Page 23 of The Monster at the End of This Courtship

"I'm too polite to ask." Tuft smirked. He opened the door into the fortress for me. We got strange looks from an older kobold couple with deep blue scales near the cathedral entrance.

Tuft waved as we approached them. "Good to see you guys!"

"Oh, that's just Tuft," the omega said to the alpha as we passed. "He's like that."

"I'm not the first omega to challenge gender roles," Tuft whispered conspiratorially as we turned the corner toward the kitchens. The hallway sloped downward, since the kitchens were the last stop before the entrance into the grotto tunnels beneath the fortress. "My classmate Punky hates anyone doing anything for him because he's an omega. His alpha, Lark, doesn't fight him on it." He glared at me as though expecting me to declare war over gender roles.

"Lark's a great guy," I said. "He took me to Earth."

Tuft nodded and his shoulders relaxed a smidge. "Their children are the first to be laid above ground since the dragons burned the village," he said wistfully. "They're heroes."

"I'm not the best at following gender roles myself," I reminded him. "I screwed up the number one rule of a first date. I didn't bring you anything."

"Speaking of, where are the candies?" he asked. "Did you leave my gift back at the barn?"

"They're on the end table beside my couch at home." I wiggled my fingers. "Magic." The flower he'd given me was also in a glass, since I didn't have anything resembling a vase.

Tuft stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. "I was hoping we could eat them for dessert."

"We can," I said. "Would you like to come back to my place for dinner?"

Tuft gave me one of those slow blinks he used when he was teasing me. "I thought you'd never ask."

"For the candy, of course."

"Oh, I know what kind of candy I want."

With our takeout containers in hand, we dashed outside the fortress and followed the path to my cabin through the long grass. It looked more like a wheel spoke now that I'd been here a few weeks. Before I arrived, my cabin had been vacant for years.

Tuft turned and stared up at the fortress spire as I unlocked the door with a spell, something I couldn't have done even two days ago. Now that I'd decided to stay, I was moving through my lessons much faster than before. I hoped I could find the right speed with my omega.

Chapter 9

Tuft

Istared a little too long at the dishwasher by Axel's kitchen sink. I would kill for a magic-powered dishwasher. Okay, maybe not kill, but as we moved to Axel's separate bedroom, I was considering sexual favors in return for moving in with him. My rooms were more like an efficiency apartment or a hotel room, not a place to live. This, though. This was nice.

"Doesn't Weld have a cabin?" Axel asked. "They all looked the same from the outside, but maybe my cabin is better stocked after standing empty for so long?" Axel was trying to find excuses for why his place was better than Weld's, and he hadn't even met the guy yet.

"Not anymore," I said. "I think he did before we met, but when we mated, we moved into the grotto together."

Weld still lived down there, in the same cavern we'd taken from Coz and Grindl. I knew him well enough to know he was punishing himself for stealing it, and for nothing. Coz and Grindl had moved their eggs aboveground and thrived, while ours didn't make it.

"I'm sorry if my question upset you." Axel pulled out a chair at his kitchen table, and I sat in it, still dazed by the memory. Hemoved around me, setting the table and giving me space without me asking for it.

"No," I said. "I'd like you to meet Weld. I think you'd be friends. It's just … it was for the best."

"Did it hurt?" he asked. "Laying the eggs?"

I nodded.

"If he hurt you, I'll kill him." Axel sank into his seat and avoided eye contact with me by hiding behind the lid of his cardboard food container. His smelled like steak and oven-roasted vegetables. Mine was steak with fettuccini Alfredo.

"It's not his fault," I admitted. "I tried to do it without him, but the eggs were too big. It took me too long to get the first one out, and by the time Weld was there to help, I think it was all over for our little hatchlings."

Axel frowned. "By yourself?"

"I didn't want him to worry, so I sent him off to work that morning."

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