by J. L. Wilder
He watched as Maggie hissed when the door shut and then turn around to face them. Her cheeks were bright red and she immediately quieted down. He looked her over and hoped that she never stopped blushing for them. She was so beautiful to him. His mate. He hadn’t been expecting to see her right then and his heart reacted like a drumline.
She pressed her lips together and clasped her hands together behind her. He doubted she had any idea it pressed her breasts out and damn near killed him. “Um, sorry. I just wanted to come by and get Milo. Sasha and I are going to get ice cream and we thought he might want some, but I can see that he’s napping, and napping babies can’t eat ice cream, so I think I’ll just go.”
He stood up and walked to her. He wanted to devour her, but instead, he pulled her into a hug and gently kissed the corner of her mouth. “You’re cute when you’re rambling.”
She scoffed, coming back to herself marginally. “I’m a forty-year-old woman, Mav. I’m not cute.”
Sawyer pulled her into his own arms and kissed her forehead. “I can attest to the cuteness.”
“You know how I feel.” Wyatt winked at her, and they were all rewarded with her blush reaching down into her sweater.
“Okay, well, this is fine. I’m just going to go, I guess.” She started to back away and then stopped. “No, I need to see him first.”
Maverick watched as she hurried over to Milo and gently scooped him into her arms. Rocking him ever so slightly, she rested her cheek against the top of his head and inhaled deeply. He thought she was a great mom. She loved him so much and he couldn’t wait until she carried more of his children. Or his brothers’ children. He didn’t care, he realized with a shock.
Uncle Jonah, who’d been watching, walked over and smiled down at Maggie. “Why don’t you take him? We’re going to be getting into some alpha stuff soon. I’m afraid I’m taking the guys hostage tonight, so you won’t have to see any of their faces until tomorrow at the ceremony.”
Maggie looked back at Maverick and his brothers and her eyes warmed as she smiled at each of them. “I guess I’ll survive.”
“And Maggie?”
She looked up at Uncle Jonah and smiled. “More good news?”
The old man laughed and cupped her face gently. “I hear your dragon is a fierce and noble protector. I hope I get to meet her one day.”
Her face froze for a few seconds before she smiled and nodded. “I hope it’s in the best of circumstances and that she’s not trying to eat you.”
Uncle Jonah’s laughter filled the room and Maverick found it contagious. Maggie was perfect. He watched as she flashed everyone a quick smile and then headed towards the back, where Sasha was peeking in.
“Don’t you dare come sticking your nosy head in here now, Sasha! You’re in so much trouble.”
The door closed behind her and all the men looked at each other, aware of the change in energy, the way the light seemed to leave with their mate. Uncle Jonah even noticed it as he rubbed his arms and slowly walked back to his chair.
“That woman’s special, all right. She’s going to change this clan. I can feel it.”
Maverick didn’t know what his uncle meant, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that Maggie would be his. And his brothers’, but he wasn’t too worried about that. He had a feeling they’d make it work.
He realized Wyatt was staring at him and shook his head as a grin stretched across his lips. That was what life with Maggie would be like. Grinning just because. Grinning because he had his mate and Milo and his brothers.
Sawyer laughed and rubbed his chest as he walked back to his seat. “I guess that weird ache in my chest is love, huh?”
Wyatt snorted. “You always were late to the party.”
Uncle Jonah cleared his throat. “Back to the preparations, boys!”
Maverick’s scowl came back as he looked at his uncles. “You do realize that we’re in our mid-forties, don’t you? We’re hardly boys.”
“And yet you’re still so green.”
Uncle Saul made a burning noise and cackled. “He got you there.”
He was going to throw two old men out of a window, and he didn’t care about how that made him look.
28.
***Maggie***
Maggie shifted Milo to her side as she hurried after Sasha. “I am going to choke you when I catch you! I can’t believe you pushed me in there like that!”
Sasha laughed and walked on ahead, clearly proud of herself. “Stop being a baby. It went fine.”
“Hey, Sasha! Hey, Maggie!” someone walking past called out to both of them.
Maggie waved back and smiled before focusing on her sister again. “Maybe it did go fine, but I was so embarrassed! You can’t just shove—”
“Aunt Maggie!” Aubrey and Gabbi ran out of the pizza place and hurried to her. “Everyone is talking about how badass you are! You’re famous!”
“Um, say hello to your mother, the woman who pushed both of your big heads out of her vagina!”
Both girls screamed and ran back to their friend, hurrying away from Sasha as fast as possible.
“Was it something I said?” Sasha grinned. “Also, did you hear that? You’re famous.”
Maggie brushed it off as the girls trying to make her feel better. “We were talking about you being an incredibly rude butthole.”
“Did you just call me a butthole?”
“I did. I hadn’t seen the guys since everything and you just shoved me in their faces!”
Sasha groaned. “And didn’t it take less stressing than stretching it out and taking your time to try and decide how to do it? You’re welcome!”
“I’m going to push you off a small cliff.”
They were closing in on the ice cream parlor, and Maggie saw Anna sitting just inside. She stopped and turned away, hoping the teenager hadn’t spotted her. She wasn’t sure she could face Anna and pretend like she could be any help with her dragon. Not anymore.
“Maggie?”
She glanced back at Sasha and watched as Anna looked over and spotted her. She suppressed a wince and waved.
Sasha raised her eyebrows. “You okay?”
Maggie blew out a big sigh and nodded. “Yep. I’m just going to have to face a harsh reality really fast.”
“What is it?”
“I offered to help Anna with her dragon. She’s got a thing like me. A concern. And I was feeling better, so I offered some advice. But I don’t have any control over my dragon. I can’t offer her help. I was wrong and now I’m going to have to tell her that I can’t help.”
Sasha grabbed Maggie’s arm and pulled her to a stop. “You will do no such thing. Look at me and listen because I’m not going to say this again. Except I probably will, but still. You and your dragon are fine. What your dragon did, coming out to stand up to Jessi? It was okay. Your dragon is okay. There’s nothing wrong with her besides the fact that her other half won’t stop suppressing her. So, stop it. And if you need to tell Anna anything, tell her that. Tell her that you still struggle, but you’re still trying. Because that’s what we do. We just keep trying. Right?”
Maggie stared down at her sister and slowly nodded her head. Sasha was right about not giving up. She had to keep trying. But she wasn’t sure she could be any kind of help to Anna when she was still struggling herself. “Maybe I’ll just be honest about it.”
“And if your version of the truth isn’t real, but something projected from a shitty self-image?”
Maggie staggered back a step. “You really do think that?”
“Yes! I’ve been trying to tell you. Everyone who saw you shift yesterday didn’t see anything wrong with it. They were impressed with your ability not to snap at Jessi, actually. Haven’t you noticed that no one has been giving you dirty looks or snide comments? People have been saying hello and the entire clan is abuzz about you. Yet, all you can focus on is the negative. You’re not fair to your dragon. She’s protective and fierce, but she’s good. Because she�
��s an extension of you, Maggie. And you’re good.”
Maggie looked around and saw a few people wave as they moved past. No one scowled or gave her mean looks. It was just...normal. Was Sasha right? She looked back at her sister and shook her head. “But...she’s scary.”
Sasha cackled. “Newsflash, Maggie. We’re fucking dragons. If someone insulted my children, I’d be scary, too.”
Laughing, Maggie just kept shaking her head. “But no one loses control like me.”
“And not everyone has a mean-spirited bitch pushing all their buttons.” Sasha shrugged. “I’d never be afraid to leave my kids with you. You could be a dragon right now and I’d put Jack in your mouth. You would never hurt anyone. And don’t you dare bring up that human from the night at that party. That asshole had it coming.”
“It feels like nothing is what I thought it was now. It’s like I came back to Brady and it’s just a few degrees different in reality than what I thought. I had these ideas and this version of the truth, but I’m starting to wonder if any of it is right.” Maggie shifted Milo to her other hip and struggled to find the words to sum up what she felt. “And the sad thing is, this reality I’m standing in seems to be better, right? Everything is better than I remembered. But that just scares me more. Because it doesn’t feel real. What I thought I knew for twenty years feels real. This feels new and like it could disappear.”
Sasha smiled. “It’s not going to. Because what you thought you knew was bad memories tarnishing everything, even some of the good ones. This is real. What you’re feeling now and experiencing now is real.”
“Well, this is all just a mind fuck.”
Laughing, Sasha took her arm and pulled her. “Yeah, well, it’ll still be that way after we get some ice cream. Come on. We can talk more once I get some chocolate in me.”
A tall man walking by made eyes at Sasha and winked. Sasha, loud and outgoing, turned into a schoolgirl and turned bright red as she spun away from him.
Maggie saw it as her chance to get her sister back. Shoving Sasha towards the man, she raised her voice and called out. “Hey! My sister is single! She’s got three kids but they’re out of diapers, so not as much trouble. She’s spunky and a little bossy, but she’s cute!”
Sasha stumbled straight into the man’s arms and let out a noise that might’ve been a gasp or a moan. Maggie wasn’t sure. She didn’t stick around to help Sasha out, either. She headed in for ice cream. She was craving it again. Almost enough to forget that she was feeling pathetic about being unable to help Anna.
“Maggie! Hey!” Anna called to her and waved. “Want to sit with me when you get your ice cream? I’m on break for a bit.”
Maggie smiled and nodded. She might be struggling, but she wasn’t going to ignore Anna. “Sure!”
She got her bowl of ice cream, no cone that time, and sat down across from Anna. Milo was just starting to wake up, but he was still so groggy that he just sat on her lap and looked around.
“Is this your son?”
“Yeah, this is Milo. He’s just waking up from a nap.”
“My grandma always said that dragon babies nap twice as much as human babies because we’re growing so much.” Anna waved to Milo and smiled. “He’s so cute!”
Maggie scooped a big spoonful of her ice cream into her mouth and nodded. “He’s a sweet boy. How are you doing?”
Anna grinned even wider. “I got asked to the dance by the boy I like, so pretty good.”
“That’s great! Is there a theme? I used to love the themed dances.”
“Not really. It’s pretty much just wear whatever you can get away with now. My dad is super strict, though. So, I’ll just be wearing whatever he’ll agree to. I’m lucky that he even agreed to let me go.”
Sasha suddenly appeared next to them, her eyes staring daggers at Maggie. “I am going to destroy you! I can’t believe you did that to me!”
Maggie made a face. “How’s it feel?”
Milo reached for her ice cream and got a handful of it before she could stop him. Then, it was immediately all over his face, all over his arms, and all over her. He then reached for Anna, wanting to see the new person.
Anna reached out and took him without batting an eye. She held him and let him grab at her hands with his sticky ones, a laugh spilling out of her. “He’s adorable!”
“Back to how I’m going to destroy you! And what are you even eating, that is—” Sasha screamed suddenly and grabbed at the ice cream bowl. “Is this chocolate ice cream with Oreos, gummy bears, and orange slices? Maggie!”
“What? Stop screaming!”
Sasha grabbed her and shook her hands. “What did you eat when you were pregnant with Milo? What were you always telling me about?”
Maggie frowned and then looked down at the bowl of ice cream with widening eyes. “Oreos dipped in orange juice with gummy bear chasers.”
“We have to go! We have to go right now!” Sasha had gone from angry to so excited that she was practically vibrating. “Come on!”
Anna watched with wide eyes while handing Milo to a grabby Sasha. “If you ever need a sitter, I can watch him for you. I’m saving up for college, so anything helps.”
Maggie’s mind was on another world, but she just nodded and reached out to hug Anna without thinking about it. “Okay, sure!”
“Tomorrow. Do you work tomorrow?” Sasha was bouncing in her shoes. “We have to get ready for the alpha ceremony, so you could babysit then.”
Anna beamed at them. “Okay! I can do it!”
“Be at our house at noon.” Sasha patted her cheek. “You’re a great girl!”
Maggie laughed at Anna’s confused expression, but just waved goodbye and hurried out of the shop with Sasha dragging her straight to the drugstore. “I can’t be. This is crazy. Getting pregnant with Milo was crazy. I’m forty.”
Sasha rolled her eyes. “Forty isn’t dead and I doubt you’ve bothered with protection at all with your men.”
“Well, no...”
“Don’t teach my daughters that. Jesus, I’m too young to be a grandma.” She bounced into the drugstore and looked at the aisle with pregnancy tests. “I know it. It’s happening. I’m going to be an aunt again!”
Maggie glared at her. “Don’t yell that! Jeez!”
“Let’s go. I’m about to pee myself, I’m so excited.” Sasha looked like she was already running out of energy, but she still shook with excitement. She bought the test and they rushed home just for Maggie not to need to pee.
Sasha forced water on her until she felt sick, but soon after she had to pee and three minutes after that, she was staring at two pink lines of the test and Sasha was hugging her tight and screaming until she had to take a nap because she was so exhausted.
Still, Maggie sat with the test in her hands, staring down at it and then at where Milo was playing with blocks on the floor. She was pregnant. She was going to have their baby. There was no running, no leaving if things didn’t go okay. She wasn’t doing it. She had to be strong.
There was excitement, but she was mostly terrified. She wasn’t sure what they guys would say or if they were still waiting on an answer about who she wanted to be with. There was going to be another child involved, though.
She got on the floor next to Milo and pulled him into her lap so she could hold him while he played. Pregnancy with him had been hard, because she’d been alone. It wouldn’t be like that again. Even if the men didn’t want her after she told them she couldn’t choose, she’d have Sasha and their family. She was also seeing that maybe there were connections she could make in town with people, people who didn’t seem to hate her at all.
She only had to figure out how to break it to the guys that one of them had knocked her up.
29.
***Maggie***
“This is weird, right?” Maggie met Sasha’s eyes through the bathroom mirror and grimaced as the woman fitting her into her dress squeezed her breasts in a little too tight. “I’m not the one becoming
alpha.”
Sasha smacked a hand that came too close to her own breasts. “I just had radiation therapy there and if you touch it or squeeze it, I will murder your whole family. Got me?”
Maggie covered her laugh with a cough as the woman apologized and stayed far away from Sasha’s boobs. “I’m assuming you think it’s weird too, or did you just wake up this cranky?”
The older woman who just sat in the corner watching them clicked her tongue at them. “This is a special tradition. You are the alphas’ woman, correct?”
Maggie blushed. “Um. Yes?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “We all know, honey. No one here cares. I once spent a wild two weeks in Paris with my lover and his best friend. That was a magical time.”
Sasha let out a bellowing laugh and smacked Maggie’s arm. “This is fun now.”
“Anyway, my mother was in charge of getting the women ready when Jonah and Saul became alpha. It’s special. All the women get dressed up and it’s a magical event. Not weird.”
“It’s just that Jonah and Saul never mentioned any of this. They said we’d be getting ready, but I thought it was just going to be me and Sasha and maybe someone to help us get into the gowns.”
She snapped her fingers at the woman adjusting Sasha’s gown and growled. “Watch the boobies. Did you not hear her?”
“Do you do this for all the clans?” Maggie had never seen the woman before in her life, nor had she seen the women dressing them. The entire team of people that had been sent over was strangers. Which was why it felt so weird. At least Aubrey and Gabbi were eating it up.
“I do. I travel wherever I’m needed with my team. We are trained in the traditional ways. When I die, my daughter will take over. And when she dies, her daughter. There’s not many of these ceremonies anymore, though. We dragons are more civilized now. Not as many deaths over power.”
Maggie shivered at the thought. Her men, her son, any of them in danger because of power wasn’t a reality she could handle. She unconsciously put her hand over her belly and got poked with a needle the seamstress was moving.