Saved By Her Dragon (24 page)

It wasn’t that she hadn’t loved her adoptive parents. She had
been thankful every day for all they had given her; it was just
that she had always felt different, like she didn’t quite fit. But
since waking up and meeting these incredible people all of that had
changed. Kyra’s voice drew her from her thoughts, “Hey, do you mind
if I grab the amulet from the Detection Ritual? Might as well make
myself useful while we wait. Maybe it’ll tell us
something.”

“Sure. It’s under my pillow.” The words were
barely out of her mouth before the witch was heading out of the
room, nervous energy filling the air in her wake.

“I don’t know about y’all but my ass is falling asleep in
these wooden chairs. Since it looks like we’re gonna be here a
while, how about we go in the living room where the furniture is
cushioned,” Kyndel stood, not waiting for an answer and left the
room, Jay peacefully sleeping in her arms.

Sydney jumped down and followed, with the rest not far
behind. Kyra returned, amulet in hand, smiling from ear to ear.
“Look at this.” She pointed to the markings across the top that
were glowing a soft red color. “We got something.”

Turning to Siobhan, she asked, “Do you mind if I use your
study to see what it is?”

“Not at all, dear. I’ll come along to help.”

Anya watched as the two women walked out, Kyra explaining how
she was going to extract the information from the glowing talisman.
Sydney had gone from coloring to playing with Jay’s blocks, singing
while she built. Anya recognized the tune as one her mom used to
sing when she was a child and began to sing along. The sweet child
smiled up at her and then, without warning, stood and ran the few
steps and jumped into her lap.

“
Oomph
…hey
Syd,” Anya wheezed.

“Sydney!” Sam scolded from across the
room.

“Don’t worry about it,” Anya said over the child’s
head.

Sydney snuggled into Anya’s lap still humming the song. They
cuddled for a few minutes before the little girl turned her head
and spoke to her mom. “I can hear Daddy. He’s saying a bunch of bad
words and talking about Andrew. He said he’s gonna kick
his…butt.”

Sam laughed, “Thank you for not repeating your father’s bad
language.”

Sydney continued, “Aidan and Aaron are there, and so are
Royce and Dev. Sounds like they’re throwing rocks around.
Everybody’s mad and Rian is
still
yelling.” She turned completely around and looked
at Kyndel, “Rayne’s growling, but not like when he plays with us,
more like the mean bears we saw in that movie the other night.” The
ladies all laughed, a layer of the tension lifting from the
group.

Anya hugged the girl. “Thank you, Sweetheart. I’m so glad you
can hear them. We are all really worried.”

Sydney nodded, “I could feel it.” She touched her chest over
her heart and then stretched until her mouth was next to Anya’s ear
and whispered, “Devon’s talking to you in his head even though he
knows you can’t hear him. I didn’t listen on purpose, promise, but
he said he loves you.”

Anya hugged her tight and whispered back, “It’s okay, Baby.
Thank you for telling me.”

Sometime during her conversation with the little girl, Sam
had come to stand beside them. “Hey, Syd, how about we go grab a
nap in one of Miss Siobhan’s extra rooms? I have a feeling
tomorrow…well, later today, is going to be crazy.”

“But Mom…” Sydney whined and Anya bit the inside of her lips
to keep from smiling.

“No ‘but moms’ kiddo,” Sam scolded as she lifted Sydney from
Anya’s lap. “I know you’re tired and I can barely keep my eyes
open. I’m sure Daddy will be here before you know it with all the
other guys, and you’re going to want to see everybody.”

“Okay, fine,” Sydney grumbled.

“Tell everyone goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” she parroted over her mother’s
shoulder, still not happy with her situation.

“Night y’all,” Sam said as she disappeared down the
hall.

“Has Dev told you anything about his plans for your mating
ceremony?” Kyndel asked almost immediately.

“No. I just figured we would plan it when this mess with
Andrew was over.”

It was Grace that answered, “
You
won’t be planning anything. In
dragon culture, it’s the male that plans the mating ceremony. He
takes care of every detail, even picking out your gown.”

The dreamy look on the faces of her friends told Anya all she
needed to know…these men knew what they were doing when it came to
making their mating official. It was then that she realized that
even though her parents had told her much about other species and
cultures, there was still so many things she didn’t know. She
opened her mouth to ask about the mating ceremony when Kyra burst
into the room. Barely able to contain her excitement, the tiny
witch spoke so quickly it took Anya’s brain a second to catch
up.

“Oh my Goddess! You’ve been under a helluva Concealment
Spell. One like I’ve only ever read about. Your parents had some
serious mojo! I hope you don’t mind, but I called my Aunt Della and
she’s looking through the library at the coven for a way to remove
it.”

Kyra paused for a breath and Siobhan came up behind her
looking at Anya and asking in a very motherly tone, “Are you
alright, my dear?”

She thought for a moment before answering, “Yeah, I’m good. I
know Mom and Pops only ever did what they thought was best. If they
placed the spell, then there had to be a good reason. I just hope
you can remove it. I’d kinda like to know what I don’t know, ya
know?” She giggled at her own goofy speech and the others laughed
along.

“I have every faith in our Kyra. If there’s a…”

No one heard the rest of what Siobhan was saying as a
collective gasp filled the room. Anya could only guess that like
her, the other girls heard the voices of their mates.

“Dev?”

“It’s me,
mo ghra’
. Were
you expecting someone else?”

“No, goofball. I was…well…I mean it’s been…”

“I know,
evgren
. It
sucked. I thought I was gonna go crazy when I was unable to reach
out or hear your thoughts. Then I found out no one could speak to
their mates. Hell, there were a few minutes that we couldn’t even
talk to each other. We think it was the sound waves from the blast
that interfered with our mind speak.”

“I’m just so glad you’re alright. I mean I could feel you the
whole time, but it was really hard not being able to talk to you,
especially after I saw the explosion in my dream.”

“Sorry about that. I had
no idea what was about to happen or I would’ve shielded
you.”
She heard true regret in his
voice but needed him to understand they were in this whole crazy
thing together, no matter how rough it got.

“You better never shield me from anything, Devon. We talked
about this. What happens to you, happens to me. I never want you to
go through anything alone. We’re partners, no matter what. Good,
bad or ugly…”

“Yes, ma’am.”
Anya wasn’t sure if she should kiss him or
kick when she heard the chuckle in his voice.
Getting her big bad dragon to stop treating her like the
little woman she most definitely was
not,
wasn’t going to be an easy
task
.
He
continued,
“I’ve got to get back to the
search, but I’m coming home with the first group right before dawn.
I’ll tell you all about it then.”

“Okay. Be safe.”

“I will. I love
you,
mo ghra’
”

“Love you too,
Dev.”
And she truly meant
it.

Lost in thought with what she was sure was a goofy grin on
her face, Anya was unprepared for the six year old ball of energy
that once again landed right on her lap, singing a very happy tune,
“Mommy talked to Daddy. Mommy talked to Daddy.”

She smiled at Sydney’s delight, unable to stop from singing
along for just a minute. When the darling girl took a breath, Anya
jumped in, “And I talked to Devon and Grace to Aidan and Kyndel to
Rayne…”

“I know, silly. I heard them all–even Aaron when he was
talking to Rian. He’s not very happy cause they still can’t find
Andrew.”

“I can only imagine.”

Her next comment was interrupted when Sam took Sydney from
her lap, saying, “Now that we are sure everything is okay, I think
we should get home, little miss. You need to get at least a little
cat nap before Daddy gets home. I’m somehow sure you’ll be up the
moment he touches down.”

“Touches down?” Anya asked.

Sam nodded as she explained, “Lance and Rory are flying back
while it’s still dark to see if they can spot any of Andrew or Mr.
A’s followers that may have gotten away. Rian’s sure Andrew is
still inside and he has confirmed Mr. A died in the blast. They
just want to make sure any that may have escaped can be rounded up
and held accountable for their crimes.”

“I see,” Anya responded and immediately felt bad for all the
others that had been abducted like her. They hadn’t been
responsible for their situation, and now they were either dead or
being hunted down.

Grace must’ve sensed her thoughts when she said, “Anya, if
there are any that were forced into Andrew’s plot, like you, I’ll
personally make sure they are given the rehabilitation they need to
return to their old lives.”

While Anya thanked Grace, she saw Sam cross the room out of
the corner of her eye. The women exchanged a look and Grace rose to
follow Sam and Sydney into the kitchen. Anya looked at Kyndel, who
was watching her best friend and shaking her head. When the
Commander’s mate turned around, she explained, “You remember we
told you about what Mr. A and his thugs had done to
Sam?”

Anya nodded while the other woman continued her explanation,
“Well, we didn’t get to the part where Mr. A was actually Grace’s
boss, the State’s Attorney, at the same time he was a human
trafficker and building the city’s largest crime syndicate. A
couple of his thugs broke into the State Building to steal some
incriminating paperwork while Grace was working late one night and
she was caught in the crossfire. Thank the Heavens, Aidan got there
in time, but she was still injured. Then when the warehouse where
they had taken Samantha after she was kidnapped blew up, my poor
bestie was captured by Andrew and we thought we’d lost her. Grace
was hoping to get a chance to put her old boss in jail for the rest
of his life. I know she’s glad he’s been stopped, but I think it’s
kind of a letdown that she didn’t get to be the one that clicked
the lock and threw away the key.”

Kyndel’s chuckle sounded hollow and her smile didn’t reach
her eyes. “Both girls suffered at that asshole’s hands, and I think
they just need a few minutes to let reality sink in.” She sounded
almost haunted when she spoke of the others’ trauma, making Anya
feel bad for the Commander’s wife, who was so incredibly empathic
that she suffered also.

It was then that Anya realized she could hear their whispered
voices from the other room and if she focused, she could actually
make out what they were saying. She chalked it up to another
benefit of the mating call the other girls had been telling her
about.

Having a difficult time blocking out Grace and Sam’s
conversation, Anya told Kyndel she needed to see what Kyra was up
to with the amulet and hurried towards Siobhan’s study. As she
approached, she caught part of Kyra and Siobhan’s discussion about
the best way to remove the Concealment Spell. She lightly knocked
on the door to let them know she was there before walking
in.

“Come on in, Anya,” called Kyra.

“Thanks,” she answered, stopping just inside the door when
she found them both sitting cross-legged on the Oriental rug in
front of the fireplace. Every available inch between and around
them was covered with open books, notebooks, and loose pages, that
judging by the discoloration of the paper, were very
old.

Siobhan began to explain, “From the strength of the
Concealment Spell and the traces of ‘other’ magic Kyra sensed from
the amulet, we are once again combining her Earth magic with dragon
rituals.”

Kyra picked up the explanation when Siobhan paused, “I spoke
with my Aunt Della. Who, by the way, cannot wait to meet you.” The
smile on the tiny witch’s face said she loved her aunt very much.
“Anyway, I told you I had called her. Well, she called back and
gave me all the information she could find about Concealment
Spells–which was
loads
, thank the Goddess. She also said you must be
superhuman
to have
endured all the magic thrust upon you and not be crazy. Most people
can’t take it without some really crazy side effects.”

They all chuckled as Siobhan sifted through the stacks of
books and papers before coming up with what resembled a large
recipe card. “Here it is!”