Page 20 of The Dragon’s Emberlinked Mate (Dragon Flight Academy #3)

Emmen

Rhythe was already home when I arrived. As usual, I flew in through the balcony window, shifted immediately to my human form, threw on my clothes that waited there, and went in search of my mate.

There were days I skipped the clothing step, but I could hear a vacuum in the distance, and the staff didn’t need to witness how happy I was to see my mate. They were paid well, but not that well.

I found Rhythe resting in the nest room, which was attached to the main bedroom.

It always struck me as odd that these huge mansions included nest rooms. I’d been around long enough to know that just because a location was where someone thought would be the perfect location for a nest, that didn’t mean that was where an expecting omega would want their nest to be.

Hormones and instinct determined that far more than architectural trends did.

But so far, Rhythe was feeling comfortable with the space, so maybe this particular designer got it right.

I smiled when I saw him. I hadn’t been gone long, but I’d missed him. He teased me that I missed him even when I only went to grab a pregnancy craving food from the closest store. And I did. My dragon and I longed to be by his side at all times. I readily admitted it.

When I was single for all those years, I was fine coming home to an empty house.

Sure, there were days when company would’ve been nice, but I didn’t have this longing to share the same space as another.

But now that I was mated, I felt like part of me was missing when he wasn’t by my side.

How different all aspects of my life now were. I couldn’t be happier.

Rhythe and I already picked out several of the pieces from our hoard which would adorn our nest. Our hoard. I loved the sound of that. When he brought me his small wooden box that day… I still got emotional just thinking about it.

Rhythe had the corner of the room cleared out so that our nest could fit. I left the design up to him. He was the one carrying our clutch, and he would have the instincts needed to make the nest exactly what he and our clutch needed. My role in this was to help make sure his vision became reality.

Next to the nest was a rocking chair we found at a second-hand store.

He’d spent hours looking online for one and nothing felt right.

Then we went to the local furniture store and still…

nothing caught his eye. It was when we spontaneously went into the second-hand store to check out their jewelry section, looking to see if they had anything hoardworthy come in, that we saw the handcarved masterpiece.

It was the perfect height for my mate, and he loved the animals carved onto the armrests. We both suspected they were meant to be some sort of dragons, but it didn’t matter that they weren’t identifiable. They made my mate smile, and that was all that mattered.

We did pick up a bookshelf at the furniture store and had ordered a bunch of children’s books to fill it. When the dragonets moved to their own rooms, the bookshelves would be much larger. Both Rhythe and I loved books and wanted to pass that love down to our children.

My favorite part of the space so far was the way my mate decorated the walls.

We had looked at murals and wall decals, all the typical nursery-type decor.

And they were fine. But when Rhythe said he wanted to have our clutch surrounded by family, he suggested we use the space to display family photos.

There were pictures of us, his parents, his older siblings and their families, and of course, his twin. More than once I overheard my mate telling our young a story from one of the photos. It was the sweetest thing ever.

“Do you have any idea how amazing you are?” I stepped into the room.

He gave me a puzzled expression. “Amazing. How so?”

“Those two little kids you were entertaining today lost their parents about a year ago. Their uncle has been caring for them, and they were kicked out of their clan for not being dragons.”

His expression saddened and he gave a single nod. “The kids told me. Imagine losing your parents and having the people who should be helping you through it letting you down so fucking epically. I can’t believe clans like that exist. It’s such bullshit.”

“It is,” I agree. “We should’ve left that kind of thinking in our past.” There was a time when that kind of thinking had been the norm. I hated it then and I hated it now.

“Well, I’m glad they’ll be with us now and get much better treatment. Did they get all the paperwork done? When will the kids start classes?”

“Yes, they did. The oldest should start in two weeks when the new semester starts.” I fast-tracked it to the best of my abilities, but some steps in the process took time.

“I was trying to explain to Gilbert when we were on our tour that our clan is very accepting. He didn’t trust me, though, nor should he. ”

When everyone around you lets you down, how could you?

“He doesn’t know our clan from any other clan or pack, and he’s been on his own for the last year. He was about to walk out of the school without even taking the admission paperwork with him.”

My mate’s eyes went wide. “I’m glad that didn’t happen. That family needs the stability a clan can give them.”

“They really do.”

“We should invite him over to dinner. His kids can come meet some of the other clan members. Who do we know that have children the twins’ age?

Ohhh, and Ash and Zayne could talk to the oldest about the teams.” His ideas were coming at him in succession.

He still didn’t see it, but this was his gift… one of them, anyway.

I cupped his cheek. “And this, mate, is why you are amazing.”

“I’m just being friendly.” Him thinking it was no big deal was a good chunk of the reason why it was. He wasn’t inviting them because it was on a checklist of things you do in certain situations. No, he was doing it because his heart led the way.

“Your instincts are spot-on. You are the reason why he made the decision to stay, did you know that?”

“Really?”

I nodded, and Rhythe’s cheeks pinkened.

“Well, the twins are pretty cute. I wouldn’t mind spending more time with them. They remind me a bit of me and Pip.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of, since we’ll be having twins as well. I can only imagine the trouble they can get into.”

The way they wandered off and collected a new friend. It had all worked out for the best, but my mate wasn’t the only one they could’ve come across. The academy was a really safe place, at least we worked hard to keep it that way, but not all spaces were.

“Oh, they’ll get into trouble.” He rested his hands on his belly. “And we’ll have two others to keep them really going. It was just Pip and me when we were kids.”

I pulled Rhythe into my arms and kissed him. I put my hand over his swollen belly. “I love you, mate.”

“I love you, too, Emmen. So much.”

“You know this room is in need of a little something.” We had been picking up random things here and there, but a nest room without a nest was just a room.

“Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?”

“C’mon, I’ll show you.”

There was a dragon named Hamel who had started making family nests by hand for expectant families.

Originally, he started with making one for his brother and then his cousin.

They were masterpieces, and soon he found himself getting requests from clan members, and the business blew up from there.

He was now one of the most requested artists in the dragon world, and he deserved every ounce of his fame.

There were plenty of options for an expectant family to get a nest. Family nests were passed down for generations, which was the most economical option.

But when you had a clutch of more than one, the nests weren’t always available.

You could also find them for sale at furniture or baby stores owned by dragons.

And the second-hand market, while not strong, existed.

I had my family nest, as well, but it was in pretty rough shape. That tended to happen when you owned something for as long as I’d had it. I planned to offer it to him, but something told me it wasn’t the right nest for us.

All that to say, it wasn’t like there weren’t a lot of options, but these ones were special because he would customize them for your space. Hamel would also weave anything into the creation of them that you wanted. There was nothing else like it on the market.

I was excited I’d been able to snag an appointment with him today. I wasn’t sure if my mate would choose a custom nest or not, but I wanted him to have all the options spread out for him.

On the way there, we stopped for ice cream at a popular stand that was run by humans who had owned their own dairy.

It always had a long line and was considered to be the best in the region.

I had to agree with that assessment, it was quite delicious.

I wasn’t a huge ice cream person, and before he was pregnant, my mate hadn’t been either, but now he was all about the ice cream.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going now, or was it just my coconut chocolate chip ice cream?” He licked another bite, distracting me for a second.

“Our adventure wasn’t just the ice cream, no.”

We reached the farm where the studio was located about ten minutes ahead of our scheduled appointment, the appointment my mate didn’t know about, and I drove to the back of the property where the barn that was his workshop sat.

“This is it.”

“And here is?”

“A surprise.”

As we reached the door, the owner greeted us. “Commander, it’s great to see you. I’m Hamel, we spoke on the phone and this must be your mate.”

“Yes, this is my mate, Rhythe.”

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Hamel said.

My mate looked up at me with a questioning glance.

“It wasn’t me.” I was one to brag on my mate. How could I not, but Hamel and I had only a few minutes to speak, and it was mostly about when we could come and check things out.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude. It’s just I know some people who work at the academy, and the staff all think very highly of you.”

I was happy someone besides me shared that with my mate. I wanted Rhythe to see how truly special he was in everyone’s eyes, not just mine.

“Well, come on in.” We stepped inside, and there were three nests-in-progress being created.

My mate froze in his steps, his eyes on the nests. “Wait, you’re that Hamel.” He gave my hand a squeeze. “The Hamel who makes those nests that are just… just everything!”

“I wouldn’t go so far to say they are everything, but yeah, that’s me. And today we’re here to talk about your nest.”

Next thing I knew, my mate tackle-hugged me so hard that I had to grab the beam beside me to keep us upright.

“You like your surprise?”

“I love it. I absolutely love it.”