HIS HEART STOPPED.
Not because Marc was in any way hurt. The dragon looked a bit rough, his clothing torn in places and a map of bruises crawling across his skin that were slowly fading from his dragon fast healing, but he was on his feet and coherent and that was all that mattered.
No, Drake’s attention was swallowed by his mate kneeling in the dirt with a small child wrapped in her arms. He felt his heart beat once, a huge thud that pushed all the air from his lungs. It was a vision he didn’t deserve. It was something he’d never imagined.
Layla twisted and looked up at him. There was a war in her eyes. Shadows tried to push back the maternal instinct she felt with the child clinging to her, but she didn’t let go. She gave the little girl a place to find sanctuary.
And, yet, neither w
