“Cinder?” Seth said softer.
“Yes. I’m crying. Maybe it’s hormones, but one outdated notion ruined so many lives. Maybe he would’ve been a gambler anyway. What if his true-mate could’ve saved him from that? Dad could’ve been happy too even if Carter wasn’t his true-mate. Carter?”
Seth reached for my hand and entwined his fingers through mine. His warmth soothed me, but the questions would always be there.
“Fate deals the cards and we have to play with them. We can make good choices or bad ones. I’ve made my fair share of both. The past is what it is. We can’t change that. If you want to help Augustus, we’ll figure out how. I don’t think freeing him this soon is the answer, but if it’s what you want, I do have some pull with Clarence.”
“No,” I shook my head. “He did heinous things. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around it. Father did things I didn’t think he was capable of and I still love him. I want him far away from me. He sold me off to take care of his gambling debt. Compared to his addiction I wasn’t important. That hurts. Now he’s sorry, but if he wasn’t caught, he wouldn’t be. At least, I don’t think he would be.”
“Trying to figure out what others are thinking never turn out well.”
“I need a drink.”
“I’ll put it on the calendar for fifteen days from now,” Seth laughed.
“I’m going to hold you to that. Now, can you cuddle me before you cook dinner? I don’t want to think about any of this right now.”
“You three come here.” Seth squeezed behind me on the sofa.
“Three?” I laughed. “Vivian isn’t multiplying in there.”
“You and your dragon and our baby,” Seth said and wrapped his arm around my plump pregnant belly.
“Four then. Her wolf is in my dragon’s belly.”
“All of you come here for a cuddle,” Seth kissed my cheek.
“Thank you for saving me from the mess those who came before me made.”
“Thank you for bringing the light back into my world.”
“I love you, Alpha.”
“I love you, Cinder.”
Chapter Forty
Seth
Two days before Cinder’s official due date the house was finally ready for Baby Vivi. Brendan and Rhett joined in my search for hazards. Babies Elwin and Stacy tested our work and came up empty handed except for Baby Stacy trying out some of Cookie’s food.
“Good thing I switched Cookie to organic dog food with no additives,” Cinder laughed from the sofa.
His belly stretched high above his slender frame when he stretched flat. Not that he stayed that way for long. The added weight made his lower back ache. Usually he sat up with pillows propped up behind him naked under his favorite blanket. His pre-pregnancy clothes no longer fit, and the paternity clothes made him feel fat.
“She ate a skink last week. The clinic was at a loss of what to do. They can be poisonous, but apparently her fire put a stop to that,” Brendan laughed.
Someone knocked on the door. I scooped up Baby Stacy away from the dog food and headed to answer it. We were gathering for dinner and Carter was due any minute now. A tall dragon with a monocle and a pure white beard down to his belly stood in front of three crates nearly as tall as he was.
“I am Wester Moonscale and I have a delivery for Cinder Aldred-Moonscale-Warren from the Cornwall branch of Moonscale Bank. Is the recipient home?” He asked.
“Is this Augustus’s stuff?” I asked.
“Are you Cinder? You don’t smell like a dragon.”
“I’m his mate.”
“Seth Warren?” He asked.
“The one and only.”
“The delivery contains the contents of Augustus Aldred’s safety deposit vault. Unfortunately, the vast majority had been taken to fuel the old dragon’s gambling addiction. What I deliver is what was left at the time of his arrest. I’ll need Cinder’s signature before I can turn over the boxes.”
“You’ll have to come in. He’s on bedrest.”
“Expecting?” His eyes twinkled.
Old dragons loved new babies almost as much as they loved shiny things.
“A little girl.” I nodded.
“May I enter?”
“Just a second.” I closed the door and stepped back inside.
“Cinder, Augustus’s stuff is here. The guy wants your signature.”
“I’m covered,” he said, and double checked his blanket. “He can come in.”
“Come in.” I opened the door and waved the bearded dragon inside.
Wester walked in as if the floor was made of eggshells.
“Permission to approach, carrier,” he grinned in Cinder’s direction.
“Permission granted. Pull up a chair if you like.”
“I’d be honored. He sat down and looked at his clipboard. This is an inventory of the assets to be transferred.”
Cinder looked down the list his eyes widening in places and chuckling in others.
“You just need to sign here to confirm you are indeed Cinder Aldred-Moonscale-Warren.”
“I think I added Degray in there too, but he wouldn’t have known that.” Cinder chuckled as he signed his extra-long signature.
“Thank you for your time. I’ll bring in the crates now.”
We spent the afternoon sifting through the contents of the crates. Most were heirlooms passed down from ancient dragons that Clarence would cut off his own tail for. Not that he’d get his hands on them any time soon. Cinder kept only a copy of Lars and Augustus’s marriage certificate and a gilded rattle for Baby Vivian. The rest was sent to a new vault to be dealt with later.
“If Augustus ever gets out and has a biological child, they should have an inheritance,” Cinder said.
“I wouldn’t wish that man on any kid,” Brendan said. “I know he played the hero, but he tried to sell you to Reggie.”
“Lots can change in a couple hundred years. Besides, we can always get it out later or use it if we all go broke from having to many kids,” Cinder laughed. “OUCH! OUCH! Seth, your daughter is trying to kill me. It feels like she’s playing jump rope with my spine.”
I moved to his side and he squeezed my hand until I thought my bones would pulverize. I sniffed the air. His scent was tinged with pain and irritation.
“Labor,” Brendan whispered a second later.
“No. It’s just the baby laying on my spine,” Cinder said through gritted teeth.
“It can start in your back.”
“I have two more days before she comes.” Cinder roared and shook his head.
Puffs of smoke danced out of his nose and he sneezed. His face contorted into a half-snarl.
“It’s not a clock. I’m going to call Christopher.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket.
“Good idea. I think my water just broke.” Cinder roared. “This wasn’t supposed to happen until I was at the clinic!”
“Babies move on their time. Where’s your bag?” Brendan asked.
I scooped up Cinder and was out the door with Cookie on my heels before the others were on their feet.
“Slow down. I need my bag!” Cinder panted like he learned to do in lamaze class.
“They’re bringing it!” I raced across the lawns separating us from the clinic.
Running was faster than driving. The roads were few and far between to keep the island as authentic as possible. My heart pounded into my throat. The baby was coming. We waited for months to hold our perfect little girl and now she was coming.
“Seth! Cinder!” Christopher waved from in front of the clinic. He shoved his phone in his pocket.
“How far apart are the contractions?”
“I don’t know I haven’t timed them!” Cinder roared as another one shook his body.
“Let’s get him inside! Someone grab a wheelchair!” Christopher shouted to a gaggle of medical students watching nervously.
“Got it!” A woman ran up with a wheelchair at the ready.
I ge
ntly set Cinder down. He kept a death grip on my hand as we moved down the twisting halls to a part of the clinic we’d never been to before.
“Don’t leave me.” Cinder’s nails dug into my arm. “I can’t do this alone.”
“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. Not now. Not ever.”
Once Cinder was in the delivery room things went faster than any of us would have guessed. First time deliveries can be unpredictable and take longer than others, but Baby Vivian was ready to see the world. An hour after we arrived at the clinic Cinder and I cuddled in bed with our beautiful baby girl.
“She has your eyes,” Cinder flashed me a sleepy smile and yawned.
“And your cute little nose.”
“And your head full of hair. No wonder I had so much heartburn and morning sickness,” he laughed.
The others crowded into the room for their chance to hold Moonscale Island’s newest citizen. She was passed from arm to arm and person to person. Photos were taken and sent to family members who weren’t there. Somewhere in all the excitement Cinder drifted off to sleep.
“Guys, we should go,” Carter whispered. “Cinder’s asleep.”
“Oh, sorry, Seth,” Brendan laughed and handed Baby Vivian back to me.
When the others left for the evening, Baby Vivian in me settled back in bed with Cinder. He turned to his side and rested his head against my chest next to the baby. She smelled like steel and the sea. The perfect combination of both of us. Her little fingers wrapped around mine and my heart melted. For the moment, gone was the bad ass dragon fighter and treasure hunter. I was a big ball of daddy-mush wrapped around a little angel’s finger.
“Welcome to the world, Vivian.” I kissed the top of her head. “We’ve been waiting to meet you, angel. The world can be a complicated place, but don’t you worry about anything. We’ll keep the monsters at bay. It’s what daddies do.”
Also By Maggie Hemlock
Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga (Series)
Omega Studies
Omega Sight
Omega Magic
Healer’s Oath
Omega’s Homecoming
Claiming the Shaman
Hemlock Fairy Tales (Series)
The Sleeping Omega Prince
Stand Alones and Box Sets
Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga Books 1-4 Boxset
Ardan’s Oath
About the Author
Maggie Hemlock calls the Ozark Plateau region of Missouri home. She enjoys spending time in nature to recharge her batteries and get inspired. She’s still settling into her new Midwestern life after leaving behind her beloved Appalachian Mountains.
Her career started in freelance journalism and expanded into fiction as the years passed. While reality may be stranger than fiction story telling is her first true love. Her tall tales caused her trouble during her early years of childhood, but soon with chubby-pencil to paper she began story writing.
Decades later this love matured into a passion and she’s written across many genres. Her current love is MPREG. It’s so much better to read about men falling in love, making babies, and raising happy families than it is to read about them killing one another off. So, when it comes to writing the male specimen, she prefers adorable omegas with bellies plump with future generations and the sexy and sometimes arrogant Alphas who love and protect them.
With a strong belief in live and let live and all love is love, Maggie Hemlock is both a member of and an advocate for the LGBT community.
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