To Have & to Hold by Mackenzie Lucas Page A

she no longer needed all her strength to fight infection and fever. The word that stuck in his throat was might . P regnancy hormones could wreck havoc on the strongest female dragon mages and while Cate was strong, she wasn’t a dragon. Grayson didn’t even want to think what dragon hormones might do to his wife or the baby in this situation. Hattie thought she might not ever wake.
    Cate would come back to him. She had to. He loved her, needed her to become the man he wanted to be, the dragon mage he wanted to be. He wouldn ’ t survive without valiant Cate by his side. He didn ’ t even want to try. And he ’ d be damned if he ’ d ever leave her or the baby unprotected again. No matter what the Dragon Consortium dictated.
    A knock sounded at the sliding glass door leading to the porch. Grayson opened the door to find David waiting for him. He ’ d pushed his friend off yesterday, after Cate had been s hot. David had given him space, but now he was back and more determined than ever.
    Grayson stepped onto the porch, forcing David back a step or two. He wouldn ’ t allow another dragon male anywhere in close proximity to Cate or his baby. For some reason, the instinct David said would cause him to attack the baby had not materialized in him yet. But he ’ d always been a late bloomer. He wouldn ’ t take any chances with their lives around other mages and he ’ d need to be quick to recognize his own urge to harm them. This had been all his fault. Never again would he endanger his wife. He ’ d give her up before he allowed that to happen again .
    “What can I do for you, David?” He sat in one of the high-backed green rocking chairs and propped his bare feet on the deck railing.
    “Damn it, man. I told you you can ’ t stay with her.” David sat in the rocking chair beside him, but leaned forward, elbows propped on his thighs, hands steepled .
    “I ’ m not leaving.”
    “Grayson, it ’ s not safe.”
    “I have no idea what you ’ re talking about. I was with Cate all day yesterday and today. Nothing happened. I felt the baby moving inside her. I will not hurt them .”
    “Other dragon mages have failed.”
    “I ’ m not other mages.”
    David studied him. “No. You ’ re not.” He sighed. “I ’ m not sure what it is that makes you special. You didn ’ t turn until thirty-eight. Every other dragon in recent history has changed by the age of five or they never change at all. Thousands of years ago, there were a few reported cases of late changes--but they ’ re so rare we don ’ t know much about them. I ’ ll have to see what I can find in our archives.”
    “You do that and get back to me. I ’ ll be right here. I appreciate all you ’ ve done for me and for Cate . I welcome you here any time. But I ’ m not leaving. This is where I belong. Beside my wife and my child.”
    “I can ’ t officially sanction your decision. You understand my position? It ’ s simply not done. Most dragon mages only have one child, and the confinement is purely matriarchal. Males may guard the homestead, but they ’ re not allowed in the inner sanctum for those five years. And by inner sanctum, I mean their wives ’ homes and their beds.”
    “Yes, I understand. I won ’ t be honoring that tradition. I won ’ t miss the first five years of my son ’ s life. My humanity is too ingrained, too strong to neglect my wife or child for five years. We ’ ve already lost too much time. I won ’ t sacrifice a single second more.” He watched David, looking for a crack in his poker face. A sign of weakness or betrayal. He didn ’ t see it. “And we both know there ’ s still a Dignity threat to Cate and the baby. I won ’ t sacrifice them. Or any of my hoard. Ever again. Not even for the Consortium.”
    And he sure as hell w ouldn’t tell David it was touch-and- go with Cate . She’d come back. She’d live.
    Grayson handed David the small topaz stone he ’ d picked up off the floor after Michael