Page 73 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

“What?” I shook my head. “I don’t need you to do that, Damon. It’s okay. I’ll manage.”

I wasn’t sure how I would do that just yet, but I would. My family would find a way to help me. They were great like that.

“It’s going to happen. Just accept it. You can do whatever you want with it as long as you give our child a good life,” he said, putting his head down and walking faster. “A life I can’t give them.”

Something wedged itself a little deeper in my stomach, gripping my organs and squeezing them violently until tears sprang into my eyes. I blinked them back furiously, not wanting to let it show.

It was for the best for my baby. I knew that. My head knew it.

So, why did it hurt so goddamn badly?

“Dragon!” he hissed, snatching me around the waist and dragging me into the nearest building, a former coffee shop, its windows shattered and its floor filled with debris.

A moment later, the sound of wings cutting through the air reached us as the beast swooped past and headed onward.

I sighed, sagging forward slightly.

“It’s okay,” Damon said gruffly, patting my shoulder. “We’re safe. The baby is safe. I swear to you, I won’t let any harm come to you on this side of the border. I wish I could promise more, that I could protect you out there, but …”

“I know,” I said into the silence that followed. “I know.”

We crept out of the building slowly, Damon leading the way with his sharper eyesight.

“Clear,” he said, and we resumed our advance.

It would have been far more convenient to have set down next to the border, but unfortunately, that would have drawn far too much attention. I couldn’t have the soldiers aware I was in any way associated with the dragons. Not if my plan to create a new identity was going to work.

So, we walked for over two hours to make sure they didn’t have any idea. Two hours of silence and occasionally rushing into a building as one of the dragon’s random patrols swept by overhead. Near the end, we crept from building to building, spending more time indoors than out.

“Okay,” I said at last. “This is it. I’ve got to go alone from here.”

We were a block and a half away from the border. If I peered around the corner, I could see the tanks and other heavy artillery pointing deep into the city.

Unfortunately, it was clear ground between my current position and the soldiers. A city park right in the way. I had to cross that open area to make it to safety. Which meant Damon couldn’t accompany me any further.

I stared up at him, waiting. This was it. His last chance to speak up, to ask me to stay. I probably wouldn’t. But my resistance was weaker than it had been when we’d left the Isles. I was a strong, confident woman. I knew that.

But I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t terrified at doing it alone. My hand strayed to my stomach without thinking. Feeling it, searching for the tiniest hint of a bump. There was nothing. Yet. That would change. It would swell and grow until my ankles hurt and I peed a little every time I tried to sit up.

And then I would give birth.

“Are you okay?” Damon asked as I swiped at my face.

“Fine,” I lied, adjusting the backpack to sit better.

He opened his mouth to speak, but another interrupted him first.

“You two,” a deep growl said as the dragon swept past overhead. “Stop!”

I could hear shouts from the soldiers as they leaped to readiness. Guns lifted to the air, missiles rising on racks from farther behind, ready to target the huge violet beast that settled on the street behind us, prowling forward on all fours, slinking over buildings like a shadow, its tongue flicking in its mouth, smoke curling up from the corners of its nostrils.

“Get around the building,” Damon ordered. When I didn’t move, he shoved me. “Go!”

I stumbled backward onto the sidewalk, ducking out of sight just before a wave of flame gushed out into the streets.

“DAMON!” I shrieked.

A second later, the building on the corner exploded as another dragon erupted out from it. I ran for it, dodging the rock and brick that rained down. Apparently, Damon had plunged into the building a second before he could be burned alive.

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