Page 28 of The Dragon’s Accidental Manny

“Ummm, sort of, but not really. We’ll probably be adding another dragon to the family, because that's the way it usually works with humans and dragon shifters.”

“What?” This conversation was too long-winded. Was I getting my own beast or not?

“Cam, you’re pregnant.”

I didn’t move because he’d said a word that was bigger than any other. Pregnant? Huh?

“A baby? I'm going to have a baby?”

“Our baby, yes.”

I shot up and stood on the mattress. “And that baby might be a dragon shifter?”

He nodded, and I pulled out the neck of my T-shirt so I was staring at my belly. “Hello, hello? Can you hear me?” Glancing up, I stared at Price. “A little dragon.”

His eyes filled with tears. “A baby.”

I was going to be a father. But how would the baby and three kids fit in my car? Any kid of mine would have to wait until I got a new vehicle.

I gazed at Price. He was already a great dad, and I didn’t know anything about parenting, and it was scary.

I caught sight of Jack’s wings in the corner of the room. “Wait.”

I grabbed the wings and piled pillows and cushions against the bedhead. After putting the wings on, I stood awkwardly on the pile as the wings buzzed and flapped. Price held out his arms.

“You’ll always be here for me, right?”

“Absolutely.” He steadied me, but I nudged his hand away. He glanced from me to the wings. “Always.”

I dived into the air as the wings flapped furiously, and he caught me.

Always.

FOURTEEN

PRICE

My mate was asleep, lying diagonally across the bed again.

He was face down with one hand thrown across my chest, and I had my hand on the small of his back, not wanting to let him go. The room was full of his scent, the one I’d cross an ocean for. But now there was a second faint scent, one made by him and me.

That’s the baby. My dragon wasn’t being nudged aside yet, he still had plenty of space, but I was prepared for his complaining as the baby grew. Your first.

I jolted up in bed, and Cam stirred. I paused, not moving and counting the seconds until he stilled.

No. My fourth. I have three children already.

I needed to see the kids, so I pulled on a robe and wandered along the corridor to Jack’s room. He’d thrown the quilt off, and I pulled it over him and kissed his cheek. This little pumpkin didn’t remember Allan, but I told him stories of when we were kids so he had a sense of my brother. And there was a photo near his bed of Allan holding Jack as a newborn. There were also plenty of photos of me and the girls with baby and toddler Jack.

Isla was asleep with a sketchbook in her hand and the lamp on. I had pics of Allan in his scales, and she was always trying to perfect her drawings of his beast as if by doing so, it’d refresh the memories that were just out of reach.

She murmured, “Night, Dad,” as I left the room.

But when I reached Bea’s room, her door was ajar. She was asleep, but just like Cam, she was lying across the bed. In some ways, she was so like my mate. They were thoughtful and kind, and there was a lot unsaid behind those dark eyes. But they shared a tendency to blurt out what they were thinking. I got an extra blanket and covered her, closing the door behind me.

In with the joy of the news was fear winding its way into my happiness, refusing to let me celebrate as I should have. It sank its teeth into me as my dragon did when he feasted on a deer. How would my three darlings accept Cam as my partner and mate as well as a baby? Would they feel pushed aside and worry I’d treat them differently when I had a biological child?

My thoughts went to Allan who’d adored his children and who was making them breakfast one morning and was gone by the evening. I stumbled into the courtyard, experiencing nausea which was a first.