Page 26 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

I stiffened abruptly, cocking an ear toward the sky as a distant sound caught my attention.

“Shit,” I whispered. “Get your stuff and pull it back under the trees. Go, go!”

I had drilled Elanya on the possibility, and she didn’t hesitate. She grabbed some of our bags and hauled them back out of sight. Meanwhile I pushed the mount of dirt on top of our firepit and scattered some stones before rushing over to the tent, picking it up, and hauling it back deeper under the cover of trees.

“Come on!” I hissed, waving at Elanya to get over to me with the last of our things.

The sound of dragon wings was close. Our clearing was quite small and would only be visible from directly above, but dragon eyes were very sharp. If they saw movement, that would be enough.

She reached the edge of the clearing and then yelped as her foot caught a root. I was moving in a flash, diving forward to catch her, twisting my body so I was underneath, taking the full brunt of the impact of her falling.

I hit the ground an instant before she landed on me. Rolling, I scooped her up in my arms, pulling her in tight until we landed on the soft, loamy forest floor, that time with her on her back and me on top of her, my head stopping mere inches from her stomach.

“Shhh,” I said as quietly as possible as she opened her mouth to say something.

Overhead, two dragons swooped past. They didn’t linger, nor did they seem to change course at all. Hopefully, they hadn’t seen us.

“Phew,” I said moments later once they’d moved on. “That was close.”

“No kidding,” Elanya said, sagging into the ground.

I exhaled, resting my head on her stomach for a moment before—

My eyes shot open, shock racing down my spine, stiffening every muscle as I pressed my head a little harder to her belly.

“Damon?” Katie asked, staring down into my face, seeing my surprise. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” I asked softly. “What are you doing? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” She blinked, her pretty heart-shaped face scrunching up in confusion.

Sitting up, I looked at her, sighing heavily. The feigned ignorance wasn’t acceptable. Not in regard to this.

“How long have you known, Elanya?”

“Known what, Damon?” she said sarcastically.

I frowned. She was either a good actress, or …

“That you’re pregnant,” I said, watching carefully for her reaction.

Chapter Fourteen

Elanya

I laughed. It was easier to do that than it was to deal with the pain that always came along with the topic of pregnancy. A pain only I knew. The pain of exclusion.

Damon did not laugh.

“That’s not even a good joke,” I told him, pulling away. “First off, I’m not pregnant. I can’t be. But second, even if I somehow magically was, do you think I’m dumb enough to believe you can tell by what? Communing with my belly? That’s not how it works.”

“My dragon can sense it,” he said, climbing to his feet, taking a moment to peer through the trees in search of the dragons to ensure they’d continued past.

“What? Like some sort of magic spell? Come on, Damon. Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, dismissing him. “Are you trying to distract me from the fact that those dragons were looking for us. For you, I mean? You don’t need to bother. I know already.”

“I’m not trying to distract you from anything, Elanya,” he said.

I shivered at how my name sounded coming from his mouth. Enough, I told myself, building a wall around my mind designed to keep any Damon-ness from affecting me.

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