Layla resisted a sigh. You see things in black and white, dragon. Faye tells her family almost everything that's unrelated to clan security, and if it slips out and her mum hears about it, who knows what'll happen.
Faye's mother, Lorna MacKenzie, knew everything about everyone inside Lochguard, to a troubling degree. A wonderfully kind-hearted female who competed for the biggest gossip inside the clan.
However, before Layla could worry more about it,
Chase walked casually into the kitchen.
Or, so he was trying to appear. The second his gaze met hers, his pupils flashed, and her heart skipped a beat. The night when they'd been standing close, mere inches apart, came rushing back.
His heat, his scent, his smoldering gaze that had turned her knees weak. The way he'd leaned close, almost as if to kiss her. And how she'd been so close to letting him.
Stop it, Layla. No matter what, no blushing, she reminded herself.
Her dragon sat silently but smugly at the back of her mind.
Chase said, "Hello, Layla. I didn't know you'd be here."
Gillian McFarland went to her son and lightly kissed his cheek. "I invited her to stay for dinner as a thank you for bringing me my medicine."
Layla swore she saw Gillian wink at her son but brushed it aside. If his mother was trying to matchmake, that would make things even harder.
Her dragon merely laughed.
Determined not to let the world decide her future for her, Layla ignored the mother-and-son pair and turned toward Faye. "Everything's going well with the bairn?"
Faye placed a hand over her large, round abdomen. "Aye, most of the time." Faye stepped closer to whisper, "Although I could do with a break from my randy beast."
Layla bit back a smile. "When a mating is still new—and yours is less than a year old—that tends to happen. Of course, if the mate bond is strong enough, it may never go away."
Faye sighed. "I like a good tumble as much as the next person, but I also like being able to work occasionally, too."
Grant came to Faye's side and murmured, "You don't have to work as much as you do, love. Cooper can help me until the bairn is born."
Faye narrowed her eyes at Grant. "If you think having the doctor here will keep me from sharing my true feelings about being idle for however many months, until you deem me safe enough to work, then you don't know me at all, Grant McFarland."
Grant leaned over to whisper something Layla couldn't hear. As Faye's body relaxed, Layla did, too. While she knew the pair liked to argue and make up repeatedly, the doctor in her couldn't help but worry about their unborn child. Especially since she—only Layla and her nurses knew the gender of the bairn, as per dragon-shifter tradition—could come at any time now, and Layla would prefer not to have to deliver a child with Chase around to distract her.
Her dragon sighed. Faye will be fine. Don't you start treating her like a porcelain doll, too.
I won't. But it's my job to think of her health, and sometimes that means the patient has to take it easy, no matter if they're male or female.
Gillian's voice caught her attention. "Layla, do you mind helping Chase with the cutlery? I normally wouldn't ask a guest to do it, but I try to keep the knives away from my eldest son and his mate, lest one of them try to impress the other by tossing it at a target."
Faye grinned. "That was only the one time, Gillian, and I proved my point to Grant. He won't doubt my aim with a blade ever again."
Grant grunted. "And if I could get away with it, I'd make sure we didn't have any knives in the house at all. But given how you like steak currently, that's not going to happen."
Faye smiled sweetly. "We're dragon-shifters, Grant. I'd just use a talon to slice the meat if you ever became that overprotective."
Chase jumped in. "Aye, and I'm sure she's proficient with those as well, brother. If you're having one of your make-up sessions, I'd watch those hands around your bollocks if I were you."
Gillian clicked her tongue. "Chase, stop it. We have a guest, and I'm fairly certain she doesn't want to hear about genitals right before she eats."
Layla's dragon cackled. Well, maybe if it were about Chase's, then I'd be all ears. Add in his hard cock for us to lick, and that would fill me right up.
Ignoring her dragon, she turned to Chase and did her best to appear nonchalant. "Where's the cutlery?"
He whispered loudly for dramatic effect. "Clever lass. Let's keep it away from Faye for as long as possible."