Fire & Ice (6 page)

“No, they haven’t come back out and told me anything,” she replied, as she wrung her hands nervously.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” Aiden told her gently, placing his much larger hand over hers.

The men quietly instructed Angel on her part. “We need you to go wait for us in the ambulance that is pulled up alongside the Emergency Room entrance. We’ll be out in about five minutes with Evangelina.”

She raised an eyebrow up at them and looked at Aiden as she whispered, “Do I even want to know your plan for getting her out of here?”

Aiden chuckled as he shook his head. “No, not really. Whatever you do, do not hit the panic button if you hear any fire alarms.”

Ten minutes later the men rolled their mate out of the hospital on a gurney and quickly loaded her up in the back of the ambulance. Angel heard the fire alarms start to blare a few minutes before they came out, and desperately hoped they would not be caught. But when it came down to it, everyone was too busy trying to figure out if there really was a fire, and if so, where it was, so no one took a second look at the brothers as they wheeled their mate out of the hospital.

Within minutes, they were zooming down the highway. Aiden was driving, Angel was sitting in the passenger seat, and Adrian rode in the back to watch over Evangelina.

“So, where exactly is home, and how do we get there?” Angel inquired. She half-expected Aiden to answer that they had some sort of spaceship waiting to whisk them off.

“There are portals, or doors, if you will, that cannot be seen with the naked eye. However, if you stumbled into one, you could land in an alternate universe. We have several portals that allow us to go to multiple places on Earth. One in Japan, one in Iceland, and one at the edge of our very own city.”

“Okay, so what? You just open an invisible door and step through? That’s it?”

Aiden grinned. “Well, not quite. Once opened, it is like getting sucked into a hurricane. Adrian and I will need to change over to our dragon form, since Fadri is much more capable of getting us all there safely, also because you and Evangelina will both need to be carried.”

“Carried? As in, I am actually going to be riding on the back of a dragon? Are you serious? I mean, I know I saw your dragon in your brother’s eyes earlier. But up close and personal? I am not sure about that. What happens if he doesn’t like me? Will he hurt me?”

“No, Fadri doesn’t hurt innocents, and he already approves of you. He would never have allowed himself to be seen otherwise.” He stopped there for a moment and clenched his jaw. “There is one thing that Adrian didn’t tell you. Our father is king of our world. And there has always been a strict policy that no one, and I mean NO ONE, but dragon shifters are allowed to enter through the portal. Not even other species know about the portals.”

“What???” Angel squeaked in alarm. “What do you mean, other species?”

“I mean humans are not the only creatures that inhabit the earth. Hell, multiple other species call Earth and even more specifically, the United States, home. They are governed by the Other Council. They are a ruling body of other species that keep peace and keep the existence of all others a secret from humans.”

“Okay, but I’m a human, even though I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland right now,” she murmured. “Why are you telling me all of this?” Then, an afterthought hit her. “Oh my God, are you going to kill me? Is that why you are telling me this? Because…you don’t plan to let me live?” She was practically in hysterics by the time she finished.

Aiden reached over to place his hand gently on her arm, hoping to calm her down. She jerked away from his touch as if he had burned her. “Angel, for fuck’s sake, will you calm down? You are not going to die!” He had enough on his hands worrying about his mate. He didn’t need her best friend in hysterics.

He chanced a quick glance over in her direction. She was pressed up against the door as tight as she could get her body within the confines of her seatbelt. He blew out an exasperated breath. “Angel, no one is going to kill you. I am telling you this so you are not caught off guard once we arrive in our realm. Normally, father is a really easygoing fellow. And I do not doubt for a moment he will be over the moon that Adrian and I have found our mate. I just do not know how he is going to feel about us bringing you.”

“Look, just drop me off. I’ll just catch a cab and we’ll call it good. I mean, you said it yourself, your father probably won’t accept me. I mean, why chance it?”

“No, I think Evangelina is going to need your support and friendship as she recuperates. And besides,” he stopped and ran his hand over his face, suddenly tired. “I think father would be more pissed that we left this realm with you having knowledge of us, let alone the fact the Council of Others would be waiting to hand us our asses once we returned.”

The look she was giving him clearly stated she trusted him with her safety.

“Look, Angel, you have my word that you are safe. Just please, please help me try to save Evangelina.”

She gave him a strained smile. “For Evangelina.”

The remainder of the ambulance ride was made in silence. This quickly changed when the vehicle was brought to an abrupt stop. The ambulance was barely put in park when Aiden jumped out and raced around to the back of the vehicle, leaving Angel to fend for herself. By the time she had gotten out and reached the back, they had already taken Evangelina out and both brothers were standing over her checking her from head to toe to assure themselves that no further injuries had befallen her from the ride. Angel stepped up to the gurney, wondering what was going to happen next.

She looked up, ready to ask that very question, but seemed to lose her tongue when both men began stripping out of their clothes. “What?” she managed to stammer. It wasn’t like she didn’t appreciate a good male body, and good golly Miss Molly did these two have it going on. Muscles on top of muscles packed under their tan skin. Then she remembered they considered Evangelina their mate. She almost felt embarrassed for staring at them while they finished undressing. Almost, but not quite.

Chapter Five

“What are you doing?” Her tongue finally caught up to her brain.

The guys ignored her as if she wasn’t there. She watched as they quickly finished stripping and then joined hands. As soon as they did, their bodies seemed to mold into one as it grew. In a matter of seconds a huge, scary, two-headed dragon was staring down at her.

“Fear not, child. I will not harm thee.” The ice-blue dragon head purred as he leaned down and sniffed Evangelina. “Please stand back, child. I must try to help her so we can go through the portal."

“Wha-a-a-t…?” There went her tongue again. She was trying to ask what the dragon planned to do, but her tongue once again was refusing to cooperate.

“Evangelina is safe, child. I have a healing ability that will start the healing process, and make it much safer to take her through the portal.”

Angel watched as the light blue dragon head came down and hovered directly above her friend. She backed up, hoping she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life by letting such a huge creature near her best friend. But surely Aiden and Adrian were in there somewhere, weren’t they?

After a moment, the dragon lifted his blue head slightly. Starting at the top of Evangelina’s head, Fadri blew cool breath from his nostrils over every inch of her body. When the ice-blue head was finished, the fire-orange head, the more intense of the two, spoke.

“Angel, we have done what we can for her for the time being. As I need to carry both of you through the portal, as well as the brother’s clothing, would you please be so kind as to climb up on my back and wrap your legs and arms tightly around one of the necks.”

She climbed up on the side of the huge dragon, all the while watching as both heads worked together to pick up the stack of clothing and then her friend. The ice-blue head carried her friend in his mouth, and Angel hoped and prayed his big jaws wouldn’t damage her any further. From what little she had been able to see, after the beast had blown out of his nostrils over her friend, Evangelina looked a lot better than she had moments ago. Her skin took on a more rosy hue, and a few of the burns looked immensely improved already.

In her own little world, she almost missed the command that came from the dragon. “Hang on tightly.”

They stepped through some kind of invisible barrier, and suddenly, they were sucked into a vortex. Angel clung to the dragon’s neck for dear life, with her eyes squeezed shut and her head buried into his neck-scales as the dragon navigated through the high winds.

Although it seemed like eternity, within less than a minute they landed softly on the ground.
As in grassy,
solid ground
. Angel continued to cling to Fadri’s neck, too afraid that her legs wouldn’t hold her up if she tried to get down.

“Child, it’s over. Please come down so Aiden and Adrian can take back over in their human forms.”

Angel slid down and sure enough, as soon as her feet hit the ground, her knees buckled and down she went. At least the ground below her wasn’t moving, and she quickly decided that she would just stay there, flopped out on the cool grass for the time being.

Once she began to look around at the surroundings, she realized sitting on the grass might not be an option for too long. They had evidently drawn the attention of others when they landed, as people were beginning to gather before her and the humongous beast.

The dragon shifted back, and Aiden and Adrian were standing before her a few seconds later in all of their glorious, muscled, and toned bodies. They leaned down and snatched up their clothes, dressing quickly.

Aiden barely gave her a glance as he leaned down once again to gather Evangelina in his arms. “Come,” he commanded, as Angel watched him lift her friend to his chest.

Suddenly, a voice boomed, “My sons have come home?” Then a giant of a man was standing in front of Aiden, asking, “What is going on here?”

Adrian quickly began to explain the past forty-eight hours to their father. “Dad, the woman Aiden is holding is our mate. Someone tried to kill her by rigging her car to explode. We need both you and Quinn to help her, please.” Quinn had been the dragon shifter doctor for many years. Not only was he trained in dragon medicine, he also had some of the healing traits that both Aiden and King Thoran possessed, only Quinn’s abilities were multiplied. The twins had seen him in action before. Saving their shifter species was what he specialized in. They were hoping Quinn could help, since their own human form was basically the same as a real human’s.

The giant of a man whom Angel now knew was the twins’ father and the King of Dragonose, gazed down at her friend in Aiden’s arms. “Come quickly.” He spun on his heel, taken about three steps before he abruptly stopped, and spun back around. “Who is she?” the king demanded as he looked at Angel, then swung his gaze back to Adrian.

“Our mate’s best friend. I know we broke the rules, and Aiden and I are willing to accept punishment, but please help our mate first.” It was the first time since Angel had met the twins that Adrian didn’t look like he could conquer the world. No, now his posture and attitude held a definite note of humility, possibly even fear.

“Come, all of you. We will discuss this later. Let us get your mate healed first.”

Evangelina had never felt such pain. Every inch of her was in agony, her body in such a state she wasn’t sure if she was hot or cold. All she knew was she was pretty certain she was dead. She felt hot, yet had a chill at the same time.

“Come on, beautiful. Open those gorgeous eyes for me.”

Was that Aiden? Or was it Adrian? She attempted to open one eye and immediately wished she hadn’t. Just to get one eyelid to lift up the tiniest bit had her fighting back a groan.

“Are you in pain, sweetheart?” She tried to nod her head, but she was sure she had failed miserably when a strangled sound gurgled up through her throat. She stuck her tongue out to lick her very parched lips in preparation to respond to whoever was there, but was quickly stopped from even doing that meager task.