“That’s not what I meant. I meant that she already knows you are different in some way. And that should fit with anything else you tell her. In a way, things will make sense.”
Theo supposed Lead had a point there. “All right, I’ll call her.” He took out his phone and hesitated, holding it in his sweaty hand.
When it rang, he jumped slightly and saw her number on the caller ID. “It’s her.”
“Perfect,” Lead said. “Now you can go to her.”
Theo answered the phone, trying to ignore a sense of trepidation. “Ada, is that you?”
“Yes,” she answered, and her voice instantly put him on edge because she sounded scared and like she’d been crying.
“What’s wrong?” He sat up sharply. “What’s bothering you?”
“It’s your mom,” Ada said, fighting back a sob. “She’s here, and… she says she’s going to take the baby. Oh God, they’re back. I’m sorry.”
And then the phone hung up with a click, leaving Theo alone with more rage and fear than he’d ever felt in his life.
He tossed the phone onto the table and turned to his new friend and brothers. “Someone’s there with my mate.” He focused in on his senses, picturing Ada. He could see a group leaving the apartment.
And a portal. A dark-purple one.
“She is being taken, but I can track where.”
“If this involves your past, your brothers should go with you,” Lead said. “If you trust me, I can stay here and hold down the fort.”
Dare and Nathan stood and headed for the doorway, and Theo joined them, grateful for their support.
If they were fighting who he thought they were fighting, he would need all the help he could get.
Chapter 18
Ada was glad she’d been able to get a final call off to Theo, even if it might not end up doing much good.
It had been good to hear his voice once more, to hear the concern for her in it, to know he still cared and wasn’t mad at her about the baby.
It would be better to die knowing that, if she had to.
She hadn’t lost the fight yet, but it seemed she was up against impenetrable odds. Especially since she was now standing in the great hall of some kind of old-fashioned fortress, her hands chained on either side of her head.
Irial, as she now knew this old woman was called, paced in front of her, occasionally extending her hand in the direction of Ada’s stomach.
“I’m not sure,” Irial said, more to herself than the tall man with her, as she glared at Ada. “The baby is too young yet to be removed. Not suitable, at least yet. But I believe it will be.”
“I’m sorry,” the tall man said in a sardonic voice. “But I still don’t know what’s going on here. Last thing I remember, we were in a battle. I was in the sky, and…” He rubbed his head. “What the hell happened to us?”
“We lost, Topaz,” Irial said bitterly. “And my ‘sister’ froze us. I think it’s been years. Maybe one or two. It was her mistake to think she could mess with me in her weakened condition, when I’ve had more than a year of rest to grow strong.” Irial walked forward, her long, bony fingers grazing Ada’s cheek and then her stomach as Ada shuddered and tried to pull away. “After this, I will be stronger than ever.”
“Wait, I’m still not understanding this,” Topaz said, rubbing his forehead. “Why do you want this baby? I’m sure there is young from other dragons.”
“Yes, but I created the father of this one. I was trying to make a new kind of dragon hybrid, and because I wanted a new body I could inhabit, I used my own blood.”
Topaz’s face screwed up in disgust. “Wait, so that thing is half dragon, half you?”
“Half you as well,” Irial said. “Don’t you remember giving me DNA? More than a hundred years ago? I combined yours and the DNA of several other dragons and mixed it with my own. But I was disappointed when every test subject came up male. After three tries, I gave up.”
“And what happened to those tries?” Topaz asked, eyes narrowing.
“I sent them out in the world,” Irial said. “They were no use to me, and they were dangerous.”
“They would be, with your blood.”
“I told them to stay separate from the human world, that it would be safer that way, and I would come to check on them in a hundred years. But I was frozen then and couldn’t.”
“What do you mean check on them?”
“Well, if they had managed to keep their hands clean, then I had promised to help them adjust to society, either shifter or human. Really, I was just hoping if they turned out all right, I could use their DNA to make a milder version. One I could inhabit, hopefully female.” She rubbed her hands together. “Now I have that.”
“How do you know it will be female?”
“I can see the future, idiot,” Irial spat.
Ada just stared at them both, trying to comprehend it. She would have thought this was all batshit crazy if not for the fact that she was currently imprisoned in what appeared to be a castle.
“What are you talking about… dragons?” Ada asked, looking between them.
“Oh, right,” Irial said, walking closer. “To you, Theo is just a human. But did you know he’s much more than that? Have you seen him disappear after midnight sometimes? Did you know that he hunts?”
Ada shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t notice anything odd about him? The way he was staying away from humans? The way he wouldn’t talk about his past? The way he resisted getting close to you at first?”
Ada pressed her lips together. Yes, some of those things matched with Theo, but whatever he was, she wished she could hear it from him, not this woman.
“Theo is a nightmare dragon,” Irial said cruelly. “One of my own creatures. Dragon because I used dragon blood to create them. Nightmare because what I got, creature-wise, is ugly and scary beyond imagination.” She laughed softly. “That’s probably due to the darkness in my blood.” Her hand rested on Ada’s stomach again, and Ada kicked out at her.
“Get off me, for the last time.”
“I’ll do what I want, human.” But Irial took a step back. Topaz chuckled in the background, earning a glare. “This child will be powerful, with the abilities of an oracle and a dragon and the inhibition of human blood. Yes, it will be perfect.”
Ada didn’t care if Theo was a monster. She didn’t care if he had a secret and didn’t want to tell her. Right now, she just wanted him to show up.
“Oh, he’ll be here,” Irial said. “Your little phone call assured that. But he won’t stand a chance against me.” She rolled up the sleeves of her dress under her cloak. “With my sister down, I’m the most powerful thing in this world.”
Irial walked a slow circle around Ada, humming to herself. “If I could be sure it would work, I would take the fetus from you myself. Perhaps I could grow it in a closed environment in my lab. But perhaps it would be best to keep it inside you until it is safe to cut out.”
Ada fixed her eyes on Irial with a glare. “I will never, never allow you to take my baby.”
“Admirable but stupidly human, I suppose,” Irial retorted. “Topaz, let’s unchain her and head out. It’s best to keep moving before—”
But then they heard a loud thump outside, followed by two others.
Ada raised her head hopefully in response.
“Cut her down,” Irial spat, pointing at Ada. “Let’s get going.”
Topaz came over to her, and when he raised his hands, sparks flew at the metal chains, melting and severing them.
Ada’s hands dropped to her sides just in time for the oracle to grab her and hold her in front of her as a human shield.
“They are coming,” Irial said with a hiss, pointing at the windows that ran alongside the entire two-story great room.
The glass of the largest window shattered, and a huge, pale figure burst through, followed by two others.
Maybe they’d c
limbed up the walls?
But as the dust cleared and Ada looked up, she saw the way the newcomers had gotten through the window.
They had wings.
She squinted, trying to believe her own eyes and keep calm for the sake of her baby. What were these things?
She was a little glad she’d heard all this crazy supernatural talk from Irial, or she wasn’t sure she’d be able to comprehend what was going on.
“Oh, wow, those things are ugly,” Topaz said from behind her.
He wasn’t wrong.
The three figures in the middle of the great room were something from a nightmare. Pale, shimmering scales with flashes of duo chrome red, the color of blood. Blood-red eyes, large and tilted up like snake eyes. Narrow, human-like heads but bigger. Nostrils that were only slits.
They were about eight feet tall with vaguely human bodies but had twisted horns and long, swinging tails with spikes along them.
The vague impression of a human, somewhere in there, mixed with many other things.
At the front of them, one in particular caught her interest. And the longer she studied him, the more her heart leapt.
“Theo?”
The thing turned to look at her, making her even more certain. It should have been impossible, but she knew it was him.
And it didn’t even bother her that he was a monster. That he’d had to hide things about what he was. Even if he had, she wasn’t sure she could have ever believed him.
But now she did.
“Let my mate go,” Theo said, stepping forward darkly.
“I don’t think so,” Irial said. “And there’s nothing you can do about it. I know you think you’re hot stuff in the human world, but here, in the face of my power, you’re nothing.”
Topaz just watched silently.
Theo took another step forward. “I have many reasons to hate you, but if you don’t let my mate go, that will be the reason I kill you.”
Irial’s jaw dropped open as if she were offended by his audacity. “I… How dare you? Who do you think you are?”
“You created me,” Theo said, stepping forward again as Irial walked backward, toward the back wall. “Me and my brothers. You abandoned us to a cold world. You made us stay alone. Made it so even when we did find hope, we hid from it. From those who would love us. Made it impossible to see a future of our own.”
“You’re monsters,” Irial spat. “There is no future for your kind.” She grinned. “Except the one inside this human. Looks like you and your brothers proved useful after all. Now, if you just let me take this human and baby, I’ll be gone and let you go back to hiding cravenly in the human world.”
“We aren’t hiding anymore.” One of the others in the group stepped forward, folding its arms. “We won’t let you take our brother’s mate or his baby.”
“Yes,” the third one said. “We’ll die to stop you if we have to.”
“We are blood,” Irial said angrily. “I created you, you ungrateful, abominable mistakes. I gave you life, and instead of destroying you, I let you live in the shadows. And now you choose this human over me?”
A low growl emanated from Theo. “You aren’t my family. She is. And you aren’t my future. That baby is. So now I, along with my brothers, who are more my blood than you are, are going to take back what is mine.”
“Theo,” Ada said softly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Theo said. “I thought maybe we could have a life where you didn’t have to know. I never wanted to scare you.”
“You don’t,” she said, feeling tears prick her eyes.
“I don’t?”
“No,” she said. “I know it’s crazy, but I can still sense that it’s you. That’s enough for me. I accept all of you, whatever that may be.”
He blinked. “Really?”
She nodded.
“I… never thought we could create new life together, but I’ve found people who can help us. It’s going to be okay.”
“So you don’t hate that I’m pregnant?”
“It’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”
“That’s all great,” Topaz said, walking forward, hands crackling with blue sparks. “But you’re going to die here, and we’re taking your mate. Abominations like you have no business mating anyway. Fuck, I hope you don’t have much of my DNA because I don’t want to be associated with this ugly creation.” He looked at Irial. “Go.”
And then Irial began to create a portal, still holding Ada against her.
“Dare,” Theo yelled, and the creature who must have been Dare shot forward, intercepting Irial before she could get through the portal.
“Nathan,” Theo called as he ran forward to grab Ada.
The creature who must have been Nathan grabbed Topaz, holding him with both arms.
Theo wrapped his arms around Ada, and she was surprised to feel warm and comfortable in them, no matter how different they were.
She screamed and held on as he ran and jumped out of the window, his wings carrying them softly down. He jogged forward and set her on a rock near a small grove of trees and looked back up at the castle.
“I have to go check on my brothers,” he said nervously. “But I promise I’ll be right back.” He cupped her face, being careful with his long talons. But no matter what, she didn’t feel afraid when he was near. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
But then they heard a dreadful crashing sound and looked up to see the entire wall of the castle crumbling as something huge burst out of it, nearly the height of the castle itself.
A giant, glittering gold dragon.
Chapter 19
Theo and Ada held their breath as the huge dragon in front of them stomped forward, wings unfurling in tarnished gold and tail swinging menacingly.
Theo squinted at the sky and was relieved to see his brothers flying out of the wreckage, glad when they landed at his side with two thuds.
Dare and Nathan looked at Theo warily, and Theo could sense Ada’s anxiety behind him.
None of them had ever seen a real dragon, let alone been in the presence of one up close.
“Holy fuck, that’s huge,” Dare said, staring up at the monster.
Theo was still glowing from the reaction of his mate to his nightmare form. She wasn’t scared of him, and when he’d picked her up, she’d held on.
“Focus up,” Nate said. “We have to defeat that thing.”
Theo walked forward with his brothers so they could engage away from Ada, for her safety.
After all, she was what Irial wanted, though Theo didn’t really understand why.
The dragon in front of them screeched loudly, and Dare covered his ears, looking up in irritation. “So how do we want to do this? It’s huge!”
“You already said that,” Theo muttered.
Behind the dragon, standing on second story of the wreckage of the building, was Irial.
Theo narrowed his eyes on her. He’d be damned if he let her take his mate. He looked up at the dragon in front him. He’d be damned if he let it get past him.
He wouldn’t be smaller than anyone. He wouldn’t have less power than anyone.
Something inside him was growing and expanding at an alarming rate, something he’d never felt before. Something was unfurling its wings and rising to the night sky because, right now, Theo needed to protect his mate.
He closed his eyes as his body twisted and changed, as he felt a different kind of scales covering him, felt his head elongate, his arms and legs change completely.
It all felt so wrong yet right, as though it had been a part of him all along, but not there unless he needed it, unless he was willing to access it for the sake of his mate.
He threw his head back and roared to the sky, seeing huge red-and-black dragon wings around him.
“Holy shit, that’s our real form?” Nathan said, looking up at Theo.
Theo was eye level with the now not-so-threatening dragon. “I suppose.”
&nb
sp; “How do we do that?” Dare asked.
“Think about this,” Theo said, interested in the rumble of his completely different voice. “If Irial succeeds in beating me, she’ll take my mate. That means also your niece or nephew. Not to mention she’ll come for your mates next.”
But they didn’t need any more convincing. Dare and Nathan were already hunched over, trapped in the change.
The dragon Irial had called Topaz was watching them warily. “Still ugly,” he said with a rumble.
Theo threw back his head and laughed because he didn’t know what else to do. He’d never known he had this inside him. It almost would have been dangerous had he known. But he somehow had more power than he’d ever imagined, and not just because of his physical appearance.
But because he was finally without his shame.
His mate had accepted him, Ada accepted him, and he wasn’t fighting his inner dragon anymore. He was still one with the darkness. It swirled against the red of his scales and accented his wings, giving him and his brothers an ominous appearance.
But at least he finally knew what that awakened thing inside him was.
At least he was finally free.
He glanced back at Ada now. So tiny. So precious. And she was carrying their young. He had the kind of future ahead of him that everyone would dream of. He had everything a man or a beast could want.
Now he would fight for it with everything he had.
Topaz opened his huge, fanged mouth, and blue electricity arced out in an enormous bolt, coming toward them.
Dare stepped in front easily, blocking the bolt with his wings folded in front of him, but the brunt of it knocked him back.
Nathan stepped up next, and he opened his mouth and blew out pure darkness. Deep, flickering black clouds rolled over the grass to surround and encompass Topaz.
The enemy dragon choked and stepped back a bit, looking uncertain.
“Kill them,” cried Irial. “Now!”
Topaz stepped forward, but the smoke that Nathan had blown at him had enveloped him in darkness. Slowing, Dare and Theo began to circle as the huge, tarnished golden dragon swung its tail and let out a shriek.
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