Page 3 of The Nesting Life

“We don’t know that they’re dragons. We don’t even know if they’re omegas. We don’t fully know how all this works and I think that’s the point. I think that’s the lesson of the magic behind it. The rules are different for everyone or have you forgotten we exchanged ours while you were unconscious? That we conceived Anthony, Ignatio, Mars, and Mercury while we were in your hibernation space? Those were our rules. There are two of us. That’s another rule we have put into place. I think it’s different for everyone because it conforms to the space it’s in like air.”

Simon thought silently for a moment as he passed me a teacup. I swirled the tea around the cup, wondering what the leaves would tell me if I read them when I was finished. I wasn’t as great as my carrier at reading tea leaves, but I wasn’t horrible either.

“That’s what I thought,” Raziel finally nodded.

“Is there anything else we can do for you?” I asked gently.

“Probably not about this,” he laughed, looking more jaded than a dragon his age should.

“How about sandwiches?” Simon suggested.

“I could go for a sandwich,” Raziel nodded.

Chapter 2

Simon

Hemlock Wolf Pack Territory (Star’s Territory)

That evening, after Raziel left, I shot Star a quick text to let him know that Raziel was being extra strange. I didn’t tell him what we discovered about his hatchling’s extra claiming glands because I didn’t want to strike Voron’s ire. If Raziel was our kid, I’d want to know, but then again, maybe Star already knew because he merely texted me back a thumbs up emoji.

After that was done, I put up the nighttime privacy screen around the nest and joined Voron inside of it. It was a warm night. Voron was clad only in a pair of moss green loose elven pants that matched his eyes. I stood over him for a long moment, drinking him in. He lay in the middle of four dragon eggs that were mini buildings in their own right. He’d polished and buffed them all while I washed after dinner and put a few loads of laundry through the cycle. Before we moved out here, we wouldn’t have had so many evenings alone. Now, the kids had to cut through an Other World gateway or fly out to see us. I missed them sometimes but told myself I also ended up far from home. Sometimes, I did months of guard work back home in the Nightshade Bear Territory when they needed me to fill in. We had a home there too of course but I hated being away from Voron.

“Are you going to stare at me all night or join me, alpha?” Voron asked, glancing up at me.

I could have stared at him all night. The long, lean, muscular lines of his body were familiar, homey. I knew and worshipped every inch of him. Still, even better than gazing at him, was settling in next to him. Even after all these years our bodies fit together like two puzzle pieces.

Voron turned on his side to face me and pulled the single bead of my necklace back to the center as he always did. The bead was given to me forever ago as a protective charm and I believed to this day that it helped me during the most dangerous time of my life.

“Are you thinking of that because of the quads 2.0?” Voron teased, gesturing at the eggs all around us.

“Maybe. Maybe because of Raziel too,” I shrugged. “Maybe because the anniversary of that is coming up.”

“I can make you forget,” Voron smirked, leaning in close to me. “At least for a while.”

“A while is all I need,” I grinned, pulling him close.

He scratched at the beard on my chin with his long fingernails and my bear grumbled in pleasure. The sound rumbled around inside me. Voron pressed himself against me and my dick came to life at the promise of his warm, soft flesh. He kept scratching my beard, playing with strands here and there, as our lips met. His were as soft as ever as they parted under mine, inviting my tongue into his warm, glorious mouth.

The kissing didn’t totally chase away my thoughts of what had happened all those years ago, because this is the life we fought for. These kisses were one of the little pleasures I battled against Meadow Berry Poison for. I’d do it all over again if it meant I got to stay with Voron. I’d do it every day for the rest of my life for him. His other hand joined the first, holding onto my face, as our tongues danced between our mouths. I cupped his ass with one hand, kneading the round firm globe under my fingers. Voron moaned against my lips and I ran my hand high enough up to slip it down under the waistband of his pants went I ran it back down.

A jolt buzzed inside my head. Voron felt it too. His lips fell still against mine, both of us frozen in time for a second. It buzzed again – sweet agony, turbulent, mixed emotions poured over us. Then excitement. Mirth? Horny?--- Then something slammed shut over the family link.

“Was that Ignatio?” Voron sat up.

“I think so,” I blinked up at him, my hand still down his pants. “Should we call?”

“No,” Voron shook his head, his long, dark hair falling loose around his beautiful face. He narrowed those moss-colored eyes that I loved at me. “I think he’s met his true-mate.”

“We told your parents,” I said. The urge to check in on him was overwhelming. His siblings, the other quads and everyone else rambled over the family link. It was definitely Ignatio. Of course, the omega of our quads would find his mate first. It seemed fitting. Still, I should check on him.

“We should. We have to check this guy out!” my bear nodded inside his inner sanctum. He sat on the porch of the house that I ‘built’ years ago when I was stuck inside my own head with Voron. He held a coffee cup between his paws and drank. I wasn’t sure it was actually coffee, but with inner beasts you never knew for sure.

“You will not!” Voron said. “Either you can keep your hands down my pants, or you can ruin the best day of his life! We are the last people he wants to hear from right now! Our true-mate response was marked by chaos. Otherwise, I’d have scooped you up and flown off with you into the woods. Seriously, alpha. Leave him alone. He’ll call us when he’s ready. We’ll have a mating feast and everything.”

“What if he’s an asshole?”

“He’s in the GGB right now. Philip or Canton can shoot him,” Voron said without missing a beat. “This isn’t your intuition talking. It’s your cave-alpha brain. If Ignatio chose him in the Other World that’s enough for me.”