by Rinelle Grey
Brad held his breath, hoping she’d trust him enough to ask.
“If… if you could… look after her for a few hours. I… need to go and see my brothers.”
Her brothers again.
She’d said something earlier about him distracting her from finding them, but now she was talking about visiting them as if she knew exactly where they were.
Brad wasn’t convinced they weren’t a figment of her imagination.
If they really did exist, he wasn’t sure he wanted to meet them. Perhaps her comments that they’d disapprove of him hadn’t been a joke after all.
What if she was going to get them to help her throw him out?
He made himself take a deep breath. He was letting his imagination run away with him. For all he knew, they’d take his side, and tell her a child deserved to know its father.
Either way, he wasn’t going to say no to the first thing she’d actually asked him to help with. He wanted to gain her trust, and if that meant taking a chance, and looking after the baby while she went to see her brothers, so be it.
Then it hit him.
Looking after the baby. His daughter.
He wasn’t nervous about the practical concerns. He might have specialised in cardiology, but he still knew the basics of the physiology and care of babies.
So why was he still feeling nervous?
“Uh, sure,” he stammered. “But… uh, what am I supposed to do if she wakes up?”
Lyrian laughed then, her face lighting up, just for a second, with the light and carefree expression he knew so well. “If she cries, pick her up and cuddle her. Talk to her. Walk around the house and show her things.”
It sounded so easy when she put it that way. And he wanted to keep her smiling and happy. But he still wasn’t certain. “What if she gets hungry?”
Some dad he’d make. He had no real world experience at all.
Not that he’d ever let that stop him before. He could find out. He would find out.
If he was going to be a dad, he’d be the best dad anyone had ever had.
Lyrian’s smile didn’t disappear. “I have some milk frozen. I’ll show you how to warm up a bottle.”
It seemed easy enough. Brad nodded. “I’m sure I can manage that.”
Lyrian would only be gone for a few hours. How bad could things get in a few hours?
Chapter 6
Lyrian sped towards Verrian’s Mesmer chamber in Brad’s rental ute. He’d insisted she take it when Henry’s old ute had struggled to turn over.
She was grateful to him, really.
Without him, she’d have no chance to search for Verrian.
But driving away from Anarian felt strange. She kept feeling like she was missing something. Like she’d left a part of her behind with Brad.
She didn’t doubt his good intentions for a moment. Whatever other issues she had with him, she trusted him completely. She just wasn’t used to leaving her baby with anyone. She’d felt just as bad when she’d left her with Henry just a week ago.
It would have been different if she’d been with her clan. Then Anarian would have been cared for her by her aunts, uncles, and many other clan members by now.
And, of course, she wouldn’t have to leave her to go searching for her clan.
Lyrian heaved a sigh.
That was the other concern that kept tugging at the back of her mind.
What if her clan were all gone? What if Verrian’s Mesmer chamber was empty as well? Was there any point in continuing on to the others?
She’d been asleep for so long. Something must have gone terribly wrong for her clan to fail to wake them and then to disappear.
The logical explanation was that they’d all been wiped out, but Lyrian didn’t want to believe that.
She wouldn’t believe it.
It couldn’t be true.
She and Anarian couldn’t be the sole survivors of Rian clan.
She kept denying it, over and over, but one small section of her mind couldn’t help being grateful that Brad had turned up now.
If her clan was gone, then the human could be her best shot at giving Anarian some semblance of a family.
Lyrian banished that thought. She refused to believe it would come to that. They couldn’t all be gone. She’d find them.
Hopefully today.
She gave a barking laugh. If she turned up with one of her brothers, Brad was going to freak out. He’d always been convinced her brothers would hate him. He might be right too.
Not that Verrian would be any threat at all. If she actually managed to find and wake him, he’d be very drained. Being brother and sister meant that the Mesmer bond would be weak and his recovery slow, just as hers had been with Henry. That was why a young, unrelated dragon usually woke a dragon from the Mesmer.
But there was nothing she could do about that now.
In reality, what he and Brad thought about each other would be the last of her problems. But try as she might, the thoughts kept chasing themselves around and around in Lyrian’s mind on the long, monotonous drive out to the Mesmer chamber.
It was a relief when the tall, rocky spires appeared on the horizon.
Lyrian held her breath as she drove closer.
At least the towering red rocks were still standing. That was a good sign, right? She’d been able to tell from some distance away that Taurian’s chamber was gone.
The closer she got though, the more concerned she became.
Tyre tracks criss-crossed one another, converging on a large area just near the entrance.
Lyrian pulled to a stop, her heart in her mouth, and jumped out of the car. She stared around, trying to figure out what had happened here.
Humans, obviously. But when she looked closer, there were footsteps too.
And… was that a dragon track, half covered by tyre tracks? Lyrian peered closer, but the toes and claws were unmistakable.
A dragon had been here. Her heart thumped loudly. Recently too. While there may not have been any rain lately to wash away the tracks, they’d certainly blow away quickly.
Was she too late?
Why hadn’t she come here first, instead of searching for Taurian? She was kicking herself now.
She headed through the weathered arches, their pillars striped with bands of different shades of red, her eyes adjusting to the darkness as she ducked through one and searched for the lock at the end of the rocky corridor.
At least it was closed.
Maybe whoever had been here hadn’t managed to make their way in. She could still feel the life dragon magic. It would have prevented any member of the Trima dragon clan from entering.
The magic wouldn’t stop her. But this door might.
She didn’t have the medallion that would open the lock. Those had all been left with the clan, protected, supposedly.
That had worked well, hadn’t it?
How was she supposed to get in?
She stared at the reverse imprint of a singing dragon’s head. It was too small for her to get enough fingers in to force it to turn, but there were plenty of leverage points. She focused for a moment, drawing in the wind that whistled around the rocky spire, directing it all on one side of the medallion imprint.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then it began to move.
As it did, the rock wall in front of her slid to one side.
Lyrian held her breath. Was Verrian here?
She was almost afraid to walk into the chamber. Afraid to find out that it was empty.
But the hope that it wasn’t outweighed the fear. She needed to know. She needed that knowledge to plan for herself and Anarian.
She stepped into the chamber, giving her eyes a few moments to acclimatise to the darkness after the sun outside.
As her eyes adjusted, she focused on the pedestal in the middle of the room, barely breathing.
Her heart sank like a stone.
It was empty.
How? How had this happened?
As she scanned the room, she noticed footsteps on the sand near the platform. A set of bare feet, Verrian probably, and someone wearing a pair of shoes.
For some reason, this made her feel just a little better.
Someone had found Verrian.
Hopefully it was someone like Henry, who had helped him.
But she couldn’t count on it. There was every possibility that whoever had woken him hadn’t been friendly.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood in the middle of the chamber, frozen by indecision.
What did she do now?
She’d probably only missed Verrian by days. It seemed almost as if someone was systematically going through her brothers and sisters, waking them in turn.
If that was so, Calrian would be next.
Lyrian’s breath hitched in her throat. She was getting closer. She’d only missed Verrian by days. If she went straight to the next chamber…
But that meant leaving Anarian with Brad for even longer.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think he could handle it. It just felt… wrong. She missed her baby daughter’s presence. She had this vague feeling that she’d forgotten something, or left it behind, and she needed to get it back. Urgently.
But finding her clan was just as urgent. If she didn’t find Calrian now, he could be gone forever.
Brad and Anarian would be fine. She’d only be a few extra hours. It wasn’t like she’d left Anarian with a stranger. Brad was her father. They were probably enjoying the chance to spend some time together.
Her mind made up, Lyrian headed back to the ute.
Chapter 7
Brad stared at the sleeping baby.
His sleeping baby.
He still couldn’t quite believe it.
He’d never even considered being a parent. In fact, he’d always been pretty careful not to be. Except for that time with Lyrian.
He hadn’t exactly come out here thinking he was going to meet anyone. He’d been visiting his uncle for goodness sake. Things had been getting hot and heavy with Lyrian, and he’d asked if she had protection.
He was sure she’d said she’d take care of it.
He’d assumed that meant she had protection. He hadn’t considered her taking care of a baby.
Probably he should have stopped and made sure, but he hadn’t wanted to stop. God had he not wanted to stop.
And maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference if he had anyway. Maybe she had used protection. He knew, objectively, that sometimes things failed. He’d seen the statistics enough times.
He just hadn’t expected it to ever happen to him.
This was going to have a far-reaching impact on his life. Lyrian didn’t want to go to America, and he had a job there he couldn’t leave. This was going to be a mess. He knew that.
But the knowledge was dim and distant.
It wasn’t half as real as standing here in this room, the sunlight from the window illuminating the floating dust motes, a magpie warbling somewhere outside, and the sleeping baby shoving a tiny fist into her mouth and sucking on it noisily.
His heart overflowed with love in a way it never had before.
He knew, in that moment, that he’d do anything for the tiny human in front of him.
Even give up everything he’d thought was important.
Because none of that mattered anymore.
It was amazing really, he’d never seen this baby before. Never even dreamed she existed until a few moments ago. Yet, he loved her with his entire being.
The sucking grew louder. Anarian wriggled in the bed, and then her eyes flicked open, then closed, then opened again.
She stared at him, her sky blue eyes reminding him of her mothers.
Seemed Anarian took after her. He couldn’t see any hint of him in her face at all. Not that he had a problem with that. She was perfect just the way she was.
Her eyes widened a little, and then she let out a wail.
Food. She probably wanted food.
Brad turned around to head to the kitchen to heat up the bottle in hot water, as Lyrian had instructed him. Then he realised.
He shouldn’t leave the baby. She wasn’t in a crib, she was on a mattress on the floor. Who knew what could happen. He should take her with him.
He moved over next to the bed, and stared down at her, half afraid to touch her.
Sure, he’d held a baby before. He’d had to examine some during his residency. He’d even performed heart surgery on one.
But this was different.
This wasn’t someone else’s baby whose life he was saving.
This was his baby.
None of his friends or family had started families of their own yet. The closest any of them had come had been his twin brother helping to deliver a baby on a plane a few months back. Even then, Nate had taken pictures, not held the baby.
Brad gave a wry laugh. None of them ever would have expected he’d be the first.
He bent down, and picked Anarian up as gently as he could. She wriggled, her little body stiff and her face screwed up as she proclaimed her dislike of this situation to anyone who would listen.
Unfortunately, the only person who could hear her right now was Brad.
He cradled her in his arms. Amazing that such a tiny thing could make such a noise.
He headed out to the kitchen, then wondered what he was going to do with the baby while he heated up the milk. He transferred her awkwardly to one arm, and did his best to scoop the bottle into some warm water with one hand.
It was harder than he expected. Anarian cried the entire time.
Babies cried. He knew that. But when he’d been examining them, he’d been able to keep his distance. Of course they’d been crying in a strange, unfamiliar situation. But they’d stopped when he’d handed them back to their parents.
Now he was the parent, and Anarian wasn’t stopping.
It was hard not to take that one personally.
Brad bounced Anarian up and down, as he’d seen mothers doing. “Hey there, it’s okay. Your milk will be ready in just a minute.”
Anarian, of course, had no idea what he was telling her, and continued to cry.
As Brad jiggled and prayed for the milk to warm up faster, it occurred to him that there might be another reason for her tears. She probably needed a clean diaper as well.
He frowned. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen any diapers anywhere. He backtracked to the bedroom, but still couldn’t see any. Only a pile of folded facecloths.
On second examination, they closely resembled the diaper Anarian was wearing.
Looks like Lyrian favoured cloth diapers. Why wasn’t he surprised? Brad took a deep breath. He could do this.
He laid the screaming baby down, and undid the safety pin.
The diaper was, indeed, very wet. No wonder Anarian was crying. Brad put it to one side, not sure where Lyrian kept them, and reached for another. Trouble was, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to fold it.
He reached for his phone. Luckily it was still connected to his uncle’s wifi. The internet would have the answer.
Sure enough, it took him only seconds to find a video on how to fold a diaper. As a bonus, as soon as the video started, Anarian stopped crying and stared at it, entranced.
Brad managed to fold the diaper and get it successfully pinned on her.
When he was finally done, the milk was cold, and he needed to heat it up again. He played a few kitten videos to Anarian while they waited, which mitigated the crying a little. Even so, by the time the bottle was warm enough, Brad’s nerves were shot.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t dealt with stressful situations. He was a cardiac surgeon for goodness sake. In fact, he was known for his calm head in an emergency.
He’d never felt this stressed before.
He fumbled with the bottle, trying to slide the teat into Anarian’s screaming mouth.
It was as though he’d hit the mute button. Her little rosebud mouth opened and practically
sucked in the teat, then her face was suddenly completely peaceful as she sucked the milk down furiously.
Brad eased himself into one of the big lounge chairs and stared at her, exhausted.
She really was beautiful. When she was sleeping anyway. Her blue eyes reminded him so clearly of Lyrian, every time he saw them. They were the same shade, more blue than any he’d ever seen before.
Now that she was out in the light, the blue tint to her hair was even more unmistakable. It wasn’t a trick of the light, her hair really was blue. He could imagine that it was only going to become more obvious as she grew more of it.
He frowned. It was the most unusual thing he’d ever seen. He’d never seen a baby with coloured hair before.
Had Lyrian dyed it?
Surely she wouldn’t do that to a baby. He could just imagine the screaming, and he knew that wasn’t any fun at all.
So how did it get blue?
He stroked it gently with his finger, marvelling at its baby softness.
The bottle gurgled, and the last of the milk drained into Anarian’s mouth.
Brad hoped she’d had enough. It was all he could do not to wince as she sucked harder, then stopped. He gently pulled the bottle out of her mouth, expecting another scream.
But she didn’t. Instead, she stared up at him, her little face scrunched up in concentration, her eyes staring into his.
Then she smiled.
The expression lit up her face, and his heart.
“Hey,” he said softly.
He wasn’t sure if the baby could understand him, but it felt right. “Your mommy is out for a little while, and she left me in charge. I don’t know a lot about babies, so you’re going to have to tell me if I’m getting something wrong. I think you’ll be more than happy to do that.”
Anarian listened intently, her little eyes focused on his face.
So Brad kept talking. “I’m hoping you and I can get to know each other a little better.” He hesitated for a few minutes, then he added, “I’m your daddy, you see. I’m not sure if mom mentioned me, but… well, I only just found out about you. Otherwise I would have been here sooner.”
If he’d had any clue, he would have dropped everything to come. Why had no one told him?