Chapter 26 GIDEON
The sun barely scraped the sky when I woke. For the second time in weeks, maybe months, I'd actually slept. Deeply. No fire. No engines screaming. No visions of wings tearing or metal burning.
Just breathing.
It was amazing what a comfort it was to know she was safe under the same roof.
I pushed myself upright and rubbed a hand over my face.
The suite was dim and warm; the curtains were drawn.
I could hear the kids breathing softly from the other room—small, steady breaths like little anchors holding this moment down.
I had given them the other bedroom and slept on the couch.
I felt like a creeper when I entered the master bedroom where Inga was asleep, curled on her side on the edge of the bed, hair spilling over the pillow like chestnut silk.
She looked… peaceful. The kind of peaceful I hadn't seen on her before.
The kind of peaceful someone only has when no one is hunting them anymore.
God, I loved her.
Next, I moved carefully to the room where the kids slept. All three were curled up on the bed. Hilde was on the side to protect her arm. Klaus splayed like a starfish on the other side, and Axel lay across the foot of the bed.
I smiled. They'd eaten themselves into unconsciousness. Room service had come and gone to our room all night. I laughed to myself at the thought that the kids' stomachs were bottomless pits. Who would have thought that I would take so much enjoyment out of feeding them?
I picked up the hotel phone and ordered breakfast. "Everything you have," I told the desk clerk. "And extras of it."
The man didn't even question it. He must have already been warned about us. By the time the knock came, and the trays rolled in—eggs, bacon, real butter, fresh rolls, marmalade, fruit, porridge, sausages—the suite smelled like an actual morning, not war and dust.
I went to wake her.
She stirred when I touched her shoulder gently, eyelashes fluttering. Her eyes opened, slow and soft, still warm with sleep. For a second, she looked confused. But when she saw me, the most beatific smile I had ever seen crossed her features. You'd think she saw an angel, not a dragon like me.
"Gideon?" she whispered.
"Breakfast is here," I said. "Come eat. You'll need strength for today."
She sat up, pulling the blanket around her shoulders.
"Did you sleep?" she asked.
"For once," I said. "Yeah."
She smiled, small but genuine. I held out my hand. "Come on. Before the kids devour everything."
She slid her hand into mine, her fingers small and cold and perfect. As she stepped closer, the hotel robe slipped off one shoulder, exposing a line of smooth skin that made my throat tighten.
She noticed my stare. Her cheeks flushed a soft, warm pink. I reached up and brushed the fallen hair behind her ear, my thumb grazing her cheek. Her breath hitched—just once—and it felt like that single sound branded itself into my chest.
"Inga…" I murmured.
She looked up at me with those wide, trusting eyes, and something inside me snapped loose.
I bent down and kissed her. Not like yesterday, this kiss was deeper.
Hotter. It conveyed all the desire and pent-up emotions I had for her.
It was a slow, hungry kiss that tasted like the start of something dangerous and sacred all at once.
Her hand slid to the back of my neck, and her fingers threaded through my hair. She pressed closer, chest to chest, mouth opening under mine like she'd been waiting her whole life to breathe this way.
Heat roared through me. Through him, too, the dragon stirred under my skin, purred at the feel of her, the scent of her, the softness of her body against mine.
If the kids hadn't been asleep only a few feet away, I would've lifted her into my arms and… I broke the kiss before I lost control, resting my forehead to hers.
"I have to go in," I forced out. "They'll have the roster posted. I don't know yet how many hours I'll be flying today."
Her eyes flickered with worry.
I cupped her cheek. "Hey. Look at me."
She swallowed. "What if you don't come back tonight?"
"I will," I said, voice firm. "Some days I fly twelve hours, some days two. Some days, I get grounded because the engines decide to hate me. But I will always come back. To you. To all of you."
Her fingers curled around my wrist. "You promise?"
"With everything I am."
She kissed me again—quick, soft, warm—and whispered, "Be safe."
I kissed her forehead, then her ring, then stepped back before I could drag her into my arms again.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," I said. "Order what you want. What the kids want. Clothes, shoes—hell, order the whole damn store. Whatever you need, you get."
I grabbed my jacket, shrugged it on, and headed for the door. Right before I stepped out, I looked back. She was still standing there in the morning light, hair messy and lips flushed from my kiss, wrapped in a bathrobe and looking at me like she'd finally found a place to rest her heart.
It nearly wrecked me.
"Love you," I said before I could stop myself.
Her breath caught. "I love you too."
I closed the door gently behind me and headed toward Tempelhof. The roster was waiting. Engines were waiting. The sky was waiting.
But everything in me was already flying back to her.
I hailed another cab to get back to the barracks, my head still buzzing with the memory of Inga's kiss.
God, her kiss.
I felt it on my mouth even now, warm and soft, hesitant and bold all at once. Enough to undo me. Enough to make me think about a future I'd never allowed myself to imagine.
By the time I reached the barracks, the sky was turning orange. The shift change whistle hadn't blown yet, so the place was quiet. I showered fast, letting hot water pound the knots out of my shoulders. I scrubbed glass and dust out of my hair and pulled on a fresh uniform.
When I stepped into the common room, Carter was waiting with a cup of bad coffee and an expression that meant trouble.
"Well, well," he drawled as I passed. "Look who's glowing like a kid at Christmas. What'd you do, Griff? Pick up one of them German girls last night?"
I didn't respond. He kept going.
"Bet she was grateful, huh?" Carter grinned. "Those Fr?uleins will do anything for an American uniform. Hell, half of ‘em are begging for—"
I dropped my duffel bag, grabbed his collar, and slammed him against the wall so hard the tin mug in his hand clattered to the floor.
His eyes went huge.
"Watch your mouth," I snarled. "You talk about her like that again, and we'll see how grateful you are for a trip to the infirmary."
"J—Jesus, Griffin—" he sputtered. "I didn't mean—"
"I don't care what you meant."
I let him go, and he slid down the wall, dazed.
"Don't talk about Inga," I said, voice low and deadly. "Ever."
He nodded frantically, and I walked away without looking back. I didn't trust myself not to slam my fist into him again.
I only made it ten steps toward the flight board before a shadow slid into my path. Gray suit. Cold eyes. The CIA man.
"Captain Griffin," he said, adjusting his tie. "How's our little… domestic situation?"
My jaw ticked.
"Say one more thing about my family," I said quietly, "and I'll throw you through a wall."
"Family?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Already so attached? You do move quickly—"
A thread of heat slipped up my throat. Steam curled from my nostrils, causing his expression to falter. Unfortunately, he didn't back down.
"I'm here to remind you," he said, "that dragons—yes, it's time to quit dancing around the truth, we both know what you are—pose a national interest. And East Berlin is a volatile situation. We want your cooperation."
"I don't give a damn what you want."
"And," he continued as if I hadn't spoken, "we expect you to report any incidents—like those leading to a certain Soviet visit you survived—before acting alone again."
I stepped into his space, close enough for him to smell the heat coming off my skin. "You listen to me. You will fast-track the marriage forms. All of them. I want the paperwork done today."
"That takes weeks—"
"You will get them done NOW."
He scoffed. "We don't respond to threats."
I let the dragon slip.
Just a little.
My eyes flared gold. Heat shimmered between us. Smoke curled from my nose in two precise bursts. The man's face drained of color.
"Watch me," I growled.
His breath hitched. "Captain—"
"You will also expedite the housing assignment. Large quarters. For a family." He opened his mouth, but I kept going. "And you will leave us alone. Completely. No surveillance. No interest. No tests."
"This isn't how—"
"Do you know who one of my father's close friends is?" I asked softly.
He blinked.
"Senator Burton K. Wheeler."
That hit him like a punch.
Montana.
West.
Power.
Legacy.
Connections stretching into places men like him feared.
"He visited our ranch every summer while I was growing up," I continued.
"He taught me how to shoot. He plays poker with my father.
And he will be VERY interested to learn that the Office of Policy Coordination has been harassing his friend's son, and his future daughter-in-law, in violation of every regulation you pretend to follow. "
The OPC man swallowed. Hard.
"And that," I added, letting my eyes flicker gold again, "is the human part of my threat."
His knees almost buckled. "I'll… see what I can do," he whispered.
"You'll do exactly what I told you," I corrected. "Or I won't need to burn your office down. I'll just make a phone call."
He nodded shakily.
"And stay away from my family," I said. "If you come near them, I won't show you the polite version of what I am."
I walked past him, leaving him pale and sweating in the middle of the hallway.
The walk to the roster board should have calmed me, but it didn't. Between Carter and the OPC guy, my blood was flowing like lava. Hot and thick. At the roster board, my flight time was posted.
Six hours of continuous lift runs.
Then two hours downtime.
During which I would make some phone calls, because I knew Inga wouldn't do as I asked, and even if she did, she wouldn't buy nearly as much as she and the kids needed.
The next four hours after that of flying, I could handle too. Yes, it would be a long day, but I could handle anything now.
Because I had someone to come home to.
I touched the dog tags under my uniform, thinking of her, of warm bathwater, of her soft lips against mine, of her whispering I love you in the morning light.
"I'll be back, sweetheart," I murmured to myself as I headed for the plane. "And nothing on this earth will keep me from you."