Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
It will be no hardship. His smile is predatory as he kisses my knuckles again.
“I can just guess what he’s telling you,” Gwen muses.
“Is it even the right thing to do?” I ask. “Bringing a child into this world with…that hanging over our heads?” I nod at the skies, indicating the distant Rift.
“It might be the only thing to do.” Gwen shakes her head, a rueful expression on her face. “Man, I really, really hate that Azar is gonna say ‘I told you so’ when he hears about this.”
“Ugh. Maybe we don’t tell him.”
We must, Jurik says. If we have information, we must share it. We would expect the same of him. As much as I do not like or trust him, we must all work together in this.
“Together,” I echo. “Making babies. What has this world come to.”
For that, you only work with me. Jurik’s tone is utterly possessive and he pulls me closer.
39
JURIK
I can feel Rachel’s thoughts whirling with worry and distress as we leave Vaan and his mate. My female wants to retreat to our quarters, to sort through everything we have learned this day, and to sleep. She is exhausted, both mentally and physically. When I pick her up in my arms and carry her toward our new nest inside one of the hive’s many cave-like structures, she does not even complain. She just burrows against my neck and sighs deeply.
When I get to our quarters, I pick through her memories for how to operate the round thing on the portal—a doorknob. I twist it and push the door open, and then close it behind us once more. The room is small and dark, the air stale, and I immediately feel trapped.
This is to be our home for the near future? I fight the feeling of suffocation rushing through me. There is no place to stretch my wings, to recline in battle-form, no nothing. Just a small, cramped room made for humans. And the stink of the human hive is everywhere.
“I’m sorry,” Rachel says tiredly. She senses my distress. “I know it’s not great for you. It’s a good human place, but not a good dragon place.” In her eyes, they are very fine quarters. The bed is large and soft, with pillows and fresh blankets. There are no windows, because windows are not safe when attacks come from above. In her eyes, the room is stuffy, yes, but cozy and protected.
That makes me calm a little.
“We can find a better place for both of us,” Rachel promises me. “Maybe Gwen and Vaan know of some abandoned buildings with a nice roof for you to stretch out on, and we can make a bed there—”
Tomorrow, I promise her. For tonight, this will do. You are tired.
“You are, too.” Even when I set her down on the edge of the bed, she clings to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and burying her face in my neck. “I can feel your exhaustion.”
We have learned a lot today, I admit. It will take some time for all of it to sink in.
Rachel makes a soft noise against my neck. “I just…I wish he’d been lying. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel safe again with what we saw today.” She shudders, and I can feel the terror she pushes to the back of her mind, the overwhelming fear.
I will keep you safe, I say. I will, and the infants will. Let me show you how easily they pushed the evil in the Rift back. I open my thoughts to her, giving her a glimpse of Luminoura and Sallavatri’s light, showing her how it felt when they stepped in and so easily thrust the…thing back to where it belonged.
Rachel’s hand plays down the front of my chest, tracing over my pectorals and sending flames of arousal licking up my spine. “Is it the right thing to do? To make a baby, just to fight this?”
I pull away from her, gazing at my sweet mate. I study her scarred face, so beautiful and strong that it makes me ache. It would not be the only reason. Do you not want to have a child with me? My child?
I’ve never thought that far ahead. Her thoughts are musing, idle. My life has been consumed with getting through day after day. I’ve never thought about the future. A family. Someone that will love me and stay with me forever. Having people that won’t abandon me. The last thought makes a hot rush of yearning course through our joined minds. Would…would having a baby be selfish?
Not if we both want it.
She turns to me, eyes bright. Do you want it? Truly?
The thought of you carrying my child fills me with great joy, I confess. I touch her flat stomach, imagining our young growing there. I picture us having a family, and my heart wants that more than anything.