Page 17 of The Dragon’s Stormwoven Bond (Dragon Flight Academy #2)

Pep

My nest was perfect. Finally. Thanks to my amazing mate and his surprise-to-me carpentry abilities, I now had the perfect foldable desk that I could use while in the nest. It had enough room for my laptop and my portable monitors, as well as a spot for my phone, my tablet, and coffee cup. Plus, it was beautiful.

When I was young and thought about becoming a father, nowhere in my imagination had a work-from-home-nest been in the scenario, and yet here I was, thrilled to pieces over it.

Valen had spent the time staining it the beautiful cherry wood, a color I mentioned in passing the night we met. It had been a random get-to-know-you type comment, and Valen had not only heard it, but filed it away for later. There was no denying it—I mated up.

I would have to find some way to use it in the future.

It was too beautiful to only use it this short period of time.

Perhaps the kids could use it as a play desk once I was done spending all my time in the nest. Or maybe it could be altered to work with the couch.

One thing it wouldn’t be for was work. All too soon, I was going to have to return to working from my office.

That was going to be a difficult transition with five little ones at home.

I’d managed to work from Talls Hall most days, since I extracted myself from the nest. But sometimes I needed to be home in my nest, resting, and this had been the perfect solution. Once I laid our clutch, this would become my full-time workplace until they hatched.

My stomach grew far larger than I had anticipated. And so quickly at that. Yesterday, I had gained an inch… an entire inch. I wasn’t sure why my hugeness was shocking to me. I had five dragonets growing in there. I was lucky to be able to fit in my mate’s sweats still.

We had had several visitors, including Rhythe, since word got out about the clutch.

Rhythe was my favorite of all company. When he was here, I never felt like I had to entertain or feed him.

He wasn’t company, not really. He was an extension of me, and there were days when he spent just as much time in the nest as Valen and I did.

My mom had come to visit, too. She brought over some of her favorite things that she wanted to have in the nest, as well as several frozen meals and recipe cards for crock pot meals that we could throw together.

She was the typical doting parent, excited for their grandbabies in every single way.

It was both adorable and awkward. I loved my mom to pieces, but this gooey sweet side of her wasn’t something I was used to, and it tended to make conversations a tad awkward.

Cooking never had been one of my strong suits, but apparently my mate enjoyed spending time in the kitchen.

He could have at it. Valen and my mother had discussed recipes at length while she had been here.

I spaced out and missed most of it. For all I knew they were talking about cooking grass and rocks.

Still, it was great seeing the two of them getting along.

She hadn’t been Valen’s fan over the years. She thought he’d made shitty choices, and he admittedly had. She had pushed all of that away when she discovered we were mated. It couldn’t have been easy for her.

Of course, my dad was notably absent. I knew that his conversation with Valen had gone well and had hoped that would make things between us easier. It hadn’t, and a lot of that was on me. I didn’t know what to say to him… how to interact with him.

Rhythe wasn’t any help in that department. Growing up, we’d always helped the other when we got in hot water with one of and sometimes both of our parents. But with this situation, he kept out of it. I understood why, but I still hated it.

I was in my nest with my desk, working away on some of the exciting things that would launch our project into the next phase, when the doorbell rang. I didn’t bother getting up. Instead, I pulled up the doorbell app.

My father was there on the screen. He had his hands buried in his pockets. His was the last face I expected to see. I clicked off the monitors, being mindful of the regulations for me.

“Come in,” I said through the microphone.

He startled a bit, then pushed his way inside.

“That technology is just creepy,” he said.

My father and I usually didn’t agree when it came to technology, but on this one, I agreed with him. Valen insisted we get it not for actual security, but to make it easier for us to deal with the flood of visitors that had already begun showing up.

“I know, but it’s very convenient when I’m unable to get up,” I said.

“Unable to get up?” His voice took on a panicked concern. “Where are you?”

He came through the house to where we had the nest set up in the corner of the living room, which was more like half the living room. Go, super small house, go.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just comfortable.”

“Goodness gracious. I was afraid maybe you had hurt yourself.”

We were quiet for a moment as the two of us just stared at one another. I didn’t know what to say, and he was apparently suffering from the same affliction.

“You look good, Son, and your nest is very impressive.”

I grinned. “Thanks, Dad.”

He came over and sat in the chair that was near the nest. “I have a few human friends, you know. They’re all guys I run into at the sports bars where I watch football.”

“Yes, I know this.” I wasn’t sure how it was relevant, but I was sure he’d get there. He wasn’t the most direct communicator on the planet.

“Well, it’s just that we’re so different, humans and dragons.

It’s wild to me, because when I told them that my twenty-five-year-old son was getting married, which seems to be the human equivalent of mating, and that he and his partner had plans for bringing children into their life, they were all so happy for me.

I was going to get grandkids nice and early, they said, when I still had all the energy for them. ”

Everything about that scenario shouted humans.

“If they only knew how old I was.” He laughed at that, being that he was older than they would ever be, and also already a grandfather a few times over, with some of those grandbabies old enough to be his friends’ parents.

I’d been very careful over the years, not friending humans.

It wasn’t about being speciesist or anything like that.

It was a way to protect my heart. The downside of having human friends was that they couldn’t know all parts of you, and in many cases, were short-lived.

It was only a matter of time before they realized you weren’t aging at all, so bailing before that happened was key.

“Anyway, none of your other siblings found their mates this quickly, and it scared me. Not that I don’t think you and Valen will be very happy together, but because, even though I have many children, it never gets easier to see them become independent and no longer need you.”

He grabbed the back of his neck. “Both you and Rhythe have your own jobs. You’ve moved out of our home, and now look at you, you’re ready to prepare for a clutch of your own.”

“We’ll still need you, Dad. Nothing changes that. We want you around now more than ever.”

“I know. Your mom and I have talked about that a lot. I just... you two are probably our last clutch. And I think I was holding on a little tight. Plus, I was incredibly shocked to find out my best friend was mated to my son. In fact, I’m still coming to terms with that.”

He conveniently left out the part where he very loudly forbid Valen from being mine.

“I know, Dad. And I understand why.” I sat up a little taller.

“The entire situation is… whoa. When you say the words out loud, it sounds impossible. I mean, our age gap alone should’ve been a wall we couldn’t get around.

One would think that Valen and I have nothing in common.

What could he have in common with a twenty-five-year-old?

But everything’s been amazing. He loves me, and I love him. ”

“I know that. And I’m happy for you. I’m sorry that this new family dynamic of ours did not get started on the right foot. Luckily, we have a long time to make up for it.”

“We do. And I’m sorry too. We should’ve been honest from first scent.” Lesson learned on that.

“No, Pep. I own this one.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “You lied because I gave you reason to be scared of my response.”

“There’s enough blame to go around.” So very much. “But you are here now, and that’s all that matters.