His Feverish Embrace: Real Men of Wildridge

by Kyle, Celia

  Alice leaned back against the counter and surveyed him as she took a sip. “Look at it from her perspective, dear. She’s spent nearly a decade being a single mom, which I’m sure you can guess isn’t easy. Then the mysterious baby daddy, who she never thought she’d see again, shows up out of thin air? You can bet your buttons her world was rocked. If it were me, I’d be scared to death.”

  “Scared? Why the hell would she be scared?” he demanded, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

  Alice chuckled humorlessly. “A mother’s instinct is to protect her child at any cost. She doesn’t know you. She didn’t even know you were a dragon when she spent the night with you. Now you just show up? Me, I’d be worried that a powerful shifter such as yourself might try to take my baby away from me. But even if that thought never crossed her mind, your sudden appearance will change everything. That alone is frightening enough to want to take some time to figure out the best way to tell you. After all, it’s been eight long years. What’s a few more days?”

  Thrett winced. He’d never considered how all of this would affect her life, only how it would affect his. What an ass!

  “So what should I do?” he asked Charlie.

  “What do you want to do?” Charlie shot back.

  “If I knew that, I probably would have gotten some sleep last night instead of driving all over the damn city.”

  Charlie rose to pour himself another cup and kiss Alice on the cheek. Then he returned to his seat and leveled a hard look on Thrett.

  “Nothing is more important than family, Thrett. Nothing. They always come first, whether they’re the ones you were born with or,” he smiled at Alice, “the ones you choose. And that’s about all the advice I can give before six in the morning.”

  Thrett lifted the mug to his lips but his stomach rebelled and he set it back down. Alice brightened.

  “If you’re not in the mood for coffee, I have some wonderful kombucha I brewed myself.”

  Thrett shot Charlie a worried look and drained his mug.

  Chapter Seven

  Despite a terrible night’s sleep, the morning was full of promise as Rylan sat in a local park watching Trystin play. The sky above was the faultless robin’s egg blue color that promised long hours of sunlight. It was such a gorgeous Saturday, in fact, that it was a minor miracle the local park wasn’t completely overrun with people trying to soak up the rays with their kids. Trystin had plenty of room to run around and play without having to wait in line at the swings or the slide. By all accounts, the day should have had her smiling, but one dark cloud continued to hover directly over her head.

  She’d brought Trystin in hope of shaking herself out of her gloomy mood. Treating the blues with sunshine usually did the trick for her—a quick visit to a park or maybe the beach just to watch her son play in that carefree way only kids could manage—but it wasn’t even scratching the surface today. Of course, it didn’t help that the trick he was trying to perform reminded her of the reason for her funk.

  As he puffed out his cheeks and strained to get his nubby wings to unfurl, Rylan called out to him and shook her head. Too many humans around. A seven-year-old boy suddenly sprouting wings might attract some unwanted attention. He nodded his understanding and climbed up the monkey bars like all the rest of his companions, having no less fun.

  “Sometimes I wish I could reach inside my own head and scoop out certain memories with a melon baller,” Rylan blurted to Ginette, who sat next to her on a bench.

  Her friend turned to look at her with an expression that was half horror and half amusement. “Wow, that’s dark. Was your date with Hottie McHotterson really that bad?”

  “Ginny, I told you. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Ginette slumped back and sighed. “Shoot, I thought you were finally gonna get laid.”

  Heat flooded Rylan’s face as she averted her eyes so her bestie wouldn’t see the truth, but it was too little too late. Ginette’s eyes grew wide, and then she squealed and clapped her hands like a toddler going to the circus for the first time.

  “Shh,” Rylan hissed, glancing over to Trystin to make sure he wasn’t within earshot.

  Ginette stopped making noise but she still bounced up and down like a demented baby. “C’mon, spill!”

  Trystin was happily swinging upside down from the monkey bars, completely oblivious, so Rylan relented. Maybe dumping this steaming pile of a shit show on someone else might ease the tension between her shoulder blades.

  “Fine, fine.” She took a deep breath, wondering where to start, but there was really only one place. “Thrett Lacerta, the security specialist from Wildridge?”

  Ginny rolled her eyes. “Who? I have no idea who you’re talking about,” she said sarcastically. “Come on, Ry, you’re killing me!”

  “Thrett is Trystin’s father.”

  Ginny stopped bouncing, stopped blinking, and as far as Rylan could tell, stopped breathing. The only movement was her jaw hitting the dirt between her feet.

  “What. The. Actual. Fuck?”

  Rylan dropped her gaze to her fidgety hands. “I know.”

  “Holy hell, Rylan, why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have made all those jokes if I’d known. I just thought he was some random hottie who wanted to jump your bones. I never imagined…”

  “That’s because I was as stunned as you are now when he walked into the office that day. I hadn’t seen him since…since the night Trystin was conceived.”

  “Oh shit.” Ginette paled. “You mean he doesn’t know?”

  Rylan leaned back and turned her face to the sky. So many hard questions!

  “He didn’t, but he sure does now.”

  She continued to relay all of the gory details to her best friend, from the moment Thrett had “saved” her from the aggressive frat boy and almost feeling hypnotized by his hazel eyes to discovering the truth about his being a dragon and bolting in the dead of night.

  “Damn, that must have freaked you out,” Ginette said, taking Rylan’s hand in hers.

  “You have no idea. The trouble was that I really liked him. I mean, really liked him. I was damn near swooning over the guy. I would have paid a fortune to lose my virginity to him. So reckless!”

  “I doubt you’ve ever been reckless a day in your life, sweetie,” Ginette said gently.

  “I was reckless enough to sleep with Thrett without a condom, that’s for sure.”

  Ginny winced. “Everyone sleeps around in college. It’s expected. And…accidents happen. At least your accident turned out perfectly.”

  They both looked over to Trystin, who’d moved on to the swings. He and a little girl looked to be having a bit of a competition to see who could swing the highest. The girl was winning.

  “It didn’t help that I found out later from my friends that Thrett had a reputation. His nickname was ‘the king of one-night stands.’”

  Ginny wrinkled her nose. “Ew.”

  “Yeah, that didn’t make me want to track him down, I can tell you that much. And by the time I found out I was pregnant, it was too late. None of my friends knew his last name and I wasn’t entirely sure a guy like that would step up, you know?”

  “Do you still think that?”

  Rylan shrugged. “I’m not sure. There was some arguing and he left. Haven’t heard from him since. I honestly have no idea how he feels about all of this.”

  “What about you? How do you feel?”

  Rylan thought it over for a moment. “I’m not sure. I always thought that if I ran into him again, I would make sure to guard my heart. I would not let him in. But now that he’s here, I can’t help myself. It’s like I’m addicted to him. My body aches for him in a way I’ve never experienced before. And just like drugs, I let my resolve slip and now everything is ruined.”

  “What do you mean?” Ginette asked, frowning.

  “I mean I don’t think he and I can have a romantic relationship, despite how hot the sex is. And trust me, it’s hot. We’re just too
different. On top of only being a human, I’m boring. I have a demanding job that takes up most of my time, and a kid who takes up the rest. I’m too busy with my own world to make room in it for him. Besides, he hates my guts now, so I’m better off without him.”

  Ginette stared at her hard for a moment, her expression serious.

  “What?” Rylan asked warily.

  “I hate to be the asshole who tells you this, Ry, but it’s not about you anymore.” Ginette nodded toward Trystin, who had moved on to the slide. “That kid right there…he’s the one you should be thinking about.”

  Rylan watched her son laughing with other kids, and a cold wave of shame hit her like a wall of concrete. “Of course. How could I… You’re right, Ginny.”

  “I know,” Ginette said cheerily, patting her on the back. “Always am. It’s my cross to bear.”

  “I can’t believe how selfish I’ve been, only thinking in terms of Thrett and me. That’s the last thing I should be thinking about.”

  Ginny frowned. “Wait, I didn’t say—”

  “You’re right,” Rylan continued, not even hearing her friend. “This is about Trystin and what’s best for him. He deserves a dad, and if Thrett is willing to be a part of his life, I want that for them both. Of course, the question remains. Does Thrett want that?”

  Ginette grimaced as she looked beyond Rylan. “Don’t mean to freak you out, but it looks like you’re about to find out.”

  Rylan turned to see what Ginny was talking about. The blood in her veins chilled when she saw Thrett walking across the playground with purpose, coming right toward them.

  * * *

  Thrett would have felt less on edge walking to an executioner’s block. If he were walking to his own death, at least he wouldn’t have had to think about the aftermath of however badly this apology was about to go. Assuming she didn’t just whip out a can of pepper spray.

  “Hey,” he opened with a gruff smile. Shit, this was nose diving already.

  “Hey,” she replied, brushing a strand of hair out of her face and looking like she wanted to say more but was struggling to figure out what that was exactly. At least he wasn’t alone.

  “I, uh,” started the cute secretary from the school. Ginette, if memory served. “I’m going to go check on Trystin.”

  Once she’d hurried off, he dug the toe of his shoe into the dirt as Rylan cleared her throat, both blushing as the silence grew more awkward.

  “So how did you find—”

  “I hope you don’t mind—”

  They stopped themselves at the same time again, blushes deepening. Rylan gestured for him to continue with a silently raised eyebrow, and Thrett nodded for her to go on.

  See? They could cooperate!

  “How’d you know where to find me?” She crossed her legs and perched her chin on her palm, watching him thoughtfully.

  She was dressed in jeans and a basic women’s t-shirt, but her auburn hair fell past her shoulders in the loveliest waves. He’d yet to see her hair down at school, so this was a wonderful change.

  He chuckled. “Thought I’d finally put some of those resources of mine to use.”

  She didn’t need to know that her neighbor had told him not ten minutes earlier that she’d gone to this park.

  “Impressive.” Something in her hot-chocolate-colored eyes told him she suspected the truth was simpler than he was letting on, but she didn’t need confirmation.

  “Mind if I sit?”

  It was time to just plow through the tension and hope for the best. She nodded and scooted over for him, and he ran his hand through his hair as he took a seat. They both watched Trystin and Ginette for a few seconds before he finally summoned the courage to do what he came here to.

  “I want to apologize for last night,” he said. “I was an ass, plain and simple. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that, especially not while Trystin was in the house.”

  She sat silently and then gave him a soft smile and bumped him with her shoulder. “Last night wasn’t my proudest moment either. I’m sorry too. You deserve to know your son…if you want.”

  He took a chance and rested his hand on hers. She didn’t pull away, which he took as a good sign. “I do. I really do.”

  Her smile lit his heart on fire. “I’m glad. I sure wouldn’t mind some help raising him. Being a single mom raising a half-dragon baby hasn’t been a walk in the park, I can assure you.”

  A sense of shame washed over Thrett that he hadn’t been there for her or Trystin, but he reminded himself that wasn’t his fault. And it wasn’t hers either. It just was, and now all he wanted to do was make up for lost time.

  “I know.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. “No, you don’t, actually. You can’t even imagine. Once I realized I was pregnant—by a dragon—I started doing my research. Little did I know that shifters are all over the place. Thank god because I got hooked up with the community, and everyone was incredibly supportive of me, but it was so much harder than if you’d been human.”

  One more thing he’d never considered from her point of view. A young human woman carrying what must have seemed like a mutant to her. She probably thought her baby was going to explode from her belly like in a scary movie. His arms itched to pull her into a fierce, comforting hug, but he held back. Things were thawing between them, he could tell, but they weren’t there yet.

  “Luckily, there’s a vibrant community here in LA. They helped me by calling in specialists to figure out how to not only give birth to him, but vaccinations and so on. They’d never had any experience with half-human, half-dragon babies before, so there was a lot of head-scratching going on.”

  “Were there any complications?” he asked, suddenly anxious.

  “No, he’s fine. In fact, it seems he gets sick less frequently than other kids at Benningford. And I know every mom thinks this, but he definitely has above-average intelligence. He’s just been slower in developing any shifter skills is all.”

  “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you,” he said, squeezing her hand and releasing it.

  She shrugged, but her shoulders carried a weight he’d never fully understand. “I had my folks. And thank god I was so close to graduating when I…when we… Well, you know.”

  He smiled and watched as Ginette spun his son—his son!—on the merry-go-round.

  “After he was born, I found a job teaching at a local public school. The pay was terrible and I knew if I didn’t do something, I’d have to live with my parents for the rest of my life, so I took night classes and got my master’s.”

  Thrett was genuinely impressed. “Wow, that’s a hell of an accomplishment.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” she said without a trace of ego. “Raising a hybrid kid isn’t easy, Thrett, but I knew I wanted him to be as involved in his community as possible. So I started applying to shifter schools. Do you know how hard it is for a human to get a job at one? Almost impossible. But I somehow landed a job teaching English at Benningford and the rest is history.”

  “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t just raise him as a human. It seems he has trouble with his shifter powers, so it would have been an easy fit.”

  “I didn’t know that then, and by the time he started school, I’d just accepted a position at Benningford. Besides, as good as the pay is, I never could have afforded a private school on my salary, and Benningford’s curriculum is top-notch.”

  “I guess free tuition for students of faculty didn’t hurt either.”

  She chuckled her agreement. “True. But I also wanted him to be surrounded by other shifter kids, even if his abilities aren’t as developed. I hate that he sometimes gets teased, but I think it’s important for him to bond with others like him, no matter how much I want to roll him up in bubble wrap and protect him from the world.”

  Thrett couldn’t take his eyes off her. He’d never once considered how difficult parenting was in general, but to do it on your own with a baby not entirely like yo
u with no connections in that world? God, he was an asshole.

  “That’s incredible, Rylan,” he said softly, wishing he could find better words, but that’s all he had.

  She watched her son—their son—with a wistful smile. “If it is, it’s because he’s worth it.”

  He could sit there watching her watch Trystin all damn day, she was so beautiful. As much as he didn’t want that smile to fade away, he had a hard question he needed the answer to. Clearing his throat pointedly, he drew her attention back to him.

  “So, um, what have you told him about his father?”

  Her grimace spoke volumes. “I’ve just told him he doesn’t have one. It’s been working so far, but he’s smart, Thrett. He’s going to start asking for more details soon.”

  “Do you mind my asking why you haven’t found someone?” he asked, trying to sound all smooth, but even to his own ears, the question sounded forced and awkward. As much as the idea of her falling in love with some other guy would have hurt, he wouldn’t have blamed her for wanting a father to help raise Trystin.

  “Like, a boyfriend?” She snorted and then her cheeks blazed red. “I guess I was too focused on Trystin and my career to bother with guys after we…met.”

  Thrett’s heart thundered in his chest at the implication. Whether true or not, it sure sounded like she’d never dated anyone after their encounter. Yet another wave of shame washed over him.

  While his reaction to having his heart broken was to bury himself in self-pity and take meager comfort in the arms of random women, Rylan had bettered herself and become a wonderful mother and educator. Whatever feelings he’d had for her eight years ago, they paled in comparison to how he felt now. Rylan Wilson was truly a remarkable woman—one he wanted to know better, if she’d have him.

  Leaning against the bench, Thrett stretched his arm along the back, dangling his hand on the other side of her shoulder. His fingers twitched at her nearness, but the next move had to be hers. A few seconds later she took it. She leaned into him enough that he could wrap his arm over her shoulder in a side hug of sorts. That simple touch nearly undid him, but he controlled his animal instincts and just enjoyed the moment.