Page 29 of Marked By His Alpha Dragon's Desire

I was about to tug him upward so I could hold him, but instead, he pulled me down. The softness of the perfect nest my mate had put together wrapped me in its embrace. Luca draped himself over me, pulling one of the thicker fleece blankets around us. The pillows were soft, but there were enough of them that I couldn’t even feel the floor beneath it.

“Oh, wow,” I said. “This really beats the beds at the station.”

“I know, right? It might be better than the bed we have.”

“Our eggs are going to be very cozy here. Whenever they’re laid. You did so well, mate.” I kissed him soundly, putting as much love as I could into the kiss. Luca melted against me.

“Do you know how long I’ll carry them?”

I settled back into the pillows and Luca laid his head on my chest. “It varies from dragon to dragon, but definitely a month, probably closer to six weeks. You have some time.”

“Oh, good, because I really want to carry them.” He grabbed my hand and placed it over his flat tummy. “They’re in there,” he said. “I don’t know how many. I’m hoping two, but they are there.”

“They are,” I said, kissing his cheek. “I’m so excited.”

“Good. Since we have the next three days off, I did make an appointment with Dr. Quinn. He said that he doesn’t have any experience with dragon pregnancies, but he’s prepared to help in any way he can. And we can reach out to Theo’s mom about being our doula.”

“Fantastic,” I said, wrapping Luca in my arms and pulling him close. I tugged the blankets that covered the pillows over us.

“This is a beautiful nest, mate. I’m so proud of you.”

“Are you hungry at all? I lost track of time, I didn’t even make you dinner or anything.”

“Later,” I said. “Right now, I just want to be right here. I had three very long days without you, and I can’t spend another minute without you next to me.”

Luca sighed, settling into my embrace. The warmth of him in my arms caused my eyes to droop. Sleep was just within my reach.

“The bed was empty without you. I could barely sleep without you next to me.”

“Me too, love. Me too.”

Chapter 16

Luca

On the day of the next new moon, both Luca and I had the day off. We had a lazy morning, drinking our coffee near the nest. At some point, I shifted for a while and lay in the nest with Luca curled up at my side. He read a book, something about what to expect when expecting. Even though he wasn’t carrying a human baby, he said some of the human texts were still helpful.

He held his book with one hand, and with the other, he lazily stroked my scales. I let out a rumble of contentment, and he laughed.

“We should get up, dragon. It’s time to go to the gathering.”

I let out a deep sigh, smoke furling from my nostrils.

“I know you want to be lazy all day, especially now that I have these sun lamps turned on.”

Luca had insisted that the nest wasn’t going to be warm enough since the window didn’t get adequate sun in the evening, so he bought grow lamps. I had to admit, they were amazing. After a long shift at the fire station, I would change to my dragon form and lie near the nest. I barely fit in the room. We had to get rid of the couch—not that I was going to complain.

When my dragon form wasn’t in here, the room looked rather sparse, but still, it was important for me to be close to my eggs once they hatched. My dragon would want to be there.

For now, Luca and I spent time in the nest making sure our scent was as present as possible so once the eggs were laid, they would sense us there even if we weren’t with them.

“Come on, dragon, we’ve got to go.”

Luca got up from where he sat. He stepped over my tail.

I shifted, shrinking down in size until I was just a mere human man, lying in my nest naked.

“As gorgeous as that view is, I’m not going to let you distract me,” Luca said. He snapped his fingers. “C’mon. I don’t want to be late.”

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