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“I think she’s ready to come now,” I gasped out.
“We can do this in the water or out, however you feel most comfortable,” Lydia said, her voice so calm and sure that the momentary flicker of panic wisped away.
I tested my arms against the water and grimaced. “I think out.”
My mates had to support me on the way back to the bedroom, where the healers had set down sheets. The stool they’d brought looked suddenly appealing. I hunkered down on it, panting, and my mates circled me, all of them holding me up together.
The time after that was a total haze. I breathed and I pushed, and voices murmured encouragement all around me. My clawed fingers dug into the sides of the stool. A small puff of dragon fire slipped from my mouth. And then, with one last pang that echoed through every muscle, my daughter emerged into the world.
The healers fussed over her for a minute, cleaning her and whispering softly to her as she started to wail. My gaze stayed glued to that tiny form as my body shifted completely back into its human state. My heart was already swelling with even more love than I’d already had in me for this life I’d helped create.
Lydia brought my daughter to me and laid her on my chest so her little infant mouth could find its way to my breast. I cradled her, tears in my eyes, as she drank her first meal. A sprinkling of dark hair covered her round head. Her skin was so soft I was almost afraid my embrace would break her. But I could already feel strength in her too.
She wasn’t just a baby. She was a dragon shifter too. And she would be a great one. I’d be there to guide her, every step of the way.
“Have you decided on a name?” Lydia asked.
I almost laughed, hearing that question again. “Not yet. I think I want to get to know her a little bit first.” Maybe just meeting her wasn’t enough. It felt like an even bigger decision, looking at the little person I was cradling against me.
The sky had darkened outside the window. A whole day had passed while I’d been bringing this treasure into the world. With a sigh, I let my mates guide me to the bed. They settled around me again as I lay on my side, tucking our daughter close to me.
She blinked, peering around at us with squinty eyes. “Looks like she’s got Marco’s hair,” Nate said, beaming.
“Lucky for her,” Marco said, his voice just as bright. “And our eagle shifter’s eyes, it appears?”
Aaron grazed his fingers over our daughter’s back with a fond smile. “I think all babies’ eyes are blue to start out with. But we can always hope it’ll stick.”
“Because there’d be something wrong with her ending up with green ones?” West put in wryly, kissing my shoulder.
I offered my other breast to our little girl, and she turned her head away with a grunting sound. Marco started to laugh. “Clearly she got wolf boy’s attitude.”
Despite my exhaustion, I started to giggle. “Hey!” West protested, but then we were all laughing. In the midst of that blissful sound, our daughter snuggled closer to me and shut her eyes. I slid my arm around her protectively and relaxed my head into the pillow, waiting for sleep to take me too.
The last thing I heard was Aaron’s voice murmuring, “Merry Christmas.”
Chapter 11
Ren
The third timemy daughter woke me up to feed, the sun was up outside. I’d stirred awake before she’d made much of a sound to her delicate face nuzzling at my breast. My mates were all still sleeping.
I lay there quietly for a short while, letting her have her fill. A lot of my body was still achy, but my legs itched to move. I carefully eased myself off of the bed without disturbing the guys, holding our little one against me with one arm and then the other as I tugged on a night gown. My slippers were right there waiting for me to step into. Then I picked up a blanket that had been left folded on the dresser and wrapped that around both of us.
The gleam of the sunlight called to me. I shuffled over to the glass door that led to my chamber’s balcony.
Chilly air washed over me as I eased it open. I cuddled my daughter even more carefully under the shelter of the blanket before I stepped outside. She let out a contented-sounding sigh. Her tiny hand traced over my collarbone.
My breath caught at the scene that met me. It must have snowed overnight. A white crust sparkled across the valley and the mountain slopes as far as I could see. Frost glittered on the balcony railing. We’d gotten our white Christmas after all.
My daughter tipped her head toward my other breast, and I helped her latch on. I gazed down at her for a moment before raising my head again.
“This is your home,” I told her quietly. “It was mine too, when I was your age, and your grandmother’s and your great grandmother’s before me, going so far back I can’t even count. No one will ever be able to take that away from you. I promise.”
For the first time I could remember since the first moment I’d felt her growing inside me, a sense of certainty rose up inside me with those words. I could keep that promise. Whatever it took, whatever happened along the way. I knew that, down to my bones.
The rogues were gone. We’d made peace with the fae. The vampires were doing penance. The future that lay ahead of us could be a beautiful one.
When I looked down at her again, a smile stretched across my face that felt as brilliant as the gleam of the sun on the snow.
