"Damn it," I yelled, veering a little as I flew with rage.
"Will that asshole stop interfering with my plans? Bazer should have killed him long ago, before he gained any foothold in the clutch," I growled in frustration.
Now I definitely needed to find Bazer first.
"When Sorun wakes, take him and find Bazer. These bloodsuckers can’t find him. I’ll deal with Chieftain Tomlin," I ordered.
This flight was supposed to clear my head. It just made it worse. How was that leech still alive? If only he had died. A thought occurred to me.
Hmm… Maybe I can still use him to win over the elders.
First, Bazer needed to be found. Then, one way or another, I would have the elders convinced to cleanse our race, and I would use the little bloodsucker as my ticket.
Allies and Adversaries
Krispin
Afterbreakfast,wepartedways with the rest of the group and went to Ben's rooms. The enormity of the past few days hit me as we settled on the couch. It had been just a few days since I’d been unmated and alone. Yes, I had friends in Cam and Jackson, but even they didn’t know the real me. Cameron was the first person to become my friend in millennia, which started because of a steady stream of sex. Before them, I had no one.
No one for over three thousand years. During that time, I stuck to myself and enjoyed my work. Whether as a doctor or before that, I was a fisherman on a commercial fishing boat. I had had many lives and done many things, but I had never let anyone close. If they weren't close, I couldn't fail them. Now, meeting Ben destroyed those walls, I had a mate, and he was pregnant. I had to keep him safe.
Ben laid his head on my lap, and I gently ran my fingers through his hair. As we sat there in silence, I began to wonderabout all the information and Elder Atticus. He seemed too keen on my mate not surviving, and I kept thinking he might have something to do with his initial attack. But why? Why attack Ben in the first place? It didn't make sense. It was starting to feel like my old failure, when I’d lost my family. My dragon stirred within me. He didn't like the thought of anything happening to our mate. He was still all for flying off to our lair and hiding him there.
"Penny for your thoughts," Ben murmured. I couldn't tell him how insecure I was feeling; he had gone through too many surprises to unload those feelings on him. So, I settled for something else.
"Just thinking about our living arrangements. I know I agreed to stay with your coven for the time being, but I’m not entirely comfortable staying here," I admitted.
"We can always look for a place while staying here. We would have had to do that anyway. We can just think of it as staying with family until we get our own place, complete with controlling father-in-law." He laughed.
I chuckled. I loved his sense of humor. It matched my sometimes imperious nature and brought out my humorous side. He was my sunshine and my smile.
"I agree. Aren't there mountains nearby? Perhaps we can find something there? It would be good for our son when he's coming into his dragon."
"In this part of Colorado, the Rocky Mountains are plentiful, and we can probably find something just outside the coven territory," he replied.
"With vampires, we don't start drinking blood and showing vampiric attributes until around twelve or thirteen," he said. "What are baby dragons like? Will our son be able to shift into a dragon right away? Do I have to worry about the house burning down? Oh, do you think he’ll have any vampire attributes?"
I smiled. He truly did love to learn. Though having a baby was a shock to him, he jumped right in and accepted it, and now he was asking questions.
"He will be a full dragon. He may get some of your features, your hair, maybe your eyes or nose. But the dragon gene always wins over other paranormal attributes; there are no hybrid dragons. His first full shift won't hit til around puberty. However, as a child his dragon will make appearances, with changing his skin to scales or his eyes to dragon eyes. He won't come into his affinity, however, until around eighteen or twenty, after puberty. This way, no wild hormonal teenager burning down the house or causing snowstorms in summer," I explained.
He let out the biggest sigh of relief. "Thank the gods! I don't know if I could handle a toddler temper tantrum that ended up destroying everything."
"The fates knew what they were doing when they thought of dragon development." We sat in comfortable silence, each thinking of the changes that were coming.
I don't know when I dozed off, but I was roused by pounding on the door. I felt Ben stir and get up to let whoever was there in or, at the very least, tell them to fuck off.
"Hey, Dev, what's going on?" I heard him ask.
"It's almost two, and I thought I would go to the meeting with you. I am the coven second, after all. Did I interrupt something?" Devin asked as he made his way into the room.
"You would have had you come later, cock blocker," Ben groused, and Devin grinned.
"So, what's going on with you and Roarke?" Ben asked.
Devin's grin turned to a straight line, and his lips thinned. "Nothing is going on," he stated in a flat tone, his look leaving no room for follow-up questions.
"Hey, Devin, how are you doing? Is it time for our meeting with the elder?" I asked, changing the subject and injecting myself into the conversation.
