by Meg Ripley
Maren looked down at her hands, pale against the skirt of her dress. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. If there’s the two of us, then it just makes sense that there would be more, right?”
“So you’ve been looking?” he guessed, not sure about how he felt about that. As far as Garrison knew, finding someone’s true mate was a complex thing. You couldn’t just put two random creatures together and expect them to make it work. But what if she’d found someone else?
“I started to, a little bit. Just where I live. I thought it was a possibility, anyway.” She swallowed, looking like she might be sick. “I did manage to find one, just not where I expected.”
He scooted closer to her on the couch. “Really? Where?”
Maren stood, looking down at him. Tears made the crystal blue of her eyes like two pools of water, and the one step she took to stand in front of him looked like it took more effort than traveling across the entire country. She touched one hand to her lower abdomen. “Here.”
The world stopped turning. Garrison looked from her hand to her face and back again, not sure that he was understanding correctly. “You’re sure?”
“Very,” she whispered. “I’m pregnant, Garrison.”
His hand lifted to cover her own, and he felt the tears in his own eyes. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her forward, resting his forehead against her stomach. “Oh, Maren.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve made me the happiest man in the world, but also the saddest.” The rush of joy he felt at knowing he’d have a child was immediately ripped away by reality.
“Why?” Her fingers stiffened underneath his.
His lungs burned. “I don’t want you to do this without me. I know you’re an independent woman, and you want your life out in Tahoe. We’ll find some way to make this work, but just promise me that I’ll have a part in this child’s life. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.”
“That was something I wanted to ask you about.” She pulled out of his grasp so she could sit next to him, her thigh against his. “I don’t want to do it alone, either. I’m keeping my property in Nevada, but I thought I’d come here. With you. If the offer still stands?”
Garrison let out a bark of laughter as he swept her up into his arms and onto his lap. “You’re damn right it does.” He pulled her close and kissed her softly, keenly aware that the two of them weren’t alone any longer.
11
“You’ve really outdone yourself with this.” Maren stood in front of their new home in awe, one hand over her ever-growing belly. She couldn’t help but touch and cradle the bump on a regular basis. It was the only thing that filled her mind when she wasn’t preoccupied with decisions for the new home or her research.
“I wouldn’t say that. I mean, the outside is still a muddy mess, and it’s going to be until spring. The ground is too wet to put the walkway in right now, but I want to do it in stone that’ll match the fireplace. I know we talked about putting it straight up to the house, but what do you think of putting a slight curve in it? That’ll create a nice area over here for a flower bed, and I think it’ll add a lot to the curb appeal of the place.” Garrison gestured as he spoke, getting that look in his eyes that he usually got when he was focused on a job. It was a bit different than the wild look that he’d had when they were in Tahoe and out on a mission to eradicate that horrendous casino owner.
Maren laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s just how much you get into your work. If you put half as much effort into building this house as you do your other jobs, then it’s no wonder your schedule is full until the end of the year. Not that I don’t appreciate it.” She knew perfectly well that he’d bumped some of his other clients down on the list to make sure she and the baby would have a nice home. Maren had assured him a thousand times when she’d first come to D.C. that he didn’t need to go to all this extra trouble and they’d be perfectly fine living in his house, but Garrison wouldn’t hear of it.
“What can I say? I want nothing but the best for the two of you.” He curled one hand around her hip and the other on her belly, standing just behind her, protectively. “If there’s anything you want changed, you just say the word.”
But there was nothing she’d change. The house was a beautiful Cape Cod style, complete with a covered front porch and dormer windows. The coffee-colored siding went perfectly with the stone he’d picked for the fireplace and walkway, and she couldn’t imagine a lovelier home. “Don’t you even think about changing it.”
“You haven’t even seen the inside yet. Careful, it’s slick here. Let me help you.” He took her by the elbow to guide her across the planks that had been laid in the front yard to serve as a temporary walkway across the mud.
Maren didn’t need help. She was only halfway through her pregnancy, and she was getting around just fine. But Garrison seemed to enjoy fussing over her, and she was happy to let him. “I’ve been in it a hundred times already,” she countered.
“But not like this. The guys and I have been putting in some overtime.”
“So I’ve noticed.” When she lay awake at night sometimes, feeling the baby move and dreaming of how their lives would be changing in just a few months, she could hear him snoring peacefully beside her, his dark hair splayed on the pillow, one hand always touching her.
“Hopefully it was all worth it.” He opened the door and waved her in ahead of him.
“Oh my god, it’s like something out of a magazine!” Maren broke away from him to step forward into the middle of the room, taking in the timber and bead board ceiling that reminded her so much of the cabins out in Tahoe. The living room went from the front of the house to the back, where the wall was almost completely composed of windows and French doors that let the sunlight stream inside onto the warm wood floors. Garrison had even taken the liberty of bringing in furniture, but Maren noticed with tender feelings toward her mate that he’d selected the very living room suite she’d been admiring in the store.
He rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets and his teeth sinking into his lip to keep him from smiling. “What do you think?”
She returned to him and wrapped her arms around him, leaning against those firm abs and his broad chest. “It’s amazing. It’s absolutely amazing.”
“So are you.” She tipped her head back and he kissed her nose. “Let me show you the master suite.” Garrison led her over to the stairs, where she didn’t miss the hand-carved banister on their way to the second floor.
“But this, I’ve already seen.” She’d been in the room once the drywall had been put up and the carpet was laid. It was much the same, and they’d already picked out a new bed that would be delivered the next week.
“This, yes. And even our bathroom, but not this.” Garrison took her hand, his fingers entwined in hers, just the way he had on that night they’d met in the lodge. It’d been an instinctive thing, a gesture that didn’t require any thought because it was simply right. Maren was happy to know it was still the same. She loved the way his palm felt against hers, the way their fingers entwined, and she knew they would still feel that way decades later.
Garrison opened a door in the master bedroom that Maren could’ve sworn wasn’t there the last time she’d been in the house. She peeked inside, expecting him to have added a second closet or something, but instead she found the most glorious nursery she ever could’ve imagined.
“I hope you like it. I know we discussed most of the furniture, but I made a few adjustments of my own.”
The walls had been papered in a delicate toile that, upon closer inspection, showed pastoral scenes of various zoo animals. The thick carpet underneath would be perfect for the late nights they knew lay ahead of them. Maren ran her fingers across the soft upholstery of the recliner she’d admired for the room, knowing it would be great for both rocking the baby back to sleep and for when she fell asleep in the middle of the night herself. It hadn’t exact
ly been a designer piece, but neither of them had minded that. She saw the same changing table and dresser they’d admired at the store, but the crib wasn’t one she recognized. “Where did this come from?” she asked as she ran her hands along the smooth wooden rails. There were carvings all along the sides. “It’s so intricate.”
He took half a step back, his cheeks coloring slightly. “I made it.” Garrison was a bold and assertive man, at least until someone complimented him or he had to take credit for his own efforts.
She widened her eyes as she grazed her fingertips across the headboard once again. “You made this? How did you even have time with the house and your regular work?”
“Don’t worry about that. What’s really important is whether or not you like it.”
“Garrison, you goof.” She put her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek into his chest. “I love it. How could I not? No one else would go to the effort of making a custom crib.” It nearly made her want to cry, an experience she was having more and more often lately. But Maren blinked back the tears. If she shed them during every commercial that showed soldiers coming home or animals getting rescued, then it just wouldn’t seem fair to give that amazing crib the same sort of attention.
“I don’t just mean the crib. I mean everything in the room.” Garrison took her arms from around his waist and held her hand once again as he went through the room, displaying it to her. He started by leading her to the window, where a white couch sat with a soft throw blanket over the back of it. “I know you wanted the chair, but I thought this would be a good idea in case either one of us needed to sleep in here. You know, if the baby’s sick or having a rough night or something. It pulls out into a bed, and I tested it myself. It’s comfortable.”
She pressed her lips together to stop the giggles that rose from her throat as she imagined Garrison going to the furniture store and laying his big frame out on every piece of furniture. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
“And I made this surround that goes around the diaper pail, so you don’t have to see it. I thought it made the room look a little nicer, and I made sure it matched the rest of the furniture.” He demonstrated the cabinet near the changing table, which had a removable lid and front for easy access.
“You really did think of everything, didn’t you?” Maren knew how lucky she was. Even those who found their true mates didn’t always get along with them the entire time, and men could be exhausting. But Garrison was always thinking about her and the baby, always planning better and more efficient ways to run their lives, and always ready to snuggle up on the couch at the end of a long day and just be with her.
“Well, I hope I did. It started with this door, actually.” Garrison pointed at the entrance they’d made from the master bedroom into the nursery. “I kept the hallway entry for the nursery, too, but I thought it’d be so much easier on both of us if we just had one less door to open in the middle of the night.”
“I can’t believe this. You’ve gone to so much trouble. It makes me wish the baby would come right now just so he or she could share in all this with us.” She touched the edge of the crib once again. It was a gorgeous piece of furniture, but it would look even better with an infant tucked inside it, all dark hair and soft cheeks and that sweet, sweet baby smell.
He wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hands grazing against the gentle swelling of her belly. “It’ll be here soon enough, but right now I’m determined to enjoy as much time with you as I possibly can.”
“Oh?” She smiled to herself, fully expecting him to ask her break in the new bed. “Did you have something in mind?”
“Absolutely. Come on.” But when Garrison pulled her from the nursery, he didn’t go back into the master bedroom. He took the door to the hallway instead. He passed the room next door that would someday belong to their child when he or she had grown up a little and was ready to move out of the nursery.
Maren was completely baffled as he opened the door to the guest room. There wasn’t even the surprise of another fully finished room on the other side. The drywall had been put up, mudded and sanded, and painted with a base coat. Underneath her feet was just the plywood subflooring, and even the windows lacked blinds or trim. “I don’t get it. It’s just a blank room.”
“Exactly.” He took both of her hands in his own now, his grin bringing a light to his eyes. The energy was so strong in him that she felt it flow through her own arms and to her heart. “I’ve done a lot around here and made a lot of decisions, but I want this room to be all about you. You haven’t really said it, but you need space to do your research. I thought this would be the perfect spot.”
She blinked at the blank white walls. “You mean like, my own office?”
“You deserve it, don’t you? The work you’re doing is important. I’m hopeful that it’s even more important than we can imagine.”
“I hope so, too.” Ever since the two of them had met, Maren hadn’t been able to stop wondering whether or not there could be more than just them. It seemed unlikely that they ever would’ve met if they were truly the only two dragons in the world, and the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that they weren’t. Based on her own experience, she’d started by going through Tracy and Brad (although Ethan still wasn’t her number one fan) to reach out to other shifter groups to see if they knew of any dragons in their area.
“Oh, Garrison! In all the excitement over the new house and the baby, I haven’t had a chance to tell you!” She’d been thrilled enough to see this gorgeous house that was about to be their home, and of course thoughts of their child took up her mind during every spare second, but she had something she needed to share with him, too.
“What? What is it?”
She bit her lip, enjoying the suspense. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened to me, and how everyone thought I was a lake monster.”
His brow creased, not quite following.
“There are rumors at Lake Erie of South Bay Bessie, a large, serpentine lake monster. The sightings sound like they could just as easily be of a dragon as some sea-serpent. I don’t have a whole lot to go on yet, but I thought since we have a few months to ourselves, this would be the perfect time for a trip.”
He raised one eyebrow. “With all this work to do, you think we should go running off on a vacation to troll the waters of the Great Lakes for a supposed monster that may or may not be another dragon?”
Maren hadn’t expected him to balk at the idea, but she was determined to go through with this. If there were other dragons out there, then they didn’t deserve to be alone any longer. They needed her, and she needed them just as much. “Yes, I do.”
“Then that works for me.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. I remember how good that cold lake water felt, and I think the two of us could benefit from yet another swim. And it’s all the better if our baby ends up with an Auntie Bessie out of it, too.” He kissed her then, starting on her lips and then working his way down her jawline toward her neck. “And of course, lots of time for just the two of us.”
“And we could extend our little trip even more if we stop in Illinois to look for the Piasa Bird,” she whispered in his ear.
“The what?” He stopped his attentions and straightened up to look at her.
“The Piasa Bird,” she explained, feeling all that same enthusiasm rush into her blood once again. She loved researching these ‘mythical’ creatures, and knowing that she might get to look for them with her mate at her side made it that much more exciting. “It’s a Native American legend that’s still passed down, and they’ve even recreated the original cliff paintings of it and used it as a school mascot. Some accounts describe it as a bird, and others actually mention the word dragon.”
He laughed and pulled her close once again. “Yes, of course we can stop and check out the Pie Bird.”
“Piasa Bird,” she corrected.
“Yes, that. Of course. Whatever you wa
nt. And we can talk about all the plans later, but right now, I want you all to myself. No thoughts about the house, or my work, or your research, or even what we’re going to have for dinner. I just want you. Right now.” He was kissing her again, his lips soft but determined as they nuzzled the side of her neck and sent bolts of electricity moving through her body.
“I think I could make some time for that.” She kissed him back, closing her eyes as she inhaled the scent of his skin and felt the heat that rose off of it. Just looking at him could turn her on, but it was always so much more than pure physical attraction between the two of them. Maren yearned for him from the very depths of her soul, and when they came together, it was like transcending their own dimension into something completely new, yet familiar.
“I thought you might.” With the ease of strength, Garrison lifted her by the waist and she wrapped her legs around him. They melded as he strode down the hall with a swiftness that brought a soft breeze to her hair. A moving blanket had been thrown over the master bed until proper linens could be put on it, but it served well enough as Garrison laid her down and they fell to the mattress together.
Maren was hardly even aware of just how she managed to wiggle out of the yoga pants that had become a staple in her maternity wear, or even how Garrison had gotten her shirt over her head without her really noticing. She was too focused on the way his hands felt on her skin, burning like the most welcome fire as they claimed every inch of her skin. They worshipped her as they cupped her breasts, his thumbs grazing her hard nipples, as they rippled down her ribs to the swelling he’d made inside of her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as he trailed kisses in the wake of his fingers, which were now working on her panties. “Every day I think about how lucky I am to have you.”
Her own rapture in being with her mate only reminded Maren of how lucky they truly were, and how those other potential dragons out there in the world needed them. Anyone who didn’t have the sense of love and family that she had right now most definitely needed her help. “And I, you.”