Page 1 of Winter at Stonefire

ChapterOne

Jane Hartley pushed her new reading glasses up the bridge of her nose and scanned the contents of her presentation and proposal yet again. She had one chance and one chance only to win over all the dragon clan leaders and get them to agree to her plan. It had to be perfect.

She was so focused on her laptop that she jumped when hands began massaging her shoulders. Her mate, Kai Sutherland, leaned down and kissed her cheek. "You need a break, Janey."

Sighing, she leaned her head back against Kai's firm stomach and looked up at him. "It's nearly done, I promise. I just don't want to fuck this up."

Her mate continued to massage her shoulders as he said, "You won't. I'm helping you, so it can't go wrong."

She rolled her eyes. "And the cockiness comes out again."

His lips twitched. "It's not cocky if it's true."

"Kai, I know what you're doing. But be serious for a moment and think of all the children we'll be helping."

"If you're telling me to be more serious, then I know you've worked too long." She opened her mouth to reply, but he beat her to it. "There's no way the clan leaders will turn away the orphaned dragon-shifters. Not after what we learned about the facility we rescued Percy from."

Just thinking of the half-human and half-dragon-shifter woman who'd arrived earlier in the year only made Jane more determined. Percy Smith—now Wells—had been an orphan sold at age thirteen to a facility where they had conducted experiments and routinely abused her. She hadn't been the only one to suffer, either; some of the former prisoners were still recovering on Stonefire.

Percy had been slow to open up, but eventually had shared more and more with Jane and a few other women on Stonefire about her time inside that place. The truths had only stoked a new fire inside of Jane—to stop orphanages full stop and to have the dragon children living with the dragon clans in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Especially since so many people wanted more children, but some dragon-shifters had trouble conceiving.

Some humans, too, like her.

Before her mind could go down that path again, Kai gently caressed her cheek, and she snapped out of her head as he said, "Come, love. Take a break with me."

She could fight it, but Jane knew her mate was right, that she was more than prepared. After all, she'd spent weeks on this presentation and plan. Her meeting with the clan leaders was the following afternoon, and there was little she could do to improve what she already had.

Jane leaned away from her mate, took off her glasses, and stood. As soon as she was upright, Kai swung her around and pulled her flush against him. He kissed the bridge of her nose. "I rather like your new glasses. Maybe you should wear them to bed."

She raised an eyebrow. "We tried that already, and you broke the first pair."

He smiled at her—one that bordered on a grin, which he only gave to her—and replied, "That was my dragon, not me."

Looping her arms around his neck, she pressed herself more against Kai's hard chest. "Don't make him the scapegoat. You're one and the same. Well, most of the time. He's still the only one who sides with me on the importance of dragon cuddles."

Kai grunted. "And that won't change."

She stood on her tiptoes and whispered, "You say that, but I know exactly how to change your mind." She ran one hand down his chest and over his belly until she could stroke his already hard cock through his jeans. When he sucked in a breath, she squeezed harder. "Because after sex, you always want dragon cuddles."

With a growl, Kai stepped back and swooped Jane into his arms. "I'll take that as a deal, one we need to seal right now."

She laughed. "Of course you want to." She kissed him gently before adding, "So what are you waiting for?"

Kai didn't waste time dashing up the stairs to their bedroom, laying her on the bed, and shredding her clothes with his talons. She'd learned long ago that scolding him about destroying her jeans and tops did nothing. No, she'd torture him her own way later—with her mouth.

But as her mate kissed every inch of her body, made her come with his mouth, and then claimed her with his cock, she forgot about everything else. Right here, right now, she had the love of her life naked and inside her.

However, despite the fact she came before him—Kai was determined on that point—when he finally growled and stilled inside her pussy, Jane resisted the little pang of sadness that always came recently. They'd tried for nearly a year to have a baby, and not even Sid's fertility treatments had worked.

It came down to the fact that Jane wasn't compatible with dragon-shifters. Sid said that was changing, as her dragon doctor group had all sorts of ideas about how to circumvent that, to make it possible for her and Kai to have a child.

And yet, nothing had worked so far. Kai said he didn't care and that she was all he wanted, but Jane often wondered about that. Especially since a true mate would've been able to give him a child, and she wasn't his.

As Kai hugged her to his side afterward, she pushed aside those thoughts and merely reveled in her mate's presence. Jane fell asleep to images of orphaned children arriving on Stonefire, one or two that might even come live with her and Kai. Because even if she could never give him a child, they could give other children a loving home.

Which was why she had to convince all the clan leaders of her plan.

ChapterTwo