by Honor James
“Sounds good. Just”—she hesitated—“just don’t touch me when I’m fishing in their souls for that piece of darkness, and when I pull it out, turn your fire on it. I will hold it in my hand, but the flames won’t hurt me,” she assured him. “We have to work together on this, okay?”
Watching her as she talked, he nodded. “I’ll trust you in this, angel mine,” he said softly. “This is totally your field of expertise and I will always bow to you on it. But we’re going to take this one Vamp at a time. I don’t want you exhausting yourself. If some need to wait until tomorrow, so be it, understood?” he asked quietly.
“I agree. One at a time. We will evaluate after each to ensure that neither of us is worn too much, honey,” Cinnamon agreed. “We have to ensure that we are both able to handle this, love, that we are both still where we need to be and you are still all right with all we are doing, love.”
“Deal,” he agreed easily and opened a door for her to an office. “We’ll do it in here.” There was enough room for them, two or more guards, the Vamp, and still lots of space if they needed to fight. It was also pretty empty and therefore fireproof for the most part. “We’ll shove the desk and chair to the wall and the sofa, too. That way I won’t set anything ablaze.”
“Sounds like the best idea, honey. See, you have it all figured out,” she teased. “All right.” She steeled herself and took in another breath. “Will your guard bring the first one to us, or do we go from room to room so that we can figure this out, love?”
“No,” he said, pushing things around while she stood there. “They will bring them to us,” he told her as he shoved everything out of the way. Turning, he smiled at her. “They can all read me like a book when I let them, and they know the plan.”
Taking in a deep breath and centering herself, Cinnamon nodded and smiled to her bond-mate. “They do tend to know just what you want and need, when you want it and need it, don’t they, darling. It’s one of the many things that I totally love about you.” Among like a million other reasons.
“They’ve been with me long enough we all have a mental connection. Like I can talk to you, I can boss them around, too,” he said and grinned. “I think that’s why so many of them are desperately trying to find bond-mates. They figure it gives them an out so they can ignore me.”
Cinnamon laughed at that. “Even if they find a bond-mate, they would still be your guard. Allister and Aiden are still your guards even though they both have bond-mates, so that would go to reason that any other would still remain as your guard.”
“Yeah, those two are crazy though. I have certification that proves it,” Talon told her with a grin. He actually did have certification for the twins, but it had all been a prank that Quincy had helped them work out. Talon had kept the paperwork because it had amused the man and the Dragon.
“Yeah, have to be.” Cinnamon’s laughter floated behind her as she spoke. “Aiden bonds to your only daughter, and Allister bonds to the daughter of the most powerful human in the lands. Yep, those two are nuts.” Cinnamon didn’t think of the president as the most powerful. His hands were too tied and he was watched too closely. Secretary-General Sutter, however, now he was truly the most powerful.
“It does help to have major connections, but we never use them for that. They are on the Teams because they are amazingly good at their jobs and can think on their feet and with their heads and hearts, not only with cold, hard military logic.” Moving to her, he smiled at her. “I think I got the best deal though. My mate is a badass Angel,” he said, dropping a kiss to her lips. Hearing a small knock, he lifted his head and inhaled. “First one’s here, love. You ready?”
Cinnamon nodded, straightened from him, and shifted her stance slightly. “I’m as ready as I’m ever going to get.”
Chapter Eighteen
“I’m done,” Cinnamon whispered to Talon after the thirteenth Vampire entered and exited the room. The room was filled with blood, walls were painted with it, and it covered the floor in a thin, slick sheen. “I need sleep.” She was barely standing, only upright because of Talon’s arm around her shoulders. “Take me to our rooms.”
Scooping her up in his arms, he carried her out of the office and headed up to the stairs for their suite. Climbing the many flights out of the dungeon of the basement, he hugged her close. “Quick shower and then we will go to bed, my angel love.”
“Okay, but if I fall asleep in the shower you have to dry me and get me into bed.” She had nearly pushed too hard. “Tomorrow remind me, one less.” She whispered against the side of his neck and sighed when his arms tightened. “The last one was nearly too hard. The dark seed tried to stick even though he was fighting and I was trying to pull it out.”
“No unlucky number thirteen tomorrow,” he promised softly. Kicking the door to their suite shut, he shifted her enough so he could lock the door. Moving straight for the bathroom, Talon set her down on the vanity. “Can you stay upright long enough for me to strip and turn the water on, love?” he asked when she listed toward the wall.
She nodded finally and even with her eyes closed whispered, “Think so.” It had taken far more out of her than she had anticipated. “Tomorrow make sure I don’t push too far. Something’s off, because I should have been able to keep going, but I’m so sleepy.”
“This has all been stressful, darling,” he pointed out. “And we have been wracking our brains with ways to help them. Plus it is Chaos involved, so you know he’s not going to give up without a fight,” he added. Gaia had given Talon a crash course on her brother and his, well—ways. Moving, he stripped and turned on the water, adjusting it so it would soothe aches and not scald. Going back to her, he smiled. “Come on, darling, let’s get you undressed and we’ll bathe. We’ll worry about cleaning up in the morning after a good long night’s sleep.”
“That sounds super wonderful,” Cinnamon mumbled sleepily as she rested against his chest. “Just get me standing, lean me against the wall, and we will go from there.” It was a sad fact that the Angel was so tired she wasn’t even thinking of making love with her Dragon. Sad, sad times.
“Tomorrow is soon enough, my Angel,” he told her as he helped undress her. Once she was naked, he lifted her and carried her into the large shower stall. Sitting her on the bench, Talon adjusted the water and began to wash her up, making sure to take extra care with her fine hair to get all the gunk and goo out.
Her head on his shoulder, she simply lay there against him. Yawning again, she nuzzled her cheek against him and whispered, “Love you, Talon Silverwing. Thank you for taking such great care of me.” She whispered sleepily, “I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to do much more than slump here against you, honey.”
“That’s okay, darling,” he murmured, shifting slightly to grab the hand-held spray head. “I’ll do the work for you,” he said gently, stroking her hair back. “Tip back your head, sugar, so that we can rinse out all the soap.”
Leaning her head back, Cin’s eyes remained closed, and she yawned again. “I shouldn’t be this worn. I expected it, I really did, but I didn’t think that I would be this worn after only pulling that from a few Vampires.” She knew something was off, just couldn’t figure it out.
“Well, it’s been a long week,” he said honestly to her. “We’ll get a good night’s sleep and then see where we’re at come morning.” He smiled, moving so he could rinse her hair out. Squeezing the water out, he gave it another rinse before putting in the conditioner and rinsing that out. “All right, babe, a quick wash and then we will go and crawl into our bed.”
“I love how that sounds,” Cin told him with a grin. “I look forward to being able to crawl into bed and sleep for like a week.” She sighed again and added, “If I’m feeling this worn tomorrow, honey, I think that I’m totally going to have to put off pulling the dark seeds from the Vampires for another day.”
“Agreed,” he said, washing her quickly before pulling her up to rinse her and himself off. Turning off t
he water, he helped her out of the shower stall. Grabbing towels, he wrapped one around her before sitting her on the vanity and draped the other around his waist. Snatching up another towel, Talon used it to gently dry her long hair.
When he had her nice and dry, Cinnamon moved to wrap her arms around his shoulders and smiled. “I love you, Talon. Now take us to bed.” Preferably before she fell asleep, but with the way that she was feeling now, it wouldn’t happen.
“I’ve got you, babe.” He chuckled, lifting her off the vanity and carrying her to the bed. Sliding her in between the sheets, he moved around the room, securing it and drawing the drapes. Returning to the bed after turning off the lights, he slipped under the blankets and drew her into his arms. “Sleep, my little angel,” Talon told her quietly, stroking her back lightly.
“Okay, g’night,” she whispered and was sound asleep within seconds.
Chapter Nineteen
Two weeks later…
Her head felt like lead and her stomach was rolling. Closing her eyes to simply breathe through the upset stomach, she whispered, “Talon, I’m really not feeling so hot.” She had never felt illness before, and this was something she found she didn’t like, at all.
Laying the cold cloth on her forehead, he nodded. “I know, sweetheart,” he told her honestly. “I don’t know if I should mention this, but I think you may be pregnant. It would explain your symptoms and why your scent has changed just a little.”
Cinnamon frowned. “I can’t get pregnant, can I?” She had wanted children, she really and truly had wanted babies with him, but it had never once occurred to her that she would get pregnant this soon after coming to Earth. “Would you be able to tell this soon? We haven’t been together that long. Are you sure?”
“Not a hundred percent, but we’ll have you pee on a stick and go from there,” he told her. At her confused look, he grinned. “It’s the slang phrase for a home pregnancy test, because it’s a stick that you pee on and the hormonal changes that will show in your pee create a reaction with components on the stick to give us a clue of pregnancy or not.”
“I thought that Dragons’ noses could smell anything,” she whispered. “Oh Goodness, we are going to have a baby.” A Dragon baby. Oh goodness, they were going to have a baby. “Wait, will our baby be a Dragon or will it be an Angel?” Fear crawled in her throat at the idea that they would bring a baby Angel into this world. They would be hunted even more so.
“I don’t honestly know, love,” he told her quietly. “I suppose we will have to wait and see, won’t we,” he advised, quietly flipping the towel over on her forehead. “Dragons can smell a great deal, but even early stage pregnancy is a test for us. A couple more days and I would know for sure. Right now, all I can tell you is your scent is a little different.”
“Then I guess we should take the test so that we know.” Curling up against Talon’s heat, she sighed. “I feel so much better against you.” It was odd. Having him holding her made her stomach feel better, and she liked it a great deal. “I think we will take the day off from dealing with the Vampires. Tomorrow we will work more with them.”
“I will send one of the guards to go and collect a couple of the pregnancy tests for you,” he told her softly. “We might not get any results the first day or two, depending on your body. And depending on the results, we will need to take you into medical to have the docs look you over.”
“We need to finish with the Vampires that want to be freed of Chaos’s darkness though, honey,” Cin whispered. “I don’t know though, honey. Maybe it’s just something that has to do with the darkness?” Even as she said it though, she knew that it wasn’t right. She knew that he was right, and that stunned her.
“I usually am right, babe.” Talon grinned at her as he heard her thoughts loud and clear. “But it’s understandable you wouldn’t realize this yet. We’ve only been together a short time after all.” Pressing a kiss to her hair, he rubbed her back gently. “Why don’t you sleep for a little longer, and then we will get up and get you some tea before I explain to one of the guards just what he gets to go shopping for?”
“They are so going to be not happy about that shopping trip,” she guessed. “I can’t imagine that they would enjoy it at all.” Sighing, she looked at him and then smiled. “They will give us a hard time, won’t they, darling?” Not really a hard time so much as they would likely double her guard.
“They will give us a bit of a hard time, and then they will likely bury you in gifts.” He rolled his eyes. “They’re all pissed they missed Talina’s birth and childhood, so they are going to be making up huge with ours.”
“Oh yes, that’s right.” Her eyes were wide as she spoke. “I completely forgot that. I don’t know why I forgot that,” she whispered. “All right, so I will have them giving me lots and lots of gifts. I can survive that, right?” she asked with a smile. “Besides, if they are excited about this baby, that means that they will protect her or him even more, right?”
“They would do whatever it takes to keep you and our child safe,” he said honestly. “They adore you, Cin. They don’t always understand you, my quirky little mate, but they love you.” His guards were seriously smitten with his little bond-mate.
“They just don’t understand me and my candid speaking. Well that and I’m still trying to learn how to not spill the candy on their futures.” A frown crossed her face. “Is it candy that I need to learn how to not spill or coffee?” The phrases sometimes just confused her, a lot.
Chuckling, Talon shook his head at her. “It’s spilling the beans on their futures,” he told her softly with a grin. “And you are doing very well with not spilling the beans, though you do slip on occasion.” And he usually was able to poke her and get her distracted enough to lose her train of thought, thankfully.
“I try not to, but sometimes it’s so hard to keep what I know inside,” she murmured, “especially if it’s something that I think will harm them in any way. I never want any of our friends to be harmed. Because I like them all far too much, and they are an extension of our family, aren’t they?”
“They aren’t an extension, love, they are our family,” he said, rubbing his hand over her back slowly. “They may be our guards and will do whatever is necessary to always protect us, but they are our family.”
Cinnamon grinned. “I think that you are absolutely right, honey. They are truly our family. I love that you think the way that I think as well.” It made her all kinds of happy to know that he was hers and she was his and their family was vast.
“Of course I think that way, and while I’ll kick them in the nuts if they piss me off and send them packing if they fail me, they are still my family. Which gives me all sorts of extra leeway to make their lives miserable.” He grinned.
She couldn’t help but grin at that. “And do they know that you feel this way? Do they know that we have adopted them as our family and that means that they have to be even closer to us come holidays and such? I’m going to make them come to dinner with us for all of the holidays. I so look forward to those. Do you think that they will want me to cook for them, or should I order out?”
“Well…” He thought a minute. “We usually just order in catering to feed everyone at Christmas, so I think we should do that again. It saves on us actually having to cook, there is no clean up, and we don’t have to worry about all the shopping and prep ahead of time. Which given how many we feed at any given time around here at Christmas would be strenuous to say the least. So I vote that we order in and make the catering company super happy again this year.”
Cinnamon grinned. “I like that idea. I still think that I should make something for everyone as well. I would like to cook something for everyone.” She was still struggling to figure out how in the world to cook, but she was sure that she could learn before then and not give food poisoning to her friends.
“Well, why don’t we do up cookies and maybe some loaves of bread,” he suggested to her. “We can make it all ahe
ad of time, package it up, and make little goodie baskets. Then, when they all leave, they grab the basket with their name on the label and they will have a treat that’s just from you.”
“I love that idea!” Cinnamon wrapped her arms around Talon’s neck and hugged him tightly. “You are truly the most brilliant man ever, do you know that?” She hugged him tightly, keeping him close, and happiness spilled from her as she did so.
Chuckling softly, he hugged her gently. “I’ve heard that a time or two,” he teased softly. “But it is nice to know that my mate feels that way about me,” he said, brushing a kiss to her lips.
“Of course I feel that way about you.” Leaning up on her tiptoes, she kissed him again. “I think that you are the most brilliant of all men, darling.” Another kiss to his cheek. “And you are mine. All mine for the rest of time.”
Leaning in so she didn’t have to reach, Talon pulled her closer. “Tell me more, little mate of mine,” he growled softly. He loved when she got like this, free and unthinking in her words and actions, just feeling the moment and showing him everything.
“I’m very thankful that my mother tied our lives together. I’m very happy that you are mine and I’m yours,” she told him as she rubbed her body against his, breathing him in as she did so. “I do love you so very much, honey.”
“I love you, too, angel,” he whispered softly. “But you should sleep, little mate. You need to rest, and then we will get up in a few hours and eat.” Brushing a kiss to her cheek, he breathed her in. “Sleep for a couple hours, Cin.”
“Sleep does sound pretty nice,” Cinnamon whispered and nestled up against him. “I love you, honey,” she murmured sleepily and then, without much more thought, was sound asleep in his arms.