Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
LEDGER
“Are you sure about this?” Theron had me by the hand and we were walking into the garden.
The kids were already out there, and if anyone had just arrived, they would have assumed we’d been feeding them too much sugar. They couldn’t keep still, and they’d been asking, “Is it time?” since before they got out of bed.
“I want to see. I’m their dad, and I need to see what my children are capable of. Besides, there’s another little one inside me, and I don’t want to spontaneously burst into flames while brushing my teeth.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Good to know.”
“It’d happen when you were drinking coffee.”
I tickled his ribs, and not for the first time, told him my sarcasm was rubbing off on him. My mate grabbed me and kissed me on the lips.
“Daddy, you’re doing the kissie thing.” Rory was eager to show me what he could do, and he threw his hands up.
“That’s because I love your dad so much.”
“Daddy took off our bracelets.” Fraser held up his wrist, revealing the absence of the woven leather cord. “See?”
“I do. Where do you want us? Sitting or standing?”
The children pointed to the garden wall and arranged themselves in front of us. Fraser’s hand shot up, and he asked to go first. I was worried he was going to combust.
“All right, Fraser. Show me what you can do.”
He held out his hand palm up and scrunched his face. A small blue flame flickered on his palm. It was similar to what I’d witnessed the day of the fire, except now this was calm and contained.
I clapped, and he bowed.
Theron put an arm around me, a reassuring gesture that calmed the tiny bit of anxiety in my belly. Or perhaps that was the baby reacting to his brother’s fire-making ability.
“It doesn't burn me.” He closed his fist around it and opened it again. The flame was still there. His brow furrowed. “But it can burn the curtains and other things.”
He dipped his head and closed his fist.
“Come here, sweetheart.” I hugged him and whispered that we all checked everyone’s bracelets regularly now, especially when they were playing. I didn’t want him to feel guilt over what happened. Each one of us, me in particular, had learned from that incident.
Rory stepped forward. “Mine is hotter.”
“I’m sure it is, darling, but this isn’t a competition.”
Rory held out his hand and what appeared on his palm was bigger than Fraser's and more orange. The heat was intense, even from ten feet away. He held it for about five seconds before closing his fingers, and it vanished.
“As the oldest, Rory can control it better,” Theron explained.
“Well done.” I blew Rory a kiss.
“My turn.”
Skye held both hands out and a tiny flame appeared between them. It was the smallest of the three, and it was purple.
“That’s pretty,” I told her.
“Sometimes dragons have unusual flame colors.” Theron closed his palm, and Skye did the same, extinguishing her flame.
“Daddy says my flame might be red when I grow up.”
“Maybe,” Theron told her. “We'll see.”
“Your turn.” Fraser was looking at me.
“Honey, I’m not a dragon.”
Skye spoke to my tummy. “Have you got fire, baby?”
“Not yet.” Theron picked up our daughter.
The kids showed me how they could heat rocks so they were warm to the touch without burning the grass, before Theron made them put their bracelets back on and take a break.
“There’s one person who hasn’t demonstrated his fire.”
“Who?” the kids said together.
“Ta-da.” I presented Theron with a flourish.
The kids jumped up and down and clapped, and Theron made them sit beside me. He strode back toward the office and pointed to a blackened stump.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
A stream of white-hot flame shot out of his mouth. I clapped a hand over my face as the flames struck the stump and it disintegrated. I pictured the kids when they were grown up, soaring overhead and searching for something to burn. I might spend my days ducking for cover.
My parents came for lunch on Sunday because I didn’t want to tell them about the pregnancy over the phone, though I had explained that Theron and I were in a relationship. My dad evaluated Theron while they shook hands, something he used to do to my high school boyfriends.
The kids introduced themselves and got hugs.
Skye tugged on my dad's shirt. “Do you like dragons?”
I was ready with an excuse, as in she’d been reading about dragons or she was a dragon in a play.
My dad squatted in front of her. “Sure. Dragons are cool.”
“Good.” Skye walked away.
Theron and I had discussed letting my folks in on the shifter secret, but we’d put it off. When our baby was old enough to create fire, then we’d tell them.
I’d warned them about the heat in the house, and we ate outside in the shade so they didn’t overheat. Theron had cooked roast chicken, potatoes, and green beans and the kids ate the vegetables without complaining.
After we ate, the children insisted on showing my parents their garden. Both my folks were avid gardeners, and they spent ages inspecting plants, pulling up weeds, and watering.
“We almost forgot the presents in the car.” Dad headed to his vehicle, but the kids beat him there and peered in the windows, asking, “What did you get us?”
Rory got a book on astronomy. As a dragon shifter, he’d be doing most of his flying at night, so he was interested in the stars, planets, and the history of the universe. Fraser got a rare variety of chili, and Skye got pumpkin seedlings. And Mom had baked cookies for all of us.
As the kids played, Theron put a hand over mine. My mom gasped. She probably thought Theron was going to get down on one knee and propose.
“Mom, Dad, I’m going to have a baby.”
“I’m so excited.” Mom glanced at the kids. “Our fourth grandbaby.”
Theron sniffed, but I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I’d kinda expected them to say they were going to be grandparents. But they already were, and they recognized that and accepted that the older three were mine too.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the cinema room where each of the kids chose a movie. My parents did the kids’ baths and read their bedtime stories. But after we’d waved them goodbye, and Theron held my hand and turned toward the house, I told him we couldn’t go in yet.
“You know there’s someone I have yet to meet.”
“Huh?”
“Your dragon. I think you flew over the house once when I was on the porch, but I’ve never met him or seen him fly.”
He pulled a lounge chair into the middle of the garden. It was a moonlit night, and though my human eyesight wasn’t as good as a shifter’s, I knew what to look for. Besides, Theron was stripping off his clothes, and I’d get to meet his beast before he took off.
I gripped the armrest as scales rippled over his body and wings erupted from his back. I shivered, not in fear but in awe. The moonlight picked up the iridescent green and blue on the scales, but there was also a touch of purple. Perhaps that was where Skye got her purple flame from.
The dragon launched himself into the air, blocking out the light. He soared over the treetops and glided back onto the grass. I thought of the earth when it was much younger and if dragons roamed the skies without fear of man trying to contain or kill them.
There was a tendril of fear that when our children grew up, someone might try to hurt them and their beasts. But Theron had pointed out all parents, human and shifter, worried about their kids’ safety.
Not bothering with his clothes, he picked me up and strolled into the house and up to our suite. I’d officially moved my clothes and toiletries in, and my manny suite had become my office. The dissertation was progressing but slowly.
“Tonight’s the night,” I whispered.
“For what?”
“I want you to mark me. I’m ready.”
Theron had not pestered me, saying we were mated in every way possible, except for the mark on my skin. But it was important to him, and when the children were older, they might question my commitment to their father and them if I didn’t take that final step.
“I love you.”
“I love every part of you and your dragon, from the tip of your dragon’s scales to his claws and those spiky horns.”
Theron chuckled. “Interesting you only described my beast and not me.” He tilted my chin up and kissed me, and when he pulled back, his eyes were wet.
“You’re my mate. My one and only.”
He suggested putting the mark where it would be covered by a shirt or sweater, and I chose my chest. Theron parted his lips a tiny bit, and I gripped the bedding as a tiny stream of fire grazed my skin and went out, leaving a puff of smoke.
It hurt some, similar to a bad sunburn, and my mate put special cream on it.
“Now we’re mated.” He kissed me.
“Not yet. It’s my turn.” I got out the rod I’d found in the garage. “Ready?”
My mate heated the rod with his breath until it glowed.
I picked up one end with a kitchen glove.
I chose the opposite shoulder to Vince’s mark.
My hands trembled because I didn’t want to hurt Theron.
But he nodded and smiled, and I placed the tip on his bare skin.
He took a deep breath as the heat singed his skin and I removed it.
“Now we’re mated.” I gave him the rod, not wanting to burn the bedding.
“My mate. I adore you.” With one hand holding the rod, he planted a kiss on my lips.
“Right back at you.”
I traced over my new mark and glanced at my mate. He touched Vince’s mark and then mine.
“Thank you,” he told me.
“For what?”
“For not asking me to remove the mark that Vince gave me.”
My gods. No, I hadn't considered it. The thought of scrubbing Vince from his skin would have broken something in me, and who knew what it would have done to Theron.
“He’s part of you and the children. I’m not here to replace anyone.”
I kissed two fingers and placed them on Vince’s photo which still sat beside the bed. But my pic was there too, right beside my mate.