Page 51 of Accidentally Engaged
“I need you to come to Pine Ridge for a month. Look after the business for me and mind the house.”
I blink and wonder if I’m still asleep, having a weird hangover dream. Pine Ridge is a perfect little place, a happy little paranormal suburban gem for the “nice monsters.” My brother is proof of that. He’s got a big red brick house, a garden shop, and a landscaping company with big, fat contracts from the local bigwigs and the neighborhood college. He’s got a sweet, pretty brunette wife.
Ahumanwife.
There’s no way Mr. Perfect could need my help when he has the lovely and talented Vanessa, a woman he loves enough to turn his back on his own kind for.
“Why? What’s wrong?” I demand, my voice scratchy and my temples starting to throb. I stagger upright and look for pants, water, and the Kane amulet that I’m not supposed to take off—but I do almost every night. I don’t want my family mixed up in the dirty dealings that happen in the California CrossRealms.
“Vanessa is pregnant—and he’s got the dragon genes. He’s going to be able to shift, like us!”
A spear of surprise sends me stumbling over the bathroom sink, nearly making me drop my phone into the basin. “What? How d’ye know?” The faint trace of an accent skitters out and I cough it back down.
“Ultrasound shows the little one’s growing in a ‘hardened calcified sphere.’”
“An egg. Vanessa’s growing anegg?” I demand.She’s a human. How is that possible?
“The doctor says it’s soft and it’ll come out naturally with the afterbirth. The little one’ll break through it just like the amniotic sack.”
Maybe hearing this kind of talk isn’t the best after a long smoky night filled with too much whiskey. My stomach whirls and I beg the contents to stay down. “Why do I have to come home? How far along is she? When were you going to tell me, ye wee scunner?”Is she sick? I hope she’s not sick.My heart stutters. I gave Ian a hard time when he married Vanessa three years ago, but she’s been nothing but good to him—and somehow she’s carrying his child. A dragon.
I thought Ian was a fool, condemning our bloodline to die out by marrying a human.
Well. Who knows if it’ll have all the capabilities of a full dragon?
Wait, if they can tell it’s dragonborn right now, can they tell if it’s well? What if the little one is sick?
“Sixteen weeks.”
“What??” I yelp. “That’s months, Ian!”
“You were so adamant that we both marry women of our own kind, you fool. I didn’t want to tell you in case the baby was just an ordinary human. Bad enough to have to listen to you rant at me for dooming our dying race without having to tell you that you were probably right. If Vanessa hadn’t needed this special scan, I probably wouldn’t have told you until he was born.”
“It’s a he? A boy?”
“Another Kane lad coming into the world. I’m taking Vanessa home to pick the amulet herself and have it blessed by the High King.”
“Can she fly in this condition? Why did she need a special scan. Wait, is this why you want me to come home?”
“Just to mind the business for a month until we’re home again. And she needed a special scan because her heart rate was getting a bit low and unsteady. Turns out human women carrying dragonborn need high potency calcium supplements once the little one starts to get solid bones and the shell starts to thicken.”
“She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?” I ask, sitting down on the edge of the grotty little counter in my studio apartment’s minuscule bathroom.
“Ah, look at that. You do care. We’re going to name him after you, you know. Murdo Graham Lewis Kane. Lewis is Van’s father. You met him at the wedding.”
My heart swells—then hardens. “When are you leaving?”
“First of May.”
“I... I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire here.”
“In a CrossRealms? It’s hellfire, then. Graham, Mother wouldn’t want you near that place.”
“It’s not all bad. I’m in a legal business.” I mean... I’m muscle. I’m a repo man for someone quite shady, but it’s legal. The people who don’t pay their car loans get their vehicles taken back, it’s simple. Legal.
I don’t let myself think about the fact that my boss is an Incubus, and if he doesn’t get paid in cash, he’ll eventually take souls. That’s not my department. I would never...
I stop my train of thought. There’s a lot I said I would never do that I’ve done since I started working here.
