Chapter 9 #2
When those don’t work, they resort to underhanded measures, like back rubs and plying me with food.
The nausea that was plaguing me seems to have gone, and in its place is an almost insatiable hunger.
My belly grows bigger and Del stays close by almost all the time, giving me support whenever I start to panic, which, as the due date that she calculated draws closer, increases.
Dread is my constant companion. Sometimes I can’t breathe for the anxiety I’m drowning in, and Drey or Tor hold me while Brax sends me feelings of calm.
They help, but there’s only one thing that will stop it, and that’s to actually have the baby.
As the time gets closer, under all the negative emotions, I feel excited.
I think.
In the evenings, we read and talk. We get to know each other and play board games.
I find that Drey has a streak of humor in him.
He makes me laugh until my sides hurt constantly.
He gets stronger as the days pass and recovers from the dragonsbane poisoning almost completely.
I’m surprised to find that all three of my dragons grew up together almost a thousand years ago.
Getting my twenty-three year old human head around that isn’t easy, but we settle into a day to day normalcy.
Spring is in full swing and the earth blooms all around us in this untouched valley.
It’s like a utopia. I want our time here to last forever. Everything is perfect.
Until it’s not.
It’s been seven weeks since we came here, and bar the claiming with Drey, and the cuddles and kisses they give me freely, none of my three dragon mates have touched me no matter how much I plead or cajole or throw myself at them.
I know it’s because they don’t want to hurt me accidentally, but I’m stronger than they know, and I need them.
Finally, the frustration has me coming up with a plan that, knowing how much they enjoy chasing their prey, I hope will work.
I choose a sunny afternoon, and I put a note on the table while they’re outside having one of their clandestine conversations.
I leave the house and walk slowly up through the glen to the forest trails.
I don’t run. I can’t now, I’m just too round.
Despite my slow pace, though, I’m panting and sweating within half an hour and I’m seriously regretting my life choices.
I don’t even notice anything out of the ordinary until there’s a rag over my nose and mouth, and the world goes dark.
‘Where the hell is she?’ Tor snarls as we tear through the house.
With every empty room, my fears grow. Even the scent of her is muted, like she hasn’t been here in hours. But maybe that’s just my heightened emotions playing tricks.
‘I found something!’ I hear Drey say, and I hop over the mezzanine from the master bedroom without a second thought, slamming down onto the floor with a thud to get down there quicker.
A shelf falls from one of the walls, shattering a large vase, but I ignore it, my panicked eyes finding Drey. He’s holding a piece of paper in his hand. He thrusts it at me with a snarl and I glance over it.
‘Fuck! When did she leave?’
Tor makes it down the stairs and reads the note quickly. ‘She can’t have been gone for more than an hour. We would have noticed.’
Del runs in from the porch at that moment, her face grim.
‘What is it?’ Drey asks. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘We need to find her,’ Del gasps. ‘Now! I smelled another dragon on the wind. Julius.’
‘Aziel’s second.’ My heart stops and I reach out again, trying to find her as I have been since we realized she wasn’t in the house, but the sense I usually have of her in the fringes of my mind is missing.
‘It’s too late. She’s not here,’ I say quietly.
How did we let this happen? This was supposed to be our safe place. No one knew about it.
‘She has to be,’ Drey snarls angrily. ‘You’d have noticed if she was taken. You’d have felt it.’
I shake my head.
‘That’s not how it works, Drey,’ I growl.
‘He has her. We need to go back to the mountain as soon as possible.’ Tor paces the room. ‘He’ll kill her if he figures out she’s not carrying a human child.’
‘But he’ll know as soon as he sees her. She’s full-term in three months.’
‘But he never actually saw her when she came to the mountain. He might not realize, at least at first. And he never lived in the human world, not even before the Fall. He’s ignorant of them in many ways. We have a chance.’
‘Del?’
She holds up her hand, her ear pressed to her phone. ‘I’m telling the females what’s happening.’
‘Is that wise? What if one of them—’
‘All of them left when I sent them that footage.’ Her eyes flash. ‘Every single one. Even Raina was horrified, and she was very much aboard the Aziel ship. I trust them and we’ll need them, Drey. If Aziel’s allies fight us, we’ll need every friend we can get.’
He sighs, but nods. ‘You’re right.’ He hesitates. ‘Tell them about the baby, too.’
‘What?’ I grate out. ‘But—’
I look to Tor, but my friend is nodding. ‘This is what will sway the faction back our way, Brax. If she’s in the mountain, it could ensure her safety if the females get there before we can.’
Del looks surprised, but then nods, going into her room talking. She comes back out a minute later with her med bag and a sword.
‘Let’s fucking go get your mate back!’ she snarls.
We’re in the air within five minutes, not even bothering to lock up the cabin, all of us hoping that we’ll return to it soon.
We’d all wanted more time. With Mari. With the baby.
But the flood has come, and we can’t keep the rising waters back any longer.
The plan of returning only after we’d exposed Aziel’s treachery beyond a shadow of a doubt is in tatters.
By taking our mate, he’s forced our hand, and he’ll pay in blood.
We fly together in diamond formation, Drey in the lead with Tor and me on each side and Del bringing up the rear.
The four of us tear toward the home we left almost two months ago, not knowing what we might find. But so long as we find Mari safe and sound, I don’t think any of us much care anymore.
We find when we get closer that there are great pits and crevices around the mountain that weren’t there when we left, scorched earth and blackened trees, as if our home has been attacked from above.
I fear another faction has taken us at our weakest, but when we look closer, we notice that all the secret ways in and out have been destroyed except the main entrance.
Our own brethren must have done this. Why?
At first I assume it’s so that we have to land in the high cavern, and we can easily be attacked. Though it’s likely a trap, we approach because there’s no other way in now. But as we all touch down, it’s to a noticeable lack of guards.
There’s no one here. At all.
Eyes open for ambushes, we go as far as we're able in our dragon forms before the bottleneck halts our progress. We change and throw on our clothes quickly, our weapons in our hands in case we’re drawn into fighting in places too small for our dragons.
‘Where the fuck is everyone?’ Del whispers.
I shake my head as we make our way through the deserted halls. Del and Tor split off to take the long way into the main hall from the other direction while Drey and I continue on. By the time we get to the main door, we still haven't seen or heard anyone.
I side eye the Commander. ‘What do you think?’ I say low.
He shakes his head. ‘I don't know what to think except that Aziel, or one of the Three Stooges always sniffing after him can scent mask, maybe even muffle sound. That would explain how they were able to get into my rooms and not leave a trace behind.’
I incline my head and then purse my lips in thought. ‘Who could have that power? It’s so rare. He kept it under wraps, that’s for sure. Bron’s dead so it wasn’t him. It can't have been Julius because otherwise he would have hidden his scent when he came to grab Mari.’
‘That leaves Glenen and Tobias. If you see him in there, be careful. He might have other tricks up his sleeve.’
I nod. ‘On three?’
‘One. Two Three!’
We burst into the main hall and stop short.
Whatever we thought we’d find behind this door, it wasn’t a normal mealtime.
But that’s what we find. Everyone is doing what they usually do, and now that we're inside the room, we can hear them doing it. Idle chatter, knives and forks on plates. They don’t even look surprised to see us. It’s sort of anticlimactic, actually.
My eyes find the throne Drey always wanted to get rid of. I thought for sure Aziel would be on it, lording it over everyone, but it’s empty.
‘Where is Aziel?’ Drey booms.
Everyone stops what they’re doing and stares dully.
‘Commander,’ one of the nearest males says slowly. ‘We thought you were at the Borderlands.’
‘Didn’t you hear the Commander? I growl at him. ‘He asked where Aziel is!’
The male blinks slowly. ‘Haven't seen him in days.’ He frowns as he looks down at his plate. ‘I think it’s been days.’
We leave the unhelpful male and start slowly across the room, keeping our weapons drawn. As we do, the lights flicker on and off a few times.
‘That’s not usual,’ I mutter.
‘I am the Commander of this faction!’ Drey yells suddenly. ‘What happened here?’
‘Commander?’
Orin, Tor’s young protégé comes forward. He’s glancing at the others in the room, his confusion evident at the way they’re all acting. He bows low.
‘Commander, we haven't heard from you in weeks. We were told you joined Tor and Brax in the Borderlands, but Bron disappeared. We thought you all had as well, killed by humans. Aziel told us to expect the worst. But,’ he lowers his voice, ‘I hoped you’d return to us. Many of us did.’
‘What’s been happening here, Orin?’ I ask.
The lights flicker again.