Alpha Dragon's Eagle (The Dragonfate Games Book 2), page 18
Matteo blinked, turning the envelope over to examine it. “I don’t know. There’s no return address.”
“Fan mail?” Gaius suggested. “You were quite popular with the audience.”
Matteo looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“The second season of the Games have aired already,” Gaius said.
“What?” I blurted. “It’s barely been a week!”
“Duke and Jade partnered with streaming services this time, so it was on demand ASAP,” Gaius explained. “It’s the most popular show of the year on every platform!”
Matteo’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”
“Does that make you nervous?” I asked. When it came to public appearances, he was slowly coming back out of his shell, so I hoped plunging him in the deep end like this didn’t unnerve him.
Matteo was quiet for a moment. “No. I’m okay with it.” He smiled at me. “Thanks, though.”
I rubbed his back for support. “So, what’s in the envelope?”
“I guess we’ll find out together,” Matteo mused.
He opened it meticulously instead of shredding it like a kid on Christmas morning. What he pulled out was a three page, handwritten letter. As soon as Matteo read the first couple lines, he went still.
“What is it?” I asked urgently. If it was some kind of hate mail, I braced myself to rip it out of his hands.
Matteo hesitated, then murmured, “It’s from Vani and Keaux.”
His ex-bandmates. I curled my lip. “If they’ve got anything nasty to say—”
Matteo shook his head. “No, it’s okay.”
“Like, it’s actually okay, or you’re just saying it’s okay so I don’t bite their heads off?”
He let out a laugh. “Actually okay, but thanks for caring.”
The fight drained out of me. If my mate said it was okay, I’d take his word for it.
Matteo went silent. Gaius and I exchanged a glance. There was nothing to do but wait until Matteo finished reading the letter.
After what felt like an eon had passed, Matteo let out a long sigh and put the letter in his lap. When I noticed his eyes were wet, I got worked up.
“What did it say?” I asked, hoping for their sakes that their words didn’t hurt him.
Matteo took a few moments to reply. Finally, he blinked away the tears and said, “They apologized to me.”
“Really?”
He gazed down at the letter meaningfully. “I don’t know how much of our conversation they aired on the show, but it must’ve been enough to change their perspectives. They said they didn’t realize how much they’d hurt me back then.”
“What about the article Talon was talking about?”
Matteo shook his head. “They saw that, too. The whole thing was on air. They said it wasn’t true. Vani and Keaux are starting a new project, and they mentioned TalonStorm’s break up, but they didn’t actually say anything negative about me. The tabloids put words in their mouths and blew it out of proportion. Talon just ran with it.”
“Asshole,” I growled. “I wished I’d booted him off the island earlier.”
Matteo smiled. “You know? I’m glad you didn’t. If you did, the truth might’ve stayed hidden. It had to get ugly before it got better.”
Grumbling, I pulled Matteo closer. “I guess. Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s a dickhead.”
He rested his head on my shoulder. “That we can agree on.”
“So, are you going to contact them?” I asked.
“I want to. It’s honestly a weight off my chest that there’s no bad blood between us,” he said. “But the envelope had no return address. Maybe they were nervous I’d take the letter poorly?”
I waved a hand. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. We’re rich dragons, remember? We have ways of finding people.”
Matteo grinned. “Aw, how sweet and creepy.”
“Hey, it’s for love, so it’s automatically not creepy.”
He chuckled. “Somehow, that makes it sound even creepier.”
I rolled my eyes and kissed him, dismissing the half-baked argument.
Twenty-Three
Matteo
It turned out Taylor wasn’t lying about the accelerated pregnancy. Within three weeks, I was swollen all over and my back killed me.
Thystle suggested talking to Taylor about it, since he was previously the only omega on the island. As much as my mate wanted to help, he was an alpha with no experience being pregnant, and he wanted me to have the smoothest journey possible. He helped out in other ways, of course, but discussing pregnancy with my fellow omega friend was priceless.
We met in the living room—well, one of the living rooms in the sprawling dragon castle. This one was thoroughly baby-proofed so Ruby could crawl and explore to his heart’s content without adults worrying about him. He tested out his stubby human limbs on the rug.
Thystle joined us, since he never let me out of his sight except to go to the bathroom—and even then, he lurked outside the door ‘just in case’ I needed help. It was honestly quite sweet.
“So, being pregnant, huh?” Taylor began in his matter-of-fact tone. “How do you feel about it so far?”
I glanced down at my curved belly. It happened so fast that it felt surreal.
“Fine,” I said honestly.
“Fine?” Thystle echoed beside me with a slight frown. “You don’t feel glowing and radiant and sexy?”
I grinned at him. “Sorry, it’s kind of hard to feel radiant and sexy with a beach-ball sized egg inside you.”
His eyes glinted mischievously. “Clearly I need to do a better job convincing you...”
“Can we save the flirting for later?” Taylor deadpanned. “This is a serious conversation.”
“Very serious. Utmost seriousness,” I agreed with a nod.
Taylor arched a brow. “Are you making fun of me while I give you advice?”
“I’d never dream of it.”
Before Taylor could respond, Ruby blew a big raspberry, robbing any last scraps of seriousness from the room. I chuckled as Taylor pulled his son into his lap.
“This here is a baby,” Taylor stated. “This is the end result of your hard work growing an egg inside you, then laying and incubating it.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Taylor, you know I’m an eagle shifter, right? This comes naturally to me.”
He almost seemed disappointed that he didn’t get to talk about it more. “Then why did Thystle beg me to talk to you?”
I turned to look at my mate. “You begged him?”
“No? Maybe?” Thystle squeaked.
Overcome with fondness for my mate, I chuckled and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks.”
Thystle blushed. “You’re welcome?”
I made a surprised sound as a sudden weight flopped into my lap. I glanced down to see Ruby using me as a jungle gym.
“Well, hello there,” I said, smiling at the infant. With his unusual striped hair, he was a sight to behold. It made me wonder what my future child would look like.
He made a growly noise akin to a dragon’s roar, although with his tiny size it was more of a kitten’s mewl, and he sank his half-grown teeth into my arm.
Taylor sighed as he pried his baby off. “Dragonets...”
When Ruby was safely contained in his dad’s lap, Taylor grabbed the bumpy pink soother off the coffee table and guided it to his son’s mouth. Ruby was happy to chomp on the soft plastic instead of my flesh.
“Gotta love them, though,” Taylor added fondly. His eyes flooded with warmth as he watched Ruby gnaw on the toy. “There’s nothing like having your own.”
A wellspring of feeling overflowed in my chest. Seeing the bond between parent and child fuelled my already raging hormones, the need to love and protect my unborn baby. I ran my hands over my belly, my heart skipping with excitement to meet the child who would hatch from it.
A couple weeks later, the nesting urge started.
Actually, started may have been an understatement. It hit me like a freight truck. I woke up one morning and it was all I could think about. Eating, drinking, sleeping... none of that mattered while I began my nest preparations.
“Rooftop,” I said suddenly, sitting upright in bed. “Does the castle have a rooftop?”
Thystle made a half-baked, sleepy noise next to me. “Huh?”
My skin felt itchy. Impatient.
“I have to go higher,” I muttered.
He blearily turned towards me and blinked. “What’re you talking about?”
There was no time to explain. I snatched the blanket off the bed while Thystle was still in it, then ran out of the room. I heard him sputter in confusion.
“Wait, Matteo, where are you going?” he asked.
I wanted to tell him how I felt, but I was choked by the need to nest. The urge was similar to a strike of musical inspiration. When that happened, I couldn’t breathe until I got the lyrics and chords down. This was the same, except I needed to gather and arrange nesting materials.
I bolted towards the staircase. One of them went higher, didn’t it? I needed access to the roof. If I couldn’t take the stairs, I’d go outside, shift, and fly up, but carrying things was easier in human form.
“Matteo, wait for me!” Thystle called down the hall.
I heard his voice and footsteps as he tried to catch up, but I couldn’t stop to explain. The urge overwhelmed me. I knew instinctively that I was on a strict time limit.
Clutching the blanket, I ran up the stairs. My skin prickled with sweat and urgency. When I reached the landing, a dark door stood before me.
That must be the exit to the roof, I thought eagerly.
I grabbed the handle—and found it locked. My heart dropped. I came all this way for nothing, and I was running out of time.
The door flew open from the inside. Viol glowered threateningly in the threshold until he saw me. The simmering rage vanished from his expression.
“What are you doing here?” Viol asked.
Sweat dripped from my brow—not because I was scared of him, but because I needed to nest ASAP.
“Rooftop,” I managed.
His dark eyes flashed with understanding. Viol didn’t waste time. In a blur of iridescence, he shifted to dragon form. It happened so fast, I barely saw it. In the following seconds, he grasped me gently with his paw, then threw himself over the railing. The castle accommodated dragon forms, but Viol flew so fast and erratically, I was afraid he’d tear the whole place down by accident.
During the chaos, I heard Thystle cry out to me, but the rushing wind in my ears smothered his words.
Viol banked his wings when we hit the main floor, sped through the doors, then arched over the building. A couple seconds later, he placed me—and my blanket—down on the rooftop.
“This what you wanted?” he asked gruffly.
I got to work nesting straight away, so I couldn’t speak. I hoped my appreciative nod was enough to convey my gratitude.
“Viol!”
Thystle’s furious dragon voice ripped through the air like thunder. It startled me so badly that I momentarily forgot about my nest as I whipped around to look at him. A chill ran down my spine when I saw my mate advance on Viol. The two purple dragons faced off, hissing and snarling at each other. Viol was bigger and darker, but Thystle’s anger at the perceived injustice flared around his body like a nasty miasma.
“What did you do to my mate?” Thystle snapped, his voice crueller than I’d ever heard it.
Viol didn’t respond. He glared him down like he was two seconds away from losing control.
My heart leapt into my throat. I had to intervene before either of them got hurt.
I dropped the blanket and ran between them. I hugged one of Thystle’s front arm to grab his attention.
“Wait, Thystle,” I cried. “It’s okay. He didn’t hurt me. He just brought me to the rooftop like I asked.”
The muscles beneath Thystle’s scales relaxed, and the vicious growl in his throat subsided, but he didn’t change back to human form. He lowered his scaly maw to nuzzle me.
“Do you know how worried I was?” he asked in his gravelly dragon voice.
I stroked the side of his face. “I know, I’m sorry. But Viol was only helping, so please don’t bite his face off.”
Viol scoffed, flicking his tail dismissively as he turned around. “He could try.”
Thystle narrowed his eyes, but I drew his attention back to me by kissing the front of his snout. That was enough to diffuse his well-meaning alpha overreaction.
“Fine,” Thystle muttered. “Next time, just talk to me. I would’ve been happy to fly you to the roof.”
He liked the kiss, so I gave him another one. “I promise, I will. Now, I really have to make my nest.”
“Can I help?” Thystle asked.
“You can stand there and look sexy.”
“Done.”
As I hurried to pick up the blanket, the instincts flooded back in full force. Now that the immediate threat was done, I could concentrate on nesting. But it quickly became apparent that a single blanket wasn’t enough. I fussed with the blanket over and over, unable to find the best configuration.
Frustration crept over me. I didn’t have much longer, but I couldn’t bring my egg into this world without the perfect nest. My eagle soul wouldn’t allow it.
Thystle must’ve sensed my annoyance. He touched his wing-tip to my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I said curtly. “I need more materials.”
“I can get more,” Thystle offered.
The thought of him abandoning me right now was too much. I shook my head. “No. Please, stay here.”
I knew I was acting crazy, but I couldn’t help it. My hormones and instincts raged out of control. All I wanted was the best for my egg, and I wanted it now. Was that too much to ask?
Thystle’s scaly brow furrowed in concern. He was quiet as he mulled over the options. “We could—”
Saffron’s sudden muffled voice cut him off, yelling, “We came as fast as we could!”
A rainbow of dragons landed on the rooftop. My eyes widened as Thystle’s brothers circled us. Each dragon carried a mouthful of nesting materials, from blankets, to dry straw, to driftwood.
Jade placed his neatly folded blankets by my feet. “We heard you were in need of assistance.”
Crimson added a few handmade quilts to the pile, courtesy of Taylor. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? It would’ve saved us a lot of commotion.”
Even Thystle seemed awed by his brothers’ rush to help. “Where did you guys come from?” he asked.
Saffron deposited his intriguingly-shaped driftwood before me. “Viol told us,” he explained.
Aurum snorted and dropped a clump of straw beside his twin’s offering. “More like screamed,” he mumbled. “It felt like he’d kill us if we didn’t bring you nesting materials ASAP.”
“I would,” Viol said darkly.
Aurum yelped in shock, his eyes going wide as plates as he flattened to the ground. Viol had manifested behind him like smoke, glaring at the golden twin in a clear order to shut the hell up.
I took Aurum’s offering with a smile, hoping to dispel Viol’s murderous energy. “Thank you, everyone. This is exactly what I wanted.”
Apparently satisfied by this, Viol reined in his dark aura. Aurum sighed in relief.
Cobalt seemed oblivious to the drama beside him. He nudged a large rock towards the pile. “For your nest. I hope it helps.”
“Dude, it’s a rock,” Aurum said. “How is that comfortable?”
Cobalt’s shoulders drooped. “Golden eagles nest on cliffs. I thought he would like it.”
My heart squeezed with affection. Thystle’s whole family jumped to my aid without a second thought. I couldn’t have been happier.
I grabbed the rock and rolled it into the nest. It sat on top of the blankets and straw, holding everything nicely in place. Cobalt was right. The addition of the rock sparked my eagle instincts. I felt soothed by its presence as I sank down into the nest.
“It’s perfect, Cobalt,” I said. “Thanks.”
The massive blue dragon perked up, pleased.
Thystle made that growl-purr sound that vibrated in his throat. “Feeling better?” he asked, nuzzling my cheek.
“Much,” I said with a content sigh.
Jade smiled. “Glad to hear it. Remember, Matteo, you’re part of our family now. If you ever need help, you simply have to ask.”
My chest swelled with feeling. “I will. Thanks, Jade.” The warm fuzzies were interrupted as a sudden cramp in my side made me wince. “Ow.”
“Sounds like contraction o’clock,” Crimson commented. “Let’s leave these two to their egg-laying, shall we?”
The dragon brothers wished me well before taking flight to give us privacy.
Well, all except one.
Viol lurked at the far end of the rooftop, glowering in our direction. He seemed reluctant to leave.
Thystle pulled away from me.
“You’re not starting anything with him, are you?” I asked.
“No,” he promised.
My mate approached his brother. The two dragons stared at each other, neither one wanting to back down.
But why didn’t Viol want to? I wasn’t his mate, and I felt no romantic feelings from him. The concern he showed was purely platonic. Was he just worried about me?
“Viol,” Thystle growled in a neutral tone. “I’ve got this. You can leave.”
Viol slowly flicked his tail. “You sure?” he challenged.
“Matteo is my mate. He’s my responsibility, not yours.”
“A pregnant omega is all of our responsibility,” Viol countered. There was no vitriol in his voice. He spoke as if stating a fact.
His comment didn’t really surprise me. During our first family meeting in the kitchen, he came across as gruff but well-meaning, especially towards children. That confirmed my hunch that he only had my best interest in mind when he’d snatched me away.
Thystle took a breath. “I appreciate your help. Without you, Matteo wouldn’t have the nesting materials he needed. So, thanks. But I’ll take it from here.”
