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Before his beast could argue further, Dawn walked into the landing area with Sasha at her side, and he forgot about everything but his soon-to-be mate.
Ever since he'd woken up and known she carried his child, she'd glowed. While he hoped it was partially because of him, he knew it was probably because she was so happy to have another child.
His beast sighed. Stop with the doubting. She went through the frenzy, embraced both of us, and has been nothing but open and teasing since.
It was true—the last day, ever since they'd finally emerged from their cottage, had been full of congratulations and stolen glances at one another.
He finally replied, I know. It's just shifting in public always shakes me up a bit. I don't think I'll ever get used to spectators.
Then Dawn walked up to him, touched his cheek, his nervousness faded significantly. She said, "You should've waited for me and then we could've walked here together."
He kept his voice low so that only Dawn could hear it. "I needed a little time to prepare. And I knew you were with Sasha anyway."
She searched his gaze and finally leaned over and kissed him gently. "Still, next time, talk to me about it, okay? If we're to make a family, we need to be open about everything."
Tracing her jaw, he nodded. "I'll try, I promise. Just remember I've been a bachelor for nearly forty years so it's going to take a little time to adjust."
The corner of her mouth ticked up. "Oh, just wait until Daisy gets here. Then you won't have a spare moment to worry about it."
The comment would've concerned him even three weeks ago. But now? It just reminded him that he no longer had to live alone and isolate himself any longer. After the mating ceremony the next day, he'd have a mate and a new daughter.
Two people who would get to know the real him and not merely the fact he was a unicorn dragon.
Blake kissed Dawn's cheek and motioned toward where Sasha stood, at the edge of the landing area, near the six-foot-high rock walls filled with cubbies for clothing and items. "Speaking of which, I want to make sure you can see and touch my dragon before we're dragged into more paperwork and planning for tomorrow. Between Daisy's arrival and the mating ceremony, we won't have a spare moment after this for a while. So you should go stand by Sasha so I can shift."
She touched his cheek one last time—he would never tire of her soft, warm touch—and then went to stand by her friend.
Once Dawn was in place, Blake focused solely on his female. None of the other dragon-shifters lingering about mattered.
His dragon grunted. Good. Then let's get started.
Blake quickly shed his clothes and tossed them to the side—he'd opted to not stand naked waiting for Dawn since the human was adjusting to the idea of casual nudity—and closed his eyes to concentrate.
He imagined wings sprouting from his back, his nose elongating into a snout, and his form growing and stretching until he finally stood in his large dragon form.
With a deep inhalation, he opened his eyes and found Dawn's gaze.
She stood in awe, and it took an elbow jab from Sasha to break the spell.
As she walked slowly toward him, Blake noticed from the corner of his eyes that a few people moved closer toward him.
His dragon spoke up. Ignore them. Dawn is all that matters.
And he did exactly that, watching the play of emotions over her face as she drew closer. The awe was soon replaced with wonder and then curiosity.
Since he couldn't talk in his dragon form, Blake lowered his head so that when Dawn was near enough, he could gently bump her shoulder.
She laughed at the contact and then raised a hand to touch his snout. Her voice chased away his annoyance at a few teenagers edging ever closer to his tail. She said, "I'm not sure how else to say it, but you're beautiful, Blake."
As she stroked his snout, his dragon hummed. The sound made Dawn smile even wider.
His beast said, See? Only Dawn matters. And she thinks I'm beautiful.
I know, and you're never going to forget to remind me of that, are you?
Of course not.
As his human stroked upward, toward his ear, Blake lowered his head more. Then she found the patch of skin without scales behind his ear and focused her attention there. As he leaned into her caress, he knew she must've received some hints from Sasha about what to do.
