Flint
The weeks went by quicker than I would have liked. Leo and I stayed at the country estate for the past three months. We’d returned to the city for two weeks after I put in my notice at the coffee shop. The day I worked my last shift, we packed my belongings and returned to the country estate. It was safer there, easier for Leo to keep an eye on me, and honestly, it was getting more and more difficult to explain my protruding stomach.
On my last day at the coffee shop Claire had asked if I had been packing on a few pounds. The bump was definitely noticeable. It was hard to believe that there was a child growing inside of me but seeing my little baby bump made it all the more real.
Armant assured us that he'd spoken to Valerie, the witch who would serve as my midwife, but that she was stuck in Africa studying. She'd be back in the States soon to examine me.
I have no idea what that exam would entail, but I was both looking forward to it and dreading it.
Leo and I spent the days taking long walks and getting to know one another. He took me flying quite a bit. I never knew that days of doing nothing could go by so quickly, but they did.
We were in the kitchen making dinner for the group when Armant came in.
“Valerie will be here within the hour,” he said.
I dropped the pan I was holding on to the countertop. “What?”
“She'll be here within the hour to examine you. We can talk with her then about the siren situation as well.”
“Well, that was sudden,” I said.
Leo scoffed. “We contacted her three months ago. What took so long?”
Armant shrugged. “I have no idea. Her version of time is not exactly the same as our own,”
“Are witches immortal?” I asked carefully. Was that one of those questions that you weren’t allowed to ask? I had yet to learn all the rules to this new life of mine.
“Sort of,” Leo said. “They are long lived, but they do age, whereas dragons do not. And they don’t have the same rapid healing ability that we do, so wounds are more dangerous.”
Oh, well, that made it clear as mud, I thought. I didn't really want another headache, though, so I wasn't going to ask for any further explanation.
Gale, Broderick, and Merek strode into the kitchen one after another.
“What's for dinner tonight?” Gale asked.
“Stir fry,” I said. “With all kinds of vegetables.”
Broderick made a face. “We're dragons. We need meat.”
“Then go hunting. Catch a deer or something,” I said. “I like vegetables. I'm growing a little dragon, who needs all his vitamin and minerals.”
Broderick growled, but sat down with without saying a word.
Leo winked at me when I met his gaze.
I’d found my place amongst them, that was becoming apparent. I felt like one of the family, and they all treated me like an equal.
***
Valerie arrived within the hour, just as Armant said she would.
I’m not sure exactly what I had been picturing, but it was not this.
Valerie wore her curly, blonde hair down. It had thick streaks of purple strewn about. She wore studded pearls in her ears and a pearl necklace. She had a pair of skinny jeans and a crop-top shirt. For some reason, I think I’d expected flowing dresses and tie-dye, something more hippie-like.
“So,” she said to Leo. “You found yourself a mate. The Fates have smiled upon you all.”
“Took them long enough,” Gale said.
“Oh, phooey,” Valerie said as she waved a hand in the air. “What is time anyway?” She approached me, took my hands in hers and stared in my eyes. “You'll be a good strong mate for Leonidas,” she said. “And you'll bear him a strong son, as well.”
I wasn't sure what to say, but I smiled. I liked her immediately.
“How have you been feeling?” she said. She placed her large handbag on the floor and rummaged through it.
I shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Just big.”
She chuckled. “You've still got two more months. You'll get a lot bigger,” she said. “May I?” She reached toward my stomach.
“Sure.”
She pulled my shirt over my belly and laid a hand on my bump.
“He's a strong one. He'll be a good fire-breather.”
“Great,” I said nervously. Of course I wanted my son to be strong and healthy, but the fire-breathing thing still had me concerned.
“Oh, don't worry,” she said. “They don't get their fire breathing ability until at least ten years old.”
That was sort of reassuring, but not really. The last thing I was prepared for was a hormonal teenager with the ability to burn down the house.
She had me sit down on the couch and lie back. Then she pulled out a device that I didn't recognize.
“This is a doppler,” she said. “It works on pregnant women. I'm not sure what we’ll pick up with a dragon pregnancy, since the egg is thicker than what this is capable of penetrating, but we'll see. Just don't get your hopes up in case I don't hear anything.”
“Okay,” I said. I held my breath as she spread some gel on my belly and put the doppler against it. It sounded like the ocean or whales, but after she moved it around a bit, we heard the soft thump of a heartbeat.
Valerie broke out into a wide grin. “Oh, it worked,” she said. “I'm so happy. I have no way of knowing what's a normal heart rate for a dragon baby. But this one falls into the normal range for human, so that's probably a good sign.”
I sighed and grasped Leo's hand. He grinned widely as well. “That's our little boy in there,” he said.
“I know,” I said. “I'm the one carrying it.” Tears pooled at the corners of my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall.
He kissed my forehead. “And you're doing a great job.”
I yawned then, though I tried to stifle it.
Valerie took the doppler off my belly. “Why don’t you go up and get some rest, yeah? Tomorrow I’ll teach you how to use the doppler and we’ll prepare some teas that you can drink to help the little one develop, okay?”
I nodded as I yawned again. “Thank you.”
She smiled, her eyes lighting up. “Thank you. It’s been too long since we’ve had something exciting happen for those of us that live in secret from you humans. I never thought I’d see the day that we’d have baby dragons!”
Leo picked me up, though I protested that I could walk, my complaints fell on deaf ears.
In our suite he laid me on the bed. He lay next to me, brushing my hair back from my forehead.
“I never knew I could be this happy,” he said.
“Me neither.” I rolled closer to him until there was hardly any space between us. We lay there for a while staring into each other’s eyes. Within moments my dick grew hard. I wanted my mate.
I pushed forward, kissing his lips, plunging my tongue into his mouth. He groaned against me and tugged at my shirt while I worked at his jeans.
It didn’t take long for the two of us to strip ourselves of our clothes.
Leo lay back on the bed and I climbed on top of him, my stomach got in the way in most other positions.
Already, my body prepared itself for Leo’s cock. I arched my back and settled my ass against his dick. Using my own hand, I guided him into me.
I sank down, inch by glorious inch, until my mate filled me completely, then he bucked his hips and I cried out.
“Oh, Fuck! Leo!”
He bucked again, and I rocked with him. He reached for my prick and stroked, bringing me to the brink, then backing off.
I growled. “Harder, Leo!”
He grinned a wickedly, sinful grin, then he grasped my arms, spinning us until I lay on my back and he thrust into me from above. My legs spread as wide as they’d go as he hammered into me, again and again.
Cum shot from my dick in ropey spurts. Leo groaned and jerked, his release filling me.
Once we caught our breath, Leo slipped out of me and got a cloth to clean the two of us up.
He climbed into the bed next to me and wrapped his arm around me. “I thought you were tired?”
“I was, but then I got my second wind. Now, I’m thoroughly exhausted.”
He nuzzled against me, burying his nose into my neck. “Sleep, mate. You’ve got a baby to grow.” He rested his hand on my belly, and I covered it with my own.
I slept.
***
The next morning over breakfast, we got into the other reason that Valerie was here: the sirens. I’d never returned Molly—Molpe--Penderton’s call, obviously, and I hadn't heard anything from her either. But in the last three months, at least one other man had gone missing from the club. The police still had no leads. I don't know how Gale knew that, but I had a suspicion that he and Merek had somehow managed to hack the police database.
Apparently, Merek owned a few tech companies, and had a knack for hacking, so he was able to find out a lot of information without ever leaving the estate. He and Gale were always working together, trying to determine what the sirens were up to. I think we had all decided that they were up to no good. The only question was: what were we going to do about it? And by we, I meant them. I didn't have any ability to help out in this situation, but I agreed with Gale and Merek: we couldn't stand idly by while innocent people were killed.
“Have you heard anything about the sirens?”
Valerie crossed her legs on the chair she was sitting on and sipped her tea. “No,” she said. “At least not anything official. It's not like we have a paranormal convention where we all get together and compare notes on how to function normally as our true selves and live amongst humans without being detected. But there have been some whispers.”
“I knew it,” Gale shouted as he slapped the table, then leaned back in his chair.
“There's nothing concrete,” Valerie said. “Nothing that we could take any action on. After all, they haven't threatened anyone except for humans. And considering dragon’s history with humans, I don't think you have any room to make judgments on how others treat them. Not to mention we can’t prove anything yet.”
“But that wasn't us,” Leo said. “We were chosen by the Fates to stay because we weren't involved in the other dragons’ actions.”
“I know that. I'm just saying that you don't have much of a case for interfering.”
“She threatened my mate,” Leo said.
“She called your mate and offered him a job. That’s like the exact opposite of a threat and it could be a coincidence.”
“It's not,” Merek said. “How could it be?”
“I know that. I'm just saying that's the argument they will make. You cannot confront them, unless you want to start an all out war.”
“Dragons versus sirens? I think we'd win.” Broderick scoffed.
“Perhaps. But a war between any of us is bad for all of us, which is why we've all agreed to live quietly in order to continue living at all.”
“Part of that agreement was to live peacefully amongst humans. And they aren’t doing that,” Armant said. “If they're killing humans, they're going against the agreement.”
“Oh for goodness sake, I sound like a broken record. I know that they aren’t following the agreement,” Valerie said. “And I don't like it any more than you do. I'm just trying to stop you from doing something irrational that might get us all in trouble.”
“Well, let's go back to what you've heard then, Valerie. We need as much information as possible,” Merek said.
I listened intently to all of this. I had no idea where I could contribute anything to the conversation. So, I remained quiet, desperate to learn all there was to know about my mate’s life and what it was like before I came along.
“You know the sirens have always wanted power,” Valerie started. “After all, they approached you all not that long ago to serve as their protectors, so they could branch out and take over more territory.”
“They wanted to keep Gale as a pet.” Broderick snorted.
Gale flipped him off.
“Well, it seemed that they were living just fine on their island, feasting on sailors that were stranded there.”
“Feasting?” I squeaked.
“Yes,” Val said. “Sirens eat men.”
She said it so matter-of-factly, as if it was completely normal. My eyes widened, and I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Homer left that one out of the story books.”
Valerie laughed. “Oh, dear boy. The stories we could tell you about what was left out of the history books.”
I'm not sure I wanted to know.
“Anyway,” Valerie continued. “They didn't need money on their island. They didn't need anything that the island couldn't provide. But apparently, Molpe got bored and ventured into the city and found out what they were missing out on by staying on their island. They've been actively owning businesses and living in the States for about a hundred years now.”
“What?” Armant said. “How did we not know about this?”
“They kept quiet,” Valerie said. “There wasn't anything to know.”
“That gives me a starting point then,” Gale said. “I'm going to do some more digging into their history. See if I can connect any of their personas to their past ones.”
Leo remained quiet. I reached over and grabbed his hand. “Hey, you okay?” I asked.
He looked up at me and smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “Just worried. I'm tempted to keep us here at the estate for as long as it takes to resolve this issue. Which could be a very long time.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Like permanently? Don’t get me wrong, I love it here, but we can't raise a child out here in complete solitude,” I said.
“It's not safe outside this property.”
“Leo, you're overreacting,” I said. “We can't just stay here one hundred percent of the time because the sirens are out there doing terrible things. We need to be able to live. I need to be able to do stuff, go places.”
“I can provide anything you need right here,”
“Leo, I love you,” I said. “But I need to socialize with other people. I have friends. Not many, but I have some.”
“I don't want anything to happen to you,” Leo said. “We can continue this discussion later.”
“No,” I said. “You're being ridiculous. I appreciate your concern for my safety, but for fuck’s sake, Leo. Sure, the sirens are doing terrible things, but we can't confine ourselves to one place simply because someone's doing something awful. I could fall down the stairs tomorrow and hurt myself. Are you going to demand that I stay on the main floor and don't climb any stairs? I could cut myself on a knife while preparing dinner. Are you going to demand that I don't do that either? You can't put me in a bubble, Leo.”
The more I argued the angrier I got. I loved the country estate, I loved Leo and the other guys, but I needed interaction with other people and the very idea of staying isolated in the country gave me anxiety. It wasn’t fair that we’d have to quarantine ourselves, we weren’t doing anything wrong.
I pushed my plate away and stood, then stormed out of the room. I knew Leo followed me, I could sense his every move. I stopped once I was inside the kitchen and away from everyone else.
“Flint, I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you and our baby.”
I sighed. How could I fault him for that? “I know, but we can’t live our lives in fear. We can’t raise a baby like that.”
He wrapped his arms around me and I placed my hands on his chest. I always felt better when we were touching, connected in some way. “Can we compromise? Stay here at the estate for a while, at least until the baby is born. Then we can find a place that’s more permanent for our family?”
“That sounds reasonable. But we’re going to go out and do things. We can’t just stay here twenty-four-seven. At some point you have to take me on a proper date, and we’ll have to get some baby gear.”
He smiled and pulled me closer to him until our hips met, then our lips. He kissed me, distracted me from the topic at hand.
“Whatever you want, baby. I’d do anything for you.”