A Shade of Vampire 14: A Dawn of Strength (16 page)

I
was
a bag of nerves as we stood outside the caves, watching Mona as she moved from person to person. She hadn’t wanted us hanging over her, so we all watched from a distance as she worked whatever magic she was trying to work.

After half an hour passed and not a single person had stirred, I was beginning to lose hope.

“What if she can’t get rid of the spell?” I whispered.

I was addressing Derek, but it was Rose who answered as she stood behind me next to Caleb.

“Mom,” she said, sliding her hand into mine and squeezing it, “never fear what-ifs.”

She exchanged a glance with Caleb, who beamed down at her. I was grateful for this unexpected comfort coming from my daughter. I smiled at her and kissed her cheek, holding her hand closer to me.

“You’re right, my darling,” I said, “I shouldn’t fear them.”

And she was right.

After an hour, Mona finally cracked the spell. Cheers erupted from the crowds outside the caves who’d gathered to watch as the first captive—Saira, the werewolf—sat up and staggered to her feet. Mona worked much faster after that. Soon, everyone was either standing or sitting upright in the caves. Only then did Mona nod toward our direction and give us permission to enter the caves.

We all rushed inside in a stampede.

“Dad!” I squealed like a little girl as I caught sight of my father and flung myself into his arms.

He chuckled and kissed my head. “Hi, sweetheart. How are you?”

“Great, now you’re back.”

“Grandpa!”

I stepped back to give Rose a turn to embrace him.

“Hello, Gramps,” Derek said, drawing him in for a man-hug.

“Don’t get too cheeky, Novak,” Aiden said, feigning a glare at Derek. “You’ll be a Gramps before you know it.” He glanced briefly at Rose and Caleb, who was standing by her side. Rose’s cheeks turned red as she looked down at her feet.

The five of us began moving around the caves, greeting all our newly awakened warriors.

“Yuri!” Claudia’s shriek pierced my eardrums.

Yuri was a blur as he shot toward Claudia. Locking his lips with hers, he gripped her waist and propped her up against the cave wall, bringing her to his level.

“Claudia,” he breathed in between kisses. “Baby, I need to ask you something.”

“Hm?” Her eyes still closed, she was lost in her husband’s embrace.

He lowered her down to the floor and, holding her hand, lowered to his knees. Claudia’s eyes widened, her flushed lips parting.

“Mrs. Lazaroff,” Yuri began, his eyes fixed on hers. “Will you have a baby with me?”

Claudia looked like she was about to hyperventilate. Her breathing came fast and uneven as her mouth opened and closed. “I-Is this a joke?”

Yuri shook his head, his eyes glistening with tears.

Claudia broke down crying. Speechless, she nodded and gave her husband a watery smile before he enveloped her in his arms again.

Aiden slapped Yuri on the back. “Nicely done, my man. Nicely done… About time, too.”

Yuri’s dimples showed as he grinned from ear to ear.

When Claudia finally stopped shaking, she looked up at Yuri with a teasing gleam in her eyes. “So, Lazaroff… now I know the secret to getting what I want from you. I should make you believe I’m dead more often.”

Yuri’s smile faded, his jaw tensing just at the thought. “No. Please, don’t.”

“Then you’d better kiss me again before I start getting ideas,” she whispered.

Yuri clutched the sides of her head and crushed his lips against hers. She jumped up against him, wrapping her legs around his waist and making him stagger back. They were so consumed in each other as Yuri carried her toward the cave’s exit, they bumped into several vampires and werewolves along the way. Leaping down from the rocks outside and disappearing from our view, they headed straight for a bedroom somewhere, I supposed… if they made it that far.

“Hey.” Eli approached us from behind, one arm wrapped around Adelle.

“Eli!”

We took turns in hugging him.

“Did you see Yuri?” Aiden asked.

“Yes.” He smirked. “Before my sister-in-law got hold of him.”

“Good,” Aiden said. As he cast his eyes across the cave, his face lit up. “Kailyn,” he whispered.

With the early signs of dawn showing in the sky outside the island’s boundary, the werewolves were already back in their human forms. Kailyn fought her way through the crowd and reached my father. He drew her against him and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. But Kailyn was having none of that. She gripped his hair and pulled him down to kiss him full on the mouth.

Finally, Dad…

I couldn’t stop a goofy grin splitting my face. I almost let out a laugh at the sight of Rose. Her jaw had dropped as she stared at her grandfather. She looked at me in bewilderment.

“When did this happen?” she mouthed.

I just shrugged. Then, for some reason, I looked toward Adelle. Eli was in conversation with Derek, but her gaze… it was fixed on my father and his new werewolf girlfriend. I wasn’t sure the redhead was even aware that I was watching her. It was as if she was in a daze.

“Sofia.” Derek’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “We should finish scoping out the damage around the island so that people can start getting housed… And then we’ll have to meet with those dragons.”

“Agreed,” I said, ungluing my eyes from the witch.

We knew the Vale and the witches’ mountain cabins were okay, but we still didn’t know whether the fire had reached the vampires and werewolves’ homes. We gathered together a group and set off.

We were all relieved to discover that most of the treehouses had been spared—thanks to their distance from the Port and our witches’ haste in putting out the flames. There were only three in total that had been affected: Aiden’s, Gavin and Zinnia’s, and Ashley and Landis’. We’d accept our witches’ help in rebuilding those quickly.

This lack of damage gave me reassurance that the homes of the werewolves and the vampires who’d arrived at The Shade with Mona and Kiev, northeast of the island, would also be mostly undamaged. I was wrong. Somehow the flames had spread there faster than I could have imagined and what was once a long row of townhouses was now a pile of rubble and ash.

“Well,” my father said, surveying the scene as he stood next to Kailyn, “I see this as a good opportunity to finally integrate all these vampires and werewolves into the Residences. I doubt even the humans are in fear of them anymore, as some were when they first arrived.”

“I agree,” I said. I raised an eyebrow at my husband.

“I don’t see a reason why not,” he replied.

“Then we should get started,” Ibrahim said. “We’ve a lot of construction to do. The Port is also a wreck.”

As we all began to move toward the Residences, I stopped in my tracks, gripping Derek by the hand.

“We’ll join you all later,” I said. “Derek and I have to meet with the dragons, and also check on something else.”

“Dragons?” Everyone who’d been paralyzed whirled around in shock.

“Yes,” Derek said. “They’re still on the island.” He proceeded to briefly explain what had happened. Once he’d finished and everyone moved away, he turned to me and asked, “Check on what else exactly?”

“Quick, come with me.” Pulling him along behind me, I sped up into a sprint. It didn’t take long for him to catch on to where I was headed and soon, he was leading the way.

Turning the final corner, we both let out sighs of relief.

Our lighthouse. Our sanctuary. Our sacred space. It stood among the rocks, as tall as it ever had.

“I’m not sure what I’d do if this was ever destroyed,” I said, twining my fingers with Derek’s. “I’m starting to think of it as the only constant thing about The Shade.” I shuddered, recalling the trauma I’d experienced only a few hours ago of believing my father to be dead.

Derek shook his head. “I disagree. We are constants.”

“But our lives, even as supernaturals… they are so fragile.”

“Yet we survive.”

I looked Derek straight in the eye. “But this isn’t the kind of survival that I want for us, Derek. Not for our people, or our family. Recently, we’ve been living on the edge of our seats, in tension and fear… hell, this isn’t a life I’d wish upon anyone.”

My husband gathered me closer to him. His gaze intensified as he said, “It won’t always be like this, Sofia. I promise.”

I didn’t know how he could promise such a thing, but my heart lightened at his words.

Derek Novak never had been one to make loose promises.

C
aleb
and I decided to stay for a while longer greeting people in the caves before heading to meet with the dragons early. I felt nervous about testing their patience for too much longer. The last thing everyone’s wrecked nerves needed was another dragon scare.

But as we made our way toward the exit, I bumped into my aunt and uncle, who were walking hand in hand. I’d seen them at the ceremony some hours earlier, of course, but nobody had been in any state to talk much. Now, Vivienne took the opportunity to pull me aside.

“You tricked me, Rose.” She looked down at me sternly. “You do realize that if you hadn’t turned into Dragon Woman and saved the backsides of everyone on this island, I would be furious with you right now.” Slowly, her expression softened and a smile formed on her lips. “You’re like sand through my fingers, you are. Trying to keep tabs on a ghoul would be easier.”

“Well… it’s hardly my fault that I have Novak genes.”

“I suppose not,” she said. Her expression tightened again. “You really make me worry about your future niece or nephew.” She looked toward Xavier. “I’m having second thoughts about Leo.”

“Second thoughts?” I asked.

Xavier smirked. “Your aunt finally caved in to Leo as a name about half an hour ago.”

“Oh, come on, Viv,” I said. “A name’s not going to make a bit of difference. He or she is going to be a whirlwind. You’d be better off just embracing it.”

“That’s what I told Vivienne,” Xavier said.

She bit her lip. “I guess you’re right.”

“So,” I said, “speaking of whirlwinds, Caleb and I are off to meet with the dragons.”

“Just the two of you?” Xavier asked. “I’ll accompany you.”

“I think the fewer people present, the better,” I said. “But thanks for the offer.”

Neither of them looked comfortable about letting us go alone, but at least by now, they understood the way I appeared to have with the dragons—even though I still didn’t fully understand it myself.

We parted ways from them. Caleb and I dropped down from the rocks onto the sand. We’d barely made it ten feet when I caught sight of a shirtless young man with tousled blond hair. It was Micah. He was standing on the beach some distance away, his feet submerged in the water. By his side was a blonde girl… Kira.

I stopped in my tracks and looked up at Caleb. “You can hear what they’re saying?” Of course he could. We were more than close enough.

Caleb frowned at me. “I could,” he replied. “But I’m focusing on other sounds right now.”

“Well, could you focus on their conversation for just a moment and tell me what’s going on?”

Caleb looked at me in half amusement, half disapproval. “No, Rose. I will not eavesdrop on Micah’s conversation.”

I rolled my eyes, feigning disparagement. “Well, you can wait here with your dignity then.”

I left Caleb’s side, moving from boulder to boulder until there were no more I could hide behind. But I was just about close enough. I peeked round the side, straining to listen in. I felt guilty for doing this, but I knew how much—and for how long—Micah had been pining for this girl. This was a conversation that I just didn’t have the self-control to walk away from—even at the expense of making the dragons wait a few minutes longer.

By now, Micah could have heard me approach if he’d been tuned in. But I doubted that he’d have focus for anything right now other than the girl in front of him.

“Looks like we’ll all be moving into the trees,” Kira said.

“Yes,” Micah replied. “It will certainly be different.” I could detect tightness in his voice even as he tried to play it cool.

“I’m guessing that my sister is going to finally abandon me and move in with Aiden,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s about time Kailyn found herself another man.”

“Oh, I’m so happy for her.”

“Yeah,” she said. “She’s really fallen hard for him. I haven’t seen her so besotted with anyone since Hendrick. I should be feeling more excited for her… I suppose I’m just not used to the idea of living alone.”

Get in there, wolf boy.

There was a pause. I held my breath.

“I’m used to it,” Micah replied, his voice sounding more uneven by the syllable. “I like my own space. But if you feel your treehouse is too big for you, you’re always welcome to be my housemate.”

Boom.

Her eyelashes fluttered as she looked up at Micah. She gave him a coy smile. “Thanks, Micah. I might take you up on that offer.”

“In fact”—Micah cleared his throat—“I’d very much like you to be my housemate.”

Even from this distance, I could make out Kira blushing. She was so obviously attracted to him. I didn’t understand why Micah had waited so long to just ask her out.
Boys.

He slowly reached for her hands, cupping them in his, as he took a step closer toward her and gazed down into her eyes. His voice dropped so quiet that I almost didn’t hear him say:

“I’d also very much like to tell you, Kira… that I’m in love with you.”

I could almost feel Micah’s nerves electrifying the atmosphere. Despite my confidence in what I thought I saw in Kira, even I found myself digging my fingers into the sand as we waited for her response.

“I wish you’d told me sooner, Micah,” she began in a small voice.

My stomach plummeted.

“Because there I was all this time,” she continued, “thinking that you didn’t love me… the way I love you.”

Cheers and wolf-whistles erupted in my head. Micah closed the distance between them and, running his hands through Kira’s hair, claimed her lips. They kissed chastely at first, then with abandon.

I shot a look back at Caleb and gave him a big thumbs up. He shook his head in rebuke, even as his chest vibrated from laughing.

Now I had no more excuses to be here. Remaining ducked below the boulders, I made my way back to Caleb.

“Shall we proceed?” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Yes,” I said, looping my arm through his. “Let’s.”