Page 40 of The Manny's Fiery Dragon Bond

It wasn’t the first day he’d said that. At this point, I had a feeling it was more wishful thinking than anything else. I didn’t blame him. He had to be miserable at this point.

In the last few weeks, gifts had begun to arrive from our clan. We had new blankets, pillows, and trinkets for the nest. Then there were the baby items. A new crib from Kier and Tavian, a fancy swing from Thalric, a bathtub and more soaps and lotions to last us the first few years from my assistant Jamie. All sorts of other items had begun arriving each day.

Most importantly, we had a new bookshelf right next to the nest with modern children’s books. My dragon and I were fascinated with the children’s literary genre in this modern era. I still had many of the books from when my children had been young in the other room. But in here, they were all gifts just for our little one. When people asked what we needed, I pointed them to books. Little ones couldn’t be read to enough.

I raised a brow. “You’re sure about today?” I didn’t want to burst his bubble, but after the first day he thought was the one came and passed, he’d bawled, and I hated that for him. If it were in my power, he would never shed another tear that wasn’t out of complete joy.

He nodded. “I trust my mouse on this. Last time it was all me… this time it’s him who is insisting. It’s different. I think our little girl is ready to come out.”

My dragon rumbled beneath the surface. If our mouse thought today was the day, then we trusted him. We would not be leaving his side. No matter what.

True to his word, three hours later, after Ollie woke up from his nap, I found him adjusting the nest just so. Something in the way he grimaced as he moved made me realize, this was it. This was the time. Our egg was coming.

I rushed to his side. “Do you need anything? What can I do? Should I boil water?”

“Boil water?” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind, which… fair.

“Sorry, I’m excited and nervous and… it was on the movie we watched yesterday.” Not that they used the water, but they had insisted it was needed.

He shook his head with humor and then flinched. The pain was back. “Hold my hand, Mal. You’ve done this before, so I’m sure we’ll be fine, right?”

“It’s been many years,” I said. “Perhaps we should call the doctor—”

He shook his head again. “No, we’re fine. I’m fine. There’s just one. How hard can it be?”

Twenty minutes later, as he gripped my hand until I was sure the bones would disintegrate into dust and let out a screaming cry, I realized we were about to find out just how hard it could be. Very. Tremendously. Extremely.

While still holding his hand, I managed to position myself between his legs so I could guide the egg out. It wasn’t needed, and some omegas refused the help, citing that it was natural to do it alone. Ollie and I had discussed it, and we’d both agreed that there were no awards given for being stubborn. We were going to go through this together, every single step.

“You’re doing great, Ollie.” Better than I could, that was for sure. I might have had a fierce dragon inside me, but I wasn’t as strong as he was.

“Arnngh! Please tell me I’m close.”

“So close,” I said with more confidence than I felt. This could be another few minutes or another few hours. For his sake, I was crossing my fingers it was only minutes.

He let out another blood-curdling scream, and fear ran through me. What if we really did need help? What if we couldn’t do this alone?

Thank goddess, with one final push and a scream that could’ve shattered windows, a perfect pink egg emerged, gleaming in the sunlight and blending perfectly into the nest.

Ollie panted. “Is it done?”

“It is,” I said.

He turned quickly, putting his hands on the egg and pulling it close. “She’s beautiful.”

We stared at it for a long time, and finally I was confident that it was only one egg. I couldn’t deny there was a tiny bit of disappointment in that after half convincing myself we’d been wrong about one. That fell away quickly when I saw the way my mate was looking at our egg, the joy radiating off him so powerful.

Our daughter was here, even if she was still in the safety of her egg. The scales on her temporary home were almost triangular in shape, gleaming pink with hints of other shades of red. They would match those of her beast.

I snuggled up next to them, putting my hand over Ollie’s. “You did so wonderful, mate.”

He sighed. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

With my free hand, I reached for the robe I’d grabbed earlier. My mate wouldn’t want to leave the nest for several hours, but we would have visitors. Dragons throughout the clan would sense that our clutch had been laid, and they would visit or send their congratulations. It was our way.

And Ollie’s way was shyness. He wouldn’t want to be naked in front of everyone just after laying our clutch.

Ollie pulled on the robe and a pair of pajama pants.

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