by Ella Hart
“Yes.” She smiled. “I’m excited. If it means waiting two months, I’ll do it. I just want what’s best for the baby at this point.” They arrived at the room a few moments later. She opened the door, and they both walked into the room. She pursed her lips, and then went into their room. He sat on the couch while he waited for her.
“Just call me if you need help, honey.” He stood up, just in case. There was a lot that could put the child at risk while developing in its egg in her belly. She didn’t respond, and he started to walk towards the bedroom door. His worries were unfounded this time.
She exited the room a moment later, and showed him a few pictures. They were ultrasounds, all right. The picture she showed him was most definitely an egg. The shape and density couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.
“That’s an egg, love. That’s not cancer. It would show up differently if it were cancer – more blotchy and patchy instead of smooth and opaque like this.” He ran his hand down the image softly. It was an egg. A beautiful egg. A wonderful egg. His child. Their child.
“Are you sure it’s an egg?” She didn’t sound quite convinced. He nodded and softly put his hand on her belly. A gentle press made it clear that it was an egg.
“That’s an egg.” He smiled. “I can tell by the way it moves under my hand. I used to help my mom deliver eggs. Eggs are soft-shelled until a few days before they are laid. It’ll bend under pressure, but too much pressure and it’ll pop. If there’s more pressure than it can take, but not enough to make it pop, the egg will crack. Either way, the result is the same. We have to be careful the next couple of months.” He kissed her cheek. “But we can get through it together if we work hard, Paulina.”
“I think I can take it easy. If I explain to Marius that I need a couple of months, he should be able to put me on a less demanding shift. It’d be the first time I’ve asked for a shift change, even a temporary one.” She smiled a little as she spoke. “I hope he’ll understand.”
“Would you like me to go talk to him?” He raised an eyebrow. “I’d honestly rather not tell him about, uh, about what I am.” He was still conscious about that. There were still lingering doubts – even after two years of peace – that someone would come looking for him and declare it all over for him.
“If you’d feel more comfortable talking to him about it, be my guest.” She smiled. “I won’t force you to tell him if you don’t want to.” He was thankful to have such an understanding wife. Not all women were so understanding, even within dragon culture. His smile widened slightly as she affirmed that he didn’t have to tell Marius if he didn’t want to.
“I’ll go talk to him now. Does he know you had an appointment?” He raised his eyebrow again, not realizing it had relaxed when she alleviated his fears.
“Yes. He gave me the day off to go to it.” She smiled. “I’m supposed to update him on what’s going on tomorrow, but go for it tonight if you want to.”
“Then I shall. I’ll be back soon. If you want to cook, I’m not going to stop you. It’s much better than mine.” He laughed a little as she shook her head softly, and left the room.
As he walked towards the stairs, he wondered if he would still feel claustrophobic in the elevator. Was it simply because the first time he had ridden in one, there had been three people? Granted, he hadn’t ridden again. And he wasn’t going to risk it.
He decided to take the stairs, as he always did. It helped him stay in shape. As a dragon-shifter, it should be one of his top priorities to stay in shape. To stay fit. It’d help him protect his clan, his family, when he had one.
Family... the word was loaded. He had seen hunters kill his immediate family, and it had hurt so much to see them die. To see them die. He could only hope that his own family wouldn’t be subjected to the same kind of hatred and prejudice that his parents and siblings had been subjected to.
Chapter Three: The New Neighbor
Cobalt sighed softly as he arrived at the ground floor. He was often grateful for the fact that he lived on the first floor of the hotel. The first and second floors, Marius had told them, were the only ones with rooms for permanent residents.
It wasn’t hard to find Marius at this time of day. Often, he was running the bellhop and trying to keep on top of the customers. As this was the lull season, he was working the register.
“Good afternoon, Cobalt.” He smiled at him. “Do you need something? Is Paulina all right? She’s one of the best employees I have.”
“She needs an easier shift. She’s seven months along.” He smiled a little at the bellhop. The way the egg grew, it looked as though she was seven months. “And we didn’t realize because the baby has been growing kind of slowly due to the stress.”
“Oh my. Okay. I’ll shuffle things around to make it work. I know how much you need the place to stay.” The bellhop smiled at him again. This time, the smile was wider. “Do you know the gender yet?”
“We want to be surprised.” This was going to be a difficult thing to explain. “And we’ve already determined that, after she has the baby, I’ll take care of him or her while she works. She may need a week after the baby is born, though.”
“She has plenty of maternity leave. I make sure to offer as much as I can to all my employees; especially since this is a higher-end hotel and we often have high-paying customers and conferences.” The information wasn’t new to him, but he let Marius tell him anyway.
“Thank you, Marius.” Cobalt offered up a genuine smile. “She’ll be glad to know that you’re working on it.”
“Tell her she has the weekend off, too. So that I can rearrange the schedule. I’ll get her the schedule on Monday.” The man smiled again.
“Thank you. I’ll make sure she gets the message.” A question crossed his mind, and he opened his mouth to ask. “Do you have a part-time job you need filled? While Paulina can’t work the busy hours, at least?”
“I might... if it’s something online or something like that, you could even do it after she has the baby. It’d help you build a steady income.” The bellhop seemed to understand where he was going.
“Thanks, Marius. Just call up if you have an offer, please. I’d appreciate it.” His smile widened.
“Of course. Is that all you needed?” He seemed ready to do anything he needed to. Cobalt nodded slowly.
“Yeah. That’s all I needed. Thanks for the help, Marius.” He smiled. “I guess it’s a bit of a slow day?”
“A bit is an understatement, Cobalt. It hasn’t been this slow since the flood of 2010. No one could get in or out then. There’s no excuse at this point.” Marius sighed.
“Has a new hotel opened up in the area? With the same kind of quality or better and a lower price?” He didn’t understand a lot about business, but he understood just enough to know that, when given the choice, people would gravitate to the lower price tags and the better service, if they could.
When Marius shook his head, he was sincerely bewildered.
“But it is the slow season. Maybe it’s just going to be a slower season that I’m used to.” He shrugged. “Thanks for the concern, Cobalt.”
With that, they said goodbye. A customer had come in and Marius busied himself taking care of her. Cobalt turned to look as he waited for a gentleman to come down the stairs. He was carrying lots of baggage and Cobalt didn’t want to get in the way.
The new customer didn’t seem overly friendly. She wore heels that clicked on the marble flooring, loud and clear. They announced her presence and demanded attention. Her clothing screamed business woman – she wore a black pencil skirt with a white blouse and black blazer. Her hair was up in a bun, tight and high. Her icy blue eyes bore into the walls behind Marius.
“I need the best room you’ve got – 1449.” She demanded a room, the same room they were in.
“I’m sorry, but that room is occupied. 2440 has the same view, though, if you want the view.” Marius smiled softly at the woman. There was something cold in her glare and it made
Cobalt shiver to himself. Watching Marius handle her by himself was becoming difficult.
“No, it must be room 1449,” the woman continued to demand. “It must be that room. I requested it two weeks ago!”
“I’m sorry, but room 1449 is allocated to one of our permanent residents, and it’s been occupied for the last year,” he calmly replied to her. The way Marius was holding his own impressed Cobalt. The woman’s attitude reminded him of a hunter. The way she carried herself also seemed to resonate with that idea.
“To whom? Let me speak to them,” she continued to demand. Marius was becoming flustered and seemed unsure of what to do. Cobalt walked back over to the front desk.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but my wife and I are in room 1449.” He smiled softly at her. “We don’t have anywhere else to go at the moment. I’m sure the other rooms on the first floor are just as good as ours.”
“How long have you been in the room?” She gave him the same cold stare she had been giving Marius. Her eyes screamed her annoyance.
“Two years tomorrow.” He smiled a little more. “I can say, however, that Marius is a good man and that if you allow him to do his job, you’ll end up in a room that will satisfy you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, and then turned back to Marius.
“Your best unoccupied room.” The four words fell from her mouth without so much as a second thought. He wondered how she got by in life with that kind of attitude.
“Of course, ma’am. That’ll be room 2440. If you’ll wait just a moment, I can get you a key.” Marius smiled, and as he turned, mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Cobalt. Then, he left the lobby.
As Cobalt walked back towards the stairs, he wondered if he’d be seeing this woman again. The room she was going to be staying in didn’t seem to be the kind of room that someone would want to stay in for a long time. Just one bed, one bathroom. A mini-fridge. Not much else.
He’d been in there once to help Marius clean it. There had been a wild party in there, and it hadn’t ended well at all. There had been so much blood. Marius speculated that one of the members of that party had been a murderer. It ended up being proven true a few days later when the news covered a string of hotel room killings. They had all been committed by the same person.
He would kill the victim, let him or her bleed out on the floor completely, and then dump the body down a garbage shoot.
It had helped explain the stench that had hung over the hotel for a few days after that party. Strangely, they hadn’t seen the murder happen on the security cameras. It just hadn’t made sense.
As he walked back into his room, Cobalt shuddered. That woman had no idea what kind of room she was staying in. Luckily, the press had not found out what room number the murder had happened in. If they had, it would’ve ended horribly for the hotel chain.
He shut the door behind him, and sighed slowly. This would be an interesting experience. The woman had struck him as someone who would do anything to get her way. He only hoped that her attitude wouldn’t make her do anything rash to get the room he was sharing with his wife.
“How’d it go with Marius, Cobalt?” Paulina’s voice came from the kitchenette.
“It went well. He’s going to rearrange the schedule so that you can have an easier shift. He also said to pass on the message that you also get the weekend off.” He smiled softly. She looked rather surprised.
“I didn’t think that’d happen. I should go thank him.”
“Go for it. Oh, and I said that you’d need about a week after the egg is laid, though I told him the baby would be born at that point. Laying an egg can be exceptionally painful, I’ve heard – especially if you aren’t used to having to lay something so big. It does hurt, but it’s done at home.” He sighed softly again. “You’ll have to be careful, Paulina. It may happen in the middle of the night, and if you’re wearing pajama pants, there’s no way the egg will be able to come out properly.”
“So how are they normally lain?” She sounded curious.
“Normally, the women are in dragon form when they lay eggs. It typically happens during their time of month. It’s equivalent to your period, I would imagine.” She had explained what a period was to him properly a year or so ago. It had grossed him out, but he had admitted that he would never have known if she hadn’t told him about it.
“Oh, I see. So you have a period too.” She teased him lightly. He laughed as he nodded.
“Yes. I have a period too.” Then, he managed to change the topic. It still made him slightly uncomfortable. “So, what’s for dinner?”
“Pizza. I don’t know what I want but I want pepperoni.” She smiled a little. “Are you okay with that?”
“As long as it makes you happy, I’m happy.” He smiled at Paulina. There was nothing he liked better than seeing his wife happy.
“Okay. So what kind of pizza do you want?” She turned it back on him. He frowned a little, thinking for a moment. What kind of pizza did he want?
“Hawaiian. I want some pineapple tonight.” He smiled a little. She abhorred pineapple, but always indulged him. It meant he couldn’t kiss her that night, but he only had pineapple now and then. She frowned.
“Pineapples have made me nauseous lately.” Her answer didn’t seem to come from her hatred of pineapples. It came from the fact that she was pregnant. Smells could do that to pregnant women, he remembered.
“All right then, plain cheese. How’s that sound?” He smiled a little. He didn’t want to make her nauseous.
“I didn’t mean to make you change your mind, Cobalt. You can have pineapple pizza if you want to; I just won’t be able to eat with you.”. Her approach was sincere.
“But I want you to eat with me, so I won’t have pineapple pizza tonight. I’ll have plain cheese pizza.” He smiled a little more at her. There had to be a way to make her happy without having pineapple pizza.
“Oh. You’re too sweet.” Her frown turned into a smile. “All right. One plain cheese pizza and a pepperoni pizza.” She pulled out her phone and began to dial for the pizza.
As she waited for an answer on the other side of the line, there was a knock on the door. He nodded, indicating that he would see who it was.
Chapter Four: A Short Storm
Standing in the doorway was the woman from earlier. She still wore the tight-fitting skirt-suit, and it hadn’t done anything for her attitude. He wasn’t sure what to say at this point. It was she that had come to see him.
“Ah, yes. You.” She forced a smile. “I didn’t introduce myself earlier. My name is Leilani Erickson.” Her stuck-up aura did her no good. Was he supposed to recognize her name?
“Cobalt Leventhorpe.” He smiled softly. “Should I recognize your name?”
“Yes. You should.” She snapped at him. “I’m the owner of a high-level law firm. Everyone knows my name.” That solved one problem. No wonder she had a high and mighty attitude. She was used to getting her way.
“I’m sorry. I don’t follow legal news outside of what’s going on in the country. Is there something I can help you with, Ms. Erickson?”
“Yes. I want your room.” She practically demanded it. Her hand shot out, presumably for the keys. There was no way they could give up their room, not with a baby on the way.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Erickson. I thought we established this earlier – we’re not going to give up our room. My wife’s pregnant.” He walked out towards her and closed the door behind him. At this point, he was happy that he didn’t have the key card on him. It meant she couldn’t get into the room, nor could she force him to open the door for her.
“Room 2440 is not the kind of room I need. I need a second suite; you don’t.” She placed emphasis on the last two words. How did they not need the second room? They had a baby on the way!
“I’m a little surprised you think that. We do need the second room. We have a child on the way.” He frowned a little as he spoke. There was no convincing her. “Look, I have an errand to run. Please don’t bot
her us about this again. I’ll report you to the management if you demand the room from us again.” He began to walk away, hoping she would get the message.
But to his surprise, she followed him.
“You’re no better than the common riff-raff who stay at cheaper hotels. Why should you have a separate room for your child? You’re living out of a hotel, for goodness sake! This isn’t the kind of environment you want to raise a child in, is it?” She was throwing all the parental guilt she could think of his way. Somehow, he didn’t think that she had children.
“No, but it’s the best we’ve got. Room 1449 is what we paid for. We’re not changing rooms. End of discussion.” He was beginning to regret stepping in to help Marius when she had first arrived at the hotel. Now he was stuck with trying to figure out how to get her to stop harassing him about the room.
“Who made the reservations?” She shot another question at him. He frowned, sighing softly.
“I’m not under any legal obligation to answer any more of your questions, ma’am. Please, leave me alone.” He made his way past her, and continued down the stairs. Her voice didn’t cease to call towards him, but he pretended he couldn’t hear her. There was no reason she could give that would make him reconsider.
Marius noticed what was happening and came over to him. His frown showed his concern.
“Is everything all right here, Cobalt?” He made a point to address Cobalt and ignore the irate woman behind him.
“How dare you address this man first!” She yelled at them. “He’s being completely unreasonable. I asked him a simple question, and he refuses to answer it.” Marius turned to her as she spoke, and then turned back to Cobalt when she was done.
“Is this true?” He didn’t seem sure about the simplicity of the question.
