Page 21 of The Monster at the End of This Molt (The Monster at the End of His Pregnancy #4)

Chapter Twenty-One

Robin

I thought my parents had been insufferable before I laid the eggs. Thankfully, they gave me a full day to recover from laying them before calling all our family and friends over for yet another party.

After that, they dropped by the house every other day with more food and supplies. "I found a great deal on these educational toys," Papa said. I had a feeling I would need to donate half of them to the school, for sheer lack of space. Already, we could fill a full bedroom with all the toys.

"Here's a case of condensed milk if the babies are fussy." Dad left it on the kitchen floor.

The case looked more like a pallet to me. We moved it out to the front porch once they left.

Weld navigated my quirky family with kindness and grace. He laughed at my brothers' sex jokes and wrapped Clementine in a hug when I accidentally made her cry. He reminisced with my parents about the days before we were born and praised Axel for taking excellent care of Tuft. I sensed some guilt in his comments, but I reaped the rewards. Every day, Weld made me breakfast, watched the eggs while I took time for self-care, and kept me so hydrated, I spent a lot of time in the bathroom.

Meanwhile, our eggs grew and grew. Once they were too large for me to cradle all four to my chest, Weld lay across from me in our nest at night, and we each took two. I gripped his hand in mine between our eggs, and we slept until our alarm woke us to feed them again.

Days turned into weeks and months with the same hourly routine. I reduced some of the monotony by working on my doctorate thesis on my tablet during the day. When the suns rose high in the sky, their rays kept our eggs warm enough for me to sit with my back to the headboard.

Weld spent those hours in the children's rooms, hauling furniture from Papa's storage space and setting it up, one piece at a time. We started with the rocking cribs, but he also put together the single beds and stored them back in the inter-dimensional space until we needed them after their second molts. Every time I heard Weld's tools, I was grateful for Papa's gift all over again. He could have split our baby stuff four ways, but he'd given all the baby furniture, necessities, and decor to me.

After feeding our eggs and leaving them warming in the sunlight, I padded down the hallway to the first set of new rooms. Weld had painted each room with a different fantasy theme. The room on the right had a beautiful meadow surrounded by tall trees. On the left, a handful of tropical fish danced around a bearded merman with a trident. I didn't find my mate, so I continued down the hall to the next set of doors across from each other. On the right, the floor was spelled to look like a stone drawbridge that led into a beautiful castle on the wall. On the left, the bare plank floorboards fit the deck of the pirate ship overlooking a beautiful seascape with land on the horizon. That's where I found Weld, sitting back on his haunches on the floor and admiring his handiwork.

"Pirates, eh?"

He grinned. "I loved to play pirates versus navy when I was a kid. I figured they could take turns playing whenever the mood strikes them." He stood and raised his arms over his head, exposing his gorgeous midriff to me. I slid my hands under the hem of his shirt and pulled him to me for a kiss.

"Which is your favorite?" He asked.

I had to think for a minute. Each landscape brought to mind multiple fairytales, myths, and legends. "The meadow," I said. "It reminds me of the Shire, and fairy rings, and huntsmen."

Weld kissed my forehead. "I like that one, too."

"You like them all," I teased.

"Guilty." He nodded. "Couldn't pick a favorite if you begged me to."

"They will love it."

"I hope so." He leaned his chin on my shoulder and held me close.

"How could they not?" I asked. "You did all this for them." He didn't have to do any of it, though. "They'll love you for being you, the same way I do."

He lifted his head to stare down at me and squared his shoulders with a little shake. "You love me?"

"Gods, yes. I thought it was obvious." I grinned up at him and all the love I felt for him coursed through our bond. "I've loved you since the first time we met."

He tilted my chin up, and I knew it would be another of his mind-bending kisses, the ones that altered time and made the blood rush in my ears. The world seemed to tilt from that kiss. Nothing had changed, and yet, my chest felt lighter after I spoke my truth aloud. I had always loved him, it was true, but I loved him more each day.

Weld broke the kiss to nibble and lick from my jaw to the bite mark on my shoulder. "I love you so much. I can't wait to meet our hatchlings and raise them with you."

His sincere words brought tears to my eyes. I dashed them away with the back of my hand. I had no spare moments for crying. It was time to feed our eggs again.

* * *

With the way the days blended, it might have been the same day or maybe two weeks later when Clementine and Tim showed up on our doorstep. Weld delayed them just long enough for me to pull on a pair of pants before they barged into the bedroom.

"Don't tell Papa and Dad," she whispered as she sat down at the edge of our bed, tugging Tim to sit beside her. "They want to throw a party, or at the least, meet us at the dragonet barn before we leave the village. I hate that."

I laughed. "You fucking love parties." Whenever our family threw a party, she was always one of the first to arrive and last to leave. "You hate being the center of attention."

With each word, Tim looked more and more dejected. "You'll hate The Meadows. As someone new, and my mate, you'll be the most interesting person they've ever seen."

She sat up straight and squared her shoulders. "I'm expected to be the center of attention as your mate. I'm ready!"

While they argued, I dropped my tablet to the bed and leaned forward to coat our eggs with slick from the tarp. Satisfied our eggs were fed and warm enough, I separated Clementine and Tim by grabbing their elbows and dragged them to the living room. I had something to say, and I didn't want my little ones to get bad ideas from their auntie.

I sat on one side of the couch, and Clementine took the other, putting Tim in the middle. Weld came out of one of the baby's rooms. With a sigh, he sank into the gaming recliner beside me and patted my knee. We'd talked about how hard this day would be. My eyes were already misting over, and I hadn't said a fucking word yet.

"Tim, you have nothing to worry about," I started. "Clementine is fabulous with new people. The less they know about the foolish shit she's done, the better."

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Name one foolish thing."

"How many ways are there to suppress fire spells?" I asked instead.

"Ten."

"Then why did you almost burn down Papa and Dad's house while I was gone?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, that was … foolhardy, I'll admit."

"How many times has Axel had to repair fire or explosion damage?"

"You made your point."

"All I'm saying is, you might want to spend some time learning suppression spells."

Her chin wobbled as she glared at me over Tim's shoulder. "Fine. Point taken."

"That's not fair. You can't cry." If she cried, I would cry, and then we would both be huge fucking messes.

Her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth, and a tear slipped down her cheek. "Fuck. Look what you made me do!"

"The dragon ruins." Weld changed the subject in perfect time. "Take her up there."

Tim and I both frowned at him. "There's so little room to move around in there," I said. "She'll set her own hair on fire!"

"The place has been abandoned since before my grandfather was born," Tim said. "I'd love to show you around, but?—"

"You might be surprised." Weld winked. He fucking winked at my sister! He'd gotten me pregnant without so much as a flirtatious smirk, but he had the audacity —

"Chill, Robin." He turned his attention to me and winked one eye closed while the other stayed perfectly still. He could arch one eyebrow higher than the other, too. I couldn't do either of those things, and I'd always been jealous.

Now, I considered myself lucky that my mate could do both. For the first time since I'd laid our eggs, my cock perked up and noticed how sexy he was.

"What did you do?" I struggled to keep the conversation on topic.

"Galen's siblings remembered the place from before it was destroyed. They've spent some time over the last week putting it back together with a few upgrades. Something about a laboratory and fire suppression spells."

Clementine's jaw went from clenched to completely unhinged while Weld talked. "They … what?"

"That's really sweet of them," Tim said. "They're not moving, are they?" Tim was impressed with our dragons, but he didn't hide his fear of them.

I laughed. "Not likely." Lux and Chance had settled in the mountains to either side of the ancestral birthing cave. They traveled to meet with other dragons on Ignitas, and even to the other dragon planes, but their homes were here at The Pavilion.

"Aw." Clementine hung her head. "Galen said they would come visit, but … you'll come visit us, once the babies are born?"

"As soon as we can." Alma still didn't recommend traveling with a girl until after her first molt, but afterward, we could take them anywhere.

Clementine hopped over Tim and wiggled her butt to make enough room between us. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek with a smack. "Good. I'm going to miss you the most."

Here came the waterworks again. Weld handed me a box of tissues, and between the two of us, we probably used half of it.

"Don't forget, we have Trickster," Tim said when we'd both calmed down. "It's only a fifteen-minute flight."

She sniffled. "That's unfair to you. I want to be a good mate, and that means staying by your side."

"I'm not tethered to my desk." He had made several trips back to The Meadows since the dragon reunion. "Everything is running smoothly in my absence. I see nothing wrong with an overnight trip once a month to visit your family."

Clementine pushed off me so hard my head spun. She twisted in her seat and planted a kiss on Tim's cheek while simultaneously squeezing the life out of him. "Really?"

Tim handled her antics better than I ever could. He stood with her in his arms and turned his head so their lips met in a swoon-worthy kiss. "Really," he said when they came up for air. "We can come back in a month, but only if we leave right now. I want to take you to the ruins before it gets dark."

He lowered Clementine back to her feet, and I stood, bracing for impact when she barreled into me. Weld stepped up behind me and turned the hug into a group sport.

Tim piled on, and my heart soared with love for both of them. He was her perfect mate. Only he could give her the freedom to start over in a new place while helping her stay connected to her family.

"Wait!" I said when Tim reached for the door handle. "There's something I want you to have." I raced back to our bedroom. At the back of our closet sat the four framed pictures I'd had made for my siblings and me. On top was our family picture from our first Earth trip. Papa had made the mistake of telling Clementine our human age was six, not three, and she demanded more birthday presents. Below it was a recreation of that picture, this time in front of the dragon pavilion sign. Galen had even captured our exact expressions, though I couldn't remember what they'd said.

So much had changed in the years between those pictures. In the first one, we were children with human glamours, while in the second, we were our adult kobold/human hybrid selves. The most important part was that we were together.

"These were supposed to be Christmas presents." I held the picture up for them to examine it, and then I spelled it with bubble wrap for their trip.

"I love it, and I love you." She gave me another squeeze and kissed my cheek. "See you soon."

"We'll be back to see the babies," Tim promised.

Then, they both vanished without touching the door.

"Teleportation," Weld said. "That's one way to get around your family."

"You really think Mac will let them leave without saying goodbye?" I laughed. "They'd better wait until tomorrow to see the ruins."

Weld directed me back to the bedroom with an arm wrapped around my shoulders. He was warm and strong against my side, and exactly what I needed.

"Are you all right?" he asked once our eggs were fed.

"I … yeah, I'm all right. It's not that different from when we all went off to college." This was more permanent, but it was possible to navigate. "Besides, we both love The Meadows, and we have a little vacation cabin there already."

"Vacation cabin?" Weld grinned. "I like the sound of that."

It would be several cycles before we could plan a vacation. For now, we could dream.