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Chapter Twenty-Six

A ntony lost track of the days. And for a man used to knowing everything, keeping to a tight schedule, and rarely taking holidays, it’d been unsettling at first.

However, he’d enjoyed the breaks Iris’s dragon had given him, the “fragile human,” as she’d put it. They’d talked and laughed and it’d been like a dream come true, one he’d yearned for but never thought he’d have again after Lisa.

Currently, he was in one of the rest periods, after pleasing her dragon. Iris slept in his arms as he studied her face, and in sleep, she looked younger and more carefree. He definitely needed to spoil and pamper her from time to time. He’d learned the hard way that constantly working could take a toll. Hell, he hadn’t realized how tired his soul had been until Iris.

Not wanting to dwell on heavy topics, he debated tickling her side to wake her up and make her laugh some more. However, his cock hurt and he really should enjoy the break for as long as he could. Dragons were lusty creatures, he’d known that. However, a mate-claim frenzy in real life was more intense than reading about it in any book.

As he thought about his next steps at Wicked Security, Iris eventually scrunched her nose and blinked open her eyes. He kissed her forehead, her nose, and finally took her lips in a slow, lingering kiss. “Good morning, love. I think. It’s hard to tell, given how between you and your dragon, you’ve quite worn this old fellow out.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not old.” She stretched her arms and then propped her head on her hand. “And you’d better get used to running on little sleep, because I’m not taking care of our bairn alone. He or she will be a big enough handful as it is, with us as parents.”

Before he could reply, she took his hand and placed it over her lower abdomen. As he tried to process everything, she said softly, “You’ll be a dad soon, aye? Well, nine months, give or take, but it’ll fly by before you know it, as Faye liked to always say.”

As he continued to stare, Iris said cautiously, “Antony? Are you okay?”

Her concern snapped him back to the present, and he rolled her onto her back and kissed her. Long and hard, letting her know how happy he was. Eventually, he pulled back to say, “Ecstatic, love. I just, well, for so long I thought I’d never get to be a dad. And once I knew Max and Lavinia were expecting, it weighed me down a little. But now?” He moved down to kiss her belly. “You’re giving me yet another brilliant gift, love.”

She smiled at him as she ran her fingers through his hair. “Another one?”

Moving up, he cupped her cheek. “The first one being your love.”

As she caressed his back, she said, “Sometimes, I think you’re a dream and I’ll wake up to find no such male exists.”

“No, you’re stuck with me, love. For as long as you’ll have me. In fact, I want to claim you in front of the clan, if you’ll be my mate, my wife, whatever term you want to use?”

She smiled without hesitation, and his heart warmed. “How about partner? And aye, I’ll mate you, Antony. And not just because then you can stay on Lochguard permanently. Because knowing you, you’ll probably call in a few favors and change the entire process of allowing humans to live on dragon clans.”

He winked. “You know I still just might.” She chuckled, and he nuzzled her cheek. “How long do we have to wait to mate? Maybe we can see your dad in an hour and have the ceremony as soon as Max and Lavinia can get up here?”

Her lips twitched as she arched an eyebrow. “Where’s your legendary patience?”

“In this, nowhere. I want the world to know you’re mine.”

Her eyes softened, and he added, “I love you, Iris. And I’m impatient to start our family with just the two of us before the little one gets here. And by little one, I mean first a pet and then the baby.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “A pet, aye?”

“Yes. A pet will be good practice at finding balance in our lives. Plus, you know how much I’ve always wanted one.”

“Aye, I do. And that’s a brilliant idea, I think. You can even start a pet portrait collection. Hell, maybe even do it for all the clan.”

“Let’s take it one step at a time.” He kissed her slowly. “I need to have enough time to love my partner as much as she deserves, which will never be enough.”

Her voice softened. “You have so much love to give, Antony Holbrook. It’s one of the many reasons I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He kissed her. “So, should we get ready and meet your dad?”

She smiled. “So impatient. But aye, let’s get ready. I’m impatient to see how everything went down, whilst we were in the frenzy. The few texts we got didn’t reveal much, and I don’t like being out of the loop for so long.”

“That means we need to shower together, to speed things up.”

“Oh, is that the reason?”

“Aye, love, as you’d say. Now, come on. I want to strut around the clan and show off how I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

“Hmm, does that mean we need to get you some peacock feathers?”

“I think that might tickle, if you give my cock a costume.”

She snorted. “You never change.”

“More like I can be the real me.”

And after sharing a lingering kiss with the love of his life, Antony helped Iris shower and indeed strutted around the clan with his dragonwoman, eager to share his life with her. Because he was done living in the shadows now that he’d had a taste of the light, and he was never looking back.