by Angel Black
And yet, despite how much she enjoyed what she could do and see in the dragon realm, she missed her human world. She missed coffee. Dragons didn’t need it, so they didn’t grow the beans. They also didn’t believe in artificial foods, like cheese curls or lollipops-- two things she never thought she would miss until she stopped having the option to have them. She also missed root beer, and ginger ale. Soda was definitely not a popular drink for dragons. Aside from food, she missed other things, like driving. She even missed Druscilla a little bit, which surprised her most of all. She liked being in the dragon realm, but it just wasn’t her home.
It wasn’t even until she felt Valonis’ hands on her arms that she even realized he had woken up. She jumped as he touched her, but quickly settled against his chest.
“Is he fussy, love?” He asked, kissing the side of her neck. “Do you need me to take him?”
Rachel nuzzled her head against her husband, happy to just be in his arms.
“I’m all right,” she promised. “Besides, he’s already fast asleep. I was just telling him stories.”
Valonis chuckled quietly, and let her go as she began to walk towards Walter’s bassinet.
“What kind of stories?” He asked.
“About his grandpa Walter,” she replied, putting her son gently back in his bed. “About where his mother is from.”
Valonis didn’t reply for a long time. They didn’t talk much about the human world, or about them going back.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Valonis shook his head, and joined her back in their bed. “There’s no need to apologize,” he quickly told her. “I guess I’m just a little surprised. Do you miss it?”
“Of course I miss it,” she replied. She felt tears in her eyes again and she cursed them. She knew it was just from the pregnancy hormones and the stress of having a child, but she didn’t like crying so much. Valonis must have seen her tears because he wrapped his arms around her and brought her to him in a cradling manner.
“Tell me what you miss about the human world,” he whispered, rocking her back and forth.
Rachel laughed as she wiped her tears on their sheets. “Nothing really, just stupid things like coffee, soda. Stuff like that.”
Valonis looked confused. “What is…soda?”
Feelings of comfort and normalcy started to return to her as she began to explain to Valonis what soda and other things were. Within minutes, her tears dried up and she felt better.
“I’m fine,” she promised, snuggling into a more comfortable position. “I like this place. It’s beautiful, and exotic, and is practically pollutant free, which is amazing. I just…I just miss my world sometimes.”
Suddenly feeling very tired, she closed her eyes, and began to drift away. Valonis asked her no more questions, but as she slipped into sleep, she thought she heard him whisper something.
Tomorrow, she thought to herself, I’ll ask him tomorrow.
Chapter 25: A New Home
1 Month Later
Valonis
“Valonis, I can take the baby now,” Rachel told him, touching his shoulder. She reached up to kiss his cheek and he quickly turned towards her so that he could catch it on his lips. He smiled as he watched his wife blush with happiness.
“Thank you for letting me nap, but really, I don’t mind taking him back.”
“That’s okay,” Valonis whispered above the baby’s head. “Walter and I have just been hanging out, talking about dragon stuff. We’ve still got lots to cover.”
Rachel giggled at him, and was about to let the boys be when they heard a knock on the door.
“That must be my dad,” Valonis explained, looking down. “Sorry little buddy, looks like you’re going to go back to your mom after all.”
With practiced care, Valonis laid his newborn son in his wife’s hands, and for a moment he simply stared at the two of them, unable to believe that this was the turn that his life had taken. He had been fully prepared for sadness. Instead, fate had given him love. He let out an audible sigh as his father knocked on the door again, this time more persistently. The Earl of Imbris was not used to waiting for doors to open.
As Valonis went to the door, he thought of the events that had transpired in the last month since Walter was born. First, his father backed down from his ardent stance against humans. Then, in a miracle of all miracles, Rachel had forgiven him for his past transgressions, and had agreed to allow him to be part of Walter’s life. However afterwards, she made Valonis swear on her life that he would never allow the old dragon near the baby alone-- just in case.
At night, when they were alone and Walter was tucked safely into his crib, Valonis held Rachel as she struggled through nightmares of what she had gone through. He knew deep down that there would never be a real sense of forgiveness for his old man, and despite the brave face she put on every day, she could never really feel safe living in the dragon’s realm, which was why Vilhelm had come to speak with Valonis.
Opening the door, Valonis found a very agitated looking Earl leaning against the doorway.
“Took you long enough didn’t it?” The Earl asked, his left eyebrow raised high.
“A mere two minutes,” Valonis said with a shrug as he waved his father inside.
The Earl grunted, but his demeanor immediately changed the moment he saw his grandson in Rachel’s arms. The little dragon-human had grown so much in the last month. Vilhelm could see his family’s good looks in the boy’s features, and it made him proud.
“There’s my little grandson!” The Earl boomed. “Look at you, dear boy! You’re grown twice as big!” He reached out his hands to take the baby from Rachel, but she stepped back, holding the baby closer to her.
“I didn’t know you were coming, Vilhelm.” Rachel said. She glanced over to Valonis, who quickly recognized the building stress in her eyes. He gave her a nod, and quickly interfered.
“Dad just came by to discuss a few remaining details of our next project.” He looked pointedly over at his father.
“Isn’t that right, dad?” He asked.
“Well, yes,” Vilheim agreed, “But I also came to see my grandson.”
“How about after we talk?” Valonis offered, leading his father towards the study. When they reached the study and were behind closed doors, Vilhelm let out a heavy sigh.
“She’s never going to trust me, is she?” He asked.
“It’s been a month, dad. A very short and busy month. Give her time.” Valonis said, cautioning him.
The Earl gave his son a look of annoyance. “There isn’t much time left,” he snapped. “Now that you will be moving her and the baby to the human world and all. By the way, have you told her yet?”
Valonis shook his head, putting his finger to his lips. Though Rachel didn’t have a dragon’s sharp sense of hearing, she was known to press an ear against the study door when she felt there was information she needed to hear.
“Not yet,” he whispered, going to his desk to pull out the file he had been building. “Have you gotten the final bills on the reconstruction?”
Vilhelm pulled a wad of papers from his bag and handed them to his son. “They said anytime you need more help to give them a call and they’ll be happy to come,” he explained.
Valonis chuckled darkly. “For the amount I paid them to finish on time, I’m sure they are.” Valonis had spared no expense on the services of the construction company, or on anything else their new home would need. He was saving it for a surprise once everything was done, but he had very exciting news for Rachel.
After having a very powerful meeting with his father and Supreme Aedan, it had been decided that Valonis would be allowed to take his wife and child to the human world to live until Vilhelm passed on to the spirit world. While there, it would be Valonis’ responsibility to find women who carried the same blood type as Rachel. Willing, single women who shared the ancient blood would be entrusted with the knowledge of the
dragon world in hopes of finding their true love. The King, in a surprising act of amusement, called Valonis the Official Matchmaker of the Dragon Shifter Kind. Although the King and his father laughed heartily, Valonis was less than amused. Still, if it meant being able to take Rachel back to her world, he would gladly endure it.
Vilhelm had put his best human aids on the job to search for the perfect home for his son and family. He wanted them to be able to have freedom of movement and the ability to have ample privacy. Of course, it also had to be close to Rachel’s school of choice, so that she could begin attending classes.
Although he had planned on doing it himself, Vilhelm had begged Valonis to allow him to pay off any back student loan debt of Rachel’s, as well as cover any future cost of classes, books, or study material she may ever need. It was his hopes that with this grand gesture Rachel would actually and fully forgive him. Valonis agreed, but offered his father no promises that his wife would be any more comfortable with the man.
When Vilhelm brought Valonis pictures of an old farmhouse, he knew he had found the perfect house. Valonis could see the full potential it could be restored to, and gave the approval to have it purchased immediately. More like a manor than a house, the home was surrounded by a forest of pine trees and raspberry bushes. The house itself had five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, two living rooms, a library, a wine room, a gigantic kitchen, a servant’s kitchen in a separate building outside, a full basement and an attic.
It hadn’t been occupied for nearly thirty years, and it had sat there in a forest, slowly on its way to fading into a pile of rubble. Of course now it looked completely different, if the pictures Valonis were given were actually real. The crew he hired redid everything until the house looked fully restored with a few modern twists. Valonis had every new appliance a human could want put into the two kitchens. In the master bath, he had them install a large garden tub with a standalone cave-like shower.
After some cleverly disguised conversations with Rachel, Valonis had hired a personal shopper to acquire every book, bottle of wine, and movie that Rachel had ever liked so that she would feel more at home. He also took a few hints about how to decorate the nursery, and upon finding out how much she enjoyed the one they had built together in their current home, he made sure that the construction crew made the room as identical as possible. Now that the reconstruction was officially finished, he could tell Rachel the good news.
Excitement ran through Valonis as he finished his chat with his father. Everything was coming together nicely and for the first time in centuries, he actually felt as if he and his father were beginning to return to a real father/son relationship. Looking up from his file, he gave his dad an appreciative smile.
“Thanks again for helping with all of this,” Valonis said, his eyes kind. “I couldn’t have got it done this fast without you.”
Vilhelm looked up at his son, a fatherly love filling his eyes. “I’m happy to do it son. After everything I-- after all my faults, I am more than happy to do it.”
Chapter 26: Tomorrow Too Soon?
Rachel
A smile spread across her face as she looked down at the sleeping child strapped to her chest. Before they had left the palace, an older priestess taught her how to make a baby holder out of a long scarf, so that Rachel could walk around and use her hands freely while Walter rested comfortably on her chest. In one hand she had a wooden spoon, stirring a stew, and in the other she had a medical book. Though she was no longer studying to be a doctor, she was still fascinated by subject of healing, and did independent studies daily. Only instead of the books being about humans, they were about shifters.
To Rachel, everything about them was fascinating. Their immune system could break down any disease or virus, and the regenerative properties they inherited from their dragons made it virtually impossible to kill them. After months of panicking, she had decided the best thing to do for her son was to become his doctor, which meant becoming a master in not just human anatomy, but dragon anatomy as well. It was a daunting task, but one she was willing to meet head on.
She started to theorize that something in the bonding ritual with Valonis had transferred his powers of healing to her human form. She couldn’t shift, but she had changed. At first she thought it was just the fact that she was in love with him that made her feet different after the blood exchange. Then she thought it was because of the pregnancy. But her pregnancy, painful as it was, had been a good test. She had healed incredibly quickly from the physical strain of it. She had Duke fetch her some tombs about interracial mating between dragons and other species, like vampires and fey and humans. Her theory seemed to be proven correct, but would need more research.
Hearing a snicker from the door, she looked up to see her husband grinning as he leaned against the door frame. He looked devilishly handsome in his human clothes, as always, and for the hundredth time since he had asked her to marry him she asked herself how this whirlwind of fate had somehow belonged to her.
“What are you all smiles about?” She asked, giving him a smile of your own. “You and Vilhelm work things out?” She was still not okay with calling the old Earl ‘dad’, and could barely get the word ‘father’ out either. No matter how sincere his apology had been, she still wasn’t quite over him intending to sell her as a slave.
Valonis pushed himself away from the doorway and sauntered over to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He planted a kiss on her forehead and her nose, giving her a final, passionate one on her lips. She loved the way she felt when she was in his arms. Warm, safe and fuzzy, all good things that had nothing to do with fear.
“I did,” he replied, letting her go, but not before he dropped a kiss on his son’s head. “And, if you’re ready,” he said playfully, “I think I’m ready to share with you what we’ve been doing.”
Rachel lifted her eyebrows in surprise. She was sure that what they were working on was top secret dragon stuff. She wasn’t expecting to be allowed in on the juicy details.
“Really?” She asked, getting excited. “What’s going on?”
Valonis asked her if she could leave the stew for a moment, and she readily said yes. He then reached for her hand, and guided her back to the study. When they were in the room, he helped slip Walter out of his harness and then handed Rachel a thick file.
“What’s this?” She asked, confused.
“It’s for you,” Valonis chuckled, and then added, “It’s for all of us.”
Rachel opened the file, and gasped. From the wildlife and the detail of the house nestled in it, she could immediately tell that the photo had been taken in the human world. She looked up at her husband, tears of happiness filling her eyes.
“Am I-- are we--“ she choked, “Are we going home?”
Her heartbeat suspended as she waited for Valonis to answer, and when he finally said yes she thought she was going to faint with happiness. Her tears cascaded down her cheeks as she laughed and ran into her husband’s arms. Although she had become accustomed to living in the dragon realm, she often dreamt of going home, of returning to her books and her classes. Because she was human, she wasn’t allowed to study under a priestess in the realm, and had to have Valonis check out her medical books from the royal library. If they were going to return to the human world, then that meant she could continue to pursue her dream as a neonatal/pediatric doctor.
“Breathe, my love,” Valonis chuckled, kissing her forehead.
A look of worry crossed into her eyes, as a dark thought entered her mind.
“Wait. How are we paying for this?” She asked.
Valonis chuckled, and told her she was cute.
“Being a royal dragon has its perks,” He explained. “Aside from a title and power, we also have a great abundance of wealth. I was easily able to pay for everything with my share of the family’s money, and have more than enough left over that we can live a happy, comfortable life.” He paused, growing serious.
“I want you t
o be a doctor, baby. I want you to pursue your dreams and be fulfilled with every aspect of your life. But just so you know, you will never have to work for money again. We could even build a hospital in your name if you wanted. Hell, it could even be the first hospital to treat both humans and dragons!”
Rachel was overwhelmed by the amount of joy she felt as Valonis explained his wealth and his support of her career. For a brief second she thought of how they first met and never in a million years would she had thought that this was how their situation would end up.
“I’m so happy about this,” she choked, pressing her cheek into his chest. “You are so- I can’t believe that- Oh I just love you so much!” She squeezed her arms around his waist as tight as she could, never wanting to let go of him. “When can we leave?”
Valonis led her to a seat and began to explain the details. Although his father had offered the school a lot of money, the registrar’s office would not allow her to re-enroll so late in the semester. The best they could do was to enroll her for the spring semester, so she had nearly eight weeks before that began. However, Valonis pointed out that the free time could allow them to get settled into the house and Rachel could get her bearings back and hopefully retrieve any objects that could still potentially be at Rachel’s old house.
“So what I’m hearing is,” Rachel smiled, “Is that we can leave whenever I’m ready?”
Valonis chuckled, and nodded his head.
“Is tomorrow too soon?”
Chapter 27: New and Old Lives Rejoined
Two Months Later
