Page 71 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

“I want to be with my family,” she said.

I shook my head. “You’re carrying a dragon baby,” I pointed out. “You can’t raise them among humans.”

“Half-dragon,” she corrected. “Neither of us knows for sure what will happen. Maybe they won’t be a shifter after all. They might not have any of your powers.”

“That’s not how it works,” I said.

“You don’t know that, Damon. None of you do. It’s not like there are humans giving birth to hybrids on the regular. It could go either way.”

“Not according to the past.”

“You can’t keep me here,” she said confidently.

“And you can’t raise a dragon baby among humanity,” I replied, struggling to keep my voice calm. “If the government figures it out, and they will, they’ll take our child. They’ll use it for experiments just like they did Vicek. That’s what your people do, Elanya!”

I failed to stay calm. My anger at how Vicek had been treated surged to the surface.

“I’ll figure it out!” she snapped back. “At least my people, the ones I know, aren’t going to frame me and ruin my life.”

Her point sank home. It was true. I was the one who had done that. However …

“The police won’t believe you,” I pointed out. “You go back there, and they’ll come for you. They’ll arrest you. Toss you back in jail.”

“Unlikely. They think I’m here. They aren’t looking for me anymore. I’ll just say I’m someone else. That I lost all my info when you invaded. I had to flee, and I had none of it with me. I’ve helped more than enough people who have been in just that situation, thanks to your invasion. I know how to make it work for me.”

“Your people started it,” I growled. “Kidnapping one of us and immediately conducting experiments on him. Don’t act like we’re the bad people here.”

“No. Just you.”

I flinched as the knife blade of her words plunged deep. She wasn’t wrong.

“Even if I take you back,” I said quietly. “I can’t get you across the border. Even that’s beyond me. How will you get home safely? My people watch the borders as much as yours.”

She scoffed. “I was evading border patrols from both sides for months before you came along. That part I can handle just fine. Just take me close. I’ll do the rest, thank you very much. I’m capable of that.”

“I believe you,” I told her. “But I don’t want you to go.”

“This isn’t about you,” she said. “You had your chance, Damon. You could have told me the truth from the moment I showed up here. Explained to me what your mission was, that you were sorry. Been open and honest with me about it all. I can’t guarantee things would have worked out differently, but they certainly might have. But you didn’t do that. You lied to me. On purpose!”

I stood rock-still in the face of her barrage, accepting the criticism. Because she was right.

“Okay,” I said.

“Okay what? Okay, you’ll take me home? Or okay, I’m right?”

“Both. I’ll take you home because you’re right. I did lie to you. It probably means nothing that I don’t like it, that I feel bad about it. But I do.”

“But you wouldn’t undo it, I know,” she said, grabbing her human clothes and closing the bathroom door to change.

I waited in silence, fighting to ignore my dragon’s protests. It couldn’t understand. To the beast inside, my mate was right there. All I had to do was reach out and take her. Nuanced emotion and situational awareness were too much to ask of it.

“Thank you,” she said a bit stiffly once she emerged, tossing the glani she’d been wearing on the bed.

“For what?”

“Agreeing to take me home. For not forcing me to stay. I … appreciate that.”

I pushed aside the sadness in me. The longing to hear her call my place home. That, however, was not something I was likely to experience.

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