by V. Vaughn
“Since we’re mates,” she held up her hand to stop him from commenting. “Yes, I’ll agree we are, but we still have a lot to discuss and now is not the time.”
Quinn simply nodded, glad to hear her getting comfortable with the idea that there was no way in this life or the next she was ever getting rid of him, and listened as she went on. “Again, since we’re mates, I believe we can use that connection and I can guide you to my magic and together we can open it up. After it is free, we can use it to wake up your beast. If all goes well, he will recognize me as his mate too and shake off whatever has him in permanent sleep mode. It’ll be like jiggling the mouse on the computer to get the screen to come on.”
“The what on the who?”
“Oh crap!” His elf giggled. “Sorry for the techno reference. I keep forgetting you’ve been in cold storage for a century.” She gasped. “Oh, my Goddess, the things I am gonna get to show you. This is going to be so much fun.”
Joy danced in her deep blue eyes and for the first time since he’d thawed, Quinn didn’t feel so out of sync with his surroundings. Listening intently as she went on and on listing all the things she was going to show him or teach him how to do, the dragon could only chuckle. Taking a breath, Elsa got back to what they were originally talking about and rushed on, “All right, let’s get this show on the road.”
Looking into her eyes as she explained, Quinn could see his forever; full of love, laughs, and never a dull moment. Forcing himself to pay attention, the Guardsman listened carefully. “Now, I’m gonna need you to open your mind completely, just like I’m doing,” she instructed. “Can you feel that?”
He nodded and she quickly added, “Do you see that light glowing near my heart?”
“Yes.”
“That’s for us to discuss another time.” Her voice was lower, almost reverent. Quinn was pleased to see how brightly her part of their mating bond was shining and knew her sudden change in tone had been because she was witnessing the strength of his. The thought crossed his mind to say something, but Elsa immediately cleared her throat and went on, “So, go right on past that and look further into my soul. You will see what looks like a box that’s glowing with a bright green light.”
Falling deeper into his mate was unexplainably magnificent and all together breathtaking. Quinn’s senses were firing on all cylinders. He was connecting with her in ways he’d never thought possible. Their souls were literally intertwining, becoming one, fulfilling the Guardsman as only the one made especially for him by the Universe could do.
It was happening for Elsa too. He could feel their union growing stronger, feel her soul reaching for his, feel her love for him growing in leaps and bounds, but could also sense her hesitation and fear. It was something he couldn’t fault her for. Although he knew elves also mated for life, Quinn remembered hearing stories of the dominant male elves and their subservient female mates. Making a mental note to tone down his natural inclination to take charge and to talk to his little elf as soon as they’d dealt with Geneva, the Guardsman jumped to attention when the sight of her contained magic came into view.
“I see it, Elsa,” he whispered. “It’s right in front of me.”
“Great! Now, I need you to combine your magic with mine.”
He could hear the concentration in her voice, feel the strength of her pure elven enchantment and with complete trust in his mate, simply let go of the hold he had on his own mysticism and watched in wonder as the bright green and yellow of hers combined with the red, blue, and orange of his. Not only was it spectacular to see, it was incredible to experience.
Their bond pulsed with power. Watching in utter amazement as Elsa wielded their combined magics like an old pro, Quinn knew the moment she’d made contact with the metaphysical vessel holding her enchantment and prepared to keep them both grounded at the influx of the raw power pulsing before him.
Elsa’s pupils dilated. Her breath came in puffs. He could see sweat glistening on her brow, but she still pushed on. Holding firm to her hands, pulling her body to his for support, Quinn helped his elf guide the magic ever so slowly toward its target. Bit by bit, the kaleidoscope of colors moved closer to the glowing box.
Holding his breath as together the couple gave one final push, Quinn pulled his hands from Elsa’s and wound his arms around her waist as the lid burst from the vessel and pure earthen elven magic filled not only his mate, but also the Guardsman. From one heartbeat to the next, his dragon jumped to his feet, pawed the ground, and snorted smoke.
Elsa cheered and as if talking to a dragon was something she did every day, and greeted Quinn’s beast with a, “Hey there, big guy. It’s about time you joined the party.”
Throwing back his head and roaring a warm welcome, the dragon gave his answer before looking straight through Quinn’s mind eye at Elsa then bending forward on one front knee and bowing his head. In all the years’ man and beast had been joined, the Guardsman had never seen his dragon show such respect to anyone, let alone someone without dragon blood.
To Quinn’s complete surprise, when his dragon looked back up, Elsa squirmed from his arms and returned the beast’s bow, adding, “It is an honor I shall forever cherish to be mated to one of the Universe’s great warriors.”
Standing awestruck as he watched the two most important beings in all his life accepting one another, there were no words for the happiness filling every fiber of the Guardsman’s being. It was more than he could have ever hoped for. Then of course, true to form, before he could even speak, one of the huge barn doors flew open and in rushed Olivia, screaming at the top of her lungs. “Mom’s got Alara on the Elven Stone! Come quick!”
“We shall speak again. Thank you for your help,” Elsa ended her communication with his dragon and looked up to Quinn with a huge smile and a twinkle in her eye. “I think he likes me.”
“I know he loves you,” the Guardsman quickly answered before kissing the tip of her nose and adding in a whisper, “Thank you.”
Her smile grew. “No, thank you and the pleasure was all mine, but…”
“Oh, my Goddess,” Olivia loudly complained. “Can you guys play kissy face later? Alara is not known for her patience.”
Laughing despite his frustration at the intrusion, Quinn picked Elsa up off the floor before she could object, raced toward the door grabbing Olivia on his way past making her squeal in delight, and after kicking the barn door closed, used his enhanced speed to get them inside the kitchen of the cottage and out of the blizzard that was about to begin within just a few seconds. Setting the girls on the ground, he grinned as Elsa’s sister giggled, “Thank you,” and then laughed out loud as his mate grumbled, “Show off.”
The sound of Carolyn talking had them abandoning their fun and heading to the living room. Nodding in their direction, the matriarch said, “Okay, Mother, Elsa is here. What do you need to tell us?”
As Alara spoke, the depth and strength of her power filled the room. Her deep contralto tone and formal speech reminded Quinn of a time long passed. “I share this confidence with you only because I now believe your survival, as well as that of many of our Elven brothers and sisters, depends upon you knowing the truth. Be it understood that under penalty of exile from not only our Troupe but also the Elven race, this information is not to be shared with anyone not of Elven blood, save the Guardsman, Quinn MacKenna, who shares the bond of mates with the daughter of my daughter, Elsa Arianna O’Leary.”
There was a pause in which Quinn could feel the tension in the room rise. He watched the eyes of each of the elves stayed glued to the large glowing piece of violet quartz as it pulsed. Finally, Alara began again. “This is difficult to say but there was a time in my youth when I was weak. I strayed from the path of our Queen and our kind and in the end found myself lost, alone, and with child.”
Several of Elsa’s sisters gasped, others covered their mouths, but it was Elsa, the woman whose strength he admired above all others, who asked, “What exactly are you saying, A
lara?”
After several heartbeats, during which Quinn wondered if anyone was even breathing, Alara said, “My dear child, your Auntie Geneva’s father was a gnome.”
9
“You have got to be freakin’ kidding me!” Elsa was sure her head might explode from the overload of shock so she kept right on screaming in the hope of relieving a little of the pressure. “Exactly when were you going to tell us? After she’d turned us all into toads?”
“Elsa!” Carolyn reprimanded. “Show Alara your respect.”
“Elsa’s right, Mom. We should’ve known,” Mona piped up.
“Dang, this is worse than stepping in a steaming pile of reindeer poop,” Penelope complained.
“What the heck? Wrong…so wrong,” Harmony whined, wringing her hands.
“Toads? I wouldn’t put it past that bitch to turn us into fleas,” Harmony growled.
Not to be left out, Muriel added, “Or the amoebas on fleas.”
“I say we kick her ass and turn her into a big blubbery walrus. The bitch is always worrying about her figure. That’ll fix her,” Olivia plotted.
“I’m all for an old-fashioned lynching,” Ivey fumed.
Listening to her sisters’ fire off their ideas of retribution like bullets from a AK-47 made Elsa smile, but her levity was short lived when Alara’s voice boomed through the room.
“Enough!” Utter quiet followed the echo of her magical voice and after a few seconds of ear-ringing silence, the Elven Prime Minister addressed her grandchildren. “Again, I deeply regret keeping this information from you but at this point, the past cannot be changed. We must move forward. I understand your need to lash out, but that too will have to wait. There are things you need to know about Geneva’s father and the powers I now see she inherited from him that will make a difference in how you must deal with her.”
Elsa bit her tongue as the need to tell her dear old grandma that she, Alara, should be the one dealing with Geneva and not leaving it to them, grew like a snowball rolling down a mountain. It was Alara’s mess, one she should’ve taken care of long ago instead of hiding in her mound and pretending all was right with the world while playing royal games. It was not something the O’Learys should have to deal with, but as usual, granny was dropping the penguin poop at their feet and asking them to clean it up while ignoring the smell.
Just as the elf thought she could take no more, Quinn’s fingers threaded through hers and with one gentle squeeze, he eased her tensions. Looking up at him, she mouthed, “Thank you” as Alara continued.
“Rudolph, Geneva’s father, was the Keeper of the Gold, a very powerful gnome among his family. Because of this he could mask his true nature and appear as an elf at will. When I met him I was immediately enchanted. I fell madly in love and when I awoke some months later to find him gone and myself with child, I still did not know of his true nature. It was not until Geneva was born with rounded ears that I began to suspect the truth. Then within days of her birth, her eyes turned to onyx and her eye teeth grew in like fangs.”
“Fearing for my child’s life at the hands of our queen, I made my way to the most powerful sorceress in the land. Once there, I had to agree to the only payment she would take. I agreed that if she would use her great magic to make Geneva appear wholly elven, I would in turn give him half the enchantment from the next seven children born into my line.”
“The deal was struck. With the wave of his hand my baby was fixed and I returned home with stories of a warrior mate who didn’t exist and his heroic death on the battlefield. Years passed and then I met your father, Carolyn. It was true love at first sight this time. Devereau was my one true mate, the man I was destined to spend my life with. Our whirlwind courtship and mating was legendary and within a year I had you, my beautifully perfect daughter. All thoughts of the old sorceress and our pact were forgotten.”
Alara paused and Elsa looked around the room at her sisters. So many things that had troubled the elf since the day she could walk and talk were beginning to make sense and from the looks on her siblings’ faces, they too were putting the pieces of the puzzle together and figuring out how righteously screwed they had been by dear old Grammy.
Before Elsa could speak, Alara continued, “It wasn’t until your mother became pregnant with you, Elsa, that I began to suspect Geneva was keeping secrets. That she had succumbed to the dark side of her nature. Then when you were born and I held you in my arms at your christening, I felt the powerful magic flowing through your veins and it all came rushing back. I know you don’t believe me, or want to, but I am truly sorry. Forgive an old woman her folly. I tucked away the pain and misdeeds of the past and simply wished them away.”
“But now they are back to bite us in the ass while you sit in your mound at Court. What would the Queen think of what you’ve done? What would all those who think of you as their next leader, the Golden One, do if they knew the truth?” Elsa spat, unable to hold her tongue any longer.
Letting go of Quinn’s hand, she moved closer to the stone and went on, “You deprived my mother and my sisters of most of their magic, their birthright as elves. You took that from them. Not to mention the fact that I had to feel like a freak for having abilities and finally lock away my enchantment.”
She reached the table and leaned over the stone, well aware that her grandmother could see her face as well as hear her rage. “You made us all pay so that a crazy bitch Halfling of yours could have her life. A life she wasted. A life she gave to the dark.” Elsa seethed. “And now she’s coming after me. That’s what you were about to say, isn’t it? If she can’t take my magic, she’s gonna try to kill me. Right, Grandma?” She spat her last question, using the name they were never to call Alara before spinning on her toes and pacing the length of the living room.
Afraid to look at her sisters, needing to come up with a plan as her mother continued to talk to Alara, Elsa paced back and forth with her head down until she rammed right into the wonderfully muscular chest of her mate. Throwing her head back, she looked all the way up to his handsome face, relieved to find a loving smile and knowing look in the depth of his eyes.
“You are not in this alone.” His warm, caring hands closed over her shoulders, massaging away some of the tension. “Look around you.” She glanced to the side as he continued, “They all love you and want to help.”
He leaned down into her line of sight and murmured, “And you have me…you always have me.”
She couldn’t help but smile. Although they hadn’t known each other long and he was old and needed a crash course in pop culture, Elsa had to admit she was falling candy canes, tinsel, and Christmas bells for her dragon. Alara may have royally screwed the elf’s past but with Quinn by her side, the future was all sugar plums and twinkly lights.
“And…” Alara’s voice filled the room, “I will do whatever you need to help.”
Elsa thought about lashing out. She wanted to tell her grandmother where she could stick her help. Wanted to scream that it was over four hundred and eighty years too late, but as she looked at her mother, who was putting on a brave face, and her sisters, who were ready to fight to the death by her side, the elf could only take a deep breath and nod, “All right, this is the plan…”
As she turned to face her sisters, the elf watched Quinn out of the corner of her eye. She saw him stare out the window as the snow began to fall and felt an odd stirring in her mind. Trying to stay focused on speaking with her family, Elsa soon had to ask them to wait as she went to her dragon’s side.
Touching his arm, she mouthed, “What are you doing?”
Tapping his temple, Quinn smiled just as she heard his voice in her head. “Doxie? You there? Can you hear me?”
Grinning from ear-to-ear, Elsa pulled at his arm as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, whispering, “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m not sure it’s working.”
Closing her eyes, the elf lent not only her power but also her voi
ce to that of her mate’s and together, they called, “Doxie? It’s Quinn. Are you there?”
It was the first time she’d ever used her new ability and it felt a little weird, a bit disconcerting, but really cool all at the same time. The longer they went without an answer, the more she could feel Quinn’s worry. He felt like he was letting her down, but more than that, he was beginning to think he had lost his ability to communicate with his brethren or that Heavens forbid, they were dead.
Pushing more of her power into their communication and letting her undying belief in her dragon flow through their mating bond, Elsa prayed to the Goddess that this man Quinn loved like a brother would answer. Long tense minutes ticked by. She listened to her sisters hashing over and adding to the plan she’d given them while continuing to pour power into the connection she felt her dragon shared with the others of his kind.
Quinn’s dragon locked eyes with her. She felt him opening the link between them, giving her control of not only his pure white dragon magic, but that of the bond he shared with both her and her mate. Closing her eyes, holding tight to the immense power at her disposal, Elsa pulled the image of the man her dragon called Doxie from his mind. Grinned as the words grumpy and pain in the butt followed the image. She could feel the love and comradery these men shared; knew without question they would lay down their lives for one another. It was the same way she felt about her sisters. They made her ears twitch most of the time but she would defend them to the death.
One more push and POW! The bond Quinn shared with his brothers burst to life. Pictures of men she’d never met but somehow already felt as though she knew burst into her mind. Their names, the stories of their lives, and the time they’d shared with her mate all came rushing at her, immediately followed by a low grumble of disbelief. “Quinn? Q? That you?”
Pure delight filled the bond she shared with Quinn. His dragon roared at the reunion with another of his kin as her mate quickly answered, “Hell yeah, it’s me. Don’t tell me you forgot about me already.”
