“I’d be more worried if you weren’t having bouts of increased appetite,” he grinned. “Eat what you can and what you want. As for Beryl, just keep setting the boundaries. I think he probably gets more than you think. I’ve had first time sires bang on the exam room doors and demand to be let in. I don’t. In fact, I take twice as long just to teach them how to respect their mate’s wishes, but I don’t think Beryl is like that.”
“He’s not. He… I mean, I miss him right now,” I said. “If someone didn’t have to stay home with Jondi, I probably would’ve woken him up to come with me.”
The doctor smiled at me. I blinked, bemused at what was so good about what I said.
“You trust him with Jondi,” he nodded. “That’s a good thing. I think maybe you were just enjoying the freedom of being able to make a trip in middle of the night when you want to. That’s not a bad thing. Needing to decompress is normal. Especially when you arrive back home to find out all your problems are still here and now you have Beryl and a pregnancy to factor in. You went out hunting. Maybe it was the modern style of hunting, but it is a good way to clear your head.”
I left about half an hour later with a clean bill of health for both the jellybean and me. We left the clinic and went to Sandy’s to grab some subs because I was once again ravenous. In a little corner booth, grateful for the solitude of the early morning hours, I told Beryl about my urges to eat people. He listened and nodded along. Then I told him the doctor’s theories on everything else.
“But what do you think? That’s what he thinks.”
“Well, he is a doctor,” I shrugged. “And honestly, it makes sense that my lion would rather eat people now than have to deal with them when the baby comes. Plus, I hadn’t thought about it, but I haven’t been able to go anywhere alone unplanned in a long time. I love Jondi. I’d die for that kid but a middle of the night grocery store run and eating a cake on my own was nice. Sure, it’s not something I’d want to do every night, but it was a nice change of pace.”
“Can you let me know next time you want to go grocery store prowling in the middle of the night?” he asked.
“I should’ve told you,” I nodded. “I’m sorry.”
He rubbed his foot over my ankle under the table and grinned at me. Yeah, we were so going home to romp.
Chapter 23
Beryl
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
Life fell into an easy pattern as we got ready for Mom’s wedding. When I wasn’t going to work with Jade or running errands, I helped her and Bree get things set up. Each and every time I saw my mother’s mate, she looked a bit more pregnant as if her egg had decided to start growing inside her. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, but still I worried.
“We’re having the same milestone as Jondi,”my dragon pointed out one afternoon while I was driving into town to buy more caviar because Bree was craving it.“We’re becoming an older brother too.”
The scaley guy was right. Only, I hoped that Jondi wasn’t as worried as I was about everything. He knew about the threats because Jade didn’t hide much from him. He didn’t know the extent of them or that they were against Jade personally and not just the playroom. Sure, assholes and violent people could be anywhere, but sometimes I wondered if letting him know just how often they were around made the kid more anxious. Jade and I had talked it in circles a few times. It always ended with Jade saying, ‘If we’re not honest about how the world can be, he’s going to get hurt and then he’s going to look at us and ask why we didn’t warn him. Or what if something happened and one of us came home hurt? He’s not constantly on watch, but people hurt kids too and I want mine to know what to do. Hell,he raised the dead the night he thought you were going to eat him. So, I think it’s working out okay.”
He wasn’t wrong. Still, I hated the idea of Jondi or Jade being afraid of anything. Given my way, I’d have wiped out everything that scared either of them.
“Maybe Jade is right and eating people is the answer,”my dragon chimed into my thoughts.
It probably wasn’t the best answer, but it was the quickest answer.
I arrived back to the farm with the backseat of the Wing Mini full of bags loaded with caviar because octopus dragons ate a lot to Mum and Bree arguing. I hadn’t heard them argue before but with the wedding stress and how long Bree had carried her egg I should’ve expected it at some point.
“What’s going on?” I asked, arms loaded down with bags of caviar as I looked between them. Bree was tearing up and Mum looked like she was ready to pull her own hair out.
“Tell her all the kids don’t need to dress up!” Bree said, her bottom lip quivering.
“Just find the damn rock, Mum!” I said, walking into the kitchen to set the bags down. Mum followed on my heels and I almost told her not to drag me into it, but now I had a kid. Plus, wasn’t sure if Jondi wanted to wiggle into the little suit Jade had him fitted for the day after we got back into town. He barely wanted to try it on when we picked it up.
“It’s not the same! They’re going to be so cute! The photos will be ones they love when they’re older!” Mum said.
“Hey, I’m not marrying you! Once it’s decided, we’ll do our best to make sure Jondi is here in whatever fits the theme, but she’s crying. Your pregnant mate is crying. If she doesn’t want them to dress up just let it go. I haven’t a damn clue why it’s so important to her, but it is. It’s like you told me just get the damn rock!”
“I just want everything to be perfect for our wedding!” she said, tossing her hands up in the air.
“Mum, you’re not marrying the wedding. I don’t think Jade and I are even going to have a wedding. We’ll have our little mating feast but we’re not having a wedding. Your wedding is going to suck if your bride is crying the whole time because you argued with her over one little thing.”
“I just want them to have fun at the wedding! If we’re going to do the blow-up water slide thingy…” Bree said, twisting open a jar of caviar and slurping it down.
“After the ceremony,” Mum said way more gently than she had talked to me. “We’re already squeezing ourselves into so much clothes! I don’t know why they have to do it too!”
I almost left the kitchen but stuck around because I had a feeling that the dress code for the wedding was about to change.
