by Amelia Jade
Unfortunately things seemed calm in Cadia. She saw no signs of chaos or disorder that she could attend to under her Guardian persona, nor did she see any friends who might be able to rescue her.
She was going to have to stick it out.
“How have you been?” he asked, his voice oozing false cheeriness. “We only got to talk for a few brief minutes. It didn’t seem fair. I just had to track you down.”
Holy shit this guy is persistent.
“Honestly, I’m having a pretty shitty day, Garviel, and no, I’m not feeling overly prone to talking about it right now,” she told him bluntly, trying not to sound too caustic.
Not that he was likely to either pick up on it, or acknowledge it. This guy is all about the show.
“That’s terrible, Rhynny. Can I call you Rhynny? Why don’t you come with me? We’ll spend a day on the town and help you forget all about it.”
What the hell was he talking about? A day on the town? This is Cadia, not some metropolis of human creation, bud. The list of things to do in town that she was interested in doing with him was a very short list indeed. It was just her luck that the trash dump was on the far side of town too.
“Sorry Gar-Gar,” she said with patronizing cheer, “but I have other things I have to do today. I’m a big girl; lots of big girl things to do.”
She saw the barest hint of anger flash through his eyes. It was gone instantly, but she’d been looking for it this time.
“Just for a bit,” he pressed. “I promise, it’ll be fun.”
Rhynne hesitated. She didn’t have anything else that she needed to be doing that day. Hell, she’d been wandering around aimlessly before he showed up. Could there be a huge amount of harm in seeing just what the hell he had up his sleeve? It wasn’t like she was in any danger from him here in Cadia.
“I’m only in town for a little bit longer,” he continued before she could answer. “Then it’s time for me to make the long trek back to Fenris. It would certainly make the trip go faster if I could say I spent some time with you.”
To her surprise, there was actually a small amount of what sounded like genuine desire in his voice now, cracking through his outer shell.
A pair of wolves loped into view from around the corner of a building up ahead and moved past, both of them dipping their heads at Rhynne in a sign of respect. She was well known in Cadia, having made a reputation for herself as a tough but fair Guardian and keeper of the peace.
That thought jogged something else in her brain. If she was seen out and about with Garviel, then others would know. They would talk about it, and word would get back to her mother.
And to Dominick.
“I’m sorry,” she said as nicely as she could, removing her arm from his. “But I can’t today. Perhaps I’ll have some time later.”
She made to dip her head at him before leaving, but his hand shot out and fingers wrapped around her wrist, halting her escape.
Rhynne slowly turned back to face him, her eyes flaring at the impolite treatment. She allowed flame to seep into her gaze as she hit him with the full brunt of it, but he didn’t seem to care. There was an answering flicker deep inside of him, one as cold and white as ice.
So you’re a Frost Dragon, are you? Interesting.
“Let go of me,” she said, her voice full of cold steel. “Now.”
“Why do you have to keep running from me, Rhynne? Can’t you see that we’d be perfect together? Us coupling would be the smart thing, for both of us and our families.”
She laughed, a single, solitary sound of disbelief. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, and you’re going to turn around and walk back the way you came. Understand me?”
“Now, Rhynny, there’s no need to get like that,” he said, but his fingers didn’t move from her wrist.
So Rhynne—most definitely not Rhynny—moved them for him.
Her arm swept up and around swiftly, breaking his grip as she clamped down on his wrist and pulled. Garviel came flying at her, but Rhynne easily stepped out of the way, twisting his arm up behind his back while her left hand came around and cupped the back of his head, pressing it hard against the cold stone wall of the building next to them.
“Do not touch me again. Like, ever. Got that, Gar-Gar?” she asked with false sweetness.
He grunted and tried to break free, but she twisted his arm up higher. Garviel may well have been stronger than she was, and capable of getting free, but she would snap his arm in at least two places before he did. Rhynne hoped he would do the right thing.
“Very well,” he said as his struggles subsided.
A shadow loomed up behind her.
“Everything okay here, Guardian?” a deep voice asked, emphasizing her title.
“Just dandy,” she replied, releasing the Ward of Fenris and stepping back as he turned, rubbing his shoulder.
“Yes, just a simple misunderstanding, really,” Garviel said, already reassuming his fake persona, acting as if it were nothing.
Rhynne turned and looked up at the giant bearded man. It was Ranger, one of the more well-known grizzlies in town.
“Thanks, Ranger,” she said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder. “Like he said though, just a misunderstanding.”
The big grizzly snorted, telling her he knew better, but he nodded anyway, respecting her decision.
“Take care, Miss Nova,” he said and headed back down the street, whistling a jaunty tune as he did.
“Get out of my sight,” she said to Garviel as he looked at her questioningly.
“We’ll talk about this some more,” he said. “You’ll come to see the truth in what I’ve said.”
“Whatever.”
The tall, handsome Frost Dragon who was utterly annoying gave her one last up and down look, and then spun on his heel. She noted he carefully moved to the opposite side of the street from Ranger.
Rhynne began to smile at that, but a wave of nausea interrupted it, and she suddenly knew one thought with immediate clarity.
I’m going to throw up.
Her eyes darted around at the various buildings as she fought with her stomach to quell the queasiness. Realizing she wasn’t going to make it in time, she darted for the nearest alley, hoping to remain as discreet about it as possible.
Inside though, her mind was going crazy.
Shifters didn’t get sick. Period. End of story. Nada. It didn’t happen.
As her stomach emptied its contents into a half-full trash bin—the smell ensuring that everything came up—another thought entered her mind.
There was another reason why she might get sick. One that affected some shifters.
But it couldn’t be. There had been no other signs until now, and it had been three months!
Rhynne raced home.
The door slammed behind her and she locked it firmly, not wanting to be interrupted just then. Two years ago her best friend had gone through the same thing. Rhynne had thought about throwing the spare supplies out, but a part of her had just kept them, stored in the back of her medicine cabinet.
Now she rifled through it, boxes and bottles going flying as her shaking fingers closed around the box. She checked the expiration date.
Still good.
Nervously she removed the packaging and sat down.
Please. Please. Please.
She waited.
The results appeared.
***
“You’re positive?”
Rhynne glared at her friend.
“Yes, Mina. In both ways, yes, I am,” she growled.
They sat at the corner table of Morrte’s Delicatessen, one of her favorite places to eat in Cadia. On top of that, Morrte was a longtime friend of hers, who treated her more like a daughter than a friend, despite only being a few years older than her.
His place wasn’t large, but it was kept up well, and the food was delicious.
She looked out over the little restaurant as she tried to think of what to say or do next
. There were a few other patrons sitting at tables, but they were between the breakfast and lunch rush at the moment, so it wasn’t too busy.
From her vantage, she could see everything. Right behind her were the glass windows that marked the front of the restaurant. They had bright, vivid window paint on them that detailed Morrte’s menu, as well as his daily specials. It created an eye-catching display from the street that people were hard-pressed to ignore.
Inside, the interior was well lit, with four columns of tables leading away from the windows to the back of the shop, where the order counter and kitchen was. What Rhynne liked most about the place though, was that Morrte kept a supply of old glass-style soda bottles on hand to serve up as a special treat.
She took a sip now, enjoying the carbonation as it trickled over her tongue, fizzing vigorously before she swallowed. Rhynne rarely drank soda, but today she felt like something sweet, and the cold glass in her hand was just the thing.
“How long now?” Mina asked, interrupting her thousand-yard stare.
“Almost three months.”
“And you’re positive—” Mina cut herself off at a glance from Rhynne. “And you’re sure,” she stressed the new word. “You’re sure that he’s the f—”
“Has to be,” she said, still dumbfounded at the reality of how her situation had just changed.
“How can you be sure?”
“He has to be the father, Mina. Unless solo conception is now a thing. There hasn’t been anybody since, and it was a long time before as well.”
“Oh.”
“Ladies!” A cheerful voice preceded the bulky man who came out from behind the order desk, having seen them sitting there at last.
“Morrte!” she cried with unabashed delight. “How are you doing today?”
She rose and embraced the man lovingly.
“Oh my dear, I am fantastic. Fantastic! Cannot be better, I promise you that. Why, look at today, how can anyone not be?” he gave her a gentle nudge to the side. “Am I right?”
Rhynne managed to turn her giggle into a laugh, trying to maintain some level of maturity. “As always, Morrte, right on the bell you are!”
He beamed, hiking up his perpetually drooping pants.
“You brought a nice lady friend today, Miss Nova?”
She swatted at him. “Morrte, you know Mina. She’s been here before.”
The thick-waisted proprietor gave her a wink. “Of course, of course. How lovely to see you again!”
Mina rose and gave Morrte a hug of her own. Mina was a wolf shifter, and much shorter and more compactly built than Rhynne. Her arms barely reached halfway around the man’s bulk.
“So, what can I do for you two today? Some food, yes?” He smiled hopefully.
“Of course!” Rhynne and Mina chorused together.
“Excellent. I’ll fix you up something special, okay? You’ll like it, I promise.”
Rhynne glanced at Mina, who shrugged.
“That would be so very nice of you Morrte, thank you!”
Morrte swept them both up into hugs again, planting kisses on their cheeks before departing.
She shook her head as she watched him head back into the kitchen. Rhynne knew that part of his cheeriness was just the little act with her. She’d seen him be frank with some of the guys, and stern and unyielding when someone tried to cause trouble.
Personally, she thought she got the better end of it all.
A pair of men from a table across the restaurant got up, looking darkly between Rhynne and the kitchen where Morrte had disappeared to. One of them was wearing a red fleece jacket, while the other wore all black. He was easily distinguished by the birthmark under his right eye, however.
They shouldered their way angrily out of the shop and into the street, casting one last glance back inside.
“What the hell was that all about?” she asked Mina, the two of them still standing.
“I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me who they were.”
Rhynne shook her head. “I’ve never seen them before in my life. They certainly didn’t look happy.”
“No, they didn’t,” her friend agreed with a shake of her head, their attention returning to each other. “So what are you going to do?” Mina asked as they sat back down.
Rhynne despaired. The brief distraction of Morrte and the two men hadn’t been enough to wake her up from the dream she was in.
For some reason, she was reluctant to term it a nightmare. Although she was thoroughly and completely unprepared to deal with both the child growing in her stomach and the child’s father, Rhynne couldn’t find it within herself to completely hate it.
She did, however, completely dread telling her parents.
“I don’t know,” she said, hanging her head. “What do I do first?”
Mina looked at her squarely. “You have to tell him.”
Chapter Five
Dominick
“You guys not heading out for the night?” he asked as Zeke and Asher came into the common area.
“Not today,” Zeke replied for the pair as they grabbed some bottled water and came to sit next to him.
Dominick noticed their tired movements, and how similar he felt.
The instructors had not been kind on them after the blowup he’d had with Rhynne. The past two days had been full of grueling physical training. The trio of them were dead tired, as evidenced by the fact they were all drinking water, and not their more typical beer at the end of the day.
Couches creaked as the pair sat down, the leather conforming to their bodies as they kicked back and relaxed. Dominick wasn’t sure he felt like hanging out with them for the night. He was still working on coming out of his self-imposed shell of sadness, or depression. Whatever it was, it still had some tendrils embedded deep into him. He was throwing them off one by one, but it was a long process.
Still, he owed it to them, forcing him to speak and to reveal what was bugging him. It had allowed Dominick to take a lot of time to reflect upon himself and where he was going. More so, he had realized that wherever he was headed, the way he was doing it was not something that the old Dominick would have approved of. He needed to change that.
“How much longer do you think this is going to go on for?” Asher asked.
“I don’t know,” Dom said unhappily. “I do know that I am sorry the pair of you are suffering alongside me though.”
“Enough with that,” Zeke said. “You apologized once, that’s enough. We’re in this together.”
Footsteps echoed down the hallway that joined their wing of the Academy to the main building.
Dominick froze as a fiery-eyed, copper-haired angel appeared in the doorway.
“You two,” she said, her slender index finger pointing first at Zeke, and then flicking to Asher. “Out. Now.”
“Sorry buddy, you’re on your own,” Zeke said quickly, going back on his previous sentence. The pair of them scrambled to their feet and made themselves scarce.
“Thanks,” he said wryly to their departing backs.
He made to rise as Rhynne approached. Dom noted that her normally perfect hair wasn’t pulled back, and instead was hanging down, bouncing wildly as she walked. There was also a wariness in her eyes that he’d never seen before.
Whatever had brought her back to the Academy, and to him in particular, had really gotten under her skin.
“Sit,” she commanded as he half-rose from his seat.
“Okay,” he said without argument at her tone, easing back into the couch, but not allowing himself to relax.
Rhynne stood for a moment, then sat on the edge of the couch across from him.
She was nervous. Anxious, even. What could have riled her up so much to bring her to him like this? Was she trying to apologize and having a hard time of it? He supposed that was possible, but it certainly didn’t seem her style. If Rhynne decided she was going to apologize, he knew she would do just that, apologize.
No, this was something differ
ent.
He looked outside the window as the silence deepened between them. The sun had already fallen over the mountains on the far side of the cadet wing, but he could still see the lone mountain out his window. Forlorn Peak was where Top Scale Academy had been built. The Quicksilver Mountains ran north-south along the western edge of Cadia, but at some point, things had gone awry, and a solitary mountain peak had grown up somewhat east of the range, firmly inside of Cadia.
It was this mountain that he looked at now, visible out of the window at any time of day. Now, in the deepening gloom of late evening, it was little more than a dark shadow looming up over them, like the topic of whatever conversation was about to happen.
“We need to talk,” Rhynne said at last, her eyes darting left and right, refusing to meet his.
“Okay,” he said dumbly, not sure what else to say.
Rhynne bit her lower lip, her eyes finally making contact with his.
Dominick was shocked at what he saw.
She was afraid.
No, not afraid, he amended to himself silently. She was scared.
“What’s wrong?” he asked before she could continue.
“Wrong?” she challenged. “What makes you think something is wrong?”
Dominick threw his hands in the air. “Sorry.”
Rhynne blew out a sigh. “No, no. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m sorry.”
He very, very carefully did not let his eyebrows raise at that statement. Nor did he say anything in response. That was the first time Rhynne had ever apologized to him, and though he was going to savor it, he wasn’t going to do so with her around.
“There is,” the fire dragon hesitated, and once more Dom was struck by how unnerved she seemed. “There is,” she started again, “something I need to tell you.”
He simply nodded, giving her his rapt attention.
“Oh fuck, this is not easy,” she said.
Dominick stared openly now, stunned beyond words. Her voice had wavered, and if he didn’t miss his guess, her eyes looked a little watery.
