Page 64 of To Spark a Dragon's Love
“No!” Harper cried. Her voice was stuck somewhere between sleep and awake as she shoved at her mother’s chest. “I want Malachy.”
23
Willow
Bare Necessities
Malachy gave me an apologetic look as he sat on the edge of Harper’s bed. My daughter crawled into his arms. She hiccupped a few times, breaking my heart with each little sob, as she buried her face into someone else’s chest.
“It’s okay, little one.” The deep timbre of his voice was a masculine lullaby. “The monsters can’t get you here. You’re safe.”
“Because you’re bigger than all of them.” Harper sniffed, sounding like she’d rehearsed that line.
“Damn straight,” Malachy said.
And I realized they’d had this conversation before. A secret between the two of them I wasn’t privy to. A memory my daughter made with the dragon who was slowly prying open my heart.
I wasn’t sure I liked this.
“You’re never going to leave us, right?” Harper and her questions. She always cut straight to the bone.
I looked up at the ceiling, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that I was listening to see if he’d lie to her.
“I’ll do everything I can to stay.” Somehow hearing the truth in his rough voice was worse.
He couldn’t do this to us—make promises he shouldn’t have to keep. We weren’t his problem. No matter how much I was starting to hope we’d be.
That was the dangerous thing about falling in love at my age. It came with knowing your limitations and faults and realizing you might not be that loveable after all once someone saw all of you.
Harper yawned.
“All right, time for bed,” I said, grateful for the excuse to get things back to normal. Or as normal as they could be for the night.
“You can go to sleep, Mommy.” Harper crawled off his lap and back under the covers. “Malachy is going to tuck me in.”
I paced outside the bedroom door and tried to gather my thoughts. She was crazy if she thought I’d leave her alone, but if my daughter wanted me to wait in the hall, I would.
Harper was falling in love with him. Latching onto him like she would a father. How was I supposed to protect her from getting hurt? I could probably keep them separate as much as possible, have her spend more time with Kieran and Lucan if she needed a male role model.
But my gut told me that Malachy needed her just as much as she needed him.
How cruel would it be for me to keep them apart?
Damn it all.This was not supposed to happen.
I justified the mate bond with Malachy, knowing he was holding back, because it was for the good of the world, but sacrificing my daughter’s heart?
I wouldn’t. Not even if it meant—
The door creaked open, stopping my mental spiral, and Malachy closed it behind him. Tired bags hung under his eyes as he dragged his hand through his hair.
“She’s asleep,” he whispered.
I nodded, suddenly blinking back tears. I could count on one hand the number of nights someone else had put my kid to bed. But that wasn’t the only thing tearing me up.
“We need to talk,” I said.
It was Malachy’s turn to nod. “I’ll do more. There is a gift coming for you tomorrow which should help ease some of your burden. I’ve noticed how hard you’ve been working around here. I want you to know that I understand your concerns. I’ll try to be more deserving of the bond. We can make plans outside of the—”
