Page 34 of The Dragon's Stormwoven Bond

I was shouting non-stop because the pain was getting to be a bit much. Other omegas had told me how euphoric it all felt to have the eggs slip from their bodies, to be caught by their mate’s hands. I held onto that, because I needed a light at the end of the pain.

My eggs all seemed to want to come at one time, sideways instead of the normal way. Or maybe they’d doubled in size as they’d been rotating all day. Or maybe they weren’t egg-shaped at all and I was about to give birth to rectangles. Whatever it was, they weren’t slipping out the way I wanted them to.

An hour later, Vexus laid a hand over mine. “Pep, that first egg is lying sideways and blocking the way for the rest.”

He stated my biggest fear. I’d thought I was being ridiculous, not that I was right.

“If we cannot get him out naturally, we’ll have to consider a C-section.”

The dragon inside me roared at the idea, but I knew it was time. We needed to make that call. My goal was healthy babies. How that looked didn’t matter to me. Not really.

“Valen,” I said, grasping for his hand.

“What do you need, Pep?”

“Can my family be here? This is going to be a lot.”

Having a C-section for a dragon wasn’t typical. I knew from what I had heard that it needed to be done by a dragon’s claw. Not just any scalpel would do, because our bodies would heal too quickly.

“Valen… you’ll have to do it,” Vexus said. My poor mate. It might’ve been exactly what I needed, but putting me through pain was going to hurt him more than it was going to hurt me.

He nodded. “I know.”

“We don’t have much time, but we have enough time to wait for your parents and brother to arrive, if that is what you want,” Vexus said.

I nodded. “I do.”

My brother arrived first, less than a couple of seconds after Valen dialed my parents’ number. My twin knew what I needed. He’d sensed it through the bond, and he was here ready to help in any way he could

I was scared—more scared than I’d ever been, and having him by my side, holding my hand, giving me the support I needed so that my mate could do what had to be done was everything.

My pain intensified, and I did exactly what my babies needed despite my parents not being there yet. The decision made, everything moved quickly. Tears were flowing down my face asmy brother slid in behind me, holding my hands and hugging me close.

“Close your eyes, Pep. Close your eyes. You’re strong. You’re the father that these babies need, and you’re the mate Valen needs. Right now, you need to be strong. You need to be still. Breathe with me.”

I took in a deep breath, patterning my breath with his, again and again. A searing pain spread across my abdomen. It was deep, so deep, but I continued to follow my brother’s guidance, careful not to look, holding back my pain as much as I could, knowing my brother was taking a lot of it from me through our bond.

Vexus and Valen were talking, but I didn’t understand a word of it. My focus was on my brother and his instructions. He was right. I needed to be the mate Valen needed as much as I needed to be the father our children did.

“It’s time to go with your mate.” My brother kissed my temple. “I’ll stay here with your beautiful eggs. Keep breathing.”

I wanted to argue, but my body… it was so weak, and the next thing I knew, I was being picked up and moving away from my eggs. It hurt again. Only this pain wasn’t the pain of my body being torn in two. It was the pain of leaving them.

“We need to get you outside, and you need to shift. The babies are fine. They’re with your brother. You trust him more than anyone, more than even me.”

That phrase would come back and hurt me later, knowing that I’d made my mate feel that way. But for now, it gave me comfort.

Once we were outside, Valen forced my shift, his power flowing through our mating bond and demanding it. But even in my scales, it took a lot to stand. He forced me to shift again and again and again. To skin. To scales. To skin. To scales. To skin. To scales.

I didn’t even know how many shifts later, I stood up on my feet, my body weak but doing well-ish. It wasn’t ideal, but I couldn’t be away from them anymore.

I climbed in my nest, looking at my beautiful eggs ,and wondered which was the cause of our traffic jam. Valen took my brother’s place, sitting across from me, the smile on his face mirroring my own.

Somewhere through all of this, my parents had arrived. My family was here. My eggs were here. My mate was here. All was right in my world.

Chapter 20

Valen

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