Mathan nodded, his face going blank again as he headed for the kitchen door. “Sure. But let’s go out by the fire in the living room. Alanna feels chilled.”
I doubted it. He’d wrapped her well, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. I got the fire going again, adding another log, while Mathan settled into a recliner, using one of the throw pillows to prop Alanna up to feed her. She immediately started sucking down her bottle greedily. Content now that she was being fed, her eyes nearly crossed as she slipped a small hand free of the blanket and reached up to touch the scruff on Mathan’s cheek.
I sat opposite them and leaned my head back against the chair cushion, exhaustion settling deep as worry for Piper crept in.
I missed her.
She’d only been here a few weeks, and she’d avoided me the whole time, but I still missed her. I missed her scent as I walked around the Lodge. I missed the sound of her movements, and the simple awareness my bear and I had of her when she was in the same space as us. It had felt... right. Being with her felt right.
Which was one of the reasons it hurt so much that she’d avoided me for weeks, only to take off and leave me protecting the person who was the most precious to her in the world. It lefta muddle of emotions tangled inside me, all snarled together like last year’s Christmas lights.
“You know,” I said finally, my voice low, “they say it’s worth it. Finding a mate. Having cubs.”
Mathan glanced at me, eyebrows raised. “Does it feel like that right now? With your mate who-knows-where, and after becoming a guardian overnight?”
I was spared trying to figure out the answer to that question when the front door opened and Emrie and Roarke came in, carrying what looked like a few dozen shopping bags each. I blinked. That was a lot of stuff for one little cub.
Roarke looked grumpier than usual, probably due to the late hour, but Emrie’s face lit up when she spotted us in the living room. She lifted her bags in triumph. “We got everything, Alpha!”
I got up immediately to take a few of the bags from her, earning Roarke’s grateful look. I could tell he’d already offered and had been turned down flat. I carried them to the couch and spread them all out. After Roarke set his down on the couch as well, I quickly counted them all, just out of curiosity. Thirty. There werethirtyshopping bags here, filled to the brim with baby things. “I think you guys might have gone overboard.”
Roarke chuckled. “You thinkthisis bad?” he said in a low voice. “You should see our house. It looks like someone is using our home as storage for a baby superstore. Emrie isnesting.”
“I heard that, you tattle-tale dragon!”
I laughed, then yawned and shook myself to wake up a bit. It shouldn’t be possible to be this tired already. I hadn’t even had Alanna for twenty-four hours yet.
I glanced sideways at Roarke, and dragon flame flared in his eyes. I knew it was a protective thing, and that he was noting my exhaustion. To Roarke, all weaker shifters were under his protection, and he felt like it was his responsibility to take careof them. Since he was the second strongest shifter in the world, that covered a lot of people. Except the Prime. But in a way, him too, because he was our king.
I didn’t let it bother me, and I never felt threatened by it. One, I was a strong shifter in my own right, and two, he never tried to step on my toes when it came to my Clan. Also, Emrie was still one of my bears, so by extension, that made Roarke one of us.
It was odd, having a dragon in a group of bears and their mates. But that was the way life worked. The fact that he was more apex than me just required a little more care when he and Emrie came over to the Lodge.
“Looks like you got that bottle warmer set I was telling Alpha about,” Mathan said quietly, careful not to wake Alanna, who was just beginning to nod off.
But Mathan had a deep voice, and Alanna jerked awake at the sound anyway. She took one wide-eyed look at the newcomers in the room and started to whimper.
Emrie’s face softened as she reached for her. “Do you mind, Mathan? I haven’t met this precious baby yet.”
For a moment, it looked like Mathan might refuse. Then he relented and handed Alanna over. “Be gentle with her,” he said, completely unnecessarily. And because it was Emrie he was talking to, he said it more gently than he would have with anyone else. He had a soft spot for her. Really, most of the bears in our Clan did.
Emrie squeezed his shoulder in affection before taking the baby. “Of course.” Her attention dropped to Alanna’s big blue eyes. “Hi, angel. I’m so happy to meet you.”
Roarke shifted beside me, just slightly. Most people probably wouldn’t notice it, but my bear and I did. I glanced at him and caught the awe-filled expression on his face as he gazed athis mate, then had to look away when the emotion turned too intimate to witness.
Alanna blinked up at Emrie, blinked again, then started crying, her vocal cords reaching impressive new levels of unhappy.
“Oh, don’t cry, little cub.” Emrie drew her close, patting her back as she paced the living room and murmured softly to her. But no matter what she tried, Alanna didn’t settle. Her wails grew louder as her face flushed red with the force of her distress.
After a few minutes of being unable to soothe her, Emrie looked near tears. She was a sensitive bear to begin with, and being twelve weeks pregnant had only heightened that sensitivity.
I moved to help her and to take Alanna from her, but Roarke stayed me with a quick, pointed, flame-filled look. I stopped so suddenly it felt like I’d run into a brick wall, even as my eyes widened.
Shifters were possessive of their mates, especially when they were pregnant. That was completely normal for us. Dragons, however, seemed to take that instinct to an entirely new level.
Roarke drew his wife tenderly into his arms and kissed her forehead. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “Hatchlings can sense emotions. If you’re tired and anxious, she may be picking up on that. May I try?”
Emrie sniffled. “I thought I was being calm, though. I was just excited to finally hold her.” She glanced down at Alanna’s red, squalling face, and her eyes went soft with compassion as she handed her over to her mate, only to gape when Alanna instantly quieted in the dragon’s arms. Then all of us gaped when Roarke began singing to her in Gaelic.
