by Riley Storm
Liz wasn’t sure such a thing existed, but she was also smart enough to realize her own biases were likely coming into play. There were plenty of good fathers in the world, good parents. Not everyone was lucky enough to be blessed with one though, and she wasn’t going to put her child through that. No, she’d protect them from that hurt no matter the cost to herself.
“How did you calling my work translate into you being here?” she asked.
Valla shifted uncomfortably. “Cheryl told me,” he said, looking away at last. “When she said that you weren’t in, I asked where you were.”
“Cheryl told you,” she repeated. “And then what, you just called all the clinics in town to find out which one I was a patient at and then came here and camped out until I arrived?”
“What? No,” Valla said, shaking his head, falling neatly into her trap. “Cheryl told me when and where.”
“Of course, she did,” Liz groaned, his answer confirming her suspicion.
“Did she do something wrong? I don’t want you to be mad at her,” Valla said, biting his lip nervously.
“What? No. No it’s fine,” Liz said, waving off his concerns.
She wasn’t mad at Cheryl. How could she be? This was quite clearly payback for the teasing Liz had given Cheryl when she’d first started seeing Victor. Her boss had promised payback, and this was it.
Except Cheryl knows I don’t want him involved. I’ve told her this, several times. So why would she go about giving him this information, despite knowing how I feel about the issue?
Liz didn’t like the conclusions she was coming to as she thought it over. She’d always respected Cheryl, and the other woman wouldn’t have sent Valla here simply as revenge. No, that was too simple of an answer. Upon further thought, the only conclusion that Liz could reach was that Cheryl disagreed with her desire to go the pregnancy alone.
She thinks Valla should be involved. That he would make a good father.
“I can go,” Valla volunteered, pushing off from the wall reluctantly. “The last thing I want to do is make you more unhappy with me than you already are.”
Liz hesitated.
What should she do? Cheryl was someone she respected through and through. Her boss and friend wouldn’t simply have sent Valla here, if she wasn’t trying to send a message. The message had been received loud and clear, but Liz wasn’t sure if she agreed with it. Did Cheryl know something about Valla that she didn’t?
It was feasible of course, given that she was engaged to Valla’s brother. Why wouldn’t she just tell Liz, then? What was the reason behind it all?
Still, if Cheryl thought that Valla deserved a shot…
“Wait,” she said, stopping him halfway down the hallway.
Valla spun immediately. She saw him tamping down his hope, but it was impossible not to notice the way his blue eyes brightened, shedding the shadows that had accumulated in the corners, returning to their nearly unnatural brightness.
“You can come in,” she said, but held up a hand to forestall any more words from him. “But I do the talking. All the talking. You defer questions that are directed at you back to me. You’ve not been here for the first three plus months, you don’t just get to leap into it. You come in, you listen, you absorb information. Show me you can do that, and we’ll talk. Understood?”
Valla nodded eagerly. “Of course. Got it. Keep my trap shut. Learn about the human pregnancy, and yours in particular. Show I can listen.”
There it was again, his odd inflection on the word human. What a weird person he was.
The door opened behind her. “Miss Wray?” the receptionist said. “We’re ready for you now.”
She blinked, looking at her phone briefly. Only five minutes after the appointed time.
Valla showing up on time. The doctor basically being on time.
This can’t possibly be a good omen.
“Liz.”
She paused at Valla’s call. “They’re waiting for us.”
“I know,” he said stubbornly, not giving in. “But I wanted to discuss one more thing with you.”
“Make it quick,” she said, but kept any irritation out of her voice.
“Thank you, first off,” he said awkwardly. “Um, second though, I would still like to talk to you. Just talk, the two of us. Spend some time together, no pressure, no appointments. That is, if you’re interested,” he said with a nervous shrug that would have looked more at home on a teenager.
So, the giant does have emotions that get to him. How interesting.
Not that Liz thought him an automaton, but he was so often in control of everything, so calm and cool, that she’d begun to wonder what he was like under the surface. Now, however, some of it was starting to show through. It was rather endearing.
“Let’s see how this goes,” she said with a nod toward the doctor’s office. “Then we’ll talk, okay?”
Valla bobbed his head. “Of course. I understand completely. Thank you for not dismissing it outright.”
She shook her head with a smile at his puppy-dog eagerness and pushed her way into the office.
Let’s see how today goes, indeed.
Valla followed after her, and at a wave from the receptionist, they entered a room down the hallway.
Together.
19
The sound of low chatter alerted him to the presence of his brothers.
Valla had taken up residence in the central lounge, nearest the main kitchens, throne room and the main hallway. Although Drakon Keep was filled with all sorts of rooms meant for conversing, relaxing and the like, with only the three of them, plus Francis and a pair of his—mostly unseen—staff currently occupying the entire building, most of the outer rooms were currently going unused.
“What is this?” a female voice asked.
Valla sat up, snapping closed the book he was reading. “Olivia?” he asked as a head poked itself through the high-arched entryway.
“Valla!” Aaric’s mate swept into the room and came over to give him a brief hug. “How are you?”
“Good, good. I’m good. How are you? What brings you out this way?”
Olivia laughed. It was a running joke that the busy real-estate agent rarely had time for her newfound family. Often it was Aaric staying over in Plymouth Falls that allowed them to be close, to renew their bond. Olivia loved him, Valla did not doubt that from the few times they’d met, but she was also a very driven woman, unwilling to give up her career to live in a castle.
Being an hour or more outside of town would have cost her too much mobility, so she still lived in Plymouth Falls itself, more than a year after mating with Aaric. Briefly Valla wondered if perhaps that constant distance was a factor in Aaric’s increasing crankiness, and his push to lead the other dragons. He couldn’t get his mate to be around more often, so he tried to exert his will on others?
Maybe. Of course, if I can find the vampires and we can eliminate them, then perhaps, just perhaps, Aaric can go live with her—and leave the rest of us in peace!
Or maybe she would get pregnant soon. That would solve a lot of their problems for sure.
“What are you reading?” Olivia asked, grabbing the book and turning it around so she could read the cover.
“The Expectant Father?” she said, sounding surprised.
Valla shrugged and waved at the pile of other books on the table next to him. “If I’m going to be a good father, then I need to be prepared,” he said with a confidence he didn’t quite feel after reading several chapters of the book.
The more he learned about the pregnancy and birth, the more he was starting to realize how unprepared he was. That growing sense of awareness of his own shortcoming was scarier than the thought of fighting a thousand vampires. Valla didn’t know the first thing about actually caring for infants, for babies, and he didn’t want to screw it up. Mostly for his child of course, but he also wanted to show Liz that she hadn’t made a mistake in letting him stick around.
“I take
it the surprise appearance at the appointment went well then?” Aaric asked, moving from his perch at the doorway to come into the room, sitting down in one of the other couches and picking up another of the books. He read the title, then waggled it at Olivia.
“Don’t go getting any ideas, mister,” she laughed. “One day, absolutely. Not quite yet though. If I’m going to live a few more centuries, I think another few years of waiting for a child will be just fine.”
Valla wondered if she noticed the sadness in the corner of Aaric’s eyes. If there was one thing dragons loved more than anything else, it was children. Dragons were rare enough, and every time a new one was born, it was a cause for celebration.
“You can learn from all the mistakes I’ve made,” he said quietly. “Then don’t repeat them.”
He expected the customary barb from Aaric about his immaturity and how this was his own fault, but the fire dragon looked at him with something that almost resembled envy, before his face twisted into a reassuring smile.
“You’ll be fine, Valla,” he said quietly. “Everyone fucks up as a parent. Nobody is perfect. We’re all always learning. Just keep that in mind.”
“Can’t afford any more fuckups,” he muttered. “I used up my only one saving Victor from a beatdown.”
“I’ll put in a good word for you,” the water dragon said, appearing in the doorway, Cheryl’s arm linked through his as they entered.
“What is this, meeting hour at the Keep?” Valla joked. “And please, don’t put in a good word. I don’t think she likes you.”
Cheryl snorted. “I very much doubt that. She’s just pregnant. Hormones mess with things. Plus, remember, she doesn’t know what you are yet, Valla, nor does she understand the world you live in, and how it’s so very different from ours,” she said, looking over at Olivia. “The two of us are still learning. Every day it’s something new that we don’t understand, or that our mindset butts heads with theirs.” She gave Victor a gentle elbow in the side, though she was smiling as she did.
“Cheryl’s right,” Olivia said. “Though it’s gotten easier for me, at least, now that Cheryl is around. Having someone to confide in, to talk about things with, has made life a lot easier on me, at least, and I’d probably say on her as well.”
Cheryl nodded her agreement.
“I think you’re doing a wonderful job,” Olivia continued. “Look at you, holed up in here with all these books on how to be a father, and actually reading them. I don’t have a child, but let me tell you, if I did, and the father of it was doing that, it would mean the world to me. Don’t forget, she’s just as scared as you are. More so, I dare say, though I don’t speak from experience because she’s the one carrying your child. That’s an added pressure that I don’t think anyone who hasn’t gone through it can truly understand.”
“That’s a good point,” Valla said thoughtfully. “I never really thought about the extra stress that she’s under. I’ve just been concerned with the child itself, with making sure I do right by it.”
“Just make sure that you don’t forget your other missions,” Aaric said. “I know the child is important, but if we don’t keep working on the rest, then the world the child will come into is going to be far more dangerous than it needs to be.”
“Thank you, Aaric, for that completely mood-killing reminder,” Valla growled angrily. “I am continuing to put out feelers for the vampires. I spent several hours after the appointment today wandering around town, talking to various people, bribing them. They will reveal themselves, whether they know it or not, and then I will track them back to their lair.”
“And your other mission?”
“Until I find my mate, my main priority is going to be my child, and the child’s mother,” he growled defensively. “I’m not going to abandon them just to go out and find some other woman.”
“We’re not asking you to abandon them, Valla,” Victor put in. “But remember, the artifact only works once per bonded pair. We simply cannot awaken any other dragons. We need you to find your mate, so we can finally awaken one of the elders. That’s how it works,” he said pointedly.
“Thank you for the lesson on things I already knew,” Valla said, suddenly tired of the presence of the other two dragons. He was here trying to do the right thing by Liz, but all they cared about was their own precious missions. Couldn’t they understand there were only so many directions he could move in at once?
Cheryl and Olivia looked at one another, then they stood as one.
“Uh oh,” Aaric muttered under his breath.
“Uh-oh is right,” Olivia said, pointing her finger at her mate and then lifting it, indicating she wanted Aaric to stand up. “Valla here is working hard to be the best father he can. Here you two are, berating him, telling him to do even more things. Just because you’ve not been able to track them down, doesn’t mean you get to take your irritation at that fact out on him, when he’s only just begun to try.”
Valla bit down on a smile, recognizing that now was not the time to join in the argument. The women were giving him some space from the other dragons, and he could only thank them for that with a small nod. He appreciated it more than they understood.
It will take some time to get information back about the movements of the vampires, but I’m positive they aren’t hiding from everyone. Only us. The humans will notice oddities, and eventually one of those will pan out for me.
He watched the foursome leave, not bothering to listen into their conversation. There were more important things to do just then.
Like prove to Liz he was putting in the work. Because the one thing he hadn’t told Aaric or the others, was that not only had the appointment gone really well, but Liz had agreed to have dinner with him the next night.
Just the two of them. She hadn’t called it a date, he thought with a smile.
But then again, she didn’t say it wasn’t one.
Valla’s smile grew wider.
20
Dinner had gone off without a hitch.
“That was delicious,” he said with a satisfied sigh, leaning back in his chair. “Just perfect.”
“I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten such delicious food in my life,” Liz echoed, setting her fork and knife down together as she finished her last bite. “Every bit was like an explosion of flavor. Wow. Thank you,” she added, smiling across the table at him.
“It truly was my pleasure.”
“Just a little unlike the first time we met,” Liz said, laughing softly.
Valla’s mind went back to the night over three months earlier. Yes, it was so very different. Then he’d been out on the prowl, simply looking for some company for the evening. His eyes had landed on her out of the entire crowd, and from the moment he’d seen her dancing with her friends, smiling wide from ear to ear, he’d been set.
“I seem to remember you accusing me of putting you on,” he laughed. “I came over to you, asking you to dance, and you just sort of stared at me like…what’s the expression?”
“A deer in headlights?” Liz supplied, fighting to hide her own laughter, even as she went red in the face at the reminder. “I mean, how could I not suspect that? There I was, in a club surrounded by twenty-somethings wearing little more than lingerie, and you decided to pick me? You? Look at you!”
Valla sat up straighter as he saw her eyes wandering across his body, letting the action pull his suit just a little tighter over his shoulders and arms.
“Yeah, like that,” Liz said, poking a finger in his direction. “You’re a specimen, Valla. A very attractive specimen,” she added in a slightly lower voice. “Men like you, they aren’t interested in women like me.”
Laughing just loud enough for her to hear, Valla shook his head. “Trust me when I say this Liz: there are no men like me. Not even close.”
She shrugged, but he let it slide. There was no way for Liz to know what he truly meant by that comment. Not yet. Eventually, he would have to tell her, however, because of the c
hild she carried within her. Liz would need to know everything.
“Regardless, I was sure it was a prank,” she said. “I’m sorry if I was cold to you at first.”
Valla just smiled. “I could tell you wanted me though,” he added slyly. “That much was obvious.”
“I was drunk and needed to cut loose,” she said. “I didn’t plan on going home with anyone, but you were…shall we say, persistent, in all the right ways. Not too pushy, but not wishy-washy. And you could dance,” she added, her eyes glazing over.
“It wasn’t a fancy dinner, that’s for sure,” he said. “Not that I regret it.”
Liz sobered, her eyes refocusing back on his face. A silence fell over them momentarily as she heard his words and absorbed them. Hopefully, she would understand his full intent.
“Me neither,” she added slowly, one hand moving to caress her slowly growing belly. “Unexpected, yes. Very much that. At first, I really was panicked, but now that I’ve had a few months to think about it, I’m looking forward to it more than ever, Valla, if I’m honest with you.”
“I think of that night often,” he told her. “Of you. It was all I had to hold onto while I…” he trailed off, grimacing. He shouldn’t have said that much, shouldn’t have revealed what he was thinking.
“Where did you go, Valla?” Liz asked, leaning forward. “Three months—you just disappeared. What happened to you?”
Valla longed to tell her. To reveal that he’d been at his home under the tutelage of both Aaric and Victor, learning more about the world he’d come to inhabit. How to operate in it, how to speak the current version of the language, and so much more.
Mind-boggling amounts of technology to understand and sift through.
His brain still hurt some days from all the reading he’d done trying to catch up on a century’s worth of history and technological growth.
“Away,” he said stiffly, knowing the instant he spoke that she saw right through it.
“Is it another woman?” The question came quickly, revealing that it was something Liz had been thinking over a lot.
