by Heather Long
She wasn’t wrong there.
“Let us get you something to eat, and I will tell you. Then we will discuss what must be done. There is a war to wage, Hellion. A war that we cannot avoid, and I would prefer you were not a part of.” Almost instantly, rebellion flared in her eyes, but he pressed his thumb against her lips to silence the torrent of words surely swirling in that magnificent mind of hers. “But we cannot keep you from it as much as I might desire otherwise. So you need to know everything, and I need you to trust us when it comes to making battle decisions.”
Her eyes narrowed. Likely, she didn’t think he was being wholly honest. “What if I think they’re stupid decisions?”
“Like going down rather than up?” Maddox asked, and she groaned and tilted her head back.
“Okay, you do it one time and now I never hear the end of it?” Still, the humor in her eyes and the love filled him with a lightness he really hadn’t had in all the time since his wings fell away.
Burned.
Destroyed.
Cast out.
But with Fiona? It was like he could almost feel them.
“Hush,” he ordered when Maddox went to retaliate. “You two can debate this later, for now, we have to discuss a great deal, starting with the fact that you’re pregnant, Hellion.”
“What?”
CHAPTER 10
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” - Anonymous
FIONA
“Y ou’re pregnant.”
“What?”
What had he just said? Alfred’s dark-eyed gaze locked on mine. “You’re pregnant, Hellion.”
Nope.
I shook my head, then pulled away from him farther to sweep a look over each of them. Maddox’s stare was wildly intent, and Rogue’s guarded. But Fin looked at me with so much hope in his eyes, I whirled back to Alfred.
Yelling at him was easy.
“What. Did. You. Do?”
For the barest second, amusement flickered in his eyes and in the curve of his too sexy mouth. Then he seemed to reconsider that maneuver. “We’re not sure yet… Hybrids are different. We discussed this.”
Arms folded, I glared at him. The first question on the tip of my tongue was to demand how he’d gotten around the birth control spells I’d paid excellent money for. But the question died unspoken.
“You asshole, you killed me.”
He huffed out a long sigh. “Hellion…”
“Kitten,” Maddox interceded. “This is a gift.”
Head tilted back, I transferred my glare from Alfred to the ceiling. I wasn’t quite ready to dash Maddox’s hopes, or Fin’s for that matter. To be honest, I didn’t want to think about this at all. A full transition required dying. To be honest, Dimitri had probably started it when he killed me.
“I really want to kill Dimitri now.” More than that, I wanted him to hurt. All my earlier tiredness fled, and when Maddox curled his fingers around mine, I let out a sigh.
“Kitten,” he murmured and tugged me around. “This is a gift.”
For them. Maybe. “We’ve got a lot of other things to worry about right now, don’t we?” Yep, denial was not just a river in Egypt. Please excuse me while I start paddling my happy ass at top speed. “The others? The people who keep attacking us.”
Beautiful, you can tell us. The soft encouragement from Fin nudged me. But even he couldn’t keep that hopeful note out. They were all happy about it. It being the bun in my proverbial oven. Though, did I have an oven? Of course, I did. Succubi weren’t exactly hatched. We carried young like everyone else, we just didn’t get attached because as soon as possible, we booted them out. Then again, I wasn’t really a succubus anymore. Why the fuck was I even thinking about that?
Get out of my head, Fin. I didn’t need him dredging these emotions up. Alfred still watched me with that calculating almost knowing gaze. He didn’t seem to share Fin and Maddox’s simple joy, and I’d missed Rogue’s reaction. When I twisted to search him for it, his expression was carefully shuddered. Then again…he’d looked at me with such wonder before.
Fuck.
Double. Fuck.
You’re afraid. Fin’s mental voice soothed. Would it be as soothing if I gave him a black eye? Absolutely, he promised, his lips twitching. But hear me, Beautiful. You’re afraid because you don’t want to get attached. I understand that. Maybe more than they do. Right now. But you’re not a succubus anymore, Fiona. Remember?
Huh.
I wasn’t. Not really. “We still don’t know what I am,” I said aloud, and when Maddox tugged me back against him, his chest to my back, I leaned into him and sighed. “And I really don’t want to talk about this. I’m starving. I want to kill Dimitri. So who do we have to kill to get to him?”
“Alfred and Rogue will bring him,” Maddox began, but Alfred gave a sharp shake of his head.
“No, we will stay together.”
The silence in the room was almost tangible, as was the sudden tension coursing through Maddox. I swore the mate bond downright throbbed with fury, and the heat at my back turned my skin clammy and the shirt began to cling to me.
“She is not going into battle,” he snarled.
“Alfred,” Rogue said slowly. “We may not know the extent of her capabilities, but we know they will all be coming for her.”
“And keeping us all together is the safer way to protect her. We’re stronger as a unit,” Fin offered with a saucy wink toward me. “She loves being the center of attention, and she can definitely handle us.”
Incorrigible flirt. I wrinkled my nose at him rather than stick out my tongue though. He’d definitely see the latter as an invitation.
“No.” One syllable ground out through his teeth like he’d bitten off a rock and chewed it up to pebbles and dust.
“Don’t start,” Alfred cautioned, but his gaze wasn’t on me, which was good because I was about to be offended. I wasn’t the one who made the insane announcement. Really. Who just dropped a bomb like that? Oh wait. I forgot I was talking about my asshole. Affection flared inside of me, and I stuffed that little bubble of joy back into the box it kept trying to leap out of. I was supposed to be irked with him, not wanting to cuddle him.
Emotions sucked.
Anyway, Alfred wasn’t staring at me. No, he stared just above my head at Maddox. My dragon’s arms tightened around me.
“Maddox.”
“No.” The heat along my back bordered on scorching. I was in no danger of burning, but I might sweat to death. Tilting my head back, I found his furious eyes focused on Alfred, while his expression turned stonier by the minute. “We’re not risking her.”
“We would risk her more if we’re apart.” There was something almost soothing and almost lulling in Alfred’s voice. “Think before you react.”
Well, it was lulling before it became a tad condescending.
“I am thinking,” Maddox snarled, and the rough growl in his voice sent tingles radiating over my skin. “And I said no.”
The world exploded around me, stone shattering and tumbling down, even as the heat grew almost unbearable. Only we weren’t under attack. The grip around me flexed, and then we were airborne.
Holy shit.
Maddox shifted.
More, he’d shifted and taken off.
The cold air washed over me and around me, rapidly cooling the sweat slicking my neck, though it had the effect of also yanking my hair against my face. I tried to shove the hair away and look back. There was a dragon-sized hole in the stone edifice we’d just left. Not that I got a good look, it shrank rapidly as Maddox angled away. Tilting my head back, I stared up at the golden scales that glimmered under the moonlight—’cause there was no sunshine—and then back down as we continued to gain altitude. The air turned frostier, but from where I was wrapped in his clawed hands, I was almost toasty. The chilly air helped.
This was kind of cool actually.
I was flying.
Like legit fucking flying.<
br />
I might have squealed.
He snaked his huge head down to look at me, and I grinned. The pulse along the mate bond was like a tickle and a kiss all at once. I swore he winked one huge eye at me and then lifted his head back to focus on where we were flying.
Holy. Shit.
I was totally gonna have to yell at him for that seriously melodramatic exit. I hoped the guys were okay. Surely they were fine. Maddox might be in a testy mood, but he loved them, right?
Right.
Yeah, he loved them.
I wiggled a little to spread my arms out and then whooped again as he did a little spiral.
So. Fucking. Cool.
Yep, yelling could come later.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?” I demanded, and why yes, I did raise my voice.
I told you yelling would come later.
Welcome to later.
Maddox grunted. So far, he hadn’t shifted from his dragon form since we arrived—I shot a look around the oversized cavern—in this giant warren of caves. Actual caves. It was damp, a bit musty, and the air was getting warmer and more humid the longer we were here. There were also stacks upon stacks of old casks, chests, and more than one broken open with gems and gold coins and items.
You know the old idea of a dragon’s hoard? Pretty sure we’d found Maddox’s, and not that I wasn’t impressed because well, shiny. He even had books. Though, he’d put those in these temperature-controlled cases, and they were locked. Not that I hadn’t tried to open one or two.
Fine, I spent some time poking around all of it.
“Maddox,” I warned.
But my dragon just gave me a look and went back to watching the entrance. Anytime I’d headed that way, he’d blocked me with his tail or his wing.
Arms folded, I tapped my foot. A grunt of noise escaped him, almost like a whuff, but he didn’t look at me.
“Maddox, do not ignore me.”
Another pulse along the mating bond, this one full of adoration and sweetness.
“Yeah, that’s not going to work either. I love you too, but you can’t just bring us all the way here and then not let me out.”
He flicked a look at me, and I swore I could practically hear him say, watch me.
Exhaling, I stared up at the ceiling. Well, what I could see of it, which wasn’t much. It was pretty dark up there. He’d lit some sconces when we first arrived with his flame breath—yeah, that wasn’t getting old. It had definitely been welcome after the flight—that wouldn’t get old either. Finger combing my hair, I turned back toward the hoard and the back wall of the cave.
All of this was tucked into this nook where the stone had been smoothed, almost polished. It gleamed under the torchlight. Pivoting in a circle, I studied the layout.
“You don’t have a chair, Maddox. Or a bed. Or anything comfortable to sit on.”
He extended his tail and it curved around me, gently knocking me right in the back of the knees until I was sitting on it. Then he pulled me toward him right under his wing until I was tucked up against his side.
“And you think this is enough?” Granted, I was tired after the flight. I’d been tired earlier after the fight at the prison and the raid on the keep. But this… “This isn’t okay.”
Another huff of sound, but for all the world, he might have just grunted at me as he tucked himself in to go to sleep. As it was, he curled his head around and tucked his nostrils just under the wing so his warm breath filled the area and chased away even the sense of a chill.
What? We were supposed to just nap here?
Yeah.
No.
I thumped him on his nose. “Bad dragon.”
His wing arched as he pulled his head back. Okay, maybe I hit him a little harder than I meant to, but he deserved it.
“This is not how this works.” Hands on my hips, I glared up at him. “Change. Right. Now.”
Another long-suffering sound, and then the air around me crackled with energy as his whole body began to shimmer. How something that huge became Maddox defied any conventional understanding of physics or science. And I said that as someone who didn’t do well in either class, but I had seen plenty of sci fi.
Then again, I was dating a fallen angel, an ancient druid turned vampire, an even older elf turned vampire, and well…big, gold, and hot-tempered here.
When Maddox stood in front of me, naked, skin steaming, and his eyes blazing, I glared at him and folded my arms.
“That’s better. Thank you. Now, explain why we are here.”
“Because here is safe,” he informed me, even as he stalked forward. Violence seemed to shimmer in the air around him, but it wasn’t anger or danger. It was something far more primal. And it was kind of hot.
Like him.
Sue me, he was really sexy. As it was, I stopped his forward progress with a hand slapped to the center of his chest. “Here is also missing three people that you dropped a castle wall on.”
“It wasn’t that much, and trust me, Kitten, they’re fine.” He ignored my hand and slid his arms around me until he could drag me close. “And you’re right, I need to furnish this. I’ll get it taken care of, but for now, I can shelter you.”
“I’m not going to stay here.”
“Yes,” he said. “You are.”
Digging my nails into his shoulders, I rose up on my tiptoes to try and meet him eye to eye. He really didn’t help my case by just picking me up. “Maddox,” I snapped. “I can’t stay here. It’s a cave.”
“It’s a treasure room,” he huffed. “It just happens to be in a cave.” That was what he was going with?
“No—”
“Kitten.” He gathered a fistful of my hair and angled my head gently before pressing a kiss to my nose. “You’re pregnant. Already, there were those hunting you.”
“Nope,” I argued.
“You are.”
“Not agreeing or disagreeing, but we are not having this conversation here, nor are you locking me away…”
“It’s for your safety.”
“I was in a prison, Maddox. Have you forgotten that?”
He blinked.
Aggravation raked through me. “And I don’t accept that I’m pregnant just because you four say so. But even if I was, welcome to the twenty-first century. Women do not get hauled off into caves and locked up by the overbearing and brutish patriarchy because they feel like it.”
“I am not overbearing nor a member of the patriarchy.”
I glared.
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Kitten, you are the most precious thing in the world to me. And Rogue is right, you are pregnant. As long as you are…I cannot allow anything to happen to you.”
“What’s going to happen to me?” I demanded. “What?”
“As you said,” he challenged. “You were in a prison, and you’re right, I should have thought of that. I will make this much nicer. I promise.”
I would not roll my eyes again. I would not. “That’s not the point. I’m also not in a prison. I broke you and Fin out, remember? I waded through how many of their guards?”
Instead of persuading him, it only seemed to irk him more.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
The rumbling in his chest seemed to grow louder. Grasping his face in my hands, I kissed him. Only instead of playing with the light or anything else, I just kissed him until the growling all but subsided and he began to relax. I pushed my love into him. Granted, I wasn’t good at this love business. I’d never had feelings like this before, and certainly not so consuming. But when his snarls turned to groans, I pulled back to study him.
The hard lines of his face had softened, and the golden cast to his eyes had faded back to the hazel-green they’d been in the prison, with the golden flecks scattered like his gold coins across his irises.
“I saved Fin in Dallas. I saved myself from Dorran this time. I saved myself in that alleyway. Maddox, I got away from you in the prison when you came for me that first time. I�
��ve never been helpless, and I’m not starting now. I chose you to be my mate, and while I may not be very good at it, I don’t think that means you get to lock me up with your loot and keep me hidden away.”
He scowled. “Kitten, I’m the last of my kind. Rogue is the last of his. Fin…he might as well be the last of his. Even Alfred’s brethren are whittling away.”
“There’s still six others…”
“Five,” he corrected. “The one you killed in the alley. She was one of the Seven.”
My stomach bottomed out, and for a moment, I had the most horrifying image of throwing up on him. I managed to swallow back the sense of nausea. Still, he shifted his grip on me and carried me over toward the boxes, uncaring of his own nudity, before he perched on one and settled me on his lap.
“I thought the Seven were hard to kill.”
“They are,” he told me. “They are very difficult to kill.”
“But she wasn’t that hard…” I mean, what had I done? I’d kissed her like I had Dorran, and I pushed the light into her. I thought it was because she was a vamp. Dorran just got more human, but she’d utterly come apart.
“You are a threat to the others, and I don’t know how long it will take them to recognize it, but they will keep coming for you…”
“Then all the more reason I should help. You guys thought they were hard, if I can take them out—”
“No,” he snapped. “Absolutely not. I will not allow you to go into battle with them. I wouldn’t have allowed you that confrontation with Keeley had I been there…”
Not allow?
Not. Allow.
I shoved my way off his lap. He resisted at first, but when I growled, he actually let go of my hips. Rising, I smoothed my sweatshirt—still his—and stalked a few feet away.
“Kitten.”
“Don’t you Kitten me, you over-sized, ego-inflated, golden-scaled, lizard-brained jackass.”
Fin chose the moment I turned to glare at Maddox to arrive. He had an apple in his hand, and he glanced from me to Maddox and then back again. “Problems?”
“Yes,” I snarled.
“No,” Maddox argued. “And I told you not to let yourself into my vault.” The last he said to Fin, who just shot him a middle finger before he strolled over to me.
