Jose finally collapsed on top of her, at least mostly, being careful not to completely crush her.
She smiled. He'd remembered how she liked feeling his strong, warm body over hers. "I don't think I can ever live without you, dragonman."
He grunted. "Good, because I sure as hell couldn't."
Jose lifted his head, his pupils flashing wildly. She asked, "What does your dragon want?"
"You." He brushed hair from her face. "Can you take him, too?"
"Always."
She'd barely muttered the words before her mate's dragon took over and showed his own brand of love and claiming, making her feel more wanted than she'd ever thought possible.
Hours later, Jose held a sleeping Victoria in his arms, both man and beast more settled than they'd been earlier.
His inner dragon spoke up. She's tired because of me. We both know that I wear her out more.
Why do you say that so smugly? She is carrying our baby, which means you shouldn't try to exhaust her so much.
His dragon huffed. She's strong, and the doctor said in perfect health. She can handle me. Otherwise, she wouldn't be our mate.
He watched Victoria's eyes dart behind her eyelids and resisted the urge to trace every curve of her face. It'll be even better once we make it official in front of the clan.
What neither of them said was that they could only do it if Wes and Cris found the culprits and settled things down enough for ADDA's approval.
He'd never really thought about how much control ADDA had over their lives before, but he was starting to realize it was far too much.
Maybe that was something Wes could work on, too. The clan leader seemed to have a way with humans that Jose usually didn't, except with his own mate, of course.
Brushing aside the concern and wondering if it were possible for now, he merely watched his female sleep, the sight calming both halves of him.
Jose had no idea how much time passed before his cell phone vibrated in the pocket of his forgotten jeans on the floor. Under normal circumstances, he'd probably ignore it to let his female sleep.
But today wasn't normal, so he slowly slipped out of bed, fished it out, and noted it was from Wes before answering. "What did you find out?"
Wes didn't bother with any sort of greeting, either. "We found out who did it and have them in custody. Can you and Tori come to the Protectors' main building? I want to talk with you before making my final decision about what to do."
His grip tightened on the phone. "Who is it? Tell me."
"No, because then you'll try to find a way to punish them on your own. And if you succeed, I'd have to issue your punishment, too, and I don't need to lose any more clan members today."
His dragon wanted to roar and say it was their due. However, Jose managed to keep control of their mind and answered, "We'll be there as soon as possible."
Clicking End, he looked over to find Victoria sitting up, awake. "Was that Wes?"
"Yes, and he found out who did it. But don't ask for any more details because he didn't fucking tell me anything."
She stood and went to him. Her hand on his bare chest helped to ease his anger a little. "He's our clan leader, Jose. We need to trust him."
Just her referring to Wes as their leader and not his helped him to rein in his fury. "I know. It's just hard. We may appear civilized, but dragon-shifters are still half animal. The instinct to eradicate threats to our family runs deep." He eyed her torn clothing on the floor. "We need to find you something to wear, though, because Wes wants to meet with us straightaway."
"Your sister is taller and more toned than I am, but maybe she'll have something loose-fitting that'll work."
Jose tugged on his jeans and followed her to Gaby's room. After a few minutes, she found a stretchy dress that fit, as well as some flip-flops that were a little big but good enough, and then they met the Protectors at the front door.
He looked down at his mate. "We'll get there faster if I carry you."
After a beat, she nodded. "Okay, but don't take it as a free pass to do it whenever you feel like it. In the future, ask before you start carrying me around the clan willy-nilly. Otherwise, everyone's going to either think I'm super weak or super manipulative."