Swinging his hammer, Trent struck the nail a final time to make sure it was fully driven into the half-built shelving. Then he paused to wipe his brow. He wasn’t sure if the air conditioning was on the fritz again, or if he was working up too much of a sweat for it to keep up.

Damn it, I’m a doctor not a construction worker.

Grinning inwardly at his own joke, he backed a few paces to survey his work.

The future home of Winchester Bay Dragon Clinic was coming along swimmingly. The building was in slightly rougher shape than advertised, but it wasn’t anything a little elbow grease couldn’t fix.

He and Cole worked on it during their off-time—Trent, when he wasn’t practicing at the clinic, and Cole when he had moments to spare away from managing his dragon shelter.

The shelter itself had been set up first on the other, nicer side of the building. With grant money from the state, Cole had been able to set up much faster. It had been needed. Over a dozen dragons had been rescued from the raid at the docks. Out of those dozen, several had already found new homes. Trent, of course, was donating his time in maintaining their care for free.

“Trent!” came Cole’s voice from the other end of the building. “Get in here. Lady’s eggs are hatching!”

Trent’s heart picked up the pace, though he made himself remember there had been several other false alarms over the past week. Dragon eggs hatched on their own time… and all at once, even if it took the female several days to lay a clutch. Dragons could be contrary creatures.

At least Lady’s attitude had improved over the last couple weeks as her eggs matured. There had been a period where Trent and Cole had not been allowed anywhere near the nest.

He found Cole in the cubicle that had become Lady’s home after she laid her clutch. The small space provided exactly the privacy the new mother needed. And, wonders upon wonders, the steel blue dragon had settled herself on Cole’s shoulder as if she hadn’t spent the last few months hissing and spitting at him.

She cheeped welcome at Trent and fluttered to his shoulder.

“Oh? Are we friends again?” Trent teased, reaching up to stroke her little head.

Cole grinned at him. “Looks like she’s not worried about her eggs any longer.”

“Thank goodness females become completely uninterested in the dragonets after they hatch,” Trent replied. Lady had been quite the little monster.

Lady cheeped again as if to confirm this.

Bending, Trent checked the small clutch of five mottled eggs which had been lovingly arranged in a pile of fluff. He had given up the remains of his couch to the cause. It made good nesting material.

As he watched, one of the eggs gave a tiny twitch.

“Did you see that?” Cole asked, excited. He brought out his cell phone and snapped a picture. “I know we’ve had a few clutches from the rescued females already, but I’ve never actually been in time to see them hatch before.”

“It happens fast,” Trent said.

A jagged crack split one of the eggs. Birds and reptiles could take hours to break their shells. Not so much with dragons. Once the hatching started, it was usually over in minutes.

This egg did not disappoint. The shell fell away as if it were made of brittle porcelain, and a dark blue dragon snout emerged. The little dragonet sucked in a breath of air. Its lungs filled for the first time and the expansion helped break the rest of the egg apart. The shell split in two, spilling the little creature out on the nest.

“Oh,” Cole said simply. “It’s adorable.”

It was cute… in a skeletal, gooey sort of way. The dragonet righted itself on its legs quickly, and Trent’s clinical mind took over, noting that it moved easily and didn’t have any visible deformities. Like its mother, it was a uniform blue color—though much darker.

The three eggs in the middle hatched with similar abruptness, spilling out dragonets pattered in speckled sand, minty green, and mottled sky blue.

Then the fifth and final egg hatched. Trent heard Cole suck in his breath: The little dragon was a beauty, with rose red at the tip of its nose which shaded evenly back to orange on the end of its tail.

However, this dragonet acted… different. It righted itself, but instead of peering anxiously around as if to find something to eat, it looked up curiously at its mother and then, cocking its head, gazed into the faces of Trent and Cole.

“That’s odd—” Trent started.

Then the little sunset colored dragonet leaped up with ungainly wet wings and hooked its claws in Cole’s shirt.

Cole staggered back as if he had been hit. “What?” he gasped. His hand came up to cradle the little dragon, which seemed to want to crawl up his shirt like a hungry kitten. “I don’t understand. What’s he doing?”

But Trent did. “I think… I think this is a Bonded dragon. Can you feel anything from him?”

“What… But, I… Oh. He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” Cole finished in a reverent whisper, cradling the little sunset dragon to him. Then he looked at Trent with gleaming, tear-filled eyes. “I think he’s cold. And hungry.”

Lady chipped again, this time smug.

Cole looked radiant with disbelief and new love. Trent found himself grinning, filled with joy almost to bursting for them all.

"Then let's get him cleaned up, and fed," he suggested. The other hatchlings would have to be attended to as well. They were no less important. "I'll take care of it. You think of a name for him."

"Dusk," Cole blurted and then looked adorably surprised at his own suggestion.

The tiny hatchling made a satisfied burbling sound.

"It sounds like he already picked his name." Cautiously, Trent reached out to stroke a finger down the new hatchling's spine. "Welcome to the family, Dusk."

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this novella, I would appreciate it if you left a review.