by Milly Taiden
Dragon Baby
Milly Taiden
Latin Goddess Press Inc.
Contents
Untitled
Untitled
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
About the Author
Find out more about Milly Taiden here:
Also by Milly Taiden
Shifters Undercover
Federal Paranormal Unit
Black Meadow Pack
Raging Falls
FUR-ocious Lust - Bears
Night and Day Ink
Contemporary Works
DRAGON BABY
NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
MILLY TAIDEN
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Lily Cruz doesn’t want a wolf for a mate. She’s totally not going to follow in her cousin’s footsteps. With one failed marriage behind her, she isn’t really interested in relationships, period. But she would love to have babies. At almost forty, her biological clock is hammering her over her head big time.
Thane Dreki won’t get some random woman pregnant just to stay alive. He isn’t interested in a relationship either. Having seen how a broken heart can destroy someone, the last thing he wants is to give any woman that power over him.
Thane might have to reconsider his stance when he meets Lily and a wild night of sex results in more than either of them bargained for. He’ll do anything to protect his woman and their baby, including killing anyone who threatens their existence. But the biggest problem he faces isn’t an enemy, it’s getting Lily to give their love a chance.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Published By
Latin Goddess Press
Winter Springs, FL 32708
http://millytaiden.com
Dragon Baby
Copyright © 2016 by Milly Taiden
Cover by Willsin Rowe
Edited by: Tina Winograd
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Property of Milly Taiden
August 2016
Created with Vellum
—For my baby girl, Angie
I couldn’t have a bigger fan. I love you!
1
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Lily Cruz knew better than to fall for some smooth talking alpha wolf. Her cousins had joined Night and Day Ink and in the process found wolf mates, but not her. Not Lily. She knew better. Her tigress knew better.
She’d just come out of one terrible marriage to a fox who wasn’t her mate and there was no way in hell some alpha wolf would tell her what to do. Not to mention all the Night men were off with their wives and the few who were not mated were nowhere in sight, thank god.
She glanced at the files on her desk and frowned. She was not a secretary, but some asshole by the name of Thane Dreki was determined to send the most annoying errands her way like she had nothing better to do than order pizza for people working late or set up entertainment for a grand opening celebration. That was not her job. She was there to manage buying new property. Not to play personal assistant to some douche that never came into the office.
“Hey, Lily,” Stephanie Day yelled as she approached down the hall. Stephanie Day was married to the Day half of Night and Day Ink. Twin brothers who shared everything, including Stephanie. She didn’t seem to mind, though. She always had a glowing smile at the office and the men doted on her like she was their queen. Something Lily couldn’t relate to since her ex treated her like she was his bank account.
Louis Danitelli came from a crime family, something she hadn’t been aware of at first. No, she’d thought him charming and sweet. He spent all his money on making sure Lily felt loved until they married. Then he took it back from her plus interest.
“Lily!” Stephanie’s call snapped her out of her bitter memories. “How’s it going?” she asked once she reached Lily and sat down, taking gulping breaths.
Poor Stephanie fanned herself as if the office AC wasn’t going full blast. Lily guessed that being pregnant with twins changed a woman. She could sense the higher body temperature in Stephanie. She also scented the two babies inside her.
The tigress in Lily meowed in need. She wanted her own kits so badly. At thirty-nine, she was still considered young for a tigress, but her family members were mostly mated with their own families and babies. She’d hit the big four-oh in several weeks. Something she wasn’t looking forward to.
With her birthday came winter. She loved the cooler climate and snow. It was coming just like her birthday. But she would love winter more if she had a family to spend it with. All her cousins were traveling with their husbands and children. Oh, she’d been invited along, but she hated feeling like the third wheel.
“Lily?” Stephanie frowned. “You okay?”
“Yes! I’m sorry, Stephanie.” She sighed and sat next to her pregnant new friend. “It is hard to get these contracts under control when Thane Dreki thinks I’m at his beck and call.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened and she grinned. “Oooh, Thane. He’s so dark and broody. So dreamy.”
“Aren’t you married?” She grinned.
“Hell yeah, but I’m not dead. And while my men are gorgeous and hotter than a Texas summer, I have to say there is just something about Mr. Dreki that makes women’s panties do a disappearing act.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “When the hell could he do that when I have yet to see him come into the office?”
Stephanie shrugged and propped her legs up on the trash bin in front of her. “He has come in a few times. That was enough to create quite a frenzy.”
She glanced at the email that just came in with a request from the man himself, asking her to do another mundane task his secretary should be doing. She clenched her teeth and growled. “Does he have an assistant?”
Stephanie nodded. “Susan has been working for Thane for weeks now, but she’s out on family leave. Sick parent. So I guess he’s just transferring work to you.”
“How am I expected to buy a new location for this business if Dreki keeps sending me on the dumbest tasks in the world?”
Stephanie sighed and blinked. “I’m sorry, Lily. I will get a temp to handle his assistant’s duties so you’re not on the spot any long
er.”
Guilt tripped inside her at the paleness on Stephanie’s features. “I’m so sorry. The last thing you need to hear are my issues with Thane Dreki when you’re probably exhausted and need a nap.”
Stephanie perked up at the sound of the word. “Ooooh, a nap sounds lovely. But the minute I lay down, one of the babies thinks it’s time to play kick mommy’s bladder.”
“You still don’t want to know what you’re having?”
“Nope. It’s a good thing Bryan and Brent are not shifters or they wouldn’t be able to keep a secret. As it is, I’m staying away from all the Night men in case they have loose lips.”
“Are you hoping for one or the other?”
Stephanie pursed her lips and brought her legs down from the trash bin. “No, I mean, I’d love to get one of each, but with the guys being twins, it’s probably not going to matter if we have both boys or both girls.”
Lily grinned but kept the knowledge of the babies’ sex to herself. Stephanie would flip once she found out she was having a boy and a girl.
Lily’s own tigress groaned and made her unhappiness known. She wanted her own kits. Being near Stephanie, scenting babies, was pulling her into her heat like nothing had ever done.
She needed to get away from the other woman before she did something stupid, like mate some random guy on the street, just to get herself pregnant. Nope. That wasn’t her. She was strong. She could handle the heat and her hormones. She controlled her body and her cat.
“Go take your nap. I’m going to see about these contracts.”
Stephanie stood and yawned. “Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the winter ball.”
Crap! She’d been trying hard to ignore the multiple E-vites and RSVP requests. Guess there was no way to put it off any longer. “I will do that.”
2
Thane Dreki stared out the back window of his cabin. When his brother visited, he knew something was definitely wrong. They barely spoke; their kind had been raised to be independent and alone. And dragons lived a very long time, which meant a lot of time living alone.
“What are you doing here, Saxon?” he asked, finally looking away from the perfect forest view to meet his brother’s green gaze.
This was his home. He could only handle the human race for short periods of time. Thankfully his business partners understood and didn’t ask for him to take part in office visits unless it was an emergency.
“I came to warn you.” Saxon said the words in a low grumble. His dragon was fighting to get out. Probably agitated over the fact Thane’s own was the bigger, angrier, and more demanding of the two.
They hadn’t seen each other in so long. Almost five hundred years. That’s when their sister mated a human and the bastard starved her and put her on show. He used her to make money by having her shift repeatedly in front of large groups of people. Her love for him weakened her.
When Thane and Saxon showed up to save her, she had lost her will to live. She didn’t last more than a month before she left them. That was the last time they’d spoken. Thane had seen how his sister’s love for a human had destroyed her, and he would never be that stupid. He didn’t need to mate. He’d die alone.
He already knew what Saxon was there to tell him. To remind him that his days were counted. If he didn’t have an offspring soon, he’d die on the sunset of his thousandth birthday. Only six months to go. How could he fucking forget when his dragon reminded him daily?
“He’s passed.” Saxon’s words were emotionless. Thane and his brother had never had a close relationship with their father. Their mother had been a bit less distant but had at least tried to show them some semblance of caring.
“I know. I knew the moment it happened.” He felt the change in his dragon. The weight of the importance to have a son. Thane’s father had lived a long life, but he was gone now.
“We all go through this, Thane. Once you have an offspring, it will be my turn to do the same.”
That part was true. They had some fucked up family bloodline that made it so they had to have babies or each one would die on their thousandth birthday. Luckily, Saxon had another two hundred years before he had to worry about that. Two hundred years to find a mate and create a family. Something Thane wouldn’t be doing.
“You have time, brother. I don’t.”
Saxon frowned, his beard hiding the tight set of his jaw. “What do you mean? You have time. Find someone. Bear a child.”
Thane pushed back the blond strands of hair falling over his forehead. “No. I don’t want a mate. I’ve seen what it does to people. Makes them weak. I won’t be one of those.”
Saxon growled and came forward. Fire lit in his eyes. “Are you fucking crazy? You’re going to die if you don’t.”
Thane met his hard gaze with his own. “Then I die.”
“You don’t have to fall in love to have a child, Thane,” Saxon snapped. “Find a willing woman. With your looks, it’s not hard,” he growled. “You’ll live and no need for your heart to be involved.”
Thane thought about it for all of a second. He didn’t like going into cities filled with humans. They were selfish, angry, and filled with self-indulgence. He wanted to destroy entire countries when he left his quiet mountain and delved into their world.
“If I don’t have a child soon, it won’t matter anyway.” Thane clenched his teeth, noticing Saxon hadn’t mentioned Ramoth. His half-brother from his father’s side believed the Dreki family owed him. Being the youngest but cruelest of their kind, he’d pissed off a lot of people by killing humans and dragons alike. “What did you want to warn me about Ramoth?”
Saxon’s shoulders slumped. “He means to come and demand father’s fortune now that he’s passed.”
Thane gave a dry laugh. “Who is he to demand anything?”
Saxon shook his head. “He has some other shifters that work with him. Shifters he controls.”
“So?”
“I’m only here out of love, Thane. You’re my brother and I care about you. Be careful of Ramoth and those who follow him.”
Thane gave a sharp nod. He didn’t take serious warnings lightly. “I will.”
“And make a child, Thane. That’s all you need to ensure your life.”
Thane said nothing for a moment. “I already told you, I won’t be having any children just to live longer.”
Saxon turned away from him, stomping toward the front door of the cabin before he stopped. “Rethink this, brother. I know we’re not close, but I would like to change that.”
Saxon walked out the door, slamming it behind him. From the front window, Thane saw his brother shift into an emerald green dragon and take off into the sunset.
His computer beeped. Now wasn’t the time to think about dying. Until it happened, he had a job to do.
He had an email from Lily Cruz. A smile broke over his lips. He didn’t know why he kept bothering the uptight woman. Their first phone conversation hadn’t gone over well with her. She’d been too serious. All she’d spoken of was what locations she’d buy for the company. Though he’d only joined Night and Day Ink as a silent partner, once the Day brothers and several of the Night men became mated, he found he was needed.
The sound of his phone ringing pulled him back to the present. He glanced at the screen and saw the name of his good friend, Royce Night.
“Royce, everything okay?”
Royce’s booming laughter came from the other side of the line. “Everything is great! Have you seen Lily’s latest proposal?”
Thane frowned. The email from Lily didn’t have a proposal, it was just asking for a good time to talk.
“No. Should I have?”
“I would’ve thought she sent it to you first. It’s great. She’d getting us in a brand new building right across from one of the busiest malls in the country.”
Interesting. And she’d said nothing to Thane. He must have really ticked her off when he asked her to have someone air out his office and supervise it. A chuckl
e rumbled in his chest. The way she was flustered on the phone had been better than any conversation he’d ever had. She probably hadn’t even realized she started whispering curses at him in Spanish. Too bad he had such great hearing, and spoke Spanish.
“I’ve seen nothing of the proposals, but I’ll make sure I do.”
Royce laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I would swear she doesn’t want to talk to you, but you haven’t done anything to make that happen, or have you?”
“I’m just sitting in my mountain, working while you’re off on vacation with your mate.”
Another harder laugh came across the line. “Right. Listen up, dragon, my mate has instructed me to tell you if you mess with Lily, she will not be happy with you.”
Damn. He liked Kiara. She was sassy and funny. But he was having too much fun seeing how far Lily would go before she cursed him out loud in Spanish. He’d liked her voice. It was soft and sexy. Hell, even his dragon had managed to enjoy listening to her. He’d done anything to get her to talk to him again.
She’d been tough, though, rejecting every call and replying to messages via email. Thane knew women liked to stare at him. He had what they called a Viking look. Tall with broad shoulders and at almost six and a half feet tall, managed to intimidate even the biggest men.
His shaggy blond hair coupled with his beard and blue eyes made women want to spend time with him. But he wasn’t looking for a mate. Hell, he wasn’t even looking for a relationship. He needed sex, though. He hadn’t had that in too long and if he was going to die, he might as well do it with a little less stress in his body.
“Be nice to Lily, Thane. She’s trying to do a good job.”
“So am I.”
Royce snorted. “Yeah, but she’s a feline. She’s not super friendly to begin with.”
“I will do what needs doing to get the job done, Royce. She’s a big girl. This is business.”