by Wolf Specter
I’d decided to trust him on the subject, mostly because I wanted to stop thinking about the actual birth. And besides, I felt a lot more comfortable with the idea of going through it with trained medical staff on hand.
But at the moment, all thoughts related to the baby were getting pushed aside by the things Dane’s mouth was doing. I opened my mind to him, letting him feel everything that he did to me. I was rewarded by a surge of fire, his eyes going from dark to heat in a split second and his cock springing to life against my thigh. I leaned into him, ground myself against him as I made suggestions through our bond that would have made me blush if I’d spoken them out loud. Before either one of us could act on my ideas, though, a sharp pain shot through me, cooling my fire.
Dane felt it through our bond.
“Wesley!”
And then it came again, like a tight band squeezing my stomach.
I gasped, my fingers digging into his shoulders.
“We need to go, treasure,” he said grimly. “I need to get you to the clinic.”
The pain eased enough that I could talk, and I sagged against him. “You think this is it?” I asked him, suddenly breathless in a whole different way. “The baby’s coming? Now? I thought we had more time.”
Before he could answer, the pain came again, and this time I could actually see my stomach contract. Just like the pregnancy itself, the labor seemed to be progressing much faster than a standard human pregnancy.
Dane didn’t wait for my agreement, just scooped me up in his arms and started walking toward the front of the cave. This contraction was intense, and I couldn’t talk through it. The thought of riding dragon-back was… impossible.
Thank God he could hear my thoughts.
Stop! Dane, please.
He didn’t stop.
I palmed his cheek, forcing him to look down at me. His eyes were twin flames, and I could feel his own fears through our bond. Even though my body had handled the last few months of the pregnancy well once I had access to his dragon’s healing ability, I knew that the hatching he’d seen centuries before still haunted him.
I’d seen it, too, through our bond, and it was not for the faint of heart — but it didn’t have to be that way for us. It wouldn’t be that way, because we were bonded.
“Dane, stop,” I managed to say out loud as the pain eased. “We can’t leave.”
“Treasure—”
“No. I can’t,” I panted as another contraction started. “It’s happening too fast, love. The baby is going to be born here.”
Dane froze, undecided, but this time I couldn’t hold back a little groan of pain. That got him moving. Thankfully, back toward the bedroom this time. He lay me down gently, somehow managing to make me reasonably comfortable and pull my clothes off while I maintained a death grip on one of his hands.
“Oh, God,” I gritted out, squeezing my eyes closed. It fucking hurt.
“Wesley,” he said in a much calmer voice than the emotions roiling within him should have made possible. “Maybe I can go get the doctor and bring him here.”
I tightened my grip, bolting upright despite the pain. “If you fucking leave me right now I will never fucking forgive you, Dane,” I promised him, my voice rising on each word until his name came out as an embarrassing screech.
That’s when he started to panic.
I literally saw steam start to come off the man, and his body rippled in front of my eyes. I could feel him losing it, the terror at what was about to happen overriding his usual calm, take-charge demeanor.
I did not have time for this shit.
Another contraction hit, and my stomach felt like it was going to split open. There wasn’t anywhere for the baby to come out, and the reality of not having a doctor available made me want to freak out.
I reached through our bond for Dane’s memories. Anik had helped his own mate through this, and he’d done it two hundred years ago. Without a doctor. Unfortunately all I found was the other shifter’s calm assurance that Dane should trust his dragon’s instincts.
That really didn’t feel very helpful right now, but it was all I had to go on.
The next contraction made me want to vomit. Or kill someone. Preferably the man who had done this to me.
“Dane,” I said after it passed. “You have to take the baby out.”
He looked at me in horror.
“Let your dragon do it. It’s the only way.”
“No!” He jumped up, leaving me alone on the bed as my stomach tightened with the mind-numbing pain of the next contraction. “The dragon wants to rip it out! I’ve seen it happen, my treasure! I can’t do that to you! I love you, Wesley. I can’t—”
“DANE! IF YOU DON’T GET THIS FUCKING BABY OUT OF ME, SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL KILL YOU.”
He blinked, stopping mid-sentence with his mouth hanging open. Good. I think I was finally getting through to him.
“Shift,” I panted. “Now. Trust your dragon.”
Finally — finally — he listened to me. I could sense that it was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but I knew this was right. It was the only way. I trusted his dragon, and as much as I loved Dane’s human form, I really, really wanted the calmer energy of his other self right now.
Dane shifted.
His velvety black hide radiated a pleasant heat, and his eyes whirled, flame red, as he leaned over me. The “bedroom” was really just a corner of the cave that Dane had sectioned off and furnished, but he’d done it well enough that it was often easy to forget that our “home” was in fact hidden in a remote peak on the side of a mountain.
At the moment, though, I was thankful for the fact. The sleek body of my mate’s dragon filled the entire space, and I felt his vast mind, familiar and yet subtly different from Dane, as he reached for me. It felt right, and even my pain receded as a feeling of confidence filled me.
It would be easier this way.
“My treasure,” he said, his deep voice rumbling over me like a soothing blanket. “It is time.”
I nodded, feeling another contraction take hold, but somehow not suffering through it this time. Not while I was connected to the dragon’s mind. He reached for my belly, letting the tip of one claw rest on the hard mound that protected our child.
“You have been a good mate to us, Wesley,” the dragon said. “This child will be blessed, born of love and destined for greatness. The child of fated mates.”
His words were a balm to my soul, and I had no fear as I watched his razor sharp claw penetrate my stomach.
My skin rippled, moving aside slowly without any pain. It reminded me of the way my mate’s body changed when he shifted forms. I felt heat move through my body, the familiar heat that I’d come to associate with Dane’s dragon powers. His claw dipped into me and pulled out our child.
Our baby looked tiny, cradled so tenderly by his huge form. I could feel the dragon’s satisfaction, equal parts love and protectiveness, as he held the little one.
My stomach still felt hot, but there was no pain. It had closed as soon as he withdrew, and my body was already reshaping itself, healing and tightening as his power flowed through our bond. I sat up, feeling better than I had in months, and held out my arms.
He handed me the baby, letting me see the two us through his eyes for a moment before he shifted. I caught my breath, almost overwhelmed by the strength of his love for us — but even that couldn’t hold my attention.
I was finally holding our child. Big eyes blinked up at me, tiny flames dancing inside them.
It was the most perfect, beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
22
~ Dane ~
It had been centuries since I’d cried, but as I looked at my mate holding our child — Wesley, who had trusted my dragon, trusted me, enough to put his life in our hands — I felt the prick of tears behind my eyes. My treasure was staring down at the baby we’d made together with a look of pure joy.
He was the most perfect, beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
Wesley laughed, looking up at me. “Stop reading my mind and come over here, love,” he said. “Come meet your daughter.”
I batted the moisture away from my eyes, sitting down next to him on the bed carefully. The baby was so tiny, even in this smaller form I felt too big to get very close.
“Don’t be silly, love,” Wesley said, tugging me against him. “She didn’t break when your other self held her. She’s a dragon’s child, she’s tougher than she looks.”
I knew that Wesley had been worried about becoming a father, but now that he had the baby in his arms he looked completely natural. I could literally feel the confidence radiating off him. He was made for this, and I had never loved him more.
And then what he’d said hit me.
“Daughter? We have a daughter?”
He nodded, smiling down at her. “She has your nose,” he said, gently stroking a finger down the impossibly tiny pink button.
When I leaned in to see if he was right, she cooed up at me, and my heart melted.
All the dragons I’d known, all the dragons I’d ever heard of, had been male. I wasn’t sure what to make of her.
“Learn to trust your dragon, Dane,” Wesley said, answering my unspoken thoughts. “He recognized that she was special, the child of fated mates… and I think we can both agree that he has good instincts.”
I huffed out a breath, battling with a lifetime of anger against dragonkind. Against myself.
“You’ve lived for so long fighting what you call your ‘true nature’,” Wesley said. “But I know you, love, inside and out, and I also know your dragon. He’s a part of you. His instincts can’t steer you wrong, because you’re the one who defines your true nature, Dane. And you’re a good man.”
Four hundred years of thinking otherwise couldn’t argue with the utter conviction I felt through our bond. Wesley believed what he was saying, and his faith filled me up, making it possible for me to believe it, too.
I reached out and touched our daughter’s cheek. It was like a cloud, like silk, like everything good in the world. It felt like happiness.
She turned her head, nuzzling toward my hand, and I fell in love.
“Elise,” I whispered, getting lost in her eyes. Our child was beautiful. “It was the name of my mère. I mean, the woman I thought was my mother, until I found out the truth.”
“It’s a beautiful name,” Wesley agreed. “Family isn’t always blood, love, and I would love to name our daughter after your mother.”
Family.
I pulled them to me, feeling the deepest part of my heart finally become whole.
23
~ Wesley ~
I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
“Did you see that, treasure?” Dane asked, tearing his eyes away from Elise just long enough to beckon me over. “She lifted her head. She’s the strongest little girl in the world, isn’t she? Yes, she is,” he added in a ridiculously high-pitched sing-song voice.
Our daughter was barely a month old, and she already had her papa wrapped around her finger. The same finger that held onto his thumb in a grip of steel as she cooed up at him from her crib and, yes, tried to raise her head.
“You’re supposed to be getting her to sleep, love, not doing baby calisthenics,” I reminded him, stifling a yawn. But I walked over to him anyway. I couldn’t resist our daughter any more than he could.
He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his side, and despite my exhaustion my body instantly perked up a little at the closeness. As much as I adored Elise, Dane and I had had far less, er, “closeness” since her birth.
He looked down at me with the sexy little quirk of his lips that I loved, reading my thoughts. “You want me to put her to sleep?” he teased.
“Yes, please,” I nodded. Suddenly eager for that to happen for several reasons.
“Why don’t you go lay down, treasure,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “I’ll be in as soon as she goes down.”
As I left the nursery I could hear him start to sing a soft French lullaby. I didn’t understand the words, but after just a few weeks of fatherhood I already recognized it. Thankfully, it seemed to have an almost magical effect on our daughter. I curled up on our bed to wait for him and closed my eyes, shamelessly using our bond to watch Elise fall asleep through Dane’s eyes.
Even as our daughter’s body relaxed into sleep, she kept a firm grip on my mate’s thumb. When her eyes finally fluttered closed she gave a few little shuddering twitches, puckering her pink, bow-shaped lips and making little sucking movements that never failed to melt my heart.
I knew Dane wouldn’t leave her until she was deeply asleep enough that her grip on his thumb loosened. Which could take a little while. As excited as I’d been a few minutes ago at the thought of some uninterrupted time with him, now I was having trouble fighting off the exhaustion that seemed to be my constant state lately.
Elise was a wonder, a miracle, and I fell in love all over again every time I held her. But — God, the baby hadn’t slept for more than a few hours at a time since the day she was born.
I had never been so tired in my life.
We weren’t planning on raising our daughter in the cave, no matter how nicely furnished it was. Dane had bought a house near my brother, and we’d be moving there as soon as it was furnished. My body looked exactly like it had before I’d gotten pregnant — a testament to the dragon’s power — so there was no longer any reason for me to stay out of sight.
And I was really, really looking forward to making “Uncle Ty” babysit.
I didn’t even realize I’d fallen asleep until I felt a familiar heat start to coil, low in my belly. I rolled onto my back without opening my eyes, stretching a little to let Dane pull my clothes off.
“Do you want to get some sleep, treasure?” he asked with his lips pressed against the side of my neck. Sleep sounded tempting, but his breath sent little tingles of pleasure racing down to my cock.
Dane was more tempting.
“Later,” I said, pulling him on top of me.
I loved the weight of him, welcomed the heat that somehow managed to warm me from the inside out as he started to wake me with slow, hot kisses. I squirmed underneath him, my breath coming faster, and tried to pull him closer.
Dane gave a throaty little laugh and pulled my arms over my head, easily securing my wrists in one of his hands. “I know you’re tired, Wesley. Just relax.”
“This isn’t very ‘relaxing’,” I groaned, grinding up against him.
“Then just enjoy, my treasure,” he said, his eyes flaring.
“Stop trying to compel me,” I said, pouting playfully. “You know it doesn’t work on me.”
“Oh, I have other ways to compel you, love,” he said with a wicked grin.
I gasped as his free hand slid down my body, trailing little electric jolts of pure lust until it wrapped around my cock. He dipped his head, kissing a trail down my jaw, my neck, my chest, finally teasing my overly sensitive nipples until they hardened in his mouth and my shaft jerked in his hand.
“Dane,” I pleaded, using our bond to let him feel just how compelling he was being. “God, please hurry.”
He groaned, releasing my wrists and reaching for the lube next to the bed. Ever since he’d completed our bond, sex had been… indescribable. I could feel everything Dane did, and I knew it was the same for him. It was sensory overload, making every cliche about earth shattering climaxes pale in comparison to the reality of having someone know exactly what I needed — and getting to enjoy his pleasure as he gave it to me.
I could feel the fire building inside Dane as his own erection rubbed against my flat stomach. He hadn’t stopped stroking my cock, and now that my hands were free I grabbed his shoulders, digging my fingers in as I tried to slow down my excitement.
He wanted to make me come.
I tried to protest. I wanted to wait, to prolong the time with him, no matter how tired I was, but when I opened my mouth t
o tell him so he silenced me with a finger on my lips — and by sliding down to swallow my cock.
I gasped, and he pushed that finger into my mouth.
Oh, God. Oh, God. He wasn’t going to let me wait.
I grabbed onto his wrist and wrapped my tongue around his finger, mimicking the relentless rhythm and suction he was using on me. Any objections I had disappeared, and nothing existed except his mouth on me.
And my mouth on him.
And feeling his pleasure.
And feeling him feel mine.
And then, finally, finally, as my balls tightened and then released in an explosion, arching up against his face and coming in hot bursts that went on and on and on until I had nothing left.
I was spent. Utterly satisfied and completely used up. I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
But Dane wasn’t done with me.
He pushed my knees up, taking a minute to lube up before pushing into me in one long, slow, slide that forced his cock over my prostate in an endless wave of bliss that was almost too much. He wrapped his arms around me, knees over his shoulders and our bodies pressed together from groin to chest.
“I love you, my treasure,” he whispered against my lips, letting me feel… everything.
He started thrusting into me in a slow, controlled rhythm that had my toes curling. He repeated the words through our bond, again and again, without loosening his grip or taking his mouth off mine.
He was my destiny.
And I was his.
He kept gliding in and out, his rhythm never faltering as he let me feel the ecstasy of my tight channel gripping his cock, the perfection of how I fit in his arms. The heat of his love spilled over me, into me, through me, and flames licked my skin, searing the moment into my soul.
He stretched me, filled me, completed me.
And it was forever.
When the heat finally became too much it burst out of me in an endless climax that pushed Dane over the edge, too.