Dragon 7 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

“My king!” A limo pulled up and Pixie threw herself out of the limo, led by the gold coin on her choker.

“Husband.” Jadelyn was out immediately following her.

I jumped from the tree I’d been waiting in and landed in all my bloody and shredded jumpsuit glory. “You two are a sight for sore eyes. Let’s get in before someone sees me.” Dragging a nail through the enchantment, I ended it.

Jadelyn plastered herself to me as I got into the limo, and we were moving as soon as the door closed.

I was surprised the limo wasn’t stuffed with my other wives. “Where are the others?”

“The manor or the council chamber. Things have gotten tense. You missed a few things these past few days.” Jadelyn started to explain, but I held up a hand.

“So I’m guessing we still don’t know who pulled Simon out of the ground. Fingers are pointing as a result. And what about Norton? What has he said after stuffing me in a prison?” I asked.

“They pretended to not have come to the gallery at all. The cameras were off, and everyone’s focus was on the other arrest happening.” Jadelyn crossed her arms and grumbled. “I’m in talks to buy his mortgage and his car debt, along with those other two fools. Teach them to play dirty. I’ll take everything they have.”

I pat her on the shoulder, hoping she’d calm down. “At least I’m out.”

“Yeah. What happened to you?” She leaned on me and looked up.

“I got put in a prison to ‘await my trial’, then I got stuffed in solitary until some guards came in calling me a ‘fanger’ and tried to assault me. But it was pretty clear that this wasn’t legal, so I decided to bust out. Didn’t end well for the guards, and the prison is now on fire.” I looked over my shoulder, hoping to see an orange glow, but the trees blocked it as the limo rolled down the highway.

Pixie hugged my side. “We were worried.”

“I’m sure. But unfortunately we don’t have time to rest. Someone is working with Norton.”

“We’ve come to the same conclusion.” Jadelyn agreed. “The guards knew about the paranormal?”

I rubbed my chin. “From what Norton and these guys have said to me, it seems like they really only know about vampires and werewolves. One of the guards talked about his wife being turned into a vampire with the situation earlier this year. He was also smoky eyed like the rest of the people with Iapetus’s blessing.”

“They are in for a rude awakening if they think all paranormal fall into vampires and werewolves.” Jadelyn snorted with a little giggle. Hearing it again was music to my ears.

I missed my women. Grabbing Jadelyn’s hips, I pressed her to me as I let out a low rumble. “Missed you. We’ll figure this out, but I want to gather everyone back to the manor if possible.”

Jadelyn looked over my shoulder. Pixie already had her phone out, tapping away.

“You have a phone now?” I asked my nymph.

“I had to get with the times. Very handy devices. Also, I’ve had to push back your schedule, but the wild nymphs are getting a little impatient. I know you won’t have time tonight. However, tomorrow, can you meet with them?” Pixie pleaded.

“Sure.” I acknowledged that I’d missed quite a few days and my leadership was needed. “Have we found Simon’s body?”

Jadelyn pursed her lips. “No. That’s part of the problem. The elves are pissed. There’s been a little development with the Fae. Apparently, Winter knows something but she can’t say them because of an oath.”

I wished that two oaths could cancel out an oath, but there was no magic key. It was, however, a data point to help lead us back to who was coming for us.

“So, if Winter knows and is under oath, then we can assume it happened when she was weak, or when she went to get Iapetus’s blessing. The council and maybe a few other high level fae were all that had access to her.” I thought aloud; the answer felt like it was just out of my grasp.

“That’s the problem.” Jadelyn frowned. “We’ve come to the same conclusion, and so have others. The council is now at each other’s throats. I asked Ikta, Maeve and Summer point blank; none of them had anything to do with this.”

“The Spring Lady?” I asked.

Jadelyn shook her head. “Summer says she’s been on the front lines this whole time. Oh, and Winter said something else about false prophecies that got them in a tizzy doing research through a library.” She shrugged.

I sighed. I didn’t need even more mysteries to solve.

But my energy picked back up as the limo rolled up to the mansion. I hopped out, hurrying inside the second the wheels stopped.

My first few steps had nymphs jumping to attention gasping and running.

“I’m that scary?” I joked as Pixie followed close behind me.

“No, they are probably going to run and grab your wives.” Pixie replied.

I grunted and went up the stairs to my bedroom and the baths. I really needed a bath, although looking at my grime covered body, I opted for a shower. The bath water would get gross very quickly.

“You.” I pointed to a nymph I vaguely remembered. “Can you get one of my wives to tell the council that I’ve returned and am catching up on the situation. Tomorrow I’d like to have a council meeting.”

“Of course. Welcome back.” The nymph bowed fluidly at the waist and hurried off with a skip in her step.

“Whose nymph was that?” I asked Pixie as I stepped into the bedroom and into the baths.

“Tyrande’s.” She said quickly. “You haven’t asked about Yev.” She waited.

“I figured Jadelyn would have looked much more tired if I’d missed Yev’s delivery. Hell, I feel like I would have heard her roar of anger all the way from the prison if I’d missed it. How is she?” Not bothering to preserve the prison jumpsuit, I ripped it off. Bundling it in my hands, I blew a small torch of fire over it until it was simply ash. Walking over to the trash, I wiped it off inside.

“She’s staying shifted as a dragon, per Trina’s recommendations, and resting in your hoard.” Jadelyn answered. “I think she’s going to pop soon.”

“Good. I’ll try to get to her soon. But I don’t want to go into my hoard looking like this.”

The bath was a giant room of some carved stone. Along the edges there were a dozen showers that could be used to rinse off, and five large pools of various temperatures. But the first two were my favorite and very hot.

There was only a small walkway of about two feet between them.

I turned on a shower and stepped under the cold spray, not even giving it time to heat up before I grabbed a coarse brush that I think one of the girls used for their feet and started to scrub the dried blood off of my body.

“I’ll get Tyrande a new one of those.” Jadelyn commented as I ruined it with the blood. “I assume that’s someone else’s blood?”

“Yep. Want to help me get it off the back of my neck? I can feel it in my hair.” I did a little mock shiver as I handed Jadelyn the brush. She dropped her dress off her shoulder, handing it to Pixie and slipped off her underwear before taking the brush.

Pixie hurried away, likely to get out of her own clothes too.

“We were really worried.” Jadelyn cooed in my ear as she scrubbed gently on the back of my neck.

“I’m sure. But this was just his opening salvo. Norton couldn’t have thought that the prison would stop me for long. But if someone in the council is helping him, they aren’t telling him everything. He clearly wasn’t prepared for a dragon.” I turned my thoughts towards the future. I needed to outthink them and take down whoever was causing this mess.

Someone new stepped into the bath. I expected Pixie, but I was met by a vision of blue vampire flesh. “There you are. I’m disappointed you didn’t come say ‘hi’ to me first.”

“I needed to get this blood off of me.” I took the brush back from Jadelyn and pulled a stool over to sit down and start to work on the ash and blood covering my leg. “I’d hate for you to smell this dirty blood.”

Morgana’s nose twitched. “Humans? No, not just humans. Something more. Ones with Iapetus’s blessing?”

“Yeah. I’m going to wait until everyone is here to explain all that happened. Until then, get out of those leathers and get in the bath.” I smacked her leather clad ass with a smile.

Nymphs and the rest of my mates trickled in as I finished scrubbing myself down enough that I could get into the bath without ruining it.

All of my wives, save for Maeve and Yev, showed up.

“Ladies, let’s bathe and then head to the hoard. I’d like to see Yev without too much delay.” I slipped into the bath, reveling in the way the warmth of the water seeped into my shoulders.

“Not too much, but maybe just a smidge of a little delay?” Kelly swam into my arms. “We’ve missed you, and she’s already carrying your child. The rest of us would like a shot.” She leaned in, kissing along my neck.

***

Yev raised her head as I entered the hoard. “A little nymph told me you came home a few hours ago.” She sniffed the air. “You smell like wet dog.”

“He does not smell like wet dog. Rude.” Kelly protested as she put her wet hair into a ponytail. “And I was just very happy to see him.”

“Like a dog when her owner returns.” Yev scowled, or at least, it was the closest her big dragon head could do to scowling. She was in a mood and not a good one.

“Sister, you don’t mean any of that. You are just grumpy.” Tyrande stepped in and gingerly walked across the gold coins.

Yev sniffed her too. “You smell like my mate too.” Her focus shifted to me. “Am I too fat? Is that it?”

I held up my hands. “You are my beautiful dragon wife who is currently resting in my hoard and about to give me my first child.”

“It’s an egg for a year.” She whined and looked at some of the ladies behind me.

“Then we can all have babies at the same time, even if yours is the size of a small horse.” Kelly skittered across the coins to grab Yev’s muzzle and rub her face into it. “We are all a pack. There’s no winning or losing here.”

Yev flipped Kelly up atop her head. “Thank you, Kelly. I am a little upset that I cannot welcome my mate as you have.” She ended with a grunt and lowered her head into the gold as she groaned. “Trina.”

“I’m here.” The copper dragon ran across the gold easily and ducked under the dragon’s tail. “You are dilated! Do you think you can push?”

Yev reached for me with her head and I stepped up closer, petting her neck as she nuzzled into me. “Maybe.” She grunted.

“Good. Good.” Trina said. “This is nothing compared to childbirth. Be happy you have it easier.”

“Are you calling this easy?” Yev’s voice was strained, and she didn’t sound pleased.

“Relax, breathe.” Trina told her. “It’s not unlike a live birth, but your egg is round and proportionally smaller than a human baby. Now push!”

Yev strained against me for a few more seconds before she stopped and panted. “How was that?”

“You are making wonderful progress. A few more like that and we’ll have an egg.” Trina patted her side.

Tyrande clicked her tongue. “You lucky bitch. I hope my kid comes out so easily.”

“This isn’t easy.” Yev groaned once more.

“I mean… in comparison…” Trina started.

Yev pulled her head away from me to crane over her body and glare at Trina. “Whose fucking side are you on?”

“The side of science and healthcare.” Trina put her hands on her hips and glared back. “Now, you need to push. Let’s get this sucker done if you have that much energy.”

Yev curled her head down and let out a dragon sized grunt that made the coins rattle and shift in the hoard. Her grunt turned into a roar as she pushed.

“That’s it, just a little mo— yes!” Trina stepped closer and picked up a giant green egg.

“Is there a full sized pony in there?” Kelly asked from atop Yev, who laid her head on the gold and panted.

Trina walked the egg over until Yev could see it.

The giant green dragon curled herself around it and Trina. “Put it down.” Yev instructed, clearly feeling territorial.

“Yes ma’am.” Trina did so and jumped back for Yev to completely curl around it.

The egg was about four feet tall and about half that around. It was a bright green to match Yev, and it had little spikes on it all pointing in one direction. I assumed they pointed away from how it had oriented on the way out. Otherwise, the delivery would have been far more messy.

Kelly balanced on Yev’s back, walking close to the egg. “Just how big is a baby dragon when it hatches?”

“About a hundred pounds, give or take. It isn’t like we’ve weighed them out of the shell at any sort of frequency.” Trina pulled out a stethoscope and put it to Yev’s side.

“I’m fine. Just tired.” Yev grumbled. “Despite what you all think, that was hard. But I have my egg, my pretty precious egg. It’s pretty, isn’t it, my mate?”

“Very pretty.” I wasn’t an idiot. “It’s green, very green.” I didn’t know what else to say.

She looked at me. “What color do you want her to be?”

“How do you know it’s a her?” I avoided the question that was just a trap waiting to happen.

“A mother knows.” Yev nuzzled the egg.

Tyrande went up to Yev and hugged her nose. “Good, you have your egg. Now you can relax.”

“Oh, that won’t happen.” Trina replied, pulling back her stethoscope. “If you think the hormones she’s had while pregnant were something, wait until you see the ones she’s going to have while her baby is in the early stages and vulnerable.”

“That isn’t very comforting, doctor.” Tyrande deadpanned.

Yev nudged her sister. “The egg, the egg, isn’t it pretty?”

“Very pretty.” Tyrande humored her sister who coiled herself around it and put her head over her back, staring directly at the egg.

“Oh great. She’s going to be egg crazy.” Kelly jumped off Yev’s back before the dragon’s tail removed her.

“Are you going to shift back?” I asked Yev.

“No. My egg needs my body heat if it is going to hatch into a beautiful baby girl.” She continued to get comfortable and nest in my hoard, wiggling and sinking herself into the gold.

Polydora put a hand on my shoulder. “Give her a few weeks. She’s going to go into serious nesting mode here for a little while, but the Yev we all know will pop back out.”

I nodded. I could meet her where she was at that moment. She was my wife, and clearly the hormones were leading the show.

I walked up to Yev and shifted so that I could crawl over her and wrap her up in my dragon form. “Then we’ll sleep like this tonight, as a family.” I sighed, content that Yev was okay and so was her egg. “But tomorrow I might need to step away.”

Yev nuzzled me and braced herself so that I couldn’t damage the egg as I crawled over her with my large golden frame.

“So, we are sleeping in here tonight?” Sabrina asked.

“I dare you to break up the dragon cuddle puddle.” Scarlett laughed.

No one moved, and I put my head over Yev’s side. “We have the beds in here. Use them for sleep this time though.” I grumbled. “Mine.”

“All yours, husband.” Scarlett reassured me. “You’ve been through a lot. Rest up and we’ll tackle everything tomorrow.”

AN - Yev's egg was easy. Oh just wait until someone else has a baby and she gets to see just how easy she has it.

Also, ty for the ideas of Jadelyn buying their debt to crush them. That does seem very Jadelyn.