Page 22 of Hoarded By the Dragon

I catchher before she falls to the floor.

My thief.

My little liar.

I swallow, worried. Or not actually a liar.

Impossible.

Her body lacks any of the warmth that it should have, and she’s shivering. I place my hand on her face and curse. Her skin is like ice. I scoop her into my arms and sit us on the couch. I pull off her jacket and check under the sweater to make sure she has another layer before removing that as well.

“What does she need? A healer?” Ben asks.

“Grab me a blanket,” I say. She’s too cold for a human. I remove my own suit jacket and bring her to my chest. I press our bodies together and will my heat into her. Because of what I am, I run hot. Fire is my element, and I can burn down cities or do something as small as heating the woman on my lap.

Ben returns and pauses for a moment. Probably at the sight of me cradling the thief in my lap. He shakes the blanket out and wraps it around the side of her body not pressed against me.

“Do you want me to call someone to test the paternity?” Ben asks carefully.

“There’s no need.” My throat feels tight, raw. “I can sense it.”

I should have just extended my senses instead of antagonizing her. The dragon part of me has been a horror to deal with since that night. Snarling and moody and distracting me at every turn with the memory of our thief. And when Ben had said she was here, my frustration had boiled over.

I shouldn’t have taken out the beast’s reaction on her. Especially since she’s telling the truth.

It is impossible, but she’s pregnant and the spawn is mine. I can hardly breathe through the pain of it.

They’d made themselves known as soon as I’d stoked her anger. A prodding, hungry curiosity poking at my senses that had almost derailed me entirely. I’d blocked that mental channel of communication to keep myself focused.

“So we had a thief…” Ben starts, waiting for me to fill in the rest.

“Last week, during my heat.”

Ben’s brows shoot up. I send him and Maggie away during my yearly heats. They usually last a couple of days, and it’s hellish. This last one had been shorter. Apparently because it had been successful.

“What do you want to do?” Ben asks. “If anyone finds out, she’s going to be a target.”

That’s inevitable. The thief in my arms may already be entangled with unsavory individuals, but with this, she’s been forced into a world of different players. I have many enemies lying in wait. All it takes is for one to find out, and our whole world will know of my new weakness.

Acting as if I want nothing to do with the child or their mother won’t work either. Enough people are aware of my history. They know I’d never abandon my blood.

They will assume this woman’s place in my life based on the fact that dragons can only breed with their mate. I narrow my eyes at the white scar I’d left from my bite. The mark would pass for a mating mark if anyone else were to look for it.

But there is no bond tickling my senses.

“She’ll need to move in here,” I say, thinking quickly. It’s easier to think about specifics than to think about what she’s carrying. “There are side effects that only my presence will help with.”

The circles under her eyes are dark with exhaustion. The effect of the spawn draining her heat energy may be only one of many issues to deal with. I won’t know more until she wakes.

“I’ll tell Maggie to prepare a room for…” Ben trails off, waiting for me to name the woman in my arms.

I press my lips together before confessing. “I don’t know her name.”

Ben whistles. “I’ll start on that then.”

He picks up her jacket and pulls her wallet from the pocket. “If this ID is correct, her name is Katarina Smith.”

Katarina.It’s a nice name.

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