by Eden Ashe
Shelby exhaled finally on a long, shuddering breath as she slumped back against the wall, tears stinging her eyes again. “Does it ever get easier?”
“Are you kidding?” Seren let out a teary snort as she picked up her teacup again and carefully lowered herself to the edge of the bathtub, her free hand supporting her belly. “We chose warriors. We love them for their warrior hearts, but no, watching them walk out the door and into battle never gets easier.” She swiped a hand under her eyes, dashing away the tears. “You have no idea how it feels to not be alone this time. I love Gabriel, but he’s not the most sympathetic person out there. No matter how old they get, the males just don’t understand what it feels like to be the one left behind.”
“How do you do this and stay sane?” Shelby asked, desperate for an answer. Any answer. Just something to take away the fear before it choked her.
“I pace.” At Shelby’s bland look, Seren managed a smile. “And I usually use the time to catch up on paperwork, or check in on patients, or pick up an extra shift or two at the hospital. The fear never goes away, but keeping my brain busy with something other than counting the minutes helps the time go by a little bit faster.”
Shelby took a deep breath. “Don’t you hate me?” she murmured, her eyes searching Seren’s. “They went to war against your father and brother.”
The corner of Seren’s mouth lifted up in a sad, crooked smile, her hands resting protectively over her pregnant belly. “No, honey. My father died a very, very long time ago. There hasn’t been anything left of the man who loved us more than his own life in more than three thousand years. He’s an evil man who does evil things. I’m honestly surprised Cage held off this long.”
Because Seren didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the bathroom, Shelby slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. “What about your other brother, Micah?”
This time, Seren blew out a breath. “Honestly?” When Shelby nodded, Seren shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. He’s my big brother. I don’t want to think about him being that evil.”
Shelby hugged her knees tighter. “I’m so new to this world. I feel like I’m in over my head, and a million miles behind everyone else. I have to rely on everyone else’s instincts, and it’s so foreign to me, you have no idea. Trust hasn’t been a part of my world for years.” She sniffled back the last of her tears and dropped her chin down on her knee. “I know Daniel. I love Daniel. And I’m slowly getting to know the others in his life–you, Cage–Adrian, right? Luca, Dallas… but this whole world is so different to me. I don’t know how to get a handle on it.”
A slow smile bloomed over Seren’s face. “You’re in love with Daniel?”
Shelby nodded. “So much it hurts.” She scowled, and tried to keep the worry out of her voice. “It scares me a little. He seems to accept it now, but I don’t know what I’ll do if he decides to fight me on it.”
Seren shook her head. “Daniel’s…well, you know how quiet he is, and he does have a tendency to sound like an ass sometimes. He doesn’t mean to–he just doesn’t know how to soften what’s in his head before it comes out of his mouth. We all understand it about him, but no one else has ever stuck around long enough to attempt to get to know him. Women want him for his body, for the innate danger they sense in him. They love the idea of the strong silent type, only they very quickly become frustrated when he can’t just switch it off to become a talkative non-jackass. The very thing that drew them to him in the first place is the first thing they throw in his face and expect him to change. To make it worse for him, he’s taken the whole isolated species thing to a fault over the last half century. He doesn’t give any of us a real chance to convince him life’s better with people you care about in it.”
Shelby didn’t understand. How could anyone not see how wonderful he is, how gentle? How didn’t they fall head over heels in love with all he was?
She sighed. “He doesn’t believe the other dragons are his friends,” she murmured quietly. “He thinks it’s dragon loyalty that brought them to help us.”
“Let me guess, ‘dragons don’t have friends?’” When Shelby nodded, Seren rolled her eyes. “Dragons are isolated beings, but we’re fiercely loyal, and Daniel has never wavered. Ever. For as much of the bastard he thinks he is, whenever anyone needs help, he has always been the first one there, and bashing heads together to make sure everyone else is, too. Then when I chose a Hunter as a mate, nearly causing another war, Daniel was the first one to accept and see Cage wasn’t using me, that he does love me the way I love him.”
“Can I ask you a personal question that’s none of my business?”
Seren rubbed a hand over her belly as she bobbed her head and smiled, though her eyes were still watery. “Of course. I fully plan on us becoming friends, so ask away.”
“Why do you call your mate by his last name?”
“Cage?” Seren blinked, before a laugh bubbled out of her. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I just… do. I call him Cage when it’s not just the two of us, and he calls me wife. When we’re alone…” A grin lit up her face. “He calls me baby, and I call him husband. It’s funny, I’ve never thought about it before. I guess it’s because we want something just between us, if that makes sense.”
“It does,” Shelby murmured. “So how did you know Adrian was the one? How did the two of you decide all the outside forces aside, you’d find a way to make it work?”
Seren laughed. “It took us two hours after our very first meeting to decide we wanted each other, and would do whatever it took to make it work. He decided it meant taking control over the fractured Hunter world, and facing off with the dragons I cared about most. There are three people in the world Adrian loves–me, our baby, and his sister, so when he decides he wants something, he’ll take on any force in the world to make them safe and his.” She smiled. “That man has a possessive streak a mile wide. When he knew I wanted him, he would have destroyed any force that tried to stop me.”
“So he wasn’t worried about you coming from two different worlds?”
“No, he was.” Her smile faded a little around the edges. “It got worse when we realized I was pregnant. Honestly, as long as my father’s alive, I don’t think Adrian will ever be able to relax.”
Shelby turned her head to rest her cheek on her knee. She couldn’t explain how good it felt to have someone to voice her greatest fears to about Daniel. Someone she could trust. “He went to war because I’m not safe. Who does that? Who wages war over their girlfriend’s safety?”
“Dragons and Hunters.” When she blinked, Seren reached over and covered her hand with her own. “These men know the kind of horrors and pure evil that is out there. Dragons were created to watch over humans, while the Hunters were created to keep us from taking over the world after my father’s sanity started to slip, followed by other power-mad dragon lords. Both sides were created to defend and protect, and with nothing else to fight, they’ve continued to destroy each other. If there’s one thing you need to know about this world, it’s that your safety will come first before anything else in Daniel’s life. The idea of you ever being scared is not something he will ever accept, and he will kill anything that puts you in danger. No questions asked.”
Shelby shifted her gaze to stare across the room. There was no doubt in her head that Daniel had changed since she’d told him she loved him. A sudden smile tugged at her mouth. “I’ll have to cut back on the acting.”
Confusion flickered over Seren’s face. “Don’t you love it?”
“No,” she laughed softly, “Not really.” She lifted her head to look at Seren. “I can live without it. It’s not part of me, but Daniel… I don’t want to live without him.”
Seren nodded, then canted her head. “What would you do if you weren’t acting?”
“Anything,” she said immediately on a laugh, “and everything. Learn how to cook, garden, see how I feel about housework. Take art classes, learn yoga, and find out if I have any talents
beyond acting.”
“Kids?”
The word brought Shelby up short.
Seren raised a brow. “Do you want children?”
Shelby suddenly couldn’t breathe as the image of her being pregnant with Daniel’s child became the only thing she could see. She had no idea how he’d feel about being a father, but as much as she wanted Daniel with all of her heart, she knew he’d be a wonderful dad. She so very, very much wanted to find out.
Tears stung her eyes. “I’ve never thought about children before, but I want to be a mom. I want to bake cookies. I want to pack lunches and watch Daniel teach them how to ride a bike.” A thought occurred to her, and her eyes went wide. “Would our children be dragons? Would they be able to fly? Can you imagine Daniel teaching a little boy with his silver eyes how to fly?” She squeezed her eyes shut as a tear fell over. God, she wanted that picture. She wanted that life.
Seren stood up slowly, leaving her teacup on the edge of the tub and held her hand out for Shelby’s. “Then you know how to start convincing Daniel to see things your way.” She winked at Shelby as they got to their feet. “Daniel loves you. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be tearing himself up about this still. He doesn’t want you to sacrifice anything for him.”
As they stepped out of the bathroom Gabriel was leaning against the wall directly across from them, a dark scowl on his face. “I heard tears,” he accused.
“I’m pregnant.” Seren leaned up to kiss the giant’s cheek. “I do tend to cry over every little thing.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in what Shelby thought might be his attempt at a smile. “Dinner is ready,” was all he said, as he turned and stalked down the hallway.
“Come on.” Seren sighed as she braced a hand at her lower back and followed the giant. “Trust me, it’s easier to eat when he says to eat than to get him annoyed. He tends to lecture when he’s annoyed.”
Shelby shook her head, a laugh bubbling out of her. Only in her world would a four-foot-eleven pregnant woman worry about a seven-foot giant’s lecture.
* * * *
Daniel stood in the middle of a burnt-out building, the other dragons and Cage fanned out next to him. Luca was on his left, Adrian on his right.
They were deep in the seedy bowels of Chicago’s underworld. Only the very lost and walking dead, desperate for a fix of their drug of choice, darted between the shadows.
“You’re sure about this.” Daniel’s graveled voice grated out as he shot Luca a look, measuring him. “Alexi will know you led us here.”
“Fuck him.”
It was all Daniel needed. Reaching under his black leather jacket, he pulled two long-bladed knives out from the sheath at his lower back.
“They know we’re here.” As Daniel and the others turned to look at him, Cage shrugged and jerked his chin up toward the vacant building next to them. “There are two in the shadows up there, with another one behind us.” A slow grin stretched his face, the puckered scar twitching with it. “I’ve got this. You boys go have fun.”
Without another word, Cage was gone, blending into the shadows as he went after the sentinels.
Daniel focused on the rubble in front of him. “Luca, you’re with me, we’ll take the tunnel on the left. It’s where Alexi will be. Bain, Broderick, you’ve got the right and Dallas…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take everything else.”
Daniel nodded once as he started into the ruined building. The stairwell spiraled down, crumpling more with each step they took, down into tunnels created more than a century before by Dragan underlings.
There were no lights to illuminate their path, and other than the occasional scurrying of a rat, Daniel heard nothing. If anyone else lived down there, he couldn’t hear them yet.
It took them a good five minutes to reach the bottom of the stairwell, and when they separated, Daniel jerked his head at Dallas, reminding him to stay put. He nodded, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back against the damp stone wall.
“Give us ten,” Daniel murmured to him as they ducked under the jagged edge of the ceiling and started down the tunnel. It stretched out for miles, a winding maze incomprehensible to anyone without dragon senses. “You know what to do.”
“Yeah, boss. I gotcha.”
Daniel nodded and without another word, he and Luca disappeared into the blackness.
25
Shelby liked Seren a lot, and the more time they spent together in the small safe house, the more she liked her.
While Shelby was new to this world, it didn’t take her long to realize Seren, who was a female dragon who worked in a world dominated by humans, was just as lost as Shelby.
Yet despite their age difference, they had a lot more in common than either of them would have believed. Though Seren had millennia on her, she didn’t trivialize Shelby’s problems. If anything, she was just as grateful as Shelby to have someone–another female–to relate to.
Seren shifted on the couch, trying to get comfortable. “I don’t know how you do it,” she murmured, her gaze troubled. “Weren’t you lonely?”
From anyone else, Shelby knew the comment would have come across as snarky, but there was nothing but genuine concern in Seren’s eyes. Shelby snorted as she curled into the corner of the wingback chair. “Yes. Very lonely, and very stressed out. It definitely had benefits, don’t get me wrong, but they rarely made up for the stress of never being myself. I had to watch every word I said everywhere I went, and the smiles…” She sent Seren a beautiful smile, the one she was famous for, before she grimaced. “Anything other than perfectly serene would have stories and gossip running completely insane about how much trouble I was in, or how I was heartbroken, or on my deathbed.”
Seren winced. “Didn’t you ever want to just take one of those rumors and run with it?”
Shelby laughed. “Absolutely. But it would have just created so much more trouble than it would have been worth.” Her head canted as she studied her new friend. “How far along are you?”
“A little over seven months.” She smiled, but there was a hint of worry in the depths of her dark blue eyes. “I can’t wait to see her, but I think Cage needs every day of the next two months to prepare. I don’t know if he’s more nervous or excited to be a father.”
“Doesn’t he have a much younger sister?”
Seren nodded and blew out a breath. “Yes. Actually, he’s more of Lily’s father than brother, but I can’t get him to see it.”
Shelby titled her head as she wondered, again, at how much depth and history the dragons and Hunters must hold inside after all those years of living. It was overwhelming to think of how much they’d seen and been through. Wars, loved ones lost, and always hidden, never revealing who they were, facing a world that would never accept their kind.
It broke her heart a little. “Has he raised her since she was born?”
Seren shook her head slowly. “No, they’re not really related. He found her when she was nine. She was abused and terrified. When they saw each other, they just… connected. Even if she hadn’t insisted he keep her, he would have anyway. She’d needed him, and after the death of a biological sister a couple decades ago, he needed someone to take care of.”
For as terrifying as Adrian was, after seeing his gentleness with Seren, he would be a wonderful father.
Seren’s head swung around toward the front of the cabin. “Micah’s here.”
Gabriel was already moving toward the door. “I sent for him.”
“What?” The hysterical scream caught in Shelby’s throat. “Why would you do that?” Her terrified gaze snapped to Seren, who was leveraging herself up from the deep sofa.
“Stay behind me,” Seren murmured as she finally got to her feet. “I’m the one person in the world he won’t hurt.” She shifted her gaze, her voice deceptively calm. “Gabriel, what are you doing?”
“Ending the dragon war. I’ve finally found the weapon needed to destroy Alexi. Don’t get in my way, Seren.�
�
No. This was wrong. Everyone had spent the last two days telling Shelby how dangerous Micah Dragan was, and Gabriel had led him straight to her.
She took a giant step back, even as she realized she wasn’t stupid enough to run. She wouldn’t get far, anyway. Their legs were twice as long as hers.
But it didn’t mean she was going to just surrender to whatever they wanted. Daniel had gone to war to keep her safe, so the least she could do was try to keep herself alive.
“Where is she?” a cold voice asked from the house entry-way.
Shelby took another step back behind the couch. She groped at the built-in bookcases for anything she could use as a weapon. She didn’t expect to do much damage, but damn it, she was not going down without a fight.
Then her mouth dropped open as Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings walked in, only much bigger and with dark blue eyes. His jeans were ripped at the knees, and his button-down shirt was as black as sin.
As if realizing where her thoughts had gone, Seren turned her head slightly so she could see Shelby. “Don’t say it. He tends to get violent when people mention Aragorn.”
Yeah. Shelby didn’t doubt it. She didn’t doubt he had a soul, either. If there had ever been any humanity inside of him, it was long, long gone.
She swallowed hard, her fingers wrapping around a candlestick.
“What took you so fucking long?” Gabriel snapped, handing him a gun. “Ashborne left hours ago.”
Micah shrugged. He palmed the gun and slid it into the waist band of his jeans. “I hunted down his sister in case I needed to use her as leverage.” His gaze dragged over Shelby. “Mate works better.”
The blood drained out of Shelby’s face. She shook her head slowly, her hand clamped around the candlestick as she watched Micah stalk around Seren to get to her. She was so screwed. Gabriel was blocking the front door, while Micah was between her and the only other exit to the house.
She forced herself to focus on Gabriel, not bothering to hide the betrayal and devastation in her eyes. “Why?”
