by Amelia Jade
“What is it, Rhynne?” he asked softly, sitting forward, getting closer to her.
This was the closest glimpse into her soul that he had seen since that one night three months before.
Her movement stopped abruptly.
“Fuck it,” she said under her breath, before looking him straight in the eye. “I’m pregnant.”
He sat back in his chair. That was not what he’d expected her to say. “Oh.”
Why was she telling him this? To rub it in, that she had another man in her life, and that was why he couldn’t pursue her?
“I don’t get—”
The truth hit him like a steel beam falling from a skyscraper.
He sputtered. “Y-y-you mean—”
Rhynne rolled her eyes. “Do you have to be so dramatic about it?”
“Rhynne,” he said slowly, trying to get his head around things. “I need to hear the words out of your mouth. Are you telling me that you are pregnant with my child?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying,” she said, sounding as if she couldn’t quite believe it herself.
“Holy shit,” he swore softly, cradling his head in his hands.
His brain shut down. A million thoughts were trying to process through it at once. He was going to be a father. There was a new life growing inside of her that he was responsible for. That he created. It was his responsibility now.
Gulp.
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked, unimpressed. “Really, the best you can come up with is ‘holy shit’? Come on Dominick, you can do better than that.”
“You’re positive it’s mine?” he asked, his head coming up.
Rhynne’s eyes flared. “Why does everyone keep asking me that? Yes, I am sure it is your child. There was no other men since you, and it was a long time before you since I was with another man. For this exact sort of reason.”
Dominick’s jaw dropped open. “What? No, no, no, of course not.”
He got up and crossed the distance between couches, sitting at her side. His hand took hers as he sat close. “I’m just in shock,” he told her. “Is this why you’ve been so, uh…” he stopped, trying to think of the best word.
“Distant?” Rhynne supplied.
“Uh, yes. Yes. Distant,” he said gratefully, though they both knew that wasn’t an accurate description.
“No,” she said. “I just found out yesterday.”
“Oh,” he said dumbly, not sure what else to say. “What do we do now?”
Rhynne looked over at him. “I don’t know. I was hoping you might have some answers.”
“Hoo boy,” he said, leaning back into the couch. “Uh, okay.”
He tried to gather his thoughts into something collective.
“So, I take it by you telling me that you intend to keep it?”
Uncomfortable did not come close to describing how he felt asking that question.
Rhynne nodded, and he thanked his lucky stars that she didn’t seem to take offense from it.
“Okay.” He looked around. “Have you eaten yet?”
She shook her head.
“Come on,” he said, taking her by the hand and moving into the common area. It was only half a dozen steps away, but just then, he didn’t want to be apart from her and their child. The lack of reluctance from Rhynne told him that she was feeling the same. Her hand brushed against her stomach, lingering for several long moments as she followed next to him.
Their child.
Without thinking he pulled Rhynne close, wrapping his arms around her. She tried to pull away, but he held on, pushing past her automatic reaction. Rhynne was a dragon shifter. If she truly wanted to pull away, she would show it. He wasn’t worried about overpowering her.
The tall, powerful instructor seemed suddenly tiny in his grasp, and she shuddered once at his touch before resting her head on his chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?” Giving you a baby? He carefully did not voice that aloud.
“Not freaking out.”
He laughed. “Oh, I’m freaking out. Trust me, I am panicking and going crazy. It’s just all on the inside.”
Rhynne giggled softly. “Well, thanks for maintaining the appearance of calm acceptance.”
“That part was easy,” he told her. “Because I am accepting. I’m still trying to convince myself it’s real, but since it is, I promise you one thing, Rhynne Nova.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not going anywhere. I will be there for you and for our unborn child, in any manner and capacity that I can.”
Translation: Whatever you allow me to be, I will be it.
“Thank you,” she said softly, but didn’t say any more.
“Right, food,” he said, breaking the embrace and opening cupboards and pulling supplies from them and the fridge. “Stir-fry sound acceptable?”
“Delicious,” she replied, leaning on the island.
There was some silence as he worked, and Dom—though he appeared focused on the meal—was anything but. Those were automatic motions, born of someone who could make something like this in his sleep. Dom loved stir-fry. His brain, however, was far, far away.
Unbidden, a question rose up in his mind that he feared the answer to. It was a question every parent—or soon to be parent—thought of themselves. That one niggling thought that could keep a person up at night with worry. It crept up on him now, eating away at his thoughts, his confidence, his pride.
What if I’m a bad father?
The knife chopped down a little too hard on one of the cutting boards as it sliced through a vegetable, and the resulting bang made Rhynne jump in surprise.
“Sorry,” he muttered, straightening his back. He took a deep breath in, and let it out in a slow, controlled sigh, rolling his shoulders to try and relax them.
“Dominick?” Rhynne asked nervously.
Get it together, man. You have to keep yourself calm right now. If you can’t do it for yourself, then you have to do it for her. Understood? Focus. She needs to know that it’s all going to work out in the end, and right now she’s reaching out to you.
True, she’d ignored him and treated him rudely for months, and if Dom really wanted to, he could throw that back in her face. But then again, Dom wasn’t that kind of man. That wasn’t his outlook on the world. Someone he cared about was in trouble, well, not trouble, but was in need of reassurance and help. Who cares how they’d treated him? That could be worked out later, after the immediate situation was past.
“I am going to be in so much trouble,” Rhynne said as she munched on some sliced peppers as Dom prepared chicken in a skillet.
“What? From whom? Daxxton?” he asked, not sure what she meant.
Rhynne laughed. “No, Daxxton will probably be happy, if he reacts at all. It was my parents, actually, that I was referring to.”
“Ah,” he said.
“Ah? Ah? What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, standing up, arms crossed as her typical air returned.
“This,” he said, waving the knife in his hand at her. “This is what my ‘Ah’ means.”
Rhynne leaned forward dangerously. “Excuse me?”
Dominick sighed and put down the knife.
“Do you even see how rude and dismissive you get whenever you think about your parents, or pretend that you have to keep a certain station in life? Or do you just see that as the way things are?” he asked, confronting her.
She opened her mouth to respond, her eyes blazing. Dominick stood there coolly, prepared to deal with the worst. He knew, truly knew, that Rhynne was better than this, that she was only dismissive of him because her parents likely would be too, though they’d never even met him. He was not part of Cadia’s upper-crust—and thank goodness for small miracles.
Her jaw closed, slowly.
“You’re an adult, Rhynne. You can do what you want.”
She shook her head. “It’s easy for you to say, but it’s not that easy for me. My parents
are well-connected. Influential. You know who they are.”
He shrugged. “I know your mother Klara is on the Cadian Council, yes. Your father was as well, a number of decades ago. They run in the lofty circles of snobbery, such as there is in Cadia. They expect you to do whatever they say, and don’t realize you’re an actual individual, with your own wants and needs. I know that, yes.”
Rhynne glared at him. “Yes, well, I’m expected to follow after them. To mate for status and power. Not for desire, or even love. I should fall in love with whomever is chosen for me. It is the other way around, you see? Find power, create love. Instead of find love, and create power from it.”
He snorted. “Let me guess: they have a suitor for you already as well. He’s just waiting in the wings for you to come around to your senses, according to them.”
There was no reply; she just looked away, focusing somewhere else for a moment. But Dominick was patient. He simply waited. It didn’t take long before she cracked.
“Yes. Yes there is. His name is Garviel, and he is one of the Wards of Fenris that are visiting right now,” she said. “There, are you happy now? Do you want me to tell you how he’s easy on the eyes, powerful, and well-connected back home? How the two of us would make a great match? Is that what you want to hear?”
“Want?” he replied. “No, I don’t want to hear that from you at all. I have other words I would much rather hear you speak. But I don’t know if you’re able to speak them.”
Rhynne shut her eyes. “Maybe I’m not. But I will tell you something, Dominick Carunno. Garviel is a pompous asshole who has acted like I’m his to own since the moment I met him.” She threw her hands in the air. “And I’ve only met him twice, for a grand total of like ten minutes! The guy is unbearable. I don’t want to go with him. I want to find love, okay? But I can’t.”
Dom shook his head. “Why not?”
“I told you already. My parents, expectations, the way it is. Did you not listen to what I was saying?”
“Yes, I did. I promise you, I listened to every word you spoke, Rhynne Nova. Every word. But did you listen to what I asked?”
She slammed a hand down on the granite island countertop, hard enough to make it shake, but not strong enough to do any damage. “Yes, and I answered you.”
“No, you didn’t. Why can’t you make your own decisions?”
“MY PARE—”
He cut off her roar with a chop of his hand into the air.
“Listen to me. I understand that. But why can’t you do it anyway? What is so terrible that will happen if you do your own thing?” He spoke evenly, in soothing tones, driving his point home.
Rhynne’s jaw snapped shut. She worked it slowly, forming a reply. “Well, my parents will disown me, most likely. No access to the family land, or money. No power or status in Cadia anymore. I’ll be ostracized from those levels.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“What?” she snapped.
“Is that such a terrible thing? You say you hate everything about it, and yet you’re afraid to lose it. Something doesn’t add up.”
Now her jaw dropped open in surprise as he called her out.
Dominick held up a hand as she began to answer. “No, it’s okay. Think on it.”
He spooned a portion of the food which he’d continued to prepare as they talked into a bowl, sliding a fork into it and pushing it across the counter to her with a small smile. “Enjoy.”
Rhynne looked apologetic, but he waved her off again.
“We’ll continue this later. Eat, then get some sleep, okay? We’ll talk in the morning, hash out a plan.” He grinned suddenly. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”
Rhynne didn’t look like she believed him, but she did sit down to eat, pulling one of the high barstool-style chairs close.
Chapter Six
Rhynne
Rhynne woke the next morning in her bed at the Academy, with only the faintest recollection of how she’d gotten there.
It wasn’t that she’d been drunk. No, she wasn’t stupid. There would be no drinking in her near future. Nor had she been up overly late. Dom had walked her back to her part of the Academy as soon as she had finished eating. He’d broken the rules and brought her right to her door, but Rhynne hadn’t cared.
She’d been too exhausted, mentally, to notice. They’d exchanged pleasantries, and then she’d fallen into a deep slumber. The entire evening—hell, the past day and a half—was all a blur. All because of one extra line on some silly stick.
Rhynne was pregnant. A life had been created inside of her, and now it was growing there.
“Holy fucking shit,” she swore, suddenly wide awake. “I’m going to be a mother.”
That was the first time that thought had crashed through her mind. Before then, it had always been that she was pregnant, that there was a child inside of her. But it had taken until just then for her to realize that she was going to be that child’s mother.
Right then and there, she swore to give that child more options than her parents were giving her. It would be allowed to mate for love, even if she might never get that opportunity.
Dominick’s question from the night before continued to haunt her.
Is giving that all up such a horrible thing?
She wasn’t sure she’d be able to answer that anytime soon. Accepting her fate as being dictated by them had been a part of her for thirty-four years. She couldn’t just overturn that in one day.
Throwing the covers off, she rose, pulling on fresh black trousers, a white blouse with black vest, and her favorite pair of knee-high boots. It was the same style she always wore, but Rhynne didn’t care. It was comfortable, efficient, and practical. Plus the pants made her butt look good.
Heading down the stairs from her private suite—the instructors had much more lavish accommodations than the cadets did—she headed into their kitchen area, where she heard the sound of voices.
To her surprise, everyone was there. Blaine and Zander she had figured on seeing. It was the tall, composed man with an aura of peace and competency around him that caught her off guard.
“Morning Daxxton,” she said with far more informality than any of the cadets would ever dare of doing.
“Rhynne,” he said with a smile. “Please, join us. There should be plenty of food left over, and I would like your thoughts on something, as you are rather uniquely positioned to give them.”
She froze.
How did he know? She’d told nobody except Mina and Dominick. How could he possibly know? What did she say now? Shit. Did everyone in the room know?
“Rhynne? Is everything okay? I was hoping you could give us your insights on the Wards of Fenris.”
Oh. That’s what he meant.
She nearly sagged in relief.
“Yes, of course,” she said, moving to where the leftovers were still sitting warm in their pots. She gave herself a generous helping of eggs, a few pieces of bacon, and a piece of flatbread before moving to the thick dark-stained wooden table around which the other sat.
She sank gratefully into one of the plushly-padded heavy wooden chairs and began to eat as Zander spoke.
“I still think they’re up to no good!” he exclaimed animatedly.
Rhynne considered the other instructors as she ate.
Zander, who was speaking excitedly about his thoughts on the Wards and their trip to Cadia, was the fireball of the group. Loud, outspoken, quick to anger, and just as quick to forgive, he did everything at one hundred percent. He had a quick wit and an even quicker temper. He was also one of the best fliers she had ever seen. As a Gale Dragon, he was smaller than the rest, but he used that, and his speed to ruthless effect in the air.
Blaine nodded sagely along with Zander, in agreement it would seem, that the Wards’ mission to Cadia was not simply a sightseeing expedition. He was a more powerful and intimidating individual than Zander. Topping him by several inches, with a short, neatly trimmed goatee, Blaine was the poster child for
dragons when one discussed them. Broad, powerful shoulders and shortly cropped hair were paired with piercing green eyes that cowed those who bore the brunt of their stare.
And finally, Daxxton, who was sitting back, listening to the others speak. Though she had known Daxxton for some time, the gold dragon shifter, head of the Academy, was a quiet, reserved person. He spoke rarely, and was often absent, though she did not know where he went off to much of the time. Just then his eyes were moving intently between the three instructors, even though Rhynne had yet to speak.
She finished eating just as the conversation fell into a lull. An expectant look from Daxxton spurred her to words, though her mind was still preoccupied with the fact that she was pregnant.
“I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Zander,” she said, chewing idly on the last piece of bacon that she’d saved. “But they are here for more than just a friendly visit.”
Zander slapped his hand on the table. “I knew it! They’re here to spy on us, to cause trouble.”
Rhynne shook her head. “I can’t speak to that. I’ve only met the one, really.”
“Which one?” Blaine asked.
“Garviel,” she said with a grimace.
“How do you know they’re here for more than just a visit then?” Zander asked with a frown, clearly worried she wouldn’t actually be able to back up his theory.
“Because he’s here looking for a mate,” she said glumly.
“How do you kn—” Zander stopped speaking abruptly as a grin spread across his face. “Ah, he’s putting the moves on you, is he?” the sandy-haired shifter teased with a laugh.
“With the approval of my parents, no less,” she said unhappily.
“Not impressed then?” Blaine asked, more interested in her evaluation of one of the Wards than her love life.
“Oh, he seems competent and trained enough, I suppose. For a Ward,” she scoffed, remembering how she’d caught him so off guard when he wouldn’t let go of her arm. “But personality-wise? I couldn’t tell you. He puts on this faux outer personality any time I see him, and I’ve yet to get a real glimpse of what’s underneath it. I have a feeling, however, that I wouldn’t like it.”
Daxxton leaned forward, and the others stayed quiet as his movement signaled he would be entering the conversation. “I picked up the same thing. He is the head of the delegation sent here, but none of the men—and there were no women with them—seemed overly affable. In fact, one of them, whose name I did not catch, looked downright angry at everything around him. He blended in well, however, if it were not for the birthmark under his eye, I might have missed him entirely, which speaks volumes to his skill at remaining unseen.”
