Page 211

The problem was, he often found him in places he didn’t want him to be in – like in his trophy room touching a skull. He’d broken one and Rurik had been infuriated at him for doing so.

There was also the number of times he’d been trying to bed Amalia to find him at their alcove entrance wanting something. It often got Rurik booted away from the female who would stress that they had been caught in the middle of being intimate.

A cloth now hung over the entranceway with a soundproofing spell, but she wouldn’t allow Rurik to shield the boy out in case he needed something serious – which he never did.

Other times, Rurik would wake in his human form sleeping next to Amalia while this tiny creature had his small arms and legs wrapped around his back when he wasn’t supposed to be there. He had his own alcove!

It made him uncomfortable because the child could sneak up on him with silent little footsteps, and it disturbed him because he’d been vulnerable and asleep.

That didn’t stop him from grabbing the child with one arm to yank him over his body to tuck him between himself and Amalia. Many mornings were often spent cuddling with the only two creatures he could truly tolerate.

But there were times that Rurik truly felt something deep and tender for the mate he had chosen and the child they created.

Times when he would watch over them in his Dragon form as they walked through the forest hand in hand. Amalia would be showing him something to do with nature and witchcraft, and his child-like stare of wonder would be engrossed as he smiled up at her.

It was a sight he often liked to see, a mother and child together.

Then there were the times when new visitors would come to their lair. Although every Dragon knew of the WitchSlayer who had killed Strolguil and mated with a Witch, they were always wary of her.

Just as she was of them.

Haelan would stand in front of her as if he could protect her in his child body from the wrath of a spiteful, full-grown Dragon. The protection was unneeded, no one would harm her, but it still made his chest bow with pride.

“If you will not tell me more stories, will you take Mother and me flying again?”

“No, she is in a foul mood.”

Amalia wasn’t happy this day, much to Rurik’s confusion because he knew he wasn’t the reason for it.At least I do not believe so.

“But she has been in a bad mood for the past two weeks!” Haelan exclaimed, falling back to lay against his head and almost hitting him in the eye with a foot when he bounced. “And I want to go flying todaaaaaay.”

Rurik had already tried to see if going for a flight with him would cheer her up as it usually did.

“I have already offered. She rejected it.”

Haelan groaned with unhappiness.

“Is it because of the child? I do not wish for a sibling if it will already annoy me.”

“She is just feeling unwell-” Rurik’s head reared back, and he almost sent his son flying. “What do you mean because of the child, the sibling?”

Haelan rolled up to bend forward so he was looking into his large eyes.

“You did not notice?” Haelan gave him a frown. “I sense something in her stomach when I cuddle with her, magic that is unfamiliar.” Then he shot up with a laugh with his head flinging back. “Maybe I am wrong then!”

This was just another case of the strange magic his son wielded. He could feel magic with his hands. He often told them he felt the waves of it like tiny vibrations against his skin.

Rurik bent his head forward so that Haelan would fall and land into his paw. His back lay against it as he looked up to him, grinning from the exhilaration of being tossed.

“You have sensed something different with your mother and did not inform me?”

Rurik then put him down on his feet so he could get to his own.

He blew a ring of fire so that he could shift and then went to the chest that was now kept in this room to acquire pants. The child didn’t care. He was used to seeing him unclothed like most of his kind. Amalia was against it.

With the child in tow, he followed him around his lair constantly like a lost puppy, Rurik sprinted to their room.

She was resting against the bed as she read. Her collection of books had grown since Rurik often hunted for more for her. It was one of his favourite tasks when he left their lair.