“A female,” Kade said, stunned. “I always thought…,”
“Well, you thought wrong,” Doren said, cutting him off.
As if on cue, the green dropped in from out of the sky. Judeen and Garig called out a warning to Kade and Dran had his knife back out, ready to throw once more. Not that the green would have even noticed, but it was something Dran did out of instinct.
The green slowly moved closer to Rayden and inhaled her scent several times before settling in next to her. It was beginning to accept people, but nothing was going to come between the beautiful, silver dragon and itself. Kade looked at the green suspiciously as the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. Doren saw the look and grinned.
“Yes. Meet the father of the pup,” Doren said.
Kade recalled when they had first come to the cabin. The roar off in the distance, Kade thought. You did not want to run off and play, he thought as he looked deep into the golden eye. You wanted to run off and…
“So, you are going to have a pup, eh?” Kade asked, as he scratched Rayden’s jaw. “This is definitely going to be interesting,” he said as he cast a glance at the green. “And you better take good care of her,” he said, scolding the larger dragon. The green watched him wearily but did not show any signs of understanding a word.
“You are going to have your hands full,” Doren said as he chuckled. This was another first for Kade. He was starting to believe that Doren did not have the ability to laugh, until now. “A pup and two kids to raise is going to be quite a lot of work,” the Chosen said as he walked up and patted Marcole on the head. The child seemed to scowl slightly. “Your boy does have your likeness,” he said as he turned to walk toward the house.
“Oh, he is Darcienna’s,” Kade said, correcting the Master Chosen. Doren stopped and slowly turned as he narrowed his eyes and studied the boy. He tilted his head as if listening to something and then slowly approached the child. He closed his eyes and Kade could sense the Divine being drawn in. He then opened his eyes and went to place his hands over the boy. Kade turned away slightly, unsure of what the Chosen was doing.
“Hold still,” Doren commanded.
Kade hesitated momentarily but then held. Doren placed his hand over the boys head without touching him. He then raised his hand to hold it over Kade’s head. After a moment he turned and did the same thing over Darcienna’s head. He grinned as he looked at Kade. Next, he looked at the boy one more time and then back at Kade, nodding. The Adept Chosen looked over at Darcienna and noticed she was fidgeting as she suddenly seemed very interested with something in the dirt.
“But…I don’t have any children,” Kade protested weakly.
“Hmmmmm. Well, according to my calling, both the born and unborn child are yours,” Doren said as he studied Darcienna.
Kade gasped loudly at that one. The world was spinning wildly out of control. He put his hand on Rayden to steady himself, certain his knees were going to give out.
“Unborn child?” Kade choked.
He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He turned to look at Darcienna, again, and froze as he watched as the red in her cheeks intensified. He struggled to find words, but his mind was reeling. He looked at his parents, but there was to be no help found there. They were standing, arm in arm as they grinned at him and gave each other knowing looks.
Kade felt as if he were caught in the middle of an avalanche. He gaped as he struggled to make sense of it all. After regaining just a bit of composure, he moved over to stand next to Darcienna.
“But how?” Kade asked quietly, even though all could still hear.
“Do you need that clarified for you, also?” Doren asked dryly.
“I will explain,” Darcienna said, her cheeks glowing just a little more.
“I can’t wait to hear this one,” Kade said as he looked at Marcole again, as if he were seeing the boy for the first time. “How long have you known?” he asked as he craned his neck, trying to make eye contact with her.
“Since the day you first came to my cabin. I didn’t recognize you until after you got cleaned up,” Darcienna said as she cast a quick glance at his parents and then back to the ground. Kade recalled seeing that look of recognition in her eyes. It made sense. She HAD known all this time.
“It was you,” Kade said, as he recalled a flash of memory from that night almost two years ago. “You were that beautiful girl I could not remember. Your hair was up, and you wore a dress, but it was you,” Kade said as the memories fell into place. “But, wait,” he said suspiciously as his eyes drifted down toward her stomach. How…?” Kade started to ask while indicating the baby on the way. “It has only been days.” Kade cringed as he recalled his parents were hearing every word he was saying.
“I can explain that, too,” Darcienna said as she took him by the hand and dragged him to the side of the house.
“It would appear that our young couple have much to discuss,” Doren said, clearly amused by this.
“You snuck into my roommmpphh?” Kade started to say when his words were quickly muffled.
“Keep your voice down,” Darcienna hissed, “or do I need to keep my hand where it is?”
The two whispered for several long minutes while Kade’s parents, Dran, the shapeshifter and Doren waited patiently. There was a long stretch of silence, and then the couple came around the side of the house, hand-in-hand. Kade blushed furiously as all eyes watched them.
“Mom, Dad, meet Marcole, my son. And oh, by the way, I am going to have another baby boy in about eight months,” Kade said, glancing at Darcienna and then back to his parents again.
“Or a girl,” Darcienna corrected.
“Or a girl,” Kade echoed.
His parents beamed with happiness and hugged them both, making it known that Darcienna was very welcome. She hugged them back and then returned to stand arm-in-arm with Kade. Dran was eagerly talking with Ven, again, as she stood in her birth form. Kade shook his head and reminded himself to give Dran a good thorough talking to. The Adept considered having her change into her beast form. The surprised look he pictured on Dran’s face brought a smile to his lips. Yes, he would save that prank for later.
Judeen and Garig ushered the couple up the steps and toward the door. Doren followed close by, looking very forward to a good home-cooked meal and a comfortable bed. Kade smiled, seeing his suspicions validated for the Master Chosen’s motivation for coming. As they started to enter the cabin, Darcienna stopped and motioned for Kade to continue.
“I will be in shortly,” Darcienna said as she gave him a gentle push through the door.
“Don’t be too long,” Kade said as his father clapped him on the back and excitedly encouraged Kade to tell the story from the very start.
They entered the house, and just as Kade was passing his room, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He took a step back and leaned around the corner to look into the room. He could not help but to laugh a genuine, deep laugh as he stared. There, lying on the bed, curled protectively around a sack of books, was Chance. The silky, black creature lifted its head lazily to peer at him for just a moment and then laid back down. Kade stopped laughing and smiled fondly at the creature. He stepped into the room and patted it affectionately on the head. It sat up, eagerly awaiting its reward for faithfully keeping his books safe. Kade gladly fed the creature and then walked out of the room to continue down the hall to the back of the cabin.
Darcienna watched as the family melted into the house. She tried to smile, but for the first time in days, the smile slipped. True, she was excited about the child, and happy that Kade finally knew the truth about Marcole, but that was not enough. She was also relieved more than words could describe that Morg was finally beaten, but none of that could help get rid of the dread she felt building in her heart as she looked off in the distance. She closed her eyes and saw the dream once more. It was so vivid that she shivered right down to her very soul. The scene of Kade drifting on t
he other side of the arch was so clear, it was as if she had seen it while awake. Her pulse raced as she studied the vision. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that it was nothing, she knew this was no ordinary dream. She could take it no longer as her eyes flew open. She took several deep breaths to steady her nerves. A single tear slipped down her cheek. She wiped it away furiously as she ground her teeth in defiance. She did her best to put the smile back on her face. It was a struggle, but for him, the man she loved, she had to. He had already gone through too much for her to burden him with this just yet. When the time was right, she would tell him. With one last glance over her shoulder in the direction of the arch, she turned and walked into the house.
THE DIVINE SERIES CONTINUES
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RELEASED OCTOBER 27, 2014
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allen Johnston is a resident in Lansing, MI. His wife, Amber, keeps life fun and interesting for him. They share four children. He loves aviation and works as an Air Traffic Controller at the Capital City of Michigan. He lives by the motto that anything is possible. When considering learning to fly, he was told that it is not possible to achieve a pilot’s license in less than a month by his supervisor, who was also an instructor pilot. Needless to say, he proved that the impossible was, indeed, possible.
Allen loves to interact with his readers. He encourages everyone to send him a message from his website, www.AllenJJohnston.com or go to his Facebook page and comment there.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgment
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Divine Unleashed (Book 3) Page 30