Calling on her magic was as natural as breathing. It bloomed within her, full of warmth and life, love and devotion. Focusing all her attention on Max’s wound, she funneled her power into him.
“All right, Saul, pull the chunk out. I’m ready.”
Mother and son worked together in tandem to pull each piece of shrapnel from Max’s body while slowing the blood flow. They touched him with magic-laced claw tips, channeling the very essence of their ability into his prone body and the gaping wound left behind.
An hour later, he hadn’t fully responded to their magic and he hadn’t moved. Ēostre swayed, and thankfully, Saul was there to catch her. He set his mother gently to the ground and dropped back onto his haunches, tail flicking in irritation.
“He’s injured too badly for only the two of us. We need more dragons. More healers,” Saul muttered. “Saving Chloe didn’t tax me nearly so bad as this has, and I feel as if we’ve done nothing at all for him.” He rubbed his cheek and gazed thoughtfully at Max’s comatose face. “What about Uncle Thor?”
“My brother doesn’t heal anyone, Saul. He breaks them.”
“True.”
Dragons with the capacity for mending flesh were rare, a trait often passed down family lines from mother to son, to grandchild and future progeny. And as she and Thor only shared one parent, he hadn’t inherited the gift.
But someone else likely had. The realization occurred to Ēostre the same time Saul realized it. He jerked upright to his feet and rushed for the manor. “I’ll get her.”
When he returned with the little girl, there were still remnants of a Batgirl nightgown clinging to her slim dragonic neck. Even Saul couldn’t keep pace alongside her, proving the speed of smaller feet.
“What happened to Grandpa Max?!” she cried.
“Astrid, listen to me very well, my love. Your father and I have given all we can… and we need you. We need you to discover the magic inside of you. We need your help to save Maximilian.”
Astrid nodded. Blue eyes, shimmering with unshed tears, drifted up to Max’s face. Even as a dragon, his features were contorted into an agonized mask. Although she was so much smaller than the three adults, she approached the elder dragon and raised onto her haunches, one small claw resting on his ruddy red cheek. She whispered something behind his scaled ear and nuzzled her nose against his skin with her eyes closed.
When she turned her face back to her father, her small face was somber, eyes dry. “Teach me how to heal, Daddy.”
Nothing would ever motivate Astrid to learn more than helping to save her grandfather’s life.
***
A black SUV pulled into the driveway the following night. Ēostre had expected as much. In fact, she’d been expecting an entire caravan, but with Mahasti’s intervention, not even a satellite from space could have discovered Drakenstone Manor.
She should have known Ian would find them.
Ēostre decided to meet him in her human form and went down to open the door as the eagle stepped onto the porch. He was dressed casually, clothed in nice jeans and a flawless polo shirt, the badge on the sleeve promoting his private security firm. He hired shapeshifters when they left the armed forces and sold their services abroad as contracted mercenaries. On U.S. soil, they served another purpose.
“Ian…”
He stepped forward and took both of her hands. “I took the first flight out of Houston. God, I’m sorry, Ēostre. I knew where you guys had him as soon as Mitch called and said Mahasti disappeared with you both, but we’ve been busy trying to put a lid over this.”
“What happened? I mean, how did this happen? Aren’t they supposed to check everything over thoroughly before they bring him out?”
“One of his agents vanished after you two did. John Kensington.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand. Why would John take off?”
Ian’s face grew grim. “We think he planted the bomb. Or at least knew about it.”
“What?” She thought back to how the agent in question had tried to escort her toward the limo. Around the side where the dumpster had been.
“We’ve discovered corruption in the Secret Service,” Ian said quietly, rage hidden behind a stoic mask. “It was meant to be a suicide bombing, but Max was the primary target.”
“How did this happen, Ian? Who’s responsible for it?”
“Slayers have infiltrated the Secret Service. We’ve apprehended one of them, but according to my guys, there’s still two more at large.”
A chill flowed through Ēostre’s veins, drawing a shiver down her spine. Tears continued to flow down her cheeks as she led Ian to the slumbering dragon in the field. He hadn’t awakened yet, and she wondered if he ever would — if the time had come to take him to Mount Shasta. A shudder overtook and a fresh round of tears spilled over her cheeks.
Ian enfolded her in his strong arms and she sobbed until her body ached, crying useless tears long after her lungs were sore from the heaving. “No one’s going to get away with this, Ēostre. My boys are on it right now. Russ even came out of retirement to kick some ass in D.C. We’re going to find the assholes who did this. They’re gonna pay, so don’t you worry about any of that. You and Saul get this guy well. He needs you right now. He needs you on your game, understand?”
She nodded through the sniffles, afraid she’d break down again in front of the strong shifter. Eventually, the last of the shakes left, dwindling until exhaustion turned her limbs to lead and only Ian’s embrace kept her standing.
“I’m so, so sorry, Ēostre. I feel to blame. I should have insisted on an all-shifter team to protect him.”
“No, Ian. You aren’t to blame for this. The only person to blame for this is the… the…” Her breath hitched.
They stood together for a while, holding each other up, watching Max’s uneven, labored breaths.
Please, Ancestors. You gave me a new chance to love again. Don’t take him.
***
“Ēostre? Have you eaten today?” Chloe asked.
She shook her head. Ian had insisted she take a nap after her cry and when she’d awoken, the eagle shifter was gone, sent to Washington D.C. by Mahasti, so Ēostre had returned to her vigil at Max’s side.
“Come eat. You can’t work your magic if you’re too weak. Max knows that and he’d want you to keep your strength up.”
“I’ll stay with him, Mother,” Saul volunteered, sensing the reason behind her reluctance. If he did awaken, she didn’t want him to be alone and afraid.
“C’mon.”
Ēostre allowed herself to be led away, knowing they were right. She wouldn’t be good to anyone, let alone Max, if she was exhausted.
Chloe made herself at home in the kitchen, pulling our pre-prepared trays of sliced meat and cheese. Mahasti kept the fridge stocked with sandwich makings to sate Saul’s endless appetite. Crackers, relish, spicy mustard, and apple slices soon joined her prep area.
“He’s going to pull through, Ēostre. Max is strong.”
“I know he is, but slayers. I suppose we should have counted on them being around.”
“Hey, now.” Chloe finished making their cracker plate. “You guys survived them in the medieval ages, you’ll handle them now, too.”
“There’s so much to lose… so, so much.”
Chloe abandoned their snack and stepped over, pulling Ēostre into her arms. “Talk to me. What else is weighing you down? Because it’s more than all this crap going on right now.”
“I… may be pregnant,” Ēostre whispered to Chloe. “At first, I thought all of the signs were a coincidence due to the stress of adjusting to our public lives together, but then I realized my cycle is behind.”
Chloe’s eyebrows shot up. “Dragon women have that, too?” she asked at first, flabbergasted.
Ēostre grimaced and nodded as her daughter-in-law grasped the gravity of the situation. Recovering swiftly, Chloe took Ēostre by the arm and guided her to the breakfast bar where they took seats on the
high-backed stools.
“You said ‘may’ which means you aren’t sure yet, right? How can we be sure?”
“With Saul, I didn’t know I was with child until I felt him kick within me for the first time. That day was magical,” she murmured, a wistful tone seeping into her voice.
“And how long did that take?” Chloe, ever restless, left the chair again to fetch glasses and a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge. Ēostre didn’t turn it down, nor did she refuse when the woman brought over the snack tray she’d made.
“Close to eight months. Shortly after, other dragons could smell the cub’s scent with mine.”
Chloe stared at her. “Well, we certainly aren’t waiting until then. We have technology on our side and a mountain of unused pregnancy tests in my bathroom drawer. I kinda bought a pack of fifty back when we first tried to get pregnant again.”
“I feel terrible in that, all of this, your happy news has been overshadowed.”
“Don’t feel like that,” Chloe said. “We’ll get through all of this and then you and I can go buy cute maternity outfits, pig out on ice cream with bacon in it, and drive our men crazy. It’ll be a blast.”
Chloe’s words had the intended effect. Ēostre laughed and the pent up tension she’d been holding onto unraveled. She swiped at her eyes with one hand while picking up her lemonade with the other.
“I’ll put myself in your hands then and see what your tests say. How do they work?”
“Oh, you pee on a stick.”
Ēostre choked on her drink but Chloe was there to pat her back, a wide grin on her face. “You what?”
“Finish your food and I’ll show you. Well, not show you, but you know what I mean. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Really.”
Contrary to Chloe’s claim, it was every bit as crazy as it sounded. She doubted in the accuracy of a human test, but for Chloe’s sake, she tried and emerged from the bathroom with a little plastic cover on the end of the strange device.
“Now what?”
“Give it a few minutes. If two pink lines show up in the window, you’re pregnant.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then we try again tomorrow morning. Or after a week maybe.”
Ēostre looked down at the pink test, doubt in her eyes, “But this is a human test, right? How do we know it will show me anything at all?”
“Well…” Chloe fidgeted before continuing. “When I was pregnant with Astrid, Saul had some scientist friends of his do some tests to make sure there wouldn’t be any problems. Completely secret, of course! We found that dragons are a lot more closely related to humans than we would have expected… but I guess that explains how Marcy and I were able to get pregnant, right?”
Ēostre’s mouth dropped open, “What about other shifters?”
“A couple of wolves volunteered, and it looks like they’re pretty close to human as well. I mean, a hospital would probably still freak about seeing something unexpected in a blood test, but there is definitely a connection back on the family tree. Not that we could tell anyone, though… can you imagine some of the ancients if they thought they might be related to humans?” Chloe made a face, prompting a laugh out of Ēostre.
“Chloe?” Saul called.
Ēostre hid the little stick behind her back when Saul appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Hey, hon, what are you doing up here? I thought you were going to stay with Max.”
“Astrid wished to sit with Maximilian for a time, so we’ve switched places,” he explained. “Mahasti is with her.”
“That’s good for them both. Why don’t you go make her a snack then and take a nap yourself?” Chloe urged as she nudged him toward the door.
“Why are you hurrying me away?”
“No reason,” Chloe said, the rest of her words flowing in a rush, “but I think I left that pitcher of lemonade out on the counter. Would you put it away before Felix dips his paws into it?”
Skeptical, golden eyes studied Chloe, then flicked back and forth between them before Saul made his way from the hallway and down to the ground level, resigned to whatever mischief they were planning.
“Okay, let’s have a look.”
Ēostre’s heart slammed against her chest as she brought the pregnancy test from behind her back. She didn’t know if the results would be accurate, but she trusted Chloe’s judgment, and by proxy, had to trust her human methods. Glancing down, she saw two, bold pink lines stretched across the rectangular window.
Her heart skipped, from racing to flutters behind her ribs. Pregnant. Max was going to be a father for the second time. Saul would have a little sibling.
“Ēostre…” Chloe slipped an arm around her. “Congratulations, sweetie. Are you pleased?”
“I’m… I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. Her fingers shook and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “What if he doesn’t come back? I practically raised one child alone, Chloe. I can’t do this again. Not without Max.”
“Shh, no, hon. You won’t have to do it without him.”
“Mommy! Grandma!” Astrid’s voice echoed up the stairs.
“What is it sweetheart?”
“Grandpa Max is waking up!”
Chapter 21
Maximilian’s most recent memory was of Ēostre’s beautiful face over dinner. Everything afterward was a blur. The evacuation and the bomb had been lost in a hazy white glare.
“Grandma needs you,” he heard a young voice whispering beside his ear. “We all do, but Grandma most of all. You promised me you weren’t old enough to become one of the Ancestors, and I need you here.”
Tiny hands glided over his neck, circling in a soothing stroke pattern that made him quietly sigh. The petting paused and fingers hovered above his skin.
“Grandpa Max?”
How long had he slept, he wondered, opening his mouth to speak, but coughing instead. He cleared his throat a few times and opened his eyes to see Astrid in her human form beside him with huge, owlish blue eyes on his face.
“You’re awake! You’re finally awake!” She darted off toward the house, screaming at the top of her lungs. “Mommy! Grandma!”
Within moments, adults piled outside of the manor. Max became very aware of a half dozen inquisitive and hopeful eyes watching him, and when he tried to push his weight onto his front claws to greet them, a bloom of pain exploded in his gut, promptly putting him back down. Ēostre hurried forward at once and set one hand to his nose.
“Save your strength, Belenos… please. Don’t move.”
“Were you injured?” Max asked. His throat, dry and raspy, made the words come out with a harsh cough.
Tears gleamed in her eyes as she shook her head. “No. You saved all of us.”
In her human form, Ēostre was tiny by comparison. She hugged the side of his face and sobbed against his cheek. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“No. Too stubborn.”
“A trait all too common among you reds.” Saul grinned at him. “Glad to have you back with us, old man. Mahasti, he must be starved by now, would you—”
“Of course,” the genie replied before Saul could finish his request. She snapped her fingers and a banquet fit for a dragon king appeared before them on a gigantic marble slab. A cool vat of water materialized beside it which he drank down to the bottom, sloshing water everywhere in his haste.
While he sated his hunger pangs, Ēostre and Saul approached his midsection to inspect his gut wound. She peeled back the enormous bandage taped over his abdomen then rocked on her heels and stared. Max immediately tried to twist for a better look.
“How bad is it?”
“It’s… it’s healed,” she said, stunned.
“What do you mean, healed? I hurt like hell.”
“Exactly what I say, Bel. The physical damage is healed far beyond what it should be.”
“There’s definite scar tissue left behind, but the injury is closed,” Saul commented. His brows drew together in consternation
and then he shot his daughter a look. “Did you heal him again, Astrid?”
Ēostre, Saul, and Chloe stared at Astrid while the girl shyly scuffed her toes against the dirt. “I know you told me to rest, Daddy, but I was worried. Am I in trouble?”
“No, no,” Saul promptly replied once he recovered his wits. “You’re not in trouble.” He and Chloe moved up to the child, the former kneeling down to shorten the distance between them. “You did a very brave thing, Astrid, and you may have saved your grandfather’s life. I don’t know how you found the power to do it, but it was a very good thing.”
“Thank you,” Ēostre whispered. She hugged Max again and clung to him, motionless, her tears against the ember-hued hide stretched over his broad ribs.
“Yes, Astrid, thank you.”
“I love you, Grandpa,” Astrid whispered. “I wanted you to get better.”
“Thanks to you, little one, I will.”
Astrid stepped in and hugged his neck, her parents right behind her in expressing their affections.
Max glanced across the field to see Fafnir’s ruby red face staring at him from beside the estate. The other ancient’s features were twisted into a mask of unconcealed hatred, his yellow eyes narrowed slits. Without a word, Fafnir turned his back to them and lumbered away to return to the hoard, but Max couldn’t shake the feeling that the dragon he’d once revered and loved as a brother, would have rather watched him die.
***
It took the better part of two days for Max to regain enough strength to even attempt to take his human form. When he did, his control wavered, and Ēostre quickly forced him to abandon the attempt.
“At least tell me what I’ve missed. Bring me a phone,” Max groaned as he lay stretched over the ground beside the veranda.
“You nearly died, and you’re concerned with having a phone?” Ēostre demanded.
“I need to know what’s happened in my absence. Have you kept Kenneth abreast of the recent developments?”
Smitten Page 21
