He ascended to the upper floors and chased about. “Teige!”
It wasn’t a great effort to find him, slouched in his office, staring at his computer like it had more questions than answers. Such a fragile pose for someone so strong. “Hmm?”
“Hatching!” Gatlin grinned as Teige’s face whipped up, tired eyes blinking dumbly.
“What? Now?” He fumbled with something on his desk and stood, rushing up to push past Gatlin to make it to the elevator. Gatlin followed, all thoughts of hanky panky gone away.
“Yep.” Gatlin slid into the elevator with him and they rode down, the mechanism far too slow as they returned to their nest to find Mahava, Karam, and Viraj staring intently down atBill.
“Figures he’d hatch first,” Teige said, a laugh catching in his throat as a slit appeared then another, little claws and wild motions within shredding and cracking what bits of the shell it could.
“Come, Drakes. Your little ones need to see their fathers.” Karam and Mahava retreated and stripped, methodically folding and laying their clothes to the side as they shifted into their pretty dragons, much smaller than any of theirs, features neither Dette nor Drake, spineless and hornless, but sleek and as crimson and gold as any Vritra had a right to be. To the Vritra, it was important that dragons hatch and see other dragons, so Viraj did the same, taking the lead as he shifted and circled their eggs, watching each one intently, occasionally giving Bill’s egg a nudge.
A clawed hand broke free, and it was as they’d hoped—Bill was a Dette. Little crimson scales and tortoiseshell mottledclaws swiped at the air before the entirety of the little beast fought free, sneezing the slick albumin away.
Viraj licked at him, purring loudly as the little one chirped and nuzzled back.Welcome to the world, Bill.
The little one projected back thoughts of happiness, love, andwhat the fuck are those two pink things staring at me. It turned its little head to Gatlin and Teige, eyes narrowing.
These are your sires, little one. Remember their hearts.Viraj nudged Bill toward them, and he stumbled forward, lips smacking as he gauged them one by one, settling on Gatlin. He crawled into the Drake’s lap and nuzzled against his chest.
He remembered. A little chirp and rumble had Gatlin in near tears as Teige reached over to stroke his head, fingertips pausing on his horn nubs. Teige’s breath hitched. “Welcome, little one.”
Bill slid from Gatlin’s lap to Teige’s, showing equal affection. He yawned too soon, though, ready to go back to Viraj’s side, nuzzling in as another egg, Revel, showed signs of hatching.
Little scrabbling claws pierced through, green and mossy as any Loch, and he slid free to flop onto Viraj for cleaning. Keir came next, a graceful little Dette slithering free with golden eyes and red scales.
It was nearly an hour before another hatched, Dasra fighting from his shell with a hiss and spit, all Dette from head to toe. Aakash came next, a proud Drake, his hatching clumsy, requiring Viraj, Mahava, and Karam to nudge and nip at his shell to get the little one out with a huff. Something in his too-green eyes reminded Gatlin of Teige. The two may never know who sired what child, but they were all theirs. None would be treated differently.
Reece surprised them, hatching quietly with a delicate slither, not a peep as he joined Aakash, nobody having noticed he had fought free. The little Dette, golden-red scales and darktalons preened as Teige plucked him up to give him extra affections.
Taryn joined them after, his hatching, a perfect slit and slither, Drake as anything with brick red spines and black talons. He snorted and stomped over to snuggle Viraj, getting right up under his chin to headbutt and nuzzle.
Declan and Callum took their time, even as Mahava and Karam scratched gently at their shells until the other pups took notice and pried at them, too, urging them to hatch. And they did, sleepily crawling out one by one, Declan a Dette and Callum a Drake, yawning and snuggling into their fathers’ arms rather than Viraj. They seemed the type to demand personal attention.
And as they settled down for the evening, Viraj, Mahava, and Karam all shifted into their human forms and clothed themselves, adoring the new little ones with every fiber of their being. Reece, watching the shift, did his best to attempt it, finding his human form somewhat larval and inhospitable. He shifted back quite quickly and huffed, snuggling up with his siblings.
Gatlin would never know anything more precious.
And as if an afterthought, Gatlin distributed the letters he’d forgotten and worked to open their scented package. Amid the trappings within was a multilayered candle with a black label from the Decent Candles company that readDragon Pussy.
Gatlin must have been making a face because everyone leaned in curiously as Gatlin held it up.
Viraj, too, made a face. “What does—”
Gatlin passed it over as Viraj sniffed. “If dragons had those, I don’t think it’d smell like that.”
Teige took it next, sniffed, and laughed. “Nope.”
Mahava and Karam took a little explaining for them to understand, and both could concur that a Dette’s business didnot smell that way. How they’d know, Gatlin didn’t know, and he wasn’t about to ask.
Hell, Teige and Gatlin didn’t even know how a Dette smelled until they’d been shagging one for over a century.
Thery gave the candle a prized place on a ledge out of reach of the pups and opened their envelopes one by one.
As per a decree by the estate of Ashwin Vritra, his fortune had been seized. His chosen heir had received the estate and had been tasked with releasing his harem, transitioning them into the dragon world to wherever they pleased, however long that took. He’d also be responsible for raising the little ones to adulthood, each of them given a starting fortune to move into the world.
After all was said and done, Viraj, Mahava, and Karam stared at what was left for them.
