by Renee Carr
“What the...” Joshua said and yanked Nathan’s arm. “Step back, it’s a void. Get out.”
“No,” Nathan said, locking eyes with Ivy. James came out of the shadows, and Nathan froze. “Of course, you are here.”
“I heard you were looking for me,” James said. “And you found me. And Ivy, apparently.”
“Did he hurt you?” Nathan asked her. Ivy chose to take the part of the damsel in distress.
“He will,” she said, her lip trembling. “Please, help me.”
“I will rip you from limb to limb,” Nathan turned to James. “Make no mistake about it.”
“Nathan,” Joshua recognized the bodies where Ivy was standing. He didn’t need to say anything more for Nathan to understand that James was responsible for all of this.
“What was your plan?” Nathan asked James, taking a step towards Ivy. “What was your plan in this whole mess? Showing me you were tough and that you deserved a better place in the Kingdom? Show me that you could hurt the woman I love?”
“It’s fate,” James said. “Fate brings us everywhere, Nathan and brings us to everyone.”
“Indeed it does,” Nathan said.
“Fate chooses for us,” James said, looking to Ivy. Nathan was getting closer and closer and she needed to raise the gun soon. She felt a twitch by her ankle suddenly and looked down.
“Oh my...God,” she said, as she saw one of the decomposing bodies twitch. Nathan froze, as the werewolves began to rise. She didn’t dare move. “What...is happening...”
The moonlight shone down on them, giving them power. James chuckled.
“Just a little insurance,” he said, as they started to come back to life. “A little insurance for me to know that you’d take him down.”
“How are they...” she asked, stunned, as they started to growl.
“Another deal I struck with the witches,” he said. “They are tied to me. As long as I live, so do they. And whatever I think, they will do. If you don’t shoot him, they will destroy both of you.”
The moonlight was giving them power, and the werewolves were looking more alive by the moment. And they were focused right on Ivy, circling her in the moonlight that gave them life.
“Ivy,” Nathan said, as her hands trembled on the gun. He took a step forward, and then another. Ivy locked eyes with him, seeing his cufflink sparkle.
“Better do it fast,” James said. “They are getting hungry.”
“Nathan!” Joshua snapped, as he pulled his brother back. “You will not. You are King.”
“I am King,” Nathan growled at his brother. “And I will do as I please.”
“You will DIE!” Joshua said, pointing to the wolves. “Come on.”
“No,” he said, locking eyes with Ivy. “Come on, my love.”
The wolves lunged on James’s signal, and Ivy knew she had to make a choice. She waited, trying to time things perfectly. Nathan’s wrist moved as a werewolf jumped and she saw the cufflink hit the moonlight. She felt the wolf’s teeth start to grab her arm and she fired the gun.
What happened next was too fast for her to see. She heard the gunshot, and she felt blood. Because she had fired the gun, the wolves stopped their attack, and Nathan fell forwards, onto her. His bodyweight pushed her down and they both hit the warehouse floor. She felt the wind knocked out of her, and she tried to get her breath back. She felt a warm spreading, sticky feeling on her chest and knew he was bleeding out.
“NO!” she heard Joshua roar as she heard James’s cackle.
“Good job,” he said. “Good job. The King is dead. God save the King.”
“Nathan,” Ivy said, very quietly. “Nathan, please be ok. Please, please be ok.”
For half a second, she thought it was too late. And then, his arm rose up and she felt him move. The cufflink sparked and then she saw his wingspan start to come out of his arm.
“What the...” James said, in shock. This shouldn’t happen; it couldn’t happen. Nathan was in a void, and they were lying outside the moonlight. “No.”
Ivy looked up as the magic started to swirl around her, and she saw, for half a second, not Nathan, but John, looking back at her. She blinked and the former King nodded to her. And then, Nathan’s Dragon form took over. He spun around, his scales green and his wings so wide that she had to stay flat. His wound rapidly healed on his chest, and he turned to James. Without a second thought, fire blasted from his nostrils, towards James’s human form.
She knew that James was dead before Nathan even stopped his flamethrower breath. She smelt the smell of human flesh and heard James’s final scream. Before she could even cringe, Nathan turned to the wolves, threatening them as well. However, they bent to the ground, giving him authority, before their own life force started to flicker.
“Oh my God,” she said, as she watched them fall to the ground and begin to die all over again.
The warehouse eventually fell silent, Nathan’s wing span cutting through the air as he surveyed the area for any other danger. But when nothing else reared its head, he began to transform back.
“My love,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Are you alright?”
Ivy was speechless. Her mouth was dry and she felt like she might pass out. He reached his hand out to help her, and she took it, eventually sitting up.
“There,” he said, smoothing down her hair. “You’re alright. I’m sorry about your pretty dress. I’ll get you a new one.”
Her dress was bloodstained, but she didn’t care about that at the moment.
“Are you alright?” she asked him, meeting his eyes.
“Yes,” he answered. “I’m alright. I’m sorry that you got caught up in all of that.”
“We shouldn’t stay here,” Joshua said, to Nathan. “It’s still a void area. And even with John’s extra magic, we are as vulnerable as humans.”
“Give me a moment,” Nathan said, still gazing at Ivy. “Being human isn’t so bad.”
She smiled at him, and he leaned in, giving her a gentle kiss on the lips.
“I’m sorry,” he said, again.
“You’re sorry?” she asked. “I’m the one who walked out on you. I’m the one who just shot you.”
“It was a necessary evil,” he said. “How long has he had you tangled up on this?”
“He said he’s been watching me for a long time,” Ivy said. “That he put me in your path, and that fate intended to bring us all together.”
“Fate certainly intended to bring us together,“ Nathan said. “But I think he has a twisted version of what fate intended.”
“Well,” she said softly. “That happens all the time on Earth too. People misinterpret what a higher power means. He said some horrible things, Nathan. He had horrible plans. I am sorry that he betrayed you like that.”
“You led us to the end of a mystery,” he said to her. “A mystery we could not figure out, because we couldn’t see outside the box we put ourselves in. I knew he was unhappy, and I knew that he disliked my rule...but I didn’t think that...”
“We should have seen it,” Joshua agreed. “But I think that we didn’t want to.”
“That’s why we need an outsider’s point of view,” Nathan said, as he helped Ivy to her feet. “Because we can’t always see what is right in front of us. Oops,” her knees buckled and she almost fell. “Are you alright?”
“Wow,” she said. “I guess not. Sorry, I’m just...”
“Come back with me,” he said, in her ear. “Come back with me and I’ll take care of you.”
Last week, she would have refused. Last week, she did refuse. There were things that were more important than his kiss last week. Her career, her show, her moment in the sun. But he was her sun and her moon, at this moment, and she didn’t want to be apart from him.
“Can you just stay with me?” she asked him. “Can you stay with me for a while at the hotel, and then we’ll figure it out?”
“I can do that,” he said as he swooped her up into his arms.
“I can walk,” she protested.
“I know,” he replied, as he carried her to the car. Neither of the brothers looked back to James’s charred form as they got into the car. “Not a word, by the way, Joshua.”
“None, brother,” Joshua said, as he started the car.
Ivy and Nathan sat in the backseat, and she lay her head on his shoulder. He took her hand and kissed the top of her head.
They had a lot to talk about, but she didn’t particularly want to talk about anything right now. She just wanted to be with him and figure out what their future was going to be. She knew that they had to have a future together at this point, given how she felt completely broken without him. She just had no idea what that future was going to be.
Chapter 20
“He moved to Iceland?” Ivy said in surprise when she read the news article that Nathan put in front of her. It was three weeks after the incident that caused James’s death, and he had returned to Knorpp once since then. The rest of the time, he had been at Ivy’s side, making sure she was well, and there were no lasting effects from the trauma they had both been through. The media article he was showing her reported that James had moved to Iceland to work as a writer after Ivy had broken up with him to go back to Nathan. “Where do they get these ideas?”
“I may have fed them that idea,” Nathan said. “I wanted it to be a bit weird but not too questionable. No one will think of him again, and they certainly won’t go searching for his last movements.”
“Thank you,” she said, as she finished the article. She was sitting in her hotel room, cross-legged on the bed, fresh out of the shower. With her current show closing, Ivy was between gigs, and it was a place that she hadn’t been for quite a while.
She knew that part of the reason she was between gigs was that her future on this planet was uncertain. She couldn’t be apart from Nathan for more than a day without a sinking feeling in her chest, and he seemed to feel the same. Without another contract in front of her, they needed to make a decision that would change their lives, one way or another.
“How are you feeling about it?” she asked, leaning back on the pillows.
“It had to be done,” he said, sitting beside her. “You know that I’ll do anything to protect the Kingdom.”
“I know you say that when you’re out in the world,” she replied. “But it couldn’t have been easy.”
“Ivy,” he met her eyes. “There are many things I’ve found in this life that aren’t easy. But they have always been worth it.”
“Mmm,” she leaned her head against his, yawning. “You’re worth staying up late for, at this moment.”
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I did mean to be back sooner. Devon and I got to talking about...”
“King stuff?” she asked.
“King stuff,” he replied, as her phone rang. She glanced over as she saw Tony’s name on the caller ID.
For the first time, her heart sank at seeing her agent’s name. He only called late at night when he had good news for her, and it was especially late for even him. She had a feeling that he had another contract for her; another three months of work where she would feel like she couldn’t leave or make her own choices.
“Are you going to answer that?” he asked, and she silenced it.
“Not now,” she replied and leaned in to kiss him.
They made love regularly now that they were together nightly, but there was something electric about touching each other tonight. She couldn’t stop running her hands over his body or touching her lips to different parts of his torso. Her aggression took him by surprise, and he undid the belt of her robe, pulling it down over her shoulders. Her skin was incredibly soft, and he kissed her shoulders, before running his lips across her collarbone and down her navel. She lay back on her elbows, and he pulled up to admire her naked form.
“How did I get so lucky?” he asked, his breath half caught in his throat. Her curves, in his opinion, were perfect, taunt and yet supple, and her eyes were drinking in his admiring gaze.
“What do you want to do to me?” she asked him, playing the innocent card.
“So many things that I could never say in polite company,” he answered, staring at her. “Is that alright?”
She spread her long toned legs, and he swallowed hard, tracing the lines on her body. He reached down with one hand, unbuckling his pants, and releasing his hard cock. Ivy reached her manicured hand up to his length and began to tug, gently.
“Oh, Creator,” he moaned, his eyes rolling back. She stroked with more urgency, and he reached down to stop her. “I want to get inside you, otherwise I won’t last.”
“Oh,” she teased him, spreading her legs even farther. “Does being inside me make you last longer?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I’ll feel so good.”
“What are you waiting for then?” she asked, and he didn’t need to be told twice.
He plunged deep inside her. She was wet and ready for him, and she moaned as he entered her, laying her head on the pillow.
“Oh, God,” she said. “You fill me up so well.”
“You were made for me,” he said, as he thrust. “And I was made for you.”
Both of them fell silent, except for noises of passion. His thrusting grew more intense and he pushed deeper into her, making her cry out as she felt him began to shake.
“I’m going to cum,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I’m going to cum, oh Creator.”
“Cum inside me,” she said, her voice breathy. “Cum inside me, and I’ll cum too.”
“Oh, I’ll cum inside you,” he said. “Just keep talking. Tell me what you want.”
“I want to be filled with your cum,” she said. “I want to feel it spilling out of me. I want to be soaking with it.”
“Oh....” he managed and then exploded inside her.
True to her word, she came as well, clenching around his spurting cock. He tried to thrust as long as he could, pushing her orgasm to last longer.
Eventually, he slid out of her and lay beside her, panting.
“As usual,” he said. “That was amazing.”
“You’re telling me,” she managed, turning to lie on his shoulder. “Can you just do that all the time?”
He chuckled.
“If you walk around naked like that all the time, I won’t be able to resist.”
“Mmm,” she said, yawning. “We really should go to bed.”
“This could be life,” he said. “If you wanted it.”
She felt her heart skip a beat.
“What?” she asked.
“Sleeping together every night, and waking up together every morning,” he said, rolling over to look at her. “If you would be willing to see my face every day.”
“Nathan,” she sat up on her elbows, to look at him. “What are you asking me?”
“Oh,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. “I’m asking you if you want to marry me and be my Queen.”
Her elbows nearly gave out under her. She swallowed hard, looking down at her trembling hands, and then back up at him.
Somehow, despite being naked and despite her only looking away for a second, he had produced a ring. It wasn’t in a box, but rather in the palm of his hand.
It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen in her life. It seemed to be made entirely out of rubies, from the band to the stones, and the rubies seemed to have a million different shades of red in them.
“Would you marry me?” he asked her, brushing her hair away from her face.
She knew what it meant to accept. Her life on Earth would be over. She might be able to drop in now and again, but it was so much more important to help rule the universe.
And she didn’t want to stand on small stages forever, singing someone else’s songs. She wanted to write her own songs; her songs of life and love.
And there was no greater song to her than bringing their two lives together.
&nbs
p; “Yes,” she said, holding out her hand.
“Yes?” he said and she laughed.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” she said. “Did you think I’d say no?”
“You understand what I’m asking you?” he asked, gently. “And what it would mean?”
“I do,” she said and then her phone rang again. “Oh my God. One minute.”
She rolled over and answered her phone on speakerphone.
“Tony, it is friggin midnight and I’m getting proposed to. What the hell do you want?”
“Congrats,” Tony said, without skipping a beat. “You won.”
“I...won...what?” Ivy asked, in confusion.
“You won the Songbird award,” he said. “They want you to write an acceptance speech.”
“I...won?” she said, turning to Nathan. “Oh my God, I won! Nathan!” He pulled her in close for a hug as she giggled.
“Wait, he’s who just proposed to you?” Tony said, in confusion. “What happened to James?”
“He moved to Iceland, don’t you read the news?” Ivy asked. “Thanks, Tony. Bye,” She then hung up the phone, kissing her new fiance in celebration. This was, without a doubt, the greatest night of her life.
Chapter 21
In the coming days, every plan seemed to fall into place. Ivy was surprised by Nathan’s family's reaction. His brothers were welcoming, once Nathan explained that they were a fated pair. Ivy saw how much they believed in that concept, and they trusted that Nathan knew what he was talking about. Anyone who questioned it also retracted their questions whenever they saw them together. They were clearly meant for each other. The external obstacles that would have stopped them seemed to melt away.
However, the internal obstacles still piled up as they began to plan for their future.
“Either of my brothers would be happy to walk you down the aisle,” Nathan said, one day when they had been engaged for nearly a month. “If that is sufficient for you.”
“I mean, it would be fine,” she said. “But...watching you with your family, it made me realize that family is more important than I thought it was.”