Chapter Twenty-Two
Three weeks later…
“Like this?” Joey asked, wiping a wrench with a greasy rag.
“Yep. Just like that.” Cal nodded, leaning back to admire their work. After neglecting his Triumph for far too long, he and Joey had finally tuned everything up.
He smiled at the shining chrome. That bike had been the one constant in his life from the time he was nineteen, and it had seen as much mileage — and change — as him. At first, the bike had been his ticket to freedom, and he’d roared in and out of towns all the way across the East Coast, usually one step ahead of trouble. The whole time, he’d sworn to never, ever get hitched. Then, one fateful night, he’d met Cynthia and experienced true joy for a while. True sorrow too, not long after. But now…
He closed his eyes and sniffed deeply, registering more than just the sweet scent of tropical flowers on the fresh, salt-tinged air. Cynthia was nearby, and her natural fragrance worked on him like a balm — especially now that it carried a hint of his own scent.
Mate, his wolf rumbled in satisfaction. My mate is finally mine.
In the distance, the ocean rolled slowly over the shore, adding to the feeling of calm. Even the Thruxton — a masterpiece of engineering that screamed speed and power — seemed content to kick back for a while. The tattered scarf that hung from the handlebars was the only part of the bike that wasn’t shining in the sunlight, but that was okay, especially since it was no longer his sole reminder of Cynthia.
They had spent just about every hour of the past weeks together — eating, sleeping, and working side by side. They’d filled last night — like most of their nights so far — with hot, hard, and extremely quiet sex, what with Joey slumbering in the next room. Then they’d drifted off to sleep, and Cal had gotten to hold his mate all night — nice and tight, as if she was the ultimate prize for a warrior who’d finally found his way home.
Sometime in the morning, Cynthia had woken with that sixth sense of hers, and they’d sleepily pulled on some clothes — just in time for Joey to trundle in and cuddle up on Cynthia’s side of the bed. Which was nice too. Just lazing there for a quiet, sleepy hour was great — and not only for the contrast to some of the more miserable mornings of Cal’s life, spent far from his true love. He luxuriated in the quiet. The calm. That unfamiliar sense of peace, inside and out.
Peace. A word he’d never truly understood until now.
“Looks good,” Joey said.
Cal considered his reflection in the chrome. Looks happy, he nearly joked. Instead, he settled for murmuring, “Sure does.”
“Do you think Mommy will like it?”
Cal laughed and tousled Joey’s hair. “I think she’ll love it.”
The little redhead glanced around then whispered, “Do you think she’ll let me ride it again?”
Cal cracked into a huge smile. The previous day, Dell, Connor, and the others had helped Cal talk Cynthia into letting him take Joey for a ride. The world’s shortest, slowest ride that took them around the plantation a few times. He’d never seen a kid as thrilled as Joey during that ride.
“I’m sure she’ll let us ride again. We’re partners, man.”
Joey smiled and gave the muffler one more swipe with the cloth. “Partners.”
Cal nodded. Partners worked for both of them, because Joey had already had a great father, and Cal would help him cherish the memories for the rest of his life. Besides, Cal wasn’t so sure he was ready to be called Dad. Partner, on the other hand, helped each of them transition into their new roles.
Gravel crunched, signaling someone coming around the corner of the barn.
“Wow. It looks great,” Cynthia called.
Cal whirled, grinning even before he spotted her. Whatever he was about to retort got stuck on the tip of his tongue, though, because seeing her knocked him out every time.
Looks great, his wolf practically whistled.
The sun backlit her long black hair, giving her an ethereal glow. Her smile was soft and full of wonder, as if she was witnessing a dream come true.
Cal gulped. It shouldn’t be possible to fall even deeper in love than before, but there he went. Cynthia seemed the same way — happier, calmer, and more beautiful than ever. Was that all in his mind or was there something slightly different about her? Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, like a faint glow.
He cleared his throat and pointed at Joey. “All thanks to this guy.”
Joey beamed, and Cynthia smiled. Her gaze lingered on the scarf, then on Cal, and he warmed.
“Still looks pretty old to me,” Dell cracked as he walked by.
Cal snorted. “It’s vintage, man.”
“A little like you?” Dell chuckled.
Cynthia patted Cal’s shoulder. “More like a fine wine. Now, if you’ll excuse us…”
When Dell took the hint and sauntered on, Cynthia motioned to the hillside behind her. “Are you two ready to go?”
“Sure. Been waiting for you,” Cal said.
Within minutes, he and Joey had cleaned up and joined Cynthia, who pointed up a path that disappeared behind a coffee grove.
“Where are we going, Mommy?” Joey asked, taking her hand.
“To the place I wanted to show you and Cal.”
There was a hint of a tease in her voice, but Cal was too busy admiring the tiny scars on her neck to pay much attention to her words. A week after she’d given him the mating bite, he’d returned the favor at the climax of another sizzling night. A rush of fire had swept through his body as her dragon essence mingled with his wolf blood.
Cynthia glanced back at him, suddenly flushed. Would you cut that out?
He grinned. Was it his fault lust hammered through him at the memory?
Cynthia was trying to look prim but failing miserably.
Like you don’t think about that too, he challenged.
Constantly, she admitted. But right now… She jutted an elbow toward Joey.
Cal took a couple of deep breaths. That was the hard part of being mated — the constant need to bond with the woman he loved. But taking a walk was nice too, and Cynthia was clearly excited about whatever lay ahead. So he pushed lust toward the back of his mind and let curiosity slide to the front.
“What exactly is up there?”
“You’ll see,” she said, all coy.
The path meandered this way and that, rising and falling with the contours of the plantation. They skirted the coffee grove then descended into the cleft cut by the creek. Cal sniffed, catching the scent of frangipani, ginger, and lion — after all, Dell and Anjali lived right around the bend. Then they climbed back up the other side, ducking branches as they went. Ahead of them, the foliage thinned out, and Cal couldn’t help imagining how incredible the view from the top must be. Cynthia crested the next rise before him and looked back.
“The path needs a little clearing, but…”
She gestured to the open sweep of land that lay ahead. As Cal’s gaze crossed the rich green landscape, his wolf sighed. So much space.
That slope was a little corner of paradise unto itself, angled in a way that hid it from the rest of the plantation. The sea breeze wafted over the area, making the tall grass dance in a manner that drew his gaze from one little detail to the next. There was a rocky outcrop over on one side — the perfect place for a wolf to howl to the moon, or for a dragon to launch from. A cluster of six trees on the far side formed a little orchard, and over in the middle of the area…
Cal stood still, staring at the perfect little house. A low white bungalow built back when folks still took time to carve gingerbread eaves and set squares of stained glass into frames. The window beside the front door was one big field of green surrounded by little panels of yellow, blue, and red, while the window on the north side gave yellow center stage, with multicolored panels marching around it on all four sides.
“Nice place,” he murmured.
Cynthia’s eyes filled with hope. “It is nice.”
A veil lay over her thoughts, but Cal guessed her train of thought was something like, Nice enough to live in.
“Oh! I know this house,” Joey said, skipping ahead. “Tim let me check the roof with him. I even got to crawl underneath.”
Cal hadn’t been paying much attention to the bear shifter’s movements, but now that he thought back, he could recall Tim disappearing in this direction several times.
“Should we have a closer look?” Cynthia said, oh so casually.
Cal nodded and followed her, wondering why the white picket fence didn’t fill him with the urge to turn and run. Fences like that were for guys who wanted to settle down. Ease up. Spend weekends on home repair instead of tearing down highways on their motorbikes. Guys whose thoughts might even go as far as starting a family someday.
His wolf thumped its tail a few times. Our own little den.
Den wasn’t exactly the word — not for that sun-drenched porch or those wide, cheery windows. But it did match the cozy feeling of the place.
“The best room is in the back,” Joey called, yanking open the front door and rushing in.
“Wait. Sweetie—” Cynthia cried out, then stopped.
Cal could feel her warring with herself. Who would win — the overprotective mother who’d been through so much? Or the mighty she-dragon with enough faith in the world to give her son a little space?
Frankly, Cal couldn’t help tensing up a little himself. But then he remembered what the guys always told Cynthia.
Loosen up… Let the kid be a kid…
It was hard to loosen up when something as precious as a child was on the line, but Dell, Connor, and the others were right. There wasn’t a hint of enemy dragon in the air, nor a whiff of unknown shifters slinking in for another attack.
“Never mind,” Cynthia said, letting Joey gallop on.
Cal followed her up the creaky front steps. The screen door squeaked as they opened it and stepped into the house, where Joey was running from room to room.
“That’s the biggest room, and this one has a giant cobweb. This one has a closet that makes a pirate hideaway.” Joey rambled on, pointing out every feature of interest to a kid.
Cal looked it over with different eyes. The wallpaper was peeling, and the bathroom fixtures looked about a hundred years old. But, wow. The place had potential.
“What do you think?” Cynthia whispered, holding his hand.
He looked around. “I think it needs six solid months of work to get into livable shape. But, yeah. It’s a nice place.”
“Six months is more than enough,” Cynthia murmured.
Briefly, he wondered what her deadline was based on, but the view out the front distracted him. All that ocean, practically on his doorstep. All that space. At the same time, the rest of the pack wasn’t any farther away than they were from the main house. Dell and Anjali’s place was over by the creek, and Connor and Jenna lived at the edge of the cliff that formed one bookend to the view. Still, the bungalow had a feeling of privacy the main plantation house could never offer, not with the shared kitchen/living area on the ground floor.
He glanced at Cynthia. Was she thinking what he was thinking?
“It is pretty perfect,” he said, trying to speak casually despite the fact that his wolf was growing more enchanted by the minute. If he didn’t watch out, the beast would start running in circles, chasing its tail along with those thoughts.
Our own place. Our own yard. Our own home.
“Perfect for…?” Cynthia asked.
Her words floated in the air, and he sensed her holding her breath. Was he really ready for a life like this?
Hell yes, his wolf barked.
He didn’t even have to think it over. “Perfect for us.”
Cynthia caught him in a huge, teary hug. The kind that spoke of deep, boundless hopes instead of dark, unspoken fears.
“It is perfect,” she said, pulling herself together to motion around. “Lots of space for all of us.”
He smiled at all. Three people didn’t add up to much, really. But she was right. That big room would be perfect for him and Cynthia. The back room suited Joey, and…
His eyes strayed to the third room, and his heart thumped harder.
“Lots of space for all of us,” Cynthia repeated, sliding a hand down to her belly and giving herself a pat.
At first, Cal nodded casually, but then the gears finally clicked into place in his head.
All of us… Six months being plenty… The tender way she’d touched her midsection.
His jaw dropped. “All of us?”
Cynthia nodded. “All of us. You, me, Joey…” She took his hand and guided it to her belly. “And her.”
Cal sucked in a deep breath. He’d attributed Cynthia’s inner glow to being a freshly mated shifter. And part of it was, for sure. But when he examined her scent closely, he found something totally different wrapped around the rest, like a vine of tiny white flowers. Something sweet, fragile, and totally innocent.
A baby? So soon?
His inner wolf grinned proudly, muttering something about virile canine blood.
He loved the idea, but it flabbergasted him. Most shifters — even destined mates — took ages to conceive. He and Cynthia had only been mated for a few short weeks.
Cynthia’s eyes went all bittersweet as she let her dragon speak into his mind. More like years.
A stab of sorrow cut through him, but a flood tide of elation immediately washed it away. He swept Cynthia off her feet, spinning in a circle of joy.
Joey ran up clapping in excitement even without knowing what they were so happy about. “Me too! Me too!”
Cal released Cynthia long enough to spin Joey around, laughing the whole time. He pulled both of them into his arms, tucked his cheek against Cynthia’s, and breathed in her scent. Beams of light streamed in from the windows — yellow, green, and red. There was even a blue beam, shining in from yet another small room on the right.
“Maybe there’s even space for more than one baby,” Cynthia whispered, teasing but not teasing at the same time.
Cal grinned and kissed her, long and deep. “Lady, life is one big maybe. And I mean that in the best possible way.”
* * *
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