Damaged Daddy Dragon

by Leela Ash

  “Hey, you know your daddy is off on important business, kid. He’ll be back for you soon!”

  “I hope so,” Carter mumbled under his breath. He slammed his history book shut and trudged upstairs. The six had been tasked with the guidance of the small child, and she was really giving them a run for their money. Even though they had all raised children of their own, they found that nothing they did could compare to the security that Vera felt around her father. No matter how hard they tried.

  “I’m important!” Vera exclaimed.

  “Of course, you are, sweetie,” Andrea, Max’s mate, cooed to the child. She gently lifted Vera from her husband’s arms and cradled her in her own. This seemed to temporarily placate the child, much to everybody’s relief. Gavin scratched his head thoughtfully, then decided to take a wide step away from the suddenly quiet little girl.

  Max nodded toward Gavin, silently inviting him outside for some privacy on the front porch. When they were both standing outside, their backs to the closed door, Max looked sidelong at Gavin.

  “How long do you suppose we can keep this up?” he asked seriously. His gaze was steady on Gavin, who he had come to rely on for calculations and estimations of time. There was nobody he knew better suited to the task, or more trustworthy either.

  Gavin sighed. “I think it’s already too late. We need to call him.”

  Max attempted to hold back a low growl in the back of his throat. “We said we would take care of her! We have to consider Fiora.”

  “Yes, but we also must consider our families, Max. It’s just not safe here anymore. What happened last night should prove that to you. Someone is on our trail and we need to take care of it. And we just can’t do that with Apollo’s daughter here. She would give away too much.”

  “Damn it!”

  Gavin looked away from Max. He wasn’t happy about it either. “TJ hasn’t come back yet. We must go look for him. He’s one of our own. Babysitting isn’t worth the price of his life. Or Apollo’s location, for that matter. You know all these creeps seem to network somehow. If one of them finds out about Apollo’s daughter, they’ll snatch her right up and find him through her. They might even find the portals. You know that.”

  “I know,” Max agreed. “I just wish there was another way. Any other way.”

  “We need to look for TJ. And once we find him, we need to relocate our base. They infiltrated it in so little time.”

  “They thought they would find the portal secrets there,” Max scoffed.

  “Yes, but they didn’t. They don’t even know how little we actually know about where the Portal Room is located. But if they get their hands on Vera, then Apollo, that will end our best shot at keeping balance in the universe.”

  “If they control the portals, it’s done for,” Max said. “I guess you’re right. It’s time to give him a call. It’s better for her to be with her father anyway.”

  ***

  “You gotta be fucking kidding me, Gavin!” Apollo blinked hard in disbelief. He was at the train station, waiting on the other Champions to arrive. “There’s got to be some other way!”

  “I’m afraid not, Apollo,” Gavin said. He sounded tired. They were all tired.

  Fighting evil was exhausting. And it just never stopped. How those guys managed to find mates and have normal, functioning families was beyond him. He could barely keep his own daughter happy. And his ex-wife… he didn’t even want to begin to broach that subject.

  “Well, we can’t just keep her at the motel!” Apollo exclaimed. “It’s hardly big enough for me, let alone two other men and a baby!”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Apollo. This is the only way. We risk everything if she stays here. And the longer we wait, the more likely it is TJ will be seriously hurt. Or worse.”

  “Fuck!”

  Just as the words escaped Apollo’s lips, a train whistled in the distance. He could feel the earth beneath his feet rumbling, and his chest tightened. What was he supposed to tell these guys? They were going to be stuck in a tiny room with a three-year-old for the next who-knew-how-long? No, he couldn’t do that. He had to make a new plan. Damn it.

  “Well, when is she going to be here?” Apollo asked, his mind already whirling with attempted solutions to yet another complication.

  “As soon as possible. We’ll have my wife bring her on the train while we go out and look for TJ. I’d like to get her on the 3:00.”

  “That soon?!”

  Apollo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was time for a self pep talk.

  You know what? This might not be so bad. It’s your daughter, Apollo. You’ve missed her and she’s missed you and you belong together. You just have to find a way to make it work. You always have before.

  “Yes. Sooner if possible. But the 3:00 seems most reasonable.”

  “All right, Gavin. Thanks for doing what’s best,” Apollo said begrudgingly. “I’ll be here waiting for her, just let me know when she’s supposed to arrive.”

  “Oh, my wife will be in touch with all the details, don’t worry.”

  The rumbling beneath his feet was getting more intense and Apollo glanced to the west. There it was. He could see a tiny glint of sunlight bouncing off the metallic exterior of the train. God, why was all of this happening so fast?

  “I’ve got to go, Gavin. Talk to you later.”

  “Right. Later, Apollo. And, you know, I’m sorry about all of this.”

  “No, you’re doing what’s best. I get it.”

  Apollo hung up, more stressed out than ever. He balled his fists and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. Wasn’t this what yoga was about? Finding that dark and quiet place inside and finding the calmness there? Maybe he could use a little of that about now.

  Quinn. The yoga lady. Of course! She’d said her family owned a bed and breakfast. He would just have to relocate. The motel hadn’t seemed particularly secure anyway, but maybe they could make the bed and breakfast work. He would swing by there before committing any more of his stay to the motel. It wasn’t as if they seemed to take his business very seriously there anyway.

  But where in the hell was it? Quinn had only mentioned the place in passing. He glanced around for someone who might be able to tell him where it was, then just about kicked himself. He was at a train station. There were maps everywhere.

  He hustled over to an information kiosk and was shocked to find there was an actual person sitting inside that he could speak with.

  “Do you know of a bed and breakfast around these parts?” he asked, a little uncomfortably. His stress and anxiety were just about at peak level, but the human in the kiosk didn’t seem to notice it at all.

  “Only bed and breakfast around is Winters. It’s a bit out there, most people prefer the motel right here in town.”

  “I know all about that motel,” Apollo said. “Do you think you could give me directions to the bed and breakfast?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Apollo waited impatiently for the man behind the desk to scribble the directions down for him. He took the map with the stranger’s chicken scratch scrawled on it with a cursory “thank you,” before returning to his spot at the platform. The train would be stopping there and unloading its passengers any second now.

  Apollo inhaled the crisp autumn air deeply and checked his watch. The train was rumbling a little way off in the distance, and he could see it fully now. On it were two of the men who were going to help him save the universe. Hopefully.

  Again, his chest burned with irresolvable anxiety. He could only hope the others wouldn’t be able to sense it from him. Most humans were oblivious, but he knew that dealing with other shifters was an entirely different story.

  He thought his chest was finally going to burst when the train began to slow down and the doors opened. There weren’t a lot of people filing out, and he was able to spot the other shifters instantly. They were a fair bit taller than the rest of the people swarming off the train, and they carried themselves wi
th an authoritative manner, their eyes deadly serious as they caught Apollo’s in the crowd.

  He took a moment to study them before they approached. There was a man with dark hair and an agitated expression. Probably caused by sensory overload. God knew, Apollo had experienced his share of that, but it was particularly bad for wolf shifters. His muscles were lithe but clearly powerful. Even without the tell of sensory overload, Apollo could tell this was the wolf shifter just by the expression on his face.

  The other man was brawny and impressive. Thick, strong, and broad. His hair was brown and thick, and he had a full beard. He was dressed in flannel and denim, and seemed relatively at home in the small train station. Still, he looked like a wild mountain man compared to the sleek wolf shifter at his side, who wore form-fitting clothes in dark, neutral colors and had more of a metropolitan style about him.

  “Welcome to Greenrock,” Apollo said wryly once they had closed the distance between them.

  “Not much to look at,” the wolf shifter murmured, his eyes darting around the place. Apollo could see the gears in the man’s mind turning as he took in his surroundings.

  “It’s not that bad,” the bear shifter countered. “It’ll do.”

  He had a powerful voice, despite his gentle, quiet tones. It was obvious that if he were to lose his temper, however, it was a voice that could shake the ground you walked upon.

  “So, there’s been a slight change of plans,” Apollo said, not wasting any more time standing around at the station. He had things to do and had to find his way to that godforsaken bed and breakfast before his daughter showed up.

  “What change?” the wolf asked, immediately suspicious.

  “Relax, will you?” the bear shifter asked, frowning at his companion. “Not everything is a challenge, you know.”

  “The motel doesn’t appear to be very secure,” Apollo said. “And I’ll explain the rest soon. I think we would do better with other lodgings. I’d like to take you by a different place and scope it out. If that’s all right with everybody.”

  This was going to have to be a democracy. Apollo had decided that right away. They were all alphas. They would have to agree on every move, or else there would be unavoidable conflict. And they couldn’t afford it. There wasn’t enough time.

  “I don’t see why not,” the bear shifter said. He was trying to be agreeable, which Apollo appreciated. The wolf shifter just eyed them both with thinly veiled suspicion.

  “My van is this way,” Apollo said.

  “I’m hungry,” the wolf shifter interrupted.

  “We’ll eat soon,” Apollo confirmed.

  He prickled inwardly. Was this guy trying to assert himself on purpose, or was he just trying to get used to everything? Whatever it was, it was getting on Apollo’s nerves.

  Apollo herded the men toward the van. Once the luggage was all packed, he glanced at the directions to the bed and breakfast, and then headed toward it.

  “So, what were these changes in the plan, exactly?” the wolf shifter asked again.

  Apollo sighed. “Besides the motel not having a record of my reservation and being a security risk, my daughter is on her way back.”

  “You have a daughter?”

  “I do.”

  “Great.”

  “Frank, you don’t have to be such a jerk about it! People have kids, you know. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “Like you were anticipating being on babysitting duty when they recruited you for this portal bullshit, Mike!”

  Apollo listened quietly. He understood their frustrations and wisely chose to stay out of the conversation.

  “I doubt we’re going to be on babysitting duty,” Mike said. He looked to Apollo. “Are we?”

  “Look, nobody is going to be stuck babysitting. I’ll do my best to see that it’s not a problem.”

  “Good luck with that,” Frank muttered. “The last thing we need is a distraction like this, Apollo.”

  “Trust me, I know that,” Apollo said, sighing heavily. “We have to find the home worlds. But there’s not much I can do about it. I thought everything was arranged, but as I said, things change. And she’s safer here with us anyway.”

  “I like kids,” Mike said.

  “You’re also a kiss ass,” Frank countered. “And it’s just as likely that the home worlds are a fucking joke. Apollo could be full of shit, for all we know, and his information could be false.”

  “That’s true,” Mike pointed out. “There was nothing on the other end of that portal on Oak Mountain, even when we had been able to activate it. So, don’t take it too personally if I call bullshit on home worlds and activating portals and all that nonsense. We don’t have proof of any of this. But we do know we need to be the first line of defense, just in case something really goes wrong.”

  Apollo sighed. The activation of the portal on Oak Mountain had been a disaster. Many of the bear shifters had completely lost faith in the elders after that, and they were working hard to get everyone back on the same page. God, why did there have to be so much conflict?

  “I understand you have your doubts about all of this. All you really have is the word of the dragon shifters and that hasn’t always meant much in the past. But I think you guys are going to understand more as time goes on, and you will change your minds once you see the Portal Room for yourselves.”

  “Portal Room?” Frank asked.

  “I’ve only been in it as we cross through dimensions,” Apollo admitted. “But it has a physical location on Earth. We must find it so we can have access to the portals before the enemy does. If they can jump between worlds, it could cause unforeseeable chaos.”

  “And you really trust a bear shifter to help you with something like that?” Frank asked, rolling his eyes. “They’ve been so helpful with the Serah Stone in the past.”

  The bear shifter’s patience was finally being tested, and the energy in the van suddenly spiked into something fearsome.

  “I don’t give a damn about your precious dog toy. And I think you need to watch the next thing that comes out of your mouth, dog boy,” Mike growled.

  “That’s enough!” Apollo exclaimed, before things could escalate any further. With his luck, Frank would just keep challenging the guy, and they would end up shapeshifting in the back seat of his only transportation for the next six months. “And Mike, you probably should give a damn about the Serah Stone. It’s important, but not in the way the wolf shifters believe it to be. We’re finding things out, little by little, and we all have to be patient as the information is uncovered.”

  “Patience when we’re on a timeline? Not likely,” Frank grumbled.

  “The excavation efforts are being done as quickly as possible on Fiora. Any information they find, they report directly to me as soon as they can. And I’ll give it to you as I know more. Just trust me on this.”

  Neither of the shifter alphas seemed impressed with Apollo’s words. Time to try a different track.

  “Look, I know the circumstances aren’t ideal, but it is what it is, and we just have to deal with it, all right? Both of you just buck up and take it easy.”

  “Whatever,” Frank grumbled.

  Apollo inhaled deeply, glancing at the map. They should be getting close to Winters now. “And we’re going to need to be on the same page if the humans are going to ask questions about us. If anybody asks, we’re bringing people in to start a community of craftsmen.”

  “What, you mean like hippies?” Frank asked incredulously. He was quiet for a moment. “I’m good at building things.”

  “Then you can be the carpenter,” Apollo said. “Happy?”

  Frank shrugged.

  “So, what’s it like here?” Mike asked. “Is there anything we need to know?”

  “I’m still hungry,” Frank complained.

  “We’re going to a bed and breakfast. There will be food there. And instead of sharing rooms, who knows? Maybe I can get us each something separate. Might as well, since my ki
d will be here and all.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Frank mumbled, turning his eyes from Mike to the window.

  “Whatever.”

  Apollo sighed, sure that any second now, the aching stress in his chest was going to kill him.

  ***

  “Apollo!”

  Apollo almost regretted stepping in the door of the bed and Breakfast when he caught the look of utter surprise on Quinn’s face. But the surprise quickly turned into a bright smile, and Apollo found himself dazzled for a moment.

  She was stunning in her own right, even if other women from Earth might not think her looks were comparable to their own. It was clear she’d probably been ridiculed throughout life, but not because of the way she looked. She just had an energy about her that read “strong as hell.” And most strong as hell people only got that way through trial and error, and a lot of backlash. At least on Earth.

  “I didn’t know you worked here!” Apollo exclaimed. “I thought you had a yoga studio to take care of.”

  “I do,” Quinn said with a slight laugh. “I’m here to help my parents out. I think my dad was getting a little overwhelmed. There’s a lot of work to be done around here and they’re getting up in years. I thought it might be a clever idea to give him a break. Get some rest before he comes back at it again.”

  “Yes, that’s a very good idea,” Apollo said quietly, the gears in his head turning quickly. “So, are there any vacancies here?”

  Quinn laughed. “Almost all the cabins are vacant. There isn’t a lot of demand out this way. They might end up closing the place down if it doesn’t do as well as they had hoped. But my dad has already sunk a lot of money into fixing the place up. They need a project, I guess…”

  Quinn stopped suddenly, then blushed. “I’m sorry to be rambling like this. It’s just that I haven’t had a lot of company lately. I have a friend staying out here with me though. She’s been really great, fights off the loneliness.”

  “Ah…”

  Apollo wouldn’t know anything about that. Even when he was alone, he didn’t get lonely. Even after Heidi had gone bad and left them, he hadn’t had a chance to miss her much with their daughter to take care of. Infants were very demanding, and it seemed that demanding nature only increased as they grew.