Page 44 of The Dragon's Stormwoven Bond

The preliminaries were the first on the docket, and we passed with flying colors… or more accurately, flying dragons, I suppose. The second event, we did a new-to-us routine. It wasn’t perfect, but we scored well enough to skip the next round altogether and go straight to the final.

This was the one my mate and in-laws and everyone else here to support us were planning on attending. I kept an eye out, worried that they wouldn’t make it in time, but they did, thanks to two double strollers, some baby slings, and three adults.

They sat behind us, and Pep gave me a quick kiss as we were called to the field for our final round.

The routine we were doing for this round had been inspired by the day that the flight team moved our nest. Between the wind and a couple of items falling out, they’d had to think quick that night—and they did beautifully. The safety of our nest had been the priority at the time.

But that wasn’t necessary here. There was no nest. They could go as fast or as dangerous as they wanted, or rather as I allowed. The formation was beautiful. They performed it with a single piece of rope instead of a nest, but anyone in the audience who had ever had a clutch would know exactly what we were trying to achieve.

And when they landed, the crowd roared… roared louder than I’d ever heard in all my years.

This particular event was significantly larger than the one I won last time, and I wasn’t sure how the rest of the day was going to go. But it didn’t matter. Trophy or not, my team had brought it and were feeling as great about their performance as I was.

There were a ton more events throughout the day, and I watched a lot of them, but also, I took the time to hang out with my family. We played in the grass behind the hotel, took to the air, and ate at one of the outside seating areas.

I looked around at my entire world, everyone that mattered to me, with one exception, here… my best friend and his mate, my mate, and our five beautiful children. I’d waited for moments such as these for centuries, and now that they were my reality, I savored every last second of them.

“You’re thinking too much.” Pep leaned into my side. “What’s taking up all your real estate up there?” He tapped the side of my head.

“You.” I took out my messy bun, letting my long hair blow in the wind, the way my mate enjoyed. “How wonderful my life is now that you’re in it. You know, the same thing I think about every day.”

He blushed, and I loved that I still had that effect on him.

“That’s not what I was thinking about.” He brought his lips to my ear and whispered exactly what he was thinking about, and now it was my time to blush.

“I love you, omega mine.”

“I love you, my sexy dragon. I love you.”

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