Page 28 of The Dragon's Stormwoven Bond

Chapter 16

Valen

There weren’t a lot of things that still shocked me anymore. After five hundred years, I had seen it all. Heck, I’ve lived through a lot of it, including natural disasters, human disasters, and disasters of my own making. But this? Nothing compared to this. Nothing even came close.

I’d known when I mated Pep that we would most likely have a clutch sooner than later… potentially multiple clutches over the next hundred or more years we had together. But five dragonets first time out of the gate? That felt unheard of. He was so young,and clutches took a lot out of your body when there were only one or two eggs.

I kept my concern from my mate as best as I could. He had enough stress of his own, without shouldering mine. Of course, I didn’t lie to him or his family, for that matter. We’d learned that lesson the hard way. Instead, I let him know that I was worried, that I wasn’t sure how we would do this, because he had the same concerns. But I kept it light, like it was just another day, assuring him that we had this.

Inside I was spiraling. How would we care for four eggs and then five babies? Each of us only had two hands. Even if we were able to hold two babies at once, what about the other one? Who would have to hold three? When would we sleep? Where were we going to put five babies?

And there was the fact that his pregnancy wasn’t going to be an easy one. His youth and the sheer number of eggs put him at risk. Vexus hadn’t gone into detail on how that could manifest itself, but my brain did, and it terrified me.

Eggs and health weren’t the only issues, either. Both Pep and I worked. Pep’s job was even more important than mine. Would one of us have to quit? If they did, it would have to be me. My job was important to the people whose lives it touched. His was important for dragon kind.

I looked around our place again. Our cabin was currently one bedroom with one bathroom. It was fine for the two of us and would be crowded with one dragonet. But no matter how wedivided the space up, there wasn’t room for the expansion our family was about to experience.

A place for the five babies to sleep would eat up the entire living room, and our bedroom wouldn’t be able to handle five cribs. And that was the smallest amount of space they would need. What about when they needed beds, space of their own, became teenagers? Would they each need their own room? Would they want a huge room to share? In any scenario I could imagine, this place wasn’t going to work, not as it was.

It had been years since I bought a house. Home ownership had not been on my list of things that I cared about. I enjoyed the freedom of traveling when the mood hit and not being tied down. But that was pre-mated Valen. I no longer resembled that man in so many ways.

Of course, money wasn’t an issue we needed to worry about, so that was good. We could afford all the newest baby gear, to build a new house, to hire a dozen nannies if we really wanted. But logistically, it all seemed insurmountable. Everything was happening so quickly, and I didn’t know where to begin chipping away at the list.

Being as old as I was, I’d acquired a lot of knowledge over the years. I could spout off information about history, science, literature, cultures… you name it. But child rearing? That was an area I knew little to nothing about.

How many nannies would we need? Did we even want nannies? Would we really trust strangers taking care of our children whilewe worked? How was any of this ever going to work? Would we ever sleep again? Probably not.

Planning all day long wouldn’t change the variables we had no control over, though. Our clutch could be here before we knew it, or he could be pregnant for a while. Dragon gestation times were not an exact science. Sometimes it was a few weeks before a clutch was laid, sometimes it was a few months. It was the same for the time between laying and hatching. It all depended on when the dragonets were ready.

It didn’t depend on when the parents were ready. I had a feeling that no one ever felt fully prepared for a clutch. It didn’t even depend on family history. It was all a crap shoot, one that kept pregnant omegas on their toes.

I needed advice, real advice from someone I trusted, someone who’d been in my shoes. A friend that I could always rely on, no matter what. Up until recently I had one of those. Now? Now I didn’t know anymore.

Pep and I stayed home the first day after we’d brought the nest home, but as difficult as it had been, we went to work. His job wasn’t one that could be put on hold. At least it wasn’t one he’d allow to be put on hold. To have something so important entrusted to a dragon so young was a testament to how special my mate was.

That wasn’t to say that going to work had been easy. To say I had been distracted was the understatement of the year. My team had to pull me out of my own head numerous times. Thankfully, they found it amusing instead of annoying.

“And I think if we change the swoop at thirty seconds to a loop, we can get the crowd roaring.” I spoke to the computer. As flexible and forward thinking as I believed myself to be, chatting to a machine still wasn’t natural for me. But annotating the video had been working well so far, and I planned to keep it up.

A knock on the door frame followed by my mate walking in was all the excuse I needed to be done for the day. I popped out of my chair and raced to him. Nothing sounded better than being surrounded by his scent after a day of being without him.

The news of his pregnancy and nesting urges, paired with his father’s reaction, had done a number on my mate. That first day had been rough. Really rough. But now we were a few days out and he was back to his normal self, with the exception that the tiny bump was no longer tiny, growing by the day.

“Valen, I talked to my mom, and my dad’s home right now.” He pulled back and met my eyes. “You should go talk to him.”

“What?”

“I know that you are more stressed than you’re letting on, and I think that you would benefit from talking to a friend.” My mate was wise beyond even my years.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “How is it you know me so well, mate? I was just thinking that. I really could use some advice from someone who’s been through this before.”

He kissed my cheek.

“Your parents had a large clutch back in a time when things were even more difficult than they are now. They survived without all the modern conveniences.”

Pep held me closer. “Indeed they did. They got through this with happy, healthy dragons who still have a great relationship with them, and we will too. My family is here, and they want to help. I don’t think we can do this without them.”

“I know, mate. I know.”

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