Dragon's Tears (City Dragons Book 3)

by Lisa Oliver

  “Well, you’re in luck,” Byron said firmly, giving his wolf one last pat. “My family live in New York, so I will see to it, you’re on my brother’s plane in the morning. My brother in law Jon will ensure you have a job and a place to stay for as long as you need it. But first, we need to look out for your mother, yes? Make sure she’s set up in the house she shared with her bond mate and kept safe from your grandfather.”

  “Consider it done.” Ivak shifted complete with clothes, clicking his fingers to turn on the lights and then yelling, “Guards!”

  Four men burst in swords drawn. “Your majesty?”

  “You’re getting quicker, I like it.” Ivak smiled briefly. “Orders. Take as many men as you need, escort this young man to his grandfather’s house. Rescue his mother. See to it that the mother is safely returned to the house she shared with my asshole cousin and let the grandfather know that the next time he wants a king in the family line, to stop being a coward and challenge me himself. Understood?”

  One of the guards smirked. “Shall I tell him you said that verbatim, your majesty?”

  “Definitely. In fact, I’ll make it a decree.” Ivak clicked his fingers and a scroll appeared. “There you go, and if my cousin’s wife has a mark on her, you have my full permission to ensure similar marks are left on the man in question. I’m not a fan of scheming bullies.”

  “Yes, your majesty. At once, your majesty.” One of the guards stepped forward, throwing Toby over his shoulder and they made to leave.

  “Come over in the morning, Toby,” Byron called out. “I’ll get you on that plane.”

  Toby barely had time to wave before the throne room door closed.

  Resting back on the wooden boards, Ivak started to chuckle, which quickly blossomed into full scale laughter. While Byron enjoyed the sound – it was the first time he’d heard his mate actually laugh out loud – he was also a little concerned.

  “Babe,” he said, touching Ivak’s chest gently. “Are you all right?”

  “I think I can get used to this being king lark,” Ivak chuckled as he rolled on his side. “Did you see those guards’ faces? They couldn’t move fast enough, bobbing up and down, saying your majesty all over the place.”

  “That might have had something to do with you taking out three top commanders yesterday and your dragon chasing them all over the neighborhood,” Byron said wryly. “These guys know better than to mess with you.”

  “I know.” Ivak’s eyes twinkled. “But it’s fun.” He reached over, stroking the back of Byron’s hand. “You haven’t said anything about the baby.”

  Byron looked down at their joined hands. “Truth be told, I’m jealous it’s you whose carrying our child. You know, if you’d told me a month ago, I’d be mated and my male mate was pregnant, I’d have slapped your face or punched you out.

  “When I found out Sammy was pregnant with Raoul’s child, I was furious – so sure it was like a freak of nature and an abomination against everything we stood for as dragons. What was worse, was that I was in such a bad head space back then, I told Sammy that to his face. I owe him one huge apology. Then, later, just before I got taken, and that man violated my space with that damn package, I broke down, almost in tears to Dirk. I was so tired; I’d been searching for you for months by that stage and I felt as though I didn’t control anything in my life anymore. I was a raving mess.”

  “I’m sorry for my part in all that,” Ivak murmured.

  “It wasn’t your fault, well, not all of it.” Byron flipped his hand so he could hold Ivak’s himself. “The thing is, when that happened Dancer encouraged me to dream walk with him for the first time ever. It was amazing, I actually got to ride on my own dragon.” Byron didn’t mention the mud sliding just yet. “But through our increased closeness, Dancer promised that although he had the ability to change my insides so I could carry a child, he wouldn’t do that to me unless I specifically asked him to.”

  “All dragons can do that?” Ivak tightened his grip. “I thought this only happened because our dragons had fucked.”

  “Our dragons did not fuck,” Byron said reprovingly. It was becoming a running joke between them. “They joined in a glorious celebration in front of their peers to cement our union while we were geographically parted.”

  “Your dragon fucked the hell out of mine,” Ivak chuckled and got to his feet. “Speaking of which, you fancy a flight before bed?” He reached down and Byron let himself be tugged to his feet.

  “No intimate joining in front of visiting dignitaries,” Byron warned as he clicked his fingers, suddenly naked.

  “I can’t promise anything.” Hitting a button on the arm of his throne, Ivak shifted into his dragon as the huge glass ceiling above them silently slid open. The upward nod of Radostnyy’s head was unmistakable.

  Let’s fly. Byron called on Dancer and together the two dragons flew into the cold night sky.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “You don’t have to come with me. I’m meeting Sammy and Raoul at their new house, not the coven.”

  Byron came over, kneeling in front of where Ivak was sitting, trying to reach down to buckle his boots and taking them out of his hands. It’d been two months since he’d been crowned and found out he was expecting. Because of his wolf genetics Ivak’s child would be born sooner than Sammy’s apparently, but for Ivak the day couldn’t come soon enough. Not being able to reach down and buckle his boots was just the last of a long line of things he was finding difficult in his human form.

  “I want to be with you, supportive.” Ivak leaned back, letting Byron slip his boots on and buckle them for him.

  “We’re not in any danger.” Byron finished making sure the boots were snug, and got up, sliding into the love seat next to him. “I have a glass mounted head to prove that.”

  “I’m still not sure how I feel about you sticking it in the guest cloakroom.” Ivak smirked. Not long after he’d been crowned king, Elder Crowcroft had got in touch, with the name of the assassin used to abduct Byron – the one who’d organized the glass coffin. He’d given permission for Ivak to go after him personally, but with the court still settling down, and Ivak having fun tormenting the palace guards, Ivak insisted on the head being sent to him, encased in glass, when it had been removed. Byron, strangely enough, hadn’t appreciated the gift as much as Ivak had hoped, but rather than throw it away, Byron decided it should be housed in the guest cloakroom as a warning to others.

  For Ivak, everything had been crossed off his to-do list. His cousin was dead, Nikita would spend her life in jail, her claim against his horde and assets completely nullified by her actions. Ivak had been crowned king, the assassin who incarcerated Byron was also dead, and Toby, his nephew, was happy working for the Hollingsworth company in New York. Byron had even allowed the young man to live at his old apartment until the boy found somewhere for himself. It should have been time for the couple to do a bit of traveling while Ivak could still sort of see his feet and they had to settle somewhere for domestic life.

  Byron was keen on the travel, but the first place he wanted to visit wasn’t any of the wonders of the world, nope. He wanted to go to San Jose, to make amends with his brother. That wasn’t as easy as just hopping on a plane. It’d taken two weeks of wrangling between David and Raoul’s second Jasper – King’s apparently couldn’t just pop in to visit family when it meant entering a non-dragon’s territory – but now they were here, staying in the penthouse suite of the largest hotel in town… and Byron was talking about going to the meeting alone.

  “I am coming with you.” Ivak used his kingly tone. Unfortunately, it had no effect on Byron who just laughed.

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t come, I said you didn’t have to if you felt uncomfortable. You’re stretching the bounds of the elastic in your pants as it is. You can lay around here in your robe if you like. I won’t be long.”

  “Can we not mention the elastic in the waistband of my pants, thank you very much,” Ivak said through gr
itted teeth. “I’m a retired assassin and a current king. We do not have elasticated waistbands.”

  “I won’t mention it again,” Byron soothed dropping a kiss on Ivak’s bump. “Now come along if you’re coming. We’ve been invited for lunch. No crowns required, woo hoo.”

  “I like you in your coronet.” Ivak got up, almost smoothly. His legs had been getting an excellent workout since he’d gotten bigger. “Did you say Dirk, Jon and their baby were coming too?”

  “Yes, a true family lunch. It’ll only be slightly awkward.” Byron huffed. “I did wrong, I said some horrible things to Sammy, and it’s only right that I apologize for it. I can do this.”

  “And I can come too.” Tucking his mate’s arm into his elbow, Ivak headed for the door, stopping just long enough to get their coats. “Do you think they’ll have pizza? I have this real craving for thick crust pizza with salmon, and anchovies, brussel sprouts, and barbecue sauce. Oh, and pineapple. Can’t forget the pineapple.”

  Byron shuddered, scrunching up his nose. “I doubt we’ll be eating anything like that, but after lunch we’ll stop at a local pizza place and see if they can make one for you. With so many paranormals in this town, I’m sure the owners would be used to unusual requests.”

  “It doesn’t sound unusual to me,” Ivak protested as they left their suite. “I mean, if someone said something like putting peas on a pizza, then I’d probably throw it in their face, but…”

  “No peas, I get it.” Byron stabbed the call button for the elevator. “Now, hush about your weird pizza toppings. I’m looking forward to lunch.”

  “Sammy’s pregnant too,” Ivak pouted. “You’d think they’d have pizza.”

  /~/~/~/~/

  They didn’t have pizza, but because Ivak and Sammy got into an immediate discussion about their respective cravings within seconds of meeting, Sammy ordered one to be made for Ivak, and Raoul did a damn good job of not showing his disgust when he brought it through from the kitchen. Even Dirk looked queasy and Jon put his hand up to cover the lower half of his face as Ivak tucked into it. Only Tiernan waved and banged his spoon on his high chair table to get some, and Ivak happily shared a slice, declaring it the best thing he’d ever eaten. Watching Tiernan bite into the offensive mess and then spit it out, with a loud, “ew yucky,” was the highlight of Byron’s afternoon.

  But now the plates were cleared, and the men were all sitting around the table enjoying coffee – except for Ivak and Sammy who were drinking herbal tea. Byron felt the butterflies in his stomach take flight. “Sammy, I owe you an apology,” he said bluntly during a lull in the conversation. “During our last meeting, I said a lot of horrible, nasty things, and I have no excuse for it. I want you to know how sorry I am.”

  Sammy smiled from where he was cuddled under Raoul’s arm. The vampire looked a lot more relaxed than the last time Byron had seen him, but then their new home was gorgeous, and Sammy had worked hard to make it into a home. “My dragon explained you were really upset – not then, of course, but later. I should have realized your emotions were a bit of a mess after going to father’s funeral, and you hadn’t been able to find your mate at that time. It’s understandable your thinking will have changed now you’re having a child of your own.”

  “I knew how awful I’d been well before Ivak told me he was pregnant. Even before I met my mate.” Byron hesitated. By nature, he’d always been a private person, but some things had to be said. “There’s a part of me that wants to dismiss the things I said to you at the time as stemming from middle child syndrome, but I think that was only part of it. You and Dirk finding your mates, when I was trying so hard to find my elusive Ivak – that all contributed to how I was feeling, too. Father… Fuck, father did a real number on my head, but you know what? It wasn’t really his fault either, although it’s really tempting to blame my thoughts on a dead man. The fact remains I am an adult and have been for a long time. I didn’t have any reason at all for hanging onto his negativity, or his narrow-minded view of the world, but I did, and that’s where my words came from and for that, I am sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you and I’m sorry I dismissed the new life you’re carrying. That was very wrong of me.”

  “Having these children is like the biggest fuck you I could imagine for our late father,” Dirk said with a quiet burp. And then he winced and looked down at his arm where Jon had hit him. “What? Byron said the F word first and besides, it’s true.”

  “There was no reason for you to repeat it. Tiernan’s picking up new words every day,” Jon said crossly.

  “Yes, dear,” Dirk smirked as he leaned his elbows on the table. “What I was saying though makes sense, don’t you think? All three of us were raised believing dragons’ might, made dragons right. Barely anyone in the Hollingsworth clan admitted finding a true mate, especially if they were of the same gender, until I claimed Jon. Up until then, no one wanted to admit they had a non-dragon true mate at all, even if they did find one. I’m sure you’ve seen a similar situation in the ice dragon’s court, Ivak.”

  “Hmm, pretty much, although I made a decree about matings, any matings were fine and how any true matings regardless of who they were between had to be respected under our new laws.” Ivak nodded.

  “Ivak is getting very good at making decrees,” Byron chuckled.

  “My mating has changed me into a better person,” Ivak winked at Byron. “I did come across some old papers of my father’s the other day that made me wonder if he’d found a true mate but hadn’t claimed them – a non-dragon mate. There was a lot of correspondence for a short while between him and an address in England and then it stopped abruptly. But I did wonder, if one of the reasons why my father stopped trying for a full dragon heir was because he didn’t want to be unfaithful to a mate. His dragon spirit, who was hellishly strong, didn’t put up much fight against the poison that I could see. It was almost as though he’d given up.”

  “That makes sense,” Raoul said. “From what I remember of the late king, he was more hampered by his position than many I’d seen. He’d grown up in an era where to serve the clan was an absolute law, and he did that for centuries. One would think, for a king as old as he was, the idea of being reincarnated, and being reunited with a true mate in the next life held a certain appeal.”

  “A life where he wouldn’t be king.” Byron nodded. “We have had a few hiccups since Ivak was crowned. From elders who thought it was a good idea to harvest Ivak’s sperm and distribute it among the ice dragon elite females before he was crowned, through to copious niggly challenges from stuck up idiots who just don’t believe Ivak can shift into his ice dragon form.”

  “They soon start shitting themselves when they find out I can.” Ivak chuckled. “And that’s without this belly I’ve suddenly grown. All sorts of people looking at me sideways expecting me to lisp, bat my eyelids and flick my wrists as though I was a teeny boy twink and then assuming I’d be a pushover as king because of it. For a retired assassin, the shit gets too much to take sometimes and I have this urge to behead someone just to shut them up.”

  Sammy leaned over the table excitedly. “Is it true you have severed heads encased in glass in your court room to warn off challengers?”

  “It’s not quite that bad,” Byron chuckled as he shook his head. “It’s one head and Ivak didn’t even kill that one. He thought the man’s head would make a suitable one-month anniversary gift for me seeing as the man whose head it was, was the one who encased me in glass and left me to die. I was understandably surprised by my mate’s thoughtfulness,” the others around the table laughed and Raoul gave Ivak a thumbs up, “but I didn’t want to be looking at it all day, so had it put on a shelf in the guest cloakroom. It seems to be effective because no one lingers in there very long.”

  “A lot of intrigue goes on in castle bathrooms,” Raoul warned. “Maybe you should have one in every bathroom along with a sign saying something like ‘we’re always watching you.’”

  Everyone laughed, even Tiernan, an
d through it, Byron caught Sammy’s eye and his brother winked and gave him a subtle thumbs up. The weight that had been sitting on Byron’s soul for a long time finally lifted and he knew everything was going to be okay.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “No. No. No. No.” Ivak was feeling a strong need to channel his inner Ice. He might have changed his profession, but he’d been Ice for most of his life. Why did I decide to come back to the castle after meeting with Byron’s family? Oh yeah, I thought people here would treat me with some fucking respect. Damn, two weeks holiday was not long enough.

  “The leading families signed a petition. They’re worried about you and want a professional to ascertain you’re coping during this delicate time.”

  Ivak glared at David who was doing his best to look calm and reassuring, even while delivering bad news. “You can’t even say the words. I’m pregnant, you damn fool. Up the duff. Got a bun in the oven. Expecting. This is not a delicate time. I don’t need anyone to see if I am coping. In fact, I’ll go so far to say I will not let any hack with a medical degree come within ten foot of me. I will not be examined. I will not be subject to tests or any other shit like that. The answer is no.”

  “Your majesty, please.” David looked across at Petrov who shook his head slightly.

  Good, Ivak thought. Claiming your mate hasn’t put a dent in your loyalty, brother.

  But David wasn’t finished. “You’re the first ever ruling monarch to give birth among our kind. We want to be sure we’ve got everything here you need. A few simple tests will advise us on when the happy arrival will be, and we can make plans for how to run the empire while you’re in confinement.”