Chapter 11
Everly
Later that day, the spell wore down and I changed back into my human form. It was a relief to stretch my human muscles and walk around the villa for a while, taking in the surroundings.
When I’d come out of my dreamstate yesterday, I’d found myself on the couch in the living room I shared with Alaric.
He’d been pacing restlessly, looking very freaked out.
I’d apologized for yanking Elandor away from him—I still felt bad about that—and explained what Elandor had told me about the dreamstate, and my power over it.
That I was one of the masters of that place, which I was still trying to come to terms with.
It felt like someone had plunked me down in the middle of a fairytale and told me that this was my life now.
He’d hugged me in relief, then left shortly after, late for a meeting with King Draven as well as some of the Enclave. When he left, he had still looked like someone had whapped him over the head with a heavy object.
I went through the areas that seemed safe for general guests, staying away from anything that looked remotely like it might lead to other people’s living spaces—like the bedrooms in the east wing—then made my way down the stairs and into the billiard room.
As I passed the library, a woman with long, honey blond hair was leaving.
She had a tool belt strapped around her waist.
“Oh,” she said, startled, her light brown eyes wide. “Hello. I don’t think I know you.” She was beautiful, and if I wasn’t mistaken, pregnant.
I gave her my hand. “Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Everly. I’m here with Alaric?” It came out sounding like a question because I didn’t know if anyone here knew yet who Alaric was. I guessed some of them did, because, well, we were here after all.
Her eyes got even wider and she leaned in closer. “You mean the shifter who’s going to be crowned the next shifter king?” she asked in a whisper.
I gulped. Yep. That was him. I could only nod.
She looked up and down the hallway as if afraid to either see Alaric turn the corner, or someone else about to come yell at her for daring to speak about the new Prime.
“I haven’t met him, but Roarke, my mate, says he’s a really good guy.
” She shrugged with a little smile on her face.
“That’s good enough for me. He’s been around long enough that he’s got really good instincts about people. ”
Roarke? As in another dragon shifter? The other one that they’d been considering? From what I remembered they had said he wasn’t powerful enough.
“I’m sorry for being nosy,” she said, adjusting her tool belt so it faced the right way. “I’m Emrie, by the way. It’s really nice to meet you, Everly.”
“Nice to meet you too,” I managed.
She pursed her lips. “I think... would you and Alaric be willing to have dinner with my Clan, Roarke, and I?” She laughed. “We’re kind of a crazy bunch. I might have to ask Alpha Riggs, though.” She took out her phone and frowned at it, rolling her eyes as she read a text.
“I can’t really speak for Alaric,” I said, “because I don’t know what his schedule is, but I’ll see if I can snag him for a dinner this week. Dinner sounds fun.”
Also, I thought it might be good to get the perspective of someone who was mated to a dragon shifter. Maybe she wouldn’t mind talking with me about her experience with it.
“For sure,” she said, still fiddling with her phone, then it dinged and her expression brightened.
“Alpha Riggs is fine with it, and my mate says it’s fine as well.
” She put away her phone. “Now, what do you like to eat? I know the guys are carnivores, but I’m holding out hope that we can have something other than steak or hamburgers.
” She made a face and put her hand on her pregnant belly, as if the thought of a steady diet of meat was distressing to her unborn child.
Or maybe just her stomach. “Not that we can’t have those if you want! ”
I laughed. She was a little adorable. I loved how plain spoken she was, but it was paired with, what felt like, a humble, sweet personality. I got the feeling she was normally a little shy, but was really trying to befriend me. I felt warmed by her thoughtfulness.
“I’m hungry all the time lately,” I assured her. “I think I’d be okay with anything, really.” I didn’t want to be rude and order what I was really craving, because whatever they made would be fine with me. I sincerely wasn’t all that picky.
But... I had really been craving spaghetti and garlic bread lately.
She wagged a finger at me, her eyes alight with mischief. “None of that. I can tell you’re dreaming of something special. I’ll ask Roarke to make it if one of my brothers doesn’t know how. He’s amazing and can make literally anything.”
I smiled sheepishly. Caught. “Umm, spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread?”
“Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!” She yanked her phone out of her back pocket again and texted that to herself.
“What works best for the drink?” She put a finger to her bottom lip.
“Have you ever had horchata? It’s this rice milk drink with cinnamon and sugar, but Roarke puts a little nutmeg and vanilla in it, and I swear it’s to die for. ”
That sounded good, actually. Something a little different. “That sounds really good,” I said with a nod.
Her face lit up and she texted that to herself as well. “Let’s exchange numbers so we can plan which evening works best for all of us.”
We exchanged numbers and she gave a little smile and wave as she left. I stood there for a minute reflecting on what had just happened.
I was excited to spend time with her and her mate, and had she mentioned her clan?
Did that mean she was a shifter as well?
I went through the different animal shifters that might call a group of them a clan, and could only come up with bears.
Maybe she was a bear shifter? My eyes went wide as I remembered something.
Had she said brothers? As in a whole house full of other male bear shifters?
I swallowed.
Okay, that was... slightly intimidating. But, after talking with her a bit, she’d seemed very normal and friendly. I hoped the rest of them would be as well.
I continued into the library and was stunned at the huge space.
Different projects were all over the library in various stages of completion.
A skylight had recently been put in, as I could still see the support braces up there.
It had a stunning rose design etched on the glass.
There were no books yet. They’d probably been packed away to protect them until the space was completed, but it was still gorgeous.
I wandered around the rest of the first floor, checking out the back balcony, and then walking around the villa to check out the pool area.
I thought about putting on a tee shirt and shorts and making use of it.
King Draven had distractedly told me I had the use of the entire villa, and that I could go anywhere, and use anything I wanted, so I knew he wouldn’t mind.
I think he was distracted because he was worried about his wife. According to the king, she’d started to feel poorly a day or so before we’d come, and was sleeping and resting. I hoped she felt better soon. It really sucked being sick.
Speaking of sick...
I felt terrible. My joints and muscles hurt and ached, and I had a raging headache that was slowly getting worse. From past experience I knew it would turn into a migraine soon if I didn’t head it off.
I could ask someone for some pain reliever, because I don’t think we’d brought any, but I didn’t know if I needed to be careful of the shifter half of me.
I needed to ask Alaric, but I knew he was busy.
Hmm, maybe I could reach out to Elandor instead?
Elandor?
I only waited a few moments before he responded, Yes, treasure?
I’m hurting. Is it possible to use pain reliever? Will it affect the raven if I change back? I don’t want to make myself sicker.
Hmmm, his inner voice rumbled. You should be fine. Shifter metabolisms work much faster. Many human medicines don’t work on us because of that, and we have to take things formulated just for us. Otherwise, it would make things like surgeries tricky for our kind.
I winced. Yeah, it would be terrible to not have shifter medicines for things like that.
Okay, thank you.
He was quiet for a moment.
Alaric wants to know if you want company. I’ve told him you probably don’t, but he said that he’ll rub your shoulders and neck if you want him to.
I put my hand to my flaming cheeks. I was very much not used to someone wanting to take care of me, and the dragon’s voice felt a little bit.
.. flirty? But also compassionate. So much so that I felt my eyes tear up.
I blinked quickly as I stared up at a late afternoon sky the color of a robin’s egg.
I cleared my throat. Umm, yeah, that sounds nice. Thank you.
He says you’re welcome. I sense you are outside.
Yeah, I’m by the hot tub. I’m going to go put on some shorts and a tee shirt and get in. I’ll meet you guys out here, okay?
We will see you soon.
I quickly went back to our set of rooms to change.
Our wing had two master bedrooms with bathrooms, a living room, a third bathroom, a kitchen and a small library/office space.
It was huge! I had no idea there were houses so large that there were basically several sets of apartments in the house, plus single rooms, as well as all of the main functional rooms like the main kitchen, living room, library, etc.
I’d never seen a house this gigantic before, though.
What did I know? Maybe this was common for those that were wealthy.
After changing I made my way back to the main floor, and out to the hot tub. Alaric was already there, and was just descending the stairs to get in. His broad, suntanned back was facing me.