He frowned. “Now isn’t the time for conditions, love. I need to see who’s hurt and then check in with Kai and Finn. The hunters could be planning an attack right now.”
The stubborn glint was in her eye and he resisted a groan. She said, “Just listen a minute, dragonman. It’s important.”
“Make it quick, love.”
She bristled but shook her head. “I don’t have time to argue. My condition involves Murray.”
He blinked. “Murray?”
Evie nodded. “Yes. I just need you to tell Dr. Sid it’s okay for me to take him home and then you can do whatever needs to be done.” She leaned against his body and whispered, “We’ll both be waiting for you when you’re finished. I might even forgive you for taking so long to come back to me and let you fuck me once or twice.”
Bram’s heart skipped a beat. His dragon tried to take over at the mention of fucking, but he pushed the beast aside to focus on the other half of her words. “You want to look after wee Murray?”
Evie smiled. “More than that, I want to adopt him. He can be the start of our new family.”
Ignoring his beast’s attempts to break out of his mental prison, Bram searched Evie’s eyes. “Are you sure?”
Evie frowned. “You should know by now that if I suggest something, I mean it.”
Stroking her waist, he murmured, “Sorry, love, but the last two days have been hell. I can hardly believe it’ll end happily for anyone, let alone me.”
His mate softened. “I’m here, Bram, and I want to make sure nothing happens to Murray ever again. I think together we can give Murray the love he deserves as well as make sure he’s safe.” She frowned again. “Just make sure you stay alive to help me. Being a single mother with a dragon-shifter baby is not something I want to experience. Murray needs his dad.”
Hearing her call him Murray’s dad warmed his heart. “I don’t want the lad to be fatherless, now, do I? That’s only slightly worse than upsetting my mate.”
Evie smiled and he knew he’d won. She gave him a quick kiss. “Good. Now that’s settled, let’s see Dr. Sid so you can finish up with the clan and come home to me.”
He nodded. “Also, I’ll have Melanie and Tristan sent over to you. You’ve been imprisoned for two days and while you’re strong, you may yet go into shock.”
“I’m not a delicate flower, Bram Moore-Llewellyn. But I can use the help as I need to shower and have not the faintest bloody idea of how to care for a baby.”
He squeezed his mate. “You’ll do fine, love.” He kissed her one more time and pulled away. The loss of her heat stabbed his heart. “Now, I need to find Finn. I hear he’s the one who rescued you.”
“Yes, he did. But he also killed Neil Westhaven.”
Bram blinked. “What?”
Evie brushed his chest with her hand. “You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Don’t be too hard on him. Neil was threatening to kill me at the time.”
His dragon growled. It is good the traitor is dead.
Yes, but he should have faced trial. Killing one of our own plays into the image all dragon-shifters are monsters.
If the traitor was threatening our mate, then our mate’s life is more important than trying to impress the humans.
His dragon had a point, but he didn’t have time to argue. He’d already spent more time with Evie than he should have. While the hunters’ base near Carlisle was destroyed, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t attack again.
Bram crawled out of the basket, helped Evie out as well, and then faced the members of his clan standing in front of him. “I want everyone to return to their cottages and remain alert. Until I release the order, off-site visits won’t be allowed.”
A male voice shouted, “How long, Bram? I can’t run my business if I can’t deliver goods to the humans.”
Bram looked at his clan mate and said, “Don’t worry, Alex. I won’t keep the restriction in place any longer than necessary. But I think staying alive is more important than delivering your wood carvings, aye?”
The same male replied, “Aye.”