Dragon Weyr's Omega (Nanny Shifter Service Book 7)

by Sky Winters

  “No problem,” said Rick. “You in the mood for some breakfast? I cooked up some steak and eggs.”

  Just the mention of meat was enough to make Jessie’s mouth water. It was strange – despite being a dragon, she never really had the taste for meat. But in these last few weeks, it was all she could think to eat.

  “Yeah,” she said. “And give me a big plate – I’m really hungry for some reason.”

  “One big plate coming up,” said Rick.

  Moments later, he passed her plate loaded with a huge pile of perfectly seasoned scrambled eggs along with several strips of juicy looking meat. As soon as it was placed in front of her, Jessie dug in, shoving the food down her hatch.

  “Damn,” said Jonas. “Someone’s not screwing around.”

  Jessie tore into the meal, having her plate cleaned in less than a few minutes. Then, when she’d wiped up the grease on the plate with some toast, she passed it back over to Rick.

  “Can I have seconds?”

  “You bet you can,” he said.

  “That’s a good sign,” said Samuel. “Still got a healthy appetite.”

  “Yeah,” said Jonas. “I’d be worried if she didn’t touch her food. But she’s going crazy over it.”

  Once breakfast was done, the time for the appointment arrived.

  “I’ll walk you down there,” said Rick. “Place is only a few blocks away.”

  “Sounds good,” said Jessie.

  She stepped into the elevator with Rick and soon they were both down at the bottom floor and out onto the city streets. The day was warm and sunny, and Jessie realized it would be perfect were it not for her being worried about whatever it was wrong with her.

  “How you feeling now?” asked Rick.

  “Good, I think,” said Jessie. “Fresh air feels great.”

  “I’m sure whatever it is...it’s nothing,” said Rick. “Or just a stomach bug.”

  His comment struck her as strange – dragons weren’t susceptible to the same medical conditions as humans, and getting “stomach bugs” was rare for them. It only made her more curious as to what was going on.

  Soon, they arrived at the doctor’s office. The exterior looked like any other office building; there was none of the usual fanciness that Jessie had come to expect from dragon luxury.

  “I’ll wait outside for you,” said Rick. “And don’t worry about keeping me waiting.”

  His words were friendly, but there was something off about the way Rick spoke. She wondered if there was something Rick wasn’t telling her.

  She stepped inside the building and soon found the doctor’s office. After checking in with the receptionist, she was quickly led to an examination room where a doctor saw to her.

  Jessie gave the doctor the list of symptoms, the doctor listening carefully as she spoke.

  “What I want to do is give you a blood test,” said the doctor, a handsome, middle-aged man who had the scent of dragon on him.

  “Does it sound bad?” asked Jessie.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “But doing a blood test would be the best way to make sure before we speculate.”

  Anxiety rose in Jessie’s stomach.

  Then, an idea flashed in her mind – what if what was wrong with her was the same condition that her mother died from? After all, it had been a rare blood disorder, and now they wanted to draw her blood. She considered the possibility that whatever she had was passed from parent to child.

  Just the thought was enough to cause her to break out in a cold sweat.

  A nurse entered the room and quickly took Jessie’s blood. She watched the needle fill with thick, red liquid as the nurse did her work.

  “How long before I find out what’s wrong?” Jessie asked.

  “First of all,” said the doctor, “don’t assume that it’s something wrong. And it should take no more than an hour or so – the labs here are designed for shifter blood, and we’re very efficient at testing it. Feel free to get some fresh air while we run the tests. We’ll call you when it’s done.”

  Jessie nodded and hopped off the table. She rushed from the office, desperate to be outside and away from the sterile environment of the doctor’s office. She needed to be around Rick, around someone who she could feel safe being near.

  But when she stepped outside, there was no one waiting for her.

  Jessie took out her phone, looking to see if Rick had called or texted her. But there wasn’t anything from him.

  She texted him, asking where he was. No response came for several minutes, and she began to feel worried. Tension building in her, Jessie started down the road, hoping that she might see him somewhere nearby.

  But she couldn’t spot him. Something about what was going on seemed very, very wrong to her.

  She took a right down one of the blocks, which led to a small, secluded street. More nervous than ever, she checked her phone.

  Still nothing.

  Jessie pulled up Rick’s number and dialed it. But as it rang, something appeared out of the corner of her eye. A large black van pulled up to her and threw opened its doors.

  Before she had a chance to even react, two pairs of hands yanked her from the street and pulled her into the darkness of the van’s interior. The doors slammed shut, and the vehicle sped off.

  Her blood ran cold when she realized who was in the van with her. Seated with a pair of mean-looking men at his side was none other than Boyd, a hard expression on his face.

  A hard knock to the side of her head brought darkness all around her.

  CHAPTER 23

  JESSIE

  Jessie awoke in a large, elegant study. There was no one else in the room, and the space was dead silent aside from the steady ticking of a grandfather clock. The wooden walls were lined with bookshelves packed with colorful spines, and the vaulted ceilings seemed to stretch out into forever.

  The next thing she noticed was that she was tied down to the legs and arms of the fancy, antique chair in the center of the room. Next, that her mouth was covered. She squirmed and struggled, her cries muffled by the cloth on her face.

  Her struggling didn’t do her a bit of good. There didn’t appear to be anyone around who could help her. With all her strength, she pushed back on the chair, the front legs tilting back and sending the chair falling backward. She hit the ground with a crash, the boom sounding out through the vast expanse of the study.

  She didn’t have much time to think about her predicament. Moments after she hit the ground, she heard the large doors of the study open up behind her, followed by several sets of footsteps. She struggled to see who had entered, but could only see legs.

  Finally, a pair of men who appeared to be the same from the van came to her side and lifted her up. Once upright, she looked around frantically. Then, from her peripheries two familiar men appeared – Boyd and Stone.

  “She’s up,” said Stone with a smile.

  Boyd appeared more concerned. He looked her up and down, as if trying to determine if she’d been hurt.

  “Can we get that thing out of her mouth?” asked Boyd.

  Stone raised his hand.

  “You’d be wise not to take that tone with me, human,” said Stone. “Keep in mind that you’re only here because you’re useful.”

  Boyd shut his mouth as Stone approached Jessie, his hands clasped behind his back.

  “Just as stunning as ever,” he said, his eyes moving slowly over her body. “Even distressed like this.”

  He nodded to his men.

  “Remove the gag and leave us,” he said.

  The two men complied, taking off the gag. Jessie took in deep lungsful of air, her heart still pounding.

  “What...what the hell is going on?” she asked.

  She was terrified for her life. For all she knew, she’d been brought here to be killed.

  Stone raised his hand again.

  “Calm down, little one,” he said.

  “Jess,” said Boyd, “they’re not going to hurt you.
Just as long as you do what Stone says.”

  Her eyes flicked back and forth frantically from Stone to Boyd.

  “Tell me what the hell is happening!” she demanded again.

  “Damn,” said Stone with a grin. “The girl’s gotten bossy.”

  “Let’s...let’s just tell her what’s going on,” said Boyd. “I don’t want her freaking out.”

  “Fine,” said Stone.

  He slowly walked over to the bar in the study and poured himself a pair of drinks from a large crystal container. He brought one over to Boyd and kept one for himself. Boyd quickly killed his drink and made his way over to the bar for another.

  “Tell me what’s happening,” said Jessie one last time. “Please.”

  Stone sipped his drink, clearly in no rush.

  “I have some good news and some bad news,” he said. “And no, you don’t get to pick which one you hear first. The bad news is this: your dragons have abandoned you.”

  Jessie didn’t know what to make of this.

  “What?” she asked.

  “How to begin,” said Stone. “I’ve been keeping tabs on your little living situation – a dragon like me has his ways. And, well, your dragons have been more aware of your illness than they’ve been letting on.”

  He took another sip before sitting down across from Jessie.

  “They know all about your past. And why wouldn’t they? They’ve brought you into their home to look after those darling little daughters of theirs.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that they know all about the condition that took your mother – the rare dragon blood disease.”

  Jessie said nothing, not sure what to make of this information.

  “And they came to a conclusion – despite you being a very, very beautiful omega, it simply wasn’t worth the risk of you carrying their children. Maybe your current symptoms were nothing, but maybe they were the first sign that your health was going to be deteriorating at some point in the future.”

  Then he took another sip, a sly smile spreading across his face.

  “So, I reached out to them, and we came up with an arrangement.”

  “A...what?”

  Jessie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was too stunned to say anything else.

  “The arrangement was this – they would let me take you, figuring that I could be the one to deal with whatever condition that you might have. And, in exchange, I’d leave them alone in Brooklyn, free to take whatever other omegas they might find. I’d be able to consolidate here in Manhattan, and build my clan with the most amazing omega I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  The information hit Jessie like a truck. She was in a daze, her thoughts racing.

  “And Boyd here would have you as his companion once again. He’s done good work for me so far, and was instrumental in letting me know about you. You’ll be having my children, of course, but you and Boyd can be free to continue with whatever little arrangement you had before.”

  “Jessie,” said Boyd, his voice anxious. “You have to say yes.”

  “Not that you have a choice,” said Stone.

  “Just go along with it,” he said. “Stone can keep you safe, you’ll get to be a mother, and we can have what we had before.”

  Jessie’s heart raced. She felt lightheaded, like she might lose consciousness at any moment.

  “Stay with us, young lady,” said Stone. “Because I haven’t finished with the news.”

  “There’s more,” said Boyd.

  “What...what is it?” asked Jessie.

  Stone cleared his throat and spoke.

  “You’re pregnant.”

  If what he’d said before hit her like a truck, this hit her like a meteor.

  “You see,” said Stone, “your dragons were all too eager to get rid of you. They knew that your symptoms could simply be that you were pregnant with their children. But they didn’t care – they knew your blood condition was too much of a risk. After all, what if you passed it on to their children?”

  He finished his drink with a quick swig.

  “But I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I’ve got the best shifter doctors in the city at my beck and call. And even if the children you’re carrying are sick, then so what? They’re not mine. And I’ll make sure to give you many, many more.”

  “Stone has a cure,” said Boyd. “But there’s a catch – you have to keep taking it. And he’s the only one who has it. You don’t have a choice, Jessie. Either you stay with Stone and me, or you die alone. It’s not a hard decision to make.”

  “Your human is right,” said Stone. “And there’s one more thing.”

  Jessie wondered what else there could possibly be. The news she’d received was already too much for her to tolerate.

  “I’ve invited your alphas here for a quick meeting to make sure that the deal is going to go off without a hitch. Now, I’m a man who appreciates a good, fair deal. But I can’t exactly have alphas like those running around the city, building their power by the day.”

  He went on.

  “I’ve been having my men set fires around the city, fires started with dragon fire. It burns hot and fast, as you know. And by setting these fires I’ve had the chance to see how your alphas are in action, and I’ve let them grow confident in thinking that they can take any dragon fire that they encounter.”

  “And this place?” he said, gesturing around him. “A lovely apartment, but it’s only one of many that I own. I’ve got my men positioned all around it, ready to set it ablaze. When I give the signal, they’ll cover the apartment in dragon fire, trapping your men inside and taking care of them very, very neatly.”

  “You’re...going to kill them?” asked Jessie.

  “I’m going to deal with a problem,” said Stone.

  “You’re a monster,” said Jessie. “And you’re not going to get away with it.”

  “But I already have,” he said. “Either way, your alphas have betrayed you, given you over to me because they didn’t want to deal with who you were. I, on the other hand, am willing to give you and Boyd the life you deserve. All you have to do is give me many, many babies.”

  “We’re not going to get a better deal,” said Boyd. “You and I can be safe, live in luxury, and never have to worry about anything else for as long as we live. And you’ll never suffer your mother’s fate. Who knows – maybe you and I can have some kids of our own someday.”

  “I’d rather die than have kids with you,” said Jessie.

  Stone let out a laugh, clapping his hand down on Boyd’s shoulder.

  “Don’t worry about her,” he said. “She’ll come around. Omegas are meant to serve. Once she realizes that there’s nothing to be done, then she’ll come around.”

  “This is all for the best,” said Boyd. “I just want to keep you safe.”

  Before anyone could say another word, Stone’s eyes went wide. He took his phone out of his pocket and checked the face.

  “Well,” he said, “the time for talking is over. Your alphas are here.”

  CHAPTER 24

  SAMUEL

  It took Samuel all the restraint he had to ignore all of the internal warning bells going off as he and Rick stepped into the massive lobby of Stone’s apartment.

  “I don’t like this one bit,” said Rick, his body tense like a snake’s, ready to strike.

  “Neither do I,” said Samuel. “But it’s the only way we’re going to get Jessie back.”

  He didn’t know what to make of it when he got the call from Stone’s man that Jessie had been taken. He wanted to go into a blind rage, to shift into his dragon form and tear through the city, covering everything he saw in a blanket of dragon fire.

  But he knew doing anything rash wasn’t going to get him what he wanted, which was Jessie safe and back in his arms.

  The two of them continued through the entrance hall, the place a monument to Stone’s old-fashioned elegant taste. Their feet clicked on t
he marble floor, and the two men at their sides led them down to a large set of ornate, wooden double doors.

  “What’s the plan?” asked Samuel to one of the men.

  The man grunted.

  “You’re meeting with the boss,” he said. “Might as well save your breath because that’s all I know.”

  Samuel didn’t trust Stone one bit. Stone’s man had told them that Stone simply wanted to negotiate, to come to an arrangement, and that Jessie was just something to get their attention and force them to the table.

  But he knew Stone was always plotting, the type to have plans-upon-plans.

  “Fucking pregnant,” said Rick. “And then this happens.”

  And then there was that. Once Rick had come home with the news that he’d lost Jessie, that he’d been pulled into a fight that was no more than a distraction, so Stone’s men could take Jessie, Samuel called the clinic to find out what the diagnosis was.

  It was that she was pregnant, that Jessie was carrying three more children, each of them the father. It was the news that all three of them had been waiting for, and under any other circumstances, it would’ve been cause for celebration.

  But Stone had to ruin all that. He had to bring the conflicts of the dragon world into their home. Samuel was furious, but he was also mad at himself – he realized he should’ve known that he couldn’t hide from dragons like Stone forever.

  The man opened the door to the study and gestured for Samuel and Rick to enter. The evening had been on for some time, and the city glimmered with its evening lights outside of the apartment.

  No one was in the room but Stone. He was seated comfortable as can be in a high-backed, elegant chair, a fire roaring in the fireplace.

  Rage boiled up in Samuel as he laid eyes on Stone. It took all the restraint he had not to rush over and rip him apart limb-from-limb.

  “There you are,” said Stone, rising from his seat. “But where’s the third?”

  “We have little girls,” said Samuel, his voice hard-edged. “Someone had to stay with them.”

  “The agreement was for all three of you to be here,” said Stone.

  He raised his hand.

  “No matter,” he said. “We can cross that bridge when we come to it. Please, sit.”