by Romi Hart
But now I have.
Codut had made me into something I’d never been. He’d made me into what I truly considered to be a monster. Now I had no idea if I truly loved Crina or if it was only the fake scent that had been sent my way.
I also had no idea if Crina was pregnant with my child or not. Since the way I’d smelled her before was fake, I had no idea if I could actually smell if I’d bred her or not. “You are a cruel creature, Codut.”
Stroking his long, black beard, he winked at me. “For doing what? Bringing a little more love into the world? I think some would call me Cupid rather than Codut. Not that I had anything to do with you and that female mating. That was all you, Zanthe. I can’t take the credit for something that I didn’t do.”
But his back and forth words told me he had everything to do with it. He just didn’t want to be held responsible for what he’d done. Messing with nature was more than merely frowned upon. It was a crime worthy of the worst thing that can befall a shifter.
Beheading.
Of course, Codut would never admit to doing what I knew he had done. It would mean his head. And it would be his own kind that would take it as well. Tieris and Mako would have to take Codut to their father. But first I had to have proof. Nothing could occur without proof of the crime.
Unfortunately, kidnapping other shifters wasn’t dealt with as harshly and Codut was more than happy to be doing that. “You’re not taking my brother. Not now – not ever. If you do so much as bring your sorry hide around our part of the world again, you will be dealt with.”
Looking back and forth at my brother and me, then over his shoulder, he turned back to look at me with a smile that showed his razor-sharp teeth. “I’m sorry, Zanthe. I’m looking for the army you mean to stop me with, but I’ve come up empty. Surely, you don’t think that you two can fend off a dragon. You’re only a couple of bears. Together, you only reach the height of half my leg.” He pushed two fingers against the spot on his chest where if it were on his dragon body a sword could pierce. “You could stand on your brother’s shoulders and use the longest sword you could find – still you would not be tall enough to pierce the only place on my body that could spill my blood enough to take my life.”
How I hate dragons!
“I get it. You dragons are the original shifters. And you certainly know that about yourselves. I will give you that, Codut, the intolerable.” I looked at Freedrick to see if he’d managed to gain his breath so that we could take on this bore of a dragon and rid ourselves of him. Even it if were for only a while until we could talk to the dragons we knew to get their help with the pest of their species.
Freedrick inhaled deeply, his eyes on Codut. “Here it is on a platter for you, dragon. I will die before I work for you in any capacity.”
Pinching my brow, I hated it when anyone said something like that. There were so many other ways of saying that you weren’t going to go along with someone’s schemes, plans, or ideas. Saying that you would die first was just stupid. “He doesn’t mean that. There are plenty of other things he will do before going to work for you. He will fight.” I nodded at my brother. “Isn’t that right, Freedrick? You will fight without ceasing so that you won’t have to go to work for him.”
Inhaling deeply, he nodded. “I will fight without ceasing, Codut. I will fight and fight and do all I have to. And in the end, if you must take anything of me with you, it will be in a heap of dead flesh that has been so badly ripped apart that my immortality couldn’t possibly piece it back together again.”
Holding up my hand to stop the mad rantings of my brother, I couldn’t allow him to go on. “No, no, no, Freedrick. We don’t fight to the death. We don’t do things like that. We fight until we can fight no more. And then we retreat. When we come back to fight some more, we will have more shifters with us. And we will have healed and rested as well. We will come back as much more formidable opponents. See what I’m going for here, brother?”
“That is why I want him and not you, Zanthe,” Codut informed me.
Giving my brother a look that said, ‘See what you’ve gotten yourself into here with your talk of death?’ I hoped he understood now why the army-building dragon was after him in the first place.
Only Freedrick’s face turned to stone as he hissed, “Take your need for me and leave, Codut. Have you not heard a word I’ve said to you? Even if – by some freak of nature – you do somehow manage to take me with you, I will slit my own throat before I do even one thing that you bid me to.”
“So, fetching me a spot of tea would lead to you killing yourself?” Codut asked with a terrible laugh punctuating his sentence.
Running my hand over my face, I saw my brother nodding out of the corner of my eye. “I cannot believe it’s come to this.” I had no other choice. My brother had made it so that we had to fight to our deaths. And I so did not want to die.
I had the feeling that I was going to be a father after all. If Crina never had the scent I’d smelled on her, then she may well carry my seed within her. The little stick-test may have been right. And if I fought Codut until I died, then I would never get to see our child.
I will see my child!
Telepathically, I let Freedrick know that now was the time to change and we could double team the man before he had a chance to change into his dragon.
Thankfully, Codut was so wrapped up in himself that he never saw our change coming. In a bundle of fur and claws, we came at the man who we were now taller than as our bears ripped his tender human flesh.
With a shriek of pain and anguish, Codut recoiled, leaving our cave as we continued to lunge at him. But our chase came to a halt as he rose above us, turning into his dragon.
Freedrick and I backed up a bit as he opened his mighty jaws. Instead of fire coming from his mouth, ice fell on us in piles. Using our claws to get out of the avalanche he’d spewed upon us, we had to go back inside the cave.
Watching in horror as ice stacked in front of the entrance, I switched into my human form, running to the way I’d come in that was only big enough for us to get out of in that form. “Change, Freedrick. Come this way!”
Even though we ran as fast as we possibly could, once we got to the hole in the rook of the cavern I’d come in from, we found it covered in ice as well.
He’d frozen us in. And there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. “Is there anything in here that will help us start a fire?” I asked my brother.
“We’ve taken all that out since we have the house now.” He turned in a circle as the light began to dim more and more. “With each sheet of ice he puts on our cave, we lose more light.”
I knew exactly what Codut was doing. “He’s going to weaken us so that we can’t fight him. He’ll keep us trapped in here for as long as he has to. All he’ll have to do is keep coming to add to the ice that melts away each day. He can do that forever if he has to.”
Freedrick wrapped his arms around himself. “I think he’s going to want to try to come get me before forever comes. And he knows we might lose our strength, but we will not lose our lives while trapped in here.”
There was nothing we could do. Looking around, the light faded away. “We’ll sleep.” I walked in a circle three times, then turned into my bear. Lying on the cold floor, I couldn’t feel any of the chill that came off it thanks to my thick fur.
The only thing that truly bothered me was knowing I’d been wrong about Crina’s pregnancy. The test had to have been right. She carried my baby and I might not ever see her or it again.
Life can be so cruel sometimes.
22
Crina
Sitting up in bed, I clutched my chest, gasping for air. “No!”
The sheets were soaked with my sweat. I’d yanked them off as I’d tossed and turned.
Nightmares!
One after the other had plagued my sleep. The first made no sense. Zanthe and his brother Freedrick lay in a cave on the floor, sleeping soundly. Blankets of ice, covered the
m both, making no sense at all. But things in dreams don’t have to make sense.
Holding my head in my hands, I tried to recall at least some of the dreams. A black dragon had something to do with the running theme of them all.
And Freedrick’s courage had something to do with why the dragon had come in the first place. As it came rushing back to me, I huffed with the idea that Zanthe and I were minor characters in the dragon’s plans.
Running my hand over my tummy, I whispered, “You’re no minor character, baby Zanthe. You’re a major one. At least you are in my book.”
Getting up, I went to pee and found the sun shining through the bathroom window. What caught my eye stopped me in my tracks. Zanthe’s truck was still in the parking lot. It hadn’t been moved at all.
“That rat bastard!”
Anger filled me as I did what I needed to do so that I could get dressed then go out to the truck to wake the sleeping man. That had to be what he’d done – went out to his truck and went to sleep. He’d ignored my orders to leave.
Dominating. Insulant. And overbearing. Zanthe was every last bit of those traits.
As I sat down on my bed to put my shoes on, I thought of the word, bear. It had meant something in my dreams.
Trying my hardest to recall the part of my dreams where there was a bear in it, I closed my eyes. Seeing Freedrick and Zanthe as they both stood at the mouth of the cave Zanthe had taken me to, saying that they’d been living in it.
“I think that’s a good idea.” Freedrick took a step out of the cave, then put his hand over his face. “Yuk. I can’t stand this smell. We have to get out of here. Now that I’ve had to smell it for so long, I can tell there are only tiny remnants of sulfur and I think there is brimstone in it as well.”
“The smell sort of reminds me of the dragons’ realm that we just left. Only it’s got a sickly side scent to it,” Zanthe said then took a deep breath. “Lyme. Granite. Sausages?”
A popping sound came and then Freedrick shouted, “Zanthe! Beartrap!”
“No shit!” Hopping up and down, Zanthe fought to free his ankle from the trap. “Help me get this thing off of me, brother!” The sweat of pain and agony covered his handsome face in a thick sheen.
My poor, poor, teddy bear.
Freedrick went to help him, pushing him to take a seat on the ground. “Here, sit down. Let me do it.”
“Shit!” Zanthe grumbled. “Be careful not to cut yourself. I feel as if poison is coursing through my veins. There has to be some on the spikes.”
Freedrick moved his fingers back and forth as a slimy gel coated them and the trap as well. “Yes, this isn’t something natural at all. And it holds the stink we’ve been smelling. I’m not sure if it’s the smell of this stuff, or if it’s the smell the thing that put it here emitted. Whatever it is, it is truly awful.”
“And I am feeling truly awful, brother,” Zanthe moaned. “Can you get me to the cabin? This is some potent shit.”
“Lean on me, brother. I’ll get you to the cabin.” Freedrick helped his brother to stand, then let him lean on him.
“Maybe we should change into our bears,” Zanthe muttered. “It might heal my wound faster and make it easier for you to help me get to where we’re going.”
“I agree,” Freedrick said then suddenly he wasn’t a man anymore. Freedrick had turned into a huge bear.
Holy shit!
Then Zanthe changed into an even bigger bear than his brother had. And he sniffed the air as he limped away with his brother bear, growling away as they left the area. It almost sounded as if he was talking. But it only came out in growls and snarling sounds.
Suddenly, Freedrick and Zanthe were slipping and stumbling as they had gotten too close to the edge of a ravine.
The ravine I found Zanthe in!
Freedrick transformed from the bear to a human man again. But he couldn’t hang onto Zanthe who’d also changed back into a human man.
It looked as if Zanthe was running and trying to grab something as he fell backward through the air, shouting, “Freedrick!”
Freedrick stood at the top of the ravine with his hand over his mouth as he could only watch his poor brother fall into the deep ravine.
Dirt exploded around Zanthe’s body as he hit the ground. Miraculously, he wore a smile as his eyes were wide.
One word rang out in my head. Female!
I opened my eyes as I ran my arms around myself, hugging myself against the cold I felt.
The crazy dream felt all too real. Zanthe and Freedrick as bears was silly. So, I got off my bed and ran down to see Zanthe as I knew he was in his truck.
My feet pounded the gravel as I ran. Sliding to a stop near the driver’s side of his truck, I felt a spot that was warmer than the air around it. “Odd.” Peeking in the window, I found the truck empty and locked. The black duffle bag he’d brought with him had never taken out of his truck and was still there on the passenger seat, meaning he hadn’t gotten another room in the castle either.
Cupping my hands around my mouth, I shouted, “Zanthe! You come out here right now!”
Nothing. Not a sound came back to me.
Another part of my dream worried me as I went back inside. There’d been a part where Zanthe and his brother were fighting the fierce black dragon. And he’d trapped them inside of the cave they’d lived in.
I kept feeling a chill zip through me and went to my room to put on another sweater to layer up. Something about the dragon bothered me so much that I took a seat on my bed again and tried to recall the part of my dream where it had been covering the cave with ice that came out of its mouth.
Which was stupid because dragons breathe fire – not ice.
As I sat there – eyes closed – mind open – I watched the dragon as it spewed ice all over the cave. Its mouth didn’t move, but I could hear a deep man’s voice saying, “I will come back for you, Freedrick. You will become a member of my army. And your brother will rot away in this ice cave for the rest of his immortal life.”
My eyes flew open. “No!”
I couldn’t let that happen. If it was real. Which it had to be.
Breathing heavily, I knew I had to try to remember more of the dream if I was to do anything about it. Slowing my breathing, I closed my eyes once more, then saw the dragon as it flew away and I heard it say, “You cannot hide from me. I can see your heat sources even under the ice. And I will come for you when I find them dim with weakness from lack of food. I will get you, Freedrick. And Zanthe can sleep the rest of his life away.”
Opening my eyes, I got up. “No way.” I wasn’t going to let this happen.
Maybe there was no dragon. Maybe there were no bears. But maybe there were.
I packed my things, all the while thinking about how I could find a flame thrower. If I did come upon their cave and found it iced over, then I would definitely need one of those things.
My packing slowed as I thought about the baby in my tummy. I’d read some crazy sounding things while working at the castle. There were all sorts of creatures – half-man, half-animal – in the books I’d read.
Running my hand over my stomach, I had to wonder that if Zanthe was really part man and part bear, then what was I carrying inside of me?
Shaking off the thoughts, I knew I loved our baby no matter what. And the other thing I knew was that Zanthe didn’t have to believe that I was pregnant right then. In time, it would show. And even if he only thought I was gaining weight, one day a baby would pop out and then he’d understand that the little stick had been right all along.
Zanthe and I were going to be parents. I wanted to raise our child together. And that meant that I had to make a commitment to my teddy bear.
Crazy or not, he was my baby’s daddy. At least he was hot and damn good in the sack. There was that much going for the man I would spend the rest of my life with.
As I picked up my bag, I looked around the room. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be back to this place and wanted to tak
e one last look. In this room, I’d read enough to educate myself on some macabre facts about the place I called home. Romania was where lots of legends had begun. And I might well be on my way to joining the list of them that grew all the time.
With a sigh, I turned and walked out the door. Trapesing out to my little car, I had to wonder that if Zanthe was really a bear-shifter and if our baby was one too, then if I could become one as well. Why wouldn’t I want to join my family in the shifter world?
Maybe because it would be physically painful.
Tossing my bag into my car, I got inside then started it. I knew pain might be in the process of becoming a shifter. But pain was also in the process of becoming a mother.
As I put my car in drive and sped off, I thought about all I’d been afraid of in my life. A laugh erupted out of my mouth. One can be afraid of all sorts of things. But if it’s meant to be a part of your life, it will find a way to storm right through those fears and make you face it head-on.
Resting my hand on my baby that wasn’t even big enough to be called that yet, I knew I would get through everything. Even if Zanthe was a normal human man who just couldn’t believe that he was going to be a father.
The closer I got to the place I had begun to pray that I would find my teddy bear, the more worry that came.
I have an embryo inside of me that might be something really wild. I might be planning on spending not only my life but my eternity with a man who is a bear and a child who might be one too.
My family wasn’t going to believe me. And if I said a word about any of it, real or unreal, they might put me away in a looney bin.
So, keep your mouth shut, Crina. No one else needs to know your business.
Please let him be okay.
23
Zanthe
Like all bears, the cold put me into a deep sleep. No dreams bothered my brain. No thoughts about what had happened or what might happen worried me. I just slept.
