Page 40 of Reindeer Flames
Silver expected me to leave them there and check on them throughout the day, but I wasn't that kind of dad. I took them with me to the den every morning while I did calisthenics and yoga. Then, I carried them to the living room and placed the basket on the floor in front of the television. I streamed the videos Cuthbert had recommended about the care needed for baby dragons, and then the online learning courses Laurie had recommended. The dragon videos taught me our little ones could hear us through their shells, though we couldn't hear them.
Anyone watching me from outside the house probably thought I was talking to myself all day, but I couldn't help it. I wanted our little ones to know the sound of my voice, since they already had a deep connection with Silver by being inside his body for the first twelve weeks.
The only place I didn't carry them was back upstairs. I'd caught my toes on the lip of the third stair and almost dropped the basket. The eggs had knocked against each other with a metallic crack I never wanted to hear again. Even after watching the egg video again, I called Silver to let him know what happened.
"What if I killed them?"
"Are the eggs still warm to the touch?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"They're still absorbing heat from the stones, so you didn't kill them. Do you see any cracks?"
"No."
"Then the shells did exactly what they were supposed to do. I bet our babies didn't even feel it."
According to the video, they were still suspended in liquid. As they grew and absorbed the fluid, I would need to be more careful, so I wouldn't dare carry them back upstairs again.
"You're so silly," Silver said one night in March when he carried them back to our bedroom. "Dropping them down the stairs would do more damage than dropping them to the step above you."
I stared at him with my mouth open as the horror scene played out in my mind. "I'll partially shift and fly them down the stairs from now on," I said once the living nightmare ended.
"You will not." Silver laughed. "You've been carrying them down the stairs for months without incident." He returned them to the corner and tucked the blankets around them. "I love that you want to keep them with you throughout the day. The nest doesn't feel right to me."
I climbed into bed. "What's not right about it?"
"I want them close to us, but there's something missing. I don't know what it is." He grabbed a few more plush pillowswith macrame covers from the pile in front of our closet. After he placed them around the nest, he sighed. "Still not right."
"You'll figure it out," I said, patting his spot on the bed.
"I hope so." He snuggled in next to me with his head on my pillow, and I turned off the light.
"Two more weeks until your spring training," he said. "Then it will be my turn to carry them everywhere with me."
"Do you have the travel nest set up at the bakery?"
"Yes." He sighed. "It's not right, either, but I know they won't be born there, so I don't care as much. The basket holds the heat, which is all that matters, but I want them to be surrounded by pretty things when they hatch into the world."
I cupped his smooth cheek and dragged his face to mine for a kiss. "You're a pretty thing, and they'll see you right away."
He laughed and kissed me until we were both out of breath. I was about to ask him if he wanted to cover the eggs with the soundproof blanket and get naked, but then I heard a soft snore. I kissed the tip of his nose and rolled over, backing against him until we fit together perfectly. He draped his arm over my waist, and I fell asleep like that, surrounded by his warmth and filled with love.
As partof Santa 30's team, I had most of the first six months of the year off, but all flying reindeer attended spring training. We weren't even accepting applications this year on Santa 30's team, but we showed up to train with the other teams.
We had fun running drills. I accepted every sprinting challenge to see if any new reindeer could beat me. During our downtime, we caught up on team news.
"Someone's sporting a new mating mark," Donner said when I removed my t-shirt to mop the sweat from my forehead after sprints.
"Are those dragon claws?" Cupid asked, his voice hushed.
"Silver's my mate." I stood up straighter, stuck my chest out, and smiled so wide my cheeks ached.
"Good for you, man." Rudolph patted my shoulder. "Glad you ditched the family stigma about large omegas."
"Did I hear someone say large omega?" I never wanted to hear my cousin's voice again in my life, yet here he was again.
"They did." I turned to face Bopp, my chest on full display.
