Draeger Legacy 8 (13 page)

“Watch your back.”

Allen smiled. “I always do Drake.”

His father left and Drake stood in the large front room staring out at the yard. The storm the night before did some damage. Trees limbs were everywhere, a few of the smaller trees cracked or broken. But the yard wasn’t what was on his mind. His mate was.

Natasha was better. The fever broke last night, Nelly was up there feeding her, but she worried him. the doctor stated she wasn’t eating enough, so that meant her damn father more than likely made sure she ate very little to keep her tiny figure. He shook his head at it. Females were expected to be slim, dainty all the time. There were too many things he needed to change with his kind, and as James and his father said; it was more than likely he wouldn’t see the changes in his lifetime.

He could only hope that one day his children would take over where he started and left.

“Drake.” Drake turned. Nelly stood in the open doorway with an empty tray in hand. “She’s away and looks better. She also ate everything. Go up and see her.” Nelly smiled.

Drake nodded. “Have Tony call someone out for these trees.

Nelly nodded, turned, and stopped. “She had a cycle, didn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

Nelly shook her head, “Two days before a full moon. That’s usual.”

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“Doc thinks it is just because of the sickness and stress she’s been under.”

“Well I can agree with the stress.” Nelly walked away. “We all are under a lot of it right now.”

Drake headed upstairs. When he opened the door, he smiled.

Natasha was awake and sitting up in the bed, the pillows stacked up behind her head, covers folded on her lap. She was dressed in one of the new short and much sexier nightgowns he bought.

He went right up to her, kissing her deep, lingering his lips over hers for a few seconds before pulling away. “How you feel?”

“Embarrassed.” Her face turned a light shade of red.

“Why?” He smiled, sitting down on the side of her.

“I had my cycle early. I can’t believe I just crawled on top of you and just—” She couldn’t finish what she was saying. She brought the blankets up to her face, covering herself and bending over.

“Well I really didn’t mind.” He chuckled when she groaned loudly in the covers. “Natasha it’s alright.” He pried the blankets from her face and she sat up, but this time she had tears in her eyes and one falling down. “What’s wrong?”

“I have to be the worst kind of female for a mate,” she whispered, looking away from him.

Drake took hold of her chin, making her look him in the eyes. “Why would you say that?”

“I’m so weak,” she rushed out. “I got sick.”

“Shhhh.” He pressed a finger to her lips. “First off to me you’re the perfect female to mate. You complete me in ways I never thought possible. Second, just because you get sick doesn’t mean shit. Every one of us gets sick at some time. It happens. Now we just make sure you start eating better so that it won’t happen again so bad.”

She nodded, sniffed, and smiled shyly at him. “So has my father tried anything yet to get me back?”

Drake sighed. “Unfortunately, he has someone hunting for you. I just don’t know much more than that right now.” She shook her head, eyes lowering again. “He promised you to another.” That had her looking up at him. “Discovered that at the second meeting we had.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged. “He can’t promise you to another, especially if you don’t have a mark.”

“Does he know that I’m with you?”

Drake shook his head. “No, but I’m sure he suspects it.”

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“When are you going to tell him?”

He smiled at her, “When I’m damn good and ready, or maybe never.”

Natasha’s face lit up and a smile spread across her face. He reached out, touched the side of her face with his knuckles. She closed her eyes, pressing into the touch.

“Did you mean what you said last night?” she asked.

“Yes.” She looked at him, blue eyes wide open. “I love you Natasha, and as soon as you’re well I want to make our mating as solid as we can get it. I want you to marry me like the humans do.”

“I—I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes.”

“Yes,” came soft, low from her lips before she flung herself onto his lap, her arms going around his next, hugging him tightly.

Drake left her to take a nap. He smiled all the way back down the stairs, into the kitchen and out the back door. For the rest of the day he worked outside with Tony. Before supper, he did a quick hose down outside, changed clothes that Nelly handed him and took dinner up to Natasha to eat with her.

Tender roast, rich gravy, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and more of her fresh bread on a tray. Drake loaded the plate up for Natasha and made sure she ate it all. Once her stomach was full, she fell right to sleep. Drake took a fast shower and joined her for a nice sleep that his body was demanding. He only had one more day before the full moon.

Before his animal side surfaced, took over, and took Natasha. Drake half looked forward to it finally but also regretted it. She was still healing and he didn’t want to hurt her.

When morning came, Drake rolled over in the bed, reached for Natasha, and touched empty space. Instantly he was awake and up, tossing the blankets, looking for clothes. He was running out of the room, down the stairs only to stop at the bottom when he smelled the scent of food cooking.

Drake followed his nose and his ears. He heard talking, dishes moving around and breakfast cooking. The table in the dining room was set for two. A pot of coffee resting next to his spot, juice in a tall glass, biscuits in a bowl.

“Morning.” Natasha’s bright smile and cheerful voice had Drake stopping dead in his tracks. In her hand, she held a large bowl of scrambled eyes and in the other hand a tray of sausages. “Nelly is teaching me how to cook, so be honest when you try this. She thinks I 79

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did good, but I’m not sure.”

“You cooked?” Drake asked, frowning as she placed the food on the table.

“Yes and I love it.” She was definitely in a good mood. The smile never faltered on her face one second. “For lunch she’s going to show me how to do fried chicken and for dinner I have a special treat for you.

So sit down and try the food.”

He did. The moment his butt was in the chair, she handed him the bowl of eggs. Drake tried everything she fixed, and he made sure she ate plenty as well. With a wink when she glanced up at him he ate like there wasn’t going to be a next meal.

“I’m going to take it that you like my cooking.”

Drake nodded, whipping his mouth. “You’re a natural baby.”

“My father didn’t want me in the kitchen. Forbid it in fact.” She sipped the juice in her glass. “Use to lecture that it wasn’t a place for a lady, and if he caught me as a little girl then I got a whipping for it.”

“But he also didn’t want you to eat much either.” He sat back in his chair, cup of coffee in hand. “The doctor who treated you when you were sick expressed how underweight you are.”

Her face dropped. “My father believes that a female should be slender. I have to weigh a certain amount at all times, even when I was at school.”

“Well I want you healthy,” he sighed. “So I don’t give a shit if you put on some pounds, as long as you stay around and not get sick like that again.”

She nodded, stood up, and began to collect the dishes. “You know that’s what I pay Nelly for.”

“I don’t mind,” she shrugged.

Drake shook his head and stood up collecting the rest of the dishes.

Nelly raised one eyebrow at him when she saw he had them. “Don’t start,” he growled at her.

“You know, she might be good for you after all. Take away some of that caveman in you.”

“I have work to get caught up on. Can I trust you not to corrupt her too much?” he asked Nelly.

“I make no promises.” Nelly answered.

Drake gave Natasha a kiss on the cheek. “I loved breakfast and can’t wait for lunch.” She blushed again and he kissed her once more before leaving her with Nelly.

* * * *

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Natasha spent the whole day in the kitchen, only resting when Nelly insisted. She was still tired from the fever but had to be out of that bed.

Lying around seemed to make her feel useless and that was one thing she definitely was tired of being.

By lunchtime, she had to go up for a nap. She could barely stand, and her eyes felt like lead. The bed was heavenly when she lay down on it. Sleep came instantly, her mind filled of dreams of the children she wanted with Drake. She could see them all running around in the back, swimming in the pool laughing with him.

After a two-hour nap, she felt ready to take on the world. Splashing water on her face first, Natasha left the room and went back down to join Nelly in the kitchen. A sandwich waited for her and she ate it in bliss.

Drake still worked, and Natasha went to work at learning how to fix the next dish—fried chicken. Nelly showed her everything she needed to know, including how to cut up the chicken. With the last batch cooking Drake showed up.

“Man does that smell great.” He smiled, coming up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, looking over her shoulder. “Love chicken.”

Nelly huffed, “You love anything that is food.”

“Won’t argue there,” Drake nodded.

“Make yourself useful and set the table,” Natasha said, turning a chicken leg over in the skillet.

Drake chucked, gave her a kiss on the neck, and took the plates Nelly was holding out. She smiled at Nelly when he left, going into the dining room.

“I swear girl that is the first time I’ve ever seen him set a table since I started working for him.” Nelly said.

She also fixed mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, and some roasted vegetables. Natasha sat down next to Drake, poured him some ice tea, and waited until he took the first bite. She held her breath, watching him.

“You’re a natural,” Drake sighed. Natasha smiled and began to eat her own food. “The pool is finished and ready. Want to go for a late night swim?”

Natasha just about choked on her drink. Quickly she covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed. “I don’t have a suit and am pretty bad at swimming.”

“Who said anything about suits?”

She felt her face heat up and had to look down at the plate of food before her. The idea of being in a pool with Drake had her feeling 81

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nervous for some reason. It shouldn’t since he had not only seen her naked, and had touched, not to mention she became the aggressor during her cycle.

“Come on.” Drake stood up, tossed his napkin onto the table and was over her chair, pulling her to her feet before she could think of a good protest.

They went outside. It was a nice warm evening, the sky not too bright, soft lights in the water. Drake took her over to the side to some lounge chairs. He sat down pulled her between his legs and began to undress her. Natasha let him. She stepped out of her shoes when he picked her foot up, and stepped out of the jeans when they slid down her legs. Her shirt went next. He left her bra and panties on, stood up, and began to undress.

Naked he leaned close and whispered in her ear, “You’re not still afraid of me are you?”

Before Natasha could answer, Drake turned and dashed into the water. Slowly she walked to the side and sat down, putting her feet in the water. She watched him swim under water to one side of the pool and halfway back before coming up for air.

He swam right up to her, grabbing hold of the sides of the pool next to her legs. “Not getting in? The water feels great.”

“I…I…” Drake took hold of her legs and pulled her in before she could think up a good reason for why she was sitting on the side.

She couldn’t help herself and freaked out. Panic gripped her and she tightly wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Hey, calm down,” Drake said. “I’m not going to let you drown.”

Natasha couldn’t control her breathing or still the need to get out.

“Okay, I lied. I can’t swim at all and I’m scared to hell of the water.”

“Okay.”

She began to shake and it wasn’t because she might be cold. “My father wanted me to learn how to swim and use to throw me in the water.

He thought sink or swim would work on me. It didn’t.”

“I’m not going to let you sink, so relax.”

Natasha nodded, but she didn’t loosen her hold on him. Drake swam backwards towards the shallow end of the pool. When she felt her feet touch the bottom she let go of the tight hold but didn’t release him completely.

“The trick to swimming is floating,” he told her, prying her arms away from his neck and turning her around, back pressing to chest.

“Now relax so I can teach you how to do this.”

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Natasha swallowed hard and tried to relax against him. Drake picked her up cradled her in his arms and had her lying on top of the water. It was hard to relax, to enjoy the water when all she thought about was going under. She stared up at the night sky, the stars shining brightly, and the moon, which was just about full. She felt the water under her, felt her body swaying to the motions. She relaxed her arms and legs going out from her body.

“You’re floating,” Drake whispered in her ear.

Natasha lost her concentration and almost went under the water, but Drake was there to help her. When she looked around, she saw that she was once more in the middle of the pool. Drake had a grin on his face, one that was very knowing and smug. Natasha couldn’t help herself and splashed him in the face.

He let her go and instead of her sinking to the bottom, she kept on floating. Drake dove under and Natasha watched him swim around her.

She screamed when he jerked her panties down her legs from under the water. When he came back up, he had that look in his eyes that told her he was on the prowl.

Drake swam her back to the side of the pool, to more shallow water.