Page 14 of Her Dragon
“Thank goodness,” Evette breathed as she awkwardly dropped down onto one of the oversized patio chairs. “As soon as I said it, I realized you don’t have his claiming bite on your neck and was scrambling to come up with another way to explain what I meant. Unfortunately, the pregnancy hormones are wreaking havoc with my brain cells, so I didn’t come up with much.”
“Are you eating another pickle?” the woman asked.
“Yeah, but it’s Marielle’s fault,” Evette insisted.
“Marielle is such a pretty name.” The woman stretched her hand out to shake mine. “I’m Laina, Keane’s mate.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I laughed softly, shaking my head. “That’s an understatement. It’s great to know that I’m not the only woman here who had no clue shifters existed until she met a guy who claimed they were destined to be together. It makes me feel less alone, if that makes any sense when I somehow already know that Artemis would do just about anything for me. Assuming that’s what happened with you two…”
I trailed off once I realized I was babbling, a habit of mine when I was nervous.
Laina reached out to squeeze my hand. “We definitely understand. It’s a lot to wrap your head around at first.”
“Definitely,” Evette agreed with a nod. “But you need to know that Artemis wouldn’t do just about anything for you. There are no boundaries he wouldn’t cross for you.”
“Especially if it concerns your safety,” Laina added.
Evette rested her hand over her rounded belly. “Or your kids when you have them.”
How quickly things had changed for me. I couldn’t even imagine going on a date yesterday, but here I was, talking about being with Artemis forever and having his babies. As someone who usually took forever to make a decision, I was surprised by how easily I had accepted that we belonged together. Then again, seeing him shift into a giant dragon kind of blew any of my preconceived notions out of the water.
Tapping my shoulder, I mumbled, “We haven’t done the official claiming yet, let alone had the chance to talk about babies.”
“Just wait. Shifter males take over-the-top protectiveness to a whole new level,” Laina warned.
Evette giggled. “And not just the alphas.”
My parents’ style of child-rearing had been fairly hands-off, except for when it came to letting me know what I was doing wrong. So I had spent most of my life looking out for myself. Having someone who wanted to watch out for me sounded…nice. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“If it has to do with our relationship, you’d better.” Artemis stepped outside with another man directly behind him. “Because you’re never getting rid of me now that I’ve finally found you.”
He flung his arm around me, and I tilted my head back to grin up at him. “Right back at ya.”
“I like her.” The other man smiled at Artemis. “She’s got you saying more than one-word sentences.”
“Mine,” Artemis growled, making all of us laugh.
The man inclined his head toward me. “Since your grumpy mate didn’t see fit to introduce us, I’ll do the honors myself. I’m Keane.”
“I assumed.” I smiled at him, and Artemis pulled me closer.
Laina sidled up next to her husband, leaning against his side. “He’s even more possessive than you were when we first met.”
“Because I sank my canines into you only an hour later.”
My eyes widened at Keane’s answer. “An hour?”
Artemis bumped his hip against me. “It didn’t take much longer for us to fall into bed with each other.”
I reached up and covered his lips with my hand, my cheeks heating. “You don’t need to share all of our secrets with everyone.”
“Nobody in The Wilderness Pack is going to judge you for moving fast,” Evette assured me, pointing at her rounded belly. “That would be like throwing stones at glass houses. Leyton knocked me up with twins the first week we were together.”
Laina nodded. “Love at first sight is par for the course in the world of shifters.”
Moving fast was a massive understatement. I’d only met Artemis yesterday, but I wasn’t freaked out by the idea of saying those three little words as I should be. My feelings for him were growing by leaps and bounds, and he hadn’t even fully claimed me yet. At this rate, when he sank his teeth into my shoulder, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was hard to hold back those words, no matter how quickly our relationship progressed.