Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rip
I watched her go until the falling snow and darkness swallowed up the car, and all I could see were flakes.
“Damn.”
The single word didn’t do the ache in my gut justice, but I knew losing my temper and ranting and raving would get me nowhere. Besides, there wasn’t time for that. I had to get home, to the Bastion and my people, before the next attack.
Turning, I walked through the snow toward the house, powerful legs easily pushing it aside. I didn’t use any of my powers to stiffen the water into pure ice. I would need every ounce of energy I possessed to ensure I got home as fast as possible.
The sting of rejection followed me to the house.
I knew it wouldn’t go away, certainly not anytime soon, at least. Laurie was my mate.
I no longer doubted a dragon prince and a human woman could be fated for one another.
She was the one for me, and she had rejected my true nature—who I was at my core. It was too much for her to handle.
I should have handled that better. Taken my time. Dragging her home with me was a bad choice. Between her ex, the pregnancy, and now this, all in a few weeks? It’s just too much. This is my fault.
Knowing it and being able to do anything about it, however, were two different matters. I would have to take the chance that Laurie would still be willing to give me the time of day when I had the opportunity to return to Earth. And it could be weeks before things calmed down. I just didn’t know.
Okay. Time to put Rip away and start thinking like Riptide. Your people need you.
Lord Crest was injured badly enough that they had to send a messenger for me. That meant the lands around the Fire Princedom would be in peril. The by-the-book response would be for Suhnamy to shift the Royal Guard to help cover the area.
Something about that didn’t feel right. The ancient enemy wasn’t acting normally.
I had to get back.
But as I reached the top step of the Tidal Estates, my ears registered the sound of an approaching vehicle. I spun to see Eb pulling the SUV up the driveway and skidding to a halt in front of the house.
My heart soared as Laurie jumped out of the back and hurried up the stairs. I tried to tamp down the surge of hope that filled me. It didn’t mean she was back at all. She might have one more question to ask. I didn’t know.
I, of course, failed. The sight of my mate running toward me would never not make me feel amazing.
She ran up to me, coming all the way to the landing at the top of the stairs. I waited for her to speak.
“You’re going to be the father of my child,” she said. “Whether I like it or not.”
“Yes.”
“You owe me an explanation. A lot of explanations. I have questions. A lot of questions. And you’re going to answer them.”
“I will,” I promised. “I will answer everything. Anything you want to know, I will tell you, but—”
She cut me off with a sharp chop of her hand. “No. No buts, Rip. You have to answer every question.”
I smiled, reaching up to take the hand before she could lower it. “I will, Laurie. I will. But I must return to my homeland. I will give you all the answers you seek and likely more. But if you want them, you’ll have to come with me because I can’t stay here any longer. I must go.”
Laurie swallowed, her chest rising and falling. “All right.” She gestured toward the SUV where Eb was idling. “Let’s go.”
The smile that had never left my face became a wide grin. “Not quite. The entrance to my homeland is this way. Come, I’ll show you.”
I tugged on her hand, leading her into the house.
“Keep them on,” I said as she started to stamp her boots in preparation for removing them. “It’s fine, trust me.”
“Ookay.” She didn’t sound overly convinced.
“You’ll see,” I said, leading her to a door secured by a hefty locking mechanism.
I slid open a panel on the wall next to it and inserted my hand.
Water swirled, and I plunged it down through a tiny hole inside the open space.
The pressure built, and slowly, pins began to expand outward, forced by the water.
A moment later, there was a hefty clunk from the door, and I withdrew my hand, reabsorbing the water into myself.
The pressure-based locking system could only be unlocked by filling the vertical tube with enough water until it opened all the pins.
Complicated for anyone else but child’s play for a water dragon.
I swung the heavy metal door open and led Laurie down to the basement. The lights came on as we went, motion activated.
“Whoa,” she said as we reached the ground floor.
A metal arch, perhaps twelve feet high and twice as wide, occupied a sunken pit in the center of the room. Underneath the arch was a shivering gray nothingness. Not the far side of the room, but an opaque blankness.
“Watch this,” I said, gathering a ball of water in my hand from the air around us and tossing it at the arc.
As the liquid splashed across the grayness, it turned a vibrant turquoise-like tropical seawater, brightening the room immensely.
“What is that?” Laurie asked breathlessly.
“The Rift,” I explained. “It joins this world with my home.”
“Like a portal?” she asked nervously.
“Yes. The dragon realm is beyond. Come, it’s perfectly safe. You won’t feel a thing.”
Laurie hesitated, tugging back against my hand. “This is … You’re not from Earth?”
“We’re from another realm,” I explained. “Adjacent to Earth, but not Earth itself. Think of it as akin to your Heaven or Hell. Various religions had their own realms. Olympus, the Underworld, Faerie, etc. Dragondom is just another.”
“Oh. Okay, that makes sense,” she said in a tiny voice. “In a really unbelievable sort of way.”
I grinned. “Come on, let’s go.”
She shuffled along after me, looking very unsure.
“You can still turn back,” I said as we stopped on the precipice of the Rift, the greeny-blue glowing wall a foot in front of us. “But I have to go through. I can’t sit around and wait for you to make up your mind. My people need me.”
Laurie looked up sharply at that. “Okay,” she said with sudden conviction. “Let’s go. I won’t be the one who delays you and results in harm coming to them.”
“You would make a fine princess,” I said, catching her eyes before tugging her through the Rift.
She stepped through, taking the spot next to me in the bowels of Mount Drakonus, the giant mountain that sat at the very center of the dragon realm.
The enormous cavern defied comprehension with its size.
High above us in the ceiling, four giant holes marked the secondary compass points, each leading toward the heart of the four dragon clans.
From where we stood, it looked like my dragon would fit with a bit of room to spare. Distance was deceiving, however, because several skyscrapers could fit lengthwise across each of them.
“Holy shit,” Laurie said. “Holy fucking shit. That really is a portal. What the fuck?”
I smirked as she continued to swear for a handful of seconds. It was cute, in a weird sort of way, to hear her be so blunt, all filters dropped. I liked it.
“Now what?” she eventually asked.
“We fly,” I said.
“Fly?” she asked. “I can’t fly. I don’t see any planes … You’re not talking about that kind of flight, are you, ‘cause you’re a dragon?”
I nodded slowly.
“You expect me to what? Sit on your back like you’re a horse? I suck at horseback riding. I fall off ponies. You know, the tiny ones that barely move when someone else guides them? Yeah, I fall off those. There’s no way in hell I can hold on to your back while you’re flying!”
“I’m going to shift now, okay?” I said, ignoring her protests. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Right. Frig. Okay. Um, sure. Flying, yeah. I can, uh, no, I don’t think I can.”
I took several steps away and shifted, which led to a whole new set of curses and shocked responses. That time I did chuckle. The deep thump of dragon laughter set her off again.
“Okay,” I said, extending a wing. “Climb on up. We have to go.”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she said, moving back and forth with short hop-steps, clearly antsy.
I didn’t blame her, but as I’d said, there simply wasn’t time to indulge her and give her a chance to get used to it.
“Use my wing. Climb to the base of my neck. There’s a horn there. Hold on to it,” I ordered. “Or go back through the Rift. Either is fine. Eb will take care of you and drive you home. Or come with me and get the answers you want.”
“I’m just as crazy as all of you,” she said, then launched herself up my wing, running fast. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. This is nuts. I’m going to ride a dragon.”
She plopped into her spot.
“Ready?”
“Don’t suppose this thing comes with seatbelts, does it?” she muttered.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said, spreading both wings and leaping into the air.
“EEEEEE-YEAHHHH!” Laurie’s shriek turned into a shout of joy as we shot upward toward the tunnel bored into the solid rock. “This is amazing!”
I grinned. “On that, we agree.”
Up we went, moving as fast as I could, my wings beating hard. We flew out the mouth of the tunnel into clear skies. Laurie spent the next ten minutes oohing and aahing about all the sights and the monstrous nature of Mount Drakonus, which put any Earth mountain to shame.
“Those are some evil-looking clouds,” she said, pointing to a ring of gray-black clouds surrounding the mountain's upper third section. They were shot through with blue, making them extra ominous.
“They hide the peak from sight,” I explained. “The God-King keeps them there to ensure nobody bothers him, as far as I can tell.”
“God-King?” Laurie called, raising her voice as the wind whipped past us.
“The immortal ruler of all dragon-kind,” I explained.
“Right.” She didn’t sound too convinced, but she didn’t argue either.
On we flew toward my home. Eventually, Laurie gained enough confidence to lie back and stare at the sky.
She was silent for some time. I glanced back often enough to ensure she hadn’t fallen but didn’t say anything.
She was busy cradling her stomach and staring into space at something only she could see.
This is a lot for her. She needs time to adjust.
“This is amazing,” she said eventually, still lying flat, bent at the knees. “I can’t believe you get to do this all the time.”
“This? This is nothing,” I chuckled. “Just wait until you see my home.”
“When’s that?” she asked, not sitting up.
“Now,” I said softly as I began to descend. “We’re here.”