Page 8 of The Monster at the End of This Molt (The Monster at the End of His Pregnancy #4)

Chapter Eight

Weld

To light the blowtorch, I flicked the steel striker across the flint. Next, I tweaked the gas until I had a healthy blue flame. I heated the dented metal until it glowed an orangey-red. While it was hot, I tapped it with hammer and chisel to reshape the crease. Once the metal cooled to a dull red, I quenched it with cold water, holding the wet sponge to the metal until the burn mark charred black.

I sighed. This would take forever. I could feel the original shape of the wheel in my bones, the way sculptors were said to feel the shape of the statue inside the block of marble. I'd returned the metal to its basic wheel shape, but it was nowhere near perfect. If I could mold it a little here, twist it a little there …

The metal shifted before my eyes, making my head swim. I blinked, stared, and blinked again.

The metal had moved to fit the blueprint in my head. It seemed disingenuous, like cheating. I was supposed to do this by hand. I didn't have enough magic to work metal with my thoughts.

I cranked the gas valves on the torch and the fuel cylinder to off and rolled the mechanism away. The last thing I wanted to do was blow myself up while I was this close to a magical breakthrough.

Nah. It wasn't magic. It couldn't be. It was getting closer to lunch, and I was delirious with hunger, even though I'd eaten breakfast and my mid-morning snack.

Still, I approached the wheel with reverence for the new sensations coursing through me. If this was what magic users felt, I was grateful to join their ranks. I felt almost giddy as I stepped up to the wheel, running my fingers over the rough, shrink-scarred surface. The crease was the depth of my fingernail. I ran it along the rough spots, sharing my intention with the metal.

My claws were sharp, but they wouldn't shave metal, though I left no filings or dust in my wake. Again, I had the sensation the metal reshaped itself to fit my idea of it, not only how it was when I'd first brought the tractor from Earth, but how it had looked when it rolled off the assembly line at the farm implement factory.

I chuckled as I smoothed my hand over every bit of damaged steel, returning it to its original gleaming yellow without a single chip in the paint. It looked too nice to go back on the old tractor, but I wasn't done yet. I picked up the rubber tire and stood it upright next to the wheel. With a little push, the two aligned and popped together. I spun the wheel, skating my hands over the sidewalls. The tire inflated between them, and the bead I'd been so worried would never seal snapped into place.

I kept rolling the tire, repairing the worn tread until little rubber nubbins pricked my fingertips. I'd restored it to sticker-worthy shape, without the sticker.

And still, I felt more magic coursing through my veins. With a thought, I lifted the tractor from its stands and hoisted the tire into place. Without the aid of my trusty air wrench, the lug nuts tightened themselves. I felt like Cinderella watching her fairy godmother work, except …

I laughed out loud at that. "I am my own damn fairy godmother!" With hands raised like a music conductor, I danced around the tractor. The engine needed tuned. The old hydraulic system for the front bucket needed a good cleaning, and the hitch, which had rusted through, needed to be restored. I bipped, bopped, and booped, and the decrepit old tractor roared to life with a purr.

"I knew you could do it."

The tractor engine sputtered to a stop, and I took a step back. Robin's voice nearly startled me out of my skin. I'd been so focused on my work, I hadn't noticed the shift in our bond. When he neared, something inside my chest swelled. At first, it had been uncomfortable, but now, I could feel his admiration through it.

I glanced at him, and then back at the tractor. "How long have you been here?"

"You were dancing when I walked around the barn." He grinned. "When we get back to The Pavilion, you owe me a slow dance in the old gym."

Satisfied that the tractor was as good as new, my magic retreated in a rush. I sank to my knees with a sigh and grinned up at Robin. "This wasn't you, then?"

He frowned. "I don't know the first thing about old Earth tractors."

"I mean the magic." I shrugged. "I've never held this much magic."

He sank to his knees beside me, not caring that he dotted his gray sweatpants with purple grass stains. "We're mates. The longer we're together, the stronger our combined magic will be. Remember how Papa unlocked their cabin's tunnel entrance? Before that, Dad didn't even know the tunnel was there."

He took my hands in his. "The magic is yours. It could have been yours for the last 26 years, but you ran away."

"I would do it again, if it meant you had a normal childhood."

He frowned. "No part of my childhood was normal. We were the first alpha and omega hatchlings to grow up on Ignitas in over a century. I have a fucking sister. Do you know how annoying that is?" His grimace transformed into a deprecating smirk. "Knowing my fated mate almost since birth was the least of my worries."

He said that, but I knew the truth. I'd grown up on Earth, and so did his parents. I didn't want to be that guy, the disgusting groomer who drew his fated mate into underage sex.

"What are you thinking right now?" Robin asked.

"Earth rules and customs."

He nodded. "I shouldn't have said it that way. I know you didn't run away, and I understand your reasons. I majored in psychology in undergrad. My textbooks covered case studies of some horrible people, and not once did they remind me of you."

When he said he'd studied psychology, I tried not to roll my eyes. I'd hated my counselors and therapists back on Earth. I'd known I was different, but they insisted all humans experienced similar emotions. Unless everyone around me was a fucking kobold changeling, they did not feel the same way I did.

"Psychology, huh?" I pushed myself to my feet and offered him a hand. "Do you want me to lie on the couch and tell you about my childhood bathroom habits?"

"Ew, no. If you lie on my couch, I might sit on top of you, but only if we're naked."

My breath caught in my throat. "Yes. Now. Let's do that now."

He blinked. "What?"

"The tractor's finished."

"You're exhausted." He pointed at the ground. "We should eat first."

Using so much magic should have wiped me out, but it came and went from another place, separate from my physical strength. I pulled Robin to me and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. "Your slick could be the first course."

He leaned against me, his breath hot in my ear. "Don't say it unless you mean it."

I slid my hands beneath his ass and picked him up. He wrapped his legs around me and met my desperate kiss with hunger.

I broke the kiss on a plea. "Please?" I didn't like to beg, but I needed to taste him before I ate real food.

"Gods, yes." He clung to me so tightly, it was only by the grace of those gods that we made it back to the cabin without me passing out and dropping him along the way.

* * *

The moment I set Robin down, he dropped his hands to the waist of his sweatpants. As ready as I was to see all of him, I also wanted to do this right. I grabbed his wrists and shook my head. "I want to undress you."

He made a frustrated sound in his throat. "Come on. I've been waiting forever!"

"You can wait a few more minutes." I picked him up again, this time hoisting him over my shoulder. He fell against my back, laughing and squirming in my grip, pressing his hard cock to my collarbone.

I patted his ass, and he stopped moving long enough for me to cross the living room, through the bedroom door, and toss him on the unmade bed. He landed with an "Oof," and dropped his head back on the pillows.

I shoved my way between his legs before sinking on top of him. While we kissed, I cupped his cheek in one hand and kneaded his hip with the other. I ached to be inside him, but not here. I wanted our first time to be at The Pavilion, preferably in our own cabin.

I pulled his shirt up, and he lifted his arms and shimmied it off. After tossing it to the corner, I grabbed his hands, wrapping them around the bottom bar of my metal bed frame. "Stay like that."

Robin hummed as I sat back, taking him in. He was beautiful, all angular lines and sculpted muscle. While not as bulky as I was, he had better muscle definition than most omegas, especially the ones around here. Punky was muscular, too, which was why I'd tried to steal him away from Lark.

I groaned and shook my head to dislodge the image of my mate's parents from my mind. I had punished myself enough for the past. It was time to take what Robin was offering, here and now.

I leaned forward and traced the lines of his green stripes. My magic raced to the surface again, and I trailed lines of heat across his skin and scales.

"More," he pouted.

"I'm getting there." I wanted to worship his body, to kiss him from his hairline to his toes, but the smell of his slick spurred me on to my original intent. I sat back on my heels again and tugged at the waistband of his sweats, sliding them down with his compression shorts. His cock slapped his stomach and a drool of precome escaped from the tip.

"You're already leaking." I dropped to my elbows between his legs and licked the sticky trail along his abdomen.

"I've been leaking from both sides for days."

His skin was so smooth, especially between the stripes of scales at his hips. I licked and sucked my way across his taut muscles and took the head of his slender cock into my mouth.

"Weld!" Robin twisted his claws through my hair and pulled me off him. "I'm already so close … don't?—"

I tugged his hand from my hair and kissed his knuckles as I rested on my heels. "Hands back on the frame, or I stop."

He whimpered as he complied. "No. Please, don't stop."

He looked so perfect, splayed out beneath me, hands on the metal bar above the mattress, his cock drooling into the troughs at his hips. I'd done that to him by making him wait so long for me, my sweet fated mate.

"Don't hold back. I won't stop, even if you come."

He squinted his eyes shut, and his cock twitched. "Don't say things like that, or you'll make me come by looking at me."

I was half tempted to try it, but, "I still want to taste you."

He moaned. "Hurry up already."

I dropped back to my elbows and grabbed a pillow to shove under his lower back, propping him up where I needed him. I draped his legs over my shoulders and nuzzled his inner thigh, letting my snout graze over his balls. The scent of his slick merged with his musk, and I couldn't resist sticking out my tongue for a taste along his thigh.

"Oh, gods, please, Weld."

The way he said my name, his voice high and thready with need, sent a shiver of anticipation down my spine. We'd both waited for this long enough. I lifted his thighs to give me better access to his hole. Excess slick dribbled down his crease, and I lapped it up. Sweet nectar exploded on my tongue.

I could become addicted to his slick. He was the most delicious treat I'd ever tasted, and I wanted more. I licked around his rim, gently prodding him open. He rewarded me with copious amounts of slick.

"I'm so close," he whined. "Please."

When he begged so prettily, how could I refuse? I pulled back and blew on his entrance, making him squirm. With my tongue, I followed the stripe of scales between his balls, to the base of his cock, and then all the way to the tip.

He grunted when I swallowed around the head. His hips jerked off the bed as bitter cum flooded my mouth. Mixed with the sweetness of his slick, it was perfect.

I held his hips and swallowed him down, catching every droplet until he pushed at my shoulders with a giggle. "Too much."

It would never be too much. I lowered myself back to his slick-soaked thighs and began again.