The Dragon Family (Lochguard Highland Dragons 5)

She kept her tone low and light, so as to not upset Freya. "What do we do, Finn? That's not normal. She's only a few months old. Her dragon shouldn't speak to her until five years at the earliest."

"I don't know. But maybe Layla or Logan might. Let me see."

After quickly squeezing her shoulder, Finn raced out of the room.

The second her father was out of sight, Freya began crying. The sight of her pink-faced baby with tears rolling down her cheeks tugged at Arabella's heart. No doubt, she was scared and confused. "Sssh, Freya, love. Daddy's getting us some help. We'll have this sorted soon enough."

Freya didn't exactly settle, but at least she merely sniffled instead of bawled.

Arabella glanced at the twins. Declan slept through anything, but Grayson stirred a little and would soon join his sister's cries.

It was Arabella's job to protect her babies, and yet, all she could do was stand and watch or risk making things worse.

She said to her dragon, I hate not knowing what to do.

There has to be a reason for why this happened to Freya now. Young dragons must be provoked into coming out of their hiding spots inside their minds this early.

Layla raced into the room, with Finn close on her heels. The doctor stopped at the crib and studied Freya's eyes. After a few beats, Layla spoke in her stern, yet gentle doctor voice filled with dominance. "Now, now, I know your dragon must be impatient to come out to play, but she really should be sleeping somewhere safe in your mind."

Freya's soft cries turned into what Arabella could only describe as roars.

Grayson started wailing, but thankfully, his pupils were round. Finn swiftly picked up their son and carried him to the other side of the room to calm him.

Arabella glanced at the doctor. "What do we do, Layla? Have you seen it before?"

Layla kept her voice gentle. "Only in textbooks. But Sid and Gregor just arrived, and if anyone can help with unusual inner dragon-related problems, it's them."

Dr. Sid had lost her dragon for twenty years, until Gregor had brought out her beast during the mate-claim frenzy. Ever since then, Gregor had dedicated his free time to learning as much as possible about inner dragons and how they worked. While not a guaranteed solution, Arabella had faith that Sid and Gregor could help or find a way to do so.

Arabella reached for Freya, but quickly clenched her fingers into a fist. She still didn't know if picking her daughter up would make things worse. "It's all right, Freya. Mummy's old friend, Dr. Sid, will be coming soon. She and her mate might be able to help you."

Layla went to the door and shouted something to a nurse about bringing the Stonefire doctors to the nursery. She then dashed back inside. "Is there anything that could've caused this? Finn didn't think so, but I wanted to double-check with you, too."

Arabella ran through the day and shook her head. "No, the only difference in the routine today was that Meg watched the triplets for a bit."

Finn grunted. "I'm going to ask Meg what she did with them."

Noticing the blame in Finn's voice, she said, "Finn, don't shout at her. For all we know, she didn't do anything wrong, and Freya's dragon did this on her own."

Layla nodded. "Ara's right. Meg will be in Room 3 with her new grandson. Try not to ruin the happy moment for them all."

Finn grunted

, his voice a little less accusatory. "Aye, I'll try not to. Although if she begins one of her guilt trips about Aunt Lorna, I can't make any promises. This is too important."

Finn disappeared with Grayson still in his arms and Arabella turned back to Freya. She searched for her daughter's favorite fox toy but didn't spot it in the crib. Spotting it on the floor, she risked giving the toy to Freya. The second the fox was next to her, Freya stopped crying and her pupils returned to round again.

"I don't understand," Arabella stated. "Her dragon wanted the toy? Why go to all that trouble?"

Layla shook her head. "I have no idea. But if Freya's dragon is active at this young of an age, we're all going to have to tread carefully. We can't exactly teach a bairn how to control an inner beast."

Sid and Gregor rushed through the door. Gregor asked, "What's wrong, Layla? They simply said to hurry here."

Layla turned toward her former mentor with a frown. "I'm not sure. Freya's pupils were slitted and I swear she roared."

Gregor moved to the crib. "She looks content and back to normal now."

Arabella filled him in on the details and added, "Once she had her favorite toy again, her pupils returned to normal. Is there anything you can tell us, Gregor? Please?"