Smitten (28 page)

Max went with his gut instinct and tucked the heavy container beneath him, smothering it with his tremendous weight just as the explosive ignited, reducing his world to a curtain of white.

Chapter 20

The narrow alley shuddered, everything happening so fast Ēostre’s head spun. She flinched instinctively from the sudden clap of noise, though Max’s enormous body had muffled most of it. Seconds after his pounce, he slumped to one side, revealing the detonation had blown a convex hole into the lid of the trash container. Ēostre, as well as the agents, were fortunate they hadn’t been showered by shrapnel and exploding debris. He’d taken all of it.

“Bel?” she whispered quietly, clutching one hand against her heart. He crowded the alley with his bulk, a motionless behemoth with a profusely bleeding wound. His tail was still, and then she saw the splinters of metal embedded in his tough hide and protruding from his gut.

“Bel!”

Someone tried to hold her back, but Ēostre’s strength was too great. She broke free, slinging one man to the side before rushing forward to her mate. His eyes were tightly squeezed shut, and agony radiated out from him in rolling waves, the intensity warring against Ēostre’s attempt to keep her dinner down.

“Bel, please say something,” she whispered up to him, touching her palm to his leathery cheek.

Behind her, Secret Service agents who hadn’t lost their wits at the sight of Max sprang into action. They relayed harsh demands over wireless communication systems, blockades were ordered to shut down the streets, and one chilling question reached her ears among all of their official babble. They wanted to know how to relocate a dragon for critical care.

She couldn’t trust the humans with his life after they failed him so utterly and he’d sacrificed himself in their stead. Ēostre snapped out of her terror to utter a desperate plea under her breath. “Mahasti, I need you. Max and I both need you. I’m afraid he may be dying. I wish to come home right this moment. I wish for you to bring us home.”

Mahasti was there with her, the essence of smoke and fire surrounding them. Ēostre heard only the initial words of a startled cry from the suited Secret Service agents before she and Max were swept away on the tide of magic and deposited in Saul’s rear yard, the expansive stretch of California beauty behind them. The genie floated to Ēostre’s left, jasmine-scented wisps of smoke gradually coalescing to form her brown-skinned body. Bare feet touched down to the ground and concerned eyes turned to Ēostre.

“What happened?”

“Someone was able to get a bomb through the security measures set up by the Secret Service.” A thick, viscous river of dark blood seeped from the wound, staining the earth beneath her injured mate. Ēostre’s body trembled. “He leapt atop it to save the humans.”

“I will bring Saul right away.”

Genies didn’t have the kind of magic needed to heal wounds. Their powers always leaned toward an ability to grant material desires and wealth. As Mahasti disappeared, Ēostre was struck by how helpless she felt.

Tonight, she’d planned to tell him the greatest secret troubling her heart. She’d wanted to see his face light with joy amidst elated laughter before he swept her within his arms to be loved in the privacy of their bedroom.

It’s not too late for him,
Ēostre chided herself as the tears fell down her cheeks.
When I found Fafnir, he was long dead. The soul was gone from him, his body cold and unmoving. Max is alive and here with me now. Here to be saved.

“Mother.” Saul had appeared behind her again, clothed in loose-fitting pajama pants. He looked like his father, golden blond in place of black waves with a physical build to match. The realization squeezed unyielding fingers around her throat, then the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. She choked on them and ran forward into his arms, caught by him in a strong hug.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered.

“They didn’t protect him. I… I didn’t protect him. I
failed
.”

“No, Mother.” He took her by the shoulders and gazed down at her. “You did not fail him. What happened was a travesty, but it isn’t too late.”

Magic flowed with more strength through their natural bodies, leading to both mother and son abandoning their human flesh in favor of sharp teeth and massive talons. Thankfully, Saul’s yard was large enough to hold three full-sized dragons, plus some. It had once held the entire council after all, during Chloe’s duel with Brigid.

Calling on her magic was as natural as breathing. It bloomed within her, full of warmth and life, love and devotion. Focusing all her attention on Max’s wound, she funneled her power into him.

“All right, Saul, pull the chunk out. I’m ready.”

Mother and son worked together in tandem to pull each piece of shrapnel from Max’s body while slowing the blood flow. They touched him with magic-laced claw tips, channeling the very essence of their ability into his prone body and the gaping wound left behind.

An hour later, he hadn’t fully responded to their magic and he hadn’t moved. Ēostre swayed, and thankfully, Saul was there to catch her. He set his mother gently to the ground and dropped back onto his haunches, tail flicking in irritation.

“He’s injured too badly for only the two of us. We need more dragons. More healers,” Saul muttered. “Saving Chloe didn’t tax me nearly so bad as this has, and I feel as if we’ve done nothing at all for him.” He rubbed his cheek and gazed thoughtfully at Max’s comatose face. “What about Uncle Thor?”

“My brother doesn’t heal anyone, Saul. He breaks them.”

“True.”

Dragons with the capacity for mending flesh were rare, a trait often passed down family lines from mother to son, to grandchild and future progeny. And as she and Thor only shared one parent, he hadn’t inherited the gift.

But someone else likely had. The realization occurred to Ēostre the same time Saul realized it. He jerked upright to his feet and rushed for the manor. “I’ll get her.”

When he returned with the little girl, there were still remnants of a Batgirl nightgown clinging to her slim dragonic neck. Even Saul couldn’t keep pace alongside her, proving the speed of smaller feet.

“What happened to Grandpa Max?!” she cried.

“Astrid, listen to me very well, my love. Your father and I have given all we can… and we need you. We need you to discover the magic inside of you. We need your help to save Maximilian.”

Astrid nodded. Blue eyes, shimmering with unshed tears, drifted up to Max’s face. Even as a dragon, his features were contorted into an agonized mask. Although she was so much smaller than the three adults, she approached the elder dragon and raised onto her haunches, one small claw resting on his ruddy red cheek. She whispered something behind his scaled ear and nuzzled her nose against his skin with her eyes closed.

When she turned her face back to her father, her small face was somber, eyes dry. “Teach me how to heal, Daddy.”

Nothing would ever motivate Astrid to learn more than helping to save her grandfather’s life.

***

A black SUV pulled into the driveway the following night. Ēostre had expected as much. In fact, she’d been expecting an entire caravan, but with Mahasti’s intervention, not even a satellite from space could have discovered Drakenstone Manor.

She should have known Ian would find them.

Ēostre decided to meet him in her human form and went down to open the door as the eagle stepped onto the porch. He was dressed casually, clothed in nice jeans and a flawless polo shirt, the badge on the sleeve promoting his private security firm. He hired shapeshifters when they left the armed forces and sold their services abroad as contracted mercenaries. On U.S. soil, they served another purpose.

“Ian…”

He stepped forward and took both of her hands. “I took the first flight out of Houston. God, I’m sorry, Ēostre. I knew where you guys had him as soon as Mitch called and said Mahasti disappeared with you both, but we’ve been busy trying to put a lid over this.”

“What happened? I mean,
how
did this happen? Aren’t they supposed to check everything over thoroughly before they bring him out?”

“One of his agents vanished after you two did. John Kensington.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand. Why would John take off?”

Ian’s face grew grim. “We think he planted the bomb. Or at least knew about it.”

“What?” She thought back to how the agent in question had tried to escort her toward the limo. Around the side where the dumpster had been.

“We’ve discovered corruption in the Secret Service,” Ian said quietly, rage hidden behind a stoic mask. “It was meant to be a suicide bombing, but Max was the primary target.”

“How did this happen, Ian? Who’s responsible for it?”

“Slayers have infiltrated the Secret Service. We’ve apprehended one of them, but according to my guys, there’s still two more at large.”

A chill flowed through Ēostre’s veins, drawing a shiver down her spine. Tears continued to flow down her cheeks as she led Ian to the slumbering dragon in the field. He hadn’t awakened yet, and she wondered if he ever would — if the time had come to take him to Mount Shasta. A shudder overtook and a fresh round of tears spilled over her cheeks.

Ian enfolded her in his strong arms and she sobbed until her body ached, crying useless tears long after her lungs were sore from the heaving. “No one’s going to get away with this, Ēostre. My boys are on it right now. Russ even came out of retirement to kick some ass in D.C. We’re going to find the assholes who did this. They’re gonna pay, so don’t you worry about any of that. You and Saul get this guy well. He needs you right now. He needs you on your game, understand?”

She nodded through the sniffles, afraid she’d break down again in front of the strong shifter. Eventually, the last of the shakes left, dwindling until exhaustion turned her limbs to lead and only Ian’s embrace kept her standing.

“I’m so, so sorry, Ēostre. I feel to blame. I should have insisted on an all-shifter team to protect him.”

“No, Ian. You aren’t to blame for this. The only person to blame for this is the… the…” Her breath hitched.

They stood together for a while, holding each other up, watching Max’s uneven, labored breaths.

Please, Ancestors. You gave me a new chance to love again. Don’t take him.

***

“Ēostre? Have you eaten today?” Chloe asked.

She shook her head. Ian had insisted she take a nap after her cry and when she’d awoken, the eagle shifter was gone, sent to Washington D.C. by Mahasti, so Ēostre had returned to her vigil at Max’s side.

“Come eat. You can’t work your magic if you’re too weak. Max knows that and he’d want you to keep your strength up.”

“I’ll stay with him, Mother,” Saul volunteered, sensing the reason behind her reluctance. If he did awaken, she didn’t want him to be alone and afraid.

“C’mon.”

Ēostre allowed herself to be led away, knowing they were right. She wouldn’t be good to anyone, let alone Max, if she was exhausted.

Chloe made herself at home in the kitchen, pulling our pre-prepared trays of sliced meat and cheese. Mahasti kept the fridge stocked with sandwich makings to sate Saul’s endless appetite. Crackers, relish, spicy mustard, and apple slices soon joined her prep area.

“He’s going to pull through, Ēostre. Max is strong.”

“I know he is, but slayers. I suppose we should have counted on them being around.”

“Hey, now.” Chloe finished making their cracker plate. “You guys survived them in the medieval ages, you’ll handle them now, too.”

“There’s so much to lose… so, so much.”

Chloe abandoned their snack and stepped over, pulling Ēostre into her arms. “Talk to me. What else is weighing you down? Because it’s more than all this crap going on right now.”

“I… may be pregnant,” Ēostre whispered to Chloe. “At first, I thought all of the signs were a coincidence due to the stress of adjusting to our public lives together, but then I realized my cycle is behind.”

Chloe’s eyebrows shot up. “Dragon women have that, too?” she asked at first, flabbergasted.

Ēostre grimaced and nodded as her daughter-in-law grasped the gravity of the situation. Recovering swiftly, Chloe took Ēostre by the arm and guided her to the breakfast bar where they took seats on the high-backed stools.

“You said ‘may’ which means you aren’t sure yet, right? How can we be sure?”

“With Saul, I didn’t know I was with child until I felt him kick within me for the first time. That day was magical,” she murmured, a wistful tone seeping into her voice.

“And how long did that take?” Chloe, ever restless, left the chair again to fetch glasses and a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge. Ēostre didn’t turn it down, nor did she refuse when the woman brought over the snack tray she’d made.

“Close to eight months. Shortly after, other dragons could smell the cub’s scent with mine.”

Chloe stared at her. “Well, we certainly aren’t waiting until then. We have technology on our side and a mountain of unused pregnancy tests in my bathroom drawer. I kinda bought a pack of fifty back when we first tried to get pregnant again.”