Fire & Ice (23 page)

“Stop, or I swear I’ll blow her brains out!” Gerald exclaimed, jerking her around to be a body shield for him from the twins.

As she faced the twins, she could see two complete different men, but one very same pissed-off dragon. Adrian looked like he was about to crumple to the floor at the thought of his mate being harmed in any manner possible, his crystal blue eyes already starting to moisten. Whereas Aiden, on the other hand, was ready to spit fire even in his human form, he was pissed enough to bring the whole building down on all their heads. And Fadri, she knew Fadri was fuming; she could see it in their eyes and feel it in the tension thickening the air with every passing second. He was ready to be released and fry the fucker holding his pregnant mate captive, wanting to turn Gerald into his afternoon snack.

“Just stay calm, sweetheart, we will get you out of this. Everything’s going to be okay,” Aiden spoke through gritted teeth, his fist clenching and unclenching as his fear and anger continued to build higher and higher.

“Yes, Evangelina, please do stay calm. There is nothing for you to worry about at all.”

All three men turned to see who and where the voice had come from. A stranger was fast approaching them from the back of the store wearing a black trench coat with his midnight black hair slicked back into a ponytail, he gave off the perfect impression of a…

“Vampire!” Gerald said in a tone that made him sound possessed.

Evangelina rolled her eyes at his antics. “What is with you? The crazy freak show?”

“Shut up!” Gerald snapped, jabbing the barrel of the gun into the side of her temple, making her see a few flashing stars before her eyes.

“No, Gerald, it is you who should be quiet. Now, let us point this somewhere else,” the other man commanded, his eyes locked with Gerald’s, and slowly the barrel of the gun was moved from being pressed against Evangelina’s head to Gerald’s. “That’s much better, never harm a lady,” the stranger reprimanded. “Oh, I almost forgot my manners. Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Elijah, of the Council of Others.” He gave a slight bow toward Evangelina. “I must say that congratulations are in order. King Thoran told me about all of your good news!”

Aiden now knew who they were dealing with. It was the vampire who sat on the Council of Others, and responsible for all other vampires. “Elijah, before you go any further, could you please have that bastard release my mate before our other half breaks free and tears this place apart?”

“Oh, yes, Gerald, please let go of our lovely lady friend. Thank you.” As a powerful and old vampire, Elijah could read, manipulate, and erase anyone’s mind. He merely stated his actions out loud to get a kick out of things. When you had lived as long as he had, things started getting boring after a couple of centuries. He liked to bring his off-beat humor into situations when he could. He found it helped pass the time.

As soon as Gerald’s hand released its hold on her hair, Evangelina flew across the room and into the arms of her mates, her body shaking in fear and anxiety. Both men engulfed her, surrounding her with their own bodies as they touched and kissed her everywhere they could while in public. Now certain that she was out of harm’s way and once again safe and sound in their arms, the brothers turned their question-filled gazes back to Elijah and Gerald.

“Why don’t you kids run along and leave this to me to clean up, your mate needs tending to,” Elijah suggested. He wanted to dig into this crazed human’s thoughts and find out what all was really going on here. And how he seemed to know so much about all of them.

“Appreciate the offer, but we would like to wait until a few questions have been answered,” Adrian stated, his tone calm and level.

“Is everything he claims to know true or has he really just lost it?” Evangelina questioned.

Elijah turned his amused face toward her. “Let us take a peek and find out, shall we?” He moved to stand directly in front of Gerald, trapping his face between his hands and forcing him to maintain eye contact with him. They stayed like that, standing as still as statues for a long moment before Elijah finally broke his trance and turned back to the three of them. “It seems that I have a small band of rogue vampires to hunt down. They thought that it would be a fun game to feed from this man, tell him all their little dirty secrets, and then set him loose on society while they kick back and watch him wreak havoc.

“This is not a matter the three of you should worry yourselves with. Since my kind is involved, I will personally take care of closing this matter. As for Gerald, I’m afraid he knows too much about all of us, I’ll have to wipe his memory. Once I have wiped his memory of all knowledge of our kind, I’ll have someone stay close to him for a while and make sure he integrates back into society with no problems. We also want to make sure we do not have others out there that are in the same boat he is in now. Now, go, be with one another; my blessing to you and best wishes for the young ones!” Elijah said with a smile, something the vampire rarely did, and waved them on out of the store.

Epilogue

Evangelina was miserable. Now in her sixth month of pregnancy, she was convinced she looked like a beached whale. She rolled over to the side of the bed and hoisted herself up, no easy matter these days, and padded to the bathroom. It seemed her bladder had a mind of its own.

Fadri was waiting for her when she came out. “Mate, how are you feeling? Do you need for me to go hunt down something to eat?” Just the thought of him killing some poor animal and bringing it to her raw and bloody was enough to turn her stomach.

“No thanks, Fadri. I am so tired, I think I’ll go back to bed for a while.” She padded over to the enormous bed and flopped down on it.

“Well at least let me fluff your pillows,” Fadri pouted. He so wanted to take the very best of care of his mate, but she turned down most of his suggestions, like bringing her fresh meat. Didn’t she realize the dragon twins she was carrying needed meat? He had watched her throughout her pregnancy pick at her food, afraid she would put on too much weight. Nonsense. Both he and his human counterparts had told her numerous times that she never looked better. Well…maybe if she didn’t have those dark circles under her eyes. And her feet! Fadri could not even see where her ankles were supposed to be.

“Fadri, you could do me one small favor.” Evangelina cut into his train of thought.

“What can I do for you, sweetheart?”

“I am really hot. Can you blow some of your cool breath over the sheets and make them chilly for me?” she asked, as she glanced up at him through her lashes.

“Anything for you, babe,” he replied. As she stood, the ice-blue head blew cold air across the sheets.

She lay back down, closing her eyes and sighing in contentment. “Thanks, Fadri, this feels wonderful.”

She opened her eyes a moment later to find her two mates standing over her, naked, but with very concerned looks on their faces. “What?”

“Babe, I think you’re going to be ready to give birth soon,” Adrian stated as he immediately moved down to her feet, picking up a spare pillow on his way and propping them up before beginning to massage them.

“But it isn’t time. I’m only in my sixth month! I’ve got three more months to go,” she groaned. As bad as she was feeling, she wasn’t sure she was going to make it another three months.

True to their word, her mates took her traveling across the country, and even a quick trip to Japan. When she reached her fifth month, they decided to settle down until after the twins were born. They called their father’s cousin, Blain Barrymire, in Iceland. He was all too happy to put them up in one of his cottages.

Some cottage
, she thought. It was a two-story, four bedroom, three bath huge house, but she was glad it was on Blain’s land and therefore, protected by his guards. They had consulted King Thoran before contacting Blain, and the king had assured them that Blain would be no threat and would protect them with his life.

She also had the chance to meet Blain’s mate, Natasha. Now that was one kick-ass woman!

Aiden’s voice broke through her train of thought. “Baby, we might have forgotten to mention that most dragon pregnancies only go seven months. And the girls have been communicating with us. Yes, we are fairly sure you will be delivering these young ones very soon.”

“Wait! Seven months? As in, I have no more than a month to go?” She didn’t know whether to be happy or pissed. A part of her was happy she would no longer be in pain every day and blown up like a blowfish. The other part wanted to strangle her mates for not telling her this news sooner.

“But we don’t even have the nursery ready, yet,” she complained.

“Yes, we do. Aiden and I finished painting while you were napping, and Blain sent over several guards to help us put all the furniture together. When you feel like getting up again, we will take you to go see it,” Adrian told her.

“I have a better idea,” Aiden stated as he gently lifted her up into his arms and carried her over to the door. “I’ll just carry you.”

She laid her head on Aiden’s chest and allowed him to carry her over to the nursery. It was directly across the hall from their room, so she could have easily walked, but it felt good to let them take care of her sometimes.

They stepped into the room and she gasped out in delight. The walls were a light green with white crown molding and chair rail wrapping around the room. The curtains were done in a soft pink. The furniture was all white, including a wooden rocking chair with fluffy cushions on it that matched the color of the room and curtains. Two cribs sat next to each other, just waiting for the day to arrive. A changing table and two dressers also stood ready to use.

It suddenly hit her what Aiden stated a little earlier. “Wait, did you say the girls are communicating with you?”

Both men had a decidedly guilty look on their faces. “Umm, yeah, they started communicating with Fadri when Gerald came after you in the store months ago. They have been able to reach out to us within the last week.”

She held up her hand in front of her. “Let me get this straight. My unborn twins have been communicating with you for about a week now, and you are just now telling me this?”

Adrian, always the peacemaker, tried soothing her. “We did not want to upset you, sweetie. You have not been feeling well. Aiden and I decided this was one thing that we could do to feel useful. Please, don’t be mad.”

He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. He had no intention of telling her they already knew that each brother had sired one child. Nor was he going to inform her that their precious little babies were showing signs they would have exceptional skills at birth. One could already bellow out fire and the other could bellow out ice. From what Fadri informed them, each would have her own dragon, unlike the twins who shared one.

What shocked the men was that even still in the womb, their girls seemed to have exceptional control over their dragons, something that was extremely rare. Only time would tell as to what other gifts their children would possess, but both brothers and their dragon Fadri were in agreement of one thing. Their twin girls, and Evangelina, were to be protected at all costs.

His mate’s soft voice broke into his thoughts as he watched her get down out of his brother’s arms and walk over to the cribs, stroking the wood lightly. “It’s beautiful, guys! I’m so glad you ended up following Gerald. Otherwise, we may have never met.” She turned her misty eyes over to the two of them. Holding out her hand for them to join her, she grabbed onto both of their hands and pulled them to her chest. “I love you. Both of you. Thank you for coming into my life.”

“Oh, babe, thank you for loving us. We dreamed of this day, but honestly, I think we never thought it would happen. You have given us everything we could ever want in life. Love, happiness, and a family.”

On the Menu at

The Dragonose Pub Grill

Drink Specials
:

Dragon Piss:

¾ oz. butterscotch schnapps

1 oz. cinnamon schnapps

4 oz. Mountain dew citrus soda

Mix ingredients together in a whiskey sour glass, and serve.

Satan’s Piss:

1 ½ oz. Bacardi 151 rum

3 dashes Tabasco sauce

Pour rum into shot glass. Add tabasco to the top. Serve room temperature.

Flying Dragon
:

1 part Bacardi Dragon Berry Rum

2 parts Lemonade

2 parts Sprite

Pour ingredients over ice and garnish with a lime or kiwi wedge.

Dragon’s Breath:

½ oz. Firewater Cinnamon Schnapps

½ oz. Bacardi 151 Rum

Pour in Firewater, float Bacardi on top and ignite.

Food

Wheadirskon : This is a sweet bread made from the Wheadirs grain grown only on Dragonose. The grain is naturally sweet and each loaf is two-three times the normal loaf of bread on Earth.

Duebeask: Similar to Earth’s deer, but the size of a small car.

Pheasgon: Similar to Earth’s fowl, but grows to be the size of a canoe.

Boarskon: Similar to Earth’s boar, but will grow to be about the size of a Rhino

Agaton: This is a vegetable that resembles a bell pepper but is the size of a pineapple. Has a sweet, grainy taste.

Books by Alice Brown

Published with JK Publishing

Vampires Among Us

A Special Gift – Book Two

Texas Vampire Rangers

Up in Flames

Dragons of Dragonose

Co-authored with Lady V