by Aidy Award
"It's just me. I'm going to come in, very slowly, and I'm bringing Dax. Don't anyone attack us, okay?"
"This isn't a good idea."
"I have to make sure the babies aren't hurt. There's something weird going on." Jules slowly peeled herself off the wall and stepped into the doorway to the room. It was darker in here than the rest of the house and it took a second for her eyes to adjust. The first thing she saw were the glowing icy blue eyes of Max's giant wolf crouched in front of the crib the babies shared.
Galyna's wolf sniffed the air and then nosed Max. She sat down on her haunches and turned her head back toward the crib, too. Up over the side railing popped two fluffy little heads of the cutest wolf puppies in the whole wide world.
"Tristan? Ellie?" At their names they lifted their noses to the sky and yip, yip howled. When their adorable wolf song was done, one of the two sneezed and a toddler with the same blue eyes and blond hair as Tristan sat in the crib in its place. The other wolf pup wagged its tail, licked his face and jumped on him.
"Ellie, stop. Gwoss. Quit it."
The other pup stretched and shook her head and sneezed. In its place sat Ellie, but definitely not a baby either. "Hi, Juwels."
Ankle-Biters
Holy First Dragon, Dax was never ever having kids. They were cute and all, but also these ankle biters were literally biting his ankles. He picked up one wolf puppy in one arm and yanked the other one off his pant leg and tucked it under his other arm. They wriggled and whimpered and yipped in protest at having to stop their brand new favorite game of chew on Uncle Dax.
Jules took one of them from him and ruffled its head. Galyna took the other and cradled it in her arms exactly like a baby. These little terrors were no babies. At a sneeze or a tickle or even if someone said their name they shifted between forms. Little kid, wolf, little kid, wolf.
"I don't like this one bit. When I find out what kind of magic robbed me of watching my children grow up and learn to walk I'm going to--"
Galyna set one wolf pup down, who immediately came over and started chewing on Dax's jeans again and took the other one from Jules. "What, babe? Forbid it? You don't know that it wasn't the response to extreme danger that caused this little insta growth spurt and their ability to shift to come on. Grab Tristan. Poor Dax isn't going to have any pants left in a minute."
Max was spitting mad, but there was also a glow of pride about him every time he saw one of his kiddos turn into a wolf. He scooped the puppy up who shifted in mid-lift and giggled when his father tossed him into the air. "Maybe. But I reserve the right to kill something. Besides, my mother will chew up and spit out the entrails of any being that interfered with her plans to film every second of her grandchildren’s lives from first steps to first shift and put it on WolfSpace."
Galyna cooed and tickled her wolf pup's belly. "Yes, that's right. Grandma is going to eat their entrails. Yes, she is."
Dax had already failed in the duty Cage had given him. He was here not even an hour and he'd allowed demon dragon wyrms to invade the Grimm home. Because he'd been distracted by Jules and her luscious body. He only considered for a second that she had purposely created the distraction. When she warned him of the wyrm on his tail and then worked so well with him in battle it was almost like she was a trained warrior who didn't have the ability to shift. She hadn't fought, but she had been an excellent navigator and kept a cool head in a crisis.
He knew seasoned warriors who would have flipped their shit in a free fall toward the ground. She'd punched the demon in the face and gracefully waited for him to grab her out of the air. So fucking hot.
He'd almost lost his own shit when she'd been snatched out of his claws. He swore that some divine gift from the First Dragon had given him a burst of speed and power to get to her on time. He'd never flown so fast in his life. He also knew in that last split second that if he didn't save her and she died, he would burn down the world.
She had to be his mate. He knew he didn't get one yet, that he had to wait for Match to find his first. Wait he would. The second he was able to give her his soul shard he was going to. She was the one.
Dax knew more than one dragon who'd gone a bit mad in the head thinking he would never find the one. None of their fathers had. It was a wonder any of them had been born at all. Well, except dragon warriors were the horniest bunch of beasts on the face of the planet. Sex brought babies. Mates brought love and babies, as now proven by the AllWyvern Cage and his mate, Azy. Their children had been stalked by the Black Witch even before birth.
The Black Witch. She'd tried to kidnap the dragon babies too. "Max, Gal, I'd like to bring in some more dragons and set up a protective detail for your children. I don't understand why or how, but I think the Black Witch may be trying to kidnap them."
Jules shifted on her feet. "But I saw a black dragon trying to take them, not a witch."
Dax would need to remain vigilant over his emotions and his damn libido around Jules until this problem resolved. She could so easily distract him and he had some proving of himself to do. After that, all bets, and all clothes were off. He crossed his arms and blocked those last thoughts down. "Ereshkigal has many skills. Possibly that's what she wanted you to see to throw us off the scent. But she tried to steal Izzy and Apollo before they were even born. She couldn't get to them and I think now she's after your pups."
Max's wolf shimmered up to the surface, making his eyes glow. "What the hell do we have to do with the dragons' battle?"
"I don't know. But I will find out." First he needed to get in touch with Cage and check his theory out and call for some reinforcements. This was not a one-warrior job.
"Fucking dragons," Max growled.
Tristan clapped and giggled. "Fucking dwagons. Grrr."
The adults in the room all went wide-eyed and Galyna gave Max a hard stare. He shrugged. "Kid's not wrong."
Jules was doing her best to hide a smirk. "Guess we have to start watching what we say around them. It's incredible how they not only grew, but their mental development seems to be right in line with how old they appear to be. Like maybe around three-ish?"
"Did I just hear my grandson swear?" Serena the Troika matriarch picked her way into the disaster of a living room. "The other boys and their mates are on their way over, too. I see we'll need to call in more to get your place back into liveable order."
She walked right up to her son, Max, looked at the child he was holding and held her arms out for him. "Aren't you a big boy now? Come here and tell Babi what you've been doing to get so big."
Two seconds later the alphas of the other two packs in town, and Max's brothers walked into the room with their mates. "Holy shit, dude. What the--"
Max slapped a hand over his younger brother's mouth. "For the love of the moon, don't swear in front of the kids. I've already made that mistake."
The women rushed over to Gal and Serena and the five of them turned into a storm of gestures and talking over each other and laughs and gasps. His Jules was right there in the middle of it all holding her own with the alpha women of entire wolf-shifter world. She glanced over at Dax and gave him a soft smile.
Dax never intended to stay in America long term. This place was always just his favorite R and R spot. He figured he'd get stationed somewhere warm and tropical. He hated the cold. All Red Dragons did. He'd suffered enough brutal winters in Poland where Match the Red Wyr had decided to keep the Wyr. He supposed he could handle a New York winter.
"We've decided we should put the nursery back together first so the babies, uh children, can go down. They're already looking sleepy and I don't want crying, angry toddlers on my hands tonight." Galyna patted the back of the little girl who'd finally shifted back into her human form and had her thumb in her mouth.
"Here, give her to me. I'll watch them while you get the room how you want it." Jules took the child and the little girl curled into her shoulder, laying her head on Jules like the comfiest of pillows. She was fast asleep in seconds.
> Tristan held out his arms toward Dax, opening and closing his hands in a gimme motion. “Fucking dwagon, papa.”
Maxim chuckled and shrugged at Dax. “You wanna take him for a minute? The rearranging of the nursery will go faster if the three of us help. He jerked his thumb at his brothers. “We’ll be finished in no time and this little guy will probably already be asleep by then.”
“Sure. If you trust me.”
Maxim handed Tristan over who bounced in Dax’s arm. “I don’t, but I do trust Jules. She’ll keep you in line.”
All three men gave Dax either a slap on the back or a sock in the arm as they filed past Dax and down the hall toward the nursery. He deserved it. No way was he letting any demon wyrms harm anyone in this family again.
Man, Jules looked so right holding a small fry in her arms. Something warm bloomed behind Dax’s heart. He rubbed the spot with his knuckles. Probably heartburn.
He really needed to walk outside and make a call. He didn’t want to worry the wolves and Jules more than he had to, especially when he was still the lone dragon warrior. He’d go call Cage and Steele in a minute. That little girl had to be getting heavy and Jules needed someplace to sit.
Dax cradled Tristan in the crook of one arm and grabbed the corner of the couch with the other. With a flick of his wrist he flipped it upright and waved Jules over to sit. There were claw marks like open wounds in the material, but it wasn’t that much worse than the furniture in Dax’s own place. He hated to spend any of his growing hoard on stuff like that. He did have a pair of gold and ruby earrings that would look great on Jules.
She laid Ellie in the corner of couch and reached for Tristan who had indeed fallen asleep in Dax’s arm. She nestled them together and then propped pillows in a makeshift fort all the way around them. The children fussed for a second and Dax held his breath, hoping they weren’t about to wake up and start screaming their heads off. Jules reached into their little nest and laid one of each of their arms over the other one until they were embracing.
Silence.
Dax whispered. “You’re so good with them.”
“I love them as if they were my own. I don’t know why, but I feel a very special connection to them.” The children felt it too. No doubt. There was something special about Jules, human or not.
Huh. Did everyone feel drawn to her too? Was he kidding himself thinking his attraction to her was special? She did live in a town where all magical beings were welcome. Maybe someone had bespelled her. Didn’t sound like something the Black Witch would do, as conniving as she was. No, attraction, especially like what he was experiencing, was more likely the work of a succubus. It wouldn’t be the first time a dragon warrior had been tricked by one.
Once again Dax warned himself to be careful around her. Once he was out of sight of Jules, he would examine these intense feelings he was having and ignore the signal his soul shard was emitting. If this was a spell, it was well hidden and very crafty. She claimed to be nothing more than human and he couldn't scent anything different than that on her. If her story checked out he would keep her close and protect her from whatever dark forces were trying to use her against the wolves and dragons.
Jules yawned and Dax wrapped his arms around the back of the couch, urging her to lay her head on his shoulder. "It's late and you've had a very adventurous night. Sleep for a bit. I'll watch the kidlets. They can't get into much trouble if they're asleep."
"I am pretty exhausted. I'm not much of a night owl." She curled into him and within a few seconds she was softly snoring.
Adorable. She fit perfectly against him, her soft curves against his hard... uh, everything. Some parts of him were getting harder at the moment. Down, boy. Maybe later. Hopefully.
Jules felt so nice and warm in his arms that his own eyelids drooped a little. She wasn't the only one who had a killer day. He'd flown halfway across the world to meet her. Okay, not only to meet her, but she was a big part of this mission. One that he'd do anything to protect and keep safe. Along with those cute AF kids.
Dax stretched his neck muscles with a side to side movement of his head, trying not to disturb Jules, and yawned. He caught a faint whiff of something smoky before laying his head back on the couch and closing his eyes.
The first thing he saw in his dream was Jules, running through a field of daisies in the sunlight toward him. The rays glinted off of her hair, highlighting red strands that he wanted to reach out and touch. She was shouting something he couldn't quite hear. He reached out to catch her and wrap her up in his arms. That's when he saw the fear on her face and the sound of his name being yelled popped into his consciousness.
"Dax, Daxton. Wake up, you fucking dragon." Maxim shook his shoulder and his arm was pulled back and his hand was open, poised and ready to slap him across the face. "Where the fuck are my kids?"
"Krphs frrr nurrph thurrr." Dax's mouth wasn't working right. He blinked and even that small movement was slow and labored. "Wha wrong wuff me?"
Galyna grabbed Jules and shook her. Her only reaction was for her head to fall to the side. "Oh my god, oh my god. Someone has poisoned them and taken the babies."
The rest of the family were standing in a semi-circle in front of him and Jules. All were glaring at him. Which if his brain would work for a second, he knew was appropriate. All he had to do was watch one woman and two sleeping children for like five minutes and he hadn't been able to do it.
If there was a way to resign from being a Dragon Warrior he would do it right now. That was not an option. He shook his head, trying to brush away the cobwebs of whatever the fuck was wrong with him. "Dragons aren't affected by drugs."
There. An entire complete sentence. That was a start. "Help me up. I'll find whoever did this."
Maxsim reached for Dax's collar, ready to heave him up off the couch, but stopped short. Jules's body tremored, and then shook, and then she went into a full-on seizure. That did more to clear Dax's head than anything else. He welcomed the adrenaline that pushed through his veins and arteries restarting his heart, lungs and brain.
Dax scooted to the side and laid Jules out on the couch. He fell to his knees onto the ground beside her and pulled Jules to her side to help keep her airway clear. The soft pillows of the couch helped protect her head and all they could do was wait. "I think she's trying to pull herself out of it."
The jerky motions of her body slowed and Dax carefully stroked her hair. She took one giant gasp and her eyes popped open. "She took them."
"Who?" Galyna was wrapped in a giant group hug made up of all the other women in the room. They all were practically holding their breaths waiting for her answer.
Jules blinked again. "I don't know. I couldn't see anything more than that. She filled the room with some sort of smoke or fog or light. It was almost like a laser show behind my eyelids. Then she called the children and they shifted and ran outside."
Max growled and fell to the ground on all fours. His face elongated and fur erupted all over his body. His clothes exploded off his new wolf frame and in an instant he was sniffing the ground and took off running out the front door. Kosta, Niko, and followed.
"They'll find them, Gal. There are no better noses on the ground than the alphas. If the children are in their wolf forms and running, they won't get far." Heli stared out the front door, her wolf eyes glowing. All three of the women's wolves were also close to the surface.
"We should stay here in case they come back. I'm going to get Jules some water. Dax, you should come to the kitchen and help me do that." There was a bit of alpha in Zara's request. She was the Tzarina of all of wolf kind and was used to having her orders followed.
"I'll be right back, Jules." Dax got up, wobbled a bit and then went into the kitchen. It wasn't far off the living room and he could hear Zara opening and closing cupboards. When he turned the corner he didn't see any glassware or pitchers of water on the counter.
"You listen to me, dragon." She pointed her finger at him. "You call in all your
friends and you find those kids. Then you get this dragon problem out of my lands. You may have helped create our pack's bond with the dragons all those years ago, and I will never forget the service you did for me and Niko. But If anything happens to those kids or anyone else in Rogue and the pack territories, that will be the end of wolf and dragon relations. Forever."
Well, shit. Not only was Cage going to kill him for doing a piss poor job on this mission, he was also going to extra super duper kill him for creating a rift between two of the most powerful supernatural species in the world. Add diplomacy and negotiating a peace treaty to his to do list. "I hear you, my lady. I vow I will find them. I'm sorry your family has been made to suffer."
Zara folded her arms and her glare was extra powerful with the blue glow of her wolf in her eyes. "You do that. Then you're out of here and I don't ever want to see you in pack lands again. Do I make myself clear?"
There went his plan for spending the cold New York winter in Jules's bed. "Yes, my lady."
Which Witch?
Oh no. Oh no no no no no.
The children were missing, probably kidnapped by some evil monster and it was Jules's fault. Damn these visions. Why couldn't she have been born with real supernatural powers and not a stupid plain human? Sure she'd dabbled in some elemental witchcraft. There wasn't a teenager in all of Rogue who hadn't. Didn't matter if they were human or special, everyone tried it. She'd even convinced herself that she'd turned rainy weather into a bright sunshiny day for a picnic with her friends once.
Of course she was kidding herself. The only time she'd ever come close to being a part of the real supernatural world was at last year's all-pack mating ceremony. The Troikas and the people in Rogue were the only family she'd ever really known. She'd hoped that one of the wolves would choose her for a mate. She didn't care which pack he was from, just as long as he wanted her and she got the chance to go through the change like Galyna, Heli, and Zara had.