All I Want For Christmas Is My Mating Stone

All I Want For Christmas Is My Mating Stone Page 8

by Brenda Trim

  “Yes, Aun­tie Mack,” Izzy said with a roll of her eyes then hugged Kyran good­bye, and kissed Har­low on the top of her head. “Come back real soon, Har­low,” she cooed then skipped off to­ward Troy. Mack watched the two walk off, hold­ing hands, and was cer­tain Izzy would ig­nore her ad­vice.

  “You bet­ter watch over her,” Mack in­structed Blaze as he eyed the cou­ple.

  “I’ll do my best,” he replied then mum­bled, “Izzy’s stub­born to a fault.”

  “She gets that from my brathair,” Kyran in­formed Blaze with a nudge as he placed Har­low in Mack’s arms.

  She smiled down at the in­fant. Har­low was the sweet­est baby. Rarely cried and had the best tem­per­a­ment. Mack spent the en­tire night star­ing at her in awe. Well, most of the night, right af­ter Kyran rav­aged her body then passed out. She laid there, wait­ing for Har­low to open her eyes so they could spend time to­gether. Why hadn’t any­one told her how in­cred­i­ble these tiny be­ings were, or how much she would love her?

  Kyran turned to An­gus and Keira. “Al­ways good to see you, An­gus. Kiera, you take care of him,” he ad­vised then em­braced the king and queen.

  “And, you take care of this lit­tle drag­onette. She’s very spe­cial,” Keira mur­mured as she reached for Har­low.

  Mack placed her in the queen’s arms, and in­stantly missed her. She needed to get a grip. The last thing she wanted was to be one of those over­pro­tec­tive mom’s that gave their child no space.

  “Nate, I ex­pect you to help Mack and Kyran through this process. Drag­onettes can be verra un­pre­dictable,” An­gus re­minded him, and pinned Nate with a glare.

  “Yeah, I know, which is why I ad­vised against this. We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t burn down Zeum,” he coun­tered with a shake of his head.

  “Nate! Nate!” shouted a fe­male voice, and ev­ery­one looked to­ward the di­rec­tion of the sound.

  A volup­tuous woman came run­ning up to Nate, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him pas­sion­ately. Nate grabbed her ass, and the woman in­stantly wrapped her legs around his waist. It was a pub­lic dis­play of af­fec­tion that Mack would never for­get, no mat­ter how hard she tried. At one point, she was cer­tain pink parts would make an ap­pear­ance.

  Af­ter sev­eral min­utes of shame­less grop­ing, Nate set the woman down and turned to the group. “What can I say? Once they go Nate, no one else can sate,” he boasted with a wicked smile. The fe­male blushed all the way to her bleached roots then scur­ried away.

  The oth­ers looked at each other, wear­ing the same per­plexed ex­pres­sion then burst into laugh­ter. She had to give Nate credit. Dude was a lady-killer.

  Ev­ery­one said their fi­nal good­byes at the por­tal to Earth. Mack cra­dled Har­low closely as Kyran wrapped his arm around her waist. “Ready to go home?” he asked.

  Mack nod­ded ex­cit­edly. And then it hit her. The en­tire sit­u­a­tion with the mat­ing stones and be­ing sent to Khoth was en­gi­neered by Fate. Fate wanted them to be­come Har­low’s par­ents. That was why Dip­ple took the stones and why Mack trav­eled to Khoth. It was never about the miss­ing stones. Their trip to Khoth was so she and Kyran could be­come par­ents to this amaz­ing drag­onette.

  “Let’s do this,” she replied with a smile. The satchel of mat­ing stones was in her back­pack, her daugh­ter was in her arms, and her sexy mate was by her side. She was ready for any­thing.

  9

  As soon as Kyran stepped through the por­tal, and emerged into the grand foyer of Zeum, the vul­tures de­scended. Ev­ery fe­male in the house prac­ti­cally pounced on him. Kyran stepped in front of Mack to shield her and the baby, and Nate took stance be­side him. The dragon shifter acted like he wanted noth­ing to do with the drag­onette, but his pro­tec­tive in­stinct be­lied his words.

  “What hap­pened in Khoth?” Il­lianna asked, and her golden wings flut­tered at her side.

  “Did you find the stones?” Tori blurted.

  “How is Izzy?” Cai­lyn in­ter­jected as she cra­dled her preg­nant belly.

  The queen’s sis­ter was due about the same time as Elsie, and Kyran couldn’t help but won­der what was in the air at Zeum. He couldn’t keep track of all the ba­bies’ or their names and con­sid­ered mak­ing nametags for the grow­ing pop­u­la­tion.

  “Where’s Mack?” Bres­lin in­quired, and his sis­ter stepped to the front of the group. She was a for­mi­da­ble fe­male, and her dis­po­si­tion de­manded re­spect.

  The slew of ques­tions left Kyran’s head spin­ning. He made a men­tal note to send this group pf fe­males the next time they needed to in­ter­ro­gate an en­emy. Poor bas­tard wouldn’t stand a chance against their in­tense scru­tiny.

  He lifted his hands in sur­ren­der. “For the love of the God­dess, could you calm doon and let me an­swer one ques­tion at a time?”

  “We’ve been go­ing out of our minds since you left. Did you find the stones?” Tori re­peated, her tone laced with frus­tra­tion. Kyran didn’t miss her pained ex­pres­sion and hoped the re­turn of her mat­ing stone would bring in­stant re­lief.

  “Aye, we did.”

  “Kyran, where’s Mack?” Cai­lyn asked as she tried to see past him and Nate.

  Kyran moved to the side, and Mack stepped for­ward. Gasps filled the room as the fe­males got a glimpse of the small bun­dle cra­dled in her arms.

  “Um, I re­al­ize time goes by quicker in the dragon realm, but no’ that fast. Care to ex­plain, puithar?” Bres­lin asked Mack with a tilt of her head.

  “Ev­ery­one, I’d like you to meet Har­low. She was born while we were in Khoth. Her mother died dur­ing child­birth, and her fa­ther died in a re­cent min­ing ac­ci­dent. Har­low needed a home, so Kyran and I adopted her. I hope you’ll love her as much as we do,” Mack an­nounced as she twisted her torso so the oth­ers could get a bet­ter look at the baby.

  Kyran was pushed aside as the vul­tures sur­rounded Mack. Oohs and ahs ping-ponged from fe­male to fe­male as they stared at Har­low.

  “Mack, her eyes,” whis­pered Il­lianna. “I didn’t think I’d ever see eyes more unique than Rhys’s, but she might have him beat. They’re beau­ti­ful,” she re­marked as she ca­ressed Har­low’s cheek.

  Har­low stared up at the golden-winged an­gel as if she were spell­bound, and Kyran guessed his daugh­ter sensed Il­lianna’s true na­ture. Il­lianna was a Joy­bringer an­gel, and her pres­ence brought peace and com­fort. And, he agreed with Il­lianna’s com­ment. Rhys’s kalei­do­scopic eyes were one of a kind, but he’d never seen any­thing quite like his Har­low’s.

  “Har­low’s da, Jonah, car­ried the flame, as well. He was a de­scen­dant of the Pro­tec­tors of Mt. Ba­tia,” Kyran ex­plained to the fe­males.

  “She’s per­fect,” Cai­lyn gushed as she played with Har­low’s tiny hand. “Now, my lit­tle one will have an­other play­mate,” she added as she rubbed her round belly.

  “And, I canna wait to help de­sign the nurs­ery,” Bres­lin piped in with a wide smile. “I’m pic­tur­ing an en­chanted for­est with drag­ons, wood nymphs, and sprites.”

  “And, lots of sparkle,” Mack added with wide eyes.

  “I’ll cro­chet blan­kets, clothes, stuffed an­i­mals, what­ever you need. Just name it,” Shae of­fered Mack, and the fe­males jab­bered about the color scheme, fur­ni­ture, and painted mu­rals.

  Kyran rolled his eyes with a sigh. “God­dess help me. I thought I’d be able to by­pass the baby fever stage, but I guess I was wrong. Be­head me now, Nate,” he mut­tered to the male.

  “I heard that, leech. And, you’re not go­ing any­where. In fact, you’ve got Daddy-duty when us girls go shop­ping,” Mack in­formed Kyran then blew him a kiss.

  “Fine by me. I’ll teach this lit­tle war­rioress how to kick some de­mon arse,” he coun­tered as he looked over Mack’s shoul­der at Har­low. The ba
by’s gray eyes met his, and the gray flame flick­ered brightly. “See? She’s verra ex­cited about time with her da, aren’t you, aideen?”

  “What does that mean?” Mack asked cu­ri­ously.

  “Wee fire,” Kyran an­swered as he stared at the beau­ti­ful baby girl.

  “Aw, I love that,” his mate de­clared and stood on tip-toe, kiss­ing his cheek. She turned back to Cai­lyn and asked, “By the way, how’s Elsie?”

  “She had an­other scare, but Jace was able to sta­bi­lize her again,” Cai­lyn replied and Kyran saw the worry on the fe­male’s face.

  “Okay, here’s the deal. I know each of you is anx­ious for your stone, but I’d like to give Elsie hers first. Can you wait just a lit­tle longer?” Mack asked the group and met each fe­male’s gaze.

  Ev­ery­one nod­ded. “Of course. The Queen takes prece­dence. We’ll be wait­ing in the me­dia room,” Tori told Mack and the crowd cleared a path so Mack and Kyran could get through.

  “Doesn’t any­one want to hear about my visit?” Nate asked as he fol­lowed the fe­males down the hall­way. Kyran shook his head as the male spouted de­tails about his lat­est con­quest. He was grate­ful he didn’t have to hear that story again, Kyran thought as he and Mack made their way up­stairs to Zan­der and Elsie’s liv­ing quar­ters.

  “Brathair,” Zan­der voiced when they en­tered the king and queen’s bed­room. “Was the trip a suc­cess?” he asked and Kyran didn’t miss the spark of hope in his dark blue eyes.

  Elsie was ly­ing on the bed asleep, and his brother was sit­ting be­side her, hold­ing her hand. The queen was pale and looked sickly. Kyran prayed her mat­ing stone was the cure she needed.

  “The trip was ev­ery­thing we could’ve hoped for, and more,” Mack in­ter­jected as she made her way to the bed. “Zan­der, say hello to your niece, Har­low,” she in­tro­duced and handed the bun­dle to Kyran’s brother.

  Zan­der’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped as he cra­dled the baby. “I doona know what to say. How did this in­cred­i­bly beau­ti­ful bairn come into your lives?” he asked as he mar­veled at the lit­tle girl.

  “She was or­phaned at birth, and we just hap­pened to be in the right place at the right time. We couldn’t be more thrilled. She’s a true gift,” Mack ex­plained as she ca­ressed Har­low’s cheek.

  “Aye, she cer­tainly is. Con­grat­u­la­tions, brathair. You and Mack will be ex­cep­tional par­ents, and Elsie and I canna wait to spoil her,” Zan­der con­fessed with a wide smile.

  The com­mo­tion woke Elsie, and she stirred then opened her eyes. “Zan­der, did I hear my name?” she asked through a raspy voice.

  “Aye, a ghra. Mack and Kyran are back, and they have a sur­prise for you,” he replied and sat on the bed.

  Elsie blinked sev­eral times. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Meet Har­low,” Zan­der in­tro­duced and as­sisted Elsie in hold­ing the baby.

  “Oh, my. Aren’t you just an an­gel?” she cooed then glanced to Mack and Kyran and smiled. “I can’t wait to hear this story.”

  “I will tell you all about it in great de­tail, but first thing’s first,” Mack said as she un­zipped her back­pack and pulled out the leather satchel. “I be­lieve this be­longs to you,” she added and handed the large Sap­phire stone to Elsie.

  Elsie’s eyes bulged, and she shifted Har­low into the crook of her arm as she ac­cepted the mat­ing stone with her free hand. “Mack, Kyran, thank you so much. I feared I would never see it again,” she mut­tered as tears filled her eyes.

  “Your baby is safe now,” Mack de­clared as she took a seat be­side Elsie on the bed. Kyran grabbed a nearby chair and placed it be­side Mack.

  “It’s crazy, but I feel bet­ter al­ready. The baby is stronger now,” Elsie pro­fessed and shared a look with Zan­der. Her gaze was filled with re­lief, joy, and love.

  Kyran twined his hand with Mack’s and thanked the God­dess for his bless­ings. Noth­ing meant more to him than fam­ily, and he vowed to pro­tect Mack and Har­low un­til his last breath.

  Elsie turned her at­ten­tion back to Mack. “How is Iso­bel?”

  “She’s great. And, so beau­ti­ful! My God, she’s a knock­out,” Mack re­layed then pro­ceeded to tell Elsie and Zan­der about their trip to Khoth and up­date them on Izzy.

  “Then, this floozy showed up and dry-fucked Nate as we were leav­ing. It was the cherry on top of the sun­dae,” Mack con­cluded at the end of her story.

  Elsie and Zan­der burst into laugh­ter which roused Har­low. She let out a wail, and Mack took her from Elsie’s arms. “I think some­body’s hun­gry,” Mack cooed then turned to Kyran. “Let’s get her fed, and de­liver these Christ­mas good­ies,” she said and eyed the bag of mat­ing stones.

  “Brathair, we’ll check in later, and see how Elsie’s do­ing,” Kyran promised and em­braced Zan­der then Elsie.

  “Zan­der and I get first dibs on babysit­ting,” Elsie said to their re­treat­ing backs as Kyran and Mack left their suite.

  “I need to run a quick er­rand,” Kyran in­formed Mack as they walked to their liv­ing quar­ters. “Think you and Har­low will be okay with­oot me for a bit?”

  “What kind of er­rand?” Mack asked cu­ri­ously. “We just got home.”

  “I’ll be back be­fore you have time to miss me,” Kyran promised, and kissed Mack briefly be­fore he dashed to­ward the stair­way.

  “Bring me some­thing to eat. I’m starv­ing,” Mack yelled af­ter him.

  Kyran stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoul­der. “So am I, mate,” he replied with a wry grin. “So am I.”

  Mack pat­ted Har­low’s back un­til she burped. “Ooh, that was a big one. I bet you feel bet­ter,” she cooed as she cra­dled the baby, gen­tly bounc­ing her.

  She was sur­prised how nat­u­rally this moth­er­hood thing came to her. She al­ways thought she’d fum­ble through it, mak­ing mis­take af­ter mis­take. Not that she was an ex­pert af­ter one day, but she wasn’t a to­tal fail­ure, ei­ther.

  Mack walked over to the Christ­mas tree, so Har­low could look at the col­or­ful lights. “Do you see the sparkly star on top?” Mack whis­pered to her daugh­ter then started singing, “When you wish upon a star, makes no dif­fer­ence who you are, any­thing your heart de­sires will come to you.”

  Har­low gazed into her eyes as she sang the lul­laby, and Mack fell deeper in love with her pre­cious daugh­ter. Her heart was fuller than she ever thought pos­si­ble.

  What started as a mis­sion to find her mat­ing stone turned into the great­est gift imag­in­able. Mack stared at the sparkly star atop the tree, and thanked God and the God­dess for bless­ing her and Kyran with Har­low. Her world was com­plete. And, she vowed to never again doubt Fate’s machi­na­tions.

  Mack hummed softly, and Har­low’s eyes slipped closed. “Sweet dreams, aideen,” she whis­pered, and placed a kiss on her fore­head.

  The door to their suite opened, and her scrump­tious vam­pire swag­gered into the room. Mack pe­rused her mate and let out a sigh. He oozed sex­i­ness. From his low-slung jeans and tight-fit­ting shirt, to his dark hair and beard. Damn, she was one lucky woman.

  Her mate was loaded down with bags and car­ried a pizza box. “Fire­cracker, I’m home,” he barked, and Mack gave him a harsh stare.

  “Shh,” she hissed.

  “Sorry,” he whis­pered sheep­ishly, and she couldn’t help but smile. Kyran was go­ing to be the best dad. He was lov­ing, pro­tec­tive, and true.

  He set down the bags and placed the pizza on the din­ing ta­ble then walked over to Mack. His mouth claimed hers in a scorch­ing kiss, and Mack’s body ex­ploded with de­sire. She al­most for­got she was hold­ing Har­low un­til the in­fant squirmed in her arms. Mack broke the kiss, and walked to the nearby bassinet, and gen­tly put Har­low in­side.

  “Where did that come from?” Kyran whis­pered as he sto
od be­hind Mack, peer­ing over her shoul­der.

  “Zan­der brought it by. Said we could use it un­til we buy fur­ni­ture. And, he de­liv­ered the mat­ing stones for me,” she ex­plained as she turned around and wrapped her arms around Kyran’s neck.

  “So, we have some pri­vate time all to our­selves?” he asked with a raised brow.

  “Mm hmm,” Mack replied. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Well, first, I think you need to eat some pizza,” he mut­tered as he nuz­zled the side of her neck.

  His soft whiskers tick­led her skin, and Mack gig­gled. “Then what?”

  “Pos­si­bil­i­ties are end­less,” he mur­mured against her ear, and a shiver slid down her spine.

  Kyran re­leased his hold and walked to the large card­board box then handed her a slice of pep­per­oni pizza. Her stom­ach rum­bled, and Mack prac­ti­cally ate the en­tire slice in one bite. As she fin­ished her food, Mack eyed the pack­ages cu­ri­ously. “What’s in the bag, Santa?”

  “Gifts for you and Har­low. Christ­mas is in two days, and we doona have any gifts be­neath our tree,” he pointed out as he took the gift-wrapped pack­ages and placed them un­der the dec­o­rated tree.

  “Since when do you get ex­cited about Christ­mas?” she asked with a hand on her hip. She knew it was be­cause of Har­low, but she wanted to hear him say it.

  “Since I met you,” he pro­fessed, and she fell in love with Kyran all over again. He never ceased to amaze her with his kind heart. “This one you can open now,” he told her with a smile and handed her a small vel­veteen box.

  Her heart skipped a beat as she lifted the lid. In­side was a sil­ver chain, and a charm dan­gled from the cen­ter. The charm was made of twisted wire shaped into a flame of fire. Stamped into the metal was the name Har­low.

  Mack gazed at the beau­ti­ful gift then her sexy vam­pire. Ev­ery time she thought she couldn’t pos­si­bly love him more, he proved her wrong. “This is the best gift. Thank you,” she mut­tered and handed it to Kyran to put around her neck. “How does it look?”

 

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