by Honor James
“He would have found out in puberty,” he told her softly as he stroked her hair. Shifting slightly so she could see his face clearer, he sighed. “I’m sorry, love. We don’t know a lot except for the fact that he had a loving family, had two other adoptive siblings, and his parents still live in Australia, where they moved once all the kids were old enough. We know he’s in the States because of his passport being scanned, but beyond that we haven’t been able to track him. Or if Quincy has, he hasn’t said anything to me.”
“Why?” That was a question no one could answer. The only one who could have answered it was her mother and that bitch was dead and gone. “Have you told Talon about this?” Her father. She had been working on creating a relationship with the man and truly had created what she thought was a great one, but it was still “in progress,” as she liked to call it.
“Talon doesn’t know anything yet,” he told her. “We all agreed that you should be the first to know and then if you wanted us to, we’d tell him, or if you prefer, you can. He is your father, and technically Quincy was using company equipment in off-the-books searches of random and idiotic things. He had been doing some work, but really he’d been poking around like he likes to do when bored.”
Lina nodded and laid her head back on his shoulder once more. “All right,” she murmured softly. Taking another deep breath, she whispered, “Since Father will more than likely hunt us down to figure out what happened to me.” Her father was more than a little overprotective, and he needed a freaking vacation like whoa crazy.
“He was already here and I threw him out because he was giving me a headache. I told him I’d call him as soon as you woke. Give or take ten or forty minutes. He can just wait, though, until I’m assured you’re fine.” He leaned in to rub his nose to hers. “Are you fine?” he asked very quietly.
“Yes, honey, I am fine,” she whispered softly. “I was just so surprised, so shocked that I couldn’t handle it.” It was the combination of her pregnancy and stress. Sadly pregnancy wasn’t as amazing for her as it had been for Jackie. Lina had issues, and sadly her poor bond-mate knew it.
“I likely could have found a better way to tell you. I just didn’t know how to do it,” he said quietly to her. “I love you, Talina, and no matter what we find out about your brother I will always love you. I’ll get Q to give you all he’s found and you can decide if you want to make contact or not.”
“It’s all right,” she whispered and took in a deep breath. “It really and truly is all right. I think it’s just me. It’s pregnancy and my hormones and the, God, just everything. Rubbing her forehead, she sighed. “I think that pregnancy is just eating at me. I think when we do it again, and we will by the way”—she grinned—“I will need to ensure that my health is fully at one hundred percent instead of as it was when we got pregnant.”
“I’m glad we will do this again, baby, but not for a good number of years,” he told her honestly. “I want some time with you and just our kids. But in a few years we’ll have another couple of babies and we will both be ready for it that time.”
“I agree. I think more than a few years though. I want to allow our babies to have a full childhood before we even think of trying to have another baby. Hopefully next time it will be one instead of two,” she teased with a smirk.
“You can always hope, but I wouldn’t place bets on it, love, not with both of us being twins,” he pointed out softly. “And with my genetic line as strong as it is, you’ll be having twins each and every time we get you pregnant and they’ll likely always be boys if my line is anything to go by. Though”—Aiden smiled slightly—“I wouldn’t mind having a little girl. I think that would be amazing.”
“I would love to have a little girl,” Talina admitted with a smile. “I doubt that we would ever have girls though, so we will love our boys every bit as much as we would a girl.” She looked forward to having her sons, both of them. “All right, we should call my father in here so that we can tell him, too,” she whispered after several moments.
Nodding, he sat back on his heels and looked over his shoulder. Raising his voice a little, he called out, “She’s awake, Talon.” Looking back at her, not moving as the door opened and her father came inside, he murmured, “He wandered back this way about two minutes ago.”
“Are you all right, baby girl?” Talon asked, moving a little closer.
Looking up at her father, Lina smiled. “I’m fine, Daddy. This pregnancy and stress or shock just don’t agree with each other,” she told him softly. “Daddy.” He was her daddy, her father. No, they didn’t spend her childhood together, but he was here now, and that was all that mattered. “I need you to sit because we need to tell you something. Something serious.”
Staring at her for a long moment, Talon moved to a chair and sat down. “What is it?” he asked, looking from her to Aiden. “It’s not the twins, is it?” he asked softly.
“No, oh God no,” she said and covered her stomach protectively. “No, the babies are fine, Daddy.” A smile on her face was lost to a frown quickly. “We have something to tell you. It seems that my mother was even more off her rocker than we thought she was.” She looked up at Aiden. At his nod she continued. “I wasn’t the only child born to her. She gave birth to a son as well. My twin,” she added, letting father absorb what she was telling him.
Talon stared at them, his mouth hanging open, his lips moving slightly. “What?” he finally croaked out.
“It’s true,” Aiden said softly, moving so he could lift Talina into his lap and hold her. “Quincy was doing some background on Talina as per protocol and happened to find a dual birth on record at the hospital where she was born. A boy and a girl are on record. The girl was the only one named and taken home,” he continued as Talon seemed to be processing everything. “The boy was given up for adoption, put into the system, and adopted out about a month after the birth. He was named Nathaniel by the parents,” he added quietly.
“Hopefully his adoptive family was far better than the mother that gave him up. I’m sure that before we know it Quincy will have all of the information on him as well as an address for him now. Would you like to meet him with me?”
“Of course I want to meet him,” Talon said stiffly. Spearing Aiden with a look, he narrowed his eyes. “How long have you known?”
“I heard the first hint of it about two weeks ago. Quincy’s been digging since then,” he said quietly to him. “He’s got quite a bit of stuff now, but he’s still digging for more. He said we’d have the rest of it sometime tomorrow or the next day.”
“So I think for now we should let Quincy do his magic and find all that he can on Nathaniel,” Talina said quietly.
“I agree,” Talon said softly. “We need to have all the available information we possibly can so we’re not running around blind. Quincy can work it when he has time. No matter how long it takes, we need to know absolutely everything.”
“I just hope and pray that the family that adopted him were shifters as well,” Talina interjected. “Because if not that would have been a serious shock not only to him that first time he shifted, but his family as well.” She didn’t know who would have been more shocked, the boy or the family.
Wincing at that, both men nodded. “Very true,” Aiden said quietly. “The first shift for a Dragon is always hard. It’s not a continuous thing like some of the other Changers. Our first shift is in sections,” he told his mate. “Talon’s theory is that because we’re so much larger than the average Changer our body needs to stretch bit by bit and get used to the alterations that happen with a full shift.”
Lina found herself flinching and nodded. “Well let’s hope and pray that he had someone to get him through that,” she whispered. “Or maybe he’s like me and didn’t shift because he’s more human than Dragon?” she asked hopefully, knowing the truth though even as she spoke the words.
“Doubtful,” Talon said with a sigh. “While the Changer DNA can be buried in rare cases, genetic quirk
s if you will, it’s very, very rare. Especially in males, females less so, but in males it’s about a one in three million chance of the DNA being inert and no change coming on. So more than likely he is full-blood Dragon,” he murmured quietly.
“Especially with Talon’s bloodline,” Aiden threw in. “She might as well know, T. It’s her heritage, too. You and Talon both are the ancestors of a long line of Dragon Kings, including the first ever crowned by Gaia millennia ago. It’s one of the few crowns that has never shifted clans. The only other one I think is the Fae, but they are huge on bloodlines so it’s a little different. Plus Talon is the longest sitting King ever,” he said and got a long low growl from the other Dragon in the room.
“Oh well crap,” Lina muttered. “I was hoping.” And that hope was dashed quickly. “All right, so we need to make sure that Quincy finds Nathaniel as quickly as possible so that we can hopefully find out that he made it through the shifting and all that okay and ensure that he knows that we would welcome him. We would, wouldn’t we?” she asked as she watched her father and her lover share a strange look.
“Of course we would, Talina.” Aiden nodded, “But you are right. We need for Q to find everything he can on him and then we can decide how to approach him. We wouldn’t want to go at him if we’re wrong and he’s one of the few that has the genetic quirk to never become a Dragon.”
“This is very true.” Lina honestly prayed that Nathaniel was one of the ones with the genetic quirk like her. “Hopefully he has the same genetic quirk as I have and he didn’t shift.”
Talon glanced at her then and sighed. “It’s a hard thing to live with in the modern world. It was much easier in a time when those around us knew what we were. But in this day and age they no longer believe in magic or in Dragons, let alone anything else. Of course the fact that Hollywood has glamorized or villainized many of the Changers hasn’t helped much either.”
Chewing her lower lip, Lina hesitated for several minutes and then whispered, “And what if we find him and he’s…” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t ask what would happen if they found her twin and he was more like her mother than her father.
“We will deal with it then,” Talon told her honestly. “Until then we make no assumptions,” he said with a sigh, cracking his neck. “We figure out all we can and then move carefully, cautiously, and find out really who he is.”
“I think that will be the best idea that there is,” Lina confessed. “I think that we should slowly get to know him. Perhaps send someone in to befriend him?” Even her father could pull that one off. The man looked barely in his thirties, so she knew that no one would ever expect him to have fathered grown children.
“Unless Nathaniel looks just like Talon.” At her look, he shrugged. “It does happen, especially in some bloodlines. Allister and I look a lot like our father, enough that no one could doubt we are his children in the least. Or brothers, if it was a human looking at us.”
“Shoot,” Talina grumbled. “Well whatever has to happen needs to happen. We have to find him, regardless of anything else that might come of it.” He was her brother. That had to count for something, right? A thought occurred to her and she looked to her father. “Oh crap, he is your heir,” she whispered.
“Not necessarily,” Talon said quietly. “While we’re naturally paternal in lineage, the Throne makes the final call,” he murmured. “Besides, it all depends on what kind of person he is.” And that was the giant, burning question hanging in the air.
“I have to pray that he’s nothing like mother.” Lina hated to say that, but it was the truth. She didn’t want her brother to be anything like the cold and unfeeling monster that had been her mother, a woman that Lina spent her entire life trying to win the love of.
“That isn’t something we’ll know right away, baby girl,” Talon told her honestly. “Besides the fact that people tend to hide their true natures when first meeting people, he’s a complete unknown at this time.” Shaking his head, he stood up. “Not something we can do anything about, so let’s not worry about it. And I don’t have any plans to step down any time in the near future, so it’s one less thing to be concerned with.”
“That makes sense.” She took a deep breath, sighed, and then looked at Aiden. “How did you know that I wasn’t a bad person when we met?” He could have believed the worst since she was brought in and told to care for him while he was captured, but he hadn’t. Even in the worst of times he had believed in her and she wondered why.
“My soul recognized yours, Talina,” he said softly to her. Stroking his hand down her arm, Aiden lifted her hand and flipped it to expose her palm. “You had a gentle touch, you spoke in a gentle manner, and just everything about you was pure and good. I could see that purity in your eyes when you looked at me. You felt compassion but still had fire deep inside.” He smiled and winked. “You also had a lot of spine and were protective. You were scared, yet you never once left me alone,” he murmured, lifting her hand to press a kiss to the center of her palm. “You had me wrapped around your little finger long before I ever knew your name.”
Blushing, Lina looked at the floor and smiled. “Well that is a very good thing, because I think from the moment that I saw you I was lost to you. It’s only fair you should be to me as well, right?” she teased. “I’m just praying that Nathaniel will have found acceptance and peace inside of the family that he was adopted by.” She hoped that he had love, that thing that she had missed all her life.
“Me as well, Talina, me as well,” Talon said quietly.
Chapter Eleven
Pacing the waiting room, Aiden was not a happy camper. Damned doctors had kicked him out of the room while they looked over Talina, got her hooked up, and gave her the pain medication for the birth that was already in progress. Oh, he’d protested, loudly. Unfortunately they hadn’t cared and tossed him out anyway. The fact that they hadn’t listened to Talina, either, really pissed him off and had him mere seconds from tearing the door off the room she was now in alone, doctors surrounding her.
When the door opened, the small nurse stood there and looked up at Aiden, a grin on her face when they both listened to Talina’s most recent bellow. “I don’t give a good goddamn what your regulations are! I want my Aiden in here, now! If he isn’t in here now I am goddamn good and well not giving birth, so get his ass in here.” Another scream tore from her throat and she added in a growl, “If I fucking have to suffer, so does he!” Smirking, the young woman looked to Aiden. “All right, Daddy, time for you to come in and help us calm your bond-mate. Her blood pressure is soaring with each contraction, so we need your help.”
Storming in, he shot her a dirty look. “If you’d actually listened to me this wouldn’t have happened,” he snapped at the lot of idiots. Moving to his mate, he took her hand and leaned into her. “Shh, baby,” he whispered, brushing his lips to her damp cheeks. “I’m right here, angel.” Aiden breathed her in slowly as he pressed her hand to his chest.
“Aiden,” she whispered with a soft sob. “God, this hurts,” she admitted to him at the end of another contraction. “I don’t think they are giving me the pain meds I asked for. Please make them give me more,” she begged as the next contraction ramped up and began to seize her.
Shooting the doctors a look, he narrowed his eyes. “Was she given the pain medication?” he asked as he stroked her hair, knowing it helped to calm her. Squeezing her hand gently as hers tightened on his, he watched the so-called medical professionals and was less than pleased with them. “Someone answer me or I swear to the Gods I’ll eat the lot of you and get someone in here that actually knows what he’s doing.”
“Yes, she was given the medicine, but with her Dragon physiology she’s burning it off at a far faster pace than we had anticipated. It’s too dangerous with the babies to give her more of it though,” the doctor answered Aiden as she walked into the room. “Your sons’ heart rhythms aren’t showing signs of distress yet, but if we pumped her with more drugs they wou
ld. I’m sorry, but we have one of two choices. Either she sucks it up and gives birth to these boys or we knock her out and do a C-section. Which one will it be?”
Looking to Talina, Aiden lifted a brow. Your call, angel, he said softly to her. How do you want to go about this love? Do you want to give birth naturally or do a C-section? It had to be her choice and hers alone. It was her body, and unless it was an emergency he wouldn’t ever take her choices from her.
“We will try natural, but if it’s too much can you still do the section?” The doctor gave a nod to confirm her words. “Gods, this hurts. It’s going to be a very long time before we have another baby, right?” she asked as she rubbed her hand over her extended belly.
“A very long time,” he assured her, grabbing a stool, and sat down next to her. “Decades, if not centuries,” he told her quietly as he stroked her fingers lightly with his thumb. Running his fingers through her hair gently, he watched her. “We will wait as long as you want to, my love.”
“Good.” She clenched her teeth as another contraction hit, panting as the doctor and nurses taught her. “Not for a very, very long time. I want to be able to spend many, many decades spoiling our boys,” she said through gritted teeth and then a loud sigh.
“We’ll do that then. We’ll spoil them rotten and then let them loose on the world to wreak havoc like Allister and I did,” he told her as he flexed his fingers slightly. Adjusting the hold he had on her hand, he smiled at her. “But let’s worry about spoiling them once we have them in our arms, darling. You might go and change your mind about it once you meet them.”
