needle slid into his vein. He watched them take four vials of blood.

“Thank you.” Aldrin laid his hands on Ozyn’s shoulders when it was done. “This is remarkable. I hope we can find something in your blood to help our shifters have control of their cycles. It would be revolutionary for omegas everywhere.”

They left soon after, letting us eat. The food was delicious and Ozyn looked radiant. Conversation was easy with our friends. Ingal, while still shy, slowly came out of his shell around my mate, but more often than not, he stayed with the children.

“Your animal soul is forming,” Ozyn whispered to the elf as they held the Komodo dragon babies, they were much more chill than the raccoons I was play wrestling with into diapers. “Your bond with the babies is so pure.”

“You can see it?” Ingal’s eyes filled with tears when Ozyn nodded.

“There’s a light around you I can see with my dragon sight. It’s your owl. They are nearly ready for your change. It could be some months yet, but it is coming. Continue as you are.”

Ingal wrapped an arm around Ozyn, smooshing Ozyn’s face into his chest. Smaller than some of the elves, Ingal was still considered tall by human standards. He was slightly taller than me.

“Thank you so much!” I could smell his tears.

“Now that I have made Ingal cry, I think we should go home or we might not be invited back!”

“Here!” I brandished a baby at Larken. “I’m taking a few days off.”

He took the child with a grin. “Finally bonding? Hope it all goes well!”

Dalton hugged Ozyn goodbye. “Hopefully you’ll be announcing a baby next.”

“I think I would like at least four babies. The largest clutch was eleven.”

“Eleven?” Larken cried. “Hell no!”

My thoughts exactly.

Ozyn was serene walking beside me on the way home. “We do not have to have that many children. I can focus on keeping our clutch small if you prefer.” Clearly, he had picked up on some of my worry. My mate was intuitive like that.

“Um…” What was the right answer here? I wanted babies with Ozyn, just not a soccer team’s worth of them! “Maybe we should let nature take its course. The Luna and your Great Drakon have been pretty kind to us so far.”

“My mate is wise. I look forward to our bonding.”

“Me too. Do you want a shower first?” I unlocked the door and entered the house, leaving the early evening light to illuminate the space.

He didn’t answer, just pushed me against the wall, went to his tiptoes, and kissed me soundly.

When we broke apart, he started stripping there in the doorway. “I don’t want to wait any longer. I want your bite and for you to fill me up.”

“Demanding. I like it.”

My clothes landed next to his.

“Come here, mate.”

He came into my arms easily. Our lips met once more, the passion between us building. I hiked him higher, so his legs wrapped around my waist, and carried him to our bedroom.

There, I laid him down on the bed. “I want to bite you first, is that okay?” I pressed kisses along his throat and jaw.

“Hmm, yes, please.”

“Good.” Kissing and licking the spot, I let the tension build before I spoke the words to bind us together. “I, Deke Sweetwater, take you Ozyn Drakonvar as my fated mate. To protect and love until my dying day.”

My fangs extended, parting the flesh of his neck easily. His rich, hot blood burst on my tongue. The magic in that mouthful was incredible. My wolf howled at his first true glimpse of the dragon.

Ours.

The bond formed, waiting for Ozyn’s mark to complete us.