Dragons of Cinderhollow Bundle

by Hawke Oakley

  Lorenzo came hard. So did I. It was a chaotic mess of passion. His seed seemed to fill me for ages. I laid there in a daze as he finally pulled out, cleaned us up, then laid down next to me. I immediately snuggled into his chest - something I desperately wanted to do the last time we had sex, but was too embarrassment.

  Right now, I was too happy to be ashamed. The delicate barrier of confusion and guilt between us had shattered. I craved Lorenzo’s touch, and this time, I was going to get what I wanted.

  We fit together perfectly like two puzzle pieces. We were both sweaty and exhausted, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. I would never forget this moment.

  Lorenzo sighed and rested his chin on my head. “That was wonderful.”

  “Mm,” I agreed. Fatigue sucked the words out of my brain, but I was content to lay against Lorenzo’s warm chest in silence. “Fallin’ asleep…”

  “Go to sleep, Raja,” Lorenzo said softly.

  A still silence fell upon us. Then, for a moment, Lorenzo inhaled slightly, as if he was going to speak again. But whatever he was going to say must have not been important, because he exhaled the breath and didn’t speak up for the rest of the night.

  11

  Lorenzo

  The next morning, I woke up early to prepare breakfast for Raja. As I crawled carefully out of bed so as not to disturb him, I mulled upon the previous night. It still felt like a dream that I hadn’t yet fully accepted as reality.

  Raja - the free-spirited, adventurous, stubborn Raja - told me he wanted to have children together.

  I cracked the eggs into the pan and listened to them sizzle as I sorted through my thoughts. What we had definitely wasn’t a textbook romance, that was certain. I wasn’t entirely sure it could be called a romance. We cared about each other deeply, there was no question about that - and we had definitely had enough sex to allude to a relationship.

  But there was no talk of being in a real relationship, no “I love you”s, no talk of a future together - except the sudden idea of kids thrown into the mix.

  The paranoid part of my mind wondered if that was what Raja really wanted.

  A soft mumble from the bed made peer over the kitchen island. Raja stirred from his slumber and sniffed the air, half-awake.

  “Smells good,” he said.

  “There’s plenty for both of us,” I said. Maybe even the three of us. “Come on over.”

  He grunted and quickly slunk off to the bathroom, then returned a few minutes later. My cheeks flushed as he wrapped his arms around my stomach from behind me and laid his cheek on my back.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Good morning,” I replied.

  “So… Was last night real?” he asked.

  “Yes, it was.”

  My heart thumped with anxiety. Did he wish it didn’t happen? Did he regret it?

  “Good,” Raja said coyly, and I released the uneasy breath I was holding.

  We sat down for a proper meal. I made fried eggs with turkey bacon, toast, and a small stack of whole-wheat pancakes on the side. Raja delightedly dug into everything. He stuffed a piece of buttered toast into his mouth while shovelling pancakes onto his plate.

  Could he already be pregnant? Is that why he’s eating so much? I thought. Logically, I knew that wasn’t possible. Even if the pregnancy did take last night, he wasn’t quite eating for two just yet. It would take a few more weeks before we could even confirm the pregnancy.

  “This is so good,” Raja said. Much of his food was already eaten. “You’re amazing at cooking.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled and took a sip of my coffee. “So, how do you feel this morning? Not still cramping, I hope?”

  “Hm? Oh, you mean those weird cramps I had last afternoon? No, they’re gone now. They were just a precursor to my heat,” he said with a shrug.

  I didn’t have to ask the question. Judging from his lack of ravenous libido and pheromones, his heat already ended. I knew an omega becoming pregnant could cut a heat short early.

  Raja continued eating in silence. His initial enthusiasm seemed to wane, but he finished all the food. Then he began quietly nursing on his coffee and staring at the table. Something was obviously bothering him.

  “Is there something you want to talk about?” I offered.

  There were many topics I wanted to discuss with him, but I figured now was not the time. Still, controlling the urge to bring everything up when I finally had the chance proved difficult.

  Raja shrugged, not looking up from the table. He absentmindedly curled his finger around the mug handle. “Not really.”

  I frowned. Now I really knew something was wrong.

  I reached my hand across the table and laid it on top of his. “Raja, you can tell me anything. You know that. I’m here for you.”

  He suddenly looked tired, not like a man who had just woken up from a deeply restful sleep. “Yeah, I know. Thanks, Lorenzo.”

  Inside my soul, my dragon growled. He knew just as well as I did that there was something Raja wasn’t telling me, and keeping secrets wasn’t helping anybody.

  “If we’re going to have a child,” I began, “then you need to tell me when something’s bothering you. We’re in this together now.”

  Raja’s eyes widened to the size of plates. His lip tightened and he gripped the mug handle harder. Suddenly, he burst into tears.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so stupid!” he cried.

  Uh oh.

  I rushed over and took him in my arms. He buried his face in my chest as he let it all out.

  “Oh, Raja, no, you’re not stupid at all… Why do you think that?” I said.

  In between whimpers, he said, “I don’t know if I can do this… I didn’t know what I was saying! I’m young and naive and I’ve barely been out of the village, I don’t know anything, I’m not ready to have a kid!”

  My heart broke for Raja. As he cried, I stroked his back in soothing circles to calm him down.

  “I know you’re scared,” I said. “It’s completely normal to feel this way.”

  He stopped crying, sniffled, and looked at me with his wet eyes. “Really?”

  “Yes. Many omegas, even those who are much older than you, experience this same feeling,” I said. “It doesn’t make you stupid.”

  Raja frowned and wiped his eyes. “But I’m so unprepared. I don’t know anything about raising a child... What if it doesn’t like me?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, at which Raja frowned even more. “Sorry. The thought of your own child not loving you is just ridiculous.”

  “What if I just can’t do it?” he cried.

  I put my hands on his shoulder and exerted some of my calming alpha energy. “First, try to relax. Let’s talk about this. Okay?”

  Raja’s breathing slowed from the near hyperventilation to an almost normal rate. He let out a shaky sigh, then nodded.

  “Let’s discuss the first important question,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. To brace him for this, I gently grasped his hands. He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand to acknowledge he was listening. “Do you want to keep this baby?”

  He nodded firmly. “Yes, I do.”

  “Okay.” I squeezed his hands. One less thing for us to worry about. “But you do feel unprepared, is that right?”

  His frown deepened. “Yeah. Everything’s just happening so fast… I wonder if I’m really ready to be a parent.”

  “Honestly, I don’t think anyone ever feels truly ready to be a parent, at least for the first time,” I said with a smile. “When my brother, Dante, had a child, I knew he would be a fantastic father, but he was pretty worried about it.”

  “Is he your older brother?” Raja asked.

  “No, my younger. He’s not much older than you, actually. His omega mate, at the time, was only twenty-one.”

  Raja looked surprised. “Wow, really?”

  “Yes. And they turned out just fine. They’re amazing parents.”

  Raja
glanced down at his mug, fiddling with it again. “They probably know a lot more about the outside world than I do…”

  “Not the omega. He lived in a closed-off pack surrounded by walls, kind of similar to your situation. And if you want to experience more of the world, that’s easy,” I said, winking. “After all, you do have a flying dragon on hand.”

  Raja laughed a little. “I guess you’re right.” His smile faded into another concerned frown. “Part of me wonders if I just said those things because I was in heat, you know? At the time, it was all I could think about. Now I feel kind of embarrassed.”

  “The important question is: do you regret your decision or not?”

  When he glanced up at me, Raja’s eyes flashed intensely. “No, I don’t regret it.”

  “Then that’s all that matters. Everything else, we can work through together.” I sat closer to him and lowered my voice. “Remember, Raja, you're not alone. I’m right beside you. I’ve been at your whim ever since you first contacted me, and I don’t intend on running off anytime soon.”

  He grinned at the memory. “The chat room, huh? Wow, that sure feels long ago now.”

  “It does,” I agreed. In hindsight, it was ironic the way things turned out. I sought a real relationship and settled on a fake one to help out a stranger - now he was possibly pregnant with my child.

  But the deep, important question was still unanswered. Even if Raja was pregnant, did that automatically mean we were in a real relationship? The strange emotional limbo we occupied was starting to get to me. I hadn’t even told Raja that I loved him yet.

  And if I did, would he say it back?

  I bit my lip. This needed to be answered right now. So why couldn’t I bring myself to ask the question?

  “Anyway,” Raja said suddenly, “this is all stuff we have time to talk about later, right? Because right now, I really want to get back on to the beach.”

  Right. The beach. Our honeymoon.

  “Yes, of course,” I said, hiding my disappointment that the moment had passed.

  Raja winked. “After all, we’re still enjoying our fake honeymoon, aren’t we?”

  “Yes,” I replied, “our fake honeymoon.”

  * * *

  In the next week and a half that passed, I never mustered up the courage to ask Raja the question burning on my tongue. I grew increasingly comfortable in my cowardice, and I didn’t want to ruin what we had right now - which, despite the mysterious status, was still the best relationship I’d had in my life.

  Our honeymoon was drawing to a close, but we had one last night in the rented cabin. The romantic in me wanted to do something nice for Raja on the beach, since he loved it so much, but it would have to be simple and easy to keep secret.

  I knew just the thing.

  But first, we had more pressing matters to deal with.

  Further down the beach was a small local drug store affiliated with the honeymoon cabins that sold basic hygiene items and snacks. Early that evening, I picked up a pregnancy test. When I returned, I found Raja fidgeting and clearly nervous.

  “Don’t worry,” I encouraged him. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”

  He took the box and leafed through the instructions. He read them once, then twice, and a third time before I realized he was stalling. I sighed. “Raja, I can come help you, if you want.”

  “No!” he cried, snatching the box away. “You are not gonna watch me pee on a stick. Wait here.”

  He stormed off to the bathroom and slammed the door. I tried to laugh quietly so he wouldn’t hear, but failed.

  The seconds passed slowly. Eventually they turned into minutes, and there was still no peep from Raja. I knew the test took a few minutes to process, so I waited patiently. On the other side of the door, Raja paced.

  After a while, I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Any news?”

  Raja kept pacing. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  “I haven’t looked at the test since I pissed on it.”

  I let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sigh. “Raja, you have to look at it eventually.”

  “Maybe,” he muttered.

  “Don’t you want to know the answer?”

  He paused. “Yes.”

  “Do you want to look at it together?”

  He didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes.”

  “Okay. I’m coming in…”

  I entered the bathroom to find Raja standing stiffly, fussing with his shirt and completely ignoring the pregnancy test, which laid on the counter behind him. I reached for it and brought it into both of our view.

  “There we go. And the result is…”

  Despite being sure of the answer, I gasped anyway.

  Positive.

  Raja was pregnant.

  His eyes were wide as he stared at the result. I touched his shoulder. “Raja?”

  “Yeah,” he said calmly. “I see it.”

  How did he feel right now? Scared? Nervous? I was worried he would cry again and have second, or even third doubts.

  But instead, he took the test gingerly between his fingers and stared at it in silence. Tension built within me - what was he going to do?

  Then, like a growing ocean wave finally collapsing, Raja turned to me and smiled. Tears of joy rimmed his eyes. He was happy. He put the test aside wordlessly and embraced me. I sighed in relief into his hair. If he was happy, that was all I needed.

  “It’s really happening,” he murmured. “I really am pregnant.”

  “You are.”

  “We’re going to have a baby… together.”

  My heart fluttered. “Yes.”

  He chuckled. “This is totally crazy. We met on some online chat room, then had a fake marriage, and now I’m pregnant for real? This is like a weird romance movie or something.” Suddenly he frowned. “Oh, shit. How am I going to tell my mom?”

  “We just tell her,” I said simply. “After all, we are married in their eyes. Having a child so soon after marriage isn’t uncommon.”

  “I guess you’re right,” he said, but he seemed unconvinced. His expression turned into one of concern, so I interrupted him with a hug.

  “Come on. Now’s not the time to think about that. We should be celebrating right now,” I said with a smile.

  He managed to smile back. “True. It’s not everyday you get pregnant, I guess.”

  “You’re right.” I stood up and took his hand. “Follow me. I have something to show you.”

  Outside, the air was cool and smelled like saltwater. Raja shivered and stood closer to me, so I wrapped my arm around him. It was late evening now and all the tourists were back in their cabins.

  I walked him towards the water, where the sea lapped gently at the shore.

  “So, what’s this thing you wanted to show me?” Raja asked. His arm linked with mine, feeling pleasantly warm. It was moments like this where I truly felt like we were a couple - a real one.

  My nerves flared up. I could only hope this went well.

  “Close your eyes,” I told Raja.

  He shot me a curious look, but agreed. “Okay…”

  “Now just wait a moment.”

  I concentrated all my energy and closed my eyes. In the darkness behind my lids, I imagined the scene in my mind. I knew exactly what I wanted to create. If anyone was less skilled at clear magic, they wouldn’t be able to pull this off. But even with all of my experience and talent, it was innately difficult to create a 3D image in physical space with just magic.

  I opened my eyes to check the progress. The shapes began to take form. One large and kindly protective, one small and fiercely nurturing. So far, so good. I concentrated harder, focusing on molding the magic into reality. All the magic I’d cast in my life was either a simple shape, or shapeless, so this was proving trickier than I thought.

  It took me a while, but finally I got the details right. I paused to examine my handiwork, and when I was satisfied, I touched Ra
ja’s shoulder and said, “Okay. You can look now.”

  He opened his eyes, then gasped. “Oh… Lorenzo.”

  In front of us, standing on the white sand, were two translucent physical images, almost like shimmering soap-bubble statues. One was a large silver dragon standing on its back legs, leaning forward to touch muzzles with the other creature - a black panther whose coat glittered like starlight. The two mystical creatures had their eyes closed blissfully as they touched their noses together in a kiss.

  “Did you make this with your magic?” Raja asked, breathless and unable to look away.

  “Yes,” I said. “It was more difficult than I thought it would be.”

  “And that’s… us, right?”

  My heart rate increased at his question. “Yes.”

  “And they’re kissing…” Raja smiled. “That’s so cute.”

  It was now or never. This was the moment I had to ask Raja about our relationship, or else the moment would pass and I would lose it again. I needed to know.

  “Raja, I need you ask you something.”

  His eyes were still glued in awe to the image. “Yeah?”

  “This has been bothering me for some time now, and I need to get it off my chest.”

  Raja finally looked at me. His brows creased slightly in concern. “You sound serious… Is everything okay?”

  “I suppose that depends on you,” I said. “I mean, what I wanted to ask was - “

  Something snapped in the thicket behind us - something too loud and too large to be a human taking a late night stroll. I whipped around, instantly on edge.

  “Lorenzo?” Raja asked.

  “Did you hear that?” I growled.

  Raja lowered his voice and shuffled closer to me. “Yeah, I did.”

  My muscles tensed. The thicket was silent. I recalled the sensation of being watched earlier on the beach the day we saved the little girl from drowning, and now the same feeling made my skin crawl. Something was definitely not right.

  “Stay close to me,” I growled to Raja. He huddled closer. His pulse raced with sudden fear, and that made my dragon furious. Whatever was lurking in the shadows was going to pay for ruining our moment.