Page 24 of Hoarded By the Dragon

I want to ask him what exactly he’s apologizing for, but I don’t really want to dwell on the way his accusation burned me or how the words the morning after our night together still have the power to make my heart twinge. This isn’t about me.

This is going to be awkward for both of us.

“The baby is okay?” I ask.

“Yes, and healthy.”

I blow out a breath in relief. “And I don’t have to turn into a popsicle?”

“That is an unusual reaction, but it makes sense. Dragons are usually hatched in eggs. Their development depends on how much heat energy they are fed—”

“Am I’m going to lay an egg?” I ask without thinking, my eyes wide.

Kalos has the grace not to laugh at me, but I catch his lips twitching before he answers.

“I don’t believe so. I have never heard of a witch carrying a dragon’s young. I would have assumed that you’d produce a witch, but with the way the whelp is sucking heat away from you, they will be a dragon. It will just take a form compatible with you during gestation.”

“Okay, so a live birth and a baby?”

Kalos nods. I’m caught on that detail for a moment. I haven’t really thought any further than handling this day by day, and the hellish effect of always being cold hasn’t left much time to consider other things.

I nod after absorbing the information. I’m having a baby. A baby that will turn into a dragon.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “You were saying something about dragon eggs needing heat?”

“The parents will usually blow fire on their egg.” Kalos’s mouth twists in discomfort but continues. “The more fire, the shorter the incubation.”

“But I won’t survive under fire,” I squeak, and it breaks Kalos out of whatever thoughts are bothering him.

He shrugs. “You may, you may not. Your body will change to fit the needs of the whelp. At this moment, it would seem that you’ll be able to get by on the heat needs with my assistance.”

“How are you better than a heated blanket?”

His brows raise.

I shake my head. “I mean, how can you holding me satisfy that need… more than a heated blanket?” There’s really no polite way to ask that.

Kalos’s lips curve, and I’m grateful he doesn’t take offense. “I can manipulate heat energy since fire is my element. The heat draw of your child doesn’t deplete me in the same way it does to everything or anyone else.”

Like me. The baby is depleting my heat. I’ve only been at this for a week and am already lacking in something that they need.

“It’s your child too,” I whisper.

A flash of pain in Kalos’s eyes has me snapping my mouth shut.

“Yes.” His voice is like rocks grinding together, and he shakes his head. He stands, walking to the window as if to take a moment before responding. “You will move in here of course—”

“Of course? Why would I move in here?” Sometimes I open my mouth before thinking. Kalos turns back and exasperation already edges his mood, but he answers my interruption.

“Because we don’t know how often you’ll need my assistance,” he says patiently.

“Why wouldn’t you just be able to come over to my place for a cuddle?” I ask, even though the idea of this polished man hanging out in my tiny apartment makes me cringe.

Kalos’s jaw tenses. “I wouldn’t be able to protect you as well if you reside elsewhere.”

Technically if I need protection, he could hire a bodyguard, but that statement is hinting at other undercurrents. Dread pools in my belly.

“And are we going to need protection?” I ask.

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