Page 32 of Lahaina Noon (Modern Legends of Dragons & Shadows #1)

Chapter 32

V aughn had returned to the gathered assembly and quietly pulled Liam and Killian aside, whispering the new plan to them. Liam’s eyes widened slightly, but otherwise gave nothing away. A slight nod was Killian’s only acknowledgement.

He stood once more in front of the group, and they immediately quieted down this time, leaning forward to hear the news.

Bridget and Ivan sat in the back of the room with Jorrie and Jack. “Jorrie, Jack, this is Ivan, Vaughn’s father, and my, I guess, I don’t know.” She looked at him. “What do I call you?”

He laughed, a rumbly chuckle much like Vaughn’s but deeper. “You can call me Ivan for now. We can figure out the rest later. A pleasure to meet you, Jorrie, my dear you are as lovely as a spring day, and Jack, I can see you are quite the charmer. I look forward to getting to know the rest of my family soon.”

Jorrie and Jack mumbled shocked replies, then sat back as Vaughn began to speak.

“Everyone, the events of this day have indeed been shocking. First, the revelation of my mating to my lovely Bridget.” A round of applause broke out, and he waved it down. “The brazen attacks on our families by the Shadow Claw.” He took a deep breath, “And my own father, Ivan the Red, seemingly returned from the grave.”

At this point, every head in the audience turned and stared at Ivan. Not a sound was heard.

“Thank you all for your patience while we sorted this out.” Heads turned back to Vaughn, captivated by the events, wanting to know what could possibly be next. “As we discussed earlier, the Shadows have become brazen and are posing a viable threat to all our kind.” Hisses at this. “Now, now, you’ll all get your chance,” Vaughn cautioned, “But be warned, the Shadows are operating in desperation, they no longer have anything to fear except extinction, they will ambush us, they will fight. We must be ready for anything and everything. Our forces captured a Shadow only this morning and have been interrogating him as to the Shadow’s movements and goals. We hope to have more information on that front. In the meantime, I will travel to the Council to request assistance. I will leave you in Marco and Killian’s capable hands to plan our defense and offense here while I am gone.”

Vaughn spoke for a few more minutes, assigning duties, teams, leaders, and setting expectations. He turned the floor over to Marco, then came to the back with Liam, Siobhan, and another man Bridget had not met yet. He was devilishly handsome, and she saw a twinkle in his eyes that made Bridget suspect he was going to be a handful.

Vaughn picked Bridget up, seeming to need to touch her. She happily wrapped her arms and legs around him. He held her close for a few minutes while the others made small talk, studiously ignoring the couple .

You were brilliant up there, she told him. She could feel him smile against her neck.

Just doing what any good general would do, he chuckled, and she shivered at the feeling. Careful little one, he rumbled, don’t get me too worked up or I might have to take you back to my office, windows be damned.

She smiled, Sex God? I should have named you Sex Fiend. Don’t you get enough?

Vaughn pulled back and looked into her eyes, his bright blue ones conveying to her how much he loved her. He brushed a small strand of hair from her face. “Never,” he whispered, kissing her gently.

They heard a polite cough from the newest member of the group, and Jack whispered, “Get a room, you two.”

Vaughn laughed and set Bridget down. He turned to the newest member of the group and clapped him on the back. “Ah yes, Davis, this is my mate Bridget, my father Ivan, Jorrie, and Jack, you know the rest, everyone, this is Davis. He will be joining us on our trip to the Council as extra security and eyes.”

Davis gave a slight bow, then winked at Jack, blatantly appreciating him. Yep, a handful.

Vaughn asked them to come back to his place to discuss their plans and arrangements further. He turned to his father, “I’m not sure how you made it here, but you’re welcome to ride with us if you like.”

Ivan smiled and accepted. “Of all of the new things I’ve had to learn, driving cars is not something I am particularly fond of yet. Give me a strong horse any day! ”

Bridget laughed, then realized he was quite serious. She took his arm and steered him towards the rec room where they’d left Gabe and other kids whose parents were in the meeting.

Gabe was currently teaching some of the younger children how to play billiards. He was great with kids, she smiled. She and Brian had always talked about having more, but time went by, then he was gone. Gabe had always wanted a sibling.

She caught his eye, motioning him over. The younger kids were bummed about losing their playmate but quickly became engrossed in the game again. One of them was trying to move a ball with a steady stream of smoke. That one seemed precocious. It made her think of what Vaughn was like as a little boy. She had so many questions for Ivan.

“Gabriel, I’d like you to meet someone,” she said as he sauntered over. “This is Ivan the Red, or just Ivan. He’s Vaughn’s father. Ivan, this is my son, Gabriel, or Gabe as we call him.”

Gabe smiled and held out his hand to shake. “A pleasure to meet you sir,” he said politely, using his best manners.

Ivan smiled and pulled the stunned Gabe into a strong hug. “My boy!” he said in a gruff voice. “I went from not knowing where my son was to gaining a daughter and a grandson in one day!”

Gabe looked at her in confusion.

She mouthed at him, just go with it.

Gabe winked; he understood the mission. “Wow, that’s really cool, sir, uh, Ivan. Hey Gramps, you ever played Cloud Warrior?”

Bridget stared at the ceiling, where did I go wrong ?

She heard Ivan laugh as he let Gabe go. “A warrior indeed.” He patted Gabe’s shoulder as they exited to the parking lot.

Back at Vaughn’s place, the serious discussions began. Apparently, the Council was on an island off the coast of Italy, called Sardinia. It boasted a wonderful climate most of the year and had mountains as well, ideal for dragons. They would need to travel by plane to Rome and then by car to the coast, an area known as Ostia. From there they planned to fly at night to the island. The dragons would carry the humans to save time. It was normally unheard of for an unpaired human to see, let alone fly with a dragon, but these were desperate times, and the others were amenable. They booked accommodation in the town of Sassari and with that set, went to pack. They were leaving for Rome first thing in the morning on a Drake Enterprises private jet.

Bridget sat on the bed, unsure of what to do. She didn’t have much to pack as most of her belongings had been torched by the Shadows. She only had some basic essentials, but it didn’t bother her. What concerned her most was Gabriel. She was conflicted about what to do with him. She didn’t want him to come because it could be dangerous, but she didn’t want to leave him here alone. Plus, there were still two weeks of school left.

Vaughn walked in and saw her sitting on the bed, obviously working out an internal struggle. He could feel her thoughts and understood where her mind was. He sat next to her hoping like hell she would forgive him for what she would consider him being ‘high-handed’ again. “Bridget,” he started softly, “I know you’re worried about Gabe. He and I talked.”

She looked sharply at him .

“Hold on!” he held up his hands placatingly. “I know you’ve got a lot running through your mind, and I’m trying to help. If it makes you feel any better, Gabe approached me.” He noted her shoulders relax; so far, so good. Now for the hard part. “You know as well as I do he would be furious if we left him behind, but you’re worried about his safety. My love, think. Where else could he be safer than with us? Not to mention four strong dragons and a wielder? You have my word; I will look after him as if he were my own.” He took her hand in his and brushed his lips across her knuckles. He saw the relief in her eyes and knew he’d made it over the first hurdle. Now, the second. “As for school, that’s handled as well.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Vaughn.” Her tone was deceptively calm. “What did you do?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Well, I may have put in a call to Ms. Jenkins and explained that Gabriel was selected for a summer internship at Cloud Warrior, and part of that was studying foreign relations abroad. She was very excited at the opportunity after I mentioned that I would like to partner with the school for future internships. I may also have offered a scholarship stipend for their STEM program. With that, she was very understanding about letting Gabe be excused for the last two weeks to start right away. They weren’t doing anything anyway; year-end testing was already done.” He braced for her ire. To his surprise, she burst out laughing so hard she fell back on the bed and wiped tears from her eyes.

Finally, she sat up and looked at him. “Oh, my dear sweet dragon, you bribed the school for me. ”

Bridget walked down the back hall where Gabe was still bunking with Liam. She leaned on the frame and studied them as they good-naturedly threw things at each other. The room was in complete disarray, as expected. A pair of boxers landed at her feet after being launched like a rubber band by Liam. He saw her first, stood straighter, and stopped laughing.

Gabe, warned by Liam, slowly rose from where he’d been ducking behind a chair and turned to face her. “Hello, Mother,” he said solemnly. “We were packing.”

She picked up the boxers between her thumb and pointer finger. She looked over, waving them at Liam, “Your underwear, I presume?”

Liam’s face reddened as he quickly came over to take them from her. “Sorry about that, Ms. Ridgeway,” he mumbled.

She rolled her eyes. “Liam, I think we’ve been through enough that you can call me Bridget like you usually do.” He grinned and tugged a lock of hair on his forehead.

Gabe opened his mouth, and she whirled on him, “Not on your life, bud. I will always be Mom to you!” She poked him in the chest with a smile. She turned to the dragon, “Liam, I’m sorry to ask, but I need a minute with my son if you don’t mind.”

He nodded in agreement and scurried out of the room, murmuring about checking if Jorrie had returned yet. She was going along as their foreign relations expert. It helped that she was fluent in Italian as well. Of course, so were Vaughn and Ivan, but that wasn’t surprising considering the amount of time they’d both spent there. Once they were alone, she sat in one of the chairs and motioned her son to sit as well .

“Hi, baby.” She smiled at him.

He smiled back. “Hi, Momma.”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing with all of this. A lot has changed in the last few days, and it can be overwhelming. I guess I just need to know you’re okay with it. With this,” she gestured around them, “with Vaughn, the dragon aspect, this trip we are about to undertake, being away from your friends. You know this is going to be dangerous. I would understand if you wanted to stay here.”

Gabriel sat for a moment, giving her words some serious thought. He looked so much like his father just now. “Mom, I love you, and you deserve to be happy. You’ve worked so hard for my happiness since Dad died that you didn’t take time for yourself. I really like Vaughn; he’s a cool guy, and I can tell he loves you a lot. I mean, being a dragon is super badass, but he makes you happy. Yeah, I know there’s danger, but staying here would be dangerous too, with these shadow jerks looking for us. I’d rather be with you, helping keep you and Aunt Jorrie safe. Besides, what kid wouldn’t want to get out of school early and go to freaking Italy instead!”

She studied the little man sitting in front of her. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this wonderful human, but he was hers, and she was grateful. “Thank you, baby. He means the world to me, and so do you. I just want you to know he will never replace you in my heart. You have your own special place there.” She sighed happily as she sensed Vaughn behind her.

“Nor would I ever want to replace you there,” he said to Gabe .

Gabe got up and wrapped his mother and Vaughn both in a hug. They all stood there, soaking in the moment, and Gabe whispered, “I love our family.”

Bridget kissed him on the cheek. “You better, he bribed the principal for you.”