Page 21

Chapter 21

Malric

T he routine that my mate and I fell into was seamless. The way that Ollie fit into my life, my sons’ lives, and the clan was amazing. It was like he was born for this, and I supposed in a way he had. Otherwise fate wouldn’t have made him mine.

Once he gave me his plan for hiring a team to help him navigate the needs of the clan, I gave him the full green light. It was shocking that I’d not heard of anyone doing this before. They had to have, right? It was genius.

And Ollie being Ollie, he ran with it more perfectly than I could’ve ever imagined. He had my team wrapped around his finger, and his own team already had a ton of ideas on community events, improvements, and activities for the clan. His transition into the role had gone so much better than I originally feared after Elias pulled his bullshit.

I was sure the alpha still wasn’t pleased. You didn’t get admonished into no longer being a bigot, but he hadn’t been inappropriate or disrespectful in the office since I kicked him out of the meeting, so there was that.

Somehow Ollie managed to do all that he did and continue to watch my grandkids—who I suppose were technically his grandkids as well. And those grandkids would have aunts and uncles younger than them. Funny how it all worked out. My son liked to tease him with the grandpa thing, but Ollie loved it. He especially loved being called, “young grandpa.”

I stepped into the sunroom where my mate was currently scurrying around the nest. His mouse had been pestering him to get out, and after consulting with some of the best shifter doctors in the country, we felt comfortable letting him shift. Apparently, the not shifting if your beast was small thing was an old wives’ tale that took root, and there were countless studies showing it was perfectly safe.

I wasn’t so sure I believed studies, but I trusted my mate’s beast. He would never do anything harmful to his clutch. He loved them as much as Ollie and I did.

The first time I met his mouse, he stole my heart. To say he was adorable would be the understatement of the year. And was he fast.

Today, his little mouse body was running up and around the blankets he’d arranged. The blankets were all different shades of pinks and reds. It was a beautiful nest. Eryndor, Thalric, and Tavian had surprised us with a new one earlier today, and Ollie wasted no time in getting it set up.

Once Ollie noticed I was there, he shifted to his human form and lay back on the pillows, his large belly on display. I suspected he had a fairly large clutch in there, despite the test results, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that. He had enough going on without worrying if his clutch was the size of a small nation or if he looked huge. And he’d for sure take the comment as meaning one of those two things.

I smiled. “You look amazing, mate.” He really did.

He shot me a look. “If by amazing you mean that I look a bit like a whale, then thank you.”

And I’d made the right call.

“You are perfect.”

“How is it possible that there’s only one egg in here? I feel like I’m carrying five.”

I chuckled. We’d found out it was just one egg two weeks ago when we visited the clan physician, and we were perfectly content with that. With how much we had going on, focusing on one child rather than two or three or four was perfect for us. Though if we’d had more, we would’ve made it work.

He did have a point, though. He looked rather large for how far along he was.

“And how are you and our little princess doing?” We had it on good authority that we were having a girl, and make no mistake about it, she was going to be spoiled beyond belief. Exactly how it should be.

My dragon was said authority. He insisted Ollie was carrying a girl, and while I didn’t care either way, I couldn’t help but be a little excited about the idea of having a daughter.

“We are both fine, mate, and we are ready. In fact, I was just putting the final touches on this nest. I believe that today is the day.”

It wasn’t the first day he’d said that. At this point, I had a feeling it was more wishful thinking than anything else. I didn’t blame him. He had to be miserable at this point.

In the last few weeks, gifts had begun to arrive from our clan. We had new blankets, pillows, and trinkets for the nest. Then there were the baby items. A new crib from Kier and Tavian, a fancy swing from Thalric, a bathtub and more soaps and lotions to last us the first few years from my assistant Jamie. All sorts of other items had begun arriving each day.

Most importantly, we had a new bookshelf right next to the nest with modern children’s books. My dragon and I were fascinated with the children’s literary genre in this modern era. I still had many of the books from when my children had been young in the other room. But in here, they were all gifts just for our little one. When people asked what we needed, I pointed them to books. Little ones couldn’t be read to enough.

I raised a brow. “You’re sure about today?” I didn’t want to burst his bubble, but after the first day he thought was the one came and passed, he’d bawled, and I hated that for him. If it were in my power, he would never shed another tear that wasn’t out of complete joy.

He nodded. “I trust my mouse on this. Last time it was all me… this time it’s him who is insisting. It’s different. I think our little girl is ready to come out.”

My dragon rumbled beneath the surface. If our mouse thought today was the day, then we trusted him. We would not be leaving his side. No matter what.

True to his word, three hours later, after Ollie woke up from his nap, I found him adjusting the nest just so. Something in the way he grimaced as he moved made me realize, this was it. This was the time. Our egg was coming.

I rushed to his side. “Do you need anything? What can I do? Should I boil water?”

“Boil water?” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind, which… fair.

“Sorry, I’m excited and nervous and… it was on the movie we watched yesterday.” Not that they used the water, but they had insisted it was needed.

He shook his head with humor and then flinched. The pain was back. “Hold my hand, Mal. You’ve done this before, so I’m sure we’ll be fine, right?”

“It’s been many years,” I said. “Perhaps we should call the doctor—”

He shook his head again. “No, we’re fine. I’m fine. There’s just one. How hard can it be?”

Twenty minutes later, as he gripped my hand until I was sure the bones would disintegrate into dust and let out a screaming cry, I realized we were about to find out just how hard it could be. Very. Tremendously. Extremely.

While still holding his hand, I managed to position myself between his legs so I could guide the egg out. It wasn’t needed, and some omegas refused the help, citing that it was natural to do it alone. Ollie and I had discussed it, and we’d both agreed that there were no awards given for being stubborn. We were going to go through this together, every single step.

“You’re doing great, Ollie.” Better than I could, that was for sure. I might have had a fierce dragon inside me, but I wasn’t as strong as he was.

“Arnngh! Please tell me I’m close.”

“So close,” I said with more confidence than I felt. This could be another few minutes or another few hours. For his sake, I was crossing my fingers it was only minutes.

He let out another blood-curdling scream, and fear ran through me. What if we really did need help? What if we couldn’t do this alone?

Thank goddess, with one final push and a scream that could’ve shattered windows, a perfect pink egg emerged, gleaming in the sunlight and blending perfectly into the nest.

Ollie panted. “Is it done?”

“It is,” I said.

He turned quickly, putting his hands on the egg and pulling it close. “She’s beautiful.”

We stared at it for a long time, and finally I was confident that it was only one egg. I couldn’t deny there was a tiny bit of disappointment in that after half convincing myself we’d been wrong about one. That fell away quickly when I saw the way my mate was looking at our egg, the joy radiating off him so powerful.

Our daughter was here, even if she was still in the safety of her egg. The scales on her temporary home were almost triangular in shape, gleaming pink with hints of other shades of red. They would match those of her beast.

I snuggled up next to them, putting my hand over Ollie’s. “You did so wonderful, mate.”

He sighed. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

With my free hand, I reached for the robe I’d grabbed earlier. My mate wouldn’t want to leave the nest for several hours, but we would have visitors. Dragons throughout the clan would sense that our clutch had been laid, and they would visit or send their congratulations. It was our way.

And Ollie’s way was shyness. He wouldn’t want to be naked in front of everyone just after laying our clutch.

Ollie pulled on the robe and a pair of pajama pants.

I left the nest briefly to get him a washcloth so he could wash his face, and I brought him a bottle of water.

Within a few moments, Tavian and Kier were walking in the door, all three of their children toddling along with them

The three children, as if sensing the magnitude of the situation peered over the edge of the nest, wide-eyed and curious.

“Hello, my precious darlings,” Ollie cooed. “Come meet your... aunt?”

Ruby, Opaline, and Flint climbed in and took turns touching their hands and cheeks to the shell of the egg. They oohed and aahed over her.

“This is so beautiful.” Kier sniffled. Tavian had an arm wrapped around him.

Not a one of us had dry eyes.