“Barely a pup, yourself.” Teige shook his head.
“And you’re a gross old grandpa.” Leo stuck his tongue out, loped off, and Cinder stuck his tongue out on the way off.
He liked the little Dettes. It’d be important for his little ones to know them one day. They would set a new standard for the freedom a Dette should expect.
Teige would never let it happen to his little ones. And would sooner disown a Drake son than allow them to think that way.
As the rest of the Dettes left, they finished packing, readying with Shui Long and his mate to aid in gathering the eggs one at a time to carry out to their car.
They had a long journey ahead of them and as much as Teige didn’t want to move them, Viraj needed his nest. His dragon, fretful as always, had found his true nature.
Ryan walked up the steps, chin held high, side by side with Viraj, the two different in appearance—Viraj more angular and taller, but the same in so many other ways. They had a mixture of features similar to Mahava and Karam, despite difference in station. But what was more important, was apparent on their faces. They were dragons no matter what their scales said.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gatlin
Three weathered envelopes arrived in the mail, addressed to Viraj, Mahava, and Karam respectively, from a local dragon-owned law firm representing the Vritra. The corners, bent and frayed, told a story of much handling and a long time circling the machines of the gods forsaken postal service.
With the envelopes Gatlin removed from their mailbox also came another box that held a fragrance of berries and cinnamon—something smokey underneath. A gift from Leo with a little note written on the side:Pups can stink up a joint. Enjoy before they learn how to read.
Gatlin traversed their estate and strolled to the elevator and descended into their hoard, pleased to find Viraj laid out with their eggs, his siblings napping peacefully with him, each holding a few eggs to their body. As Gatlin had discovered, the eggs tended to draw on a dragon’s magic, and their eggs were no exception. “Mail for you, lovelies.”
They all three stirred, Viraj first, batting long lashes as he yawned and patted the top of a shell. Revel, he believed.
Viraj yawned and stretched, his shirt rising to show a delicious stripe of reddish-brown skin, bronzed with lazy time in the sun that summer, letting the eggs have the time. “Calum was having a tantrum earlier.”
Another egg they needed to watch out for. The pup was sure to be a handful.
“And good afternoon, Declan, Callum, Revel, Reece, Keir, Aakash, Dasra, Taryn, and William.” The last egg Gatlin named hissed through their bond, raising a stink until Gatlin sighed heavily. “Bill.”
The pup had loved the name, but it didn’t feel very…dragony or culturally significant.
“I think Bill is a lovely name for a Dette.” Mahava patted the aforementioned shell and earned a preening songlike note through their bond. Happy pups. Happy mate. Happy attendants and a happy family.
“What brings you down here, love?” Viraj smiled, a sultry look simmering in his eyes.
“I was hoping I could bribe your siblings into going to town to get pizza while I ravished you for a while.” Gatlin grinned.
Karam and Mahava rolled their eyes and gave Viraj aDid he just really?glance. Ahh, they’d learned so well.
“We can go to our bedroom, I suppose. No need to do this near the eggs when they’re soaware.” Viraj rose to his feet, his posture so much more graceful and confident. As if knowing what was truly his ailment all this time, as if giving them pups, as if all of it surmounted into his first feeling of worth. He supposed he knew how Ryan had felt upon giving his mates their first pups.
Viraj stepped to the edge of the nest, and Gatlin grabbed him around the waist, twirling him before setting him down on his narrow feet. “That can be done.”
A scrabbling noise and a sharp tap-tap-tapping drew their attention like hawks to prey, Bill’s egg falling over with an erratic wobble.
“Really?” Gatlin frowned at his son. “Can it wait thirty minutes?”
Scratch. Scrabble. Click.
Another egg fell over, wiggling against Mahava’s leg as the insides scratched and clicked.
“Teige!” Viraj bounced on his toes and pulled away, into the nest to touch Bill’s egg as Gatlin sighed heavily.
“I’ve been knotblocked!” Gatlin sighed heavily and jogged off to find Teige.
“There’ll be plenty of time for shenanigans once the little ones are here.” Mahava chastised as Gatlin stepped into the elevator, feet tapping anxiously.
