“A razor.” Homer laughed. “I’d kill for a razor.”
“Don’t even joke.” Dougal coughed. The fevers were coming more readily and he didn’t know how much longer he was going to be able to keep the others from knowing. Soon, they would start to smell the death on him.
“I know. Chevy had to take out the lunatic who tried to take his shoes.”
Dougal looked at his own warn pair of boots. He’d taken them off a dead Male and if he didn’t make it home, someone would remove them from him. The travelling shoes...
They weren’t far from home. Soon, the three left of their original group, would have to part ways. Chevy to travel east, Homer west and Dougal onwards south.
Homer nudged him forward. Sometimes, it seemed, his feet didn’t want to work anymore. “So what will you do when you get to the cabin where Caitlyn hid? What will you do after you find her hint?”
They’d had this conversation a million times. It was their ongoing discourse, something to keep the hope alive. What else were they supposed to talk about after tall this time? Homer must have cued in to how dire things had gotten for him.
At this point, he’d go on to talk about rushing to her side. Only maybe it had gotten to the point where he needed to tell the truth.
“Realistically, I’m not getting farther than my parents. If she had the baby the dragons claimed she was having, hopefully she’s been back in touch. Maybe my folks can get her a message.”
Chevy stared at him. “Getting bad?”
“I can’t feel my arm anymore”
“I’m going south with you.” Homer stated. “I’ll head home after.”
“No, you aren’t.” He patted Homer on the back. “Your mate waits for you and before you start, Chevy, I won’t be responsible for keeping you from your parents even for a day. I’m getting where I’m going. I can promise you I will.”
Homer swatted him on his good arm. “You’re so hard headed.”
The days of rank and propriety had long left them. “It’s one of my best qualities.”
****
Caitlyn left Rick in his crib. He slept soundly and, if Dougal’s mother was to believed, it was possible to hold a pup too long. Rick would get dependent on needing to be held and would refuse to sleep separately if he wasn’t forced to sleep in his crib from an early age. Not that she had anything she should be doing except holding him. Devon wouldn’t hear of her moving out, which she supposed she could understand. If their situations were reversed, she couldn’t imagine Dougal letting Lena leave.
Her mate’s parents were too old to take her in and her own parents were gone, living in their decline somewhere in the woods, if they still lived at all. Life as a Wolf until death. She had no means to support herself anymore. Things had become simple. Farm, hunt, clean, survive. Do the same the next day. In the larger towns crime waves had spread like infestations. The dragon drugs were scarce. They cost a fortune and the addicts were withdrawing, dying, or doing unspeakable things to try to get more.
Yet, things remained pretty calm in her small hometown. Thanks mostly to Devon. He and the other Males, but mostly he, had taken on the role of protectors. Unwanted elements didn’t get past their boundaries.
She supposed that made Devon their Alpha. The days of pack were bound to return and she’d noticed some neighbors dropping their eyes when they spoke to him. She supposed she soon would too.
A scent caught her nose. It was all male. Woodsy. Fierce. She stood, still not knowing exactly what aroma she’d caught. Her nose had her running before her brain caught up. Dougal. She smelled him. So either she had lost her mind or he was somewhere nearby.
The smell of infection wafted towards her next. She didn’t care. Whatever was wrong, they’d deal with it.
She could see him finally. Dougal, a dark figure on the horizon, slightly hunched over, standing still. And yet there. Alive.
Tears spilled down her face as she cried out his name. His head shot up and she saw the second he spotted her. Seconds later she was in his arms.
“Caitlyn.” He whispered against her. “Are you here? Are you real?”
“Are you?” She held him and, she realized, propped him from falling too.
“Such that I am.” He laughed, a rough sound. “You came home. I hoped you would after the dragons disappeared.”
“I was here before then.” She kissed his bearded face, his shoulder, any part of his skin she could see, not caring how she wept like a lunatic.
“You’re so beautiful.” With those words spoken, her strong, somehow alive mate, collapsed in her arms.
She caught her breath. He couldn’t be dead. Quickly, she felt for a pulse and found one. When she saw he lived, her heart beat again having stopped for a moment. Her hands shook and a million thoughts travelled through her mind at the same time.
That’s when she saw it. How had she not noticed when he held her? What did it matter? Her mate had only one hand left. She shuddered, not from revolution but from utter horror of what he must have endured. He needed help and he required it fast.
“Devon.” She shouted as loud as she could. Dougal was home. They had to save him.
****
Dougal drifted in a haze. He’d come home, that much he knew. Caitlyn was there. Periodically, in his haze, he could smell her. He wanted to reach out but since he only had one hand it didn’t seem like a good idea. What if he lifted the wrong one?
“Dougal, can you hear me?” His mate spoke in his ear and somewhere in the distance a baby cried. Baby! Yes, she’d been pregnant. Was his child he heard crying out? Why wouldn’t his eyes open or his mouth work?
“I’m going to give you some more medicine. It’s really for the pain and gods forbid anyone knew we had it here, they’d come in droves to rob us. You need to sleep to heal. Already, you look better. You’re clearing your infection.”
“No.” He croaked. “Addict.”
“It’s not the same. These are Devon’s from when he came home from war.” She kissed his brow. “We’re not in a cave. I can do better than dragon egg drugs.”
Everything faded to blackness once more.
****
“Hey, brother, you awake?”
Dougal’s eyes fluttered open. He was sitting, in a chair. Where? He looked around. On the porch of his childhood home.
Devon stared at him from across the porch. “I thought you needed some fresh air. I thought it might bring you around.”
Dougal tried to rise and then sat back. “Aren’t you a sight for sour eyes? How long has it been?”
Devon laughed, throwing his head back. “Seventeen years, big brother. Fuck. Can you believe it?”
“You got old.”
Devon nodded. “You got uglier.”
“Hey.” Caitlyn came onto the porch and rushed to his side. “You’re awake.”
“He is and he seems to be retaining information. It’s a good sign.” Devon rose from his chair and walked inside leaving them alone.
Caitlyn’s warm hand touched his skin. “You’re cool. You’re not burning with fever.”
With his good arm, he tugged her to him. “I knew I would get home to you.”
Her face fell and he wondered what he had said to put such an expression there. “I lost hope a few times. I thought you were gone. I started to think of you as dead.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Then I guess I must be the best surprise ever?”
It felt good to tease her, even better when she grinned. “The very best. Outside of Rick, who took me by surprise too. Although I guess he shouldn’t have.”
“Rick?”
“Oh.” She jumped. “Your son. We have a baby. Of course, you don’t know.”
He grabbed her arm. “I did actually. The Queen dragon told me.”
Caitlyn pursed her lips. “How did she know?”
“The dragon you kept for a while told her. Before he died.”
His mate took a long, deep breath. “I need to hear everything that
happened to you.”
“Not all of it. Never all of it. I can’t...” He let his voice drift off. Some things had to stay in the prison.
She kissed him square on the lips. Her breath was sweet and her skin soft. He breathed her in, shuddering from her touch, from her love, from the perfection which was Caitlyn.
Finally and too soon, she pulled back. “Let me go get Rick.”
“You don’t think I’ll terrify the baby?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I think Owens men are made of sterner stuff than terror over ugly beards.”
“Only because we get the best possible mates.”
Caitlyn smiled so brightly she lit his world. “Well, there’s your perfect taste in women, of course.”
Seconds later she returned, holding a dark-haired baby in her arms. He’d thought he’d been prepared to meet his son, only he wasn’t. He stared open-mouthed at the bundle in her arms before she placed him on his chest. The child squirmed but didn’t fuss. He had the most perfectly-shaped, round head he’d ever seen.
Rick’s face, which mostly looked scrunched resembled his own. After a minute, when it was too much, the emotions, the reality, the sheer goodness of the moment threatened to overwhelm him, he turned his attention back to Caitlyn.
Tears streamed her face. “I never thought I’d see you with him.”
“He’s going to have to grow in a world with a father who has one hand and three legs when he shifts.”
She shrugged. “I think Rick will be fine. He doesn’t seem to mind his mother’s scarred cheek.”
He supposed he had walked into that one. “What scar?”
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. “What missing hand?”
“Come here.” He tugged her onto his lap. There, in the sunshine on the porch, he held his mate and his son. Dougal Owens finally realized he’d come home. Nothing would drag him from it again.
****
“Hey, you two.” Homer’s voice caught his attention and stopped Robert Owen’s downward slope toward the fishing lake. Apparently, the other Male had gotten out of the dragon prison. Had he managed his mission before the vanishing act the lizards pulled?
“Hey,” he called back. They had no formality anymore, hadn’t since they’d gone elite.
Homer scooted the hill and grinned before they shook hands. “Didn’t see August.”
“He’s around somewhere. In a foul mood. Doesn’t like inaction. He’s still determined to find where the thousands of them are hiding.”
The younger man nodded. “So then nothing has changed.”
“Very little.” He took a deep breath, letting the wind hit him in the face. Some days it was still good to be alive. “Did you get it done?”
“Your brother was managing to free himself before I managed to get him out. He lost a hand. He’s in bad shape. But, I saw him home, unbeknownst to him for the last day, to his mate before I took off here. I think the dragon-talker and Devon will see to him.”
That was good. Robbie had been able to do very little for his family since he’d had to fake his own death a decade earlier. Getting them out of dragon prisons proved to be a service he could still provide.
“I’m going to go eat.” Homer rubbed his belly. “He reminds me of you, by the way. Dougal. Same hard headed, he knows best bullshit.”
“All the Owens men.” Robert couldn’t help but grin. They’d gotten it from their mother.
“Oh, and congratulations. You’re an uncle.”
“She had the baby.” He nodded. Robbie had seen her pregnant from a distance. When she’d been chatting with the dragon at the fishing cabin. If it had been anything other than a pure greeny, he’d have put the creature to its death. His pregnant sister-in-law didn’t need to be messing with that kind of shit. Even if she was brilliant and could burn eggs.
Her help still blew his mind...
Homer nodded and returned the way he had come. The kid was good, which was why he’d been given the mission to get caught. Dougal had handled himself but if he’d been unable, Robbie’s man would have saved his ass.
Robbie made for the lake. Maybe there was still trout to catch. His stomach moaned. When was the last time he ate? The wind hit him again and he looked upwards. Snapping his fingers, he signaled his twin brother, Auggie to pay attention. From behind a tree, hidden as he almost always was, Auggie appeared. The other man had seen them too.
Dragons circled overhead.
Shit. They were back already. Not even a year.
“Is that what I think it is?” His brother called to him from the rock face he’d climbed.
“Yep.” The beasts had returned. No matter, Robbie had never really believed them dead. Miracles didn’t happen anymore.
“I’m going to signal the commander. Then we’d better get out of here before they see us and we end as their dinner.”
Robbie nodded before moving away from the lake. Some day they would become dinner to the nasties and when they died no one would grieve. Everyone who mattered thought them dead for the last decade.
“This is what we knew was going to happen. This is what the human said they do.” August sighed loudly.
Robbie regarded his brother. “Well, the humans would know, wouldn’t they?”
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading Eternal. It is the second story in my Dragon Wars series. Eternal can easily be read as a standalone.
Best to all of you.
RR
About the Author
As a teenager, I would hide in my room to read my favorite romance novels when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I hope, these days, that my parents think it was worth it.
I am the mother of three adorable boys and I am fortunate to be married to my best friend. We’ve just moved from New Jersey to Texas where I am learning to love Barbecue!
I am in love with science fiction, fantasy and the paranormal and try to use all these elements in my writing. I've been told I'm a little bloodthirsty so I hope that when you read my work you'll enjoy the action-packed ride that always ends in romance. I love to write series because I love to see characters develop over time and it always makes me happy to see my favorite characters make guest appearances in other books. In my world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.
www.rebecaroyce.com
More Books by Rebecca Royce
The Westervelt Wolves
Her Wolf
Summer’s Wolf
Wolf Reborn
Wolf’s Valentine
Wolf’s Magic
Alpha Wolf
Angel’s Wolf
Darkest Wolf
Lone Wolf
Fallen Alpha
Alpha Rising
Alpha’s Strength
Alpha’s Sacrifice
Alpha’s Truth
The Capes
Seductive Powers
Adrenaline Rush
Last Ascension
The Conditioned
Eye Contact
Embraced
The Warrior (Young Adult)
Initiation
Driven
Subversive
Redemption
Justice
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Eternal
Copyright © 2015 by Rebecca Royce
ISBN: 978
-0-9964874-0-5
Cover art by Original Syn
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Eternal (Dragon Wars, #2) Page 11
