Volcant shook his head. “That won’t happen. I know it’s complicated, but I’m sure that you’d be able to figure something out with him.”
“You don’t think he’ll be angry that I didn’t tell him sooner?”
“I don’t know. You haven’t told me who it is.”
Misty took a deep breath. Her head was beginning to spin, even though she fought against nausea rising in her. “You.”
Volcant started at her blankly. “Me what?”
“You are Cara’s father.”
She might as well have been speaking Greek. He stared at her, completely uncomprehending. She couldn’t even see him considering it; his expression was completely blank, as though she had said that he was a unicorn. After a moment he shifted from side to side, breaking eye contact.
“Right. If you don’t want the father to find out, you don’t have to tell him. I’m sure you have your reasons. But you don’t have to go around lying about it.”
Lying? Misty’s jaw dropped. “I’m not lying!”
Volcant glowered at her. “I don’t know why you picked me, but you made a mistake. I can’t be Cara’s father, Misty.”
“But you are. I know that for you it was just a few days ago, but—”
“I know the timing works out,” he snapped at her. Smoke started curling from his nostrils as he paced back and forth in the hotel room. Misty found herself patting Cara’s back stiffly, despite the burp she had already given. Volcant sent her a look of pure fury.
Such a look should have had her shrinking back, but it only made Misty furious. “Dragons and humans can have kids together. I mean, just look at Anna and Indulf’s boy. So, you can’t say that it’s physically impossible—”
“Yes, I can.” Volcant stopped and turned to her. The anger was still there, but sorrow and pain were mixed in with it now, as well. “Because it is.”
Misty opened her mouth, then shut it again. What was he saying?
“I have a condition. My fires burn so hotly that the semen I produce isn’t viable. I’m infertile, Misty. I know that Cara isn’t my daughter because I am incapable of having children.”
Her jaw dropped open. Her mind churned over what he was saying, uncertain how to process it. “But… but you’re the only possibility! That night we were together, that was the first time in a year that I’d had sex and I haven’t had it since, except when I was with you again a few days ago. Screw sex, I haven’t even kissed anyone since then.” Her heart hammered, and her eyes brimmed with tears. “You are her father. Maybe it’s something to do with traveling through time. Maybe it’s this world.”
“It’s impossible. If you’re looking for someone to help you, I can give you money, but—”
“I don’t want money!” she exploded.
Cara gave a start, gasping, and then started to wail. Misty sent Volcant a glare and then concentrated on her daughter. He watched for a moment while she attempted to calm Cara and then grabbed the laptop and one of the hotel keys and walked out the door.
When the door shut, it felt like a knife to her gut. Tears began to run down Misty’s cheeks as she stared after him. Of course, her tears only made her angrier and she wiped at them savagely. Cara wouldn’t settle, so she walked around the room, rocking and bouncing her until her wails faded into whimpers and hiccups.
Once she was calm enough to feed, Misty nursed her on the other breast; Cara fell asleep while eating and Misty didn’t wake her up to finish. She knew she’d regret it later, but right now, having her baby sleeping in her arms gave her a sense of comfort. It was just the two of them, like it had always been. And that was fine. If Volcant didn’t want to be in their lives…
But she wanted him to be in their lives. She wanted him to be a father to their little girl, to teach her the things that her father had never taught her. How to be brave and strong. How to stand up for herself. What sort of man to look for in a future partner.
He didn’t want them, though. Or maybe it was just that he believed that Cara couldn’t be his. In any case, she knew she wasn’t going to change his mind.
Misty’s tears came back full-force and this time she didn’t fight them.
***
The sound of the door closing and a beam of light across her salty eyes woke her. Misty jerked upright, a scream in her throat, but it was just Volcant. He winced, closing the door behind him, and set the laptop on the chair near the door. He padded over and sat on the edge of the other bed.
“I talked with Indulf.”
Misty’s jaw clenched.
“There is something about this world that lessens our fires. Represses our dragons.”
He was going to say that Cara could be his child. Her word wasn’t enough, but when he talked to someone else, then he could see how it could be true.
“I’ve felt it. I didn’t realize what it was, but I’ve felt it. There isn’t any magic here and so we become… more human.” Volcant took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You have no reason to lie about this. I am Cara’s father.”
“Yes.” Misty couldn’t help her frosty tone. “You are.”
His shoulders slumped. “I guess that means I’ll marry you, then.”
From the look on his face, it was like he was saying he needed to saw off his own leg. Pain shot through her, followed quickly by anger. She wasn’t some charity case that was looking for marriage to solve all her problems. It was clear he didn’t want to marry her, and she wasn’t going to marry someone that didn’t want to marry her.
“No.”
Volcant’s eyes widened.
“I am not going to marry you. I don’t want to marry you. Right now, I’m not even sure if you are Cara’s father.” She whipped over and pulled the blankets over her head.
Volcant let out a strangled sound, but he didn’t press her. Good thing, too, otherwise she might have had to throttle him. Anger burned away all her tears as she lay there, shaking with fury. I guess that means I’ll marry you. Just who did he think he was?
I’m fine on my own. I don’t need him.
And the thing that made her the angriest? She still wanted him.
Chapter Twelve
Volcant
Misty’s breathing was deep and even, indicating she had finally fallen asleep. She had laid perfectly still for a few hours, rigid, the tension radiating off her. Volcant was glad she finally let herself rest. She had a long drive back to the city, after all. The tension from the past few days—how long had it been since he returned to this world? A week? More? —was catching up to both of them.
Exhaustion dragged at his own limbs, but he fought the urge to sleep. Instead, he stood against the wall, using what little light there was in the room to gaze at his infant daughter.
Even now, it seemed impossible. He had accepted that he wasn’t going to be able to have children and yet here he was. A father. He didn’t know how to believe it and yet every fiber of his being told him it was true. He was a father. It was his responsibility to be there for Cara as she grew up, to help her be strong and confident. With Misty as her mother, Cara might not need him to teach her those traits, but he still wanted to be there for her.
The only question was… How? How does a man be a proper father? Volcant never knew his own father. At his age, it seemed like a distant dream. Yet the dream was right here.
I don’t want to marry you. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the venom in Misty’s voice. Why had she been so angry about it? Was it because she thought that he was trying to take away her freedom, or because she had no use for him?
She had told him, though. She must want him to be in Cara’s life, in some capacity. He’d had no reason to think that he was Cara’s father. If Misty didn’t want him in their lives, then she would have simply not told him. Unless… unless she thought that his questions about Cara’s father were fishing for information. She might have thought that he already knew. Her response… making sure that she wasn’t going to lose her baby…?
&nbs
p; Was that the sort of person he appeared to be? The kind of person who would take a child away from its mother?
Volcant moved away from the bed, his heart aching and his fires flickering low and cold. He wanted to be in Cara’s life. He wanted to be her father. He wanted to be in Misty’s life, too. Perhaps not as a lover, although he’d certainly prefer that. I don’t want to marry you.
He snorted softly to himself. Maybe not right now, but given time… He would prove himself to her. In time, Misty would see that she could trust him with her heart and her child. Maybe she didn’t want to marry him right now, but he knew how to woo women. Once she saw that his feelings for her were genuine, then she would—
The scent of smoke caught his nostrils just before the door came crashing inwards. Volcant gave a cry as four figures, their faces masked, hurtled into the room. Misty jerked up with a cry.
Volcant threw himself into the path of the intruders. He blocked a punch that came at his face, then grabbed his attacker and swung him into another of the men. They both stumbled and went down. Volcant spun on his heel. Both his hands lashed out and snatched the other two men by the collar and yanked them back. He tossed one through the window, then clamped his hands on the sides of the other man’s neck and twisted sharply.
The snap of bone rang through the room.
With a cry, one of the other intruders grabbed a glass and smashed it into the back of Volcant’s neck. He fell to one knee as pain rang through him. Misty screamed, and he lunged blindly, snagging the fourth intruder by the belt. He yanked him back, spinning himself onto his shoulder to kick the other one in the chest.
The space now cleared, he sprang to his feet and seized the closest intruder around the chest. He squeezed with all his might, then slammed the man down over the back of the chair. A scream rent the air. He felt the man’s body give as ribs snapped and dropped him. There was only the one left. He panted, gaze moving from his broken colleagues back to Volcant.
Misty crouched in the corner, her eyes wide with Cara pressed to her breast. Volcant saw the intruder’s eyes dart to her. They both lunged at the same time as Misty leapt to her feet. The intruder’s fingers grazed the back of her shirt as Volcant caught his wrist. He twisted the man’s arm behind his back and slammed him into the wall.
“Who are you working for?”
The man hissed in pain.
“Who are you working for?” Volcant applied more pressure to the twisted arm. “Tell me or I will—”
“Let him go.” A deep, rumbling voice spoke behind him.
Volcant whirled, still holding the intruder. A fifth man, the size of a mountain, held Misty by the throat while Cara wailed, tucked into his arm. Volcant’s heart stopped. He released the intruder and dropped to his knees at once, holding his hands over his head.
The intruder gave him a vicious kick to the kidneys and he fell. “Bastard!”
If the fifth man didn’t have Misty and Cara, Volcant would have pointed out that he wasn’t the one who had attacked. He kept his mouth shut and put up with the beating until the bigger man told his companion to stop.
“He killed Fred and Chris!”
“Don’t forget Benny,” the mountain-man rumbled in an amused tone. “But she doesn’t want him harmed—do you really want to get on her bad side?”
“She?” Volcant repeated. He looked up only to have the intruder smack him across the neck.
The mountain-man passed Cara to the other intruder and shoved Misty into the wall. He strode forward and seized Volcant, dragging him to his feet. The man gave him a toothy grin. “You’ll see soon enough.”
***
They were blindfolded and dragged out of the hotel room. Volcant hissed under his breath as Cara continued to cry. Neither man attempted to soothe her. He also heard Misty sobbing quietly. If they tried to hurt either one of them, there was nothing that would stop him. His fires flared to life, burning almost as hot as they did in Byrelmore.
After what felt like hours, they were dragged out of the van. The men were joined by others and several hands yanked him around until finally pushing him to the floor.
The blindfold was ripped off him to reveal that he was in a large, comfortable-looking room. It was empty save for a large table at the front of the room and the people. His eyes immediately sought out Misty. She held Cara tight in her arms, tears streaming down her face. The relief he felt at seeing her unharmed, though, quickly vanished when a woman walked into the room.
“Vilma?” he gasped.
The mage smiled at him. “Volcant. I’m glad to see you again.”
His mind reeled. “What... What are you doing?”
“Finishing the job I started a year ago, of course.” Her grin widened. “You never suspected a thing, did you? Never thought that a little palace mage would have dreams of her own. Well, that was to my advantage in the end. You were getting rather close. I’m glad that the timestream didn’t tear you apart, though. It would be a shame to waste all that.”
She was the one. Of course. It made so much sense. Who else? She knew everything he was doing, every time he left Byrelmore and every time he returned.
“Why?” he gasped.
“Because I want dragons gone. You have ruled us for millennia, making us bow to your wishes, playing with us as though we’re toys. Why should we have to please you to live for hundreds of years?”
The sheer hatred in her voice made him flinch, but he drew himself up quickly. “I never knew that you wanted us dead so badly. Why not just leave Byrelmore?”
Vilma rolled her eyes, as though the question wasn’t worth her time, but she would deign to reply anyway. “Because you decided to come here. Sooner or later, dragons would reveal themselves to this world—sooner, as it turned out—and then we’d be right where we started. With you taking over everything.”
“An invasion?” Misty whispered. “You think they’d invade us?”
“No, my dear. It’s much more sinister than that.” Vilma gave her a look even more disgusted than she’d given Volcant. “They would seduce this world. Just like this one seduced you.”
His flames grew a little hotter. “But our magic, our flames, don’t survive in this world. If we came—”
“That is the point.” Vilma returned a smile to him. “You see, I am going to bring Byrelmore to this world. Or, more accurately, the people to this world. And I will destroy magic altogether. I’ll miss it for sure, but it will mean that dragons are wiped out. You think you are better than humans, but we’ll see about that once you are all human!”
His flames nearly went out. Cold dread filled him. She would wipe them out not by waging battle against them, but by removing the very thing that made them dragons? A shiver ran down his spine and he opened his mouth, to say what, he didn’t know, but Vilma ignored him.
“Bring me the child,” she ordered one of her lackeys.
Misty clutched Cara closer to her chest and let out a strangled shout of warning as one of the men went for the baby. Volcant threw himself in the way, arms wrapping protectively around her.
“What do you want with our daughter?” he snarled, glaring blackly at Vilma.
Vilma’s eyes glittered, and her lip lifted in a sneer. “She’s the blood of both worlds. Easier to get my hands on than the new little prince. By sacrificing her—”
Volcant didn’t wait to hear the rest of that sentence. Fury and flames poured out of him in a roar as wings burst from his back. A red haze settled over his vision as a dull pounding throbbed in his ears. Nobody was going to hurt his daughter.
Nobody.
Chapter Thirteen
Misty
A burst of flames burst from Volcant’s mouth and Misty screamed. The heat seared over her skin. It made her eyes stream as she turned away, shielding Cara from the blast. She could only imagine how much worse it would be if those flames were directed at her. The men around them cried out and leapt back, hands turned outward to deflect the blast. The mage screamed.
&nb
sp; Volcant’s wings swept out behind him, knocking over several of the assassins. Misty darted forward, but the men charged in and she retreated. Bile tasted in her mouth and her heart hammered. Volcant sprang between her and the assassins. His hands, which ended in deadly-looking claws, flashed and spun. Two of the men fell back, screaming as they clutched at their faces.
“Must I do everything myself?”
Misty spun to find the woman standing right behind her. She grinned as she reached for Cara. Rage, unlike anything Misty had known before, surged from her heart and with a bellow, she threw herself forward. Her forehead cracked against the woman’s nose. Both stumbled back. Blood welled from the other woman’s nose while Misty’s head rang from the blow.
There was a cry of pain behind her and Volcant roared. She ducked on instinct as a body flew over her head. It sailed into the woman as Volcant’s wings snapped out again. One of them was torn and bleeding and a jagged wound appeared in the other as a knife punched through it.
“Run!” he shouted.
Misty clutched her baby to her chest and ran. Shouts followed her and there was a gunshot, but she didn’t stop to see if they were shooting at her or Volcant. Cara screamed and wailed. There was no time to comfort her.
Footsteps sounded behind her as she reached a set of doors. Before she was able to push through them, arms wrapped around her waist. A man’s triumphant cry roared in her ears as he lifted her off her feet. Misty threw her head back. This time her head cracked against his, sending black and white splotches across her vision. The man’s grip tightened. He started to drag her back and Misty elbowed him in the sternum. His grip loosened, and she managed to free herself.
Spinning on her heel, she kneed him in the groin. As his face went white and he bent double, she kicked him again and kneed him in the face. With a cry, he went down, and she stomped on his throat before running for the door.
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