20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Two big hands wrapped around Isis’s waist and pulled her back against Osiris’s front. She’d been so lost in thought, Isis hadn’t heard the rock dragon move to sit behind her, his long legs on either side of her hips.

  “You should’ve come and got me.”

  “I know. I wasn’t thinking. How did you know where to find me?”

  “Your sister came looking for you, in our bedroom, but found me instead. Nephthys told me about the talk the two of you had with Nut, then she pointed me in this direction. She said it was an ‘educated guess.’”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “That should be my question to you.” Soft lips found her neck and kissed. “Do you want to talk?”

  “Yes, but about you. This is the first time you’ve seen our daughter’s gravesite. How are you feeling?”

  “Like someone stuck an ice pick in my chest and through my heart. I was so ready to be a father. I could already feel our baby in my arms, see her nursing from you while I basked in the light of my family. Neither of us had a father growing up. Mine turned out to be a traitorous bastard, but I remember him as a loving and dutiful father. I know what he did to Geb and how his actions denied you a dad. A part of me hoped to make that up to you by being the best father I could to our hatchling. It sounds foolish and naïve when I say it aloud, but it’s how I felt.”

  Isis twisted in his arms so she could see her mate’s face. Osiris had a day’s worth of stubble, which Isis touched when she placed her hand on his cheek.

  “You’re not your father, and I’ve never blamed you for his actions. Parents can disappoint us, just as we can disappoint them. Asim will never know her parents’ flaws, and she’ll always be perfect in our eyes.” Her hand fell from his face and her head to his shoulder. “We have a king to kill and a realm to reclaim but no time to take a breath and deal with the passing of our baby.”

  Her soul was full to overflowing with grief and rage. Asim, Set, Sansabonsom, Nut, they all permeated her heart and left her at a crossroads of violence and forgiveness. Isis could forgive Nut but not Set and Sansabonsom. If Isis were in the right frame of mind to excavate her heart, she’d admit her anger at Asim for dying and leaving Isis alone with her guilt and childless nursery.

  “We have hours before we leave for Nebty.” Osiris wiped away his tears and then Isis’s. “It’s not nearly enough time, but let’s spend it here talking to each other and to our daughter.”

  “What should we talk about?”

  “Her. Us. I don’t know. I just think we need to find a healthy way to deal with our grief, especially you. You hold so much inside, thinking you have to be the strong one, the responsible one. But you don’t. I’m here for you, just as you’ve always been there for me.”

  Osiris was correct. They did need to spend time grieving their loss as a couple, which they could begin there and now. Yet, her mate was also wrong. There were some burdens, like being the Scepter of Wadjet, Isis had to carry alone. She also wasn’t willing to confess the sins of his brother. One day, when Osiris was ready to know the truth, she would tell him everything.

  Osiris reclined on his back and brought Isis with him, one hand in her hair, the other at her waist. When he spoke, his voice was soft and low and only for Isis and Asim. “Let me tell you about the time your mother, when she was six, inadvertently ruined Christmas for her human classmates who believed in Santa Claus…”

  Chapter 16

  Aset, Merit, Hathor, Serqet, Osiris, and Set were in dragon form. The Tyets and Set hovered in the sky above Philae Manor. The conniving rock dragon had arrived promptly at six, anxious for Isis to remove the king cobra from his leg. She did, but not before making him wait an additional thirty minutes.

  Osiris, happy to see his brother, had embraced the younger dragon with love and enthusiasm. Isis had watched Set return his brother’s smile and greeting with the same warmth shown to him. She saw, for the first time, how talented of an actor her brother-in-law was, and how easily they’d fallen for his calculations and lies.

  Set laughed with Osiris one minute and then shed tears when they talked about Osiris’s death, funeral, and resurrection. Set explained how he’d helped Makara and DIG through the difficult time of losing Osiris and even his vigil the first night Isis spent in the hospital after the shooting. He played every emotion like a well-trained thespian, and it made Isis sick to her stomach.

  So, she’d left the living room, where the brothers sat and talked, and made Set endure her cobra until the group was ready to leave.

  Now, Isis and Nephthys, in their hybrid form, stood with Nut in front of the manor. Osiris’s green-and-black rock dragon waited to the left of the house, taller than the brick structure.

  Nut and Isis hadn’t spoken since yesterday. Isis and Osiris stayed with Asim until night closed in around them, compelling the couple to seek safety and shelter inside the manor. Everyone had eaten dinner by the time they’d sat down at the dining room table, which was for the best. Isis hadn’t felt like speaking to anyone but Osiris, least of all her mother.

  “When will Bek and Lateef arrive?” Isis craned her head upward, searching for the ice dragons. “I hoped to speak with them before I left.”

  “They’re running late. Bek called and said they had a stop to make first.”

  Nut, dressed in a green robe, which Isis knew covered her nude form, didn’t seem worried by the ice dragons’ lateness or what errand they thought was more important than being at Philae Manor on time. When they arrived, Nut would shift into her sky dragon form, which was why she hadn’t bothered to put on more than a robe this morning to see them off.

  “If you don’t want to wait, Isis, I can pass along any message you have for them.”

  Nephthys laced her fingers through Nut’s. “Isis wants to tell them the same thing I do, and that is to take care of you in our absence. That, when we return, we expect to find you unscathed and bossing everyone around.”

  Her mother had the most enchanting smile, and Nephthys always had a way of bringing out the vulnerable and fun-loving side of Nut.

  “I’m capable of taking care of myself, but I’ll be sure to share your threat with Bek and Lateef.”

  Nephthys laughed as she hugged their mother. “Coming from Isis, it would’ve been a politely stated but firm command. From me, I would’ve slapped them on the shoulder and threatened to turn them into inconsequential puddles of dragon water if anything happened to you on their watch.”

  “I had no intention of threatening anyone.” Isis crossed her arms over her chest, when her sister and mother turned disbelieving eyes to her. “I only wanted to press upon the ice dragons the importance of securing Mother’s safety.”

  She’d spoken to Bek and Lateef on the phone last night before allowing herself to be seduced into ending the call and coming to bed by Osiris’s sensual lips and demanding hands. Her expectations were clear, not just about Nut but the ice dragons’ role in securing the border between the realms. Isis didn’t doubt the males would do their best on both fronts. Still, she couldn’t lose Nut.

  Nephthys kissed Nut’s cheek. “Love you, Mother. Be safe.”

  “I love you as well my spirited moon dragon. Be safe. Be fierce.”

  “I will. See you after our victory.”

  Nephthys kissed Nut’s other cheek before lifting into the air and flying toward Osiris. Her long braids were pulled back into a ponytail. She and Isis wore matching backless dresses. They were the same deep shade of green as Nut’s bathrobe and gifted to them by Aset on their hundredth birthday. The shadow dragon liked the dresses but hated to shop. So, when she found a gift she liked, she brought two, not even bothering to purchase them in different colors.

  On this day when Isis and Nephthys would return to the place of their birth and their father’s death, they’d, independently, selected the same dress. Green for the land of Nebty. Green, their mother’s favorite color.

  “When I realized I was pregnant, Geb and I knew we made the r
ight decision. In the beginning, I believed we only took the witch’s advice because we wanted to guarantee that no one, Sansabonsom or someone else, obtained the powers the scepters would give the owner. When you broke free from your shell, tiny and months early yet fully developed, I knew the truth.”

  Nut stepped closer to Isis, who could do nothing but stare at her mother. They rarely argued, although they disagreed plenty in business, which made them better and DIG even more prosperous because they pushed and challenged each other in a way no one else could.

  “What truth?”

  “Your father and I used the threat to the scepters as an excuse to fill a void in our lives. Power isn’t enough to sustain the heart and spirit. For centuries, we thought all we needed were each other, Nebty, and the power of the scepters. We had everything dragons wanted and needed, yet little beyond being rulers and mates. We watched others mate and have hatchlings, and then their hatchlings grew to produce the next generation of dragons. We weren’t jealous or even bitter, and we didn’t realize the depth of our yearning until you came into our lives.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be apologetic for. Every child wants to be wanted, regardless of the species. There’s no shame in that. You were also right. Geb and I did place power and pride above having offspring. For a long time, we didn’t think the trade-off worth the sacrifice. That’s hard to admit, especially to you. But it’s the truth I never wanted you and your sister to know because I didn’t want you to think less of me and Geb or yourself. Your father did love you girls. I need you to know that. He made me flee because he didn’t want to risk your safety. Leaving my mate was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t have done it, if not for you and Nephthys. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  She did. Nut would’ve stayed, fought, and perhaps died for Geb, Nebty, and dragonkind, but she’d placed the safety of her twins above the love she had for everything else important in her life. Geb had stayed behind to not only fight for all he believed in but to serve as a flesh-and-blood shield of claws, teeth, and fire for his hatchlings and mate.

  Isis dropped her eyes from Nut’s, sad for her mother’s loss and ashamed of her behavior from yesterday. She hadn’t been herself since the shooting and Osiris’s murder. Even having Osiris back hadn’t been enough to erase the heartache she felt at losing him. Each night, since his return, Isis would watch Osiris sleep, afraid he wouldn’t be there in the morning.

  Even his warm touches and words of reassurance couldn’t shake Isis of her fear. For Nut, the nightmare of Geb’s willing sacrifice remained with the sky dragon a century later.

  “I’m sorry,” Isis repeated, no longer apologizing for her insensitivity and narrow-mindedness of a day ago, but for the father she never knew and the earth dragon Nut had loved but abandoned. Could Isis choose between Asim and Osiris? She didn’t know. But if she had no choice, the way Nut hadn’t, what would such an impossible decision do to her heart and mind? “I’m sorry, Mother. Forgive me.”

  A hand that looked so much like her own lifted Isis’s chin. “Your life gave us life, my precious sun dragon. Geb and I had no idea how much love we were capable of and the sacrifices we would gladly make until you were born. You were right, a sky-earth dragon pairing has never resulted in a moon or sun dragon. Even though you never complained, Nephthys came to me about the fights she got into when you were picked on.”

  She’d ignored the bullies, afraid if she released the pain their mockery caused, Isis would hurt them far more than they had her. Her twin, however, had no problem beating down those bullies. Isis had asked Nephthys to not tell Nut because she hadn’t wanted her mother to feel guilty about something she couldn’t control.

  More, Isis wanted to forget how different she was from everyone else. If Nut got involved, speaking to the dragons’ parents as Queen Nut and not simply as Isis’s concerned mother, it would’ve put Isis and Nephthys under a bigger spotlight.

  “Perhaps I should’ve intervened, but I had faith you would persevere and find your own answers, which you did.” The hand on Isis’s chin lifted to her face and caressed. “Whether you knew it or not, you were my rock. When I looked at you, you made me want to be so much more than I ever was before you and your sister came along. I wanted you to be the kind of queen I never was, which made me, in some respects, less than the mother you needed and deserved. Too many expectations and too soon. Always a queen-and-CEO-in-training but not enough Isis.”

  Nut’s hand lowered to Isis’s white wings outlined in crimson. In silence, she explored them in a way she never had before.

  “Dragons don’t have feather wings, but you and your sister do. Any distinctions between the two of you and other dragons are likely attributed to your unique genetic composition. Your father and I didn’t know what the repercussions of me eating the scepters would have on our offspring. Unfortunately, I still don’t know, and I fear, once you cross into the preternatural realm, you and Nephthys will find out.”

  After the way their bodies had changed, breaking out with the symbols of their goddess, when Isis and Nephthys were close to the cloud that led from the human realm and to the preternatural one, Isis agreed.

  She didn’t look forward to the revelation but knew there was nothing to stop her from learning the extent of what it meant to be the embodiment of the Scepter of Wadjet, once she was in her sun dragon form and back on Nebty.

  “Listen to me, daughter. You and Nephthys are the best of me, Geb, and the preternatural realm. You need to believe that because you must have absolute faith in yourself when you face King Sansabonsom and his army of demons. There’s never been any preternatural like you and Nephthys. I say that, not as a negative you may think it to be, but as the most positive fact of dragon existence. Yesterday, Nephthys said you admired me. Let me tell you something I’ve never said but have always felt, I respect the woman and dragon you’ve grown into. Not simply Isis Philae, CEO of Dragon Investment Group, but Isis, daughter, sister, friend, and mate.”

  Isis wrapped arms and wings around her mother, humbled by Nut’s confession.

  “I know you think, after the shooting, you’ll never be able to conceive again. Maybe that’s true as a human, but you aren’t human. Our dragon bodies are much more than these human ones we’ve lived in for a century. If you require any more incentive to win the war and defeat your enemies, then take this thought with you. If you reclaim Nebty for dragonkind, you and Osiris will be able to live there as dragons and create the family you both want.”

  “I’m afraid to hope. I also fear what I’ll do to guarantee that outcome. I want too much.”

  “Freedom, safety, and happiness aren’t too much to ask for or expect.”

  “They may come at a great cost.”

  “I know, but trust yourself to make the right decisions.” Nut’s arms tightened before letting Isis go. “I think we’ve kept everyone waiting long enough. Go on, Queen Isis, your sister, mate, and warriors are anxious to be on their way.”

  When Isis lifted into the air, she flew backward, her eyes on her mother the entire flight to Osiris’s rock dragon. She and Nephthys would ride on him until they reached the realm.

  She settled next to her twin.

  “About time. What did Mother say?”

  “Too much to get into now.”

  “We have time, sis. Osiris may be fast, but it’ll still take us a little while to fly from New York to Egypt.”

  Are the two of you comfortable back there?

  “Yes. Thank you for serving as taxi, love.”

  It’ll be easier for the two of you to plot if you’re not worried about flying. The twins held on when the rock dragon took off. I’m ready to go home.

  For better or for worse, so was Isis.

  Except for the twins, who talked in low tones, no one else spoke during the flight, not even Set who loved to hear his voice more than anyone Osiris knew. While Osiris had no problem with long silences or spending time in his
head, the quiet felt unnatural and tinged with anger and distrust.

  He knew Nephthys disliked Set, particularly after he’d come on to her way too hard, a few years back. Isis did more than tolerate his brother, which made family get-togethers pleasant. The Tyets were indifferent toward him but polite, if not nice. Today, however, the women’s attitude had dropped to arctic, which he didn’t understand. As he watched his brother fly as far away from them while still being part of the group, it was clear Set knew why the females were angry with him.

  The problem wasn’t that Set had done something to piss off six female dragons, which wasn’t surprising for the rock dragon, but that everyone was going out of their way to pretend there wasn’t something going on between Set and the females. Which meant one thing, their disagreement had to do with Osiris.

  If he asked, he might get Nephthys to open up to him. Isis wouldn’t, especially if she thought her silence would keep him safe. Which also meant the Tyets would be a dead end.

  Aset’s black shadow dragon sped ahead, while Merit and Serqet moved to flank Osiris. Hathor’s gray mist dragon flew toward Set. Within seconds, Set’s rock dragon shifted closer to the group, as they flew upward and toward a thick cloud cover.

  As the group grew nearer to the blue-and-gray cloud, his scales began to tingle, subtle but insistent prickles under his skin. Osiris didn’t know what to make of the sensation, nor did he remember feeling this way a hundred years ago. Then again, he’d been only ten and frightened out of his mind when he and the other dragons crossed into the human realm.

  He felt the twins shift on his back as they stood. Osiris didn’t know how they managed to stay on him without falling over the side, now that they weren’t holding onto one of his indentations, but they did.