Page 37 of The Dragon's Flamebound Mate

“If he contacts us anymore, we can bring it up to the Commander to see what he thinks.” My dragon thought burning him to ash was a better plan, but my human plan was solid enough to avoid violence.

Ash sighed. “I’d rather not. I’d rather just focus on the competition.”

He was a better person than I, in so many ways.

“Agreed,” I said.

We sat quietly for a moment. My thumb brushed over the softness of Ash’s hand, wishing today hadn’t been so stressful. The games alone were intense, but adding pregnancy and a dick ex only exacerbated that.

“So, we’re good, mate?” Ash asked.

I nodded, picking up his hand and bringing it to my lips for a kiss. “If you forgive me. I was the ass in this. As much as I wish it weren’t the case, I won’t deny that I was jealous.” I refused to keep secrets between us.

“Of course I forgive you. There really wasn’t anything to forgive. You told me what you needed. Not once did you treat me poorly.”

How did I get so favorably shined upon by fate? How? It for sure wasn’t that I deserved it.

“I won’t deny that it was kind of sexy that you were jealous.”

That surprised me. “Well, I’ll still try not to make a habit of it, even if it does turn you on.”

“Good. But in that case, we should get back to work.”

“On the nest or on training?”

Ash thought for a moment. “Both. We can lie in the nest and relax and go over what we learned today. I have a lot of questions about the competition. Lucky for me, I know a guy who’s been going to these things forever.”

“That sounds amazing, mate. Let’s do it.”

“But first, a shower.” He took my hand and stood up. “I want to wash the day off me and only have our scents, not those of the gym, in the nest.”

“Oh, well, if that’s the case, I think that maybe I should join you… you know, to help you wash your back or whatever.”

“Whatever?” He looked me up and down. “Did you have anything more specific in mind?”

“I can think of many things. Do you have any suggestions in particular?”

He intertwined our fingers and started toward the door, taking me with him. “I have a few. How are your knees feeling after your shift?”

He turned to give me a smirk. Gods, I was a lucky, lucky dragon.

“They feel fabulous, but not as fabulous as you are about to feel.”

Chapter 19

Ash

Theseeggshadtoarrive soon. Why couldn’t eagles be like goat shifters who had a knack of knowing the exact day they were going to be born? This waiting, wondering if today was the day each and every day was hard. Not as hard as growing a clutch of baby dragons.

If they didn’t come soon, I was going to burst. There might have been only two in there, but they had no more room to grow. My shirts barely fit, and moving around was incredibly uncomfortable. Even shifting to my eagle form took effort. And forget about flying. I pretty much gave up shifting at this point. Without flying, it wasn’t fun.

I don’t know how my mate didn’t laugh at me the last time we shifted together. My center of gravity was so far off that I couldn’t even lift off the ground. I looked more like a penguin waddling around than an eagle. But he didn’t laugh, and better than that, he didn’t look at me with pity. I don’t think I could’ve taken that.

Thank goodness it was Sunday and I could finally rest. It was the only day of the week that the team didn’t have some sort of practice or conditioning. And that was by my design, not theirs. I didn’t want us to suffer because I was tired. That wasn’t fair to the team. But taking Sundays off was a good plan regardless of pregnancy status.

I was beyond impressed by how well things were going on that front. The formation was turning out beautifully. We were more than ready for the competition.

Which was another reason I needed the eggs to arrive sooner rather than later. If they didn’t, then traveling to the competition in my condition would be too risky. I didn’t want to go into oviposition while I was away from home.

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