"Aye, well, we'll see about that." She looked at Ross. "Will you carve? I'm knackered and just want to eat and cuddle one of my grandbabies."
Ross picked up the knife and prongs, but turned them around and held them out to George MacLeod. "I think George should do it. I'm worn out from carrying twenty pounds of potatoes around all day."
All eyes turned toward George. For a second, the male didn't move or say anything. Then he tried to lift himself up, but with the crowded table, he couldn't manage it.
Finn was about to hand off the son in his lap and help him, but Gillian McFarland, sitting to one side of George, stood first.
She offered her arm. For a few beats, George did nothing. Then he finally took Gillian's help and managed to stand.
George murmured, "Thank you."
"Any time," Gillian said with a smile.
The pair stared at each other for a second, some understanding passing between them that Finn couldn't decode.
Then George leaned against the table for support, released his grip on Gillian's arm, and took the utensils from Ross.
As he carved up the roast, Arabella nudged Finn's side. He met her gaze. At the happiness and hope he saw there, his heart swelled.
Even though Freya's future may still be uncertain, as well as their boys’ or even George MacLeod’s, in that moment, Arabella was happy.
And to Finn, that was the most precious thing in the world. It also only made him want to work harder to keep her this way. He wasn't sure how he'd do it, but for the chance of her smiles and laughter, he would try his hardest. Arabella was a precious gift, and one he'd never take for granted.
Epilogue
A Few Weeks Later
Arabella looked down at her three sleeping children and willed her feet to move. She'd kissed each of them goodbye, as well as checked five times that Lorna and Ross had enough supplies for the night.
Her dragon spoke up. It's okay. Freya only shifts when you or Finn are near. I don't think she'll change the pattern now.
And if she does?
They have some of Dr. Sid's experimental medication. And even if that fails, Layla will use a diluted dragon slumber drug. Freya will not go rogue.
At her side, Lorna spoke up. "It's all right, child. I know what I'm doing. Besides, you and Finn deserve a wee break. What with your father visiting Melanie, Tristan, and their twins, you have no excuse not to enjoy some time with your mate."
Arabella hesitated and her beast sighed. She's right. Besides, it's been too long since we had our mate. We're healed and ready. And I want to see what he has planned as a surprise.
She touched the head of each of her children in turn. "Be good for Mummy and listen to your grandmother."
Her triplets continued to sleep.
Part of her wanted them to make a fuss at her departure, but another part was glad for Lorna's help.
Lorna touched her arm. "Go and see what Finn has planned for you, lass."
"You know what it is?"
"A bit. However, I'd rather not know the details."
Lorna's words piqued her curiosity. After a few more seconds of staring at her babies, Arabella turned toward the front door. "Call if anything happens. I don't care if Finn brought in the human British Queen to our cottage as part of his surprise, my babies come first."
Smiling, Lorna pushed her toward the door. "Aye, I know. But we'll be fine. Faye and Grant are supposed to come over in the morning to help, too."
Taking a deep breath, Arabella bobbed her head. "Thanks, Aunt Lorna. I'll be here tomorrow afternoon."
"Take your time, child."
With that, Arabella exited Lorna and Ross's cottage and walked briskly toward her own.
With each step, her worry was replaced with another emotion—nervousness. Finn had been patient with her, even though the doctor had cleared Arabella for sex two weeks ago. She craved her male, but carrying and birthing triplets had changed her body. She hoped Finn wouldn't be disappointed.
Her dragon huffed. Of course not. He loves us as we are.
Ignoring her dragon, Arabella quickly reached her home. But as soon as she could see the front door, she stopped and blinked.
A giant picture of a kitten with rainbows behind it was taped to the door.
Memories of her early courtship rushed back, and she smiled. Finn had once threatened to leave a pile of rainbow kittens on her front step.
While it was less than a year ago, it seemed like a lifetime. So much had happened between then and now.
Curiosity took over and she forgot about her nervousness. Arabella reached the door and entered the house.
Instead of more rainbows and kittens, there was a giant, pink stuffed unicorn smiling up at her from the floor.
Another thing Finn had threatened her with. Well, if threaten was even the right word. Although Arabella detested pink, so maybe it was.
Picking up the stuffed beast, she noticed sprigs of heather on the floor, leading up the stairs.
Instinctively, she touched her chest where Finn had pinned some heather during their early days. She hadn't known it at the time, but it had let everyone on Lochguard know she was Finn's true mate.
At the top of the stairs was a picture propped on a stand, of her and Finn on their mating day. Another stand had a picture of her, Finn, and their triplets in the delivery room. Then each of her babies' tattoo pictures were lined up.
She stopped at the next set of photos—framed ones of Finn's parents and another of her mother and father. Arabella had no idea how he'd found the picture of her parents as it was from over a decade ago. But as she lightly traced the frame, she willed herself not to cry. It seemed that she now had all of her family, past and present, to display proudly on her giant family tree in the living room.
After a few beats, she forced herself to keep going and finally reached their bedroom door. It was closed with a large piece of paper taped to it, a black question mark filling the space.
Placing the unicorn down on the ground, she entered the room.
Finn lay on the bed, a kilt around his hips and nothing else.
She took a second to admire Finn's muscled chest and arms before reaching his face.
He grinned at her. "Like what you see, lass?"
"And here I expected you to have a rose clutched between your teeth."
"I've never given you a rose, so that would ruin the theme."
While she enjoyed bantering with her mate, Arabella smiled as she recalled each thing Finn had placed along the way. "I can't believe you remembered all of those little details."
He sat up. "Aye, of course I did. I remember anything related to you, love." He put out a hand. "Come. I have more surprises for you."
She did as he bid. "Let me guess? You naked and inside me?"
"In time." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her skin. "First, I need to make sure you understand how much I want you, lass."
He maneuvered until he sat with his legs spread, and then he guided Arabella to stand between them. "Undress for me, love."
No sooner had she tugged her top off then Finn leaned forward and kissed her abdomen. The light flicks of his tongue sent heat straight between her thighs.
He chuckled, the vibrations only making her wetter.
His voice was husky as he said, "It's good to know that even after the trials of childbirth, you still want me, lass."
Running her fingers through his blond hair, she answered, "I'll always want you, Finn. Even if you grow a weird barb on your penis."
"I don't want to know where you got that idea."
She smiled. "I have quite the imagination."
"Do you now? Care to share some of that imagination with your mate?"
"Oh, I have lots to share. But later." She stepped back and finished undressing. The desire burning in Finn's eyes gave her the courage to do it as quickly as possible.
When she was done, she moved back between his legs and tossed up his kilt. Taking his hard cock in hand, sh
e stroked a few times. "I want to have you inside me first. Then we can tease and play."
As she straddled Finn's thighs, his hands went to her hips. His eyes never moved from hers. "Take what you want from me, lass. I'm yours, always."
For a second, Arabella couldn't believe Finlay Stewart was her mate. But then her dragon spoke up. Of course he is. He should be lucky to have us.
Finn rubbed his thumbs against the skin of her hips and murmured, "Tell your dragon she can have me later. Right now, I'm yours, Arabella."
Raising her hips, she positioned Finn's cock at her entrance and slowly sank down. She was glad to be on a form of birth control, because she loved feeling his long, hard length as she took him in.
Once she had him to the hilt, she leaned forward and nipped his jaw. "Then take me, Finn, and show me how much you love me."
With a growl, Finn flipped them over and pressed one of her legs back. "After I'm done, you'll never doubt how much you mean to me."
Finn took her lips in a rough kiss. As he moved his hips and devoured her mouth, Arabella forgot about everything but her mate—the strong, wonderful male who made her laugh and treasured her as much as any dragonman could.
As she screamed his name, it also served as a reminder to the world that Finn was her true mate, partner, and love of her life. No matter what happened in the future, they would have each other. And there was nothing they couldn't tackle together.
*~*~*
Did you enjoy this story? Then please consider leaving a review. :)
I hope you enjoyed Finn and Arabella's follow-up story. Between Freya and Holly and Fraser's twin girls, I think the future is going to have a lot of strong, adventurous females on Lochguard! The next story in my Lochguard series will be about Alistair Boyd and will be called The Dragon's Discovery. While waiting for that story, you may want to check out my science fiction romance series. I'll include an excerpt from the first book, The Conquest, after my Author's Note. And to stay up-to-date on information, you may want to join my newsletter.
Author’s Note
Thanks for continuing Finn and Arabella’s journey. I sense more for them in the future, but we'll see when that happens!
I know this book ended up being about all the MacKenzies, in addition to Finn and Arabella, but they're all tied together in a way. It also helped to tidy up quite a few dangling threads (Holly's pregnancy, Fergus and Gina's mate-claim frenzy) as well as to remind readers that Finn needed to both send a foster candidate to Stonefire and to allow someone from the Department of Dragon Affairs to come observe his clan. The person coming from the DDA will be the heroine of the next Lochguard book, The Dragon's Discovery. She's going to surprise Alistair Boyd in a quite a few ways. And because it's Alistair's book, you'll get to see more of his over-the-top mother and her crazy beaus. That book will be out in late September or early October 2018, provided nothing extreme happens. (And while I can't always control my imagination, I sense Alistair's book will lead to one of two other stories: Chase McFarland and Dr. Layla MacFie's, or Cat MacAllister and Lachlan MacKinnon's. Both have been hinted at in previous books, so we'll see which ends up being book seven!)
Okay, with that out of the way I have some people I need to thank for helping me to get this book out to the world:
To Becky Johnson and her team at Hot Tree Editing—you all are amazing. Becky gets me and helps my stories shine.
To Clarissa Yeo of Yocla Designs—you yet again designed a beautiful cover that captures my couple and the hecticness of their family perfectly. I couldn’t imagine my series without your magic.
To Donna H., Alyson S., Iliana G., Sabrina D., and Sandy H.—My beta readers are amazing and provide valuable honesty. Not only that, they catch the little typos that slip through. All of you are appreciated more than you know. <3
And as always, I thank you, the reader, for supporting my dragons this long. When I first published Healed by the Dragon I had no idea that I’d be writing another story about Finn and Arabella three years later! Thanks a million times from my heart for not only reading, but for also spreading the word. Word-of-mouth is more powerful than you think. And if you want a whole new way to experience my dragons, then maybe check out my audiobooks. There’s nothing better than listening to my narrators and their takes on dragon-shifters for hours… ;)
My next release will be The Forbidden (Kelderan Runic Warriors #4), out in August 2018. However, if you’re curious about my dragons, The Dragon's Discovery (Lochguard Highland Dragons Dragons #6, about Alistair Boyd), will be out in September/October 2018.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope to see you at the end of the next book!
The Conquest
(Kelderan Runic Warriors #1)
Leader of a human colony planet, Taryn Demara has much more on her plate than maintaining peace or ensuring her people have enough to eat. Due to a virus that affects male embryos in the womb, there is a shortage of men. For decades, her people have enticed ships to their planet and tricked the men into staying. However, a ship hasn’t been spotted in eight years. So when the blip finally shows on the radar, Taryn is determined to conquer the newcomers at any cost to ensure her people’s survival.
Prince Kason tro de Vallen needs to find a suitable planet for his people to colonize. The Kelderans are running out of options despite the fact one is staring them in the face—Planet Jasvar. Because a group of Kelderan scientists disappeared there a decade ago never to return, his people dismiss the planet as cursed. But Kason doesn’t believe in curses and takes on the mission to explore the planet to prove it. As his ship approaches Jasvar, a distress signal chimes in and Kason takes a group down to the planet’s surface to explore. What he didn’t expect was for a band of females to try and capture him.
As Taryn and Kason measure up and try to outsmart each other, they soon realize they’ve found their match. The only question is whether they ignore the spark between them and focus on their respective people’s survival or can they find a path where they both succeed?
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The Conquest is now available on Amazon // Amazon UK // Amazon AU // Amazon CA // Amazon DE.
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Excerpt:
Chapter One
Taryn Demara stared at the faint blip on the decades-old radar. Each pulse of light made her heart race faster. This is it. Her people might have a chance to survive.
Using every bit of restraint she had, Taryn prevented her voice from sounding too eager as she asked, “Are you sure it’s a spaceship?”
Evaine Benoit, her head of technology, nodded. “Our equipment is outdated, but by the size and movement, it has to be a ship.”
Taryn’s heart beat double-time as she met her friend’s nearly black-eyed gaze. “How long do we have before they reach us?”
“If they maintain their current trajectory, I predict eighteen hours, give or take. It’s more than enough time to get the planet ready.”
“Right,” Taryn said as she stood tall again. “Keep me updated on any changes. If the ship changes course, boost the distress signal.”
Evaine raised her brows. “Are you sure? The device is on its last legs. Any boost in power could cause a malfunction. I’m not sure my team or I can fix it again if that happens.”
She gripped her friend’s shoulder. “After eight years of waiting, I’m willing to risk it. I need that ship to reach Jasvar and send a team down to our planet.”
Otherwise, we’re doomed was left unsaid.
Without another word, Taryn raced out of the aging technology command center and went in search of her best strategist. There was much to do and little time to do it.
Nodding at some of the other members of her settlement as she raced down the corridors carved into the mountainside, Taryn wondered what alien race was inside the ship on the radar. Over the past few hundred years, the various humanoid additions to the once human-only colony had added extra skin tones, from purple to blue
to even a shimmery gold. Some races even had slight telepathic abilities that had been passed down to their offspring.
To be honest, Taryn didn’t care what they looked like or what powers they possessed. As long as they were genetically compatible with her people, it meant Taryn and several other women might finally have a chance at a family. The “Jasvar Doom Virus” as they called it, killed off most male embryos in the womb, to the point only one male was born to every five females. Careful genealogical charts had been maintained to keep the gene pool healthy. However, few women were willing to share their partner with others, which meant the male population grew smaller by the year.
It didn’t help that Jasvar had been set up as a low-technology colony, which meant they didn’t have the tools necessary to perform the procedures in the old tales of women being impregnated without sex. The technique had been called in-something or other. Taryn couldn’t remember the exact name from her great-grandmother’s stories from her childhood.
Not that it was an option anyway. Jasvar’s technology was a hodgepodge of original technology from the starter colonists and a few gadgets from their conquests and alien additions over the years. It was a miracle any of it still functioned.
The only way to prevent the extinction of her people was to capture and introduce alien males into their society. Whoever had come up with the idea of luring aliens to the planet’s surface and developing the tools necessary to get them to stay had been brilliant. Too bad his or her name had been lost to history.
Regardless of who had come up with the idea, Taryn was damned if she would be the leader to fail the Jasvarian colony. Since the old technology used to put out the distress signals was failing, Taryn had a different sort of plan for the latest alien visitors.
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