Dragon Eggs Under the Tree (Starscale Mates #4)

Chapter Five

Stellan

I was soaked to the scales and bones by the time I got back to our street. I sniffed the air searching out Saer’s scent. Why was it out here? Had Brender taken him for a walk? Sometimes a walk calmed him down but if that was the case I prayed that Brender remembered that hatchlings didn’t have the same cold resistance we did as grown dragons.

“We can trust him. He probably even texted us about it. It’s not his fault we forgot to charge the phone,” my dragon chimed into my thoughts. “Can’t blame him for not telling us when that happened, and the flight link is so busy today. We’d have to bellow to hear each other and then Saer would probably hear us and know we weren’t out knee deep in mushies and talking to wild dragons.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. He was right. It wasn’t like Brender would drag Saer that far from the house. He had plans to bake cookies. That meant staying at the house. I crept silently in through the side entrance into a house that smelled like the weirdest cookies I’d ever encountered. Chocolate chips, jam, and peanut butter? That was probably a concoction thought up by Saer.

I tucked all the boxes away in the mud room and shut the door behind me. I sniffed the house, but it was too quiet. Way too damn quiet.

“Saer? Brender? I’m home,” I kept my voice mellow, praying that perhaps they had just fallen asleep watching something in the living room. “Guys? My loves? Buddy?”

I kicked my boots off and sprinted into the living room in my socked feet. It was as empty as the kitchen had been. I patted my pockets until I found my phone. My heart pounded against my ribs, playing them like a xylophone. I placed it on the charging crystal on the side table and it lit up with multiple texts from an unknown number that I’d only seen once before.

STELLAN: Hey. Everything’s good here. Saer is wonderful. I’m having a little tree emergency back home. My brother has nearly killed our just delivered still alive tree. We’re on our way to save the tree and hopefully will get back before you do. Hope your present picking is going well.

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach! Who did he think he was to just run off with my kid like that? True-mate or not, this isn’t how life worked! You couldn’t just drag a hatchling out of their nest and take them to a whole different freaking planet!

I glanced at the rest of the text messages. Updates on his home address and where they were along their journey. They’d just made it to Brender’s house. I cursed under my breath and went back for my shoes. Mate or not, I was giving this fucker a piece of my mind! I fumed and smoke rings shot out of my nose one after another. My dragon paced inside his inner sanctum. If not for the constant snow clouds, he’d have shifted and flown to 2 all on his own but freezing to death or falling from a frozen wing wouldn’t help bring Saer home safely! If Brender wasn’t my mate I’d have called the guards!

Anger gnawed at my insides and my scales as I walked back to the station. I squeezed my fingers tight inside my pockets not to fight off the cold but to hold back every bellowing growl my dragon tried to send up. With the crystal and the phone in my pocket, I’d know if they decided to go anywhere else.

Sitting still on the ship was impossible. I bounced my leg, fighting off the urge to get up and pace the length of the ship that carried dragons between the worlds.

“Alright, friend?” A tall blonde woman asked.

“I’m fine. Mate’s dumb as a sack of shit,” I muttered.

“Most alphas are,” she patted my shoulder.

That didn’t make me feel any better. I thought meeting my true-mate meant I was done with stupid guys. If true-mates were truly matched, Brender would’ve known better. Was I stupid too? Did I lack the understanding of basic social construction of the society that raised me? Of the laws of the wild? His dragon should know better than this!

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, ready to text Brender back and give him a piece of my mind. Instead, I melted a tiny bit but not for Brender. On my screen was a photo of Saer and a teenager I’d never seen before who looked a lot like Brender standing in front of a half-built snowman.

“His brother,” my dragon huffed out the word, sending out another ring of smoke from my nose.

The blonde dragoness handed me a smokeproof hanky and flashed me a knowing smile.

“The holidays can be hard,” she said and flashed me a sad smile.

I nodded my thanks and let out a long, steady breath, holding the hanky over my nose to catch any smoke that might’ve tried to fling itself free from my sinuses.

ME: I appreciate all the updates but what were you thinking?

His answer was nearly instant. How fast could this fucker type?

brENDER: I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure what else to do. I couldn’t leave Saer alone, of course, and I couldn’t ask you to come back early from your important mission. I figured when you didn’t text back you weren’t mad about it or you’d have said something. I mean, it’s not like a random person just picked him up and ran off – we’re mates after all.

I took another long, deep breath and let it out before answering him.

ME: That’s exactly what you are. We might be mates, but I don’t know you. All I know is I have a magical and biological reaction to you. The fact that our flight trusts you enough to be a teacher is the only reason I haven’t called the guards!

brENDER: I’d never let anything happen to Saer or any other kid for that matter! I thought it was the best solution for everyone. Plus, he’s having fun!

I took another deep breath through the hanky. It was clear that Saer was having fun. It wasn’t like him to go off anywhere with a stranger, but Brender wasn’t technically a stranger. If things worked out like fate wanted, he would be his other dad.

“But he’s not yet,” my dragon pointed out.

ME: He might be having fun, but he should’ve been at home. Couldn’t you have waited another hour?

brENDER: I’m sorry.

ME: That’s all you have to say for yourself?

brENDER: I’m sorry is all I can say. You’re right. I should’ve waited. Old habits die hard.

ME: What old habits? That doesn’t sound good, Brender.

My heart pounded against my ribs as I watched the little dots blink at me, indicating that he was typing.

brENDER: Chasing after my brother after believing I can trust him to adult through one thing. It’s not his fault. Well, the tree is totally his fault. My leaving isn’t. Though, to be fair, it was more about saving the tree than him. I made sure he was bundled up. He didn’t touch anything on the ship. He didn’t use any public bathrooms, and he ate some carrot sticks while I got the tree inside. Unlike my brother, I knew to go through the back door if the front door was blocked. I’ve ordered some pizzas, figuring you’d be hungry too. Maybe we could make a decorating party of it? That could mean 2 this year for Saer. This one and one when your tree comes too. I promise I won’t let Oliver anywhere near your tree.

brENDER: Oliver is my brother. My younger brother.

ME: We’re not done talking about this.

ME: But okay.

ME: Just know my agreeing doesn’t mean that this was okay. This isn’t okay. I need to know where Saer is at all times. I need to know he’s safe. You can’t whisk him away on adventures or to save the day or whatever without telling me. I know I didn’t say not to leave the house with him, but I didn’t think I needed to.

brENDER: I’m sorry, mate. I really am. I wasn’t thinking. I don’t have a good excuse if that’s what you’re looking for. I had a problem, and it was a kid friendly problem. So, I figured it’d be okay.

ME: I’m almost there. Don’t tell Saer I’m upset, okay? Let him have fun.

brENDER: I hope you have fun too, though.

brENDER: I miss you.

I took a deep breath and tried not to think too hard about his deep brown eyes. I missed him too but wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him that right now. Could I let him off the hook with just telling him what he did wasn’t cool? Would that stop it from happening again? How much could I trust him? Would it be better or easier after we exchanged the claiming vows?

“Everyone says they act a little out of sorts in that time after they meet their mate but before they exchange claiming vows. It’s like you told him. Until we exchange those vows, he’s just a random guy that we really want to screw,” my dragon put his two scents in.

“I want more than to screw him.”

“What? To spank him?” my dragon laughed. “Oh. I forgot. You’d rather be spanked.”

I blushed and pushed the thought out of my head as I got off the shuttle and headed in the direction my and Saer’s connection pulled me. It didn’t take me long to find Brender’s two story, blue brick home with a big front yard and a garden off to the side.

“DADDY!” Saer’s voice came from across the yard filled with thick purple and white snowflakes. “We built a snow person! This is Uncle Oliver! He’s lazy but he’s fun!”

“I’m not lazy!” Oliver laughed.

“Dumb is more like it,” my dragon said.

He’d have some choice words for Brender’s little brother if I gave him the chance. That was something that I didn’t plan on doing any time soon.

“Daddy!” Saer crashed into my legs. “You found us! Brender said you said we could stay and have pizza and help with the tree!”

“We are! They’re our family too now. So we should spend some time with them!” I picked him up for a real hug.

“Want to go inside and warm up the baby?” Brender asked.

“Good idea,” I smiled at him, and he led the way into the house through the back door.

He led us through the kitchen and down a long hallway with soft blue carpet into a room with a massive fireplace, some bookshelves, a sofa, and a few chairs. Saer squirmed out of my arms and stripped out of all his snow-covered outerwear. I bit my lip. I should’ve undressed him in the kitchen where there wasn’t any carpet to wet.

“Don’t worry about it,” Brender laughed as Saer kicked off his boots and flopped down on his back by the fireplace to warm up. “He can make himself at home.”

“Don’t worry. I already had my nap,” Saer yawned, grinning up at me.

“I’m impressed. How’d Brender manage that?” I asked him.

“It was a long morning. I kept trying to figure out how to go with you.”

“Oh,” I grinned. “Well, my meeting with the wild dragons went fantastically.”

“Good. So, are they bringing me a boat?”

“We’ll see about that,” I grinned.

There would be no life-sized fishing boat under the tree, but a four-year-old boy didn’t need his very own boat. He’d find lots of water friendly and fun presents come Yuletide morning, instead.

“I’m not getting a boat,” he sighed. “I know that voice. It’s the same voice when you said you’d think about getting a dotter.”

I opened my mouth but before I could remind him that dotters were a lot of work Oliver came through with his arms stacked high with pizza. Brender grabbed the topmost boxes and the brothers sat them down on the coffee table. I was about to volunteer to grab some plates but Brender opened the top box and told us to dig in. Before I could remind my hatchling of his manners, he did exactly what my new mate had invited him to do.

Brender disappeared through the house before I could give him a what the hell look and came back with some napkins and water bottles. It was better than nothing, at least.

“Aren’t you hungry after all that picking?” Brender asked, as Oliver and helped Saer onto the sofa with his pizza.

“I am but I’m worried your sofa isn’t going to survive the pizza in Saer’s hands.”

“It will. Before I let the kid move in I had them come in and spray all the important stuff with that stain resistant magic.”

“Move in?”

“Oh, yeah. Oliver lives with me. Oh!” he laughed. “No, I haven’t invited your four-year-old to move in with me. I figured we’d actually have to talk about the living arrangements before I did that.”

I blushed. Could I give up the comforts of home and live here? My house hadn’t been in my family for generations. It was a recently built two story. I bet this one had been in his family for a while. Then again, it wouldn’t be nice to kick his brother out but then maybe Brender would want Oliver to live with us.

“Daddy?” Saer’s little voice broke through my anxious inner monologue.

“Yeah, buddy?”

“You’re thinking in circles again. It makes my dragon dizzy.”

“Sorry, kiddo. I guess I’m just hungry.”

Avoiding Brender’s eye, I picked up a slice of pineapple and pig pizza and dug in. It wasn’t half bad and I did feel a bit better after I ate. After a few slices of pizza, Brender and Oliver disappeared into the attic to retrieve the decorations for the tree.

“So, what do you think of him, kiddo?” I asked Saer, who was on his third slice of pizza.

“He let me put jammie in the cookies,” he said. “He missed you too. Then he brought me to play in the snow.”

I opened my mouth to tell him how worried I’d been but stopped short. My little hatchling with separation anxiety had his first good day without me around. My heart ached for better and worse. I wanted him to enjoy life but I’d miss being his only favorite person.

“You’re still my favorite person,” he said, picking up traces of my thoughts over the family link.

“It’s okay if you like hanging out with Brender too.”

“I do. Even if he has no boat.”

“He has pizza.”

“And a brother,” Saer reminded me.

“A brother that nearly broke the tree.”

“Accidents happen. I like him. I have an uncle now.”

“That you do. I hadn’t thought about it that way,” I grinned at him and wiped the tomato sauce from his little mouth.

“Thanks, Daddy.”