Page 48 of The Dragon's Flamebound Mate

Cribs? Check—both single and double.

Strollers—both all-terrain and city, single and double? Also check.

We had it all. We were ready. And yet, four hours still didn’t feel like enough.

From the look on my mate’s face, you’d think we hadn’t even so much as considered buying a wipe, much less have enough to not go to the store for at least six months.

“We’ve got this, mate.” I took his hand in mine.

We had decided that we wanted everyone to be there for the hatching. It wasn’t normal as far as dragon tradition went. It happened, but not regularly.

Golden eagles, on the other hand—it was part of a long tradition. And Ash wanted to embrace that side of his heritage, and I was happy to do so. Our young were part eagle, and I never wanted that side of them to be overshadowed by their dragon side.

“Phone tree time,” I instructed my mate. And that snapped him into action.

We each took out our phones and dialed the first person on the list. While we did, Vexis sent out a group chat. We weren’t chancing anyone hearing the news on time. They’d all been there every step of the way, and if they wanted to be here, we wanted that for them.

Within an hour, not only was everyone here, but there were people in the kitchen cooking food for everyone, others cleaning the windows on the outside—because they didn’t want to have anything blocking the light from shining down on our little ones.

“Are they bad?” Ash asked. “I thought…”

“Shh.” He kissed the top of my head. “They just want to keep busy.” The windows were plenty clean, but sometimes, waiting doing nothing was the hardest activity of all.

Kellan came in with crystals he’d strung up from an old antique lamp he found in town and hung them along those same windows that were now worthy of a window cleaner commercial. Rainbows danced across the room. It was perfect.

Even though everyone was busy and there was a lot of commotion, it felt like time was at a standstill. The eggs were exactly the same, no movement. No sound. If Vexis hadn’t said they were about to arrive, I’d have assumed today was going to be another day of waiting and nothing more.

In every way, they looked exactly the way our clutch always had. That was until they both moved at the same time. The exact same time. Not one and then the other. No—simultaneously as if it were a routine like we choreographed for the team.

Before I could second-guess what I saw, they did it again.

And again.

“Look at that.” Jay stepped a little closer. “They’re going to be on the team. They’re already synchronized.”

It wasn’t me imagining it. They really were in sync with each other.

Little movements became bigger movements—became a crack.

And then another crack.

And then a chip.

And another chip.

Slowly, but with precision, they weakened their shell until it was finally open enough for them to break free. They both pushed out of the shells at the same time, not letting a single second of their birth be a solo act.

Jay was right, they were going to be our star team members when they grew up. If that was what they wanted. Maybe they were going to prefer doing plays or soccer or math team. We’d never push them to join just because it was something we loved.

Our beautiful dragonets were here. While their shells were very different, their dragons were the same exact color, that of my mate’s feathers. They might have had scales, but anyone looking at them would know that they were Ash’s.

We all took a few seconds to soak in the beauty that was a newborn dragon before my mate and I each picked one up. They shifted for the first time into their human form, where they would stay until puberty.

They both cried—which I didn’t love. My initial reaction was that something was wrong. But everyone else seemed to understand the universal truth that crying meant they were healthy, that they were clearing their lungs, and were communicating.

A few minutes later, everyone left to give us time to bond as a family. They went outside—not going far—we could hear them and feel their support while still having some privacy.

I helped Ash into the nest, where he gave our son, Leonidas, his first meal, as our daughter, Lenora, dozed peacefully in my arms.

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