Page 2 of The Monster at the End of This Molt (The Monster at the End of His Pregnancy #4)

Chapter Two

Weld

Oh, thank fuck. Someone had kissed me, but it wasn't Lemon, the shy omega who had been trying to work up the guts to make a move for several weeks.

But … if it wasn't him, who the fuck was it?

"Weld? I'm sorry. I—I didn't think?—"

I knew that voice. Gods, how long had I been dreaming of hearing that voice?

"Robin?" I grabbed his shoulders and spun us so the sunlight wasn't blaring in my face. I could smell him now, all sweet grass and nectar.

The ache in my chest that I kept buried flared to life with recognition. Our mate bond wanted me to claim, but it was still too early. He was less than half my age. That wasn't fair to either of us.

I'd been twenty-seven when my fated mate was born. Twenty-six years had passed since then, and I'd carried every one of them like a burden in my heart.

This was my punishment for picking a fight with Lark, the strongest alpha in our class. I'd beaten him, too, but only because he didn't use his magic on me. He could have disintegrated me with a fireball, but he tapped out. I carved a notch in his ear to show my dominance.

Gods, what an arrogant asshole I'd been. I didn't deserve Lark's only omega son as my fated mate. Robin was a million leagues too good for me, or however that baseball metaphor went. At least I thought it was baseball, or maybe nautical. Either way, Robin was miles ahead and above my basement-dwelling ass.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"It's my birthday." Tears welled in his eyes, but there was anger there, too. Good. He should be angry he got stuck with me.

"I came to claim what's mine."

Just when I thought he finally saw it my way … "Those are alpha words."

"Yeah, well, someone's gotta be the alpha here. Three years, and you didn't come."

"You're still too young." In a year, he'd be half my age. Every year after that, the age gap would matter less and less, but now it was an immense chasm I wouldn't cross.

"Too young?" Robin shoved his thick black hair out of his face. He looked so much like his omega dad. No wonder I'd tried to steal Punky away from Lark. Robin was my ideal mate in every way.

"I'm still too young." He scoffed and dropped his hands to his sides. "When were you planning on telling me this?"

"I was going to show up on your doorstep on your twenty-eighth birthday and surprise you."

"Surprise, motherfucker. I'm here now."

Yes, he was, and he looked glorious, backlit by the setting sun.

"I guess I'll stay in those rooms for visiting omegas until you get your head out of your ass."

Robin turned toward the barn, and the center of my chest nearly burst with disappointment. My every instinct demanded that I stop him, but I let him go.

I could do this. I could stick to my original plan and wait two more years.

"Wait."

He turned back to me with so much hope in his gaze. I backed up a step, tripped over the edge of the tire rim, and landed hard on the dented steel.

Robin rushed to my side, pulling me up. "Are you hurt?"

My backside twinged, but my pride rankled more than anything. "I'm fine. You surprised me, is all." I should have been able to feel his approach through our bond. My magic had gotten stronger over the years, but I'd focused most of it on dampening the bond now impossible to ignore.

Before I could cast a quick spell to clean myself off a little, Robin took my hand and closed his eyes. His magic kneaded away all pain in my backside, and then the gentle touch dissipated. "There. All better."

"You're supposed to kiss it better." It took a moment for the words to register in my brain after I'd spoken them, and then I groaned. "Not that you should … I mean …"

"It's okay, Weld. I won't kiss you again. I saw how disgusted you were the first time."

"Not disgusted," I whispered. "I can't believe you're here."

Robin glanced over my shoulder and froze, a small smile spreading across his face, displaying his beautiful sharp teeth. "Are the sunsets always this pretty here?"

I turned around to see it for myself. "It's the main reason I stayed," I said. "Sometimes, the horizon turns a beautiful shade of gold, like your eyes."

My hand drifted to his chin of its own accord, turning those gorgeous eyes toward me. Gold with flecks of green, they complemented my green and gold perfectly.

"We're going to miss it," he said. "I don't want to miss a single sunset with you, now that we're together."

"It's going to be a long two years," I muttered.

"Two years?" A frown marred his beautiful face. "You still plan to make me wait another two years?"

"I'm still over half your age, Robin. You've got to understand?—"

"No. You're the one spouting bullshit. The agreement you made with my parents was to wait until I reached maturity. For changelings, that was when they turned twenty-five, but now that we live on Ignitas, it happens sooner. I lost my tail at twenty-three, Weld. We could have been together the last two years, nine months?—"

I shook my head. I knew the truth. "Your parents would never have forgiven me."

"My parents want us to move back to The Pavilion when you're ready."

I'd heard Galen had renamed our home, but, "Both of them?" I asked. "And did you ask Tuft?"

"Don't you bring Tuft into this. He missed you when you left, and you know it."

I hadn't expected his vehement defense of my ex-partner. "I had to leave. I couldn't be around you."

"I know." His voice was soft, and the tears in his eyes finally spilled over, trailing over skin and scales before dripping from his jaw.

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know that, too."

I couldn't stand watching him cry. Opening my arms, I drew him in. He dropped his head to my bare shoulder. I should have put my shirt on first, but it couldn't be helped. This was yet another temptation I could ignore, for my sanity's sake.

"It's getting dark." Stating the obvious had always been my biggest flaw. I wasn't fast, like Coz. I didn't have magic like Lark. I was just smart enough to get myself in trouble, like when I'd noticed most of the grotto was unfit for kobold eggs. I'd been the only one foolish enough to go against the priestesses and say it out loud.

At least Punky had done something about it. If he hadn't, Robin wouldn't be here with me today. As annoyed as I was that my mate was ruining my plan, the one I’d never explained to him, I was also overjoyed.

"Come to my cabin with me. I have a pull-out. You don't need to stay in the omega rooms."

He wormed closer to me, dropping his hands to the backs of my thighs. I felt his lips moving along my neck, tasting, teasing.

"Robin."

"Mmm?"

"We're not mating tonight." If I had it my way, we'd wait the full two years. "You can sleep on my couch."

"Mm-hmm."

"But you have to stop kissing my neck, so you can pick up your things while I put my shirt back on and gather my tools."

He whined a negative response, but he did what I asked. As soon as his skin broke contact with mine, I wanted him back. It took every ounce of my willpower to ball my hands into fists so I wouldn't pull him to me.

Thinking I was in danger, my kobold instincts kicked in. My sharp claws sliced my palms, and pain radiated up my arms, causing the spikes at my elbows to jut out in defense. Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't wearing my shirt, after all.

Once I convinced my body I was not under attack, I eased my shirt back on and finished my water. I picked up my maul and the wedge I'd been using to hammer the tractor's wheel rim back into shape. With a wave of the maul, I motioned for Robin to follow me.

Instead, he stepped up beside me and latched his arm around mine. With a tug, he pulled my water bottle from my hand and dropped his other hand in its place. He grinned up at me in triumph, and I found myself grinning back, despite my reservations.

If given an inch, Robin would take the whole damn continent. I'd always known this about him. I couldn't resist him when sweets were all he wanted. How was I supposed to stop him when his mating desires came naturally for kobold/human hybrids?

From our first classes on Ignitas, we learned how vulnerable our population was to extinction. Dragons, the curse on our females, and even the cooling grotto all conspired against us.

The mating drive had been so fierce for me, I'd wanted to bypass the hassle of finding my fated mate. I thought I knew better than some mystical bond. As the strongest kobold alpha, I wanted to mate with the strongest omega to create hardier breeding stock for the next generation.

Instead, fate had laughed at us. Our eggs hadn't matured after hatching, while Punky and Lark hatched four healthy children in an alpha cabin above ground. That Robin was one of those children: pure irony.

Once inside my cabin, I showed Robin to the bathroom to freshen up. I still couldn't magic up a meal from the big house, but I could cook a mean dish of refried beans and rice.

After a few minutes, I heard the shower running. I had just enough time to heat everything up and set a spell to keep it warm, make the couch bed, and light a few candles in the living room before Robin emerged, looking fresh and relaxed. He was also very, very naked, choosing to forego even a towel.

I'd forgotten how much I appreciated the adult omega form. While not as bulky as me, his muscle definition begged me to trace my fingers along the planes and ridges. We didn't have belly buttons, but a trail of hair led from his waist to a triangle around his erect cock. The scales over his testicles were fully green, like mine.

I swallowed hard as I continued to look past his cock to the floorboards between us. "Help yourself to food. I'll be … I'm … um …" I glanced at his face, hoping he could understand my garbled speech.

"You need a shower." He nodded. "See you in a few minutes."

"You will wear clothes in my cabin." I tried to keep my voice as firm as I could, but I verged toward the upper registers of begging toward the end.

He opened his mouth to argue, and I stopped him with a shake of my head. "You will. No arguments. If you didn't bring sleep clothes, I'll find some for you."

"I can wear your clothes?" He sounded so hopeful.

I offered before my brain registered what I was saying. "You can wear whatever you want."

I led him into my bedroom and showed him my simple two-drawer dresser. While he looked over my selection, I grabbed the first shirt and pair of shorts on top to wear after my shower.

As I walked past him toward the door, I tried not to look at his gorgeous backside, and I ignored the citrusy scent of his slick.

"Don't forget your compression shorts." He'd brought at least one pair with him, since he'd been wearing them before his shower. According to Tuft, it was downright uncomfortable for an omega to walk around without the magical shorts that held in their slick.

As I showered, I did my best to ignore my aching cock. It didn't help that the entire enclosure smelled like Robin's cum. He'd been quick and quiet, but there was no hiding the delicious scent of his spend. I wanted to lick the wall beneath the shower knob, where the scent was strongest, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd cleaned my shower. I didn't want to waste the next few days fighting off some weird stomach bug when I could spend them with Robin.

I rushed through my ablutions, hopped into my clothes without thinking, let alone checking how I looked in the mirror. Same old me, same old clothes. The only new addition to my life was waiting outside, sitting on the couch in his compression shorts and nothing else. I raised an eyebrow at him, something I'd perfected as a human, but didn't do often as a kobold.

He laughed. "What? You said to wear them."

"And I offered you clothes to sleep in."

"No offense, but I usually sleep like this."

"No offense taken." I'd been the one to push my clothes on him, when any normal host would have given him a full tour of the place. Not much to see here, though. Like the alpha cabins outside the fortress, it only had three rooms. The main room combined the living, dining, and kitchen areas into one open space.

I busied myself with finding a second plate, since most of mine were in the dishwasher, and two cups for the freshly squeezed juice in the fridge. Everything I had here mimicked what I'd grown up with on Earth, except all my appliances ran on sustaining magic instead of a power grid.

I served our food on the coffee table and did my best not to ogle him while we ate. Afterward, I showed him how to work the pull-out while I filled the dishwasher and turned it on. By the time I finished and peeked into the living room, Robin was already asleep and drooling into my decorative pillow.

The domesticity of it all reminded me of sharing an apartment with my college roommate. The only difference was, I hadn't been attracted to my roommate.

How was I supposed to get through the next two years of daily temptation? Somehow, I'd gone from not believing in hell to living there.