Azy would give her life for her little ones. She'd try really hard to build a solid relationship with them, so they always knew they were loved.
"It's okay. Ninsy is right. I do have a lot of explaining to do. I want to do it with your father there by my side."Wilhelmina tipped her head to the side and rolled her eyes, but she also smiled. "Do your biting thing then."
Auric laughed and swooped her up into a twirl and kissed her, giving them all a show as his kilt floated up like a schoolgirl's skirt. He set his bride down at their protests and bent his head to Wilhelmina's throat. "I claim you, Wilhelmina, as my mate. Wear my mark for all the world to see." He scraped his teeth across her skin and bit into the tender flesh there.He marked her, claimed her, and before everyone's eyes the white hair on Wilhelmina's head turned a deep golden brown, her skin smoothed, and her eyes had a whole new sparkle to them. The motherly figure now looked only a few years older than her daughter.
Azy gasped and looked up at Cage."Uh. What just happened? Does that dragon have power over time or something?"
Ninsy laughed. "No silly. Auric is in his Prime and will be for several hundred more years. Wilhelmina's body has just adjusted to match his age. All dragons and mates do. We wouldn't want anyone widowed, now would we. That's just a terrible business. My mistress would never allow it."
Whoa. All the dragons near enough to hear Ninsy went wide-eyed. Apparently, this was news to them as well. Azy didn't even know how old Cage was or how long dragons lived. She wouldn't mind having a good long life with him."I didn't feel a change. Are you sure?"
"Your human age is near enough to your mate that your shift is subtle."
Phew."Cage? How old are you, honey?"
Their little boy started to wiggle and fuss. Cage stroked the boy's head and then slipped his finger into his son's grasp."I'm a good thirty years into my prime. A hundred and eighty-one, love. How old did you think I was?"
Holy crap. He was almost nine times her age. Pervy old man."Like, actually thirty. I thought all the Wyvern's were give or take."
He shrugged. "Essentially that's about right for human years, I guess. It's about six to one until we're around two-hundred or so. Then we don't physically age again until we're into our Wisdom years."
Oh man. If they were going to continue this conversation, she needed a drink. Granted it would be a non-alcoholic one now that the babies were here, and she was planning on breast-feeding. "I think it's time to get this party started. This is a whole lot of revelations for one wedding ceremony. We've been standing up here forever."
"Now you're speaking my language, bro." Ky raised his hands up into the air and hollered for everyone there to hear. "Let's eat cake!"
The guests cheered and clapped for the happy couples. Jada, who had of course made the cake, rolled her eyes at him. Everyone moved toward the big white tents where the wedding breakfast was set up. Azy could say one thing. Dragons knew how to par-tay.
She'd seen them fight hard, now was the time to play hard. There was dancing, and fire spitting contests, and Cage won several consecutive loopty-loop contests. The babies were oohed and ahhed over until everyone was exhausted.
Azy was sure she'd want to spend every second with her newborns but after the first very long day, she was grateful when Ninsy took them and settled them into their bassinet with the same mermaid lullaby they'd been born to.
Cage lay stretched out on their bed, his arms over his head and already snoring softly. She crawled in with him and set her head on his shoulder.
"How was your wedding day, love?" He wrapped an arm around her and rubbed a slow hand up and down her side.
"I thought you were asleep." She wasn't sure either of them were actually up to a wedding night. That was okay, they had the rest of their very long lives together to make love. "It was so much better than I ever thought I would have."
"Good. This is a day I will hold deep in my heart whenever I'm away from you." They both knew in the coming days that would be more often than they'd like. Gris had already left earlier this afternoon to head back to the search for Geshtianna.
"Hey Cage, what age do the babies start learning to shift?" There were just not a whole lot of dragon mothers around to ask this kind of stuff. Hopefully Ninsy would be knowledgeable.
"Hmm. Somewhere between forty to sixty. It's different for everyone. They'll begin warrior training at puberty. Around a hundred."
Ah, sea slug shit."You mean they're going to be little kids until they're over sixty?"
Cage laughed. Well, he wouldn't be laughing when he was the one up changing dirty diapers at two in the morning. She'd make sure Ninsy was not available for the stinkiest and dirtiest.
"Little kids for a hundred years." She poked him in the chest. "We are never having sex again."
"We'll see about that, baby. You're very irresistible and I'll do my best to tempt you." Cage rolled over and pinned her under him. He dotted her face with kisses, then moved down her throat and scraped his teeth over the golden mark of the dragon on her skin. She pushed her hands into his hair, encouraging him as he moved his nips and suckles down her body until she was all hot and bothered, calling his name.
Okay, no sex...except maybe tonight, and tomorrow, the night after that, and as many sultry nights as she could get with her true mate, the love of her life.
Epilogue: Somebody Has to Save the World
In the days following Cage and Azy used the mirror and sword to search for Jett to see if there really was something, he could do to help keep the babies safe from Ereshkigal. But with no luck.
After another attempt, searching in America of all places, Cage paced around the room."It's like that little fucker has disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm sending more warriors abroad to see if they can dig him out."
