“There’s the welcome center,” Avery said, pointing to the glass building. “Raven didn’t tell me what room she was in, but I’m sure they’d know.”
“No.” Aborella studied the pulsing orb around her neck. The light shifted toward the apartments. “She’s there.”
“But we don’t know the unit. It’s the middle of the afternoon. She could be anywhere.” Avery shook her head. “Why don’t I text her and ask?”
Aborella seized her wrist before she could reach for her phone. “And ruin the surprise?” she said through her teeth.
“You’re hurting me!” Avery attempted to yank her hand away.
Cursing, Aborella gave her another shot of influence and groaned with the effort. She didn’t stop until Avery’s facial muscles drooped. There. With that amount of fairy magic coursing through her blood, Avery should finally obey. For how long, she wasn’t sure. She needed to hurry.
“Excuse me!” An Asian man in a red-and-yellow robe with two long braids waved his hands at them. Aborella swore again under her breath. He was too close to convincingly pretend she didn’t hear him.
“Can I help you?” she said through a tight smile.
The man laughed and extended his hand. “Actually, I was wondering if I could help you. I am Master Gu. I run New Horizons.”
Aborella pumped his hand, and he gave her a pronounced frown.
“Have you recently lost someone precious to you?” He lowered his voice. “A child perhaps.”
“No. Why?” Aborella answered in an annoyed tone, although she followed it up with a smile befitting her identity as Charlotte.
“Your aura is dark. Very dark.” He turned to shake Avery’s hand and smiled brightly in her direction. “Yours, however, is the most brilliant gold and white. I’ve only ever seen one other person with that aura. Actually, she looks a little like you, but more… well, pregnant.”
“That’s my sister,” Avery said, her eyelashes fluttering. “That’s who we’re here to see.”
He folded his hands. “I’m sorry to say her husband called down earlier to tell me they were checking out this afternoon. You may be too late.”
Aborella glanced between Avery and Gu and decided to cut her losses. Pivoting, she ran for the stairs of the apartment building, leaving Avery and the protesting Master Gu behind. She rushed to the second floor, drawn forward by the scent of dragon and the tingle of power on her skin. Lucky her. She was close.
Touching each door with the tips of her fingers, she narrowed her eyes and concentrated. The tingle grew more intense until she reached a door that was already cracked. It swung open for her, as easy as brushing aside a spider’s web, and what she saw inside gave her a wicked thrill.
“Did you get the car loaded?” Raven asked, her back to Aborella as she bent over a suitcase open on the bed. Surprise, surprise, the witch’s pregnancy had advanced. Her stomach was the size of a beach ball, and Aborella could sense the unique magic of the infant inside her.
“I’ve come a long way for you,” Aborella crooned.
Raven whirled. “Charlotte? What are you doing here?”
In the mirror above the dresser, Aborella glimpsed Gabriel on the concrete walkway. As he neared, she saw exactly when he caught her scent. His casual walk turned into a run.
In a flash, Aborella spun behind Raven, grabbed her about the shoulders—careful not to touch her skin directly—and brought the razor-sharp edge of a blade to the witch’s throat. “Easy, Gabriel. Don’t give me a reason to spill her blood. The empress will take her either dead or alive.”
It was a lie but a good one. The empress wanted all of them brought back alive, Raven and the baby she was carrying most of all, but Gabriel didn’t need to know that.
“What the fucking hell!” Avery yelled from the doorway. “Charlotte, put down the knife!”
“The empress?” Raven’s hands reached for her.
Not this time. Quickly, Aborella whispered a paralysis spell in her ear and watched the witch’s arms drop limp to her sides. “Don’t you dare touch me, witch. I’ll curse you hard enough to make you wet yourself.”
“Charlotte.” Avery stepped around Gabriel and into the room. “Give me the knife.”
“Avery,” Gabriel commanded. “Go get my brother Tobias. Room 10.”
“Stay right where you are, Avery. I might need you,” Aborella said.
Avery stopped, although the sweat on her upper lip suggested Aborella’s hold over her would soon give out.
Gabriel growled. “Let her go, Aborella.”
She laughed. So the heir did know who she was. “I’m flattered you remember me. What gave me away, my prince?”
Gabriel sniffed the air like an animal. His voice was barely more than a hiss when he answered her. “You don’t forget the stink of fairy.”
“I missed you too.” Aborella dropped her illusion. Avery started to scream. Raven’s eyes widened in terror, and she struggled against her paralyzed limbs. No doubt the witch would love to touch her and drain her power, but Aborella wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. She zapped Raven with another dose of magic and had to hold her up as she went limp.
“Where are the heirs?” Aborella asked Gabriel. She shifted Raven’s weight to one arm to reach into her pocket and wrap her fingers around the Paragonian immurcador there. The weapon had the power to cage and transport all of them back to Paragon. She would have liked to catch Tobias and Rowan too, but Raven and Gabriel would do for a start. Aborella could return for the others.
“Let her go and we can talk,” Gabriel said.
Inside her pocket, Aborella’s thumb stretched to activate the device.
“Go to the funeral,” Raven blurted. Aborella didn’t know what that meant, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She drew the trap. Too late. Raven dissolved into a column of smoke before it engaged. Aborella’s knife passed harmlessly through the dark fog she’d become before she disappeared entirely.
Aborella cursed. Raven was far more powerful than she remembered, and she could not return to Paragon with Gabriel alone. She deactivated the immurcador and returned it to her pocket just as Gabriel’s talons sank into her gut. Pain radiated through her, sharp and intense. The symbols in her skin twisted and spiraled, magic meant to keep her alive.
“Die, bitch,” Gabriel seethed into her face.
Using the last of her power, she teleported to the safety of the nearest plant life, surprised to find herself among the landscaping of the outdoor yoga studio. At first she could do nothing but lay still in the dirt, but with time her fingers twitched, then crawled to the base of the nearest tree. As the breeze rattled the leaves, she watched them turn from green to yellow to brown above her as she healed and her illusion snapped back into place. Cloaked again in her power, she stood and swaggered from between the trees, a shadow blowing through New Horizons.
In Raven’s condition, she wouldn’t make it far. All Aborella had to do was wait for the heirs to take the bait, and she’d have what she wanted in no time.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Maiara held the box containing the precious remains of her Nikan and sang the song of her ancestors as well as she could. The song was meant to guide the bird to the Land of Souls. Although she’d recovered her voice well enough to sing, when she attempted the high notes, it turned into a breathy rasp and she had to clear her throat before continuing.
After exploring sites with Alexander, she’d chosen this particular crag to bury Nikan because it was close to Alexander’s cave but only reachable through flight. Nikan would be at peace here, alone with her kind, her body resting between the roots of a desert willow. She couldn’t think of a more peaceful place.
Once she’d sung the last note, she placed the box inside the hole Alexander had dug. He covered it with earth. Although Raven and Gabriel had wanted to be there, they’d contacted Alexander on his phone, a device she wasn’t at all comfortable with, to let them know Raven’s health would not allow it. It seemed Maiara’s inst
incts about her pregnancy were correct. She was close to delivery and had to leave Sedona immediately.
“May your flight to the next world be smooth and effortless, my friend,” Alexander said toward the small grave.
Maiara leaned into his side and said, “She will rest now.”
He kissed her temple.
A piercing scream echoed in the valley below, and they both peered over the side of the red rock in the direction of the sound. “Who is that?” Maiara asked. All she could make out was a silhouette rushing into the cave.
“There’s trouble. We have to go.” Alexander swept her into his arms, spread his wings, and swooped down. Maiara’s heart quickened with the drop, but her stomach clenched once she was close enough to make out the identity of their visitor. Something was very wrong. Raven lay just inside the entrance to the cave, her hair slick with sweat. There was blood between her legs.
Alexander cursed. He set Maiara down and swept Raven into his arms.
“Take her to the bed,” she said to Alexander. “I’ll examine her.”
He was already there, lowering her gently to the mattress. “What happened, Raven? Where’s Gabriel? He told me you were leaving for Chicago tonight.” Alexander held her hand while Maiara wet a towel and put it across her forehead. The poor woman was burning up.
“Aborella is h-here,” Raven stuttered, and Maiara watched Alexander recoil. Whoever this Aborella was, her mate feared her. “She tried to take me. I couldn’t let her. This was the only place nearby I knew she couldn’t trace me, but getting here required a teleportation spell. I think I’m in labor.”
“Yes, the baby is coming,” Maiara confirmed, palpating her abdomen. The muscles constricted under her palms, a strong contraction. As a healer, Maiara knew the signs, and she started mentally preparing a list of the things she’d need.
“You have to call Tobias. He’s the only one who can deliver this baby.” Raven gripped Alexander’s arm until her fingers turned white.
Maiara placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I have delivered many babies. I am a healer. I will take care of you.”
Raven shook her head and screamed as another contraction racked her body. “This isn’t an ordinary baby. It’s an egg. A dragon’s egg! Do you understand?”
Maiara shook her head. She did not understand, but it was clear this was no ordinary pregnancy. Raven’s skin rippled with light, and it was all Maiara could do to remain calm for Raven’s sake.
Alexander fired off a text. “They’re on their way. Gabriel says he got your message. When did you have time to send Gabriel a message?”
“I told him to come to the funeral. Nikan’s funeral. It was the only location I could think of that Gabriel would know but Aborella wouldn’t, and it was close to the cave. I’m sorry to put you in this position, Alexander, but your home is the only place warded against Aborella. I had no choice but to come here.”
“I am happy you came to me. This is where you should be, Raven. I’ll keep you safe,” Alexander said, taking her hand in his.
Maiara flashed back to the night Alexander had promised to keep her safe. He’d barely known her then. From the first moment they’d met, he’d put her needs above his own. He’d always been empathetic and fiercely loyal.
At the same time, his relationship with Gabriel seemed strained. For so much of their early relationship, she’d observed her mate’s struggle with finding his own identity in the shadow of his brother, which made this act all the more meaningful. The protection he offered Raven was genuine and unconditional. He held back no affection from his brother’s mate.
Her chest felt tight. Jealousy. She recognized the feeling but not the source. She didn’t feel threatened romantically by Raven, but the discomfort she was feeling had no other name. And then it came to her. Alexander had something she’d never had: a family. Brothers, sisters, and their mates. She squared her jaw. How foolish of her not to see. This witch was the reason Maiara was alive and here with Alexander. What was that but the action of family?
Maiara decided then that she would do whatever it took to help Raven, not out of any sense of obligation but because she was well and truly her kin now. She closed her eyes and centered herself. It had been a long time since she’d called on her Midewiwin magic, but it was still there, waiting for her. Like her ability to speak, it had atrophied but remained with her.
“Where is my medicine bag?” she asked Alexander, forming each word with effort.
“It burned with you. All we have is your migiis.” Alexander hastened into the main room and returned with the white shell amulet. He handed it to her.
“This will not help with pain. Only to heal.” Maiara slipped it into the pocket of her dress, knowing she would likely need to use its healing properties before the night was through.
“What do you need to help with pain?” Alexander asked.
“Nothing.” Maiara took Raven’s hands between her own and prayed to the Great Spirit to allow her to share the woman’s pain. The results were immediate and excruciating, but she clamped her jaw and refused to scream. Instead, she took joy in watching Raven’s face soften and her breath flow into her lungs evenly. She could do this. She would do this.
“Oh, that’s better.” Raven released a shaky breath. “I think the contraction is over.”
Maiara closed her eyes and rolled with the agony. “Almost.” Alexander met her gaze and held it, his eyes wide when he realized what she was doing. The contraction abated, and Maiara released Raven’s hands.
“Alexander,” Gabriel called from outside the cave.
With a gesture of her mate’s hand, three people rushed into the room, Gabriel, Tobias, and a woman who looked remarkably like Raven.
“Avery, thank God you’re safe,” Raven said. Maiara watched the dark-haired woman cross to Raven’s side. “Maiara, this is my sister, Avery.”
Gabriel rushed to Raven’s side and kissed her forehead. “I had her, Raven. My claws were in her flesh, but Aborella escaped. I would have chased after her, but I knew you’d need Tobias.”
For his part, Tobias was already taking Raven’s pulse and observing her as only a doctor could. “Rowan and Nick stayed behind to keep watch and act as a distraction.”
“I didn’t know about Charlotte. I mean Aborella. She’s been manipulating me since your wedding,” Avery said. “Gabriel told me everything. My God, Raven, my head is spinning with it all. It feels like I’m in a dream… or a nightmare. I have so many questions. Please believe me. I’m so sorry. So incredibly sorry.”
Maiara could see the guilt roll off the woman called Avery, smell her tears. She seemed to vibrate with remorse. Then she noticed the blue crystal orb the size of a marble around her neck.
“Where did you get that?” Maiara asked, visions of the wendigo coming back to her like a nightmare.
“It’s powerful,” Raven added before another contraction rolled through her and stole her breath. Maiara took her hand and helped her through it.
“This?” Avery lifted it off her chest and fluttered her eyes at it. “It was a gift from…” Her eyes widened and she tore it from her neck as if it burned.
“Alexander!” Maiara cried his name through the pain. He knew what to do.
He snatched the amulet from Avery’s hand, placed it on the stones near his feet, and smashed it with the base of the heavy cast-iron lamp beside the bed. It shattered. The blue light bled from its pieces.
“What was that, brother?” Gabriel’s pupils burned with apprehension.
“Nothing good.” Alexander explained how he’d found the same thing around the wendigo’s neck when he’d killed the beast centuries ago.
Maiara’s blood ran cold, and the base of her skull prickled with the chill it gave her. So many years. So far away, and still the beast was breathing down her neck, threatening the ones she loved.
“Charlotte gave it to me.” Avery’s hand pressed into her chest. “I mean Aborella. Oh my God, was she controlling me with that
thing?”
“And likely using it to spy on you and subsequently the rest of us,” Tobias said. “If that was enchanted by Aborella, you didn’t stand a chance once she had it around your neck.”
Avery covered her mouth with her hands. “That’s how she knew to come here.”
“Does she know where we are?” Maiara asked. She did not know who this Aborella was, but if she’d been in league with the wendigo, she could only imagine she was a demon.
Silence weighed heavily in the room, and the men exchanged worried glances. Maiara had personally witnessed Gabriel, Tobias, and Alexander protecting her village. Their dragons were things of nightmares. If the brothers, together, feared Aborella, she must be powerful indeed. Maiara gritted her teeth. She refused to let the demon woman hurt anyone else she loved.
“At the moment, Aborella is the least of our worries.” Tobias turned his attention back to Raven. The witch flushed as another contraction gripped her, and a moan parted her lips.
“Tobias?” Gabriel dragged out the word and turned toward his brother with pleading eyes. “Can you stop this? Long enough for us to transport her to a surgical center. I’ll take a plane by force if I have to.”
“I don’t know. I need to examine her again. Can everyone leave the room?”
Gabriel grumbled. “I don’t see why that’s necessary.”
Panting, Raven pointed toward the door. “Gabriel, just go! Please.”
Gabriel hesitated but Alexander ushered him and Avery out. “Come on, big guy. Let’s give the healers some room to work.”
Before Maiara could follow them from the room, Tobias stopped her with a hand on her upper arm. “I’ll need your assistance. If you’re willing.”
Maiara gave him a quick nod. “Yes. I will help you.”
Tobias beamed a brilliant white smile down on her. “Just like old times.”
Maiara wasn’t sure about that. In her time, a woman would not be giving birth to a dragon’s egg.
Retrieving a pair of gloves from his bag, Tobias snapped them on. “Raven, just lean back, I’m going to check you again.”
The Dragon of Sedona (The Treasure of Paragon Book 4) Page 21