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

Chapter Four

Weld

Every morning for at least six months, I'd completed my chores early so I could hammer on the wheel rim for an hour before lunch. Every afternoon, I returned to my post, pounding at the flat spots, trying to make the wheel round again.

It was my fault the tractor was in such bad shape and my job to fix it. I'd been daydreaming about Robin the day I dropped it sideways into a ravine and the wheel ripped off.

Now that Robin was here, nothing changed. I completed my chores early, ignoring the allure of his scent whenever his errands for Tim brought him into my vicinity. Until it got too dark, I hammered on the rim and tried to think of questions to ask him over dinner.

Robin returned as the sun set. He didn't try to kiss me this time, though I wished he would. I wanted to feel his lips on mine again.

"What would you like for dinner?" I asked to keep myself from kissing him. "I have enough bean curd to make a vegetable scramble, or I've got some fresh greens for a salad."

"They're having steak and salad at the big house tonight. I thought I would magic some?—"

"I don't eat meat." That was the excuse I'd given Tim for not spending every dinner surrounded by the happy couples and their adorable children, and it had stuck with me ever since.

"Oh. Well." Robin flicked his wrist. I knew he'd used magic, but I still wasn't strong enough to know what spell. "Sorry. I should have asked first."

He was incredibly sweet, but his actions reminded me I was far weaker. I could start my burner fires and douse a small kitchen fire with dampening magic, but I couldn't magically send an order to our cook in the big house, nor could I muster the skill to teleport food to and from my cabin.

"I'm the one who's sorry," I said. "I'll walk up there with you, if you'd prefer?—"

"No! I like tofu, and I love vegetables. Whatever you make will be fine."

I hated that he had to settle for me. He deserved someone young and full of magical prowess. Instead, he got me, a kobold with his best years behind him who couldn't produce enough magic for a tire change.

The next few days passed by in a blur. I made some progress on the wheel, but it was far from round. One side had caved in upon impact with a rock shelf jutting several feet above the ravine. It had looked more like a happy face when I pulled it out. I'd hammered it back to being wheel shaped, but it needed to be perfectly round with even rims around the outside edges before I could attempt to affix the rubber tire. I'd gotten to where hammering out each imperfection caused two more.

Each evening, Robin met me to watch the sunset until Friday's rain cut my workday short. I prepared our lunch basket for the following day and tucked it back into the refrigerator. Then, I fixed another simple meal of vegetables and rice.

I even beat Robin into the shower, though I missed his delicious scent. I still found myself thinking about it as I soaped my thickening cock.

What was the harm in returning the favor? I leaned against the tiled wall, pressing my forehead to my forearm as I feverishly worked my cock with my other hand. All my pent-up frustration at Robin's unexpected arrival and the nights I hadn't been able to touch him since then came shooting out of me in hot white spurts all over the shower wall.

My knot burgeoned. I ignored it and continued to scrub myself clean.

A moment later, I regretted my life choices. The outside door banged open and Robin whined, "Gods, I hate rain. Are you here, Weld?"

The bathroom door creaked open before I could grab a towel.

Robin sniffed the air, leaning toward me with each flare of his nostrils. He looked as wet as I was. He leaned so far forward, he almost tumbled into the shower stall with me.

He was too late. I grabbed a towel from the shelf beside Robin and unfurled it, but I didn't bother to hide my nakedness, or my still-erect cock and thick knot. I lifted the towel to my dripping hair.

Robin reached for me with desire in his gaze.

"No. Stand still."

He dropped his arm back to his side, but his gaze roamed my body.

I stepped closer and peeled his wet t-shirt off him. I was the elder. I could do this.

Gently, I unbuckled his pants and looped my thumbs in the band of his compression shorts. He sucked in a surprised breath when I shucked them down his legs, turning them inside out. He braced himself on the counter and kicked his clothes away. It was a long way up from my crouch, but I eventually met his heated gaze. His cock was rock hard and already leaking, but this wasn't about sex.

"Shower while I get dinner ready."

I ignored his whimper as I stood and walked out, shutting the door behind me. The sound almost drew me back to him, but I stayed firm.

He barely spoke to me through dinner. When I checked on him before I went to bed, he pretended to be asleep.

I'd really fucked things up this time. While I lay in bed, staring at the slanted ceiling, I wondered if fate saw how incompatible Robin and I were. Beyond the sexual desire, there was no reason for a sweet kid like him and a grumpy old pain in the ass like me to be together.

* * *

The Saturday morning sunlight woke me from a fitful sleep. I rubbed grit from my tired eyes. A sharp pain in my chest made me sit up so fast my head spun.

The pain wasn't mine, but it hurt like hell. It was unlike anything I'd ever felt. I hopped out of bed and rushed to the living room, where Robin lay with his head buried between two pillows. The muffled sounds of his sobs broke my heart.

I kneeled beside him and tugged the nearest pillow away. "Hey."

Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around me. He arranged me until I sat beside him with his head in my lap. I quickly positioned his pillow between us, which only made him sob harder.

"Why do you hate me?" He sniffled. "I did everything you said. I was patient. I waited. Everyone said, 'oh, you know your fated mate, you've got it so easy,' but waiting was never easy. Now I'm here, and you still make me wait. When I think I'm making some headway with you, you just push me away again."

"I'm not pushing you away," I said.

"What the hell do you call yesterday in the shower?"

"You were cold and wet, and I was finished."

"Yeah, you finished all right."

I couldn't help it. His crass joke made me snort. "Did you think I wouldn't smell your cum all those times?"

"I hoped you would," he said. "You don't know how much I want you to mark and claim me. You don't even care!"

I caressed his face from his jaw to his forehead and smoothed his hair back behind a pointy ear. "I care. I'm taking the day off to spend it with you."

He blinked up at me. "You work Saturdays?"

"I'll work every day until I get that fucking tractor up and running."

He sighed. "The tractor's more important than I am."

The Earth machine was the only obstacle between me and a lifetime with Robin. I didn't expect him to understand, especially since I hadn't explained it to him, but I'd hoped he would see how important it was to me.

"Not today." I gently wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "Today, we're flying to see the ocean."

He scoffed. "I've seen plenty of oceans back on Earth."

"Earth's oceans are nothing like this." I hoped. Ignitas's oceans were deeper than Earth's, making them a much deeper blue right off shore, fading to black the further from land we flew. "I'll show you." I hoisted him until he sat beside me with his body angled away.

He leaned backward against my shoulder. "Did you take Lemon to see the ocean?"

I laughed. "No." The thought of letting the sour-faced omega near my dragonet was absurd. "Kermit doesn't like other kobolds."

When Mac had said the little dragonet would probably end up dragon food if he didn't bond with someone, I'd felt bad for him. Why Kermit had chosen me, I never knew. Maybe it was our similar coloring. The dragonet was a bright green, like my hair. I'd been instantly drawn to him.

We didn't have the same level of bond as most kobolds and dragonets, thanks to my lack of magic, but he was fiercely loyal to me. Once we bonded, he wouldn't let any other kobold ride him, not even Mac.

When I introduced them, Kermit surprised me by butting his head against Robin's chest and begging for pets. Robin laughed and stroked along the raised auditory ridges, making Kermit purr.

"What have you done to my dragonet?" I patted Kermit's flank, and he turned to hiss at me.

"Nothing. I mean, I might have a little jerky left in my pocket from the last time I rode a dragonet."

I was the worst host. I hadn't even asked Robin how he'd gotten here. "Do you have your own?"

"No. I borrowed one from Mac." He held the jerky between his thumb and forefinger, and Kermit daintily grasped it between his teeth. Then, he swung his neck up to his full height and nudged his chin back, swallowing the treat whole.

I used the distraction and a burst of magic to call his saddle and harness from the barn. It was a spell Mac used all day long to prepare his dragonets for flight, but it took most of my magic stores. I had no magic left for an inter-dimensional space, but that didn't seem to matter with Kermit. With the same care he'd used to take the treat from Robin, he lifted our basket and angled his neck until he could place it … somewhere. It looked like his neck passed directly through his chest without leaving a mark on him.

"You're a clever dragonet, aren't you?" Robin cooed, giving Kermit more head pats.

"Kermit also loves the ocean." If I didn't remind him, he would beg for pets all day. At the promise of all the fish he could eat, he pranced and nudged Robin toward his flank and the saddle.

Tim made two-seat saddles for dragonets, but I didn't own one. I'd never needed one before. Instead, I scooted all the way to the back lip of the single seat, resting my butt against the hard leather ridge. I motioned for Robin to sit in front of me. He stood in the saddle a moment too long, giving me the perfect image of his round ass in my face. The thick smell of his slick wafted toward me on the morning breeze. By the time his ass finally landed on the seat, my cock was hard as iron and trapped between our bodies. Robin wiggled in the seat, and jolts of pleasure shot up my spine.

I was the one causing our delay this time. With a tug on the neck harness, Kermit launched into the air.

Soon, the cliff dropped out from beneath us and the red sand faded into dark water. I loosened my grip so Kermit could fish to his heart's content, splashing us with seawater and making Robin laugh, even as he dug his claws into my thighs. During one adventurous dive, I wrapped my arms around him. I didn't let go, even when the giant swordfish in Kermit's mouth splashed us both in the face.

Robin placed his arms over mine, hugging them to his chest. In that moment, everything in the world was right.