by J. K Harper
“Tell Louis he can find me himself if he feels I owe him anything. I’m going to let you live this time. Come back and I won’t be so nice.”
She got into her car and drove off, her adrenaline rushing and making her shake. If only she could get Louis out of her life forever. Maybe then she could start relaxing during her pregnancy and worry less over her baby’s life.
Chapter 14
Thane returned from his hunt for Ramoth empty handed. Two months of following every lead with nothing to show for it. He’d traveled the world and whenever he thought he was close, the bastard evaded him. Soon.
He’d find him soon enough. He couldn’t hide from him. Not when he’d had another of Thane’s properties set on fire. If he wanted a fight, he’d get one.
When he got home, he found a multitude of emails and messages. None from Lily. His entire time gone had changed his mindset. He wanted Lily. He could see himself spending more time with her. An urgent message from Royce Night caught his attention.
He picked up his phone and dialed his friend.
“Royce?”
“Are you finally back, Thane?”
“Yes. Thanks for understanding my short message. My half-brother has been playing some dangerous games. I need to stop him.”
Royce sighed. “I understand. I hate to put more on your plate, but there’s something you need to do.”
“What’s that?” He frowned.
“Visit Lily.”
“Why? I have no messages from her.” He already planned on doing it but didn’t appreciate someone else telling him what to do.
“I’m not trying to be in your personal life. I just think you two need to talk. Face to face, if possible.”
Thane knew they did. The past two months had been torture. He realized he wanted to give a relationship a try. His dragon roared in approval. Something about her had struck him and now he couldn’t get her out of his mind. She’d made him feel something more the brief time together. Mine.
His dragon was sure she was their mate, but the man in Thane wanted to spend time with her. He didn’t want to admit it before, but Lily meant something to him. He needed to be with her and see if the emotions he’d started feeling for her were reciprocated.
“I’ll talk to her,” he said to Royce.
“Thanks. I promised my mate I’d ask and that’s all I called for.”
They hung up. There was a big storm coming and he wanted to get down the mountain fast so he could spend some time with Lily. He knew he’d be able to convince her to take a chance on him if he saw her in person.
He drove to her house and waited. She wasn’t in the office so he figured that was the best place to wait for her. He saw her pull in and left his own car. Snow came down in soft, light flurries. It was early on, so soon it would be hard to see through.
Suddenly two guys rushed toward her. They grabbed her by the arms and she shoved out of their grasp, trying to get loose. A roar left his throat and he ran at them. He pulled one guy off her. The fox shifter tried to claw at him but he was bigger and stronger than the other man.
He punched him in the face and tossed him across the street. When he turned to her, her back faced him as she fought the other man.
He grabbed the second guy and got him away from her. The man shook out of his hold and ran to his friend. Together they turned to him and made a move to shift. Thane’s dragon wanted blood. They’d tried to hurt her. His mate. No way were they getting away. He shifted then and there. There wasn’t much time for the men to attack once they saw his size.
They ran off and he flew, sending fiery flames every time he came close to them. After a while, he gave up the chase and returned to her. He could protect her better being closer. Once he shifted into his human body, he grabbed clothes from his car and threw them on.
Shifting could happen at any time and keeping clothes at hand was a must. He knocked at her door and waited for her to open with the sole thought that he couldn’t ever let go of her. She was his. His mate. Now he needed to get her to give him a chance to prove to her they could make things work.
She opened the door still wearing a bulky coat and stepped back to let him in. “Hi, come in.”
Her face was different. Fuller. She glowed with life. He wanted to cup her cheeks and kiss her. He’d missed her so fucking much.
“Who were those men?” he asked as he stepped into her house. He turned to face her and saw her take off her coat with her back to him.
“Thane, we have to talk,” she whispered. Then it hit him. Her scent. She turned to face him and he saw. “I’m pregnant.”
He took another inhale and scented their baby inside her. A dragonling. Female. She was almost ready to be born. His baby. Lily was having his baby.
His dragon soared with the knowledge he’d be a father. His mate had given him life. She didn’t even know it. “What? How?”
He watched her approach him with a worried frown on her face. “How? We both know how.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I just want you to know that I’m happy to share custody of her. I know you don’t want a relationship and that’s fine.”
He shook his head and stood, closing the distance between them. Her new scent drove him crazy. She smelled like her and him. He glanced down at her belly and then up to her face. “May I?”
She nodded and grabbed his hand to place it on her stomach. The instant link to his unborn child broke down every wall around his heart. A love unlike any he ever believed possible filled his heart. He met her gaze and realized he was feeling Lily’s emotions. They were linked. How could that be? He’d never given her his mark.
“Lily, can you feel?” he asked, his dragon bursting with pride and love.
She smiled, her eyes filled with tears. “I feel everything you feel.”
“How is that possible? We haven’t mated. I never gave you my mark.”
She blinked back the tears and smiled wider. “I have something to show you.”
He pulled his hand back and watched her lift her sweater and lower her stretchy pants until he could see the back of her right hip. There it was. His mark. A black tattoo-like image of a dragon curled in sleep. He’d branded her and hadn’t realized it.
“Lily―”
“Before you say anything, know we don’t have to be in a relationship to raise a baby. I don’t want you thinking our daughter means you have to be with me.”
He stopped what he was about to say and nodded. He’d told her he didn’t want a relationship. How could he tell her otherwise now and have her believe he wanted more than just their baby? It would be impossible. He’d have to show her and prove to her he wanted her more than anything else.
“Who were those men?”
She winced as if he’d hit her. “My ex-husband sent them. He’s trying to harass me to get money from me.”
“I’m guessing this isn’t the first time it’s happened,” he said. The scent of his anger filled the living room.
“No. He’s been the worst experience of my life, and I wish I could erase him and his family from my past.” She sighed. She wouldn’t let him harass her any longer. She was done playing nice. This time he’d sent shifters, and had Thane not been there, she would’ve had to deal with them on her own. The thought scared her. Anything could happen to her baby. She could be hurt.
He grabbed her hands and led her to the sofa. There, he sat down and turned to face her, still holding her hand. “You don’t have to deal with this alone anymore, love.” He held her gaze with his concerned one. “I won’t let anything happen to you or our baby.”
“Thane, you don’t have to―”
He shook his head. “I want to. I came here tonight to tell you I missed you. I want to spend more time with you. As much as I love the fact we’re having a baby, this doesn’t change how I feel. I still want to be with you and get to know you better.”
She stared at him for a quiet moment before nodding. “Okay.”
He pulled her int
o his arms and gave her the kiss he’d been thinking about for two fucking months. “I’ve missed you so goddamned much, Lily.”
Chapter 15
Lily let herself drown in Thane’s kiss. She’d missed his touch and the way he caressed her face as he kissed her so softly. He wasn’t promising her a relationship he didn’t want, nor was he trying to make her be with him. That wouldn’t take much since she wouldn’t be forced.
For the past two months, with every day that passed, she realized how her feelings continued to grow for him. It wasn’t healthy. She needed to get to know him more, but her heart was positive he was the man for her. So was her cat.
He pressed his body closer and the kiss grew in intensity. She moaned into their tangled tongues. His hand curved around her extended waist and suddenly a kick pulled them both out of their sensual haze. She blinked and glanced down at the spot he had his hand to the side of her belly.
“Did she just kick?”
The wonder in his voice brought a smile to her face. “Yes.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, panic rising with each word. “Is she okay?”
She giggled at the worry in his tone. “She’s fine. She just wants you to know she’s awake.”
She met his gaze and saw so much love in his eyes, it made her heart flip. He’d be a good dad. She knew it. What that meant for them? That was another story.
“You look exhausted,” he said. “Let me make you something to eat. Why don’t you get comfortable? I have some things I need to tell you.”
She nodded and stood, leaving him to make himself at home in her kitchen. She’d been eating like the world was ending, so food was always good.
Her cat rubbed under her skin, happy to have her mate back. She told Lily she’d known he’d come for her, but Lily ignored her.
After she took the longest shower known to man, she sat on her bed and tried to think of what to do. It was a long while of internal debating. He’d probably think she fell asleep if she didn’t go out there soon.
She wanted Thane, but he’d been specific with her at his cabin. He wanted no relationship. Could he have changed his mind now? After all this time, or was this just because of her pregnancy?
She needed time to see where things went. She didn’t care that her tigress was ready to bite him and move into his cabin. The human side of Lily needed love and reassurance that this was something he wanted for himself, not out of duty.
She put on the lightest robe she had over her naked body and waddled to the living room. She had only a few more weeks to go before her baby was born. A shifter pregnancy took a toll on a woman. Everything most humans experienced in nine months she did in three. It was like being pregnant on fast forward.
He’d turned on the TV and the scent of soup made her mouth water.
“Thane?”
He came out of the kitchen with a glass of iced tea in his hand. “Come on, I put a movie on for you. Why don’t you lie down on the sofa so you can rest your feet? I bet they’re tired.”
They were tired, but she hadn’t expected him to be so accommodating. It was freaking her out a little.
She followed him to the sofa, where she sat and put her feet up on the ottoman in front of her. He covered her with a throw and put her glass of iced tea on the table next to her.
“I’ll be right back. I was going to make something, but I figured you might be hungry now.”
She laughed. “You figured right.”
“Good. I know a great restaurant nearby that has amazing soup. I am just heating it up because it’s really cold out and on the drive here it cooled off.”
She nodded and picked up the television control to raise the movie volume. This was really fucking weird, but she’d go with it. She’d had a long day hammering out that contract for their new facility and now all she wanted was to relax.
She was dozing in her chair when he called her name softly.
He placed a tray on her lap. There was a bowl of soup and warm rolls.
“This smells delicious.” She picked up the spoon and sipped. “Oh, it is so good.”
“I’m glad you like it. With this weather I figured something warm would go over well.”
She grinned. “Most of the time I don’t realize how cold it is with this very crazy body temperature of mine.”
He frowned and sat next to her. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve forgotten my coat at home twice with temperatures at freezing levels.” She laughed at the way he widened his eyes in horror. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t in any danger. I went in and out of my car quickly and didn’t notice until I was ready to leave work and couldn’t find my coat. The thing about being pregnant with not just a shifter baby, but a dragon is that my body temperature is through the roof. I’m so hot most of the time, I’d happily walk around naked in the snow.”
“I don’t think that’s healthy for you, is it?”
She giggled harder at his words. “I’m sure it’s not healthy to walk around naked in below freezing temperatures, but I’m not really going to do that.”
She finished her soup and rolls and he took the tray from her lap to the kitchen. Then he came back to the sofa and proceeded to pull her legs over his so he could massage her feet. She wasn’t saying shit about that. Any man willing to rub her very aching and swollen feet without being paid was welcome to do it.
She leaned back into the cushion and sighed as he rubbed her feet. “What do you want to tell me?” She’d closed her eyes but when he didn’t reply, she opened them and met his gaze. “Thane?”
“I didn’t leave because of us. My youngest brother hates me.”
She frowned. “Everyone has family problems.”
“Not like these. He sent someone to destroy one of my properties right before you came to my cabin. The morning you left, he’d once again sent his people to burn down another I tend to spend time at.”
She gasped. “Oh my god. You weren’t there?”
He shook his head. “No. I spent more time at my mountain cabin this year than usual so I wasn’t there to stop them or fight them off.”
She grabbed his hand and brought it to her lap. “Why does he want you dead?”
“I’m the oldest. My father left me a lot of land and I took some of his businesses and made them prosperous again. Ramoth wants to be in charge.”
She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t understand. How can he be in charge?”
“Dragons have a thousand years to mate and procreate. If I don’t have a child by my thousandth birthday, I’m going to die.”
She rubbed her belly and stared at him in horror. “But you’re having a baby. We’re having a baby.”
“He doesn’t know that. So he believes if I die in the next three months, without a child being born, he can take everything of mine.”
“Why in the next three months?”
“The closer I get to my thousandth birthday without a mate or a child, my dragon will weaken and I’ll be left powerless to fight him. He’ll be able to kill me easily.”
She gasped. “You have one seriously fucked up family!”
Chapter 16
Thane wished he could take back what he said about Rotham, but it was the truth. He needed Lily to know why he hadn’t been there for her.
“After what he did to my homes, I had to search for him.”
“Did you find him?” she asked, her brows raised.
He hated having to kill her hope. “No. He’s been one step ahead, wanting for me to chase him. Probably trying to let time go by before he shows his face.”
“But you won’t be weaker in three months,” she said and gave him a bright smile. “You’ll still be able to kick his ass.”
He chuckled at her blood thirst. “A bit aggressive, are we?”
She laughed. “Meh. I barely get any sleep and I’m ready to pop. Aggressive is my middle name.”
“If you had a choice to live here in the city or up in the mountain where I am, where wo
uld you choose?”
She pursed her lips and furrowed her brows. “If money was no object, the mountains. It calls to my animal and I think the baby would love the area. Being a dragon, she’s going to need the open space to shift and grow.”
He nodded. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“Now don’t go moving my stuff into your house. I said I’d see where we go. I’m not going to pick up and move just because you find it convenient,” she said.
“I would never make that kind of assumption, love. It’s your decision where you want to live.” He grinned. “It’s my job to make sure I make myself irresistible for you. That way you will never want to be away from me.”
She gave a loud giggle. “You’re too much.”
“Just give me a chance, Lily. A chance to show you we can work. That this is the right thing for us.”
She sighed. “I can give you a chance.”
He rubbed her small but swollen feet and watched the light of her animal glow in her eyes. The scent of her arousal made him hungry for her.
He slid out from under her feet and picked her up in his arms.
“Where are we going?”
He kissed her lips. “Bed. You need rest.”
She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was clearly tired, but he wanted to bury his face between her legs and make her come. At her bed, he lay her in the middle and her robe slipped open. He didn’t bother lying to her about his intentions.
“I want you. I want to taste your cream on my tongue. Now.”
She licked her lips and shoved a pillow under her head.
He pulled at the tie on her robe and opened it fully. Fuck. She was beautiful. Her skin glowed with health and her breasts had gotten larger than before. The soft mound of her belly didn’t take away from her beautiful curves, no. It added to them.
She was full with his baby and he found that sexy as fuck. The knowledge made him hard as a rock.
“Thane, are you sure?”
He saw the insecurity in her eyes. “You’re fucking gorgeous, Lily.”