Dragons Need Love, Too (I Like Big Dragons Series Book 2)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Or…I could suck it up and be a big girl,” she continued as if she was unaware of the havoc she’d caused inside of me.

  Her look said she knew what her hesitations were doing to me.

  And she smiled.

  Something eased in my chest, and I knew which decision she’d come to without her even saying because she suddenly opened herself up to me, letting me feel exactly what was going on in that head of hers.

  Everything that I ever wanted to know about her was suddenly revealed.

  What it was like for her as a child.

  What she wanted most in life.

  What she loved.

  What she hated.

  Everything was there for the picking, and I had to gasp as all the love she felt for me suddenly poured through the mating bond that we shared.

  “Jesus,” I whispered, going down to my knees.

  I couldn’t help but do that.

  It was as if the strength I had to stay upright suddenly fled, leaving me with nothing else but the love I felt for Brooklyn in my heart.

  I stared at her, then I gave it all back to her.

  I gave her my hopes. My dreams. My wants and needs.

  I gave it all to her just like she’d given to me, and I watched as her eyes lit up with each new memory or thought.

  By the time I was done, she was crying, and it took everything I had to not join her.

  Men didn’t cry, though.

  “Brooklyn!” Keifer suddenly cried. “Oh my God,” he said in pain and fear. “We have to go. Now!”

  I was up and running towards my brother before I’d even realized I was moving, Brooklyn directly beside me.

  My eyes went first to Merrick, and then to Keifer. “What’s going on?” I asked him.

  I couldn’t see any signs of Merrick being in distress. In fact, he looked even better now than he did a couple of minutes ago when I took Brooklyn off to the side.

  Keifer’s eyes, though, were wild, and I knew instantly it had everything to do with his wife.

  “What is it?” Brooklyn asked worriedly. “Is it Blythe?”

  Keifer nodded almost out of habit.

  His clenched hands at his waist, though, told the real story.

  He was in pain.

  Or at least his wife was in pain.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” Brooklyn ordered, snapping her fingers at Keifer.

  “She’s in labor,” he said, his voice cracking on the ‘labor’ part.

  “Okay,” Brooklyn nodded. “Take me with you and I’ll go to her. Nikolai, take Merrick back with you.”

  “Wait…” Keifer held up his hand. “Do you think the heart will help her like it helped him?”

  Brooklyn looked thoughtful for a few long seconds before she shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. The heart healed Merrick, but it didn’t take any of the pain. I could feel the distress rolling off his body as he laid there.”

  Keifer nodded then walked straight to Declan, offering his hand down to my mate without another word.

  Brooklyn ran up to me, gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and then ran back to Declan, taking Keifer’s hand.

  Once she was in position, Declan lifted off with a powerful flap of wings, and then his cloak was in place and I could no longer see him.

  I looked over at Perdita, then to the side of her where Merrick lay next to his dragon.

  Then, without another word, I walked over to the dragon rider and picked him up in a fireman’s carry over my shoulder.

  I laid him over Perdita’s shoulders in the next instant before turning to his dragon.

  “Can you follow?” I asked her.

  A series of images flew into my brain, and I startled in surprise when I realized just how young Merrick’s dragon was.

  Only the ones that were too small and young couldn’t voice their words, and this one, although it looked older, did the exact same thing as the little ice dragons at the sanctuary did.

  Stomach knotting, I got up and voiced my order to the big beast. “Follow me.”

  Chapter 18

  Brooklyn

  The screaming, my God, would it ever end?

  “Seriously,” Blythe growled between clenched teeth. “If one of you doesn’t shut him the fuck up, I’m going to levitate out of this bed and show him what pain really is!”

  I watched as Nikolai finally took pity on his brother and put him out of his misery.

  By knocking him out.

  With his fist to Keifer’s temple.

  “Nikolai!” both Blythe and I squeaked in outrage.

  Nikolai blinked.

  “What?” he asked, blinking owlishly.

  My mouth opened and closed like a guppy.

  “I think,” Skylar said, “that my sister-in-laws are upset over the fact that you cold clocked Keifer.”

  Blythe and I nodded, but then Blythe’s stomach tightened as another contraction started to roll over her.

  “It’s too soon,” she moaned, her arms banding tightly around her belly as she started to pant for breath.

  I looked at Skylar.

  Neither of us said what we were thinking.

  It was incredibly too early for the babies to be born.

  In fact, at this point in time, the babies may not survive.

  We didn’t have the same capabilities as Dallas’ busiest hospital did.

  If we were lucky, we could get the babies there in time.

  Likely, though, we wouldn’t.

  Although we were close by a dragon’s flight, we couldn’t just go flying up to the helicopter landing on the hospital’s roof and demand attention. Not after the last time we’d gotten fined out the ass and told not to ever do that again. Oh, and threatened with lethal force. That was a biggie, too.

  We’d have to stay and hope for the best.

  Pulling Nikolai to the side, I stared him in the eyes so he could read the seriousness in mine.

  “Listen,” I said to him. “Drag him to that chair over there. Calm him down, and shut him up when he wakes up. Seriously, this is going to be quick and dirty; he needs to keep his shit together, okay?”

  Nikolai nodded, and we both turned at the same time when a scream erupted from Blythe’s lips.

  I patted him on his hand before I left, giving my full attention to Blythe.

  Her eyes were scared, and she was looking at me with fear.

  “It’ll be okay, best friend,” I whispered to her. “We’re mated to freakin’ dragon riders. Conditions couldn’t be any better than they are right now.”

  She nodded, wanting to believe me, but I could tell she didn’t.

  We both knew what happened to babies that were this early.

  They were literally two months and a few days premature. That was eight weeks. That meant each baby was thirty-two weeks and three days. Full term was considered thirty-seven weeks, and they were five weeks shy of that. And to top that off, they were smaller because they were twins.

  The lungs were what developed most fully during this time. Although everything was formed, the surfactant that made the lungs stay inflated wasn’t working efficiently yet.

  That was the main worry.

  There were others, of course, but the lungs were the main worry as of now.

  We wouldn’t borrow trouble, however.

  “We need to do a sonogram to see how the babies are positioned,” Skylar said to Blythe and me, completely ignoring the whole room of people.

  Jean Luc and Ian were in the back of the room, partially closed off by a partition that blocked one room off from another as they watched over our newest sanctuary occupants.

  The rest of them were in the living room/break room off of the main area where the patients were held.

  Needless to say, there was a lot of commotion going on.

  A groan from the seat beside the bed had Blythe’s attention moving to her mate while I brought the sonogram machine up to
her bedside.

  After a quick setup, Skylar took the wand and did her thing while I watched the screen anxiously.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the first baby was head down.

  We’d worry about the second once the other one came out.

  “Okay,” I said, my voice obviously portraying my relief. “Who do you want to check you?”

  Her mouth pursed. “I guess, either way it goes, it’ll be uncomfortable. How about we just take turns? How about you first? It’ll make our friendship stronger.”

  I laughed.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Having my fingers up your hoo-hoo will make our relationship stronger, I’m sure of it.”

  After donning gloves, I quickly checked her.

  “You’re at nine centimeters,” I told her. Once done, I washed my hands and asked, “How long have you been in labor?”

  She shrugged.

  “About four hours now, I guess. At first, I wasn’t sure that it was for real. I’ve had a lot of lower back pain since I’ve found out I was pregnant, and it’s all lower back. Every bit of it.” She growled when the pain under question flared again, her face going tight with agony.

  “Can you give her any drugs?” Keifer asked, his voice sounding much more like himself.

  “I don’t have anything that I think is safe enough to give her that won’t affect the babies as well,” Skylar said. “I thought I’d have a few more weeks to get the things we’d need.”

  “What don’t you have?” I asked worriedly.

  “Anything,” Skylar admitted. “I have blankets and towels. But I don’t even have a suction bulb. It’s all on order, but it’s not set to arrive until a few weeks from now.”

  I looked over at Nikolai.

  “Can you make a trip to the store and get some things?” I asked.

  He nodded, his eyes going to Keifer then back to me.

  I saw the warning for what it was.

  If he wasn’t there, Keifer very well might go a little crazy.

  I nodded, letting him know I could handle his brother, and he left without another word.

  “Isn’t he going to wait for what I tell him we need?” Skylar asked.

  “I’ll tell him. It’ll be faster, just in case Blythe goes faster than either of us anticipates,” I told her.

  She nodded, not questioning me or my decision, and went back to studying the monitor.

  “I’m not a baby doctor,” she admitted. “I’m very rusty on what needs to be done, so you’ll have to help me. You’ve had training for this as well, and I’m going to depend on you to be the check to my balance, okay?”

  And that’s how the next four hours went.

  Nikolai arrived back in less than two, his arms filled with sterile packages that I wondered how the hell he’d found.

  My guess was he’d gone up to the hospital and lifted it right from under their noses.

  It was all hospital grade, and not one item looked to come from the grocery store, but a major medical supply chain that supplied hospitals with their supplies.

  I didn’t bother asking, though.

  I’d leave that for a later date.

  “I think we’re ready to push,” Skylar said, fear leaking into her voice.

  I reached down and grabbed her hand.

  “We can do it,” I promised.

  And we did.

  We delivered the boy first, and the girl within five minutes after that.

  However, nearly instantly we realized that they weren’t going to be okay.

  Both of their lungs were very underdeveloped.

  The boy was worse than the girl, and both babies were sitting in their father’s arms as they struggled to draw breath.

  I was holding an oxygen mask over the girl, while Ian was doing the same for the boy.

  “You’ll have to let me hold him. I can keep him here long enough for you to take me to the hospital,” Ian said, his voice serious.

  I could tell Keifer didn’t want to let Ian have his child, but in the end he did what was best for the baby.

  Keifer placed the small boy into Ian’s arms and took the tiny girl into his arms with the portable oxygen around her little face. We all started to walk to the dragons that were crowded around the compound’s hospital.

  Even Angus, the little boy’s paired dragon, was there.

  He was usually a lot more anti-social, but in this instance, he was every bit as concerned as everyone else.

  And also the most useless. At least that’s what he was thinking.

  Angus had suffered a loss the day Nikolai’s dad died.

  Both dragon and King had gone down, and although the dragon hadn’t died like the king had, he might as well have.

  He was useless with only one wing.

  He was surly. Angry. And he hated anything that had to do with a Purist.

  He was best by himself and didn’t make any excuses for his behavior.

  Right then, though, I saw the devastation in his eyes as he watched Ian, Keifer, and Nikolai mount.

  “Take care of them,” Keifer said.

  My eyes widened as I looked back at Angus, whom the order had been directed to, and nearly smiled.

  Angus, now full of a purpose, nodded his head in understanding and acknowledgment.

  I will, my King.

  Then they all took flight, and I watched with my heart in my throat as they took off with the future King of Dragons and his baby sister.

  ***

  I dreaded walking back into the hospital room where Blythe was.

  I knew she was crying.

  Hell, I was crying.

  But I did it anyway, despite the foreboding that followed upon my heels.

  I met Skylar coming out just as I was about to go in and froze at the look of shocked terror on Skylar’s face.

  “What is it?” I asked the moment I took stock of her features.

  “She’s bleeding out.”

  I blinked.

  “But…” I stammered.

  She’d been doing fine!

  I went into the room to find Blythe so pale I could practically see the life draining out of her.

  “When did this happen?” I asked urgently, running up to the bed and grabbing a hold of Blythe’s hand.

  Blythe’s head rolled to the side.

  “Make sure you take care of them,” she whispered brokenly.

  “No!” I instantly denied. “You’ll take care of them! I don’t want them!”

  She smiled softly, then her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.

  “We have to take her to the heart,” I urged, pulling the blankets off her and throwing them to the floor.

  Skylar helped me, careful to leave the bag of fluids going into her in place.

  “I thought we couldn’t die!” I cried. “I thought we were immortal!”

  Skylar and I kicked the brakes off of the gurney and pushed her quickly out of the room.

  Merrick, his eyes glossed over with exhaustion, stood in the doorway of the entrance to the outside, watching us.

  “I’ve got a ride for you,” he said, his voice rough.

  Merrick had thought ahead. Sascha wasn’t able to carry that many people. Not in her weakened condition. Hell, we were all weakened.

  He looked about ready to fall, but I didn’t help him.

  Not only did I not have time, but I didn’t think he would appreciate it.

  I came outside once again to find Angus outside, and standing next to him were a couple of horses without saddles.

  I didn’t even question where they’d come from.

  I just ran up to one, used the mane to grab hold, and swung up into the saddle.

  I’d have to ask myself later how I managed to do it, because the horse had to be at least fifteen hands tall, and I was fairly sure the horse was wild.

  I’d never seen any horses here.

  Horses and dragons didn’t
get along.

  But right now, I didn’t ask questions.

  I smiled as Angus lifted Blythe up off the gurney with his tail, offering my hands out for her.

  He placed her somewhat gently into my arms, and then I gave a thumb’s up to Skylar, who managed to mount the other horse using the gurney as a step stool.

  Then we were off, praying the whole way that everything would be okay.

  Chapter 19

  When people ask me which is more important to Brooklyn, food or love, I don’t answer. Mostly because she’s eating.

  -Nikolai’s secret thoughts

  Nikolai

  “And you said the mother gave birth at home?” the nurse asked Keifer for the fifteenth time.

  “Listen, lady,” I said none too gently. “She’s on her way, trust me. But my brother has a helicopter that he used to get her here, and there’s only so many we can fit into the belly of it.”

  The nurse looked at me with anger, upset that I’d been so rude to her, but I couldn’t find it in me to care at that moment in time.

  I was pissed off, scared, and nauseous.

  Not to mention we’d been away from the twins for well over thirty minutes now while we were peppered with question after question regarding our involvement.

  “Something’s wrong,” Keifer said to me when the nurse finally left.

  I turned to him.

  “What?” I asked, sitting forward in my chair. “Is it the babies?”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s Blythe.”

  “What about her?” I asked, somewhat confused.

  When we’d left, she’d been fine. She’d actually been a rock, in fact.

  Keifer shook his head. “I don’t know. I just feel it…here.”

  He pointed to his chest, right where his heart beat below his hand, and I suddenly had the same odd feeling.

  Except I knew Brooklyn wasn’t hurt.

  I could feel that she was upset, though.

  Could practically hear her breathing as it accelerated.

  “Call her,” I said, handing him my phone.

  He was about to take it when the nurse who’d taken the babies earlier called his name.

  “Keifer Vassago?”

  Keifer turned to me. “Call her and figure it out.”

  Then he was gone, following after the woman who had taken his children away from him.