Chapter Twenty
Trey
I wasn’t unconscious for long, once the power had been returned to the Well of Time. I woke up on the ground of the temple, the red granite altar cracked down the center and the sundial a smoking heap of scorched rock.
And my mate lay in a heap at my feet, her arms coated in sticky, warm blood.
“Angelica!” My voice was hoarse from the screaming I’d already been doing.
My body felt like I’d been pummeled by a semi, and my bones were grinding like there was glass in my joints. But nothing, not even that pain, was going to keep me from Angelica. I half crawled to her and gathered her pale body to me. My fingers shook as I checked her pulse and I wept when I felt her pulse, slow and weak but there all the same.
“My strong, beautiful mate,” I dropped kisses and tears onto her face. “Just hang on, please, I’ll get you help.”
When I tried to pick her up, my knees went wobbly and I fell on my ass. The ritual and Dahlia’s attempt to activate the sundial had taken every ounce of my energy. I tried to push, to force myself but my legs wouldn’t bear the extra weight. I let loose a howling scream into the night, the fear that I would fail her spread through my body like a cold wind.
“She needs me now, let me out!”
Howls sounded close by, along with shouts and the sharp taste of ozone from all the spells that were being cast. The force field was down, likely knocked out by the destruction of the sundial.
“Please let me help her. I will not fight you for control. Do not let her die because you fear me.”
He was right, I had to trust that the balance I had felt earlier tonight was real and that he wouldn’t keep control of our body.
I’m trusting you.
My primal form growled and roared in answer, and I reached inside of me, opening the cage I’d kept him locked inside in.
The transformation was swift, and I found myself shoved to the passenger seat in my own consciousness, able to see and feel, but not fully control anything. Muscles and bones cracked and elongated, the pain nothing to how I’d felt waking up on the ground a moment ago. I stretched my neck, my sinuous body shaking out the unfamiliar strength and shape. When my tail lashed against a wall and demolished it I admonished my primal side to be careful.
He didn’t answer, but neither did he tell me off and that was honestly improvement. For once, we were of one mind, one purpose and that was to get our mate help. I gathered Angelica up in one claw that wrapped fully around her with room to spare and flared my wings.
Debris flew upward, along with fine dust, in the whirlwind created as I rose into the air. The battle around the hill was already done, with our mate’s offspring rounding up the last of the assailants. I circled and flew through the night at optimal speed, not caring if someone saw us. We flew over a herd of cattle, and I tensed, waiting to fight my primal form for control not to swoop down and make a snack of the animals. But he shocked me and flew right by.
“Our mate is the priority. I am not so selfish.”
I was relieved that he agreed and promised him that later, when we had time, I’d let him out for a longer flight.
“And she can ride on our back. Our mate would like that.”
I agreed she would.
There was an Archive hospital nearby, set into a hillside and cloaked to ward off anyone who got curious. We landed right outside of it and I was once again pleasantly surprised when my primal form faded easily back into my hybrid Dragon skin.
“I told you could be trusted.”
Yes, thank you.
I was stronger now, but still my arms shook as I carried her to the door. It opened slowly, the tall Orc on the other side-eying me suspiciously. I tried to force my way in, growling at him and half-crazy with worry as her blood coated my hands.
“Get out of the fucking way!” I roared.
“I can’t just let you in without –”
“I need help, this is Director Dearborne, she’s been injured by a Supernatural Dragon blade. Please help her!”
The Orc’s eyes widened and he stepped aside for me. There was a lot of shouting as a gurney was brought out and the doctor asked me a flurry of questions. When they saw her new Dragon marks from the mating bite, the doctor, a Mundane female, eyed me and then whispered something to the Orc.
“This is your mate?” she asked.
“Yes, can you—”
“It was willingly entered into?”
I had to strain every muscle to keep from grabbing her throat and throwing her across the room. Just because my primal side was close to the surface, they thought…
“I didn’t force it on her,” I said, through gritted teeth. “She’s the Archive Director, she just did a dangerous ritual and she’s still bleeding! There’s no time for all of this. She needs blood and stitches and— ”
“I know what she needs,” the doctor said.
“Then fucking do it!”
The Orc crowded me and I growled at him.
“Just try it.”
“Alright, that’s enough!” the doctor barked. “I’m taking her to the back, you can come if you don’t cause any problems. But the moment you pull some snarling mate crap or if she wakes up and it’s evident that you forced a mating bond on her, you’re out of here, understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good, let’s go.”
It was the longest hour of my life as I watched them stitch up Angelica and get her a blood transfusion. They had a hard time matching her because her biology was still in the process of changing. Pure Mundane blood would poison her, as would pure Dragon blood. Eventually they were able to get her a spelled mix of the two that seemed to be working.
She was still horribly pale and unconscious when a commotion outside had me leaping to my feet, ready to defend her.
“They will not touch our mate!”
Damn right they won’t. Wait…is that…?
“She’s our fucking mother, you asshole!” bellowed a voice.
I ran out of the room and saw Max holding the Orc against the wall, while Ava, Nathan and Derek were shoving aside a Werewolf and a Mothman in an effort to get down the hallway.
“They’re her kids!” I shouted. “Let them through.”
“You’re not in charge here,” said the doctor, whose name was Miranda, “and I won’t have a brawl in my hospital! So everyone calm down or I’ll throw you all out on your asses and you won’t get back in.”
Max let go of the Orc and the other siblings scooted past him toward me.
“What happened?” Nathan demanded.
“Is she alright?” Ava asked on the heels of her brother’s question.
“Yes,” said a weak voice from the room behind me, “and she’s also confused as hell.”
My shoulders sagged and I leaned against the door frame as relief so profound hit me that I thought I’d fall to my knees. Her kids ran past me and all I could do was stand there, tears streaming down my face as my heart felt like it was beating again for the first time since I found her unconscious on the ground.
“Mom! What the fuck happened?” Nathan cried.
“Why are you hooked up to…whatever this is?” Derek asked.
“It’s a blood transfusion,” Max answered clinically, reading the bag hanging from the IV stand “but not fully human blood from the way it looks.”
“Not fully human?” Ava asked. “Oh wait…No fucking way!”
“What? What am I missing?” Nathan asked.
“We have a new stepdad!” Ava squeaked.
“What?!” Derek and Nathan both gasped at the same time.
“That would make sense of the markings on her arms,” Max said thoughtfully.
“Still doesn’t answer the question about the wounds,” Nathan argued.
“If you all would take a breath,” Angelica said, her voice exhausted, “then maybe I could answer you.”
I turned around, finally able to move, and walked into the room.
“I’ll answer all your questions, but you’re going to let your mother rest,” I declared.
I expected them to fight me, to glare at me for giving their mother a mating bite, for getting her hurt.
But instead they all just nodded.
Derek frowned at me as he limped past but didn’t glare, Nathan’s look was far more quizzical, and Ava insisted on giving me a high five before following her brothers. Max lingered for a moment, checking the chart notes left in a small alcove on the wall.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked.
“The transfusion is a good mix of blood but they’re going to need to adjust it, since Dragon mating bites change biology quicker than others. I’ll let the doctor know.”
I nodded.
“Welcome to the family,” he said dryly, walking past me and not waiting for a response.
I turned my attention to the gorgeous woman whom I adored and sat down on the edge of her bed. Her hand was strong in mine as I threaded my fingers between hers, the color of her markings already getting brighter.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Tired but alright. How are you?”
I held up my arm and showed her the bandage the doctor had insisted on.
“I’m almost healed. But you are going to need to stay in bed until tomorrow morning.”
She made a frustrated huff and bit her lip.
“I hate lying in bed. It’s boring.”
“I can have you sedated.”
“No,” she said firmly. “Did we succeed? I thought I saw…something at the end there.”
“We did. The artifact is destroyed. I think the Archive will be arriving in the morning though. I had to tell them who you were so they’d treat you.”
“I suspected that,” she sighed and tightened her grip on my fingers. “I may be out of a job.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it. There’s no one that can replace you.”
She nodded and bit her lip again, a frown lining her forehead.
“What is it?” I asked.
“What if I didn’t want to do it anymore? I mean, I’ve got a new husband and a life I want to build with you.” Her smile was radiant, warming me until all I could do was kiss her soft, and slow.
“We can build a life without you giving up your career,” I said when I broke the kiss.
“How? You’ll need to be at your home on your throne I assume, and I can’t just pop in and out of the Archive whenever I feel like it. The job takes up most of my life and I’m just not sure I want that anymore. I’m missing out on my grandchildren, my children. And now there’s you…I’m not willing to sacrifice more than I already have.”
“If you don’t want to do it anymore, then don’t. You can rule beside me. And to be honest, we don’t need to be at Avalon every day. We can travel and see your children as much, or little, as you want.”
“I’d like that. I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around what it would even look like being your…queen. It’s weird to say,” she said with a chuckle.
“It’s weird for me too, and I’ve been around it more than you have. But as to what it would look like, let’s take that as it comes. We can make it what we want.”
“Alright then, I’ve made up my mind. When the dust settles from this, I’m resigning.”
“And will you be telling them who to replace you with?” I asked.
She chuckled and it turned into a yawn.
“Oh, I have a few ideas about that. But for right now I just need some sleep.”
My fingers ran across her forehead as I brushed some hair from her face and she closed her eyes. My heart felt as if it would burst as an unfamiliar feeling took hold of me.
Happy.
I was so damn happy.
And I wasn’t afraid of losing it, wasn’t cynical about its source.
I just allowed it to breathe inside of me, to expand and take up room for the first time in my life. And it was because of this woman, my mate against all odds, the only one who could disarm me utterly and I wouldn’t care.
Angelica was my happiness, my love, my life. And no matter what we did, where we went, as long as I had her, I had everything.
I stayed there for a while, letting my primal side purr right along with me, the sound deeper than ever before. As she drifted off, Angelica smiled and murmured, “I love that sound.”
“She will hear it every day.”
Yes, she will.