Page 15 of The Dragon’s Stormwoven Bond (Dragon Flight Academy #2)

Pep

Once the nest was home, my dragon began to settle.

This was the exact place it was meant to be.

Valen and I spent a long time together, wrapped in each other’s arms and enjoying our nest. Our scents were mingling within the space that would soon protect our young until they hatched, exactly as they should.

Soon, we would fill it with even more comfortable things and whatever knickknacks we had around that would fit in.

We would need some representation of his hoard and mine, though mine was not nearly as impressive as his.

There was no planning to it, nesting defied all systematic organization.

When the time came, we’d know exactly what it needed, just as our ancestors had since the dawn of time.

“We’re going to need a lot more blankets.” I was already feeling that pull. My own nest had been the equivalent of The Princess and The Pea as far as blankets went, so it wasn’t shocking that was the case now that I was creating one for our young.

Valen chuckled. “Don’t forget we’ll be getting things as gifts. You can assume they’ll start arriving once we make our announcement. We should probably meet with a doctor as well.”

Dragonets were spoiled, as they should be. Our flight had a long-standing tradition of making each and every clutch feeling as special as they were.

“True.”

“I can make that call, but not right now.” Valen held me a little tighter.

We were still coming to terms with what had happened the day before. Everything escalated so quickly, and when emotions ran high, memories weren’t the best. But what I did remember had my guilt tripling. My family had deserved so much better, including my mate.

Since returning home from my parents’ house, we hadn’t left our nest. I really needed to pee, but I couldn’t bring myself to let it out of my sight for even that long.

If it was this bad now, I couldn’t fathom how strong the draw was going to be when our eggs were inside.

I’d need to figure that out when the time came.

The clutch wasn’t here yet, though. And we needed to force ourselves to get up.

There was so much to do, and we didn’t know how much time to do it in.

We had to make the call to the doctor, inform the rest of our flight about our clutch, and deal with work.

Despite knowing all of that, I couldn’t bring myself to move very far, with the exception of finally getting up and racing to the bathroom.

Several hours later, my dragon had finally settled down enough that the two of us had finally left our nest. We showered together. Despite being able to leave the nest, I found I wasn’t willing to leave my mate’s side just yet.

He didn’t mind. Not once did he hint that he was going back to work or to the store or to fly. He stayed right alongside me.

We were in the kitchen, debating what our dinner would look like, when the doorbell rang, and we learned that someone had made the phone call letting everyone know about our future clutch on our behalf.

My clinginess was on a whole new level, and I held onto Valen’s arm as he went to open the door.

Leaving Valen’s side wasn’t happening. Hopefully, that particular instinct would subside sooner rather than later.

There was so much that needed to be done before our eggs were here, and there was also the whole not-wanting-to-be-fired thing.

Vexus, the doctor for the academy, was standing at the front door when Valen swung it open. “Pardon me for showing up without calling.”

I had to chuckle. He was showing up because someone had called him, and here he was apologizing. Everyone in the flight loved Vexus. Not only was he good at what he did, but there was something about him that seemed to put dragons at ease.

“No problem, come on in. We were actually talking about you earlier,” Valen said.

“I had a feeling you might. I got a call from Pep’s parents.”

That took me a bit aback. I’d assumed it was my brother. He was my number one supporter. But my parents? The last time I saw my father, he looked like he was going to turn my mate to ash.

I wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable conversation that needed to be had with my parents about the events of the last twenty-four hours… or the last few weeks. At least when we finally had the discussion, it wouldn’t be me jump-scaring them with the news.

“We’d have gotten around to calling you.” Here we were, a freaking ancient dragon and a grown-ass omega, having parents call for prenatal visits.

“Of course. I don’t think they wanted to interfere at all.

” Vexus was wrong on that. They loved to interfere.

It was their superpower. “They know you had a stressful day, and they thought perhaps a quick check-up wouldn’t hurt.

I tend to agree. I know you don’t want to hear it, but you are a young dragon, and young pregnancies carry just as much risk as old ones. ”

He was right. I very much did not want to hear that, and the way my mate froze up at my side, he didn’t want to hear it either.

“Besides, I had time this afternoon. Do you feel up to having an exam?”

I nodded. It wasn’t as if I was going anywhere.

“I do need to know what’s going on. I mean, clearly I’m expecting.

Would we be able to determine how many eggs I’m carrying?

” There were a million and one questions floating around in my head, but now that the person who had all the answers was there, they were all a hair out of reach.

Vexus nodded. “Absolutely. I brought my portable ultrasound, assuming you’d want to be prepared for the correct number of eggs. I just need a few minutes to set it up.”

Vexus went and got the needed supplies. I laid down on the couch and got situated. Valen stood behind the couch, holding my hand.

“Now, when I do these things on the road, I don’t have any of the warming gel for the lubricant needed for the ultrasound machine, so you’re going to have to take it cold.”

I chuckled at the innuendo. “That’s fine.”

I rolled up my shirt, and he squirted the cold gel onto my stomach. After waving the wand around for a few moments, Vexus let out a gasp.

“What the hell does that mean?” I said. “You’re a doctor, Vexus. You can’t gasp like that.”

“Everything’s fine,” Vexus said.

“That’s not very reassuring,” Valen said, squeezing my hand. “Vexus, is everything all right?”

“Yes, sorry. I was just surprised. It’s been a while since…”

“Since what?” I said. “You can’t keep doing this to us. Pretty sure I’m not supposed to be stressed out right now.”

“Indeed, you aren’t supposed to be stressed. More so because of the news I’m going to give you. I want to assure you that your clutch is fine. Everything looks good. They’re growing, they’re the right size, they look healthy. But… your clutch is large for such a young pregnancy.”

“How large?” I said.

“Four eggs total. One looks like it might be twins. It is larger than the other three.”

Four eggs. There were four eggs growing inside of me. Four.

I counted the number of dragonets on my fingers, not trusting my first three tries. Five babies. That was a full dragon flight team. We could make our own dragon flight team.

“Oh, fuck,” I said.

“Now, now,” Vexus said, “large clutches do run in your family.”

He could say that all he wanted, but that didn’t make five dragonets sound any more feasible as a parent.

That was five little ones all needing to eat, be bathed, and get diaper changes.

Even if every single one of those tasks could be done with one hand, which they couldn’t, my mate and I were still outnumbered.

“So do small clutches! My brother and I were the only egg for my parents’ last clutch.”

“True, true. Clearly, the large genes seem to have taken hold for this particular one. Four—possibly five—babies.”

“Oh gods. Oh gods.” I was so not ready for five babies. I had barely wrapped my head around one or two. I looked up at my mate to see a shocked expression on his face. His mouth gaped open, his eyes staring forward unblinkingly.

“Valen.” I shook him. “It’ll be fine.” I was trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince him. “We can handle this.”

“You can,” Vexus said. “But you don’t need to do it alone.

It takes a village to raise a child, and when there is a clutch this large, you need a large village.

Your families will be important, and I’m certain they will offer any assistance you may need.

You’re not the first set of dragons to have a large clutch. You’ll be fine.”

I took a deep breath. He was right. But holy scales. Five babies.

I smiled and mused, “Five little Valens running around.”

“Five little Peps,” he said. “A set of twins, like you and Rhythe. We’re going to have our hands full, mate.”

“And we’ll love every minute of it,” I said.

Vexus chuckled. “That’s the attitude. Now, in reality, you won’t love every minute, but most of them will be wonderful. Stop by tomorrow, pick up your prenatal vitamins, try to remain relatively stress-free. Whatever this issue with your father is, don’t let it stress you out. Do you understand?”

I nodded. Now more than ever, we needed to clear the air… although I didn’t know how.