Dragon Eggs Under the Tree (Starscale Mates #4)

Chapter One

Stellan

A wing slapped me across the face. Fortunately for me, Saer was only four and his wings were proportionate to his body. That didn’t account for the insane strength of little dragons but at least the pain was concentrated, and dragons have hard thick skulls. I blinked up at the ceiling and dodged the next sleep flap that came my way. Saer was a big boy now. He usually slept in his own bed but sometimes crawled into mine if he woke up in the middle of the night.

“Whatcha dreaming about, buddy?” I asked, tickling the wing that I just dodged.

“Fly!” he muttered in his sleep.

“Fly where?” I yawned, glancing at the wall mounted smart screen that read 5:52 AM.

“Fly around and find the eggs!” he muttered.

“Which eggs?” I arched a brow even though kiddo hadn’t opened his eyes.

“The yuletide eggs!” he cheered.

“Eh!” I rolled onto my back and yawned. “You won’t have to find them. You just have to wait until Yuletide when all the wild dragons lay the gift eggs.”

“Too long,” he shook his head.

“Eh, you waited last year.”

“Took forever,” he said, dragging out ever for a beat too long for my sleepy brain.

“Ouch kiddo. Trying to break the windows, huh?”

That got him to open his eyes and sit up. He glanced at the window and sighed in relief that it wasn’t broken.

“How would I break the window from here?” he asked.

“High pitched sounds sometimes---” I stopped myself. He’d be a teenager one day and I didn’t want to give him any ideas. “I was being silly.”

“Silly Daddy!” He laughed. “Is it egg day yet?”

“Not yet. That’s over a month away buddy. Do you remember what you get to do today?” I asked, pushing myself upright and smoothing down Saer’s dark hair.

“Get to go with you?” he asked, knowing that wasn’t in the plan today.

We’d talked it over last night and the night before and last weekend too. Still, Saer had separation anxiety, and I knew I was in for a lot of phone calls while I was out today.

“No,” I shook my head. “What do you get to do today?” I asked again.

“Go with Daddy!” he cheered; his eyes lit up with hope that broke my heart.

“Where am I going today?” I changed tactics.

“To see the wild dragons to make sure they know where we are!” he cheered. “But you did that last year!”

“Well, every year parents have to go tell the wild dragons how many hatchlings they have and what their hatchlings like and where they live. It changes every year. Not where we live but the things you like and what size clothes you wear and how tall you’ve gotten.”

“But if they saw me, they’d know, silly!” Saer fell over laughing.

“How about you go to the potty, and I’ll start breakfast.”

“Okay, but I’m going with you today.”

“We’ll talk about it in the kitchen,” I said, tickling his wing again until he pulled both of them back in.

The last thing I needed this morning was him emptying the bathroom countertop with a clumsy wing slap. My dragon chuckled as I straightened up the bed, not quite fully making it. I never made it all the way because I’d just crawl back in again later the same day. Besides, I liked my sheets to breathe.

In the kitchen I started with eggs, toast, and lots of bacon – all Saer’s favorites. I even pulled out the pear jam that he’d eat by the handfuls if I let him. A few minutes later he waddled into the kitchen.

“I washed my hands,” he announced as if it were a special occasion. “Just so you don’t have to ask. Jam?”

“For the toast. Don’t go sticking your whole hand in the jar, buddy.”

“Hand jam tastes the best,” he laughed. “Take it with us today for a snack?”

“Oh, buddy. I think the wild dragon helper will have snacks with him,” I sighed.

“But I won’t be with him,” he said.

“You will too. You know the wild dragons have all these rules about bringing hatchlings. No one who isn’t a parent, a grandparent, or something like that can go see them. They won’t talk to me if you’re there. You liked the helper last year. Remember?”

“He had jam,” Saer frowned up at me.

“Maybe this one will too, buddy,” I chuckled.

The older Saer got the less time I got alone. Most of the time it worked out for the best. He was my whole world and increasingly the person I spent the most time with. He went to preschool two days a week and put up with me not hanging around but that was about as far as he was willing to go. I worried that when he was older the kids would make fun of him because he’d rather spend time with me than other people his age.

“No,” my dragon shook his head inside his inner sanctum. “One day, we’ll miss these days of being his favorite person.”

“What would you like the wild dragons to lay in their eggs this year?” I asked him, hoping to get him to warm up to the idea of letting me pick his gifts by myself. I couldn’t do it with him tagging along after all. Some items, I collected throughout the year of course. Some I made myself. Others, like most parents, I rushed around to grab during the holiday season.

“Uhhh…..” he said, leaning his head back to look up at me. “A boat!”

“What sort of boat?”

“A fishing boat! We don’t go out anymore! Kevin disappeared!”

It was hard to explain to Saer that Kevin hadn’t disappeared out in his boat. We’d broken up when he met his true-mate. That was the natural progression of things after all. Those three months last year were mostly spent on Kevin’s fishing boat. I missed the boat more than I missed him. He wasn’t a great boyfriend, but Saer liked going on the boat. So, I stuck with the guy until fate intervened.

“How about something that a dragon can fit in their egg?” I laughed, plating up the food.

“A growable fishing boat? Wild dragons have butts of magic right?” he asked, his eyes growing wide as I put not one, but two spoonfuls of jelly on his toast that I’d cut into triangles.

“Butts of magic? Oh! Butt loads, buddy. I don’t think they have magical butts.”

“DADDY!” he screeched in laughter as he climbed up into his chair at the table. “They do! How else do they lay eggs with presents in them? They have to keep it somewhere!”

I couldn’t help myself. I laughed along with him as I doubled-checked that his hands and nails were clean before I brought the food to the table.

“Well then. Magical butts. I’ve learned something new today.”

“What’s his name?” Saer asked again.

He wasn’t great with names yet. It took him more than a month to stop calling Kevin ‘fish boat man.’

“Brander,” I told him for the third time. “He lives on Starscale 2 but he’s coming over here to hang out with you while I go see the wild dragons.”

“Is he a dragon too?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “All of us are.”

“No,” he shook his head. “The news said that a wolf man was born here.”

“That’s true,” I nodded. “But that wolf man is still a wolf pup.”

“But we’re not all dragons anymore,” he frowned.

“Does that make you sad?” I asked him.

“Is there a world that is all wolves?”

“Probably. Somewhere out there,” I nodded after thinking about it for a second.

“Do you think a lot of wolves will come here?” he asked.

“I don’t know, buddy, but I don’t think we have to worry about them being bad. They might even be wild dragon helpers one day.”

“Will the wild dragons bring wolf hatchlings eggs too?”

“Wolf pups,” I corrected him. “I think they will, though. The wild dragons are just jolly like that.”

“Jolly jammie!” he said, picking up his toast and licking the jam off of it. “Can I have some more jam?”

“Not until you eat some of your other food, buddy.”

“But I’m going to miss you today!”

“Eat your eggs and I’ll give you some more jam,” I said, and he dug into his scrambled eggs.