Page 68 of Kidnapped By The Messy Dragon

I look back at her.

The bond probably told on me. Zuri looks up from her tiny shutters. Then she rubs a slow hand over her round little bump and blows me a kiss.

My dragon settles. My nerves don’t stand a chance against that woman.

Her mother is moving to town soon, and baby, I already have STORIES. The in-laws deserve their own episode. That’s a whole other show for a whole other night.

I turn back around and boot up the live. The board lights come up green, the stream counter starts climbing, and I lean into my mic.

“CREEK BABIES. You haven’t heard from me in a while. But guess what? I’m BACK, and it’s LOTS to tell.”

Behind me, the sound of Zuri’s painting stops.

“First up. Stanley’s Diner. Y’all remember Andy. The man who trained half this valley’s waitresses just to lose them to fate, one mating bite at a time. The man we ALL swore was unswoopable.” I get right up on the mic. “Baby. Andy got swooped.”

A little gasp of a laugh comes from the worktable.

I count the next part off on my fingers. “That’s right. Fated, mated, and grinning over his own flat-top about it, and Stanley’s Diner has itself a brand-new CO-OWNER. Miss Carissa of the Ironwood clan. And before y’all start up, yes. A bear. One of the elder bears, on that mountain since before the diner had a roof.Our Andy has a few seasons on him too, so run the math with me, creek babies. That’s a second-chance romance for the both of them, and fate keeps receipts even longer than I do.”

I tip my mug toward the window and the night behind it.

“And thank you for the tea, Soren. It’s good to have friends made of stone.”

I sit back in my chair.

“Now, if you have never been courted by an Ironwood, let me paint you the picture. Them bears? A car breaks down on that mountain, and they come out to PLAY. Every damn time. Flat tire? Bear. Radiator smoking? Bear. Miss Carissa heard one bad fuel pump in the diner parking lot, and the rest is history.”

Zuri snorts, and I grin at my board.

“Now this next one is soft, creek babies, so act right. Our gargoyles are about to be PARENTS. Soren and Treasure’s little one is due any day now, and when he gets here, Shadow Wolf Creek welcomes its very first hatchling.” I thump my desk. “And I have got ALL the smoke for my godson. All of it. Anybody so much as breathes wrong near that baby, they answer to a dragon.”

I look back at Zuri. She’s smiling over her paintbrush, one hand resting easy on her bump, and she catches me looking and winks. Our own news stays ours a little longer.

I spin back to the mic, and my dragon is right there with me, warm behind my ribs and twice as loud.

“And one more thing before the music.” I quit playing, because this next part I owe.

“Nyra. Marcus. If y’all are listening, and I know this valley, so you are.” I flatten both hands on the desk. “I was wrong for outing your pregnancy on this show. Flat-out wrong. That news was yours to tell, and I took it from you for an episode, and no download count was ever worth it. You didn’t deserve that, Nyra.”

The craft room has gone dead quiet.

“It took loving a woman of my own to understand how sacred those moments are. I hope one day the two of you can forgive me. And for what it’s worth, that cherry-wood crib Marcus built is the finest work in this valley. Your little one is lucky in every direction.”

I don’t have to turn around to know my mate’s face. The bond hands me all of it, surprise first, then something so warm it nearly knocks my headphones sideways.

“Housekeeping, creek babies. Stillwater.” I square my notes on the desk. “Every last bottle, pump, and drum of their product is OUT of Shadow Wolf Creek. Off the shelves, out of the schools, gone from the medical center. We are officially free of that mess, and the business is closed for good. Locked doors, dark windows, cardboard boxes.”

I flip to my next note. “And here’s your plot twist. Millbrook, of all places, seems to be coming around. Folks over there are waving at wolves in the grocery store now. Turns out that whole town mostly had one bad witch whispering in its ear.”

I pull the mic closer.

“But hear me good, babies. She’ll be back. Delilah ALWAYS comes back. And when she does, we do exactly what we did in that parking lot. We stand up, all of us, every clan and every kind, because this is OUR home and we earned it.”

I pull my headphones down around my neck for this last part and say it plain.

“I want to thank y’all. For standing with me when I needed it. Every wing in that parking lot, every paw between those cars, and every stone friend who kept watch over this town night after night. You showed up for the messiest dragon on this mountain, and I don’t take that light.”

I slide my headphones back up.