Bridget leaped out of bed and grabbed his shirt and boxers from the floor. She threw them on with jerky movements. “Bas. You’ll be okay. We’ll find your brothers.”
“Hurry,” he moaned.
“Come on, let me give you a hand.” She slung his arm around her shoulders and helped him walk awkwardly out of the bedroom.
“I can’t move. Hurts. Oh gods, fucking hurts,” Bas slumped to the carpet on all fours and roared loud enough that the pictures on the walls shook.
“I’ll be back. I’ll get help,” Bridget stammered and ran down the stairs to the central part of the house. She shouted as loud as she could, “I need a fucking Greatdrakes, now!”
Valentine stumbled out through a door. “What the fuck was that roar? What… Where is he, Bridget?” he demanded.
“Upstairs. He collapsed. I think he’s shifting. I don’t know... I can’t...” she tried to explain.
Valentine ran up the stairs, and she followed him as fast as she could.
Valentine slid to a stop when he reached Bas. He was curled in a ball, a line of blue scales poking through his back.
“Fuck. We need to get him outside. If he shifts, he will destroy the whole goddamn house,” Valentine said. He pulled out his phone and hit a contact number before shoving the phone at her. “Tell him he needs to comenow.” Valentine leaned down and lifted his brother up and onto his shoulder.
Bridget fumbled with the phone and got it to her ear just as a deep voice answered. “Val, why the fuck are you calling so late?”
“Um. Not Val. This is Bridget. Val is carrying Bas outside because he’s starting to shift. He’s got claws and scales, and he’s in lots of pain, and I don’t know what to do,” she said, panicked tears falling down her face.
“I will be there soon. Keep him calm,” the voice said, and the phone went dead.
Bridget stumbled back down the stairs, hanging onto the banister for support, and followed Valentine. She really hoped whoever she just talked to got there in time.
29
Bridget followed Valentine and Bas out into the darkness of the garden. It was cool outside, but she hardly noticed. Valentine put Bas down on a sun lounge and checked his eyes and pulse.
“What happened to bring this on?” he asked.
Bridget went red. “We were having sex.”
“I thought as much. Highly emotional situations are usually one of the triggers,” Valentine replied. He made a gesture in the air, a careless flick of his wrist, and two blankets appeared. He tossed one to Bridget, and he laid the other one over Bas.
Bridget put it around herself. “Thanks.”
“He would kill me if I didn’t look after you.” Valentine pulled up a lawn chair and placed it beside Bas. “Sit down. Having you close will help.”
Bridget didn’t see how, but she still sat. She took one of Bas’s clawed hands and hung on. “Stay with me, Greatdrakes. I’m not done with you yet.”
Bas made a sound between a groan and a laugh. “Not my sexiest…moment…” he panted.
“I mean, before all this excitement, it was definitely mine,” Bridget said and kissed the back of his hands.
“S-Sorry I ruined it.”
“You ruined my pussy, but that’s all,” she teased.
Valentine made a gagging sound. “Please stop for the love of the gods. What did Taran say?”
“If that’s who I was talking to, he said he will be here soon,” Bridget said and handed him back his phone.
“Okay. I need to go wake Apollo and Dad. Don’t leave him alone. Don’t let him go,” he said, fear flickering in his eyes.
Bridget’s hand tightened on Bas. “Never.”
