by Ines Johnson
“No,” Cardi whimpered. Not yet. “But I’m cramping.” The truth. “I think I might lose the babies. I need to see a doctor.”
“There are no doctors in the Veil. You need to lay down and eat.”
“Yeah,” said Cardi. “About that…”
They both looked at the burning bed. Not like she could rest while the bed was burning. Wasn’t there a song about that.
“This is some kind of trick.” Gneiss took another step towards her.
Cardi was brought back to that first night when he’d come for her. He’d looked at her like a dirty old grandfather. He was looking at her the same way now.
“I should make sure you are with whelps,” he said. His gnarled hand unfurled as he reached for her.
Cardi scrambled backward but her back was already against the wall. His hands were on her. His rough skin felt like coarse leather. His hot breath smelled like death.
For any other woman, all the fight would have gone out of her. Cardi wasn’t any other woman. There was fire in her blood. She kicked him, right in the dragonfruit with the heel of her shoes.
Gneiss doubled over. Cardi fell in a lump to the ground. Her elbow scraped against the wall. Her knees collided with the hard, stone floor. But she couldn’t let the pain consume her. Gneiss would rally soon and she was out of options.
She tried to stand, but her legs were wobbly. Little birdies flew around her head. Smoke filled her nostrils. She rolled to her knees and began to crawl.
Gneiss’ big body blocked the door and she didn’t want to get ensnared by his claws as she tried to escape. But she couldn’t go towards the window. The fire she’d made with her cross was too bright. And it glowed brighter when three dragons flapped their wings as they came in for a landing.
Dragons. Three of them. One the blue of topaz. Another the black of jade. And the third, the one in front, had a sparkly underbelly that gleamed like diamonds.
Kimber shifted. His naked body was glorious in front of the burning cross. He was a saint come to rescue his Madonna and child. Well, eventual child.
Kimber stalked into the room. But he didn’t go to his father. He came directly to her.
“You came,” Cardi breathed.
“I heard you call my name.” He motioned his head to the burning cross which was on its last embers.
Scooping her into his arms, he turned his back on his father without so much as a glance and strode to the window.
“What about him?” Cardi asked.
“Ilia wants a word with him,” said Kimber. “So, I gave him dibs.”
Ilia kissed Cardi on the forehead. Then he walked into the bedroom. The sounds of screams trailed them as Cardi climbed on Kimber’s back and he flew them home.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Are you sure this is what human females consider attractive?”
Kimber tugged at the satin sash wrapped around his waist. The pink piece of fabric caught the light, making Kimber wince at its shine. He couldn’t help but wonder if he looked like he was wearing a child’s diaper.
“Trust me,” said Ilia as he affixed that adult pamper in place at his back. “This was the height of fashion in Cardi’s time.”
Kimber moved from the sash to the strings hanging from around his neck. The beaded strand of jewelry was tight enough to nearly choke him. “Are you sure this is a tie?”
“It’s a choker,” said Ilia, tightening the pendant just below Kimber’s chin. “This will make you irresistible. Ducky wore one in Pretty in Pink.”
“Ducky? Wasn’t he the male who didn’t get the girl?”
Ilia scrunched up his nose. “It doesn’t matter. You got the girl.”
Kimber had gotten the girl. And tonight he was going to show Cardi just how much she meant to him. They all were.
They were all gathered together back in the castle. Corun and Chryssie’s whelps were progressing nicely under the watchful printouts of the sonogram machine. Beryl and Poppy had returned from their honeymoon, still unable to keep their hands off each other. And now Cardi was back, safe and sound and somewhat obedient. Well, only at night in their bedroom when he tied her down and pleasured her until she passed out.
There wasn’t a single threat left to her or any of his family now that Gneiss was no longer. Kimber had not asked for the details of how Ilia and Rhoyl dealt with their father. His major focus from the moment he had Cardi returned to his arms was her wellbeing and her happiness.
Kimber caught his brother’s gaze in the mirror. The spark had gone from Ilia’s eyes. The male looked as though he’d aged a few years. Kimber knew there was only one thing that could cure that malaise.
“You’re next, brother,” said Kimber.
“The Valkyrie have not agreed to your terms,” Ilia dismissed his brother’s words, looking even more forlorn.
True, Hilda hadn’t raised the ban. But she also hadn’t said no. There was still hope.
The two males went down into the Great Hall where the others were gathered. It looked as though a fairy had vomited silver and gold all along the walls and ceilings. Metallic streamers and balloons rained down from the rafters. A disco ball spun, casting the room in alternating colors of the rainbow. There was a large banner hanging down that read Back to the Future after a film Cardi had made them all watch.
The room was filled with family and friends. The wolves and bears were on the dance floor, trying to recreate a fight scene from a dance film. Unfortunately, dancing didn’t come naturally to the shifters and they looked as though they were having seizures. The lions were fighting over whose turn it was on the video game console.
And then there was Cardi herself.
She walked down the stairs a vision in white taffeta and pink tule. “Oh, Kimmy, it’s perfect.”
Kimber swooped her into his arms before she could make it to the last stair. “It’s all for you.”
“My very own prom,” she squealed.
“Prom? I thought this was a homecoming.”
“We’re crashing this party, bitches.”
Kimber looked over to see a horde of Valkyrie flooding into the castle. He would’ve tensed, but it looked as though they’d left their weapons outside. Not that they needed their swords to go toe to toe with shifters.
“We heard you were having an I Got My Cherry Popped Bash,” said Morrigan.
Cardi’s lips twisted, as though she had used those exact words. Then she gave Kimber a shrug before embracing Morrigan. Kimber could only sigh. He knew who and what he’d mated; a vivacious, opinionated, beautiful, desirable woman whose cherry he would be bashing much sooner than later.
“Hey, Ilia,” said Siggy, “come dance with me.”
“Thanks, Siggy, but I’m fine.” Ilia leaned against the wall as he watched his brothers and their mates, and now the Valkyrie shake their bodies to the sounds of Holiday.
“But didn’t you hear, you’ve got something to celebrate. We twisted Hildy’s arm and she agreed to reopen the Veil.”
Ilia kicked off the wall. “She agreed?”
“Agreed…” Morrigan shrugged. “Cried uncle… same difference.”
Ilia pumped his fists in the air and joined the fray. Word spread quickly through the gathered shifters that they had regained the right to pop the cherries of their own mates soon. It turned into a wild night after that.
The strands of Madonna’s True Blue played on the speakers. Kimber spun his mate in his arms and moved to the center of the room to dance.
“Thank you, Kimber.”
“For what?”
“For finally seeing me for who I really am.”
“I never knew love before until you walked through my door,” Kimber parroted the lyrics of the song, unashamed that he knew all the words.
Cardi’s eyes glowed with adoration. That’s why he wasn’t ashamed. Anything that would make her smile at him like that, he’d happily wrap himself around her finger to accomplish.
“You fit me like a glove,” he said, riffing
off the song. “I love you, Cardinal.”
For the first time since he’d known her, Cardi didn’t have a witty come back. Her lips trembled. Her eyes watered. “I love you, too.”
Kimber dipped his head and sampled the sweetness that he would be devouring later tonight. Likely, sooner rather than later. When could they fashionable leave their Homecoming Prom?
Turns out the answer was five minutes after it began.
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Also by Ines Johnson
Aside from being a writer, professional reader, and teacher, INES JOHNSON is a very bad Buddhist. She sits in sangha each week, and while others are meditating and getting their zen on, she's contemplating how to use the teachings to strengthen her plots and character motivations.
Ines writes books for strong women who suck at love. If you rocked out to the twisted triangle of Jem, Jericha, and Rio as a girl; if you were slayed by vampires with souls alongside Buffy; if you need your scandalous fix from Olivia Pope each week, then you'll love her books! You can reach Ines at her website www.ineswrites.com or on Facebook.
The Last Dragons (Paranormal Romance)
The Dragon’s Reluctant Sacrifice
The Dragon’s Ambivalent Sacrifice
The Dragon’s Willing Sacrifice
The Knights of Caerleon (Paranormal Romance)
First Knight
One Knight
The Misadventures of Dame Galahad (Urban Fantasy)
Spear of Destiny
Ring of Gyges
Hammer of God
The Nia Rivers Adventures (Urban Fantasy)
Dragon Bones
Demeter's Tablet
Templar Scrolls
Serpent Mound
Eden's Garden
The Moonkind Series (Paranormal Romance)
Moonlight
Moonrise
Moonfall
The Cindermama Series (Contemporary Fairytale Retellings)
Pumpkin
Rumpeled
Beau
The Bright Series (Paranormal Romance)
Bright
