Page 35 of The Monster at the End of This Courtship

Axel frowned at me, so I rushed on.

"I'll make sure we have the right numbers of alphas and omegas on each team, and we could have a different night forbetas, and even a youth league or gym practice for the school kids."

"That's a lot of work," he said.

"I scheduled and planned performances for our local sports stadium in my past life," I shared. "A few recreation leagues will be easy." I hoped. First, I would need to learn the kobold computer version of spreadsheets and word processing. "Do you think Priestess Alma will think it's a worthy cause?"

"I'll be surprised if she thinks it's a one-person job," he said. "Maybe you can get a couple of betas to help you form the beta league."

"Great idea," I said, thinking through my possible assistants for the beta and youth leagues. "Thanks for the suggestion. I bet Punky and Lark would be willing to help, too."

We were scheduled to babysit their kobold hatchlings in a few days. I was equally nervous and excited.

Axel looked over his shoulder toward the top of the mountain, and the now unseen dragon cave. "I hope Weld is all right," he said. "That dragon seems like they could turn on him in an instant."

"Weld can take care of himself," I promised. "I'll check in with him tomorrow morning."

"What about tonight?" Axel asked. "Would you like to eat dinner with me?"

"Absolutely!" I thought of nothing else all day. "Only dinner, though. I need to draft my proposal to Priestess Alma before I meet with her tomorrow after her omega class."

Axel was quiet through dinner, but so was I. On my phone, I tapped out a list of kobolds I would need to contact for permission to add them to my proposal. Axel watched me with interest, but he didn't interrupt. I'd often irritated human partners by being too focused on a project, but Axel didn't lookperturbed. If anything, he seemed amused when I picked up my phone a third time in as many minutes to type another note.

He opened his mouth to talk when I had another great idea, and I motioned for him to hold that thought while I jotted yet another note.

Only after I finished typing, I realized what an ass I'd been. "I'm sorry!"

"You're a little carried away with your project," he said. "I'm like that with new ideas, too. It's cute."

"Is cute a southern word for annoying?"

"No." He laughed. "Why? Where did you grow up?"

"Minnesota. You know. Five states north of Texas."

"Sounds cold." His frown was more of a squint. "Not that Texas has any room to talk. These last two winters have been brutal."

"We don't really have winter in Ignitas," I said. "Not above ground, at least."

"The grotto was colder than anywhere else I've been." Axel shook his head. "I can't believe you all were trying to hatch eggs down there."

"We didn't think we had a choice." I stopped short of asking him where he thought we should nest. He had a cabin with a south-facing window to let in the most light. That window was in his living room, not his bedroom, but we would make it work for us when it was time.

When? If was more logical. Axel was still working through his feelings. He had progressed from never to maybe, but I still wanted to take it slow to protect my heart. He was a great guy, and I didn't want to ruin it by moving too fast for him. It had been hard enough for me to adjust to kobold life, and I'd left nothing behind on Earth.

Axel had left behind a fiancée, a baby that wasn't his, and a job he liked, though probably didn't love. I wanted him to beabsolutely sure he was sticking with me before I got pregnant again.

That didn't make me want him any less, though. He held my hand as he walked me back to my room in the fortress, and when he kissed me goodnight, it took all my willpower to break the kiss, say, "Good night," and shut the door between us.

I had a bit of help from my next-door neighbor saying, "Get a room already!"

Axel was a sweetheart, and I didn't deserve him. I kept waiting for him to realize I was no good for him.

So far, it seemed fated mates were sexually compatible, thanks to all the slick I produced and the excellent orgasms I'd had last night, but that wasn't enough to build a relationship. Axel was the kind of guy who married a woman who was pregnant with someone else's baby … I mean, as far as guys went, that made him fantastic for me, but I came with my own baggage. Not "secret baby with someone else," baggage, but baggage, nonetheless.

I finished my presentation early the next morning, so I texted Weld to meet me for lunch in the grotto. Our old cavern would give me a chance to practice my presentation in relative privacy. Even the elders who had holed up in the grotto for years were now taking advantage of the cabins aboveground.

"There's talk of building a retirement community center with its own recreation facility," Weld shared once I finished my presentation. "Rather than rebuilding the wheel, you could ask Priestess Alma if your project could be looped in with theirs. You're going to need help, and I wish it could be me, but it won't."

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