Gabriel joined them a few minutes later, standing in the doorway with the pups in his arms.

  “I got swabs of them sent off before we left. We’ll know something by tomorrow. I sent it rush,” Suyin said to his parents. Gabriel scooted away from their gazes and slipped out of the back door, the twins shifting in his arms and whining, wanting to find a bush.

  “How is he holding up?” Shui asked.

  “Well, Leo seemed to get through to him easily because he talks through his dragon well.” Sacha smiled sadly. “He’s hurting though.”

  “Hmm. This seems like the perfect time to talk about that Dette council I proposed. This is a Dette matter, is it not?” Shui raised a perfect brow and moved toward where Gabriel went.

  “If… If you think you sense anything about Gabe…don’t mention it. His body sometimes carries blanks for longer than he should, and I don’t want to get his hopes up. Okay?” Sacha shrugged. “I think Suyin can fill you in on the rest.”

  Suyin and Shui slid out, following Gabriel as he sat in the grass with the snuffling pups, deciding where to do their business.

  Sile gave Sacha a sympathetic look and shook his head with a sigh. “When did we start letting our nesters walk all over us?”

  “I could blame my pup, but I think we should look to the lech,” Sacha said.

  Sile nodded. “We should have taken him from Frikka and Sten when he was a hatchling. Letting those two raise a clutch was a terrible idea.”

  “But it got you another clutch. You two are happier than you’ve been in a long while. It brought Gabe and Suyin back. I found my son. I think we need to start looking at Hallr like less of a pervert and more of a socially awkward duck. Then again, there’s something about him that makes me curious. He doesn’t set off any of the territorial displays of the Dettes. I think we could benefit from giving him a reprieve?” Sacha shrugged.

  “I agree. We have other matters to discuss when next the council meets. There’s a Dette council…and honestly, I think Gabriel should be there. With all that’s been done to him, he’s a prime candidate to stand on that council.” Sile took a wavering breath.

  “And Leo?” Sacha raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t think he should seat the council. He needs to learn our laws and keep corrupting our Dettes. Honestly, Shui has been far more fun these last few years. I thought I enjoyed his calm demeanor, but I want some resistance. I want the fight and challenge, the defiance he had in those early days when his Drake father told him he was not to court me, that I was low blood, worth only a copper. He would sneak out to lie with me, so mischievous.”

  Sacha’s phone went off and he glanced down at it, taking a deep breath. “First blank passed.”

  “Good, good. Not long now.” Sile took a deep breath and paused, glancing down. One of his pups, a Dette, tugged on his pant leg, blinking sweetly.

  “Let’s go watch the movie with them.” Sile pushed off toward the playroom, Sacha following close behind, worried for his son, his mate, and all the things to come.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Gabriel

  Michael and Raphael sniffed around in the grass, moving up to the edge of a bush. Dying patches of grass and frequent traffic to the area made it clear that the patch was a frequent favorite potty spot for the pups.

  “Good boys,” Gabriel said, praising them as Suyin and Shui caught up. According to Suyin, they’d spoken on the phone a good bit over the past year, but Suyin took a great deal of coaxing to come back, afraid that Sile may not let him leave or force him onto a Drake. Gabriel had his own fears, not wanting to see his parents, face his brother and the den that he disappointed, and the small fortune they’d be sure to extort from Sacha for taking him.

  “Nobody will ever put you in a breeding chamber,” Gabriel told the pups, though they didn’t understand. They’d only ever seen Gabriel in his skin and using words since Sacha came. Gabriel’s dragon had relatively little interest in formal behavior, but it wanted pups as bad as Gabriel did.

  “Excuse me, Gabriel. Breeding chamber?” Shui spoke up, ceasing his chatter with Suyin.

  “The breeding rooms when you have your heat, so only your Drakes can have access to you.”

  “It’s not uncommon for a Dette’s first heat to be locked up to keep them safe, dear… But you cannot tell me that you… They…” Shui kneeled beside Gabriel and reached for his hand. Suyin gave a patient smile and joined them, sitting tailor fashion, a little more masculine than the Chinese Dettes with their fervent training on etiquette and manners.

  “In Dior dens, we enter the chambers when our scent gets stronger. Then the Drakes take turns…you know.” Gabriel rounded his shoulders and plucked Raphael off the ground to snuggle in his arms. The little pup squawked in protest.

  “Do they still do this?” Shui turned to Suyin, his jaw dropped.

  “I don’t know.” Gabriel shivered.

  Suyin bowed his head and stared at Shui. “I tried telling you, Baba. I refuse to mate to any of these American Drakes. I refuse a breeding pen. I wanted love.”

  “That Dette council cannot happen soon enough. I want testimony from every Dette in the U.S. and our territories about their arrangements. Even if it requires home inspections. I will not allow this to continue. I was naïve to think that love was a part of all matings, even dens.” Shui shook his head angrily.

  “You were sheltered, Baba. Does Fu know?” Suyin reached for Raphael to clutch for comfort. He fidgeted angrily.

  “I don’t think Sile thinks much of other Dettes at all. He is very singular when it comes to me.” Shui shook his head. “I am a selfish and self-centered Dette.”

  “Well, for our pups’ sakes… We need to change this.” Shui huffed. “Come on, let us go watch the television with the pups. They have quite the nest in there and I am anxious over our dear little Leo.”

  Gabriel nodded and watched Suyin carefully until they shimmied into the room to join the rest of the pups. Ulric glanced up, eyes brightening when he saw Shui and ran over with Shui’s other pups to join their pile. Ulric snuggled up to one of Shui’s Drake pups, Lei, with a little purr of pup infatuation. He could only hope the infatuation lasted. Shui didn’t seem to dissuade it. In fact, he smiled and patted over the two snuggling pups.

  “You’re not going to stop that?” Gabriel gestured toward the pup.

  Shui gave a sly smile. “Hallr’s pups will be a silver by the time they reach age, based on their inheritances alone. I’ve seen what Hallr has set aside for them. Leo is the main line of the Dior. Hallr is the keeper of the nestblossoms. And he’s going to remain as such until he decides otherwise. There are far worse matches, and Hallr doesn’t believe in dowry.” Shui smiled mischievously.

  Gabriel shook his head and sighed. “Best it’s for love.”

  “And even better when it’s also convenient.” Shui nudged Lei’s tail and watched him bristle and grumble. He shifted and curled his tail around Ulric, getting it out of Shui’s way.

  Sacha rose from the pile of pups amid whines and grumbles of protest, his phone screen bright.

  “Second blank passed,” Sacha mouthed to the others. He stared down at his phone screen anxiously and rubbed over the back of his neck. They nodded gravely.

  Sacha’s phone chimed right after. “Oh…”

  “The egg passed; the last blank is coming. He’s bleeding, but it’ll be okay,” Sacha said, sighing heavily and rubbing his head.

  Gabriel snuggled up to Sacha’s side, watching the phone just as anxiously. Another message came through, a photo of an enormous egg next to silver scales, a seam of black metallic scales right at the edge of the photo.

  “The Scandinavian dragons are just built too damn big,” Gabriel hissed.

  “Tell Leo that. It’ll be the first time someone’s told him it’s not him that’s too small.”

  “How did we make a pup that small?” Gabriel balked, laughing a little. “And I thought I was petite. You’re an enormous dragon.”

  “Oh? Keep telling me that, Dette and I may just let you measure me later.” Sacha nuzzled over Gabriel and sighed happily, scenting him. He paused, scenting him again and smiled, an almost sad glimmer in his eyes.

  Sacha’s phone went off again, and he stared down at it, brows raised.

  Gabe glanced down.

  Everything’s over. He’s healed as well as he’s going to get for now. Hallr’s willing to meet you at the elevator. If Gabriel is up for it, Leo would love to see him, Marc’s message read. Gabriel brightened.

  “He’d…he’d seriously let me near…and he just laid, too.” Gabriel fanned himself, fighting tears of joy.

  “Leo calmed down so much after the first clutch hatched,” Sacha said, flashing the message to Shui and Sile before quietly slipping out. The attentive eyes of all the pups focused in on the television. Raphael and Michael found a spot amid the other pups to snuggle in welcomely. Gabriel so badly wished he could give them more siblings to cuddle with. The pup pile seemed so inviting and Gabriel’s dragon pleaded with him to let him out to cuddle the mountain of excited pups. Never had he seen so many in one place.

  Gabriel took a deep breath and retreated to the elevator, following Sacha.

  He didn’t know what to expect at the end of the elevator, but the small room with doors on either side didn’t seem very welcoming at all. A hidden panel directly in front of them slid to the side as Hallr opened a hidden door, granting them admission to his vault.

  Gabriel glanced around, pleasantly surprised by Hallr’s amassed wealth. With this part, surely only being ostentation and diversity. He’d made quite the selection of materials to allow Leo to have the most perfect and shiniest nest. Gabriel very much approved and Sacha did, too, it seemed, nodding sagely as he followed a shirtless Hallr.

  “He was quick,” Hallr sighed, smiling down at Leo, who had worked himself into a pair of lightweight pants. He lay up with a single large egg clutched in his arms.

  “Did you check the blanks?” Gabriel glanced around, nervous.

  Marc nodded fervently. “I always do, but I actually started doing a different kind of ultrasound recently on Dettes to know in advance if an egg is truly a blank or just small.”

  Leo glanced sleepily up from his curled position, his belly swollen and a little bruised. His eyes bore dark circles and his body trembled, tapped for magic and energy, sweaty. How his dragon had pushed it free was beyond Gabriel, and he kneeled a few feet away from the nest with a whimper and reverence. The swirled egg, mottled with black, silver, and gold, nestled perfectly into the curve of his form. “I think I’m good for a few minutes, Pops, Dad. I’m not feeling the happiest, but I think I’d be okay if you wanted to touch the egg.”

  Hearing that word from Leo brought conflicting and strange sensations. Gabriel never thought he’d hear the day when someone would call him that. He crawled over the pile and into the blankets with Leo, his bare feet scrambling over the spilling coins and baubles until some instinct seemed to take over. Gabriel curled around the egg from the other side and pressed his forehead into Leo’s.

  “Not what I had in mind,” Leo muttered, closing his eyes calmly. “But this is nice.” Gabriel stroked over Leo’s hair, messy and strewn over his shoulders, as coppery red as Sacha’s ever thought about being. Gabriel met his son for the first time not hours before, and already he’d become a grandfather once more, and their nearly instantaneous bond seemed to creep up on him in a way that speared through his mind.

  Gabriel sensed Leo’s calm, the fierce stinging pain that radiated through his belly and lower. They’d never bonded when he was an egg, but he acknowledged some sort of connection, and it pulsed with love. Leo had so much love and an appreciation for it that Gabriel couldn’t understand. Whereas Leo had suffered most of his life at the hands of people who saw him as a number, humans with no clue, these few years he’d garnered under Hallr’s hand had turned him into something precious. Though, being as young as he was, and playing off Hallr’s spirit, Leo had become something like Frikka with that level of chaotic energy.

  “You thought about names for him?” Gabriel asked with a whisper before stroking over Leo’s hair. Hallr’s shadow loomed over the two.

  Leo chuckled as Hallr neared the nest. “You’re nervous, Hallr.”

  Hallr fidgeted and took a long, calming breath. “It’s not easy.”

  Leo sighed and focused back on Gabriel. “Well, the last ones we just waited until they could communicate a little and ran names by them until there was one they liked.”

  Marc sat off to the side, arms crossed, watching with a raised brow. He caught Hallr’s eye, and they exchanged a significant look.

  “I think everything I can do has been done. I can pluck a few blossoms on the way out for Daniel, right? He loves them so much.” Marc sighed fondly.

  “How are the pups doing?” Hallr asked, grinning ear to ear.

  Marc rolled his eyes. “Wonderfully. They want to come over and play sometime.”

  “Actually, before I go, I do want to make an appointment with you and Gabriel. I can smell it on him. Make sure Hallr gives him some of those cookies.”

  Gabriel squinted over at Marc and furrowed his brows. “Smell what?”

  Marc shrugged. “Fertilized eggs. I mean, it’s strong on you now. I’d frankly have been surprised if you weren’t because Hallr doused all those dried nestblossoms with the extracted oil. Hell, that’s strong enough to make a Dette with yearling pups ovulate.”

  Sacha’s eyes went wide, jaw dropping. “Hallr? Did you really?”

  Hallr frowned at Marc. “Seriously, Marc? Did you have to tell him? He wouldn’t have taken the flowers if I’d have told him. He even insisted he pay for them. It had to be strong to break a Dette from their dragon.”

  Gabriel blinked in surprise and Leo chuckled. “It’ll be okay.”

  “I don’t want to replace you, Leo.” Gabriel teared up and placed a hand on his belly.

  “Nah. All I ever asked Hallr for was a family, and I’ve got all the family I could have ever wanted for now. Hallr made sure you came back, and now I’m getting siblings! It’ll be great.” Leo pressed his forehead against his father’s again.

  “We’ll see. I’ll do my best.” Gabriel shuddered, falling into shivering sobs.

  Leo sighed exasperatedly. “No crying in my nest, Dad. This is a place for happy only.”

  Gabriel grabbed the sides of Leo’s face in his hands, the features of the boy so much like his own, like a little Sacha-colored clone of himself. “Okay. It’s really okay. Thank you.”

  “I called in a favor and the Lochs are coming over to babysit. They love getting pup time. I think they keep hoping I’ll take a den,” Leo stage whispered. “And they’ll be happy to take my little bros, too.”

  “You’d really think that? You’d really call them your brothers? You weren’t just teasing?” Gabriel balked.

  Leo shifted to sit up a little, wincing slightly. “Absolutely. Also, they’re small enough and still nest bound enough that I’d be willing to pupsit them while I nest to give you and Pops some alone time. I miss having little ones in the nest.”

  Hallr grumbled a little, “I don’t. You aren’t the one that they liked to knead on with sharp little pup talons.”

  “It’s alright. I’m used to having Raff and Mike around,” Gabriel chuckled as he sat up and stretched, smiling.

  “Actually, Gabe… How about we let the twins hang out with Leo’s and the Lochs? Just for a night. I want some ‘us time’ without the stress, and the pups are socializing them like they need.” Sacha helped Gabriel to stand.

  “You don’t want them around?” Gabriel’s lip quivered.

  Sacha gasped. “I want them around. I just want some time with you, where you don’t have to worry.”

  “Pops, let him have the pups tonight. If all is well, we can take them tomorrow. He’s worried they may take the pups soon. How’s that?” Leo hummed and blinked up at Gabriel, who beamed with delight.

  “I didn’t think about that. Oh no. Absolutely. Yes. We can take them with us tonight.” Sacha swept Gabriel off his feet bridal style and nuzzled down into his neck. “Anything you want, Gabe. I promise.”

  An accidental giggle passed Gabriel’s lips, and he startled at the sound.

  “Come on. We can see Leo tomorrow. Let’s go take the twins home and have a cuddle.” Sacha nodded to Hallr on his way out, following Marc. Leo waved lazily as Hallr nestled in with him. His face buried in Leo’s neck and snuffled anxiously, trying to soothe himself. Gabriel didn’t realize how anxious being around Leo’s new egg made Hallr. A laying Dette should have been fiercely protective and territorial.

  “Take some blossoms on the way out if you like,” Hallr called out, and Gabriel waved at him.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Sacha

  Raphael and Michael squirmed and shrieked, wanting to stay and play with the other pups, putting on a show of protest, spitting angrily and scratching.

  The Lochs came in not soon after, Bryn leading the charge as the army of pups in a slew of colors swarmed in. Green, blue, black, and gold. They yelped their delight, and in the twins’ case, confusion.

  “Line up, boys! Defend the line!” Bryn shouted as Gaelin and Stefan lined up beside him. The three were usually four, including Powel, but he’d left their den a few months prior, searching for a Dette on his own.

  The wall of pups, twelve strong, plus the twins, barreled toward them, joining in the fun.

  Bryn was the first to go down, barreled over with Cinder on his back, followed by Ulric and Rune taking down Gaelin, and Stefan fell beneath two of Sile’s pups. “Oh dear, the Lochs are here,” Shui said as Sile and Suyin followed them out of the playroom.

  Suyin sniffed the air, freezing in his tracks as he stared at the new Drakes.

  “C’mere, ya little runt.” Bryn fought, grabbing Cinder around his waist while he flailed and screeched. A streak of fire shot off in response. “Oh no ya don’t!” Bryn clamped his hands down over Cinder’s snout and he shifted, slipping from Bryn’s grasp, shifting back to chomp down on Bryn’s arm. Storm dove in and the writhing mass of pups took them completely down in a pile of screams and laughter.