“But I could help with packing—”
“I want you to take a break. We have plenty of people helping with packing.” Mirella pointed at the chaise lounge, and finally Crea sat by her side. “How do you feel today?” she asked Jade.
“You were right. The nausea has finally stopped, though I still tire a lot.” Since she had become an assassin, Jade exercised daily to keep her body in top form, but lately the usual routines proved taxing.
“You’re changing to accommodate the growth of your baby. And shifters are tough on their mothers, even on super-women like you,” Mirella said.
“You look barely pregnant,” Crea commented with a shy smile.
“Is there something wrong with me? Is my baby not growing as it should?” Jade immediately asked, pressing her hand against her stomach. She had been wondering if it was normal that her pregnancy wasn’t showing much, and she was about five months along.
“I meant that you are in perfect shape,” Crea answered, aghast.
“You have nothing to worry about, Jade.” Mirella chuckled.
“I don’t know anything about any of this.” Jade sighed, gesturing toward Mirella’s bump and then to her barely visible one. “It’s all new to me.”
“Believe it or not, even though I’ve been engineered to be a mother of werewolves, it was new to me as well.” Mirella said. “But I have Valentine by my side, and that’s made all the difference in the world.”
Jade remained silent. There wasn’t much she could contribute to the conversation without sharing more than she was comfortable with.
“May I give you some unsolicited advice?” Mirella asked.
Jade nodded.
“Accept help when it’s freely given. We weren’t meant to walk life alone,” Mirella said, her words soft as she looked at Jade with the sweetest of expressions.
“I’m not used to counting on anyone but myself.” Butterfly wings created a small tornado in Jade’s stomach.
“I can imagine it’s difficult for you to believe Dragon would do anything in the universe for you, but you must trust me on this: that man went crazy with longing and worry before he found you again.”
“He says he would die for me.” Jade hadn’t meant to say it but felt safe in Mirella’s presence.
“And you better believe it because you have great power over him.” Mirella’s face became serious. “Never forget it.”
“I’ve had life-and-death power over people—” Jade struggled to find the right words. “I am an assassin—” She looked at Mirella, hoping she would understand what she was trying to say, because it was important to her that Mirella didn’t judge her badly. “But I’ve never been close to another person before, and it scares me.”
“Because for the first time in your life, someone else has power over you as well,” Mirella finished Jade’s thought as if she had plucked it straight from her mind. “I don’t know what happened when you and Dragon first met, but it must have been something out of the ordinary if a Master Assassin decided to spare her target’s life.”
“I wish I’d never had the erasion.” Jade couldn’t help but wonder why she had taken such a drastic decision. “It’s out of character for me.”
“Love can be all-consuming—”
“Make that terrifying,” Jade whispered.
“But it’s worth it. I promise you.”
The sudden noise of wings startled the three of them. Jade jumped to her feet, her hand automatically reaching for the dagger concealed in the waistband of her pants.
6
Dragon tilted his head upward. A faint noise droned in the background that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
He and Valentine had just left Valemir at the nursery because he wanted to play with the other boys. They were now in the hangar, supervising the last details for their departures.
Valentine cocked his head to the side, then looked up and swore out loud. “Call Master Gabriel. Find my head guard. Assassins coming!” he threw over his shoulder for the mechanics’ sake and started running.
It took only a moment for Dragon to figure out that the trajectory of the assassins led straight to the gazebo jutting from the house. Dragon’s heart froze in his chest. Jade had gone to visit Mirella, and now both women were in danger. The feeble sound of clockwork wings became louder as he and Valentine frantically ran across Gabriel’s manor.
As the two of them reached the long bridge, fire had engulfed most of it, erecting a wall of flames and smoke that hid the gazebo. Once again, Dragon wished Carellian was with him. They dove into the water at once, swimming under the bridge and emerging a few heartbeats later at the base of the gazebo.
Three assassins circled over the structure, while a fourth was perched on the octagonal roof, stabbing the wooden shingles with a long spear. Inside, Jade stood with her dagger ready, shielding Mirella and her lady’s maid with her body as she looked up. Valentine burst through the door while Dragon scaled the gazebo.
At once, arrows rained on Dragon, but he zigzagged, eluding all but two that hit him on his shoulder and leg. Fueled by rage and fear, he launched himself at the assassin on the roof. His spear had created a hole through which the man intended to throw a gas grenade inside the gazebo. Dragon slammed against the man, sending the grenade into the sea just as the poison in the arrows started to numb him.
A third and a fourth arrow hit Dragon in his back, and the rest of the world started to blacken at the edges of his vision.
Fighting at once both his own failing body and the assassin, Dragon punched the man with enough strength to unbalance him. His enemy vacillated at the edge of the roof before falling backward, his wings dragging him toward the sea a few meters below. Another shaft pierced Dragon, this time just above his heart. He fell on his knees, slowly sliding down the roof. Reaching out his hand, he caught the decorative shingle at the edge of the roof, his lower body dangling. He only let go when he was sure that he would land on the deck below and not in the water. With a loud thump, he hit the wooden planks and hoisted himself up, using his dwindling strength.
A second assassin landed on the rooftop as the remaining two made sure that nobody else could get any closer to the structure. Dragon dragged himself under the porch.
“Dragon!” Jade’s voice reached him. A moment later, lean arms snaked under his shoulders as she tried to move him, but he weighed too much for her.
Another set of arms reached for him, and with the help of Valentine, Jade pulled Dragon inside the gazebo.
Her black eyes stared into his. “Are you awake?” she asked.
Her frantic tone pleased him as he began to slip into oblivion.
Jade’s brow furrowed. “Why is he smiling?”
A loud, crashing noise broke through Dragon’s torpor, and a shadow covered Jade.
With a herculean effort fueled by love, Dragon kept his eyes open and pulled his hand over his head, searching for anything he could use to hoist himself up. His fingers brushed a column, and he used it as an anchor.
While Jade and Valentine fought the assassin, Dragon saw the third man landing on the roof, aiming his javelin through the hole. The assassin inside the gazebo executed a fast combination of lateral kicks and thrusts of his long spear, keeping his opponents at a safe distance. To avoid the poisoned shaft, Jade jumped to the side, only to end up in Mirella’s corner, entering the assassin’s line of vision.
It all happened at once. Mirella screamed. Valentine ran toward her. Jade looked up. The first assassin threw his spear which pierced Valentine’s back, between his shoulder blades. At the end of his endurance, Dragon channeled his dragon, forcing a shift. Before the animal would take charge, Dragon locked eyes with Jade. She nodded, throwing herself against Mirella and the lady’s maid, and forcing them out the door as the assassin threw his javelin through the hole. It hit Dragon squarely in his chest as his body expanded into that of his beast.
7
Jade had barely pushed Mirella and Crea to safety and exited
the gazebo herself when giant wings broke the glass walls, and the dragon filled the structure.
His triangular head peeked from the hole in the ceiling, black eyes narrowing and looking up. A blink of an eye later, a tongue of flame scorched the air, burning to cinders the assassin whose hasty retreat wasn’t fast enough.
A fourth assassin circled safely above the dragon’s reach while he kept aiming at the animal’s head with both arrows and javelins.
A javelin broke his feathery hide, and purple blood gushed from the wound. The dragon’s pained bellow boomed in the air, rattling what was left of the glass panels.
Jade’s first impulse was to run to the dragon’s rescue, but she didn’t have a weapon she could use against an enemy flying high in the sky, and she wouldn’t put Mirella and Crea in danger by drawing attention to their position under the porch.
Struggling with her impotence, Jade watched as the majestic animal tried to avoid the shafts thrown at him.
Mirella screamed, calling her husband’s name. The last time Jade had seen Lobo was when he took a spear and was thrown away from Mirella.
“Where is he?” Mirella kept asking, her eyes widened in horror as she scanned the destroyed structure that had been her haven for the last four months. “Where’s Valentine?” She looked straight at Jade as if she expected her to have the answer.
The expression on Mirella’s face broke Jade’s heart. “He’s okay,” she said to reassure her friend, taking Mirella’s hands in hers and guiding her under the safety of the porch once again. “I’m sure he’s okay.”
A splash of water wet their feet, and a moment later, the werewolf pulled himself up onto the bridge, blood trailing from his back.
“Thank the Goddess you aren’t hurt,” Lobo said. “Keep her safe,” he instructed Jade who quickly nodded her assent before he climbed the gazebo.
Jade risked a peek at the rooftop and saw that Lobo had become a target for the flying archers, dodging the shafts as they hissed too close to him and the dragon.
The sound of the arrows was accompanied by the dragon’s roars and the werewolf’s grunts. Jade resisted entering the fray, knowing she could never forgive herself if anything happened to Mirella, or heaven forbid, either of their babies.
The werewolf screamed, and a moment later there was a huge splash on the other side of the gazebo. Mirella jumped out of safety. Jade tackled her, shoving Mirella under the porch as she landed on the bridge. At the sound of a shaft whistling closer, Jade rolled toward safety, but the arrow hit the back of her thigh. She dragged her numbing lower body to safety and yelled, “Pull it out!”
Mirella shot to action and removed the arrow with a steady hand.
“Thank you,” Jade whispered, trying to sit.
Crea helped her against the back of one of the porch’s columns.
“Don’t go after your husband again,” Jade growled to Mirella.
A sudden breeze was accompanied by a large shadow that darkened the bright sky. A heartbeat later, the sound of aircar engines rumbled closer.
Jade leaned her head against the column and closed her eyes, exhaling a sigh of relief. The cavalry had finally arrived.
“We can’t move him.” Gabriel Martelli pointed over his shoulder where the dragon lay. The animal’s big body was stuck inside the ruins of the gazebo, with his wings and tail protruding toward the sea. “But you can’t stay here,” he said, turning his gaze to Jade.
“I won’t leave him.” Jade had moved from the column to the gazebo’s door which was still upright because it leaned against the dragon’s flank. Unable to stand, she sat with her hand on the warm fur of the sleeping beast.
“You need medical attention—” Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest, looking like a man who had no intention of abandoning their conversation.
“Mirella pulled the arrow just in time. The amount of poison that entered my system was minimal, and I already feel better.” Mirella had pleasantly surprised Jade, acting promptly to help her, even though she had been crying after her husband but a moment earlier.
“If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for us,” Lobo said from the opposite corner of the porch.
Mirella fussed over him, while Crea was deep in discussion with the werewolf’s head guard.
The domesticity of the scene affected Jade, and she looked back at the vampire.
“Valentine’s right. If you don’t come with me to the infirmary, Dragon’s going to kill us.” Martelli smiled, reaching his hand down for her to hold onto.
The dragon’s feathery fur rippled under her fingers as a slow rumble shook his body.
Go!
The one-word command entered her mind without warning and made her gasp.
“Are you okay?” The vampire grabbed her arm and gently pulled her up.
“I think the dragon just talked to me,” she said, looking at Mirella.
Please. She heard the word loud and clear.
“He wants me to go with you.” Jade gave the dragon a slow caress that elicited a soft purr. The sound resonated through her body and filled her with a foreign sense of calm. “Okay, Master Martelli.” She looked up at the vampire and nodded.
“Call me Gabriel, please,” he said with a rueful smile. “And thank you. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining to your equally stubborn mate why a medicus hadn’t seen you.”
Jade automatically said, “He’s not—” but didn’t finish her sentence because the dragon hissed in what sounded like displeasure.
Everybody laughed, and even Jade couldn’t help but smile. “Let’s go then.”
Mirella leaned away from her husband’s embrace, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the boat waiting for them at the remains of the burned-down bridge. “We’re coming, too. Valentine’s wound on his back is nasty, and I want the medicus to check him.”
Lobo pulled her back to him, dropping a kiss on her crown. “It’s just a scratch. If it were anything serious, I’d have already shifted, and I’d be slumbering next to Dragon.” He looked over his shoulder at the now-snoring beast.
“I’ll feel better when the medicus himself says it’s just a scratch.” Mirella’s voice was as sweet as ever, but it contained a steely edge. Only a daft person would have confused her soft tone for anything else than the order it was.
Chuckling, Lobo shook his head, then leaned his forehead against hers. “As you command, kitten.”
“It’s been this way since the first moment he met her,” Gabriel whispered to Jade.
“I can hear you,” Lobo said out loud a few steps behind.
“I know you can.” The vampire winked at Jade and guided her around the treacherous porch. Most of the wooden planks were either crushed or burned.
Jade was grateful for the man’s sturdy arms because her leg was still numb.
“A day will come when you too must succumb to love,” Lobo said as an afterthought a moment later, and Mirella and Crea agreed, chuckling.
“We’ll see about that,” Gabriel scoffed.
It dawned on Jade how she wasn’t the only one accustomed to living in constant danger. This group of people too, despite being rich and powerful, had been under siege for almost two years, and they were able to joke and laugh soon after an attack that could have been deadly. She had sorely misjudged them in thinking they were very different from her.
Gabriel helped Jade into the boat, waited for the other three to board, then opened the lateral sails and hovered all the way to the house proper and the infirmary.
“Ladies first,” Valentine said when the medicus moved toward him as the group entered the white room.
The medicus told Jade to follow him into one of the patient rooms. To her relief, the man confirmed that she and, most importantly, her baby were out of danger. He disinfected and dressed her wound, then prescribed her rest and discharged her to take care of Lobo.
Gabriel was waiting for Jade just outside the infirmary. “I know you want to go back to him right away,” he
said. He was right. She couldn’t think about anything else but Dragon. “But the gazebo isn’t safe.”
Panic filled her chest at the idea of being separated from Dragon. She had spent the best part of two weeks trying to avoid the man, and now, she hated the thought of staying away from him or his dragon.
“I’ve asked Gage to assign five of my personal guards to you. They’ll follow you everywhere, but I would appreciate if you sleep inside, in the basement,” he said. “Most of my guards have families, and if possible, I give them free time at night.”
The vampire had cornered her. She could only agree and thank him.
8
Dragon opened his eyes and took in the destruction all around him. The night was dark and the moons covered by a thick blanket of clouds, but his eyes could see as clear as day that shifting into his dragon had collapsed the structure.
Gabriel’s gazebo, and the Lobos’ temporary residency, didn’t exist any longer. The ceiling lay partially on the floor, and the rest had drifted off to sea. Shards of glass, broken beams, and contorted pieces of metal littered the place. His plan had worked though, and it had been fortunate that he was seriously wounded and could shift into his dragon, otherwise Jade and the other two women would have been at the complete mercy of the assassin. At least, his beast had forced their enemy to use almost every arrow and javelin the man possessed on him.
“You did a number on this place.” Valerian’s quiet voice revealed his presence on the opposite side of the ruins.
“I’m sure Gabriel can’t wait for us to finally leave.” Dragon sat and raised his hand to catch the bundle of clothes his friend sent flying in an arc toward him. When he stretched his neck and rolled his shoulders, his body didn’t complain, and he didn’t feel dizzy. “How long was I out this time? A day? Two?” It couldn’t be much longer, otherwise he would be in a worse shape.
“Four days,” Valerian answered.
“I’m getting used to the poison.” Dragon couldn’t help but laugh at the thought. “Another attack, and I’ll be completely immunized.”
The Fifth Moon's Legacy Page 3