Page 32 of Naughty Elf: Merry
Merry
“No twigs.”
I refused to sit on and lay my precious eggs on branches and leaves. Dragon shifters might be content with that scenario, but not me.
“A nest is whatever you want it to be.” He glanced out the window. “If it were winter, you could use ice and snow.”
My temperature was running high. Not that I was sick, but all pregnant omegas had raised temps, and I had dragon eggs in my belly. Those fiery little beasts might’ve been sleeping and growing, but their heat seeped through the shell and warmed my body.
“I’m not a polar bear.” I cradled my bump. “Come.”
Considering he was a shifter and had super speedy reflexes, my mate wasn’t a natural on a bicycle. But we couldn’t drive into the village itself. I pedaled faster than Hernan—my legs whirring as I pushed the pedals around—and reached the warehouse and was off my bike waiting before he arrived.
“How do you do that? Your legs are shorter than mine, you’re not a shifter, and you’re pregnant.”
I shrugged and grinned, pleased there was one thing besides organizing and the ability to get pregnant that I could do and Hernan couldn’t.
“Years of practice.” Short legs came in handy sometimes.
My mate looked up at the facade that had no name and no number. All the buildings in the village were named and/or numbered.
“What is this place?”
“It’s for the ones that didn’t make it.” I tapped in the code.
“What?” He pulled me away. “Neither of us wants to see that. Did the spell trip them up doing the transfer?”
He was speaking words and sentences but making no sense.
“What are you talking about?” Whoever it was, it was grim.
“The elves who were transported elsewhere and… got trapped or something.”
I rolled my eyes. “This is kind of a halfway station but not the sort you’re talking about.” I yanked open the door and strode in before turning on the lights.
Hernan poked his head in. “Oh. Not elves or humans or shifters.”
There were no humans in Christmas Village, but I didn’t correct him.
“Toys. But aren’t these for this Christmas?” He picked up a doll, and her head flopped to the side. “Oh, she needs surgery.”
I took it from him and kissed the doll’s head. “Sometimes we make mistakes. So while these toys won’t be placed in stockings, during our downtimes, we fix them and donate them to needy kids.” I gathered dinosaurs and teddies and told Hernan to do the same.
“Are you taking on a new project, so close to the laying of the eggs?”
We bundled the toys into a little trailer outside and went back for more.
“No. You told me a nest is whatever I want it to be. These toys are my nest.” There would be no scratched and painful butt cheeks if I squatted on a soft toy nest. I shuddered, thinking of myself with a stick up my ass.
“You’re so clever.” We high-fived.
“I know.”
When we had enough toys, Hernan attached the trailer to his bicycle, and we pedaled home.
“Hurry!” I yelled over my shoulder. “We’re going to need the nest sooner rather than later.”
“Why?” His voice was almost carried away by the wind.