Page 25 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

While Aislin and Billie exchanged a look, Kiara staunchly avoided my eyes. My attention became focused on my fated mate. “Muriel said the baby has some kind of heart defect. I was hoping you could use some healing magic on her to help her.”

“That baby can die for all I care,” hissed Kiara.

Were circumstances different, I might have felt the same way, but after all the time I’d spent caring for the infant so far, I hated to admit that I had grown fond of her. She was helpless—she’d never asked to be brought into a world like this. I shared a kinship with her in that regard. “She’s done nothing wrong. I can’t just sit by and let her suffer.”

“I’m not touching that baby,” Kiara insisted, glaring at me.

Where I expected Aislin and Billie to speak up in defense of the child, they both remained silent. The dragons were their enemies, through and through. Apparently, that included the nameless infant.

“Fine,” I relented. Clutching the baby tighter, I gravitated toward Kiara, our fated mate bond once more imploring me to get closer to her. She slowly rose up to her knees, staring back at me in seething defiance. My expression remained unchanged. “Did you really think you could bust in here, steal Muriel out from under our noses, and escape without getting caught?”

“Yes.”

“Of course. Why else would you have shown up here if you didn’t think you could pull it off?” I mused. “Unless it was just to see me again.”

Kiara’s nose screwed up in disgust. “Don’t flatter yourself, you horny chump.”

I laughed to hide the stinging pain of her rejection. Then, leaning in and lowering my voice, I said, “Yet if you caught me in a room alone, I bet you wouldn’t be able to help yourself.”

“Yeah. Help myself from wringing your fucking neck!”

I tutted, covering the baby’s ears. “Language.” Actually, I didn’t want her vitriol to wake the infant and cause another round of crying.

The other two girls seemed immune to my coy teasing, something Aislin was already familiar with. They all glowered at me.

“How can you stand there cracking jokes like that?” snapped Aislin. “Like our lives aren’t on the line? Have you forgotten how your father’s minions killed my dad just a few weeks ago?”

“Or how David was going to sexually assault me?” Billie contributed with a coldness she’d never wielded at me before.

“Or how he is planning to slaughter my mother and me for our horns?” added Kiara.

I immediately regretted taunting Kiara. Our physical proximity made me stupid with lust, even in front of the other girls and Muriel, even while holding the baby in my arms, even despite everything they had all gone through because of my father’s greed. Guilt made me purse my lips and grumble as I took a step away from them all. “Fine, I get it.”

“Why don’t you just fuck off, Colt?” growled Aislin.

I opened my mouth to protest, glancing at Billie, who I thought was most likely to understand how very little I wanted to be involved in this.

She just huffed and shook her head, disappointed in me.

For a minute, I lingered wordlessly, then let my shoulders sink. I wanted badly to apologize for everything, to appeal to them and promise that I hadn’t wanted any of this to happen. I wanted to search for a solution and help them escape. But with the two dragon shifter guards breathing down my neck, there was nothing I could do or say that wouldn’t immediately incriminate me.

So, without saying anything, I turned and walked away. They were probably burning with the satisfaction of thinking they were right about me—that I was every bit as despicable as they thought. It hurt that I couldn’t prove them wrong.

Instead of seeking the comfort of solitude, my feet took me through the cavern to my father’s room, where he was resting on the floor in his sleeping bag. I only wanted to check in on him, compelled by duty and the desire to feel useful to someone, but his eyes were open. He was awake and staring at the stalactites in the ceiling before turning his head to look at me. “You’re still carrying that child everywhere.”

“I don’t want her to get cold. She’s starting to sleep more…but I don’t think she’s doing well.”

David sneered, disinterested in the infant now. “Perhaps you should let her die. That’ll teach Lothair not to vanish when we need him most.”

“I’m not going to just let her die.”

My father grunted as he sat up, slinging an arm over the bandages wrapped around his abdomen. “Your valiance is wasted on Lothair, you know. He’s going to be abandoning his daughter anyway when he turns Lycan.”

“And you’ll be abandoning me,” I countered.

“You’re capable of ensuring your own survival. You’ll become the Alpha of Dalesbloom in my stead. Which reminds me, I’ve yet to see you prove you’re even worthy of the role. Perhaps I should give it to Garrett instead.”

I wondered if that might be the wisest choice in the long run. Then I could flee without the responsibility of a pack—and my father’s crimes—on my shoulders. I averted my eyes, unwilling to speak my thoughts.

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