Page 43 of Gladiator's Bite
“Probably,” Teddy nodded. “But that choice isn’t yours. You don’t have to help. Either of you. Selt and I will do this on our own if we have to. I’m just trying to find Liam’s vision and get everything moving. Maybe no one will show up. Maybe we’re wrong.”
“You don’t have to be right for me to pick something up, probably,” I added in before they could start arguing too much.
“We’ll be there,” Sunny said.
“And you’ll keep your comments to yourself,” Teddy added on.
“I’ll do my best.”
“He will,” I said. “I’m carrying eggs. I’m asking all three of you right now to not make me an angry carrier. I’d like to be a cheerful, well-fed carrier eating all the cheese in the club. Don’t make me be angry. Don’t make me be the nag because I’m the one with a womb. Don’t do that. You won’t like me if you do that. Now, Selt, are you comfortable with this?”
“It’s my idea,” Selt said, finally looking up from his potatoes.
“Doesn’t mean you’re still okay with it.”
“It’s not my idea of a good time but that’s the point, right? If it was an actual good time my fight or flight probably wouldn’t go off.”
“If you trust Teddy why would it go off anyway?” Sunny asked.
“I think that part of sex, attraction, and power might be a bit beyond you right now, Sunny,” Teddy said and got kicked under the table by my mate.
“Mate, it was a fair statement,” I sighed. “Selt doesn’t have to explain how anything inside his head works to you. Teddy, you can be nice. We’re all on the same side.”
“I didn’t cheat on Frey,” Selt blurted out. “Back in school. I mean, yeah dude kissed me and that’s what you saw but it was just that.”
“If that’s true, I’m sorry everything worked out that way.”
“Is he happy now?” Selt asked.
“Frey? Yeah. He’s happy,” I nodded. “You will be soon too. I have a good vibe about all this.”
“I hope so because it’s almost the last thing I want to do.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sunny
True to being Moonscales, Teddy and I decided we either needed to wait for the full or new moon. The full moon was a week away which gave Laken and I a bit of time to register our eggs and get our nest set up. We started with the pack that arrived in the mail and built it up from there. Teddy and Selt were both around and brought in outside materials at our request. I was an asshole because the thought of someone humbling Selt a bit felt good. Maybe I needed therapy too or maybe thinking I needed therapy meant that Laken and the rest of the Starscales were rubbing off on me a bit too much.
Neither of them entered the nest in the attic of Laken’s home. We worked inside of it and they worked on the outside. Teddy was kind enough to take a list of the things I needed the most from the other house and he and Selt brought them over for us. The others had built their nests so quickly, but it took us a full four days before Laken and I were both satisfied that the nest was sturdy, warm, and safe. We hung our sonogram above the nest on the back wall and added a few photos of our families too.
To celebrate, Teddy cooked dinner again, this time at our place. We invited Selt (well, Laken invited him) and the crew of the Medwin 2 as well. We video called my parents in but they kept bobbing on and off the screen as the babies needed them. A wave of homesickness held onto me but now I’d always live between worlds. Everything I knew was decades of travel away by space and everything I had now was right here with me. I couldn’t leave Laken behind. I’d rather be dead than without my mate.
After dinner, Laken and I had a quick call with Teal who had recruited some of his more artistic friends to ‘seed bomb’ parts of London and the lawns of some rich dragons who didn’t bother to grow something pretty or edible. My sire would shit a brick if he ever found out Teal was behind it but Laken’s eyes lit up as Teal explained what he was doing. Most of the seeds were flowers that could grow year around. He tested with those to feel out reactions and at the very least they’d feed pollinators. They had tossed in some seeds from wild edible root plants also to see if they’d be left alone to grow. It wasn’t how I would’ve gone about wilding London, but I had to hand it to Teal, he’d gone about it in a way that flew right under my parents’ radar.
“Any push back?” Laken asked him.
“Not yet. I don’t think anyone’s put it all together yet. Next weekend we’re starting up a community garden on the East End. Got them to agree to give me land to ‘mess around with.’ I don’t think they’d be mad about what we’re doing but it’s better to ask for forgiveness later if I need to.”
“Smart man,” Laken nodded. “Sounds like you’re already making an impact. The biggest part of change is convincing others that something needs to change.”
“Eh, my carrier feeds a growing town. This is in my blood. If he wasn’t so busy with work, I’d invite him over to hash it out with them. He’d probably do a better job of selling the idea than me.”
“Don’t do that,” Laken shook his head. “I don’t mean don’t ask for help. Just don’t be down on yourself like that. People are following your lead. That says something.”
“What are the other two up to?” I asked, realizing how uncanny it was for them to be gone.
“Dating again. Brothers this time,” he rolled his eyes. “I’ve told them they should just find someone who can put up with both of them. They date siblings, cousins, friends. Anyone tokeep hanging out together and then if one set breaks up the other one follows the lead.”