Dragons of Cinderhollow Bundle

by Hawke Oakley

  “We’re here,” Ruby’s voice from my side made me jump. She and Lorenzo were already there, waiting for us.

  “Where’s Gabe?” I asked.

  “They’re about to take him inside for delivery,” Lorenzo said urgently. “Come on.”

  I saw Gabriel being ushered by the nurse and ran towards him. “Gabe, I’m here!”

  He glanced over his shoulder, his face twisted with pain. “Dante!”

  I stopped by his side and took his hand, which he gripped tightly.

  “You can come into the delivery room,” the nurse told me.

  “Good,” I said, sighing. “Gabe, I won’t leave your side the whole time, I promise.”

  Gabriel began to smile, then a wave of pain hit him and he groaned loudly, almost doubling over. I hated seeing him in so much pain. My dragon roared in sympathy. I wished desperately that I could share his pain.

  Soon, Dr. Lynden appeared, her expression calm but serious. “Alright, everyone, let’s try to relax. Gabriel is in good, experienced hands,” she reassured us. “Bring Gabriel inside. Dante, you can come too, but nobody else. The delivery room is crowded enough as it is.”

  Quickly, my dad hugged me. “He’ll be fine. Go watch your child being born.”

  “We’ll be here if you need anything,” Ruby said. Lorenzo nodded in agreement.

  “Thanks, everyone,” I said. Then I joined my mate’s side in the delivery room. It was a small, cozy room that was fully stocked with machinery and medical equipment. Gabriel was already in the bed, changed into a hospital gown and being prepared by the nurse for the birth.

  I took Gabe’s hand. “I’m here.”

  He smiled weakly. “I know.”

  “So,” Dr. Lynden said, snapping on her sterile gloves. “Are you doing a natural birth? It’s too late for a c-section, but if you want the epidural, tell me now.”

  I opened my mouth to ask for the painkiller, but Gabriel slapped his hand over my chest. “No. I don’t want it. I don’t need it.”

  “Gabe,” I growled. “Are you sure?”

  Through the pain and sweat, Gabriel glared at me. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m not some wimp.”

  I groaned. “Getting the epidural doesn’t make you a wimp, honey.”

  “I don’t care. I don’t want it, and that’s final,” he growled. He crossed his arms, the final nail in the coffin of our brief disagreement. There was no winning with him. I sighed.

  “Fine. My mate’s always right, after all.”

  He smirked despite the pain. “Yes, I am.”

  “Alright,” I said, putting up my hands in defeat.

  “Good.” Dr. Lynden stepped forward. “Okay, Gabriel. Are you ready to have your baby?”

  “I’ve never been more ready,” he said, sweat already dripping from his brow. I watched him tense as another pang of pain shot through his body, but he only grunted and beared it.

  “Okay,” Dr. Lynden said. “Then I need you to start pushing.”

  Gabe nodded. He gripped my hand, his nails digging into my skin. I could only bite my lip and watch. I prayed this was over quickly, for his sake.

  He let out a horrible sound as he began to push. His whole body tensed and twitched with pain. Sweat made his hair stick to his forehead, and his skin was slick and clammy all over.

  “You’re doing great, Gabriel,” the doctor reassured him. “Keep going.”

  Gabe cried out as he pushed. He squeezed my hand, then clawed at my whole forearm. I let him do it. Anything to give him relief from the pain.

  “Good!” Dr. Lynden called. “Push, Gabriel! Push!”

  After an hour of screaming, it was finally over. Now a brand new voice filled the air - a tiny but powerful cry. Our baby was here.

  Gabriel had collapsed back against the pillow, sweating and breathing hard. His hair was wet and his eyes were half-lidded from exhaustion.

  “Honey, you did amazing,” I said. I brushed the hair back from his forehead. He only shot me a weak smile.

  “Where’d the doctor go with my baby?” he asked. His voice was hoarse from screaming during labor. I’d be lying if I didn’t think it was sexy, although I’m sure Gabriel felt anything but sexy right now.

  “Just cleaning him up,” I reassured him. Our baby was a little boy, and I couldn’t be happier. I kept stroking Gabriel’s hair to keep him calm.

  “I want him now,” he mumbled.

  At the same time, Dr. Lynden returned to the room, a huge smile upon her face. Gently, she said, “Okay. Here he is.”

  Gabriel sat up, despite the pain, and stretched out his arms. The doctor carefully handed him our little bundle. Maybe the hormones were rubbing off on me, because as soon as I saw our baby’s face, I almost began to cry.

  “Gabe,” I murmured. “He’s so beautiful.”

  “I know… Look at his soft cheeks.” He sighed. “He smells so good, too.”

  “He does smell good.” I chuckled. “I can’t get enough of that baby smell.”

  Gabriel nuzzled our baby’s head ever so slightly. He had a tiny amount of hair, dark like mine - but when he frustratedly peeked an eye open, I saw that he possessed the same gorgeous amber eyes as Gabriel.

  “Well?” Dr. Lynden prompted. “Did you two decide on a name already?”

  “We did,” Gabriel said, unable to stop smiling. He kissed our baby’s forehead. “Welcome to the world, Noah.”

  20

  Gabriel

  “Come here, Noah. C’mon! That’s it, get your little baby butt over here!”

  Ryu sat on the other end of the room, on all fours, tapping the rug encouragingly with his hands. He was wearing a paper party hat - just like the rest of us - and looked ridiculous in an endearing way.

  Noah bunched up his lips in a pout and trundled over to Ryu with his stumbling crawl.

  “Look, look he’s doing it!” Ryu cried.

  Dante chuckled as he watched the madness unfold. He was the one who arranged this party, along with our family and friends. A mini-celebration for the birth of our child was absolutely mandatory, he’d said. I couldn’t refuse. He just seemed too excited. I practically had to beg everyone not to bring any gifts, though, since we were already drowning in his dad’s collection of stuffed animals.

  Dante leaned back on the wall, swishing his glass of orange juice with one hand while the other draped over my shoulder. “At least his uncle has a lot of energy.”

  Meanwhile, Lorenzo was on the other side of the room, sporting an intense frown. He looked similarly ridiculous as he smacked the floor repetitively. “No, Noah, come this way! Come to your real biological uncle!”

  Ryu grinned and shifted into his dragon form. His long whiskers flowed through the air. “Noah, look!”

  Instantly, Noah’s eyes lit up. He crawled faster.

  Lorenzo groaned. “No fair! If I shift here, I’ll break the ceiling.”

  “Go, Noah!” Anton encouraged. I hadn’t seen Dante’s dad stop smiling once since the baby was born. It made me deeply happy to know how loved Noah was.

  “C’mon, bro,” Dante said, elbowing Lorenzo, who had stood up now. “You don’t need to shift to get the baby’s attention. Do something funny.”

  Lorenzo thought for a moment, then raised his hands in preparation - a magic-casting stance. In a small flash of light, he created a translucent silver dragon out of clear magic in between Noah and Ryu. It shimmered like a soap bubble. Noah’s mouth fell open. Gurgling, he reached for the magic dragon shape with his little fingers.

  Lorenzo grinned. He turned the image around and moved it closer to him so that Noah followed.

  “Hey, no fair!” Ryu complained. “No one said we could use magic.”

  Lorenzo chuckled. “No one said you could shift, either.”

  “Can you believe these two?” I muttered to Dante, who looked like he was having the time of his life watching his brother make a fool of himself over a baby.

  “No, actually.” Dante crossed his arms in delight. “I neve
r expected my brother or Ryu to be such babylovers. Hell, they’re not even omegas!”

  “Hey, you don’t have to be an omega to enjoy children,” Lorenzo grumbled to his younger brother. Then he flashed a big smile at Noah. “That’s it, Noah. Keep going.”

  When Noah had almost reached Lorenzo’s arms, something black in the corner of the room fluttered. All of our attention - including Noah’s - was instantly on the little black shape. A raven hopped in front of Noah, up and down, and instantly his full attention was on her.

  “Ruby!” Lorenzo growled.

  Ruby just laughed. “Sorry, Lorenzo. I couldn’t let you win when I didn’t even have a turn yet.”

  He and Ryu both sighed in defeat as Noah squealed with laughter and wrapped his hands around Ruby’s raven form. He pet her sleek black feathers with clumsy fingers and curiously tapped on her hard beak.

  “Noah,” she said to him.

  He gurgled.

  Everybody in the room couldn’t help but smile.

  “Say,” I began, turning to Dante, “when do you think he’ll be able to shift?”

  Dante shrugged. “Who knows? It could happen at any time. Although, you have to imagine all the trouble he would get into if he had four paws. Or worse - wings.”

  I laughed. “Good. I hope he has both, and gets into all kinds of trouble so his dad can run to his rescue. I love watching you fawn over him.”

  Dante grumbled and pulled me closer, rubbing my hair. “Shut up.”

  “Anton, at what age did Dante and Lorenzo start shifting?” I asked his father.

  “Hm,” Anton said, rubbing his chin in thought. “Well, Lorenzo is older, so obviously he started first. I think he was about Noah’s age, actually.” He chuckled. “Scared me and your daddy half to death. He just sprouted wings in the middle of his feeding time, scared us and himself. Made us drop the food all over the floor.”

  Lorenzo blushed, but smiled at the fond memory.

  “Daddy,” I murmured, trying out the word on my tongue. “That’s your word for your omega-father, right?”

  “Yes.” Anton smiled. “The boys always called me dad, and your father ‘daddy. When they were young, at least.’”

  I glanced to Dante in anticipation. He was already on the same wavelength as me. He curled his arm tighter around me. “Let me guess. You want to use those same terms?”

  “I do.”

  “Sure thing. Anything for you, daddy.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, it’s not as cute when you say it.”

  “Da!” Noah cried as he wrapped his arms around Ruby.

  “No!” Dante whined. “Not her, she’s not da! I’m da!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. Dante turned into such a brat over his own child. It was hopelessly endearing.

  He shuffled over to Noah and Ruby and gently plucked his fingers off her. She shifted back to human form and watched Dante fuss with amusement.

  “Da,” Dante said to Noah seriously while pointing at himself. “Me, da. Dad.” He pointed at me. “Him, daddy.”

  “Da.”

  Dante pointed to Ruby. “Aunt Ruby.”

  “Dooby.”

  Dante sighed. “Kid, you’re killing me here.”

  We all laughed. Dante carefully placed Noah back on the floor, and he instantly began crawling back towards Ryu with determined movements. Ryu’s eyes lit up. Still in his serpentine dragon form, he slunk low towards the ground to make himself smaller - and therefore less scary. Although, so far, Noah had no fear of anyone’s dragon form. Dante in particular was really glad, and proud of that.

  Ryu made a playful growl in the back of his throat. Noah stopped and put his fingers on Ryu’s snout, which looked like a strange combination of lizard and cat. Noah stroked the streaming fur on the top of Ryu’s head and grabbed onto his horns.

  Ryu laughed. “That tickles!”

  “Da,” Noah said.

  Suddenly, Noah grabbed Ryu’s long whiskers and yanked on them. Ryu let out a yelp of pain. Startled, Noah stumbled back onto his bum and blinked.

  I rushed in and picked up Noah. “Okay, dear, that’s enough bugging your aunts and uncles for now.”

  When I took Noah in my arms, he began fussing and grumbling. He shrieked and slapped his chubby arms.

  “I love when he gets feisty,” Dante said.

  I frowned and tried to cradle Noah in my arms, but he wouldn’t let up. He flapped his arms and grumbled and kicked his little legs.

  “Noah, what are you - oh!”

  I gasped as Noah changed right in front of my eyes. One moment, I was holding a human baby - the next, a small, chubby dragon. His hair disappeared, replaced by shiny black scales and tiny nubs where his horns would grow in. His hands became clawed, although right now they were soft and dull. A short tail sprouted out from his bum, and it thrashed as Noah fussed in my grip.

  “Okay, okay,” I mumbled. “You want down, I know.”

  “Look at that!” Anton cried excitedly. “He’s already shifting!”

  “His colors are just beautiful,” Ruby added.

  She was right. His head was dark, iridescent black like Dante’s scales. Down his shoulders, there was a gradient that faded from black to a dark green, like holly leaves, then a warm, spring-time green, like the fresh buds of spring. He was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.

  “He’s standing!” Lorenzo exclaimed.

  True, I was holding onto his clawed little hands so he wouldn’t fall, but Noah stood on his own hind legs. I guessed dragon babies really did grow fast.

  Suddenly, Noah yanked his hands out of my grip so fast I didn’t have time to react. I gasped - he fell forward. Dante and I both lunged for him at the same time.

  But when Noah’s front feet hit the floor, they were paws. He landed cleanly on all four paws.

  Wolf paws.

  I nearly passed out. I groaned in exasperation. “Gods, this boy is gonna send me to an early grave!”

  “Would you look at that,” Anton murmured happily. “Two in one!”

  “That’s my boy!” Dante cried. He shifted into his wolf and nuzzled his son, who yipped happily at him. Noah had the same dark fur as his dad, but his eyes were fierce amber like mine.

  “What’s next,” I asked with a sigh. “Is he gonna start spewing fire like you, too, Dante?”

  Dante chuffed. “Let’s hope not. At least not until he’s old enough to control himself. As much as I want him to be skilled in magic, I don’t want my house set on fire.”

  “That reminds me, Gabriel,” Ryu said. “How’s the barrier at Stoneheart pack holding up?”

  “It’s great, actually,” I told him. “After the whole thing went down and the dust cleared, we decided to send a few scouts went back to see how they were holding up.”

  “They gave them a bunch of cell phones and taught them how to use ‘em,” Dante added.

  “Yes. My friend Otis calls me regularly, bless him,” I said. “He says the pack is doing better than ever, and the barrier hasn’t faltered once.”

  Anton looked pleased. “So the humans don’t bother them anymore?”

  “Nope, they haven’t shown their faces since a bunch of their raiders turned to dust,” I said. “Actually, as morbid as it sounds, I think some of Stoneheart’s alphas put a couple of the statues outside the barrier as a warning. I don’t think they’ll be attacking anytime soon, if at all.”

  “Serves them right,” Dante muttered.

  “I should let Scar know,” Ryu said. “Even though he doesn’t want to return, I think he would be glad to know.”

  I nodded, thinking about all Scar - Loni - had gone through versus the life he built for himself here. “I think so, too.”

  Ryu sighed. “I wish I could have seen it! Still, it makes me proud as your teacher to know you accomplished such a feat. You’re amazing, Gabriel.”

  “Well, Dante and Lorenzo helped,” I said, blushing.

  “Yes, but the final touch was yours,” Lorenzo added.


  I couldn’t argue with that. The effects of the earth magic were mine alone. I puffed up my chest in pride.

  “Making barriers, doing magic, creating beautiful kids,” Dante said. Back in human form, he put his arm around me and kissed my cheek. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  I smirked and kissed him back. “I guess you’ll have to spend the rest of your life with me and find out.”

  He laughed. “That’s the plan.”

  21

  Dante

  “I’m gonna ask you something, and you have to promise not to get mad,” I said.

  Gabriel’s eyes opened slowly and he turned, quirking a brow at me. Neither of us had spoken for a good twenty minutes. Lorenzo, being the amazing older brother and uncle that he was, decided to give us both a much-needed break from our son. It wasn’t that we didn’t love him, but both Gabe and I desperately needed to catch up on rest from all our sleepless nights.

  We laid in bed, side by side, drowsing on and off all day long.

  “Why would I get mad?” Gabe asked.

  “Because you didn’t sound too happy in the delivery room.”

  Gabe sat up now and furrowed his brow. “Dante, what are you talking about?”

  I licked my lips nervously. “A baby.”

  “A baby?”

  “Another baby,” I clarified.

  Gabe paused. “Oh.” I couldn’t read his expression. He gazed off into the corner of the room in thought. Finally, when I thought he was going to turn me down, he caught my eye. “When?”

  I blinked. “When?”

  It seemed both of us were too tired to have a proper conversation. The absurdity of the situation made me laugh.

  “Do you want to have another baby?” I asked.

  A coy expression crossed Gabe’s face. “When exactly were you thinking about having this new baby?”

  “So you’re not saying no?”

  He chuckled. “I’m saying it’s a possibility.”

  I sidled up to him and planted a kiss on his lips. “How can I make up your mind?”