Emberwood clutch

The battle scene was a little anticlimactic, not that the nervous new father minded. He held very still as Victoria approached and tried to take a chomp out of his pectoral muscle. He wasn’t sure how long he could resist the urge to squirm at the ticklish touch, though Vicky quickly let go with a look of disgust.

If you were looking for a nipple, he began to say, prepared to nose her in her mother’s direction when Sophia’s little cranium slammed into him.

He winced for her sake rather than his own, mistaking her small war cry as a cry of pain. But when he reached to help her, she just hammered at him again. Although he had ostensibly welcomed this, it took Cambria a moment to relax and reassure himself that she wasn’t doing any harm to herself.

He returned his attention to Vicky, quickly nudging her toward Odessia to nurse. And then when Sophia collapsed—his heart stopped for a second or two—he gently scooped her up and placed her in Dess’s care too before settling back and taking several long, deep breaths.

He’d dadded with his daughters. And nobody had gotten hurt. He smiled tremulously.