Captive to the Dragon (Banished Dragons)

by Leela Ash

  “We will take care of her,” Max said before she even had to open her mouth about it. “We will go now.”

  He dropped a sweet, tender kiss against her forehead and smiled soothingly at her. And somehow, in that moment, Andrea knew that everything was going to be okay.

  17.

  “There you are, honey! I’ve been worried sick about you!”

  Max stood in the doorway of the hospital room as Andrea rushed to her mother’s bedside and embraced her tightly.

  Her mother’s arms were clearly weak as she struggled to maintain her grip on her daughter. Max’s heart lurched. Was this going to work? Was he just getting Andrea’s hopes up like she had been afraid of? Or had the Loni blood been part of her mother’s identity too? What was going to happen? He couldn’t bear the thought of being unable to help them.

  “Who is this?”

  Max straightened when he heard the woman’s voice referring to him. Andrea beamed and glanced over her shoulder at Max, then looked back to her mother.

  “Mom, I met someone…”

  Andrea’s mother looked very surprised and looked at Max.

  “Well, don’t just stand there. Come on in here,” she said, motioning Max further inside. He pulled the door shut and then stepped into the room and walked nervously toward Andrea.

  “Hi,” Max said, offering his hand out dutifully. “My name is Max. What’s yours?”

  The gesture must have appeared awkward, because both Andrea and her mother let out a soft laughter. It wasn’t unkind though, and Andrea’s mother took his hand in hers and smiled.

  “Hello, Max,” she said. “My name is Rhiannon. I’m Andrea’s mother.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Max said, pumping the woman’s hand firmly.

  “Nice to meet you too,” Rhiannon said, looking over at her daughter curiously. “And how did the two of you meet?”

  Max almost opened his mouth to respond, but Andrea beat him to it. “We met at my apartment building. Things have gotten really serious. It’s kind of surprising, honestly.”

  Andrea’s mother nodded. “I understand how these things can go,” she said knowingly. “So, this is why you haven’t been by to see me.”

  “Well, actually,” Max began.

  “Yeah, pretty much,” Andrea interrupted. She shot a warning look to Max. Her mother didn’t need to know anything about the abduction or the dragon descendant blood. At least, not yet. Not if this didn’t work.

  He understood immediately but gazed at Andrea’s mother thoughtfully. When he had touched her hand, he had gotten a good feeling. A familiar feeling. Perhaps there was Loni blood running through her veins after all.

  “Mom, Max is good at massage. Is it all right if he rubs your shoulders for a little while?”

  Andrea’s mother looked surprised, then grinned. “I don’t see how I could resist an offer like that,” she said, slowly adjusting herself in the bed. “But he really doesn’t have to be obligated to do something like that.”

  “I don’t feel obligated,” Max said, readying himself. He had already spoken to Andrea about how he would need to begin helping her mother heal. Andrea still didn’t know how to use her own powers yet, but if she held on to her mother’s hands and Max was able to touch the poor suffering woman in an area that was causing her a lot of harm, then the healing would be close to foolproof. Even if she didn’t have dragon/Loni descendant blood.

  However, if she was all human, it wouldn’t be a cure. It would only buy her a few more months of health. Still, either was better than nothing.

  Max waited until Andrea had her mother’s hands. He had tried his best to give her instructions on how to channel her healing powers, but there was no way of knowing whether it was going to be successful. There was only so much they could do, really.

  When they were ready, Max settled behind Rhiannon, rubbing her shoulders gently and closing his eyes. His hands grew warm as he could feel the blood magic begin to work. He looked down at Andrea, who was staring at him in concern, clearly unable to tell whether or not this would be a quick fix or a permanent solution.

  “It’s working,” Max said quietly, rubbing Rhiannon’s shoulders gently and gazing at Andrea with a pleased smile. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “What?” Rhiannon asked. Her head was lolling back as she received the warm healing currents that were beginning to course through her body. A small, serene smile spread across her face as the cancer was fought, cell by cell, and she was released from the terrible grips of her disease.

  “You are going to start to feel a lot better from now on,” Max said gently, his voice low. He needed her to understand but knew he couldn’t spring it all on her at once. “We are fighting away the things that are keeping you from living your life. Everything is going to go into remission. You are going to be healed. And it is because you are like me. You have a very special ancestry, and we are going to take you home and tell you all about it.”

  Andrea’s mother didn’t speak. She kept her eyes closed and nodded tiredly. She was far more accepting of what Max had to say than Andrea had been, but that was possibly because she could feel for herself the truth of his words. The disease was faltering. There was soon going to be nothing left of it. She was going to be free.

  A new surge of bright energy suddenly lit Rhiannon’s face, and she sat up, breaking away from Max’s grip.

  “Honey,” she whispered. “I haven’t felt this good in years. What’s going on? How did this happen?”

  Andrea smiled and gripped her mother’s hands, her eyes welling with tears. She hadn’t fully expected this to work. But Max had been able to feel the subtle pull of the woman’s healing energy as they combined their powers to cure her mother. And now that it had been done, they were going to be able to ensure that she had a far more fulfilling life.

  “As Max said, we will talk more about it when you go home. But for now, I think it would be wise to make sure we know for sure whether or not your cancer is in remission like Max said it was going to be.”

  Andrea’s mother nodded, then craned her neck to look up at Max, who was standing quietly at her bedside.

  “I don’t know how you did this, or why, but thank you,” she said, gripping his hands tightly in hers. There was no doubt in her mind that she had been cured. She could feel the difference. She knew she was okay. She knew it had something, if not everything, to do with Max. And she was grateful.

  “I did it because I can,” Max said. “It is important. Both to me and to Andrea. It is important to your quality of life. It is the right thing to do.”

  Her grip on Max’s hand tightened and she turned to face her daughter.

  “I like him,” she said. “I wonder why I didn’t find me a man like him.”

  “Probably because you already have a Brad,” Andrea said with a sly little laugh. Andrea’s mother joined her.

  “It’s true. He calls every day.”

  “Calls?” Andrea asked, furrowing her brow. “I thought he came to visit your room every day. Did something happen? Is he okay?”

  “Actually, he is doing great. Over the past week, he made a lot of progress. They sent him home. Everything is in remission. And he tells me all the time that he has been praying for a miracle for me. How could this possibly have happened? Can I really tell him that the miracle actually came true?”

  Max smiled and nodded. “Wait to see the results of your tests. When you are discharged, we will be ready to tell you everything you need to know about this.”

  Andrea nodded. “But before that happens, I have one more thing I want to tell you…”

  Max gazed at his fated mate, his heart surging with happiness. She was with child. Carrying his child. A child that was fated to be a very special and important part of Fiora’s history. A child that would save countless Sun Dragons over its lifetime simply by existing and putting its special energy out into the world.

  “What is it?” Rhiannon asked, though there was a knowing look in her eyes
. She was keeping quiet though, waiting for her daughter to be ready to tell her what she was already beginning to suspect.

  “Mom,” Andrea said slowly, standing up and beaming. “I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a grandmother.”

  “What’s more,” Max added. “You’re going to be a grandmother who is very much alive. Alive enough to truly enjoy her grandchildren.”

  Rhiannon’s eyes filled with tears and she pulled Andrea close to her body, hugging her tightly. The sight was enough to warm Max’s heart. He nearly had the impulse to sneak away and allow them to have their moment together. But as he began to slink subtly toward the door, Rhiannon reached her hand out and motioned him forward. She had already accepted him as one of her own. She was a true Loni matriarch, and Max was touched and humbled by the ability to witness this moment between them, and to be included in it.

  He went helplessly to the bed and allowed both Andrea and her mother to include him in the embrace. They were a family. Already.

  A sudden thought occurred to Max and he cursed. Of course! How could he have forgotten?

  “I need to ask you something,” he said, abruptly breaking away from the embrace and tugging Andrea to her feet. “But you need to wait out in the hall.”

  “What?” Andrea asked, confusion clouding her features.

  “It will just be a second,” Max said. “Please.”

  “Okay…”

  Andrea didn’t seem happy about it, but she followed Max’s order and waited outside her mother’s hospital room. Max closed the door and made sure it was secure before approaching the bed again.

  “What would you like to ask me?” Rhiannon asked, her eyes already wise with what was surely the knowledge of Max’s question.

  “I need to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage,” Max said. “I don’t know if there is a father to talk to about that or not, but she cares so much for you, I can’t imagine it would mean as much from somebody else.”

  Rhiannon laughed and shook her head in disbelief.

  “That is such an old-fashioned tradition. It’s pretty much out of style at this point. You don’t have to ask me that. You ask her.”

  “But this is the custom,” Max said, his mind circling all the movies he had watched on the subject of marriage. “I have to ask someone and then I ask the bride to be. Right?”

  “Yes,” Rhiannon said with a slow nod of the head. “I suppose you are right. If you want to be so traditional about it, then I accept. You may take my daughter’s hand in marriage. But only if that is something she wants you to do. She would be the one most affected by a choice like this. So, it is up to her.”

  Max nodded eagerly, thrilled that Andrea’s mother had accepted his proposal. He grabbed her hands and kissed them excitedly, then shot her a broad, uninhibited smile before running to the door and dragging Andrea back in from out of the hallway.

  “What is this about?” she asked, laughing when he led her back to the bed. “Why are you acting so weird?”

  Max beamed at her and then dropped to his knee, pulling out a small box from his pocket.

  “Oh god,” Andrea murmured, stepping backward, and reaching behind herself for something to balance on. “Are you really going to…?”

  She glanced up at her mother, who had a tight, knowing smile on her lips.

  “Andrea,” Max began, searching his mind for the speech he had memorized over the past weeks since meeting her. “I have known you were mine since the moment I laid eyes upon you. You are everything I have ever wanted. You are all I need. And our child is going to give life to the world from which we originate. I need you by my side. Now and always. Will you be mine? Will you walk by my side for the rest of our lives?”

  Max carefully pulled out the stone ring he had brought with him from his own world. It was a beautiful stone, unlike anything possible to find on Earth. He knew it would fit her instinctively. They were fated. There was no other option.

  He grimaced as he awaited her reply, holding the ring up in the air so she could examine it and determine whether or not it was worthy.

  “Of course,” Andrea finally whispered, her voice choked up. “I would be honored to walk by your side for the rest of our lives.”

  Max beamed as Andrea dissolved into more happy tears and Rhiannon watched, her own eyes seeming to cloud over from the emotion of it all.

  Max scrambled to his feet and quickly pressed the ring onto one of Andrea’s fingers.

  She laughed. “Not that one,” she said gently, slipping her finger out and holding one out to him. “This one.”

  Max grinned and corrected himself. Andrea smiled tearfully at him and embraced him tightly, holding him close. They kissed tenderly before finally turning their attention back to Andrea’s mother.

  “You are going to help us plan so we do it right,” Max said to Rhiannon. “If you would like to. There are a lot of things that are helpful with a matriarch to help out with them.”

  “Of course, I will help you plan,” Andrea’s mother said. “This is my daughter’s wedding. I’ve never been more happy for her.”

  Max smiled and then turned to Andrea.

  “Your mother will be released soon. There is nothing more we can do here. But I would like to take you out to celebrate. Is that okay?”

  “That would be great,” Andrea said, lacing her fingers through his. “Let’s go.”

  They said their goodbyes and soon, they were heading out to experience the greatest date either of them had ever been on in their lives.

  18.

  “Did you enjoy dinner?” Max asked quietly, his voice low in the passenger’s side of Andrea’s car. She had missed driving and had managed to get her spare cell phone from her apartment, and a few changes of clothes just in case. He was unpredictable. She smiled over at Max, pleased to see his handsome face light up at the attention.

  “I enjoyed dinner a lot,” she replied, her heart thudding hard in her chest. She had never enjoyed anything more than this, and Max was always outdoing himself in that respect. Even if his attempts were awkward because he wasn’t used to human customs, they were always over the top and exciting. This time, they had eaten by the lakeside from an expensive restaurant that Andrea hadn’t even known existed.

  “When do we do a honeymoon?” Max asked abruptly.

  He seemed foggy on the details and the question made Andrea laugh.

  “We do it after the wedding,” Andrea said with a soft smile. “After we have the reception where everyone eats and tells us how happy they are that we got married.”

  “I want to do it now,” Max said. “I feel like it should be part of the celebration.”

  Andrea laughed. “Well, we can do something now, but it isn’t the honeymoon. Usually, you go somewhere special for a honeymoon. Outside of where you got married.”

  Max considered this for a moment. “Well, we can go somewhere special now, too.”

  “What, the cabin?”

  “What is more special than the place where our child was conceived?”

  Andrea smiled at Max and nodded. That was true.

  “You’re right,” she said. “Do you want to go there for the night?”

  “Yes,” Max said. “I still have a lot of bread there I could finish.”

  Andrea laughed and took a left down the road that would take them toward the cabin. So he wanted his honeymoon early. And somehow, she was okay with that. She had never wanted anybody as much as she wanted him. The thought of being alone with him again was more exciting than she knew how to deal with.

  “Good,” Max said when she parked and got out of the car. “Now I will carry you over the threshold.”

  “But, Max –”

  Her words were cut off when Max’s strong arms lifted her effortlessly off her feet and soon, she was being swept through the cabin until they were in the dark living room. He didn’t put her down though. Instead, he continued carrying her through the hallway until they reached his bedroom.

  She inhale
d sharply; the place smelled like him; rugged, masculine, and outdoorsy. She couldn’t get enough of it and shuddered when he laid her down gently on the bed.

  “I want you,” he said. “I want you now and for the rest of my life.”

  Before she had a chance to reply, Max’s lips were pressed against hers in a hot, languid kiss that made her entire body buzz with longing. She let out a soft gasp and arched her hips with longing as Max trailed his fingers down her back. She had never felt this way before. Everything with him was new and exciting and intense. He made her feel alive.

  Max ran his hands firmly over her body, settling, for a brief moment, over her breasts and bringing his palm over the sensitive pink mound of her nipple. She gasped as pleasure spiked through her body and his responded in kind. She could feel him growing hard against her as he slowly lifted the shirt up over her head and held her close, his hands working delicately at the clasp of her bra. When he unclasped it, he let the bra fall onto the bed and gazed at her body in wonder.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said, pulling her close and kissing her tenderly. “I love you so much. Thank you for agreeing to be mine.”

  “It was fated,” she said, her voice a slight tease.

  Max grinned and nodded. “Yes, it was,” he said. “Just as our child was destined to be born. No matter where we live, he will make Fiora a bearable place to live.”

  “He?” Andrea asked, nuzzling against Max’s broad chin, and kissing him. Could he tell the gender so soon? Or did he just want a boy?

  “I have a feeling,” Max said with a wink, nuzzling Andrea back. “Just as I had a feeling when I saw you for the first time and knew we were meant to be together.”

  God, he felt good. She gripped Max tightly and gasped when his mouth made its way back to hers. He took her lips against his own and they closed their eyes together as they felt the intensity of the heat between their bodies. They were taking things slow this time; nothing rushed or fervent about it. They were appreciating each other. They were getting to know one another. And it felt good. Maybe even better than anything Andrea had ever experienced. But every time Max touched her, he seemed to outdo himself.