Chapter 43 Roman
Two days ago, I was starting to lose hope.
I would never admit it to anyone else in this house, but I worried about the legal ramifications caused by the lies told to others.
The Crescent Coven played an evil game, and one that I would have admired had I not been on the receiving end of their schemes.
They’d found a way to use the human laws in their favor, and now me and my men were going to have to fight a different kind of battle.
This battle would be fought on our behalf by some very highly paid and highly skilled humans.
It was hard to put my trust in others, especially when our livelihoods were on the line.
Yet, I’d spent many years studying the changes in our ever-evolving world, and right now, there was little else I could do except trust in those I surrounded myself with and be prepared for the other fight I knew would be coming soon.
“Come on, half-breed,” Aiden whined. “Let me see it.”
“Yeah, show us,” Dorian teased as he bit into an apple and brushed his other hand against Katarina’s back.
We were sitting next to the pool. A slight mist rose from the water’s surface, the pool warmer than the morning air right now.
I thought that after last night, when I felt the bonds between us grow stronger, it was time to see how much of her magic Katarina could control.
It was also time to see if Blaise could shift on demand and be one of the greatest assets we’d ever had at our disposal.
“I swear,” Blaise growled. “If either of you fuckers ask me to shift again, I am going to—”
“What?” Aiden interrupted, jumping to his feet. “You’ll shift into your dragon and kick our assess?”
“I don’t need my dragon to end you.”
Aiden opened his mouth to goad Blaise even more, but I cleared my throat.
“Let’s not fight.” Lifting my hand out to Katarina, I helped her stand.
She looked up at me with those bright green eyes and my heart thumped loudly against my ancient chest. I swear I felt a blush crawl up my cheeks.
I was very old, and this was the first time a woman made me blush.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts and hide my embarrassment, I pulled Katarina closer.
“Have you been able to call to your magic at will?”
She looked behind her at Blaise who was taking several deep breaths to calm his anger. “I think I did once. When Murielle told us about the arrests.”
“What happened?” I asked calmly.
Katarina chuckled. “Well, I reached out to punch her, but Blaise held me back. When I did that, she still stumbled backward like a force had slammed into her.”
“That’s my girl,” Dorian beamed at her.
She smiled at him, but that smile quickly faded when she focused back on me. “But I haven’t been able to do anything since.”
“We won’t need her powers if we have a dragon,” Aiden butted in. “I mean, there’s going to be a fight, right? There’s no way the coven is going to sit back and let this play out in the courts. Especially if we beat the charges.”
“Another fight with the witches?” Katarina asked, the color draining from her face. Blaise was by her side in an instant.
“You do not need to worry about that,” he promised her.
It was unwise to say such foolish things, but Aiden beat me to it. “Blaise, seriously? Kitty Cat is much better off being prepared by having control over her magic than by ignoring the fact that they will be coming for us.”
“We can protect her from them,” Blaise growled, his eyes changing color and his pupils elongating.
“Yeah, by telling her the truth instead of treating her like… ah—”
The snap of the air around us made my ears pop. Aiden just barely escaped the fist flying at his face, Katarina and I leaning back at the same time to avoid being hit as well.
“Blaise!” Katarina shouted. “What are you doing?”
The dragon shifter had the sense to look ashamed when he made eye contact with her. Dropping his chin, he said, “He was annoying me.”
Aiden reappeared on the opposite side of the pool and yanked down his white button-up shirt as though his clothes had been messed with. “You almost made me transport into the pool, asshole.”
The deep rumble from Blaise’s chest had Dorian jumping to his feet and pulling Katarina away from him. “Jesus man, get a hold of yourself. You can’t let the anger rule you or you will lose control over your animal.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” he admitted.
Katarina stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. With her head resting against his chest, she closed her eyes and squeezed him tight.
Blaise visibly shivered underneath her touch.
But in just a few breaths, she calmed his anger to the point where I didn’t sense the dragon anymore.
I mean, it was there inside of him, but not nearly as close to the surface as he’d been just minutes ago.
“I believe that is part of your power, Katarina.”
She opened her eyes and looked over at me. “What do you mean?”
“Your ability to void magic actually calms some of our worst instincts.”
“Do you really think that’s what’s happening?” she asked just as Aiden reappeared beside me again. Damn him for making me flinch. I glowered when he smirked as he caught me off guard.
“I do,” I said. “Although I am still not certain how we go about using that to our advantage if it comes to a fight.”
“When,” Aiden interjected. “When we have to fight them.”
Dorian cleared his throat and glared at Aiden. But Katarina stepped between them and shook her head. “Roman is right. I need to learn how I can best tap into my witch blood so I can help. I don’t want to hide in the shadows and feel useless. I want to fight right alongside all of you.”
I leaned forward and kissed her soft lips, proud of her strength and her love for us. Who would have thought this was where we would end up when we captured her trying to steal from us?
Aiden sighed. “Okay, enough, you two. Roman,” he walked forward so I couldn’t avoid looking at him. “What about Cormac?”
“No,” Dorian immediately said.
“He’s ancient. And he owes you a favor.”
“Who is Cormac?” Katarina asked.
“An…old friend,” I decided to share. Cormac was indeed old, but to call him a friend was stretching it.
“Can he help me figure out my magic?” she asked, hope brightening the glow on her face. She really did want to fight alongside us, and my heart grew even fonder of her.
“Maybe. Let me think on that.”
“But—”
“Let me think about it, Aiden,” I cut him off. Inviting Cormac into our lives could turn out to be a much worse fate than what the coven had been dealing.
“Fine,” Aiden grumbled. “But can we at least see this supposed dragon in person?”
Dorian tried to hide his laugh, but Blaise heard, and he instantly got riled up again. “I don’t know how to do this!” he shouted through gritted teeth.
Aiden looked to his right, searching out Dorian. “Well, shifter? What can you tell him.”
“I can tell you that your presence here isn’t really helping,” he muttered.
“Blaise needs to learn how to listen to his animal and let the beast take control when asked. He’ll never be able to do that when he’s too angry to focus.
” Without saying another word, Dorian started to pull off his jeans.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt, like always, so before we could object, he was naked and dropping to the ground on all fours.
Just seconds later, his white wolf appeared and shook out his fur.
Looking up at each of us, he huffed as though we should all understand what that shifting process is like. Dorian nudged the side of Katarina’s leg, and she began to run her fingers over his head. His muzzle lifted toward Blaise, asking him to join.
But Blaise was taking several steps away from us and grabbing his face. “It’s not that fucking easy!” Glancing at me, he shook his head in disappointment. “I can’t do that.”
My stomach dropped when I realized he wasn’t angry at himself. He was angry because he thought he was disappointing all of us. “Blaise,” I said smoothly. “This is new. It’s going to take time.”
He was still shaking his head when Dorian trotted over to him. He sat on his haunches directly in front of Blaise. But I could tell that we were losing him.
“Dorian! I don’t get it. I don’t know how to make him come out!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Aiden said with a sigh just a split second before he grabbed Katarina and disappeared. She barely had time to let out a yelp before the water in the pool started to move.
“Aiden!” Blaise shouted at the fae who was now holding Katarina on the bottom of the pool. She was fighting him, thrashing her arms and screaming through the bubbles. Aiden calmly looked up at all of us, a slight smile dancing across his face while Katarina struggled.
Dorian crouched at the edge of the pool and whimpered. I dropped to my knees and prepared to jump in. But something inside of me assured my panic that Aiden would never let anything happen to Katarina. He loved her more than anyone else in his life.
But he would still use her to get to Blaise.
An inhuman roar burst from Blaise’s still-human chest. The sheer pain in his voice crushed my soul. He’d shifted while making love to Katarina before. When he was relaxed and not fearful for her life. So, I wasn’t convinced Aiden’s strategy would have the same effect.
However, I didn’t have time to test my theory.
Just as Blaise collapsed forward, clutching his stomach and screaming obscenities at Aiden, a sudden burst of water sent all of us flying back.
My shoulders hit the concrete edge, and the back of my head slammed into the grass.
Dorian yelped as he sailed backward and skidded to a stop ten feet away from the pool.
And Blaise rolled over the top of himself several times before gracefully using that momentum to stand.
“What the hell?” I muttered to myself, hating how much that little explosion caught me off guard. No one caught me off guard.
“You’re an asshole,” Katarina shouted. She was still in the water, desperately swimming toward the shallow end as Aiden tread water on the other side.
“Luv, I would never let anything happen to you. You know that.”
“You couldn’t figure out a better way to get to his dragon other than drowning me?” She pulled herself out of the pool and rolled to her side, coughing and glaring.
“You were fine,” Aiden continued. Then, as if remembering the reason why he’d dragged Katarina into the pool, he turned to Blaise with hope in his eyes. “Did it work?”
“No, Aiden,” I answered for Blaise, who looked like he was about to explode. “It just made him angrier.”
“Huh,” Aiden huffed. “I really thought that might work.”
Dorian snapped at Aiden’s head as he got closer to the edge of the pool. For once, Aiden looked a little fearful of his friend. “Relax. She’s fine.”
“I am,” Katarina said. “Just give me a minute to catch my breath.”
I used my speed to run to her side and gently helped her to her feet. Her clothes were dripping, and the red curls that I loved so much stretched closer to the ground. “He shouldn’t have done that,” I said to her.
“It’s fine. Really,” she added when Blaise growled. Then she looked directly at Aiden. “But a warning next time would be much appreciated.”
He nodded and teleported out of the pool. Grabbing a towel from his chair, he walked over toward us and held out his peace offering. Then he winked. “It worked though, didn’t it?”
“What?” Katarina asked, confused as she wiped her face and neck.
“You almost blew me out of the water,” he said with a proud smile plastered on his face. “You knocked all these assholes back several feet. Your magic works when you’re afraid.”
“Well, yeah.” Katarina huffed a laugh. “Isn’t that how it should work?”
Aiden grabbed her free hand and kissed her forehead.
“Yes. But now we know how to tap into it. Now we work on making it bend to your will.” Before Katarina could voice a rebuttal, Aiden disappeared and popped in right next to Blaise.
He slapped his hand across his back and grinned.
“And now we need to figure out how to release the dragon without you having an orgasm.”
“Aiden!” Katarina admonished him.
Blaise reached out for his throat.
But Aiden disappeared again…somewhere. Probably best he left us alone for a bit.
“Are you all right?” I asked Katarina.
“Yes, I am. And he’s right. Even if he went about it the wrong way.” She walked around the pool until she could wrap her arms around Blaise again. “We will figure you out, Blaise. We’ll find a way for you to get control of him without sex.”
Blaise kissed the top of her head. “We can still try the sex part.”
Giggling, she looked up at him at the same time Dorian trotted off into the labyrinth.
I got it. This was a very intimate moment between the two of them.
However, our survival might very well depend on Blaise and Katarina mastering their magic, so instead of sulking away and giving them space, I approached them both.
“I have a plan,” I said calmly, even though I didn’t know I’d settled on it until I opened my mouth. “We will make this work.”
Katarina let go of Blaise, turned to me, and grabbed my cheeks in her hands. “Thank you, Roman. Thank you for always being the adult in the room.”
I chuckled as her lips pressed against mine, and it took everything in me not to pick her up in my arms and take her to my room. The sharing was fine. We could all have Katarina. But sometimes, the possessive vampire in me wanted her all to myself. Even for just a short while.
However, whisking her away from Blaise right now could be deadly. So, I did the adult thing she praised me for and gently pulled back from her touch. “I am going to go make the arrangements. We’ll leave this afternoon.”
I felt Katarina and Blaise watching me as I slowly walked away and pulled out my phone. This was my family, and I was responsible for their safety. If that meant I needed to give the men extra time with Katarina to settle their souls, then that is what I’d do.
I just hoped my plan would work so we could all start this new life of ours together without the threat of jail or even death hanging over our heads. I needed to ensure that the House of Shadows would prevail.
Or none of us would.