“Emily?”
“She will remain with her foster family and I vow to you from this moment on, I formally free her from becoming my slave.” Cadeyrn looked at Tristan. “The Silver Wizard is my witness in my oath to you.”
“Give him the heart, Aurora,” Tristan ordered.
She handed Cadeyrn the heart. Cadeyrn took the dragon’s heart and squeezed it. Silver blood ran down into the earth. Then he cut off a piece and handed it to Aurora. “Eat this.”
Aurora stared at the bloodied organ and felt sick. Then she glanced at Robert, who was wheezing. Dying.
He had granted her heart’s desire. He loved her, and he’d sacrificed everything for her, just as he had for his people. It was about damn time someone did something in return for him.
“I love you, Robert.” Tears filled her eyes. “I think I’ve always loved you, but I was too afraid, too mistrusting to realize it.”
“Say these words after you eat the heart. Then kiss your mate.”
Cadeyrn told her what to recite.
“I, who am of the Earth and mortal, and take this life into my body so others may live,” she recited after him.
She ate the piece of dragon’s heart. It tasted sweet, like honey, and tough as sinew. She chewed and swallowed, fighting her gag reflex.
Then she bent down and kissed Robert. His lips were icy and tasted like death. She breathed into his mouth, her tears dripping upon his cheeks.
Aurora sat back, clenching her hands. It must work. “Live,” she whispered. “Please live. I can’t go on without you.”
Robert opened his eyes. His hair turned black, and the tattoo snaking down his shoulder and around his neck vanished. Aurora cried out and embraced him, her tears dampening his neck. She kissed his cheeks, his lips, laughing as she did so.
Then she placed a palm upon his chest. His heart beat there, strong and fierce. He looked dazed, and then looked at her. Really looked at her.
“Aurora,” he said thickly. “My mate. My love. What did you do?”
She touched her mouth to his again, feeling his warm breath feather over her lips. No longer cold, but warm. “I ate the dragon’s heart and tied myself to you forever.”
Moisture shimmered in his green eyes. “My love, you did… this… sacrificed your freedom for me?”
“I love you. I couldn’t let you die.”
He reached out as if to embrace her, but his arms fell to his side as if he were too weak to hold her.
“The tattoo is gone.” Cadeyrn frowned. “Pity, Tristan. You always did such nice work.”
“I can design a very good likeness of Justin Bieber,” Tristan offered.
Aurora held Robert close, feeling him shake as if he were freezing. “How long will it take him to recover?”
“A few days.” Tristan leaned down, studied Robert. “He will be weak as a pup, for in essence, he has been reborn.”
A sly smile touched the wizard’s mouth. “But be warned, Aurora. When he recovers, he will be stronger than ever. His male instinct will be very, very strong. He will be one sex-starved wolf.”
“A fucking machine,” Cadeyrn added helpfully.
“So crude.” Tristan brushed the dirt off his fingers. “I believe you shall need help getting him into bed.”
He waved a hand and she found herself in the bedroom of the cottage with the hot spring. Robert lay upon the bed, fast asleep, his face boyish, unlined. Aurora stroked his head.
The two wizards stood by her. “He will rest now. Care for him, for he is your mate,” Tristan said solemnly.
But she had one question for Cadeyrn. “Why did you want the dragon’s heart, if you only wished to return it to Tristan?”
The Shadow Wizard looked solemnly at her. “That is a private matter. Go care for your mate.”
The two trouble-making wizards vanished into a puff of silver and gray smoke.
Aurora picked up the cell phone on the bedside table. Much had to be done, to alert the pack as to what happened. She would need help in the coming days.
It was time to test their bonds of loyalty.
***
Four days later, she remained in the cottage and was with Robert when he finally woke up.
She watched his eyes flutter open. Aurora raced to his side and hugged him. “Thank the goddess you’re awake. I’ve been watching for days.”
Slowly, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, shaky as a newborn colt. He waved off her offer of help and headed into the bathroom.
When he returned and slid back beneath the covers, she drew the bedside table over to him and began to feed him the beef stew she’d made.
“Just until you gain your strength back.”
He watched her as he took a bite and swallowed. He had not spoken since falling into unconsciousness and she wondered what thoughts raced through his mind.
“Your hair is so black now.” Aurora handed him a cup of water, which he sipped through a bright green straw. “So thick and black. You look like you’re twelve. I believe I like the gray better. Shall I dye it?”
A low growl rumbled from his throat.
“Then again, I’d rather watch you grow old and gray naturally, seeing that it means I’d have to dye my hair as well. So we could be a matched set.”
He pushed aside the tray and cleared his throat. “Do…”
Voice raspy, he took another sip of water. Then he spoke in a stronger tone. “Do you have regrets?”
At her puzzled look, he tapped her chest. “About tying yourself to me for your life. You will always be enslaved to me. We can never part.”
“Don’t call it that. You hate the word ‘slavery’ and so do I. This wasn’t enslavement. It was bonding.” She touched his now-unmarked neck. “You enslaved yourself to the dragon and wore Tristan’s mark. All to save your people. It takes tremendous will and courage to do so.”
“You did it willingly as well. And I never knew you were wolf. How could I not have sensed it?”
She touched his face. “Rest now.”
She remained with him. They both slept through the night. In the morning, Robert awakened, strong, vital and very virile.
He made love to her throughout the day. Later, exhausted, they held each other.
Naked, she lounged upon the bed. Robert stretched out alongside her. She turned, admiring his sleek, muscled flanks, the dark hair upon his chest, the long, strong lines of bone and sinew. Such a perfect male.
Such a perfect wolf.
Robert circled her nipple with one finger in lazy strokes. “I do believe you look hungry, Mrs. Keynes.”
He got out of bed, went to the kitchen and brought in a china bowl filled with raspberries and sweet buttercream. Aurora’s body clenched with anticipation. Dipping a berry into the cream, he fed it to her. Her tongue lapped the sweetness.
He spread her legs wide and dipped his hand into the buttercream and removed another raspberry.
“Robert…”
“Hush. Just relax.”
She felt a smooth glide of his fingers, and then he inserted the berry into her vagina. Aurora’s eyes widened as he bent his head and began to suckle her, each stroke of his tongue sliding over her clit, then deep into her vagina.
Grabbing fistfuls of sheets, she writhed but his hands held her thighs prisoner. Sensations pummeled her as he flicked his tongue faster…
She shrieked as the climax slammed into her.
Robert raised his head, a look of male satisfaction on his face. “Delicious.” He ran his tongue along the rim of his mouth. “You always taste delicious. I love licking your pussy.” He waggled his fingers, slick with buttercream and her juices. “Even without the raspberry flavor.”
They made love in the little cottage for three days. Each afternoon he took her hunting as wolf, teaching her how to flush out scents and listen for the faint rustlings in the undergrowth that indicated prey.
Every day they returned at dusk, the cottage neat and clean, the bed made with fresh
linens, and dinner warming for them in the oven.
On the third day as they returned to the cottage, they ran into a young man sitting in a patch of sunlight by a pine tree.
He was quite handsome, with black curly hair with a streak of silver shot through it. He wore black leather pants and a gray t-shirt. There was something oddly familiar about his crooked grin.
Robert bristled and stepped protectively in front of Aurora. “Who are you and how did you get on my land?”
“I mean no harm.” The stranger stood and held out his hands. “Peace.”
Aurora noticed the man’s right pinkie ended in a stub and her heart leapt with hope. Could it be?
“My name’s Sebastian.” His blue eyes twinkled. “You might call me a friend of Tristan’s. I stopped by to see how you two are doing.”
His gaze dropped to their linked hands. “Looks like you are doing well.”
She caught a glimpse of a silver dragon tattoo curled around his neck.
Robert relaxed slightly. “We are. And you?”
A delicate question, layered with intrigue.
“I’m good. Very good. Back to normal, you might say.” Sebastian gave a crooked grin. “Feels like a chill in the air. You might want a bonfire.”
The young man picked up a stick, pointed a finger at it. Flames shot out of his finger, igniting the branch. Sebastian blew it out. He grinned again. “Useful talent for roasting marshmallows.”
Tears shimmered in Aurora’s eyes and Robert drew in a breath. “Yes,” he said thickly. “Very much so. I’m so glad to meet you, Sebastian. So very glad.”
The young man nodded. “Well, have to shove off now. Tristan’s waiting for me. Take care, both of you.”
With a nod, Sebastian headed off, down the path they had traveled.
“Sebastian? Scales. He’s alive. I’m so happy. But how?” Wiping away her tears, Aurora looked after the young man as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and whistled. As he reached a bend in the path, he suddenly vanished.
“He was a dragon and dragons have powerful magick, especially when they are endowed with it by the Silver Wizard,” Robert murmured.
They walked back to the cottage. Aurora’s nose twitched as she smelled dinner cooking.
“How did this happen? It’s like fairy magick. Or dragon magick,” Aurora said, opening the oven and sniffing the aroma of chicken and vegetables.
“Wolf magick.” He drew her into his arms as she shut the oven door. “All these years I’ve done so much for my pack, and now they return the favor.”
“Because they love you.”
“Because they love you as well, sweetheart.” He touched his nose to hers. “You saved us all. I had a heart of stone for strangers, and your courage and strength took that heart and smashed it so I could live again. No one else had the courage to do what you did.”
The real curse had not been in Caroline’s dark thirst for power, she realized. As he lowered his head to hers for a deep, lingering kiss, she hooked her arms around his neck.
The real curse had been Caroline’s selfishness, and Robert’s belief that no woman would ever truly love him for what he was… a strong alpha wolf who put the needs of others before his own. He’d tied his life force to the dragon’s heart because he’d given up all hope of ever finding true love to set him free.
They were bound together now, a single heart beating as one. Aurora, who had willingly tied herself to the Shadow Wizard out of desperation for her sister, now willingly enslaved herself to Robert’s heart out of love.
Cadeyrn was wrong, she thought as Robert kissed her, his hands sliding down to her bottom to draw her closer. Family bonds of blood aren’t the most powerful force in the universe.
Love is.
EPILOGUE
Deep within the forests of Tir Na Nog, the land of eternal enchantment and beauty, home to the four wizards of the Brehon, the Silver Wizard headed for the Crystal Palace, home of the Crystal Wizard.
It was time for the ceremony.
As Tristan threaded through the trees, he heard a familiar sound. Snoring.
Glancing around, he saw a silver dragon sleeping atop a giant flat boulder, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.
“Scales. You lazybones.”
The dragon opened one blue eye. Smoke poured from his nostrils.
Then he materialized into a young man about twenty-four years old, wearing black leather pants and a gray t-shirt. His thick black curls had a silver streak.
Tristan stared at the dragon shifter, relief filling him. That stunt at Robert’s nursery had worried him. He’d empowered Sebastian with enough good magick to combat the curse, but still, knew the price the dragon must pay in the end.
“I’m back.” Sebastian stretched and yawned. “Am I free now from my service?”
“You know the rules. Not for another hundred years.”
“Another damn century?!”
“Your time spent serving me, and serving my subjects, is to pay for that little barbecue you hosted.” Tristan scowled.
Sebastian tried to look innocent. “The zombies deserved it. They were obnoxious and stealing babies they wished to devour. Although they did taste delicious.”
He belched.
“And I warned you to let Cadeyrn deal with it. You didn’t listen. The Shadow Wizard wanted to turn you into dust. I bargained for your life and stopped him.” As much as he liked Sebastian, for the dragon shifter reminded Tristan of his younger self, he aimed him a stern look. “You will continue to serve me for another hundred years. That is the price you pay for interfering.”
Sebastian sighed. “You’re no fun in a mood like this. Just cut out my heart, will yah? Oh wait. Someone else already did.”
Tristan rolled his eyes as Sebastian laughed. Then he studied Sebastian, concealing his concern. “Did it hurt?”
Sebastian shook his head. “You told me, you coated the blade so I’d feel no pain.”
Tristan sighed with relief.
The dragon shifter shook his head. “Careful, wizard. Your soft side is showing.”
He scoffed. “I’m never soft.”
“Especially when it comes to the ladies.” Sebastian blew a breath and steam misted the air. “Oh what fun you will have with Nikita!”
Not fun. This is serious.
“Oh, Tristan? My great grandfather doesn’t like what you did to me. He’s pretty pissed off.” Sebastian frowned and actually looked concerned. “Be careful when you cross into the Shadow Lands with Nikita.”
He felt an unusual tug of worry and dismissed it. Tristan waved a hand, and a thick, rare steak descended before Sebastian. “Enjoy dinner before your next assignment on Earth.”
“What is it?”
Tristan smiled. “Let’s just say you’ll be able to return to your original form.”
“No more measly eight-foot dragon, cute and cuddly as a child’s toy?”
“I told you, that form was for Robert and his pack so you could hide better. This time, you’ll be required to represent your true size. All dragon.”
“Where? When?” Sebastian demanded, but Tristan ignored him, walking away.
The Silver Wizard walked into the crystal palace until he reached a large room. The other three wizards of the Brehon sat at a table made of pure, shining crystal. The Crystal Wizard, the Crimson Wizard and the Shadow Wizard.
This was Tristan’s moment, and they all knew it.
Upon the table rested the still-beating heart of the silver dragon. Tristan looked at Cadeyrn, his senior by two thousand years. This could not be sanctioned without the Shadow Wizard’s approval.
Cadeyrn silently nodded. So be it.
Each wizard sliced his finger, dripping his blood into the silver dish. Then Cadeyrn cut the dragon’s heart in half. One half he turned into ash, mixing it with the wizards’ blood.
Tristan took a deep breath. He ate the other half of the dragon’s heart, the heart that he had infused with powerful magick and had been mi
xed with mortal blood when he’d bound it to a Lupine. It tasted dark and murky, like shadow.
Then he took a silver knife resting upon the table, and sliced his wrist. Silver blood puddled into the dish, mingling with the ash mixture. The Shadow Wizard waved a hand and the mixture in the dish became encased in a small vial.
It was done. Tristan had the potion needed to allow Nikita entrance here, into the sacred realm, where he could father a child with her. She would not die. She could remain here.
But she could not stay for long, either.
Cadeyrn picked up the vial and shook it.
“Take care, Tristan. We grant you this opportunity to fulfill the prophecy promised to you when you died as a Lupine and became one of us. But you have only limited time. No matter how much you want her. Do not fall in love with her again, my friend. For Nikita cannot remain here.”
The Shadow Wizard gave a cold, dark smile, like gray mist. “Or she will die.”
The End
Thank you!
Thank you for reading Redemption and I hope you enjoyed it.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bonnie Vanak is a NY Times bestselling author of paranormal romance. She writes the Werewolves of Montana series and the Werewolves of Montana Mating Mini series. You can sign up for her newsletter here http://www.bonnievanak.com/contact.html and receive a password to download free stories on her website.
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