My blood ran colder than my magic.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Wess
Nightshade Bear Territory
“There, there, now, Wess,” a feminine voice whispered to me from somewhere beyond the dark void I’d been cast into. Baby Andy and a whining puppy lay on my stomach and a soft, long-fingered hand stroked my face. I grabbed for the hand, but it evaded me. A finger appeared under my nose.
“Dragoness,”my bear whispered into my thoughts.“It’s the exploding dragoness.”
That was better than it being Sharon Claudis unless Annila planned to drag us off to be shebear bait. Only we were still on the sofa. I opened one eye to find Annila sitting crossed legged on the coffee table, grasping Sharon’s pinky finger in her hand. She’s broken it off the ice arm.
“I need…. I need ice,” I managed to say. “From the trunk. From Venal. It doesn’t matter. I just don’t want to eat her.”
A second later, a chunk of ice pressed against my lips. It was crushed from the fridge’s ice machine. I let out a long sigh. She wasn’t trying to make me eat the crazy she-bear, at least.
“I’ve been giving it to you on and off for the last ten minutes. You wouldn’t come around at first,” she said. “I tried to pick up the baby, and you almost got me. I gave up after that. He seems content where he is. After that, the dog took issue with me and barked until I sat down. Then managed to scramble up there. He doesn’t look too keen on me touching the baby either.”
“You tried to fucking blow up the baby,” I said, breaking Preston’s rules about cussing in front of Baby Andy. He’d have to forgive me this time. Concussed and all.
“No,” Annila said, a frown narrowing her face. “We all need Sharon dead, and I tried to do it. Some things have to be sacrificed in war. A living room, even one as nice as this, is a small price to pay to have her dead.”
“Why aren’t you chasing her right now?” I asked, glancing around the room.
“Too many hounds on her heels so to speak. She’ll be too vigilant for a while now. It’s a pity she managed to get away from you. I’d have paid good money for a frozen Sharon Claudis to put in my garden.”
My heart sank. Not because Annila lost her garden decoration but because Venal was dead. I wasn’t sad he was gone. Not in the way I’d be from losing a friend but in the way that now he’d never have a chance to grow into a better person. He’d never learn his lesson or mature. Baby Andy lost out on the slim chance that his bio sire would grow up and show up. Sure, I had frozen him. I was sort of sure I could’ve undone it at some point, if Preston or Andy asked me to. Only I wasn’t his parent like Sharon was.
“Yeah, she sucks big hairy balls, huh?” Annila nodded. “She kidnapped me you know. She kidnapped me and tried to make me her wife.”
“So, now you don’t have a life except for hunting her down?” I blinked at the dragoness as she spooned more ice into my mouth.
“I do too have a life. I’ll be taking the gateway home to London for Yule dinner in a bit. I get to see my kid and his kid too. I just won’t let her do what she’s doing to Preston and what she did to me to anyone else. It’s okay if you don’t understand. It’s my path to forge. She’s trying to use Pheromone Swap to hook up with people. Did you know that? She’s trying to get pregnant again. It really is all about power and the long game with her. They’ve put warnings about her on the app.”
“Did they get her?” I asked, already knowing the answer from Preston’s frantic thoughts over our mating link.
“You know they didn’t. She’s fast and she’s learned to teleport a bit. Though, you got her good. I caught a glimpse of her. Bleeding from her shoulder. One side of her torso partially ice. That’s going to be a real bitch to live with,” she said, spooning me one last bit of ice before standing up. “I’m afraid I have to make my exit now. The others are nearly back and to say the least Mori wants to kick my ass. Tell him hi for me, okay. Tell him I hope he never understands my anger.”
“Wait! Her wife? Are you….” I never got to finish my thought because I tried to sit up and the world spun again.
Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant. The word swam around my thoughts. If she were, we might never be able to tell. If she carried an egg, there might be no outward signs for us to notice.If Annila was pregnant by Sharon it made sense, why she needed her to die. Her own baby would be in danger eventually.
Baby Andy cried and I clutched him and the whining puppy to my chest as the door swung open. A second later, Preston hit his knees hard next to the sofa. Only then did I loosen my grip on the baby. Preston looked him up and down before starting to do the same with me. Information poured back and forth over our mating link catching each other up.
A second later, Barry shined an evil little flashlight into my eyes and said he’d be back. He wasn’t hauling me off to one of their healer buildings. So, I guessed I got off easy. I had a hard head to crack anyway. I patted the top of my head, and both of my horns were still there. I felt around seeing how much blood was in my white hair. None. Blissfully none.
“Mori, get your puppy,” Preston said. “Wess needs to rest. He has a concussion.”
“You need to rest. Barry needs to look at you,” I said, trying to sit up again.
My stomach lurched into my throat, and I found myself flat on my back again, taking shallow little breaths. Preston poured more ice into my mouth.
“I’m okay. She never touched me. I didn’t hit my stomach,” he said.
“Your sire will look anyway,” Xenos’s voice found my ears. “He’s going to make Wess something to clear up that concussion first. Then he’s going to look at you and the baby and---”
“Preston and thebabiesshould go first,” I said, fighting off the urge to shake my head as Mori lifted up the puppy. “I’m fine. I’ll live. I’m an alpha.”
