Chapter 37
Gunter hadn’t seen such utter destruction in many, many years. Since World War II, in fact. While it did bring up bad memories of the Dragon War, he couldn’t regret a single thing. In fact, looking about him, seeing the leveled buildings, the bodies on the streets, he only felt a grim satisfaction.
Finally, finally, his family was safe.
He sat on the back bumper of the mobile treatment van, watching as Sora finished applying a thick gel salve to Nikki’s ribs.
In the short amount of time Nikki had been in Jaeggi hands, the two goons had worked them over good.
No broken bones, fortunately, but many a bruise, and his ribs looked like a mottled battleground of purples and blues.
Sora had been distracted numerous times from treating Nikki as other injuries came in.
The healer had deemed them a higher priority every time, pausing his treatment of Nikki and switching patients.
Gunter had to bite his tongue time and again, reminding himself Nikki’s injuries weren’t life threatening. Just painful.
He still hated it, though. He’d always hate Nikki’s pain.
Nikki had shooed him out several times to go and join the battle, but it only worked the first two times because, after that, there was nothing left.
Lina’s family was safe; she’d emailed them, orchestrated getting them out the second the ward was down.
Ravi had helped get the other five families to safety, his speed essential in ensuring the side mission’s success.
Really, all the wind dragons had helped with that.
The kings had chosen to spare the children, as well, as they didn’t care for the taste of genocide in their mouth.
To those who had fought, no mercy had been shown.
And Gunter was fine with that.
Alric came limping up to the van, still in dragon form, with a worried Cameron walking with him.
Gunter’s eyes swept over his king, and while it was obvious Alric had been in a fight with the soot clinging to him, it didn’t look like he’d suffered any injury.
The limp was the only noticeable thing. And Gunter had a feeling he knew why Alric was limping.
“You overdid it, didn’t you?” Gunter accused him.
“Oh, he was having a ball, this one,” Cameron snarked, rolling his eyes. “Stomping around in there like he was Godzilla. I swear he was cackling at one point.”
“I didn’t cackle,” Alric defended himself mildly.
“Ha fuckity ha. I was on your back, dude. I heard the cackling.” Cameron came around the open van door and poked his head in. “Sora—oh, hey, Nikki, you doing okay?”
“Bruises merely,” Nikki said dismissively. “I’m almost good as new. Sora’s got magic goo.”
“It’s good-smelling magic goo, too,” Sora agreed blandly. There was a twinkle in his dark eyes as he slapped the rest of it onto Nikki and commanded sternly, “That has to dry. Do not put your shirt back on or lean on anything until I tell you to.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Nikki gave him a sloppy salute.
The healer then stepped out, took one look at Alric, and sighed. “You really did overdo it, I can tell. Can you shift forms?”
“I wasn’t sure if it was safe to do so,” Alric admitted a little sheepishly. “It twinges like a bone’s trying to pop out.”
“For the love of—” Sora cut himself off and sighed.
Deeply. As if the universe and stubborn dragons pained him.
“Alright. Sit down, let me take a good look at this. Cameron, go find my mother; she was in the other black van, last I saw. I want a second opinion before I have him shift. Hoheit, if you’ve undone her hard work, you’ll hear about it. At length.”
“I may have gotten carried away.” Alric’s smile didn’t look as apologetic as he’d probably intended. There was a bit of a feral tooth in there. “But eradicating the danger my family’s been in for hundreds of years rather got to my head.”
“Yes, and I’m grateful for that. Ravi and I want to start a family soon.” Sora spoke his diagnostic spell, red lines growing and writing themselves along Alric’s skin. He pursed his lips as he looked them over.
Gunter tried to imagine Ravi and Sora with children. They’d be adorable, no doubt. Ravi was always adorable, especially when he was in the middle of doing something he really, really shouldn’t.
If Gunter had a dying wish, it was that the children would take after Sora. Because god knew, the world did not need more dragons with Ravi’s energy. Multiple Ravis in one castle was too much for any castle to bear.
Hear that, universe? Please and thank you.
Cameron came back quickly with Yuki in tow but apparently he had heard at least part of this comment, as he asked his dragon spouse hopefully, “Can we have a baby soon too? We’re swarming with mages and dragons, and the castle is safe as houses. Surely we can do that this year.”
Alric looked wistful himself. “I’d certainly like at least one this year.”
Yuki was quick to join Sora’s side, and she had an eerily similar look on her face, with the pursed lips and narrowed eyes.
“We’ll of course help you to have a child, but for the love of god, Alric.
You nearly undid all of the good healing you’ve managed in the past several months!
Your poor muscles are inflamed and swollen right now.
It’s so inflamed it’s trying to put your socket out of joint. ”
“I didn’t know inflammation could do that,” Cameron said somewhat rhetorically. His expression was a fine balance between exasperation and worry. “Alric, I knew you should have stopped while you were ahead.”
“Apparently,” Alric said on a sigh. “I’ll heal from this, though.”
“You will,” Yuki agreed, then exchanged a long look with her son, a silent conversation between them before she tacked on, “But I think bed rest for two days will help. And no, Cameron, I don’t mean that kind of bed rest.”
Cameron wrinkled his nose at her. “Booo. Kill joy.”
“Yes, I live to be a cockblocker. Alric, I think it’s safe for you to shift. We’ll get something cool and soothing against that shoulder and let you sit the rest of this one out. Cameron?”
“I’ll handle the rest, don’t worry. We’re in cleanup mode, anyway, it’s not like anything major is going down.”
“HOHEIT!” Baldewin waved a hand overhead. “I need authorization on the Jaeggi vehicles leaving!”
“I spoke too soon.” Cameron shook his head, already resigned.
“I can handle them,” Alric offered.
“No, you can sit there and look pretty. I’ve got this.” Cameron headed for the main road, positioning himself to intercept them.
Gunter watched him go, a proud smile on his face.
Cameron was so different than the young man they’d all met at the festival.
He’d grown into his role as consort very well.
He now thought nothing of stepping in front of cameras or speaking with figures of authority.
He did it with a charming smile, disarming people into agreeing with him before they quite knew what they were doing.
Alric really had done well choosing this one.
Apparently thinking along the same lines, Alric turned his head to watch him go, a proud smile on his face.
“Look at him. No hesitation. I want to be out of here sooner rather than later. It’ll be less obvious if we can leave this area before dawn’s light.
Call Rodrigo for me, get a status update.
” “Sure.” Gunter pulled his phone out to make the call.
Rodrigo answered on the first ring. “Hello?”
“How are things in there? Hoheit wants a status update.”
“We should be able to leave in the next hour,” Rodrigo assured him, the sound choppy with background noises. “We ice dragons have subdued most of the fire. It’s just the front section that still needs to be put out. We’ll have it done before they can get set up.”
“Good, I’ll pass that along. Everything else alright in there?”
“Seems to be. How is Alric?”
“He’s overworked his shoulder to the point that he’s on medical orders to sit the rest of this out.”
“Ah, understood. Tell Alric not to worry, we can take care of this.”
“Thanks.” Gunter hung up and relayed to Alric, “Rodrigo’s got it under control.”
“I heard him clearly enough.” Alric finally shifted back to human form, wincing as he did. It had to be painful, with his joints so inflamed.
Gunter moved out of the way, and Nikki joined him, shirt in hand while the magic goo finished drying. They removed themselves a few feet to give Alric some privacy but maintain a perimeter so no one else could just walk up and disturb the treatment in progress.
Nikki leaned their head against Gunter’s shoulder, nuzzling for a second. “How are you feeling about all of this?”
“I am…relieved.” Gunter paused, staring at the town still burning in sections, the area crawling with dragons and mages.
“It’s surreal, honestly. I never knew how to picture this day.
In my dreams, I saw it play out in so many ways.
I thought I might feel victorious, or viciously self-righteous that it was us who won in the end.
But all I really feel right now is grim relief. ”
“They can’t hurt us anymore,” Nikki whispered.
“They can’t hurt us anymore,” Gunter repeated, and a weight lifted off his heart as he said the words aloud. “And in the end, that’s all I really wanted. Safety for my family. For me. Revenge didn’t matter to me as much as that.”
“Yeah. I hate what they did to my parents. How much we lost, as a world, as a magical community, because of them. They have a lot to answer for. But I feel like they did answer for it all, tonight. And with them gone, we can rebuild. You’re right, it’s just a relief at this point.”
Gunter was glad they felt the same way. He turned his head and kissed Nikki on the forehead. “How’re your ribs?”
“A lot better. Sora’s really amazing. And I think I’m dry enough to put the shirt back on, which I have to tell you, it’s cold out here. I really want the shirt back on.”
Gunter hadn’t noticed the cold. But he was also built to be warm at all times. He bent and checked Nikki’s goop by the illumination of the van lights, found it had dried, and helped Nikki put the shirt back on. Then he snuggled his mate in, sharing body heat so Nikki warmed up faster.
Nikki was happy to snuggle, wrapping both arms around his waist. “Gunter.”
“Yes, Liebling?”
“You were so cool back there, facing Thomas down. I honestly thought you’d break bones, you were slamming yourself so hard into the ward. How many bones were you planning to break, trying to get to me?”
Gunter thought about that for a second. “Two hundred and thirty-six bones in a dragon’s body.”
Nikki made a choked sound, part laugh, part something else entirely. “You crazy person. I love you for it. You seriously love me like no one else ever has.”
“You make it easy.” Gunter tilted their face up for another kiss.
Nikki grinned back up at him, eyes alight with joy. “You’re taking the words right out of my mouth. But Gunter, something you said to Thomas bugs me.”
“Yes, and what’s that?”
“Uh…I never really got your age? Like, were you serious when you said you were alive during the Dragon War?”
“I was, yes. I was young, but old enough to participate in the war.”
Nikki’s eyes crossed. “I feel like someone just took a chair to my back. Seriously?! But you have no issue with the fact that I’m so much younger?”
“I waited a long, long time for you, little one. You were worth every second of the wait. And the only complaint I have about you is that you like exploding things too much for my comfort.”
Nikki laughed, the joy in the sound infectious. “But it’s so much fun! Come to the dark side, Gunter. You get to see all sorts of pretty explosions.”
“How about we find you another hobby?”
“Oooh, you can give me a baby, how’s that? That’ll keep me occupied for at least a few decades.”
Gunter’s eyes widened at the mental image. Him and Nikki. With a baby. Oh god, what if they inherited Nikki’s gorgeous purple eyes? Or the sass Gunter enjoyed so much?
The prospect of children had faded very early on for Gunter. His clan had been so focused on survival, finding mages had taken all precedence. But with his mate in his arms, looking at him with such eagerness, that long-lost hope came rushing back in full force.
A baby.
A child of his own.
Gunter could only answer one way. “We’ll have to wait. Alric and Cameron take precedence, but…after them.”
“I’ll arm wrestle Ravi for the next shot at the incubators.” Nikki bounced in place a little before smacking a kiss on Gunter’s mouth. “We can start in on the nursery in the meantime. Lots of kids, okay? I’m talking a dozen.”
“A dozen—?!” Gunter spluttered. “No! Nikki, I love you, but no. How about two?”
“Two? Two?! Hell no, we’ve got a clan to rebuild, but I can compromise. I can come down to ten.”
Gunter passed a hand over his face. Ten. Ten little Nikkis running around.
No, pretty sure the world would not survive.
“We’ve got time to discuss this,” Gunter finally said. “It’ll be a good year yet before we can use the incubators again.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
And maybe by that point, Gunter could talk his mate down to a reasonable number. Like three.
Anything over six was a very firm no. He was absolutely not budging on that.