Amethyst Storms (Primordial Protectors #1)

24. Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ionus

“It has been said that the protectors harness the energies of the elements, straight from the Goddess herself.” Baird’s curious gaze met mine. “Is it true?”

“Aye. I can conjure and call forth the storms.”

“I harness the power of earth,” Caro proudly stated.

“My gift is venom, deadly to all, including dragons.” Quint wasn’t overly proud of what the Goddess had gifted him with, and it took him eons to learn to control it. Poor guy had blue balls the size of Montana until he had.

“For me, I have the power to command water to do my bidding.” If Mattias had his way, that guy would live in the water with Poseidon himself. Though as strong-willed as Mattias was, the ultimate war of the seas would occur as he and Poseidon’s thick heads clashed.

Odem blew out a fiery ball and contained it in the palm of his hand. “While all dragons breathe fire, I can control it.” The red and orange orb flew around the room much like a boomerang then returned to him.

“Whoa, that was freaking cool.” Alexander’s response led to a round of chuckles.

“It’s only cool until one of ours tries to copy Uncle Odem,” I pressed my lips to my mate’s head, drawing in his familiar and calming scent. No one knew what lay ahead in the coming days, but I had faith our expanding clan would be just as protective as my brothers and I were and in the end, we’d persevere.

“None of you possess gifts to be ignored and those combined with Drakemyre blood are surely to wreak havoc on our enemies and your home.” More laughter from our guests and brothers but damn it if Baird’s words weren’t true. We’d never be able to leave the younglings unattended for even a single moment until they’d learned to control their powers.

“Yes, training from the onset will be of the utmost importance.” As will be placing multiple fire extinguishers throughout the house.

“A storm is brewing. I can feel it and it’s not one of my own creations. We’ll be back to training at the break of dawn and will need to assist Larkin with patrols.” We all felt the unknown presence at Knox’s property, though we saw nothing which bothered me even more. An invisible threat was one of the worst kinds.

“Larkin?” Baird asked.

“Our chief of police and fellow dragon. We’ll be sure to introduce you to him tomorrow as well when we visit Emerson. Would you and your clan like to join my brothers and I on the practice field where we first landed tomorrow?”

Baird answered for his clan. “Aye, we would. Thank you for the offer. I for one look forward to training with the chosen ones.”

I hoped and prayed the chosen ones didn’t let anyone down.

“Fair warning,” Quint sneered, “Ionus doesn’t go easy on us.”

“All I ask is that you remember how long we’ve slumbered. Building up our stamina may take a bit of time.”

“Duly noted, Baird.”

How our lives, my brothers and I, that was, went from ones of solitude to houses filled with extended family and new friends was nothing short of mind blowing. Long gone was the grouchy eldest sibling, replaced by a father-to-be who happily welcomed them all. My heart was filled to the brim as was our home, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Everything good, mate?

Never better, my love. Never better.

“Well then, I have a tired pregnant mate to put to bed.” Right on cue, Alexander yawned. “So, we will have to bid you goodnight. Baird, we have a couple of spare rooms, and my brothers do as well. Stay wherever you wish and help yourselves to whatever you need.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Ionus. Great grandson, it was a pleasure to meet you, and I can’t wait to meet my great-great grandchildren.” Baird embraced Alexander who was all smiles.

“This has been one of the best, yet most terrifying days of my life.” Alexander fell back onto our bed. I knelt to remove his shoes and began undressing him for our shower.

“How was it terrifying?”

“Not knowing what was happening with you guys. That’s why Odem helped keep me busy, so my mind was occupied.”

“I’ll have to thank him for that.”

Odem, thank you for taking care of my family today.

No thanks required, brother. That’s what family is for.

I appreciate all of you.

Someone is having pregnancy hormones.

I’ll remember that in the morning, Quint, when I work you twice as hard.

That shut him up.

“My great grandfather is here, and Gramps is so happy now. I only wish my parents could be here for the birth of our babies. They’d love you and your brothers.”

“I’m sure they would. I’m sorry you suffered a horrible loss and at such a young age.” Our younglings weren’t even here and yet the idea of leaving them crushed me.

Alexander and I stood beneath the warm spray. My arms around him, my hands rested on his belly as our littles ones danced inside their eggs.

“Every time they do that the vibrations make me pee.”

My laughter only served to further fuel theirs.

“Sorry, not sorry. You’ve brought me such tremendous joy, Alexander.”

He twisted in my arms to face me, though his belly put a gap between us. “Same. I’m just so overwhelmed and so, I don’t know. At the risk of sounding corny, it’s like we’re surrounded by all this love.”

“You are and you deserve it. We should start thinking about names. What do you think of Griffin, after my father, for the first born male and Luna, it was my mother’s name, for our daughter?”

“I love both names. But that leaves two.”

“It does. Any suggestions?”

His face scrunched up as he thought hard.

“Hmm, let me think on it. Are you going to be traveling around a lot and helping with the search for more clans?”

“No, my love. My part will be done from here. It’s already a challenge for you to move around and each passing day will become increasingly harder. My job is to be here with my pregnant mate. He and our eggs are what’s most important to me. Caro can lead the expeditions, and I’ll stay behind and assist Emerson.”

“Whew, that is a weight off me. The stairs are kicking my ass, and we only have a matter of weeks before the eggs come. I’d like to have the nest and the nursery done by then if we can. I have a feeling I’ll be glued to the eggs until they hatch so I won’t be of much help.”

“I’d expect nothing less. Now, let’s towel off and let me worship you the way you deserve.”

“Dear Goddess, do you put yourselves through this torture on a daily basis by choice?” Angus flopped over, his impressive wingspan spread across the practice pitch.

“There was a time we did until this one,” Odem pointed my way, “got hitched up.”

“Got hitched up? What is this, a rerun of the Beverly Hillbillies ?”

“ Beverly Hillbillies ?” Angus questioned.

“You’ve missed much, my friend. Let’s call it a day and hit the showers before we head into town.”

One by one, my brothers and our guests landed mid-shift. How wonderful it would be to fly with my mate. If the archives Emerson quoted were true, there was a strong possibility that could happen.

My love, do you wish to go into town with us? I believe we have many packages to pick up. Where are you?

I’m in the nursery upstairs.

“Where did all the furniture go?”

“Odem took it to his house yesterday and made a guest room with it. What do you think of this color scheme?” Alexander had tacked a few color swatches to the wall.

“Honestly, if all four will be in the same room I feel a neutral pallet would be best. If you’re going with this light purple and light pink, I’d recommend a light yellow and use those two shades as accents.”

“Good call. Now, what were you asking when you first came in?”

I couldn’t help it. Anytime I was near him my hands automatically gravitated to his belly.

“Did you want to go into town with us? I’m not sure how long we’ll be there but I do know we have packages to retrieve from the post office.” Likely a truckload between what Alexander and I had both ordered. “I’ve commissioned Raven’s cousin, Jacob, he’s a woodworker and quite a talented one at that, to make their bassinets and cribs.”

“Ionus, that sounds wonderful. Thank you for handling that, nothing more than bedding caught my eye when I shopped. I was clueless with furnishings. Do you think he’d make their dressers and changing tables, too? I think two changing tables, four bassinettes, four cribs, four dressers. That way when they go into their own rooms they’ll already have their own dressers.”

I laughed. “I’ll put the call out to him momentarily.” We’d surely have enough work to put Jacob on the payroll. “Thankfully, the cribs will be a few months out but the bassinettes we will need first.”

“True. The contractor will be here tomorrow to create the pass-through to the library. I’ll bring him up here to see the color palette we’ve chosen. Then he can get to work on the nursery next. Sound like a plan?”

He turned his head and kissed me. “Absolutely.”

“I think I’ll come with. It’ll be nice to get out of the house for a while. Maybe we can do some shopping?”

“We definitely need to take two of the vans today.” One for bodies and one for packages and a skinny space for the driver to slide into.

Brothers, it appears my mate wishes to do more shopping in town and given the number of parcels we have at the post office, we’ll need to take a second van today.

I’ll ride with you guys.

Thanks, Odem.

We’re waiting on you guys. Everyone else is in the garage. Raven left earlier to meet with the council.

We’ll be right down.

“Time to go, my love. They’re waiting on us.”

“Oh shoot, give me a minute to put my shoes on.”

“Let me help you.” Sandals were about all he could slide into these days since he could no longer reach nor see his feet to tie his shoes.

We loaded up into the vans and hit the road with Caro acting as our chauffeur.

“Will they come out of the eggs and fly immediately?” Alexander randomly asked during the drive.

“Not normally, at least not that I recall but then again, nothing about this pregnancy has followed the books.” I honestly couldn’t remember ever having seen a youngling, to be honest. “Caro, have you seen any younglings?”

“I don’t think so. But you guys are having the first set of identical twins and four at once, though our parents had five. What do you think the fates are trying to tell us?”

Great question. “Your guess is as good as mine, though I do believe as we locate more clans that the four of you will indeed find your mates.”

“I think one of us already has.”

“What did I miss?” Alexander perked up. “Who’s next?”

“There’s been no confirmation but Caro.”

That was to be kept between us.

My bad.

“I wonder if the eggs will come early since one is a double?”

And thankfully, Alexander’s mind was back on babies.

“We can ask Sarah when she stops by to check on you this week.” That spawned a thought. By normal standards, or so we’d been told, Alexander would be laying the eggs in a few weeks. But given the number of them it could honestly be sooner than that. There was no way he could carry all that for a full three months. He was already quite large, though I’d never tell him that. We had a lot to do and potentially only a small window of time in which to do it.

When we pulled up to Emerson’s warehouse, Larkin was waiting outside.

“Morning, Larkin. Everything all right?”

“Morning, Ionus, Odem. Alex, how are you feeling?”

“Swollen.”

Larkin laughed. “Understandable. Let’s step inside and talk.” Larkin glanced around as though something, or someone lurked nearby.

“Who’s there?” Emerson’s nervous voice came through the speaker.

“Emerson, you know who’s here. Please scan us and let us in.”

“There are more than normal. Who are the other five?”

“Emerson, please don’t make me pull rank,” Caro growled beside me.

Stand down, brother.

He didn’t like that but now was not the time for sibling rivalry nor did I mean Emerson any harm and he knew that.

“Please trust me, Emerson.”

Reluctantly, he completed the scans and allowed us inside.

“What is the meaning of this, Ionus?”

This man had truly forgotten to whom he spoke. “Emerson, as clan leader I must remind you to not question my actions.” That shut him up, but Caro was livid. “This is Baird Drakemyre.”

Emerson’s eyes widened as the name sank in.

“And what remains of the Drakemyre clan. Ignatus, Angus, Elgin, Rory, and Hamish.” One by one they shook his hand. “They have pertinent information for you, and we believe there are others in hiding as well.”

“Yes, yes. Very exciting,” he chattered. “Please, come inside.”

Caro, a word, please.

As soon as the others were in the archive I slid the oversized door shut.

“Caro, you and I both know what’s going on here and you need to quit hiding it.”

Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve tried to talk to him, but he won’t listen.”

“Then take control. In case you can’t tell, that is what he needs. He’s had no guidance and no support. He needs someone he can count on and more than anything, he needs his mate and to mate. If you catch what I mean. His erratic behavior, the way he locks himself away from everyone. It’s all right there. And must I remind you, I would never hurt him, but he only seems to respond to direct commands.”

“My apologies, brother, but my dragon…”

“Yes, I know all too well how dragons react in these situations. But do us both a favor and get a grip, and for the love of all dragons, help that poor boy before his last shred of sanity is gone.”

“Aye.”

As soon as Caro stepped inside the room, Larkin came out.

“Ionus. There’s an unfamiliar presence in town and it didn’t trip the wards. I know this sounds insane, but I can feel it.”

“We did too when we woke the others but found nothing, either. Let’s hope it’s friend and not foe and keep our eyes and senses open. Tonight, my brothers and I will begin patrols. We’ll take turns and keep you abreast.”

“It’s my fear that war is near.”

“You’re not alone in that feeling, my friend. Keep us apprised.”

“Will do.”