Hoarded by the Dragon (Monstrous Matches, #4)(46)

I brush Katarina’s hair out of her face, sliding it behind her shoulder. The edges of a mark peek out from the neckline of her shirt.

The bite I’d given her during my heat is a neat scar. The white mark doesn’t stand out too much against her skin. It had healed over very quickly for a witch.

I should have known then.

But it wasn’t until the moment we believed her to be in danger that I’d known for sure.

Somehow, even without the ability to form a complete bond, my dragon has claimed Katarina as his mate.

He’s ready to accept this youngling into our lives despite the catastrophe of last time.

I’m the one who is still broken and unable to move on.

The cat leaving its place on Katarina is the only warning I get in the hurricane of my thoughts. The doors to the office burst open, and Katarina startles awake in my arms.

“Alright, old man, I’m here. The dagger barely touched me, but I figured you needed to make sure I was alive with your own two eyes—oh, shit!” Gage freezes midway in the room at the sight of Katarina on my lap.

“Dagger?” I ask, becoming more aware. “What dagger?”





22





KATARINA





I BLINK, trying to shake the fog from my nap. I’m still in Kalos’s lap, and there’s a surprised man that I don’t know staring at me.

The man’s face creases in confusion. “I thought—you know, that’s not important. Why did you want…” he trails off as his gaze drops to my stomach.

My very obvious stomach.

I may not recognize the man, but his presence feels like Kalos. His coloring is even similar, though his dark hair is wavy and his golden eyes have a warmer tone.

“Is this your son?” I ask, and Kalos flinches.

The man’s lips compress before he smiles. It’s a friendly, bewildered smile edged with a bitterness I can taste.

“No. Just his godson,” the stranger says.

“Katarina, this is Gage. Gage, this is Katarina…” Kalos trails off as if not knowing how to describe our relationship.

I shrug. “The woman miraculously pregnant with his baby without being mated to him.”

Kalos stiffens under me, and I push out of his lap, standing to offer my hand to shake.

Gage’s eyes widen. His eyes not moving from my belly. He doesn’t take my hand.

“I think—I think I’m going to come back later,” he says. There’s something warring behind his eyes.

Kalos massages the bridge of his nose. “That may be for the best.”

Gage doesn’t waste any time in escaping the room.

“Gage,” Kalos calls out, and the man stops at the threshold. “I’m glad the dagger barely touched you.”

Gage doesn’t turn. He just nods before leaving.

“Apologies,” Kalos says. “He needs time to process.”

I want to curl back up in my dragon’s lap, but sit on the edge of the desk instead, giving us both some space.

“You raised him?” I ask. I want to ask more questions, invasive questions, but Kalos’s shoulders are tight. He’s struggling, and my questions won’t help at this moment. Later I can interrogate him and make him tell me all about his history so I don’t trip over painful subjects like I just did.

Later, I’ll ask about my suspicion that the hole in Kalos’s heart that seems larger than the loss of a mate.

“I—yes. I raised him,” Kalos says, his eyes drop to my stomach. “I wanted to tell him about the youngling before he heard it from anyone else.”

And instead, Gage was met with the sight of my belly.

“I should have let you finish the introductions—” I start, but Kalos shakes his head.

“It would not have mattered. The way you introduced yourself is fitting enough.” There’s something mulling in Kalos’s eyes, and I recognize a partner in guilt. “I was not the father he needed.”

Ah.

“And now you’re being thrust back into that role again…” I shake my head. “We haven’t really discussed how involved you want to be. You don’t have to have an active role in our lives.”

I place my hand on my stomach, and the corresponding movement inside me derails my train of thought and leaves room for Kalos to interject.

“Dragons need a dragon mentor of some sort. There are struggles that are unique to us like controlling our shapeshifting and fire.” The words roll off his tongue as if he were a scholar rather than an expectant father.

I don’t want Kalos to feel compelled to raise a child he didn’t mean to create. I don’t want us to be a burden he takes on out of guilt or honor. “Nothing says that the dragon has to be you. Maybe Gage—”

The vicious sound that comes from Kalos’s throat cuts me off. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. It doesn’t seem to help because he’s standing toe-to-toe with me in the next moment.

“Another dragon will not take what is mine.” His eyes glow gold, full of annoyance and possessiveness.

I swallow my tongue instead of arching my brow and challenging like I should. I try to tamp down the delighted thrill at his words. The man just admitted to being a disappointment the last time he parented.