Talon! Reno! Your mates are here!That was Boone’s mental shout.
He and Reno glanced at each other and then took off at a dead magic-infused run for their apartments. Frankly, he wasn’t sure which one they were supposed to be going to, but it didn’t matter. They would just follow Boone’s mental shout. They were pretty much on top of each other, so it didn’t matter.
Holy shit.That was Durango’s mental voice.They brought a whole hoard with them.
What the hell did that even mean? He put on a burst of speed coming out of a stairwell onto Kami’s floor because that was where everyone else lived. The only ones who didn’t live in the same basic area were Triton, Cerran, and Elowyn, who had their own fancy-ass place with a terrace and everything.
Reno was panting on his heels, and he burst into his own apartment, looking to see if that was where they were. But noone was in there, so he turned and shoved Reno back out the door. “Your place.”
He flew across the hall and down the way to slam his own door open. Sure enough, when they piled in the door, Kami was on the floor holding Mercury, who was passed out cold. They were surrounded by jewels and gold, silver metal in huge piles, along with a dragon he’d never seen before.
Talon roared, going to snatch Mercury up into his arms so that Reno could grab Kami. “What the fuck happened?” he shouted.
Kami blinked, his teeth chattering still. “So c-cold.”
Mercury felt cold as well, freezing in fact, and he wondered how long it had taken them to slide back.
The head snapped up when the dragon across from them made a small sound. “Who the fuck are you?” Whose head is this?
His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the floor, much like where Mercury had been a few minutes ago. Mercury wasn’t awake yet; he was just not on the floor anymore.
“Oh fuck, somebody get a medic. Somebody call Cain. Somebody call Jack.” Reno grabbed Kami, and Durango wrapped them both in blankets.
“Kami, friend, what happened?” Talon tucked Mercury in, close to his chest.
“It was my fault.” Kami’s teeth were clenched now to stop the chattering. “I was thinking about finding this stone, and I grabbed his hand, and then we were gone. It was totally me. I didn’t mean to, but anyway, we were there and we had to find the stone. And then we found the stone with this dragon, and the dragon said he was going to eat us. We convinced him we could bring him and his hoard here, and Mercury said he could do it.” Kami’s eyes were wide as saucers. “And then Mercury did, butit took so long, it just took forever. We were out in that nothing forever.”
“You’ve been gone three hours. Tops.” Three of the longest hours of his goddamn life. But three hours nonetheless.
“Yeah, well, it took us maybe half an hour to find the stone and that guy.” Kami waved a shaking hand at the dragon on the floor, who Boone was covering with blankets.
The new doctor, a bright blue dragon, with amazing feathers, came in, her eyes sharp, looking over all three of them—Kami, Mercury, and the weirdo.
First she pointed to the new dragon, who was almost clear. “All right, that one down to med bay. Get him on IV fluids and nutrients. Also, get the psychic healers in; they’ll be able to help.”
Kami got a quick once-over and a nod. “He’s shocky. Keep him warm and get him tea.”
Then she looked at Mercury and frowned deeply. “I don’t want him doing that sliding thing while he’s pregnant. I’ve spoken to Rowan about this.”
“Well, I didn’t realize it would happen when I touched him.”I’m so sorry, Talon.
It was an accident, friend. Breathe.
“He can’t spend the rest of his life not being touched. There’s got to be an answer. Where is Cain?” She was a demanding dragon, wasn’t she?
“Busy, Dr. Bonne.” Little Anemone stood there, smiling, “But Mercury and I have been working together, and I’ll be able to help, I think. I’ve been doing a lot of research and talking to both Cain and Skye. We’re trying to find a simple grounding that helps him choose when he slides.”
“Why has he never learned to do that before now, do you think?” Talon asked. He went to sit down, Mercury on his lap, taking the blankets and wrapping them both up.
Anemone came to peer down at Mercury. “Because he never had to. He was locked away where he couldn’t even slide. His old keep feared him and worried about him bringing down censure on them, so they didn’t even let him out of the tower. How would he ever learn to control it that way?”
That made as much sense as anything. He stroked Mercury’s cheek, hating how cold his skin and scales were.
“Can you hear him at all?” the doctor asked. “Try contacting him.”
Mercury, love, can you hear me? You’re home now. You and Kami and this dragon that you helped out.
Talon felt a stirring in Mercury’s mind, but he couldn’t hear anything. It was as if Mercury was deeply asleep. What he could hear, though, was the baby, clear as a bell, little voice ringing out with laughter.
