The Protector (Fire's Edge #4) - Abigail Owen Page 0,55

needs to protect me, because I’m a badass.” Lyndi grimaced. “Sorry, Sera.”

Her friend snorted a laugh. “Around this crew, I’ve given up saving his ears from swear words.”

Meanwhile, the boys all dissolved into laughter. “You’re the worst at this game, Lyndi,” William hooted off to one side. “You need more protection than Marin.”

Lyndi planted her hands on her hips, ready to defend her honor. “Only because I let you guys win.”

That only sent them into fits of harder laughter. “Remember that time Elijah accidentally smacked you into the side of the mountain and you passed out?” William teased.

Elijah grimaced, guilt wiping away his grin, and he scowled at his brother.

Lyndi just shook her head. “Leave me out of it. I want to talk to Sera and the girls anyway.”

After some good-natured grumbling, and Elijah and William quietly arguing whether Lyndi would’ve been fine had she shifted faster, the boys returned to their game and she made her way over to her friend.

“Hey!” Sera called out, her smile reflected by the other two women with her.

“He looks happy,” Lyndi said, tipping her chin in Blake’s direction.

“Yes, but I’m his mother and it’s a mother’s job to worry.” Sera tucked a strand of pale blonde hair behind her ear with delicate fingers.

From beside Sera, Delaney tracked the motion, concern slipping into her gaze, though she didn’t say anything. After all, she’d been Sera’s friend first, having lived and worked at the winery Sera had owned before Delaney almost burned down the barn and the Huracáns had burst into their lives. No doubt Delaney could see as well as Lyndi that Sera had lost weight since she and Aidan and Blake had gone into hiding.

Sera swallowed. “What if Blake never—”

Pressing her lips tight, Sera cut off the words, whispered low enough that her son couldn’t have caught them anyway, even in dragon form. Too difficult to say aloud maybe.

More what-ifs.

Delaney reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand in silent support.

“You can’t think like that,” Lyndi said. “I’d be a wreck if I dwelled on every what-if for my boys. Blake is not feral, he’s in charge of his dragon. Maybe his dragon won’t let go as a protective measure.”

It made sense to her. Lyndi’s dragon was both her and something else. Separate and yet the same, and she was damn protective of Lyndi’s human side. Pure survival instinct because one could not exist without the other.

“Maybe,” Sera allowed. “It’s not like he’s had a chance to feel secure for long enough at a time, no matter how much we assure him. He’s seen too much, and we’ve had to move too often. Always watching overhead and checking over our shoulders.”

“He’s a good kid,” Delaney assured her. “Smart, polite, happy. You’re doing a great job.”

“Maybe once you get to Rune’s,” Cami offered. “I found it remarkably peaceful there. We never had any disruption, lots of hands to help share the load.” She grinned, dark eyes twinkling with mischief. “You might even get some alone time with Aidan. Give Blake a baby brother or sister.” Cami waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh, Lord.” Sera laughed loud enough that several boys glanced over a second before going back to their play. “I can’t even think of that right now. Life is too complicated.”

“What if it’s always complicated,” Cami pointed out. “We can’t stop living our lives just because of…” She waved a hand all around them.

Considering Cami, Lyndi tipped her head. “Wait a minute. You’re not…”

Cami rolled her eyes, though she smiled. “Not yet. Drake wants me all to himself for at least a decade, he says.”

“Horny buggers, aren’t they?” Delaney murmured, lowering her voice because of the boys.

Cami glanced up at Lyndi and patted the rock floor beside her. Only Lyndi couldn’t quite hide her wince as she sat cross-legged on the cavern floor.

They all looked at her a little cockeyed. “You okay?” Sera asked.

“Fine.” Damn, her voice had practically hit a falsetto on the one word.

The thing was, how did she tell her friends she was tender, in the best of ways, because of what Levi had done with and to her body not that many hours ago?

“If that look means what I think it does,” Sera murmured, “then I guess things must be going well with Levi?”

Unaccustomed heat, this time definitely a blush, surged up Lyndi’s neck into her face. “As you said…horny buggers.”

The women laughed, nodding their agreement.

Not that she was any different. Lyndi frowned over that. So easy to forget that Sera, Delaney,