Page 82 of Dragon's Revenge

Jermon couldn’t help the goofy smile that cracked his face wide open. Every time he thought of his little hatchlings, it came automatically. He really had become that dad. The one who bore everyone with endless tales about his kids—and he wasn’t gonna apologize for it. “They’re doing very well. Growing like crazy and getting in all kinds of mischief. Zayden is obviously the biggest, strongest, and the undisputed leader. He’s the one who will come up with the crazy stuff and the others will follow. Usually, if we keep an eye on him, the rest will fall in line. Olivia is determined to keep up with her older brothers. She reminds me of Emma, actually.” He shot a grin at Nadiv. “She’s equally stubborn and refuses to hear the word no. If she can’t do something, she’ll keep trying until she figures out a way to succeed.”

“And Harley? How are they doing?” Valdis asked.

Jermon’s heart grew all mushy. He had such a soft spot for their youngest. “They’re wonderful. They’re…different. Not as rambunctious as their siblings, more content to cuddle with Riordan, Wilmer, or me. I regularly take them in a sling when I go to work, and they’re happy to be with me, peeping over the edge of the fabric from time to time to see what’s going on.”

Valdis took a deep puff from his cigar. “They’re growing at the right rate? No developmental delays?”

“None. They eat well, sleep well, and do everything they should. They’re just a little different. Enar and Maz have studied them but haven’t come to any definitive conclusions. And Emma and Duer have done research, but we can’t find any mentions of a dragon with similar characteristics. So, for now, we’re gonna go with intersex and beta since those seem to be the safest labels, and we’ll let Harley indicate what feels right for them when they’re old enough.”

Erwan sighed. “They’re so stinking cute, those little hatchlings. I could watch them all day.”

“Anytime, bro. Anytime. We’d be glad to have you babysit them for a day so we can take some much-needed time off.”

Valdis quirked an eyebrow. “Which is a euphemism for sex, I assume?”

Jermon snorted, almost choking on the exhale of smoke. “Sleep first, but yeah, some uninterrupted time to reconnect would be a godsend.”

He wasn’t about to rat on Riordan, but it had been weeks since Jermon or Wilmer had gotten to fuck him. Which wasn’t that big of a deal when it came to the physical need because Jermon loved being fucked just as much and Wilmer was all too happy to oblige him. But he missed that connection with Riordan, and he knew Wilmer felt the same way.

“Emma said that in the old days, omegas had teenage omegas to help them. The official term was wet nurse, which is a bit weird as they weren’t breastfeeding the hatchlings, but the idea was that every new parent had full-time help for the first year,” Nadiv said. “The teenage omegas would move in with the new parent and be available day and night for whatever they needed. It gave the parents a reprieve and crucial time to rest. And for the young omegas, it was the perfect way to gain experience in childcare so they’d be ready to take care of their own kids when the time came.”

Jermon scratched his chin. “That sounds amazing, not gonna lie. Wilmer and I pitch in as much as we can, and we get help from others, but most of the day-to-day routine still falls on Riordan. He does it all with more patience and love than I could ever muster, but it’s a lot for him.”

Nadiv nodded. “Emma asked me to talk to Sivney to see if we could set up a similar program, but with adults. It doesn’t even need to be full-time, you know? But a few hours of help a day would be amazing.”

Yeah, no kidding. Jermon could only imagine Riordan’s reaction if he told him he’d have a few hours to himself every day. Why hadn’t he thought of that himself? He should have, and he could have slapped himself for not trying harder to find a solution. “Maybe some of the new omegas would be open to helping? I’ll talk to Sivney. Like, today.”

“What’s the status of your plans?” Valdis asked Erwan, who was clearly enjoying his cigar. “With Finlay, I mean.”

Plans with Finlay? Oh right. Jeez, in all the stress about Rhene’s disappearance, Jermon had completely forgotten about Finlay’s offer to carry Erwan’s eggs.

Erwan chuckled. “I was a little preoccupied with other things to give that much thought, but Finlay came to see me yesterday and told me he’s still willing to do it. His next heat is two weeks away, so…”

“And you’re still gonna do it, right?” Jermon asked.

Erwan hesitated. “I don’t know. I want to, but…” He threw up his hands. “Is it smart to do this when Duff Bás is here?”

Jermon sighed. He didn’t want to criticize Rhene openly, but he had serious reservations about giving the man so much access to the pack and the clan. “Fair point.”

“You don’t think Rhene made the right call?” Valdis asked, apparently less concerned with criticizing Rhene than Jermon was.

Erwan’s answer came fast. “I would never question his instincts. You know both of us were suffering, being apart for that long. He had little choice but to come up with this solution. That doesn’t mean I trust Duff Bás.”

“No shit,” Nadiv said, his words carrying an edge. “Though I heard he was visibly shaken by what Grayson told him.”

“He was? Why?” Jermon asked.

“He was shaken,” Erwan confirmed. “My guess is because he knows about the reputation of a pack’s storyteller and how he can’t deliberately lie. Yet everything Grayson told him directly contradicted what he’d been taught his whole life, so now he doesn’t know what to believe anymore.”

A heavy silence fell. They all knew how that felt, didn’t they? After all, they’d been told nothing but lies by Cladhaire and Baoth, and it had taken them months to accept the truth. Even now, Jermon still had to correct himself sometimes, falling back on old patterns of thinking. “I don’t envy him,” he said softly. “It’s hard to have your entire foundation shaken like that.”

Erwan’s expression softened. “It is, and we know this all too well from our own experiences. But it does make me wonder if now is the time to bring a child into this world. How do we keep kids safe under these circumstances? I’d be constantly worried something would happen to them.”

“Welcome to the reality of being a parent,” Jermon said. “Where anxiety becomes your constant state of mind, only rivaled by the deep love you have for your kids. You learn to live with it. That’s all I’ve got for you.”

Erwan studied him. “You didn’t plan on getting pregnant though. If you had the choice, would you do it again?”

“In a heartbeat. The joy they bring is worth more than anything else. I’m not saying that’s true for everyone. Not everyone is meant to be a parent, and it’s not like life is meaningless without having children. But for me, for us, it has been such a blessing. Even with all the stress, the sleepless nights, the endless feedings, and the damage those little hatchlings can do in a few minutes of unsupervised time, it’s still worth it. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

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