Dragon Hunter by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 23

Azure got two glasses out, putting them on the counter. She grabbed freshly squeezed orange juice from the fridge and filled the glasses.

Hands banded around her middle. She put the juice bottle down, smiling, and turned, putting her arms around her mate. Ice looked down into her eyes. “Are you ready?

“Absolutely.”

Ice kept his gorgeous eyes on hers. Eyes she would never tire of looking into. He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. Within seconds, he was deepening the kiss. Azure arched into him, moaning softly into his mouth. She pulled away. “Any more of that, and we’ll miss our appointment.”

“We can’t have that.” Ice shook his head, his eyes glinting with excitement.

She bit down on her lower lip. “No, we can’t. The healers are expecting us.” She put a hand on her belly, smiling so broadly she thought her face might crack.

It was silly; she was only a few weeks along, and yet she felt like everything had changed. She was going to be a mom. Ice was going to be a dad. It was surreal. It was wonderful.

Ice put his own hand over hers. He couldn’t stop touching her there…or anywhere, for that matter. He said that there was nothing sexier than a female in whelp. Then he’d quickly changed that to his female in whelp.

“I wonder if he’s going to have your eyes,” Azure said.

“Maybe. Or she might have your gorgeous eyes.” He kissed the tip of her nose, and she giggled.

“There’s far more chance we’ll have a boy, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“I don’t mind either way so long as he or she is born healthy.” Ice’s eyes clouded for just a second before he schooled his emotions.

“We’ll be fine. You’ll see.” She reached up and kissed him on the stubble of his jaw. Ice captured her mouth as she was pulling back.

After a few seconds, she giggled against his lips. “We need to leave in eight minutes.”

“I know.” Ice pecked her mouth. Then he sighed and let her go.

“We’ll have the whole afternoon since neither of us is going to work.” She shrugged.

“You’re absolutely right, although there’s a chance I’ll need to leave for a while.” He frowned. “Fog called me earlier. He might need my help with something. He said he needed me to fetch something.”

“Oh! What?”

“He wouldn’t say. He was cryptic. It didn’t sound like a big deal. Maybe something for his female. It wasn’t a definite thing, so I might not have to go at all.” Ice picked up a glass of juice, handing it to her. “Which means we can come back here and try to make twins.”

Azure laughed. “It doesn’t work like that, buddy.”

He shrugged. “We can still try. Miracles happen.”

She laughed harder. “We certainly can, and they most certainly do.”

Ice downed half of his glass, still smirking. He was such a cocky shit, which she loved.

“Once we get the all-clear, I’d like to tell our friends. I don’t like keeping secrets.” Azure said.

“Meaning you haven’t yet?” He lifted his brows. “I thought that you would have told Melina.”

“We agreed we wouldn’t say anything until after my first appointment. And I haven’t. I won’t lie; it’s been rough. Mel’s drilled me a couple of times. I think she knows.”

“Yep, I think we should tell them.” Ice nodded. “I’m going to be a dad.” He put his hand on her stomach, beaming.

Ice was already such a good father. He already adored this baby.

His phone rang, interrupting the moment.

“Leave it. We need to go.”

Ice took the phone out of his pocket, looking down at the screen. He frowned. “Mel?” he answered.

“Ice!” Azure heard Mel say.

Azure frowned, taking a sip of her juice. That was weird. Melina normally called her, not Ice.

“I’m glad you picked up. Avalanche and Fog are in trouble.”

Azure put the glass down.

“In trouble, how?”

“They’ve gone on some crazy rescue mission. Into the caves to find Riley’s abducted friend.”

“They didn’t!” Ice growled, moving the phone to his other ear. His eyes had darkened. “Please tell me that this is a joke.” His hands were white-knuckled on the device.

“They went! It’s no joke. They left at sunup this morning.”

“Do the royals know?” Ice’s eyes were glowing.

“No! They went alone.” Melina sounded panicked.

“That’s not right.” Ice shook his head, even though Melina couldn’t see him. “Fog was trying to find recruits to join the team being sent. A team, Mel. They would never have gone without backup. Fog promised me. He looked me in my face, and he fucking promised.”

“I’m so sorry,” Melina said, making Azure’s blood run cold. “There was never going to be a team. The royals had no intention of ever sending anyone in.”

“Fuck!” Ice growled. “It’s foolhardy to go down there like that. What the fuck were they thinking?” His jaw was tight. His eyes lifted in thought. “Fog mentioned that he might need my help later. What was that about? Had to have something to do with all this. He needed me to fetch something.”

Melina spoke to someone else before coming back on the phone. “They needed to cut their wings off to be able to fit in the tight cave passages in full shift. They will have needed you to carry them home.”

“That’s fucking insane,” Ice snarled. “Why didn’t he listen to me? What was Avalanche thinking? The male was there when I spoke to Fog about it. When I told him not to do it. Avalanche said he needed to speak with Fog because the male looked upset; meanwhile, he was offering himself up to the fucking slaughter.”

“Seems that way.” Melina sounded upset. “Fog’s girlfriend is here, and she’s beside herself with worry. What are we going to do? Should we tell someone? Do you think they’ll send a team now?”

“No, I don’t! Shit! I’ll go.”

“No!” Azure shook her head.

Ice took her hand and squeezed. “I’ll figure this out. We have to do something.”

“Thank you,” she heard Melina sigh. “Don’t put yourself at risk!” Her voice hardened up. “You hear me? Azure needs you now more than ever.”

Azure smiled, even though her gut churned. She hadn’t told her best friend about being with whelp, but she hadn’t had to. Mel knew anyway.

Ice ended the call.

She stepped toward him, gripping his hand tightly. “You can’t go!”

“I have to.”

“You can’t!” she practically yelled. “You’re going to be a father. I’m having a baby. You need to stay alive long enough to meet him or her.”

“I won’t do anything stupid, I swear. I need to let the rest of the team know. They’ll want in on this.”

“You need to tell Storm.”

“Storm? Really?” He shook his head.

Azure sighed. “Promise me you—”

“I promise I’ll be careful. We can’t ignore this.”

She nodded once; her throat was too clogged to speak. Ice kissed her long and hard, and then he was gone.

Azure put her hand on her stomach. “It’s going to be okay.” Her voice hitched, and a tear rolled down her cheek.