Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Talon could not believe this timeline was happening.
Mercury was sleeping. Real, honest sleep, and that was amazing.
So he was sitting in the bedroom staring at Kami and Cain who were both staring back at him.
“That was amazing!” Kami said, “I mean, he took us to Turkey and back.” Kami looked at Cain, “Do you know what this means?”
Cain nodded, then he shook his head, then he nodded again. “It means that we can go get stones wherever we want.”
Talon crossed his arms over his chest. “It also means that this is very, very dangerous. If anyone finds out about this, it’s very dangerous to all of us. This is a skill people kill for.”
“Why on earth—” Kami belched, then went back to drinking his beer like a trucker. “Why on earth would someone not utilize this? This seems weird; like it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Talon shook his head. “No, it makes zero sense to me either. I don’t like any of it, to be honest.”
Brother, I’m coming down.
It wasn’t a question.
He blinked. Looked at Cain. “Triton’s coming.”
“So are Reno, Boone, and Durango.” Kami shrugged. “Cerran is staying upstairs to defend Eowyn.”
Talon blinked. “From?”
Kami shrugged. “I assume the children. Reno’s bringing Miranda. She needs Talon-time.”
“Do you think we could move out of my bedroom then?” Talon asked. If Mercury didn’t wake up soon and eat, he would have to feed the guy like a baby bird or something.
But right now Mercury was genuinely sleeping the sleep of real exhaustion, not a weird fever dream, went sliding to Turkey, and then I bonded with a heartstone, and it took every bit of energy in my body.
So Talon felt pretty okay leaving him there to rest.
“Smart. Would you like to go to your front room?” Cain asked. “Would you like to go down into a common area?”
“I’m not leaving him, Cain, not right now.”
“Somehow I didn’t think that was going to be a thing, but it seemed prudent to ask.”
“Out of the bedroom.” Kami rolled his eyes. “Let’s go. I’m assuming that someone is bringing food. Lots of food. Because Mercury is going to need food.”
You’re a good friend.
Sure, any time. I got your back, man. Kami winked, headed out, obviously speaking to Reno, who now had marching orders to get food. “No fish, right?”
“No fish, right.” He glanced at Cain. “That’s all they fed him. Canned fish.”
Cain stuck out his tongue. “I like fish, but I get it.”
They settled together, and then people just began to arrive. Maybe they should have gone out to the common area, but he didn’t want to leave Mercury, and he’d actually done Kami’s baby shower in here, so it would work.
He still had to soothe Mercury back into sleep a few times when he heard the curious snuffle of his highly sensitive hailee awakening in his mind.
He finally looked around, frowning. “Is this everyone?”
Cain chuckled. “Probably not, but for now.”
He looked at his twin Triton and raised an eyebrow. Talon was about to lose his shit.
Triton cleared his throat. “I think we all wanted to simply assemble for the moment to talk about this situation.”
“Uh-huh. You act like it’s your situation to talk about.”
“Hey, back off.” Kami glared at him. “It is our situation to talk about. We all live here with our kids.”
Talon growled low. “But it’s my hailee, and maybe I don’t want you talking about whether or not you should use him to jump back and forth and get stones.”
Cain gave him a look of gentle reprimand. “You know better than that, Talon. We would never ask him to do anything without his full cooperation. And there would be no pressure or guilt, either.”
He stood down because he knew it was true. His shoulder slumped a little bit. “I’m just full of adrenaline, you know?”
“Of course we do.” That came from his brother, whose hand landed on his shoulder. “Trust me, I have ranted and raved and roared around this place more than probably anyone else here.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Jack can be a hefty roar kind of guy when he wants to be,” Kami said.
Cain gave them all an arch look, his gaze traveling from one to the other of them. “All of you alphas can be difficult to deal with and hard on the nerves.”
“Hey, not me.” Reno studied his knuckles. “I’m as easy-going as they come.”
Kami fell over laughing, literally rolling around on the couch in hysterics, slapping his leg. It was quite a performance, and Talon had to admit he admired it.
Reno scowled at his mate and then stuck out his tongue, which made Kami raise an eyebrow and stop laughing. “Promise?”
“Ew.” That was from Boone, who shook his head. “Can we get back on track here? Durango and I are not even sure what we’re talking about here. Really. Not one hundred percent.”
“Talon’s new mate, his hailee, Mercury, has the ability to slide as he calls it, between dimensions, and come out somewhere else.
For example, his heartstone, or at least the one that Kami heard singing to him, was in Turkey.
But rather than waste time getting on a plane and going to Turkey and dealing with passports and trying to get through immigration, they just slid there holding on to Mercury. ”
Cain did have a talent for a succinct explanation. He supposed that was part and parcel of being a seer. You had to tell people about shit all the time.
“You’re shitting me.” Durango just sort of stared at them. “Man, Cain, that’s freaking wild.”
Cain nodded, “It is. It’s wild, and I’m not sure exactly what to do as far as protecting him. So our number one priority is protection.”
“For you, yeah.” Kami nodded, chewed on his bottom lip. “Maybe. But for me, I want to know why.”
“Why, what?” Talon asked.
“Why they did this to him. What is it that they were hiding? Because if you can make somebody happy and use them, you do it. You make them happy and you use them. And you do this over and over and over again. We all know it.” Kami’s lips tightened.
“The simple fact is that these big keeps don’t get to be these big, old, ancient keeps by being stupid. ”
Talon just sort of stood there for a second trying to figure this out. “You’re not suggesting that Mercury is doing something nefarious by being here?”
“No, I’m suggesting that somebody else is doing something nefarious by his being here. I think someone is going to use him to get in here and get to somebody else.” Kami shrugged, so pragmatic.
Triton snarled, danger filling the air. “That’s how they’re going to try to get through the bubble that the Ancients gave us. By sliding in with him.”
Talon shook his head, anger rising in the pit of his belly. “Mercury would never do anything to harm any children, you know that.”
“What would he do to save some?” That was Reno. “Seriously, we’re going to have to be careful. He’s not particularly savvy.”
“Stop it.” They all looked up at the voice, and Mercury stood there, holding a stone, clinging to it. “I thought I was home.”
“You are home,” Talon went to Mercury, but he backed away, swaying, his gaze devastated.
“I am not. I never did anything. Do you want to put one of those collar things back on me? Do it. Do you want to send me away? I’ll go.
This was supposed to be my home. I thought—I thought this was gonna be my home.
” A single tear slid down Mercury’s face, and he slapped it away.
“I really thought that this was going to be my new place. I want to leave.”
Cain shook his head and said, “Oh honey, you’re so weak, and you’ve just barely bonded. You’re going to be too sick to leave for a little while.”
His hailee stood there, chin up, so tiny, so skinny.
So tired.
“No, I don’t think so.” Mercury held out his hand, almost like he was reaching for Talon, and Talon reached back. “I would’ve loved you like nobody else ever did. I would’ve been the best.”
Then Mercury dropped the stone into his hand, stared at him, and then collapsed like a rag doll.
Talon roared, the walls shaking with it. He scooped up Mercury and the stone, backing away from his brother and his supposed best friend, shaking his head.
“Look what you did!”
Triton blinked at him. “I didn’t do anything! You’re out of your mind. I said the truth. They’re going to try to use him!”
“That’s not true. You are all scared he’s going to hurt you?” This was his hailee. His lover. “I’m leaving. I’ll take him, and I’m going.” He dropped the stone on Mercury’s chest. “We’ll find somewhere else to be.”
He couldn’t believe that his brother, his best friend, his supposed family would attack them like this.
“I didn’t do anything,” Triton roared.
Reno and Kami stood up together, both of them beginning to fuss and shout, and he didn’t want to hear any of this. Talon was going to take his mate, and he was going to go because his hailee would be safe with him and—
“Enough.”
That wasn’t a roar. It wasn’t even a bark. It was a single word, and they all went silent.
Cain looked at everyone and slowly moved his hand toward the floor, palm down, and they all sat, Talon still cradling Mercury. “Be at ease, dragons. No one has to leave. Mercury’s safety is our first concern. Should someone try to use him, we will respond to that person with extreme displeasure.”
Triton opened his mouth, and Cain held up one finger.
“No, it’s my turn. Everyone needs to be calm.
We have seers, we have the greatest group of warriors possibly in the universe who are here because they choose to be here, because they love it here.
We are building a good world together. Should anyone come for Mercury, for any of the babies, for any of you, I will be incredibly put out. ”
Talon cradled Mercury to his chest. “He just wants a place to belong. Friends. If you fear him, he’ll never have that.”
And that broke his heart.
Kami scoffed. “Dude. I am not afraid of him. He’s so cool! That’s my problem, though.”
Talon scowled. “I don’t follow.”