Page 28 of Delivered to My Dragons

I dug in my heels.

“If I have to, I’ll just keep you in the basement chained to a wall and then cut my son out of you when the time comes. Bury you in the woods.”

I started to say it wasn’t a boy, but with his treatment of me, he’d probably just kill us both. And he thought he could slay my dragons? I opened my mouth to scream, but he slapped a hand over it. Rage shoved away the last of the fear I’d had upon seeing him, cold fierce rage that gave me strength I would never have had the courage to express.

I bit savagely into his palm, piercing the skin and flesh and trying to reach bone. He roared and jerked his hand back, blood streaming from the wounds. He released my arm and gaped at his injury. “You bit through an artery.”

I moved backward slowly, watching the blood with a pleasure I’d never have had before he taught me how to hate. “Did I? Good.” I took a few more steps, trying for as much space as possible before he made the decision to kill me before fixing his hand—which would require shifting.

I didn’t want to see his bear angrier than I had in the past. So far, any physical abuse against me was only in human form, and his huge bear with claws like knives could slash me far worse than I’d done him. I’d be dead in one swipe.

The air around him seemed to change, his skin roughening, hairs shooting out as his form began to shift. I turned to run, the scream blocked before ringing from my lips as I took a few running steps and slammed into a man’s chest. I shrieked, struggling to get away from whichever of Killian’s minions had come to check on him.

“Iris, shhh.” Keir’s arms closed around me. “It’s going to be all right. Did he hurt you?”

“No, but he wants to chain me in the basement and cut the baby out of me. And slay my dragons. He’s shifting. He will heal his hand and come after us.”

“No, he won’t.” Keir turned me around to see Nix and half a dozen bodyguards wearing black T-shirts with the pockets emblazoned with their company logo. They stood on alert, but it was not them who had Killian pinned to the ground in half-bear, half-human state. Still bleeding.

The men who held him down were not wearing any kind of uniform, just jeans and random shirts and work boots. But over them towered a gray-bearded elder with an expression I would never want directed at me. “Phoenix, Keir, what do you want us to do with him?”

“It’s up to our mate.” Nix waved Keir and me closer. “Iris, this is Gunaji, the new leader of the bear clan Killian broke off from. He and his men just arrived to talk to you about what happened with Killian before deciding what to do about him. But now, having seen his violence toward a female carrying a cub, they offer you the courtesy of deciding whether they should kill him now, let him bleed out, or take him away to deal with him on their own.”

I chewed my lip, considering. “I don’t really know what to say. A minute ago, I thought he was going to kill me, and I would have let him die to keep him from harming my child or my mates. Or me. But it’s not self-defense if I ask you to end him now. I would say, rather, ask me any questions about our time together or what you might not have seen today. I will answer honestly. Then subject him and his men to the justice you think appropriate.” I had no idea he’d gone rogue, but it made sense now.

“Very well. We already have some information from your mates, and we saw what we saw today. I don’t think we need to ask you any more questions after that. We will take him away and vow that neither you nor any of your family will be troubled by him or any of his followers again.” He gave a small bow and then turned again toward Killian bleeding on the ground.

Keir steered me back toward the house and, after a low murmur of voices, Nix joined us.

I refused to look back. “Will they kill him?”

Nix shrugged. “He didn’t say, but you can believe he will not be showing up again. They can be very severe with their own, and going rogue was already a crime. Harming a pregnant female…that’s bad.”

“Do they know he was the one who got me pregnant?”

“I didn’t tell them, but they got enough of the timeline that they must. He mentioned that if you have any need to talk to someone about your cub when it gets to shifting age, he is at your service.” And was likely the baby’s grandfather. Honorable, too. But I’d deal with that later if it ever seemed necessary. “Let’s forget him. We have a life to live. That is, if you’re sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“No. He wanted to, but I bit him. Hard.”

Keir chuckled. “Our fierce mate.”

We went into the house and closed the door on my past. My daughter was safe from Killian and any and all others who might seek to harm her. Our daughter. Nix’s and Keir’s and mine.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Iris

“It’s perfect.” I stood in the nursery doorway, taking in the gorgeous room we’d all set up together. A smallish area off our suite, where we could hear her if she cried in the night. The guys had been all set to go pink, but I’d never loved the color and with the confusion of everyone thinking she was a boy, I wanted something more neutral, something we could add to when she expressed her own likes and dislikes. The dragons said the confusion lay in the fact she was strong and powerful and that alpha males didn’t always recognize that females could be those things. Even my males, although they’d been pretty happy when I bit Killian. We hadn’t heard what happened to him, although his father, the alpha, had let us know, once again, that he was at our service should we need him. I didn’t mind her knowing her grandfather, one day, if that seemed appropriate. Especially if she was a bear shifter, as seemed likely. But her bio dad, if he still lived, would never again come near any of us. He also reiterated that fact, just didn’t say what it meant.

For now, I was glad to be able to get ready for our little girl’s arrival. Her crib was all made up with the softest, sweetest bedding, her dresser filled with folded onesies and tiny T-shirts and all the cutie-pie things a baby needs. We were ready, and Cari the healer said it could be any day now.

“Mate?” Nix said from behind me. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” I was ready to give birth, and my mates were going to give me one last thrill as a woman without a baby to watch after. “I am so excited.”

I let him help me downstairs, chuckling inside at the idea that I was going to climb on a dragon and fly away with my current body shape. Cari said it was all right, though, as long as I felt up to it.

Watching my mates shift was one of my favorite things to do, and for one reason or another I hadn’t managed the ride until now. I stood to the side of the yard watching them undress. I’d decided long ago that leering at one’s mates was acceptable. Especially since they preened under my regard and often things turned spicy later.

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