Page 11 of The Monster at the End of This Molt (The Monster at the End of His Pregnancy #4)

Chapter Eleven

Robin

When Kermit dropped into the stable yard, Mac told Sunny to finish training the orange dragonet in the corral and marched over to us. Something was off about his body language, and it set me on edge.

"Is that one of Coz and Grindl's betas?" Weld whispered in my ear. I missed the feel of him against my back. He'd gotten a dual saddle for the trip, for decorum's sake.

I was too stunned by Mac's glare to answer. "Mac?"

"You think you can just fly in here with a problem dragonet who doesn't get along with others, and we'd be fine with it?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Weld.

He blinked. "I can … um … stable him outside our cabin, if?—"

"Who says you get a cabin?" Axel had snuck up on us from the other direction, or maybe he'd teleported when he saw the green dragonet overhead. Word traveled fast around here.

My stomach dropped. I'd gotten this all wrong. My friends had lied to me. They didn't want me to return home with my mate.

"You'd better drop the act." Weld protectively wrapped his arms around my waist and tugged me to the edge of my seat. "You're making Robin anxious."

Axel was the first to break character and grin. "I told you this was a bad idea," he said to Mac. "Stop scaring the kid."

Mac's scowl deepened, but he looked angrier at Axel than at us. "Fine. You were right."

"Galen was right." The head of the black dragon with mischievous purple eyes peeked up over the top of the barn. "Say it."

Mac's frown faded into a huge smile when he saw his mate resting their head on top of the dragonet barn. "You were right, dragon dearest!"

I'd never seen Galen move so deftly, nor could I explain exactly what they did. One moment, they were on the far side of the barn, and then they were in the yard with us and shrinking down to the size of a kobold alpha with black hair and stripes. I'd seen their kobold form before, but Weld sucked in an awed breath behind me.

"Showoff," Axel said with a grin. He offered his hand to me, and Kermit turned on him, snapping. "Easy, there, little one."

"Mac wasn't wrong about him," Weld said. "He doesn't play well with others."

I cleared my throat loudly.

"Except Robin," Weld amended.

I grinned at him over my shoulder before hopping to the ground. I patted Kermit's side and gave him another treat. "He was such a good boy."

I didn't know what happened next. One moment, I was standing on the ground, and then, I was in the air, being hoisted onto the back of a black dragon with no harness.

"Galen, put me down!"

"No! You were gone for weeks! You promised!"

"I said I would be gone for at least a week, maybe more."

"And?" They kept rising in the sky at a steep angle. It was hard to catch my breath.

"It turned into more."

"Hmph." Galen may have been the oldest of my friends, but they still acted like a child when their feelings were hurt.

"I met no other dragons," I said. "That means you're still my favorite."

"Hmph," they said again. "I suppose that's acceptable."

They circled the fortress before swinging back toward the stable. The yard stood empty now. We landed further east, behind the building. The nearby cabin hadn't been here when I left. "We thought you would want to be close to your family, but not too close."

"This is for me, for us?" I stared in awe, not even batting an eye as a shadow passed over us. With a large downburst from his wings, Kermit landed to our left.

Galen nudged the dragonet with their snout and breathed smoke over him. Kermit purred and brushed up against Galen's neck like a cat.

"He is very sweet. I don't know why Mac thinks he's a problem."

Weld slid to the ground, coughing. "Nice to see you, too, smoke bag."

Galen shrank beneath me. I slid off his rapidly receding back until I landed on my ass.

"Smoke bag?" They laughed and patted Weld on the back so hard he almost fell on his face. "I like it. I have missed your caustic humor, my friend."

Weld blinked. "Friend?"

Galen nodded. "Yes! Anyone with a dragon bond is a friend of mine."

I jogged over to my mate, and together, we followed Galen onto the east-facing porch and inside the three-room cabin. While it was like Weld's cabin at The Meadows, the bedroom window faced south for the most sunlight.

"What do you think?" Axel asked from behind us. "I can break down this wall and add a hallway to the kids' rooms when you're ready."

"Whoa. Who said we're having kids?" Weld asked.

"Finally, someone with sense," Galen said. "Our little village is crowded enough."

I sensed Weld was serious, thanks to our bond. We hadn't talked about kids, but I'd assumed …

"We have a lot to talk about," I said. "Give us a few days to settle before we knock down any walls."

Weld shoved his way past Axel, presumably to begin unpacking. I tried to send him reassurance through our bond, but I felt like I was hitting a wall instead of getting through to him.

"Sorry." Axel sighed and tucked a stray golden strand behind his pointed ear. "I shouldn't have pushed."

"It's fine," I lied. "We're both tired from the trip, is all."

Magic tingled along my skin. I grabbed Axel's arm and pulled him out onto the porch with me.

In a giant rush of air and magic, our things vanished from Kermit's inter-dimensional space and appeared inside the cabin. Weld arranged them in much the same way as his cozy cabin in The Meadows, with the couch separating the kitchen area from the living room.

Our cabin was larger than the old one, especially the bedroom. I had ideas, but they could wait. A talk with my mate was long overdue.

Unfortunately, it would have to wait. Familiar voices carried on the wind from the direction of my parents' cabin.

"Why do I have to come?" Clementine whined.

"Remember the last time we left you home alone?" Dad asked.

Papa popped around the corner of the porch, glaring back over his shoulder. "You're lucky Axel knows how to fix scorch marks."

"I know what I did wrong," Clementine insisted, following behind with Dad in tow. "The pilot light went out, and I let the gas run too long before I relit it. It won't happen again."

"I did promise I would fix the scorch marks." Axel pulled me to him for a quick hug. "I'll see you around?"

"Definitely."

He ruffled my hair for old time's sake, and then he followed the squabbling to the edge of the porch and excused himself to their cabin.

"Look who's back," Clementine said, turning our parents' spotlight off her for the moment. "Hey, Weld!"

I appreciated her goodwill gesture toward my mate. He raised his hand in a cautious wave, but it was too late. My family descended upon him like a swarm, drawing him into hugs. Even Ernie and Grover made it, teleporting into the yard and then piling on.

"What about me?" I asked.

Clementine broke away from the group hug and rolled her eyes as she stomped over to me. "We hug you all the time."

I pretended to push her away, but I'd been homesick over the last couple of weeks. I crushed her to my chest and rubbed my chin on her shoulder. "Thank you."

"We're all happy for you." She sniffed my neck and pulled back with a frown. "I thought you would be pregnant by now. And where's your mark?"

I scooped her in close while the rest of the family was still catching up with Weld. "Please don't tell Papa and Dad. I don't want them to worry."

"Can I use your backyard for an experiment tomorrow?"

I rolled my eyes. "A quid pro quo, seriously?"

She sighed. "It was worth a shot. I won't tell them, I promise. If you wait too long, they'll notice on their own."

She had a point.

"Weld and I need to talk some things through first, that's all."

The rest of my family descended on me for welcome hugs, and then, as quickly as they arrived, they said their farewells and returned to their homes across the field to give us "some space."

From our front porch, I could still see my childhood home, but we were far enough away and angled so that we couldn't see into each other's windows.

The cabins on either side of ours were brand new and appeared vacant. Neither had a case of water next to the front door, unlike ours. We also had a porch swing. I wondered if Axel had conjured it with magic before welcoming us home.

Weld stumbled up the stairs and leaned hard on the railing beside me.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

"It's weird to be back here. It's better than I thought it would be, and somehow worse."

"Worse?"

"Tuft hates me so much he doesn't want to see me."

I frowned. "What? Who said that?"

"No one had to say it. He's the only one who didn't welcome us."

Weld was the most stubborn kobold I knew, and that was saying something after growing up with my papa. Nothing I could say would change my mate's mind. Instead, I grabbed his hand and teleported us to Tuft and Axel's cabin on the other side of the fortress.

Weld leaned over his knees, coughing. "Wow. Could I have a little warning when you're going to do that?"

"Weld? Robin? Is that you?" Tuft opened the front door and he and their crew of four raced onto the porch.

Penelope ran to the porch railing in front of Weld but stopped short when she saw him bend down to run his hand across the top of the little monument there. "You're him!"

"Yes, that's him, Statler and Waldorf's daddy." Tuft grinned and waved at me. "Welcome home, Robin! Glad to see you convinced him to come with you."

"He thought you were mad at him." I shook my head.

"Weld, I could never be mad at you.”

My mate stared up at him with open skepticism.

“I would have been part of the welcoming committee, but I got stuck with the kids while Axel cleaned Clementine's latest mess."

"I thought she was moving to the fortress," I said.

"She did. Didn't stop her from breaking and entering on game night."

I laughed. Only my sister would sneak away from a volleyball game to work an experiment at our parents' empty house.

"Don't tell her the two cabins next to ours are vacant," I whispered when Tuft leaned over the railing above us.

"Axel's got them locked up tight, don't you worry." Tuft sighed. "Weld?"

My mate looked up, as though just now realizing we'd been having a conversation without him. "Huh?"

"Would you like to meet our second batch of hatchlings?"

Weld swallowed hard and nodded.

Tuft dropped his hand to the top of Penelope's head, covered with white ringlets between her pointed ears. "This is our little girl, Penelope." He pointed across the porch. "Odysseus is our gray alpha. I call him my shark boy. Poseidon is dark blue, and Aeolus is light blue. Axel said they all reminded him of the sea, so he named them after characters from The Odyssey ."

"You're … not mad?"

Tuft laughed. "I was sad when you left, but I understood." He changed the subject as only Tuft could. "We've got a spot opening on our volleyball team next Thursday night. One of our omegas just laid his eggs. We'd love it if you'd join us."

Of all the sports, volleyball was my favorite, but Weld looked uncertain. "We'll talk about it and get back to you," I said.

Tuft grinned. "Great. That's all I ask." He pointed. "Axel's on his way back. Did you want to stay for dinner?"

"No," Weld said. "We should go." He started walking toward Axel, and our new home.

"Is he all right?" Tuft asked, his brow wrinkling with concern.

I wished I knew.