Page 23

Chapter 23

Ash

A s wonderful as the competition was, I was happy to be home, with our regular nest and everything going back to normal.

The Games were invaluable. They showed us how much progress we’ve made, gave us the confidence and encouragement we needed to move forward, and mended some bridges I didn’t realize I needed mended so badly. The experience helped us grow as a team, and it showed us just how much our eggs were loved. It had been more than I ever could’ve dreamed of.

But regardless, coming home—that’s where it was at. There was something magical about being in the space that we’d created for our family.

Normal wasn’t truly normal, though, and never would be again. We were about to enter a new era of normal, and I couldn’t wait. We had a clutch about nearly ready to hatch, and we were about to take on our new role as fathers.

We barely had the eggs settled back in their true nest before Zayne and I made the easy decision to take time off until the eggs hatched. We’d been working nonstop and wanted to spend this time together, just us. We’d have visitors, of course. Our little ones were loved, and I had a feeling we were going to have a lot of random visitors.

“Is it weird I want to somehow use the little nest too?” I grabbed the back of my neck, trying to release the tension that had been building up there. It was great to have them in their regular nest, where we could snuggle around them—but also, the travel nest had been an important part of their time on this planet, too.

“We could put it inside, but then we can’t wrap around them.” Zayne named my only hesitation. “We could take it apart and weave it through the permanent nest?”

“Then what happens next time?”

It was way too soon to be thinking about another clutch, but also, we’d discussed having a large family, so ignoring that wouldn’t be helpful, either. And given our careers, moving clutches was a very real possibility no matter when we planned to grow our family. Besides, a travel nest was a good thing to have on hand, even if it was just lending it to his brother or another member of our community.

“Exactly.” His arm came around my shoulder. “Maybe we need to add more pillows.”

We definitely didn’t need more pillows. As it was, we could open a pillow shop and not run out of stock for a year.

We both circled around the nest, hand in hand, as if the answer would just pop out at us, and then… it did. A loose piece caught my eye, and I reached down and wove it in. It was something I’d done a bunch of times before and would continue doing. Only this time, it gave me an idea.

“We can do both.” I grabbed my mate’s face and kissed him hard before running to the junk drawer for a pair of scissors.

It wasn’t difficult to fine a piece loose enough to unweave until I had a long piece about a yard long. Zayne watched me, not saying a word, but I could tell he wanted to ask why I was deconstructing our travel nest. Not that I was going to take any more apart.

Weaving it into the full-size nest took no time at all, and now they were in both nests at once and we had room to snuggle them.

“You, my sexy mate, are a genius.” Zayne helped me climb inside and followed after.

We lied down with them in between us, our joined hands resting over them, giving them warmth. We took turns telling different dragon and golden eagle tales that were passed down from generation to generation to teach our history in a child-friendly kind of way. And also, in a way that wouldn’t get us into trouble if humans overheard them. We didn’t need humans knowing our histories.

I don’t know which one of us fell asleep first, but I felt more rested than I’d been in weeks when we woke. The sun was just beginning to set and the light coming in through the window was stunning.

“Our clutch is so beautiful.” I ran my hand over each of our eggs, “It’s going to be weird when they’re gone.”

I couldn’t wait to meet our little ones, but these eggs had been part of my life too. It was going to be difficult to have them not there when I first woke up in the morning or as I fell asleep. Once of my childhood friends had their shells in a shadowbox on the wall. Maybe we needed to consider something like that. I hadn’t heard of it being a dragon thing, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be.

“Do you hear something?” Zayne asked, and at first, I thought he meant maybe the dragonets were starting to move in the shell, the first sign of hatching.

But then I heard it too, someone was on our porch.

“Vexis.” Zayne shook his head and climbed out of the nest and out the door.

“Hold on, little ones.” I kissed one shell, then the other, before climbing out of the nest and going out to the porch, where I saw my mate sitting with Dr. Vexis.

“Did you come to check on the babies?” I asked.

“No, I came to see if you guys needed time to shift.”

Oh.

It was a weird thing for a doctor to come and offer, but it also sounded like a pretty good idea. In fact, it sounded absolutely amazing, my eagle already itching to get out.

“The closer your clutch gets to hatching, the more your beasts are going to want to get out—especially yours, Ash. Eagles like to soar around their nests, and so it’s natural instinct.”

His explanation made sense, and while no one had ever mentioned it before, looking back, I’d seen it happen with other fathers. I just didn’t know that was what was going on at the time.

“Why don’t you two go and do such. I’ll go inside and sit with the eggs.”

“Will you tell them stories?” Zayne was big into everyone taking on that task.

“No, but I’ll tell them all about dental hygiene and how important it is to their health.”

Zayne chuckled. “Yeah, you’re going to be their favorite.”

Vexis went inside to be with our clutch, and Zayne and I got undressed and walked into the light of the setting sun. It was my favorite time of day, especially when looking over the lake. The way the water caught the light was something I wished could fully be captured on film, but every time I took a picture, it failed to come close to the beauty of standing or flying there.

I took my eagle first, soaring around Zayne as his dragon took over. It had been a while since the two of us were able to shift together and it wasn’t work-related. I wasn’t sure exactly what we were going to do—if we were going to hunt or race or just take in the sights. My plan had been to let Zayne lead on that one.

But as he took to the air, instead he hovered without leaving his spot, and I caught the glint in his eye. He wanted to play. I was there for that. Flying had always been fun for me, and when it became work, some of that was dampened. This was exactly what I needed.

My eagle took off as fast as his wings could carry me. I didn’t think about where I was going, but I ended up circling the lake. It made sense. This time of day, the only place I’d rather be was in my mate’s arms.

My mate, following behind, swooped down close to the water—close enough that my shadow had to have scared all of the fish. He had such agility and grace as he navigated his way around the lake. He distracted me, and I slowed, his beast nearly catching up to mine. That wouldn’t do.

I took a sharp left and cut between some trees and shot straight up, higher and higher and higher, till I broke through the treeline.

My clever mate was there waiting for me.

And because I could, I landed on his back. I never in a million years would’ve done that to any other shifter. But this was my mate, and he enjoyed my silly antics as much as I did.

From there, we flew in through the mountains toward the campus, with me as his passenger. I doubted anyone noticed his stowaway, but if they did, Zayne was going to get either high-fives or knowing glances.

I stayed firmly in place, even when he did a loop. That was until a movement in the brush caught all of my eagle’s attention.

It was a hare.

There were a lot of things my beast could ignore. A hare wasn’t one of them.

I dashed for it, swooping down and picking it up with ease, and then landed in a clearing, ending its life just as my mate landed. There were times when the chase was fun, but in this case, my eagle was on a mission, one to give our mate a gift.

He landed a few feet from me, and my eagle picked up the hare in his talons, laying it before Zayne’s dragon. He devoured the entire thing in one bite. I couldn’t do that—needing to not eat the fur and bones for the sake of my digestive system—but his beast was different. He could eat it all and be fine on the other side.

And when he raised his head, he let out a breath of fire in a move that reminded me less of a fierce dragon threat and far more of purring.

Not to be outdone with my offering, he took off, not coming back until he had a fox for me to enjoy, and enjoy it I did as he’d had his fill. There was enough to share, and he devoured the last of it. There was something so primal about the act, and it scratched an itch for my eagle.

The sun was completely down when we landed back home after our antics. We took our skins, intertwined our fingers, and walked inside.

“We should do that more often.” I kissed his shoulder.

“Agreed.”

“And if you have any questions about gum health, the first place…” Vexis hadn’t been exaggerating. He was, in fact, giving our eggs a full-on dissertation on the importance of flossing.

It was all I could do to contain my giggles.

“At least they’ll have a pretty smile.” Zayne whispered in my ear.

“Or they just had a really good nap in there.”

It was probably the latter.

Vexis looked up. “It looks like that was exactly what you needed.” He stood and promised to finish his talk later.

How could there be more? We were gone for hours.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow… mid afternoon work?”

“Do you think the eggs are hatching that soon?” We still had time by my account, but he was the doctor and had just spent time with them, so he’d definitely know better than me.

“Soon, but not that soon. I’ll be by every day so the two of you can fly. It will be better for you both not to hold back your shifts.”

We thanked him, and then after he left, we climbed in the nest to be with our clutch, where we told them all about our flight.