Page 22 of Omega Captive of the Golden Dragon (Alpha Dragons #3)

CAYLEN

I liked Val a little more after the day of his belated visit. He stayed for lunch, then left with the new goods to sell to his buyers. I was sad to see the sculptures go. They were all so amazing, including the little wolf.

Varik was still in protective mode and wouldn’t let me too far out of his sight all day. He made sure I rested, that I was warm and fed and hydrated. A storm was coming so we had a fire burning all day. We watched made popcorn, watched movies and played games.

After dinner that night, he took my hand and led me back to the couch.

“We have to talk.” Varik patted the cushion beside him.

I hopped up, grabbed a pillow and put it in his lap, then lay my head back and gazed up at him as my insides went all warm and funny.

“Okay. I’m ready. Talk about what?”

“I’ll get straight to the point. You realize I may have gotten you pregnant.”

My mouth dropped open. I could only nod in shock.

“I’ve lived alone for so long I never gave any prospect to protection. I’ve never had to. I wasn’t thinking when you went into heat.”

“Neither was I.” I rubbed at my face. “My parents put me on birth control when I was sixteen. I had them in my pack when I came here but when it was delivered they were missing. I didn’t care, really.

I knew I was put up for auction for breeding and no one would ever let me have them back. After a while, I forgot about it.”

“I would have helped.”

“I know, but we weren’t talking much at that time.” I made a face, then smiled up at him.

“We have to discuss the fact that we might have a baby.”

I surprised myself that I actually liked the idea. “I would be honored.”

“You would want my child?”

“Very much.” I turned my face into him and kissed him just below the rib cage on his sweater. “Would you want a kid?”

“I confess I’ve never once thought about it. Until now.”

“And?” I asked.

“I would love our child.”

The overflow of emotion came fast. My eyes grew hot. “Would he be a golden dragon like you?”

“It would be very rare, but it could happen.” Varik sighed. “It would be very hard on him.”

“But he’d have good parents. Parents who protected him forever,” I said.

Varik put both arms around me and hugged my head to his chest. I inhaled his winter forest scent.

“Yes. He would.” Varik stroked the back of my head.

Later, we went upstairs. For the first time, Varik took me to his bedroom and invited me into his big, soft bed. He was afraid to make love to me through intercourse because I was still tender from my heat, but we found other ways to pleasure each other.

Our bond grew even more that night, like a light inside my head; all the corners and spaces left empty by my lack of a beast were being filled up.

The next day a storm raged, and we barely noticed. We were focused on each other. On being together.

At dinner, I sat across from his place as usual, waiting for him to bring in the last dish. He set it down, then went to a cupboard by the door and brought out a little package. He set it on my plate.

It had been neatly wrapped in soft blue paper and was tied with a gold string. I reached out and ran my hands over the paper. “What’s this?”

“For you.” He sat, never taking his eyes off me. “Open it.”

I untied the string and carefully took off the paper. The box was thin, white cardboard with a lid. I opened it to see white tissue paper on top. When I removed that, there it was a flash of gold.

The little wolf.

I took it from the box and held it cupped in my hands. Then I put my hands to my chest and looked up. Varik was blurred. Hot lines burned at my cheeks. Hadn’t I cried enough in this place?

“It’s for you,” Varik said softly.

My voice shook. “Thank you.” I tried not to sob.

“I made it a few days after you arrived.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I want you to have it.”

“It’s incredible. So gorgeous and detailed.”

“I made it for you. It was always yours.”

I blinked through my tears. “Always? Even that early on?”

“Yes. I might have been in denial as to where we, as roommates, were headed, but maybe even then I had the stirrings of an alpha protector. You seemed so lonely. When I was at my worst, I’d always had my beast with me.

I was never truly alone. Now you have that.

It can represent him, your beast, wherever he is. ”

Only someone who’d experienced a loss of everything, who had felt and suffered the same way I had, would understand that. Only someone with the biggest heart would have thought to make this present for me.

All through dinner, I didn’t want to let the little sculpture out of my hand.

That night, the storm had blown over. The yard was left with dunes of snow all the way to the road. Varik dressed me in my warmest clothes, then walked naked outside and shifted under the houselights.

I gasped to see such beauty, the dragon of myth come to life, so tall and huge it was like his head touched the stars. I watched in awe as he cleared the driveway with his magnificent fire all the way down to the gate.

He returned and lowered his head to me where I stood on the steps.

I ran my hands over his snout and walked around his head touching the sides up to his ears and his neck.

The scales were shining like the sun even in darkness.

There was really no hiding his beauty when he was like this, and so sad his very existence was a danger to himself because of other bad dragons and men out in the world.

He would never fly. It simply wasn’t safe.

Varikan made little groans of delight as I petted him. He was a giant beast, but so gentle and loving with me. He kept puffing air out his nostrils at me, making me giggle.

That night was the night I always thought of as the finalization of our bond. I had bonded with the human. Now I got to bond with the dragon.

New deliveries came the next day, and with them was a pack of pregnancy tests.

My hands were shaking as I took the test. Varik stood nervously by the door, giving me privacy.

I came out with the stick in a towel. I set it on the bed. We stood holding hands and looking down at it. Finally, I saw the plus sign start to fade in.

I yanked on his hand. “It’s positive!”

“Are we sure?”

“Look!” I pointed.

Varik turned to me and hugged me, lifting me off the floor. “You’re pregnant.”

“We’re having a baby.”

We celebrated with whoops and hollers. I could barely believe it. We’d known each other such a short time, but there was no one else I ever wanted to be with, to have a child with.

We began planning immediately. The house had other spare rooms which were never used. We picked one together and began creating a nursery. It was so much fun. We became lost in time preparing for our baby. And lost in each other.

Weeks passed and I realized Varik hadn’t been working.

One day I said to him, “Are you keeping up with your art?”

“I can do that any time. Right now, this is what I want. Spending time with you.”

We were definitely still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship. We wanted to spend all our time together. We wanted to make love a lot, which I never got tired of.

Over time, we discussed everything. Varikan had finally been convinced to no longer harm himself.

Varik would work only with naturally shed scales.

Also, Varik wanted to investigate new materials for his work.

Since I was so into minerals and geology, he asked me to help him research that.

It was something we could do together for his art.

In my second trimester, I started to show. Varik would give me rubdowns to comfort me, paying close attention to the baby bump. His attentiveness never stopped. I loved it.

One night he was rubbing my belly with my shirt pushed up and the baby moved.

“I felt that,” he said.

“Me too. Big time. That’s incredible.”

The baby kicked again.

“There he goes again.”

“Yes.” Varik leaned down and kissed my belly button. “You’re incredible, growing life like that inside of you.”

“You contributed,” I accused.

He laughed. It was easy for him to laugh now. It filled the house. The entire atmosphere was changed. When I’d first come here, though it was lovely, the home had a dark mood no matter how many lights were on. The silence might have offered peace, but it also spoke of rigid sorrow.

Now, everything was light and open. Airy. We had brought each other love. A bond. And purpose.

My pregnancy was a healthy one. I never got sick. I always felt happy. And quite horny. Varik loved taking care of all my needs.

When I got too big to easily take the stairs, Varik would carry me. I loved his tenderness. His gentle nature.

In the past, Val had been the only one Varik would allow into his home. But for me, he did allow a doctor to visit. Twice. I knew he paid dearly for the house call all the way up in our mountain retreat, but he had the money. And his concern for me superseded all else.

The doctor was a good friend of Val. He was trusted but knew nothing of why Varik and I lived the way we did. He didn’t ask, either. He did his job and was paid well. I was in such great care.

One day, Varik said to me, “Do you ever want to contact your parents and let them know?”

I had one word as my answer. “No.”

One morning, a deep pain doubled me over. I pretended it was nothing. When it happened again, I realized I was going into labor.

Varik called the doctor who said he was on his way, but it would take him six hours to make the drive. Having read all about labor and giving birth, I said, “We have time.”

Most births took hours. Some omegas’ labor lasted days.

But our baby came fast, like he couldn’t wait to be here. I’d barely had time to settle in before I doubled over and he gushed into Varik’s waiting hands. Varik did everything. He checked him out all over. He cleaned him. He wrapped him and gave him to me to hold.

Our child. At last. Our miracle little dragon.

“Well?” Varik asked, sitting next to me on the freshly changed sheets.

“Well, what?”

“His name. Have you decided?”

We’d discussed it several times and whittled it down to three. Aiden. Kahlio. Draden.

I looked into our child’s eyes. They were light blue, full of light. “What do you think?”

Varik leaned in, kissing first the baby on the cheek, then me. “He looks like a Kahlio. Do you think?”

“Kahlio. I love how it sounds. And it’s special, like him.”

Varik took the baby from me, making cooing sounds. He rocked him gently, smiling. “Welcome to the world, Kahlio.”