“Yes. Apparently, dragons tend to be born within six months. Three months faster than a human.” She nervously rubbed the back of her neck. “That was something else I didn’t consider at all. The doctor said that in general, there were less complications with the shifter children than there were with human ones. Something about all humans being related in the distant past, and shifters having a different branch of the evolutionary tree or something. I didn’t even know we might be all related.”
“I actually know about that. You understand that most of humankind today can claim descendance from your Genghis Khan, yes? Blue-eyed humans can also be traced to a common ancestor in northern Europe. We dragons have someone like Genghis as well. Most dragons can be attributed to the Yellow.”
“The Yellow?” Tegan folded her arms, a little amused. “What kind of name is that for a dragon?”
“He used to be an emperor. He’s known as the Yellow Dragon nowadays, real name forgotten. Once ruled most of Asia. Because of him, easterners worshipped dragons as noble beings and sometimes deities. That was… quite a while ago.” He smiled. “Our numbers crashed drastically, and we never quite recovered from those times.”
“Do you know why?”
He shrugged. “No one knows. Usually we just get told a lot about how great he was, and then act like he just vanished.”
Tegan nodded, thoughtful. “Guess no one likes writing about the downfall of people they like.”
“Yeah. Is the child healthy, then?”
“So healthy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “The doctor wouldn’t shut up about that. I think she has a fetish for shifters or something.”
Kieran snorted, and when Tegan reached for his hand, he took it without question. He wasn’t really completely used to the whole hand-holding habit, but no complaints. Humans in general were more affectionate. More open. He liked that.
He reflected upon Raymond’s advice. Finding something his family might prefer more than him returning to the clan.
Wouldn’t be money. They didn’t have a lot as it was, but bribes would never work in that fashion. All that stubbornness combined with pride did a huge number on their logical thinking.
Telling Broxar about the pregnancy would be fun…
They made the hellish journey back to Whitefall Creek, where a light tumble of snow now hit the buildings. Not enough to settle, but enough to create a cold, tingling sensation that went down his neck, and make each breath feel crisper, more alive.
There was a kind of peace in this weather, a beauty in it that made him appreciate nature all the more, and Tegan as well.
The… mother of his child. That’d take some getting used to, thinking of her in that way. I’m to be a father. He began idly picturing what it’d be like. Girl or boy, it didn’t matter. Both held value. Both offered something vital to the world.
They headed straight back home, out of the public eye, and Tegan disappeared for a shower. It gave Kieran enough time to contact his private investigator and say he’d be putting a few more on the case. Michael Locke conceded without a battle. As long as Kieran coughed up the money either way.
When Tegan left the shower, she approached him with an amorous glint in her eyes, a powerful, obvious longing for intimacy.
Something he could provide, after all. He certainly wasn’t one to refuse the ladies. Especially this lady.
She slipped into his arms and kissed him passionately, in near desperation for contact. His hands roped around her, though he no longer tried to crush her close. Her tongue danced for entry at his mouth, and he let it in, doing everything in his power to heighten the arousal further.
He inhaled the fragrant scent of her, still strong with whatever gel she used from the shower. She tasted like mint and coconut, with skin supple and smooth. Her hair was still slightly damp as he teased fingers up to the roots, cradling her head, taking his time to enjoy all the different senses enveloping them. The hitches of her breaths, the warmth and roughness of her clothes against his body, the fresh-out-of-the-shower scent, the damp hair on his fingertips, her tongue touching his.
Too much to focus on all at once.
Easy to get lost in. The passion whipped between them like a kindling fire, gradually pillaring into huge flames, and he wanted nothing more than to get lost in this woman once more.
His hands danced over her skin, gentler than previous times. He cupped her cheeks, cradled her body, lowered them down onto the bedsheets in a princely, graceful manner. He elicited gasps from her as he kissed along her skin, pulled off the rest of her clothes, and quivered in excitement with the way their bodies rubbed and slid against one another.
Every sound slipping from her lips rang like music in his ears, and the faint salt on her skin was addictive to kiss, lick, suck. She arched her body into his, and he kissed between her breasts, played with them, and took his sweet time with exploring every inch offered. He loved how receptive she was to each touch, how eager for it she acted, and he felt like the most powerful being in the world, giving her complete worship, to the point where she could barely handle the sensations.
He took off his own clothes and entered her gently, taking it slow, wanting to build her up into a frenzy, though his own heart beat fast and it was difficult to be slow and careful, because he wanted to take her with everything he had. He held himself back for as long as possible, and got rewarded for his efforts. She climaxed with a shuddering gasp, causing him to topple into his own orgasm.
She took quite the time to recover herself. Clearly, she needed it, and he lay by her side with rather smug satisfaction.
For now, he didn’t need to worry about the impending shadow of his family, or the dangers they posed. He had something a little more joyous to attend to—a future he wanted to make happen.
Chapter Five – Tegan
Emory gave Tegan a rather sly glance. “He’s seriously okay with it?”
“Yeah. Turns out he has big baby fever.” Tegan grinned. “No idea guys could get that as well. I’m not really… baby fevering myself. I know I didn’t want to have a child. Not now, anyway. But… whatever. They’ll get a good father, at least. He seems to genuinely care.”
“You figured him all out, huh?” Emory dragged Tegan along to the snow-covered park. Over the week, the snow had been intermittent, until a heavy shower last night ended up with every inch of Whitefall Creek that wasn’t salted roads covered in snow. Beautiful. Tegan loved fresh, newly settled snow, because it crumbled in her hands, and if she wore leather gloves, the cold didn’t bite at all.
She grinned, picking her way through the snow, ankle-deep at the park, trying to locate the deepest sections. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m projecting a little. But he does seem to be… responsible, I guess. He’s already starting to think where he might go with the child, best place to raise them and all. He even suggested here.”
Tegan watched her friend brush some snow aside and sit down on a rusty, creaking swing. “Here? Are you two actually becoming a couple, then? Or…?”
Tegan deflated a little. “We need more time. It’s too fast. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She patted her stomach. “But it’s my responsibility to own up to it.” She absently started packing snow on a table tennis table to make a snowman.