Yay! Cyrene has made her appearance.
I carry my daughter in one arm and wrap the other around Zephyr as I help walk her inside. Ancalagon is anxiously flying in circles over our head. “Let me get your mother settled and then I’ll bring your sister out to meet you,” I tell him. He rumbles a thank you and flies over to the dragon area, impatiently waiting. I help Zephyr get inside to the medical room we started in. “Do I have to be in this room?” she asks. “Let me check you out, get an IV in you and just make sure that there aren’t any complications. You dragons are pretty sturdy animals, but I want to be sure since I’m here and you haven’t delivered your afterbirth yet either,” Everett says. Merethyl’s lip curls. “Avani ate mine, both times. I can handle a lot, but that was gross,” she says. “Animals in the wild frequently eat their children's afterbirth to hide the scent of the placenta and therefore the smell of a newborn child from predators. So he was just trying to protect you and your newborn,” Everett says.
I feel like my heart is going to burst as I take Cyrene from Tana’s arms and lift her hand to mine, seeing Ancalagon’s blessing. “Cal?” I ask quietly, knowing he can hear me, even over the humming of the dragons. “She will be one of us, only different. She may have Ishir’s form, but she will have the heart of a dragon.” I’m not sure I understand what that means, but my heart is so full of love for both of my children, for my mate, for everyone that is here to support me that I just burst into tears. Ishir’s arms come around me, holding both of us, until my tears turn into hiccups. “You’ve had a lot going on in the last couple of weeks, my love. Why don’t you let Kenna watch over Cyrene and you and I can go lie down. Kenna already looks about ready to burst into flames in her excitement to hold our daughter,” he says and I turn, seeing Kenna bouncing on her toes. She holds out her arms and I put Cyrene into them, before leaning into my mate. “I’ll bring her to you when she gets h
I could smell the fear and pain on the young hybrid female as soon as I found her. There were a lot of strange scents in the area where we found the two hybrids, and I want to go back and investigate those, but right now, her life is literally on the line. When Cedric bursts into the area where we’re waiting to hear from Doc Everett, I stand. Cedric is a royal Lycan and his own powerful energy makes him a good mate for a fire dragon, but it also means that he blows into a room like bomb when he’s on edge. “Cedric,” I say, getting his attention and putting myself between him and Zephyr. I know he’d never hurt her, but it’s a protective instinct to protect her. “Where are they?” he asks again, this time a bit more calmly as Tana comes in behind him, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Everett is trying to save the girl. It doesn’t look like the boy made it. Kaylani and Merethyl are in there with him,” Zephyr says behind me. Cedric scrubs his face. These are the first hybrids that we’
We leave Everett to work his medical magic and hope that it works. When we step outside the medical wing, all the hybrid kids are standing there, looking solemn. “Did they die?” Keagan asks. “The boy did, but the girl still has a chance. Doc Everett is going to do everything he can to help her,” Ishir says as I watch Nova’s lips tremble. I open my arms and she rushes into them. I wrap my arms around her, crooning at her. “What can we do to help find them before more end up like this?” Ajax asks. “I need to go searching for them. I need to find them before they shift. I don’t know if there are others that have died or maybe, like the girl, they shifted and didn’t die right away and we could potentially save them. I need to get back to where we found these two. There were other scents on the ground that I want to search for,” Ishir says. “We can help,” Kano says. “Not yet. You’re still learning how to shift and in the forest, you have to shift above the tree line and drop to the g
I had just smelled the scent of blood when Ajax yelled for us. We all turned and began racing in that direction. I’m thankful that Zephyr diverted to Kano, taking the kids with her because I wouldn’t want them or anyone else to see this. I’m an animal, but even for me, this is violent. I shut off my mind to Zephyr, hoping she won’t come looking for these images. The field looks like a slaughterhouse. It looks like an entire herd of deer, some foxes and who knows what else has been literally ripped to shreds. I slowly walk forward, trying to catch the scents of what could have done this. It’s impossible to even say if whatever did this actually fed on these poor creatures or just ripped them apart. “What do you smell, Ishir?” Avani asks me quietly. The three of us, Avani, Cedric and I have seen awful death. When Zephyr was killing the shifters, we saw it, but not like this. Zephyr was quick, efficient, she made their deaths as easy as she could. This is pure violence, rage, possibly
After Ishir told me that the hybrids must have been close when we were there and that they came back and finished off the animals that they had started to eat, I knew we needed to get back out and start looking for them again. Avani took Merethyl to his cave of treasures. He has done that with all of her pregnancies because his DNA in their child mingles with hers and she begins to talk and act like a dragon. This time seems a bit easier than what I’ve heard of the first two, or maybe Avani is better at reading the signs and getting her away earlier. He took her early this time, so they will most likely be gone for two to three months, meaning we've lost one of our search party. He told Ishir that he will continue to search for the hybrids near his cave of treasures, but he won’t leave Merethyl for long periods of time and once she is completely overwhelmed by the dragon DNA, thinking she’s a dragon, she won’t leave the cave until she delivers. They’re having a girl this time, anothe
‘Have you ever been to this city?’ Zephyr asks me in the mind link as we fly. ‘Just once,’ I say hesitantly. It was when I was searching for the assassin, before I knew that it was her. ‘Oh,’ she says. ‘So, anything in particular I need to know about this city?’ ‘It’s smaller than the one where Tana’s penthouse is,’ I tell her. ‘So, hopefully it will be easier for us to find him?’ she asks. ‘Let’s hope,’ I say. We land outside the city and once again, I take in the gorgeous view of my mate in her dragon form. She is spectacular. I missed seeing her while she was pregnant. I stroke my hand down her chest and under her wing. She turns her head to watch me as her body quivers at my touch. “Truly, I have no idea what I did to deserve such a beautiful, wild and fierce creature like you,” I tell her, opening up to her so she can feel my love for her. At times like right now, it hits me like a freight train. “Sometimes, I love you so much that it hurts, Zephyr,” I tell her, leaning ag
I pick up the boy, which is about all I can tell about this poor creature. He shifted and his body didn’t take it well. Whatever his primary DNA is, it isn’t elf or dragon. “Here, call Everett and let him know we’re coming in with one," I say, handing Zephyr my phone. "Did you check the other rooms?” “Yes, the others are dead, but he’s alive,” she says as she dials and heads outside. I race back to the office, grabbing as much as I can carry in one hand including the computer, while carrying the boy with the other. I don’t have time to rip out the cameras, so it’s possible Oliver will see that we were here. Hopefully, I can tap into the feed online and block it, but I need to take care of this boy first. I run outside, picking up my phone where Zephyr left it before racing up her back. I’ve barely gotten settled before she’s lifting off and flying faster than she’s ever flown before with me on her back. “Hang on, buddy. We have a doctor that can help you. Just hang on until we ca