Page 26

The Next Strike

Ozyn

N hil ushered me inside to have a quick shower, though my inclination was to stay with the babies. I didn’t fight him on it, I was sweaty and felt dirty. The eggs were safe with Deke. I knew that. He was utterly mesmerized by them. The love I felt through our bond for them, and me of course, was so vast already. Smitten. That was a great word for what he was feeling.

Truthfully, I was as bad. Being away from them felt wrong. I rushed through my shower and a few mouthfuls of a rice dish Dalton had taught Nhil to make then hurried back outside to the nest.

Deke was waiting with open arms and a comfortable blanket for me. He had stripped several layers of the nest and resettled the eggs, keeping them safely tucked up. They were warm to the touch, the fire of their individual magics burning away, except for one.

I traced my fingers over the palest egg. It was the color of marble with veins of silver through it. The fire was less in this egg, which almost broke my heart until I heard how strongly the heart was beating and caught the scent of the precious life inside. No, this baby was a fighter. They would make it through the roosting process unscathed.

Gentle fingers carded through my hair. “They’re fine, right? All the babies. I’m worried about this one.” Of course he could feel the difference in them.

“If there was a textbook about how they should look and feel, these would be in there. Can you hear their heartbeats?”

Deke nodded and relaxed.

“Well done Father and Papa, you’ve made some pretty eggs. I bet the dragons inside them are just as cute.” Nhil kept a careful distance from the eggs. “Are you keeping the dome up for the night?”

I nodded. “Just until it’s safe to move them.”

“Want me to add my magic to them?” Nhil looked at Deke, checking for permission from him.

“This is me showing my ignorance, but would it be some sort of faux pas to let you?”

Nhil thought about how to reply. I had little energy to form words, instead choosing to doze while Deke played with my hair.

“Yes and no. It isn’t all that common for dragons to have siblings outside of their clutch, though where it has occurred it hasn’t always been safe for the older ones to be around the babies.”

“Ah,” Deke said in understanding. “This is a trust test.”

“Again, yes and no. You aren’t a dragon so you aren’t able to share in the magic needed to protect the eggs during the roosting process. It puts a lot of pressure on Papa—“

“Then do it. Whatever it takes. My ego isn’t so big I’ll pass on you sharing your magic.” Deke’s words were spoken so earnestly, my eyes began to tear up. “Thank you, Nhil, for wanting to help your brothers.”

My enigma son was pleased. He moved aside to shift into his hulking dragon form. He was a light blue, growing darker blue underneath. I was hit with a surge of pride that I’d made him.

With care, he blew magic over his siblings, adding more protection to their shells while they were particularly vulnerable. Deke watched him in awe and with some… gratitude on his end of the bond. He was grateful his adoptive son would do this for the new babies.

I knew Nhil appreciated the trust it took for me to let him do this. While I could have managed, not needing to was a gift I wouldn’t turn down. Him staying in Sweetwater might have been for this, too, not just his mate, I realized.

Done with his task, Nhil shifted back. “Do you need anything from the house?” he asked Deke nonchalantly.

“No, I’m good, thanks. We’ve got plenty of snacks and blankets here.”

“Good, well I’m going in. Night.” Nhil left us alone with the eggs in the quiet of the night. It had to be about one AM.

“May I see them?” came Safi’s tentative voice. I started, having forgotten he was in the house.

“Of course.”

He tiptoed closer, his wings fluttering nervously. His magical control was growing, but he still preferred to have his wings on show.

Deke finished his bite of chicken. “You can come closer, Safi. These are your new charges. Best get to know them.”

“I heard The Luna lets elves bond platonically with shifters to gain their animal soul. Then they become alphas or omegas.” He took a sharp breath at the edge of the nest, gaze locked with the eggs. “They are so beautiful.”

“So I heard,” I said, thinking about the elves. Safi stood still, barely breathing. “I’m not sure what she has planned for the fae. Dragon magic can help, though. We can see your potential.”

“You can?”

“Yes. When you have chosen someone, I’ll tell you. I’ll even help you.”

“After everything, you’d still help me? I owe you my life, I couldn’t ask for more.”

“We’re friends, Safi. I stopped keeping score when you got me out of that dungeon.”

The emotion of the moment overcame him. With a muttered, “congratulations,” he fled into the house.

Deke wrapped his arm around me. He pressed a kiss to my temple. We sat in silence for a while, digesting the day. Becoming parents again was a big deal, as Georgia would say. We had to feel our feelings.

“I’m really proud of you, y’know,” Deke eventually said. “Having the babies after everything. You never even questioned having them. I thought you might, after…”

“You’re nothing like him. I knew these babies would be treasured, allowed to grow into good people, that you would love them with your whole heart, just the way you love me.”

“And your boys. There’s room in there for them, too.”

“Exactly.”

Shouts woke me. Deke and I were both wrapped around the eggs, blankets carefully placed over us. Nhil must have checked on us in the short time we had slept. The early rays of the coming dawn crested over the horizon. I estimated it to be around four AM.

I heard another yell. The distant sounds of fists meeting flesh.

We were under attack once more.

Everything inside me narrowed to one thought: protect. The eggs and my mate had to be protected at all costs.

I shook Deke awake while simultaneously calling for Nhil using our family bond. Attack, there’s an attack!

“What?” Deke bolted upright, immediately on guard from a mixture of the sounds and my anxiety through the link we shared.

“No! I—Ozyn, I need to go help.” I could see his inner war written all over his face.

“You need to stay right here,” Nhil interjected, rushing outside to us. “Stay with the eggs. I’ll get in the air. Papa, you shift too. Stay right here.”

We didn’t even have time to argue. He shifted and took to the air in a blink, roaring out his fury into the coming dawn. Not contained by the bubble in his dragon form, he was soon out of sight.

“Ozzy, I can’t—the other houses, the kids. I need—“

The pain in his eyes hurt my soul. I understood his desperate need to help everyone. They were my pack too. One look at our eggs was enough to harden my resolve. We had to stay with them.

“Call them all to come here. Get them under our protection. I can make the dome bigger.” I had enough magic. Somehow, I’d make it work.

Deke nodded. He took out his phone, texting frantically, his eyes scanning constantly between me and the eggs. I heard him call on the pack link to anyone close by. Using a trickle of magic, I expanded his reach so he could get more of the pack.

In a blink, Safi was by my side. “I’ve been into the main compound. They’re trying to get into the omega side.”

My heart lurched. Omegas. They wanted the single omegas. With my eggs and all the people coming to our home, there was nothing I could do.

I sent a thought to Nhil, asking him to do his best for the omegas. One dragon against so many was bad odds. I implored him not to do something foolish.

“They’re coming!” Deke confirmed. “Safi, go open the door. Oz, you’ll need to open the dome.”

Safi’s face crumpled. I reached for him, gripping his arm, the small contact the only comfort we could afford.

“A guard, Sam, he’s dead. I got Melody out of there, she’s hurt. I left her in the kitchen.”

I squeezed his arm in pity for what he’d seen. “We’ll deal with her soon. If Deke got them, there should be a healer on the way. I need you to use whatever magic you used to slip out of the dome to get them in. I don’t want to drop it and raise it all the time. It’ll use too much magic.”

He nodded. “I’ll wait by the door.”

“Tell them to come through here.”

One by one, the families arrived. Dalton, Larken, Ingal, and the babies were first to arrive, followed quickly by a pale Axel supported by Teárlach. Their daughter was in her wolf form, tail down, picking up on her papa’s worry.

“Chase is out there,” the prince explained. He comforted Axel the best he could. The omega was frantic with worry for his twin.

Our Alpha and his mate arrived with their brood and nanny on their heels. The Alpha had a whispered conversation with his mate before rushing back out. I could see the resignation on Kade’s face while he rubbed his swollen stomach. He didn’t have long left before their daughter made her way into the world.

Roan and his large family were on the Alpha family’s heels. Asher kissed his mate, all the babies, hugged his bonded brothers and adoptive father, then rushed to join the Alpha.

“Hiroshi? Did you see Melody? Safi said she was hurt.”

The sweet looking omega nodded. “On it.” He entered the kitchen where sounds of an argument filtered through the open door.

“Dakota, you can’t!”

“I’ve got to, Jasper. We can’t leave Blake to deal with this alone. What would you say to Kade if Blake was hurt and I could have helped?”

Even from this distance, I could hear his resigned sigh. “Please, just don’t get hurt. I love you. We’ll be waiting here, won’t we Angelica? Hayden? We’ll wait for Daddy here.”

“It’ll be over soon, I swear.”

I felt the hole in the bubble, signifying Safi using his ability to get Dakota out.

“You can put the little ones in the nest. I’ll cover the eggs so they don’t touch them.”

“Oh, no, we couldn’t mess with it like that. The yard is plenty safe. I feel like I can almost breathe here,” Kade said. He watched his toddlers run in their wolf forms. “But my heart is still out there.”

“Our children are our hearts. Our mates, our souls. Blake will return to you soon.”

Sounds of the battle got closer. I rose into the air, ready to defend everyone under my protection until my last breath. Deke would survive and Nhil would ensure the eggs hatched.

Attackers loomed. I breathed fire over them, turning them to ash, but they kept coming. I couldn’t risk a fire breaking out and harming those trapped with me or even accidently killing one of our allies.

They had magic users who plucked at the threads of my magic, trying to unweave the dome. I poured more magic into it while pushing back the attackers with blasts of ice and wind. My wings beating made them fall.

I was so tired. They kept coming.

How had it come to this? Everywhere I looked shifters, elves, fae, witches, they all fought. I saw the police fighting back to back with my pack mates.

The demons joined us. The tide turned briefly, until more mercenaries poured through the cracks in our defenses.

It all felt so hopeless. I was tiring, still recovering from laying the eggs. My magic was growing low. Still, I would fight until my last drop was gone, then fight some more with Deke and the others by my side. They would not take the children.

Several roars shook the ground. A smile stretched across my face. I felt hope surge through the pack link.

“Dragons!” I heard people shout.

My family had arrived. I felt them pass through the portal. Each of them gave me a mental nudge, leaving their focus for the battle ahead. Their magic lit the air. Just a little longer. All I had to do was hold on. They were coming for me.

Each flap of my wings was difficult. I struggled to hold my form.

Just a little longer.

The fighting was getting too close. I hoped they were coming soon. Everything hurt.

Eventually, even as I shook with the effort of staying in the air, I heard cries to retreat. Seemed like our attackers were unwilling to take on seven angry dragons and one ex-mayor. As swiftly as they arrived, they vanished. Cowards.

They left their injured and dying to their fates. Yet they believed they were in the right in this war when they could so readily discard life.

The police saved who they could without the help of our allies who refused to treat them. I understood their reasoning. Their efforts were to be saved for those of us who needed it.

Assured we were safe for now, I returned to the nest back in my human form. Deke, now home where he belonged, pulled me into his arms.

“I was so scared for you. Rest, okay? I feel how tired you are.”

One by one, my family dropped through the barrier, shifting and landing on the ground fluidly. Show offs. They surrounded me with hugs, then checked on Deke and the eggs.

Each checked with my mate before adding magic to the eggs’ shells. There had never been safer babies. Though utterly drained, I was grateful for them.

“Here,” Gedith kissed my forehead with a wash of dragonfire. His magic seeped into the empty places, replenishing me some. “Cute eggs, fathers. The battle was fun, too.”

My boys came to me after, each kissing my cheek or forehead and adding a little magic. Slowly, I felt more like myself. Still drained, still exhausted, nothing sleep wouldn’t fix.

“Papa,” Rezoth urged gently. “Drop the dome. We will watch over everyone.”

Unable to resist, I let the magic go with a deep sigh.

“Well done, Ozzy.” My mate brushed my hair from my face and kissed me gently. “You protected us so well.”

Our shifter friends repeated the sentiment.

A buzz went through the crowd. “Hiroshi!” I heard Blake call. “Chase! He’s hurt.”

Alpha Blake staggered into view, dragging a leg behind him, everyone following, Chase limp in his arms.