by Alice Brown
Fadri stirred restlessly in both brothers. 'Wait and see, my fine ass! I say we get her out of here and take her home. You know I can help her if you just give me a chance.'
'Calm down, Fadri. We know you could help, but we certainly can’t let you loose in the middle of a hospital, now can we?' Adrian soothed.
'That is why I said get her out of here. Take her home to Dragonose. She is your mate, and you know your father will want to meet her. Besides, our medical technology is far superior to anything they have on this planet.'
The two brothers looked at each other. 'You know, Fadri has a point. She would have a much better chance if we could get her out of here and take her home,' Aiden silently communicated with his brother.
'I agree, but how do you plan to get her out of here? And what are we going to do about Angel?'
The two brothers stared at each other for a moment as a plan started to develop. It wasn’t the stealthiest of plans, but it just might work in getting their mate out of the hospital. First, they had to have a talk with Angel and hope they could trust her with their secret.
They decided that Adrian should be the one to talk with Angel, and Aiden would stay back in the waiting room, in case there was any news. Adrian walked outside with Angel toward a secluded bench seat.
“Angel, I need to entrust you with a secret, and tell you something about my brother and me. But I want you to promise me to listen with an open mind and not freak out on me, okay?”
Her eyes were large as she waited for whatever bomb he had to throw on her already miserable day. “Adrian, can’t this possibly wait? My best friend is in there!”
“I wish it could, Angel. But what I have to tell you directly relates to Evangelina. Now are you willing to listen?” She nodded, and he continued, “My brother and I are not from around here. We are not from this country. We are not even from this planet.”
Angel stood, suddenly angry. “Adrian, this is no time to be playing games! I have better things to do than to listen to stories about you and your brother being aliens. You can go to hell right along with Gerald, who believes in vampires and witches, and one of my ex-boyfriends, who thought he was from outer space.”
She only took one step before Adrian’s large hands reached out to stop her. “Just sit and listen for one moment, please. You promised me you would hear me out with an open mind.”
She rolled her eyes but sat back down. “Fine. Tell me what planet you think you and your brother are from.”
“We are from a completely different planet. We are from Dragonose, and my brother and I are dragon shifters.”
“Right, and I am from Mars and turn into a Martian once a month,” Angel snarked.
“Angel, look at me.” Adrian made sure no one was around before partially allowing Fadri to the surface.
What Angel saw when she turned her head to look at Adrian was his hands had changed to claws, and as she looked into his eyes, she saw his dragon staring back at her. “Oh my God, I am losing it!” she whispered as she began to tremble violently.
Fadri’s voice spoke to her, even though the face was still Adrian’s. “We would never hurt our mate, Angel. Please trust Aiden and Adrian. They are your friend’s best option.” Adrian quickly pulled back on Fadri’s leash, as he took back control over his body completely.
Reaching over to snatch a scared, trembling woman in his arms, he was quick to reassure her. “Hey, it’s okay. I am still me. I am still the same man you met a few days ago.”
“B-b-but how?” she babbled.
“That is a long story, unfortunately, I don’t have the time to answer. Listen, we don’t exactly go around promoting that we are not all human every day, and for good reason. The only reason I am telling you now is because we believe the best way to heal Evangelina is to take her to our home world. Our dragon has healing abilities, as well as my father, and we also have a powerful healer. Between the three of us, I believe we are her best option. Our medical technology is far superior to Earth’s.”
She began shaking her head. “You are not taking my best friend to who-knows-where, so I’ll never see her again. Sorry, just not going to happen.”
“Angel, this is why I am telling you our secret. We would like to take you with us. But you must know, I can’t tell you how long we will be gone. It could be a few weeks, or maybe even longer.”
Angel placed her face in her hands. “I just don’t know. I don’t want to make a life and death decision like this for her. I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
Adrian placed his hand on her back and rubbed in a soothing circle. “Let Aiden and me make the choices. We just need you to go along with us.”
She let out a tired sigh. “I am too tired and too nervous to think straight. Do what you think is best.” There was no way she could dispute what she had seen. She just hoped she wasn’t making the worst decision of her life and killing her best friend.
Chapter Four
The plan was for Fadri to release a small, controlled burst of fire, just enough to set the fire alarms off. They were banking on being able to slip Evangelina out unnoticed during the commotion.
First, though, they needed to arrange transportation once they got Evangelina out of the hospital. They didn’t want to take any chances of further injuring their mate. They decided to use an ambulance to transport her from the hospital to the portal that would give them access to their world.
Luckily, they discovered two unattended ambulances at the back of the hospital parking lot. They never bothered to worry about keys, because Aiden could hotwire anything with wheels. Finding medical clothing to fit their larger frames proved to be a bit more difficult, but after consulting the phone book, they discovered a local store that sold scrubs. Even the largest scrubs they could find barely fit, and Aiden ripped through the seam of his pants as soon as he put them on. Thankfully, they had also purchased basic white lab coats that would hide his torn britches.
So, with almost fitting scrubs purchased and an ambulance on standby, the guys headed back to the hospital. They sat down on either side of Angel, asking if there had been any change in their mate.
“No, they haven’t come back out and told me anything,” she replied, as she wrung her hands nervously.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” Aiden told her gently, placing his much larger hand over hers.
The men quietly instructed Angel on her part. “We need you to go wait for us in the ambulance that is pulled up alongside the Emergency Room entrance. We’ll be out in about five minutes with Evangelina.”
She raised an eyebrow up at them and looked at Aiden as she whispered, “Do I even want to know your plan for getting her out of here?”
Aiden chuckled as he shook his head. “No, not really. Whatever you do, do not hit the panic button if you hear any fire alarms.”
Ten minutes later the men rolled their mate out of the hospital on a gurney and quickly loaded her up in the back of the ambulance. Angel heard the fire alarms start to blare a few minutes before they came out, and desperately hoped they would not be caught. But when it came down to it, everyone was too busy trying to figure out if there really was a fire, and if so, where it was, so no one took a second look at the brothers as they wheeled their mate out of the hospital.
Within minutes, they were zooming down the highway. Aiden was driving, Angel was sitting in the passenger seat, and Adrian rode in the back to watch over Evangelina.
“So, where exactly is home, and how do we get there?” Angel inquired. She half-expected Aiden to answer that they had some sort of spaceship waiting to whisk them off.
“There are portals, or doors, if you will, that cannot be seen with the naked eye. However, if you stumbled into one, you could land in an alternate universe. We have several portals that allow us to go to multiple places on Earth. One in Japan, one in Iceland, and one at the edge of our very own city.”
“Okay, so what? You just open an invisible door and step through? That’s it?”
“Carried? As in, I am actually going to be riding on the back of a dragon? Are you serious? I mean, I know I saw your dragon in your brother’s eyes earlier. But up close and personal? I am not sure about that. What happens if he doesn’t like me? Will he hurt me?”
“No, Fadri doesn’t hurt innocents, and he already approves of you. He would never have allowed himself to be seen otherwise.” He stopped there for a moment and clenched his jaw. “There is one thing that Adrian didn’t tell you. Our father is king of our world. And there has always been a strict policy that no one, and I mean NO ONE, but dragon shifters are allowed to enter through the portal. Not even other species know about the portals.”
“What???” Angel squeaked in alarm. “What do you mean, other species?”
“I mean humans are not the only creatures that inhabit the earth. Hell, multiple other species call Earth and even more specifically, the United States, home. They are governed by the Other Council. They are a ruling body of other species that keep peace and keep the existence of all others a secret from humans.”
“Okay, but I’m a human, even though I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland right now,” she murmured. “Why are you telling me all of this?” Then, an afterthought hit her. “Oh my God, are you going to kill me? Is that why you are telling me this? Because…you don’t plan to let me live?” She was practically in hysterics by the time she finished.
Aiden reached over to place his hand gently on her arm, hoping to calm her down. She jerked away from his touch as if he had burned her. “Angel, for fuck’s sake, will you calm down? You are not going to die!” He had enough on his hands worrying about his mate. He didn’t need her best friend in hysterics.
He chanced a quick glance over in her direction. She was pressed up against the door as tight as she could get her body within the confines of her seatbelt. He blew out an exasperated breath. “Angel, no one is going to kill you. I am telling you this so you are not caught off guard once we arrive in our realm. Normally, father is a really easygoing fellow. And I do not doubt for a moment he will be over the moon that Adrian and I have found our mate. I just do not know how he is going to feel about us bringing you.”
“Look, just drop me off. I’ll just catch a cab and we’ll call it good. I mean, you said it yourself, your father probably won’t accept me. I mean, why chance it?”
“No, I think Evangelina is going to need your support and friendship as she recuperates. And besides,” he stopped and ran his hand over his face, suddenly tired. “I think father would be more pissed that we left this realm with you having knowledge of us, let alone the fact the Council of Others would be waiting to hand us our asses once we returned.”
The look she was giving him clearly stated she trusted him with her safety.
“Look, Angel, you have my word that you are safe. Just please, please help me try to save Evangelina.”
She gave him a strained smile. “For Evangelina.”
The remainder of the ambulance ride was made in silence. This quickly changed when the vehicle was brought to an abrupt stop. The ambulance was barely put in park when Aiden jumped out and raced around to the back of the vehicle, leaving Angel to fend for herself. By the time she had gotten out and reached the back, they had already taken Evangelina out and both brothers were standing over her checking her from head to toe to assure themselves that no further injuries had befallen her from the ride. Angel stepped up to the gurney, wondering what was going to happen next.
She looked up, ready to ask that very question, but seemed to lose her tongue when both men began stripping out of their clothes. “What?” she managed to stammer. It wasn’t like she didn’t appreciate a good male body, and good golly Miss Molly did these two have it going on. Muscles on top of muscles packed under their tan skin. Then she remembered they considered Evangelina their mate. She almost felt embarrassed for staring at them while they finished undressing. Almost, but not quite.
Chapter Five
“What are you doing?” Her tongue finally caught up to her brain.
The guys ignored her as if she wasn’t there. She watched as they quickly finished stripping and then joined hands. As soon as they did, their bodies seemed to mold into one as it grew. In a matter of seconds a huge, scary, two-headed dragon was staring down at her.
“Fear not, child. I will not harm thee.” The ice-blue dragon head purred as he leaned down and sniffed Evangelina. “Please stand back, child. I must try to help her so we can go through the portal."
“Wha-a-a-t…?” There went her tongue again. She was trying to ask what the dragon planned to do, but her tongue once again was refusing to cooperate.
“Evangelina is safe, child. I have a healing ability that will start the healing process, and make it much safer to take her through the portal.”
Angel watched as the light blue dragon head came down and hovered directly above her friend. She backed up, hoping she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life by letting such a huge creature near her best friend. But surely Aiden and Adrian were in there somewhere, weren’t they?
After a moment, the dragon lifted his blue head slightly. Starting at the top of Evangelina’s head, Fadri blew cool breath from his nostrils over every inch of her body. When the ice-blue head was finished, the fire-orange head, the more intense of the two, spoke.
“Angel, we have done what we can for her for the time being. As I need to carry both of you through the portal, as well as the brother’s clothing, would you please be so kind as to climb up on my back and wrap your legs and arms tightly around one of the necks.”
She climbed up on the side of the huge dragon, all the while watching as both heads worked together to pick up the stack of clothing and then her friend. The ice-blue head carried her friend in his mouth, and Angel hoped and prayed his big jaws wouldn’t damage her any further. From what little she had been able to see, after the beast had blown out of his nostrils over her friend, Evangelina looked a lot better than she had moments ago. Her skin took on a more rosy hue, and a few of the burns looked immensely improved already.
In her own little world, she almost missed the command that came from the dragon. “Hang on tightly.”
They stepped through some kind of invisible barrier, and suddenly, they were sucked into a vortex. Angel clung to the dragon’s neck for dear life, with her eyes squeezed shut and her head buried into his neck-scales as the dragon navigated through the high winds.
Although it seemed like eternity, within less than a minute they landed softly on the ground. As in grassy, solid ground. Angel continued to cling to Fadri’s neck, too afraid that her legs wouldn’t hold her up if she tried to get down.
“Child, it’s over. Please come down so Aiden and Adrian can take back over in their human forms.”
Angel slid down and sure enough, as soon as her feet hit the ground, her knees buckled and down she went. At least the ground below her wasn’t moving, and she quickly decided that she would just stay there, flopped out on the cool grass for the time being.
Once she began to look around at the surroundings, she realized sitting on the grass might not be an option for too long. They had evidently drawn the attention of others when they landed, as people were beginning to gather before her and the humongous beast.
The dragon shifted back, and Aiden and Adrian were standing before her a few seconds later in all of their glorious, muscled, and toned bodies. They leaned down and snatched up their clothes, dressing quickly.
Aiden barely gave her a glance as he leaned down once again to gather Evangelina in his arms. “Come,” he commanded, as Angel watched him lift her friend to his chest.
Suddenly, a voice boomed, “My sons have come home?” Then a giant of
a man was standing in front of Aiden, asking, “What is going on here?”
Adrian quickly began to explain the past forty-eight hours to their father. “Dad, the woman Aiden is holding is our mate. Someone tried to kill her by rigging her car to explode. We need both you and Quinn to help her, please.” Quinn had been the dragon shifter doctor for many years. Not only was he trained in dragon medicine, he also had some of the healing traits that both Aiden and King Thoran possessed, only Quinn’s abilities were multiplied. The twins had seen him in action before. Saving their shifter species was what he specialized in. They were hoping Quinn could help, since their own human form was basically the same as a real human’s.
The giant of a man whom Angel now knew was the twins’ father and the King of Dragonose, gazed down at her friend in Aiden’s arms. “Come quickly.” He spun on his heel, taken about three steps before he abruptly stopped, and spun back around. “Who is she?” the king demanded as he looked at Angel, then swung his gaze back to Adrian.
“Our mate’s best friend. I know we broke the rules, and Aiden and I are willing to accept punishment, but please help our mate first.” It was the first time since Angel had met the twins that Adrian didn’t look like he could conquer the world. No, now his posture and attitude held a definite note of humility, possibly even fear.
“Come, all of you. We will discuss this later. Let us get your mate healed first.”
Evangelina had never felt such pain. Every inch of her was in agony, her body in such a state she wasn’t sure if she was hot or cold. All she knew was she was pretty certain she was dead. She felt hot, yet had a chill at the same time.