Page 5 of Winter at Stonefire

"Maybe. I might need a kiss first, for some encouragement."

He nipped her bottom lip. "More like a reminder of what'll be waiting for you when you're done."

Her mate kissed her, long and hard, leaving her breathless and her lips swollen. However, Layla didn't mind the reminder. If anything, it made her more open to the idea of taking up Bram's offer to have someone watch their bairns. A few hours alone with Chase wouldn't hurt.

Her dragon grunted.Finally. I'm going to sleep all day to conserve my strength.

You were going to sleep all day, anyway. You hate when doctors talk shop.

It's boring. But you love it, so I'll leave you to it.

As her dragon curled up inside her head and fell asleep, Layla merely walked next to her mate and smiled. At one time, she'd thought she would never have time for a mate. And now? She couldn't imagine her life without Chase.

And later, she would show him just how much he meant to her, too.

ChapterFour

Kai Sutherland tried to focus on what his second-in-command, Nikki Gray-Hartley, was saying, but his mind kept wandering back to the night before, when he'd glimpsed sadness on Jane's face. She didn't think he'd noticed, and Kai hadn't asked about it since he didn't want to distract her from her important presentation coming up. However, he never liked seeing his mate unhappy.

His dragon spoke up.She's stressed.

It's more than that, dragon.

In truth, Kai wondered if the failed fertility treatments were the cause. Because no matter how often he told Jane that she was all he wanted, she didn't believe him.

His beast huffed.It's because of our mum.

Maybe. But after I talked to Mum privately, she stopped asking about grandchildren.

Well, we'll have to find out soon what made her sad. Jane rarely keeps secrets from us.

Not about important stuff. She'll always sneak out to investigate something, if she thinks it's important.

It was true—while Jane had gotten better about letting him know if she had to rush off for a story or information, every once in a while she did it in secret and told him after the fact. Something about it being easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

As if Kai would ever truly hinder his mate and keep her caged in.

His beast grunted.In some extreme cases, you would.

Nikki snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Are you listening, Kai?"

"Sorry, Nikki. Jane has her big presentation later today, and it's on my mind."

Only a half-lie. He hoped more than anything the clan leaders would approve of Jane's idea.

Nikki replied, "I know. But it's bound to go brilliantly. Most dragon-shifters love children, and their old prejudices against half-human dragon-shifters are mostly dead. To be honest, I'm not sure why the DDA didn't suggest we take in abandoned orphans years ago."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, yes, things weren't exactly warm between us for a long time. But the relationship between our clan and the DDA has improved and been decent for quite a few years now. If they were still stuck in the past, I wouldn't have Rafe as my mate."

Nikki was mated to a human male named Rafe Hartley, who was Jane's brother. Mating between human males and female dragon-shifters had been rare for decades, until Nikki's case. There were two other such pairings on Lochguard now, although the other clans hadn't embraced the changes quite as quickly. Not all of them were set in their old ways. But Clan Skyhunter in the South of England had gone through a lot in recent years and was clawing their way back from a brutal, dictator-like clan leader. One that had even tortured his own people.

His dragon growled.I wish we could've had some time alone with that bastard.

I know. But if we had, then we wouldn't be here for Janey. We'd be in prison.

His beast grunted.There's a lot you can do without technically breaking the rules.