Chapter Sixteen
Emily’s eyes popped open with a start, or was it a pinch? She groaned and tried turning on her side. Serve the little bugger right for keeping her awake for most of the night. Sun dragons weren’t nocturnal, except no one had told this little one any different. She grimaced again as it kicked her. “All right. Enough.”
She yawned and stretched her hands above her head. She felt the shell pull at her skin where they were fused together. She reached down to rub the spot.
Beneath her hand, the egg cracked.
Emily froze. She felt the shell under her fingertips split apart. Her breath held. The babe inside rammed her left side. She rolled out of bed, staggering to her feet.
Alarm jolted through her. “Blake!”
She glanced toward the open window. His jeans still crumpled at the side of the bed where he left them the night before. Their bed empty, while some men went commando, her man went dragon in the morning. With the sun on the rise, she couldn’t wait for his return.
She hissed. A slow long breath releasing through her lips as the baby pinched her again. She pulled on one of Blake’s discarded shirts and slipped on her sandals.
She hoped Bogdan hadn’t gone to bed and could find Blake.
Her heart thundering in her chest with excitement, she made it to the top of the stairs. Hearing footsteps down below, she spotted Naomi. “Thank goodness you are here!” Emily waddled her way down the stairs. “The egg, it’s cracked!”
Naomi rushed up the stairs to meet her. “Are you sure?”
Emily lifted the shirt to show her. She held onto the railing while the other woman ran her hands over the egg, feeling for the crack. Naomi’s hands paused on Emily’s left side. She traced the hairline crack on the egg. Without looking up she asked, “Where are the others?”
Emily’s heart thrummed in her chest. “They’ve all gone out.”
Naomi looked at her, something sparked in the dragoness’s eyes. “You must come with me.” She took Emily by the elbow helping her continue down the stairs.
“What about Blake?” Emily didn’t like the way Naomi tugged on her to take the stairs faster.
Naomi shook her head. “This is female business. The males will come later.”
Emily glanced back up the stairs, “Shouldn’t we be going back upstairs?”
Naomi didn’t say anything. Her eyes darkened to an amber hue. Emily paused at the bottom of the stairs. Her hand immediately reaching for the underside of the egg as another crack split the shell. “I’m not sure I’m prepared for this. Not yet.”
“I’ve been preparing for this fiu’s arrival long before you came along.” Naomi’s fingers bit into Emily’s arm. She tried pulling her arm free, but something feral in Naomi’s eyes stopped her. “Come along, quickly.”
“Where are we going?”
“My lair.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“You were expecting a hospital?”
Emily knew where babies were born. She also knew how baby dragons hatched. She’d watched one hatch in her father’s hatchery when she was younger. Keeping the baby warm and wrapped in its wings kept them content, secure. This, however, wasn’t the hatchery. Turning up the heat in their bedchamber might not provide enough warmth for a dragon fiu.
Their bedchamber, when had she started to accept this place as hers?
She cradled the egg, feeling another crack branching off the first beneath her hand. She understood Naomi’s haste to get to her lair. Instead of heading for the kitchen, Naomi directed her towards the front door. She didn’t like not letting Blake know where she was or that his fiu was hatching. He had a right to be there. As Blake kept reminding her, the old ways were not their ways. They defied most of them already, so why not this one?
“We need to leave him a note.” Emily dug her bare heels down on the wood polished floor.
“No. Let’s go.”
“I don’t have proper shoes on.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed on her. Their slits sharp-like, deadly. “I will fly you there.”
“I’m not flying with you.” Emily whirled around and ran down the hall. Naomi rushed behind her, a thousand sharp knifes stabbed her scalp jerking her back. “BLAKE!”
Emily struggled against Naomi, she felt the dragoness shifting against her back, dragging her down the hall. Emily twisted, Naomi’s dragon claws piercing into her flesh. With every twist, the egg cracked. Emily cried out again, she grabbed for the doorway. Naomi wrapped a scaled arm around her. She kicked, lashing back at the dragoness, her sandals flying off her feet.
Wing beaten winds swirled around her and to Emily’s dismay her feet lifted from the stone path. In the air, the dragoness shifted Emily in her hold. Her head, free to look up, Emily tried to swing her arm to grab a scale.
Higher and higher the land beneath her became smaller. Emily squeezed her eyes closed. She hated this part of flying. Her hand became damp holding onto the egg. Keep it together, Emily. Keep it together.
She heard the cry of a bird veering out of the dragoness’s way. Wind whipped back her hair and she turned her head to catch her breath. With the dragoness’s arm wrapped beneath her arms, it became difficult to keep her hands over the egg. A piece of the shell fell away; it took all that she was to keep it together.
Basking in the hot morning sun, Blake jerked back as if he’d been struck by an invisible lance.
Emily! He heard her cry out his name. Suddenly, fear washed over him. Spreading his wings, he dived from his position close to the sun, breaking through the clouds. His heart seized. He heard her call again. Something was wrong. Very. Very. Wrong.
As he cleared the fog of the clouds, he spotted the brown and amber-scaled dragon soaring towards the mountains. He veered in its direction. At first glance, he recognized Naomi.
Then his vision narrowed in on her catch. When the dragoness tilted her amber gleaming wings, his heart skipped a beat. Emily.
A sickening feeling oozed down his spine and into his tail.
He flew after them.