Dragon Prince (The Bride Hunt Book 6)

by Charlene Hartnady

  “Are you okay?” Meghan said with a sob. Shit! He realized that she was crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “You should have told me about this.” He could see that she was examining his leg. She touched his upper thigh with the tip of a finger. “You’re going to need surgery.”

  “Surgery,” Shale snickered. “Humans are the best. He does not need surgery. He’ll be just fine.”

  Meghan’s eyes were wide. “But—”

  “He’s right.” Tide thread his fingers through her hair. “I’ll be just fine.”

  “Maybe we should get the ball off of the chain. Funny that,” Shale laughed, “you win your female and doing so, we get to take the ball off the chain. Get it!”

  Tide shook his head. “Why don’t you want me to kill him again?”

  “Because he kept those other guys away by pretending to have won me,” Meghan said. “They thankfully didn’t put up a fight.”

  “I was almost too late,” Shale said, his gaze on Meghan. “Your friend slowed me down. He can seriously kick.” He cupped his balls.

  Meghan laughed. “Seriously? George kicked you in the nuts?”

  “That’s funny to you?” Shale looked horrified.

  “George was just trying to protect me. He didn’t mean it.”

  “Sure as hell felt like he meant it.” Shale continued to cup his balls.

  Tide breathed out through his nose. “I guess I owe you an apology.”

  “Nah.” Shale waved a hand. “I had my own ulterior motives. Meghan is a good doctor, it would have been a shame to lose her. Also, you arrived expecting the worst. I couldn’t tell you my plan because you wouldn’t have pushed hard enough. I needed you to use every ounce of strength you had and you did. Thing is,” Shale shook his head in disbelief, “I don’t think you needed me. You would’ve coped just fine on your own.”

  “I’d do anything for my female.”

  “I love you.” Meghan caressed his cheek.

  He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. Then quickly turned back to Shale. “You dare kiss my female again and I’ll—”

  “It’s not like I had a choice.”

  “He didn’t do it because he wanted to.” Meghan tugged on his arm. “He had to do it.”

  “Yeah right,” Tide snorted. “I assure you he wanted to.” He kissed her again. “Who wouldn’t want to kiss you?” he said, as he broke the kiss.

  “This is my cue to leave,” Shale said. “I’ll help you remove the iron ball.”

  When Tide looked up, the male was picking up a rock. Tide went down onto his haunches. He put the chain over a flat rock. Shale hit the chain a couple of times. The links eventually gave out.

  “There,” Shale said.

  “Thank you,” Tide said as he stood up. “I appreciate it.”

  “No problem. Who knows, maybe one day you can return the favor.”

  Tide nodded.

  Meghan stepped towards Shale. “Thank you.”

  “Good luck to you both,” Shale said. “Don’t try to take that off until you get back to the lair.” He pointed at the contraption embedded in his thigh.

  “I won’t.” Tide shook his head. “My thigh has partially healed around the teeth.”

  “Exactly. You’re going to have to rip it out. You’ll be incapacitated for a day or two.”

  Meghan’s heart-rate picked up, as did her breathing. She was worried about him. Tide squeezed her hand. “I’ll be okay. I’ve got you to look after me.” He winked at her, trying to look relaxed and light-hearted. It was going to hurt more coming off than what it had going on, but it would be worth it.

  They said their goodbyes and Shale shifted. He hadn’t won a female, so no need to get back to the lair in his human form. They watched as he lifted into the air and flew away.

  Meghan sagged against him. “I’m so glad it all worked out. I can’t believe you did this. You should have told me.”

  “You would never have agreed.”

  She shook her head. “You’re right.” Her eyes welled with tears. “Look at your leg.”

  “I don’t have to.” He smiled down at her. “I’m looking at you. You are everything to me and I meant what I said, I’ll do anything for you. To keep you at my side, to keep you happy and healthy.”

  “I know.” A tear slid down her cheek.

  “No need to cry. Everything is fine now.”

  “I’m crying because I’m happy.”

  He wiped away the tear. “You seem to have this backwards.”

  “I have to be honest with you,” she chewed on her lush lower lip, her teeth denting the flesh, “I was worried that things between us were moving too quickly.” She blinked her beautiful blue eyes a few times.

  “I know. We can take it slow. Torrent will try to push for us—”|

  “No,” she shook her head, “that’s the thing. When Shale grabbed me and I thought he had won me …” She swallowed thickly.

  Tide couldn’t help himself, he growled. It was a low, deep rumble that vibrated right through him. “I’m sorry. I can’t help being possessive of you.”

  Meghan smiled. She reached up on her tip-toes and cupped his cheeks in her tiny hands. “That’s what I’m trying to say … when I thought I’d lost you. That I’d have to go back to Walton Springs, that was when I realized how ready I am to take the next step. I don’t want to wait. I know what I want and that’s you.”

  Tide grinned. Something eased in him hearing her say it. He knew that there had been a hesitancy there. He couldn’t blame Meghan. Humans were different to dragons. Love though, love was universal. It superseded race, color, sex, even species in their case. “I love you so much.”

  “Love you too,” she said. He captured her lips, put his arms around her and pulled her close. Tide couldn’t wait for the rest of their lives. He planned on savoring each and every moment.

  Chapter 30

  “We are right on time.” Tide looked at the clock on the wall.

  “You are half a minute late.” Torrent frowned. “Are the two of you taking this seriously?” he directed his question at Meghan, sniffing the air as he asked it. She knew he could tell that they had just had sex. Sometimes she hated their enhanced senses. This was one of those times.

  Meghan nodded. “Of course we are.”

  “We were on our lunch break. We’re not late,” Tide spoke with a growl. “And you know how seriously Doctor Roberts takes her job, so you can cut it right out.”

  Despite where she was. Despite just having had sex with Tide, her girl parts reacted when he said her full name like that. He always insisted on calling her by her full name during sex. It had become a thing since they mated almost six months ago. Six months! Time flew when you were having fun.

  “Leave them, love. They are newly mated,” Candy said. “Remember how we used to be?”

  Torrent smiled. “Yes, yes.” He rolled his eyes. “I only hope you both start trying for a baby soon. You’ve been mated for a while now. Come to think of it,” he looked at Candy, “they aren’t that newly mated anymore.”

  “We will start trying for a baby when we are good and ready,” Tide said.

  “As second-in-command, you need heirs. It is—”

  “I know!” Tide snapped. “We know.” He put his arm around her. “We’ll get to it in our own time.” He kissed the top of her head.

  Megan felt bad. She knew that Tide was more than ready, but she wasn’t so sure just yet. They needed to get to the bottom of what was going on with the children who had resulted from dragon-human pairings. More had come to light in the last few months and she was close to having conclusive scientific evidence to back up her findings. Also, she needed to ‒ hopefully ‒ start working on that vaccine. “Shall we get started?” she asked, trying to get the conversation back to the job at hand.

  Candy and Torrent looked her way. Candy nodded. “Yes, of course.” Torrent inclined his head.

  The door to the lab flew open and a very flustered looking George rushed in.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” He grabbed his white coat and tugged it on. “I had an extremely important errand I needed to—”

  Meghan raised her brows and looked at George in such a way that had him stopping in his tracks. “Dang our improved senses.” He huffed out a breath. “I get bust every darned time.” He turned his attention to Torrent and Candy. “Hello everyone. My sincerest apologies.” He nodded his head at Tide.

  “We’ll have a word after this meeting,” Meghan said, trying to sound stern. She did it more for Torrent’s benefit. She was sure he would expect for there to be some sort of recourse.

  “Don’t be too hard on him,” Torrent piped up. “He is newly mated.”

  Meghan's mouth fell open for a moment. "Not that newly mated.” She laughed but quickly turned serious. “Shall we continue?”

  Torrent's grin disappeared in an instant. He nodded once.

  “Okay, so, as you both know, Sky and Lake’s baby still has the silver allergy. However, the effects are much less severe because of the immunotherapy during the pregnancy. I had truly hoped to eradicate the allergy altogether.” She paused, holding in a breath before slowly letting it out. “I’m afraid, that because of this, I am expecting similar results with little Fjord here.” She glanced at the baby in Candy’s arms.

  Torrent nodded. “We’ll go through the same procedure as before?”

  “Yes.” Meghan nodded. “I’ll touch a needle to his arm for a few seconds and then we’ll give it a minute before going on to the next one. Each needle will contain a higher percentage of silver than the last.”

  Torrent didn’t look thrilled. Thankfully he’d seen the whole process with Lake and Sky’s baby, Flood, so he knew what to expect and was able to be more understanding as a result.

  Meghan picked up the first needle. “If he starts to fuss, you can go ahead and feed him.”

  Candy nodded. “Thank you. It is almost his feeding time, so I might have to.”

  Meghan touched the first needle to his arm and as expected, there was no reaction. She pushed the stopwatch, checking Fjord’s heart-rate while they waited the allotted time. She kept going, taking a higher percentage needle and noting her findings. Sure to check his heart-rate regularly.

  Meghan picked up the next needle. “This one is forty percent silver,” she clarified.

  “You’re sure it’s safe?” Torrent growled, his eyes narrowed, his whole stance became tense.

  “Calm down,” Tide said from somewhere next to her. Right next to her.

  She gave a little start and clutched her chest with her free hand.

  “I’m sorry. Did I scare you, doc?”

  “You know you did.” She glanced his way. Just as she suspected, he was smiling at her, his dimples out in full force. His beautiful blue eyes were bright with mischief.

  “You get back to your place at the wall.” Torrent pointed at Tide. “My female is feeding our son.”

  Meghan looked over at the tiny baby. He was already four weeks old, and yet he was smaller than a newborn human baby would be at this age. She shrieked when Tide cupped her breasts through her white lab coat. He was still behind her. “I have my own mate,” he growled. “I do not need to look at yours. My mate has amazing breasts. The best breasts I have ever—”

  “Tide,” she tried to keep her voice calm, “I’m working. This is inappropriate.” Even as she said it, a warmth settled in her chest. His mate. She still had to pinch herself sometimes.

  “What’s inappropriate is him,” Tide let her go and pointed at Torrent, “insinuating that I’m looking at Candy’s breasts. Why would I do that when I have you?” Something in his gaze softened and she melted. Full on melted, even though he was being inappropriate.

  “You two stop it.” Candy laughed. “I swear you’re like little boys sometimes.”

  "Take that back," Torrent grumbled, pretending to be upset. Meghan noticed that his mouth twitched with the need to smile. "I am a male in my prime."

  “Yes you are, my love.”

  Torrent leaned in and kissed Candy. It was a quick brush of the lips and then he was turning back to her, a worried look on his face. “I’m not sure I want to do this.”

  “You don’t want to know if our son is immune?” Candy asked.

  “What if the whole therapy thing didn’t work?” Torrent was looking back at Candy. “I’m worried.”

  Meghan realized that he was worried about the outcome rather than the actual procedure. “We don’t have to do this today. The meeting between the four kingdoms is not taking place for another two weeks. We can postpone. A couple of days won’t matter either way.”

  “Postponing won’t help anything. Let’s do this.” Candy’s gaze was locked with Torrent’s.

  The Water king took his time mulling it over. A whole range of emotions crossed his face. Starting with nervousness and ending with uncertainty. “You do realize that the outcome is even more important now than before?”

  “I understand your apprehension, Torrent,” Tide said.

  “How could you? You don’t have a son.”

  “I’m an uncle. I have a mate. I have some understanding.” Meghan could see that Tide was working at keeping his voice calm.

  “What if …?” Torrent’s eyes were tormented.

  “No what ifs, love,” Candy said. “Not until we know for sure.”

  “Any more news on …?” Torrent turned his gaze to her.

  Meghan shook her head. “I have a good idea about what is going on with the new species of dragon children, but my findings are not conclusive yet.”

  “A hint then?” Torrent pressed.

  Meghan squeezed Tide’s arm. She could feel him becoming agitated. “What if my theories are wrong? What if my assumptions are completely off the mark?” She shook her head. “I need a week ‒ ten days tops ‒ by then, the last of the test results will be in and I’ll have conclusive evidence. I do expect the evidence to be firmly in line with the things that have happened.”

  “What does that mean?” Torrent widened his eyes. “You’re speaking in riddles.”

  “I would rather not say anything more for now,” she replied.

  Torrent sighed. “I guess we’ll have to wait.”

  “May I continue?” Meghan held up the needle in her hand.

  Torrent’s frown deepened. It took a few seconds for his features to soften … marginally at least. “Yes, doctor, you may proceed.”

  Chapter 31

  Two weeks later …

  “Welcome back to the Fire lair, Doctor Roberts,” Blaze said, opening the file in front of him. “I hope you have some good news for us.”

  “I do.” His mate nodded once. “At least, I believe the news to be good, although it’s not exactly what we were hoping for.”

  Blaze sighed. “Oh boy, is that your way of preparing us for the worst?”

  “Not at all.” She turned the pages in the file on the table in front of her until she reached the one she was looking for. “First, some feedback on the new dragon species.”

  “Yes, our children.” Blaze smiled and sat back, relaxing in his chair.

  “The final results of the DNA testing I conducted came in last week. They are in line with what we are seeing in the children. I will state each case. Firstly, little Quake of the Earth kingdom. Capable of breathing fire. His marking showed flecks of gold. The little one has since also developed the ability to produce lightning …” She paused, expecting a reaction. There was none.

  Meghan cleared her throat. “Blue flecks also appeared within the marking to match that ability. It is my understanding that camouflage ‒ an Earth dragon trait ‒ only appears once a child reaches five years of age.” She looked over at Granite.

  “Yes, that’s correct. Otherwise we’d lose our babies and small children on a regular basis.” He smiled, it was tense.

  There were some laughs around the room but everyone quickly went back to looking at Meghan, waiting for her to continue. She sat right next to him this ti
me. It was that, or not attend this meeting. Tide had been very fucking clear about that. They were right by the door as well. Just in case they needed to make a speedy exit. He was not putting his mate at risk. Forget that!

  Meghan cleared her throat. "Another new development is with young Declan. He had green flecks appear in his chest marking, which is a sign that he is able to breathe underwater."

  Granite nodded. "Yes, that's correct." This time the male's smile came easier. "Declan should be able to breathe underwater but my mate won't let me test the theory."

  There were some chuckles and snickers. Tide had to smile as well. Meghan waited for things to quieten down before continuing. “That brings us to the Air prince and future heir to the crown. Your son, Thunder.”

  Thunder gave a deep nod.

  “Young Bolt has developed the ability to produce lightning, as would be expected.”

  “No other abilities?” Coal piped up.

  Meghan shook her head. “Nothing at this stage.”

  “So, the only normal child then,” Volcano mumbled, folding his arms.

  Meghan ignored the remark. “Fjord is seven weeks old.” She beamed like the proud aunty she was. Oblivious to the potential fallout of what she was about to say. “The little one developed his green markings within the first two weeks, as is customary.” Everyone hung on her every word. “However. He recently developed a new ability. He can …” She licked her lips smiling broadly, possibly a little too broadly. Okay, so she did have an understanding of how this could pan out. “He can breathe fire and has developed gold flecks within his outline.”

  Blaze frowned. “So, your son is able to breathe fire?” he asked Torrent.

  “Yes.” Tide could see that Torrent was working hard at looking relaxed. His hands were folded on his lap and he leaned back in his chair. The truth was, ever since little Fjord first breathed fire, Torrent had been on edge. Tide couldn’t blame him one bit.

  Granite seemed to relax, the male even huffed out a breath. It was as if he took solace in the fact that now at least he wasn’t alone.