Gifted To The Dragon: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance (The Gifted Series Book 2) (17 page)

"It was good. I could really feel Josh's presence very close to me...and I could feel that he knows that I never meant for him to drive so fast and crash. I also could feel that wherever his spirit is, he just wants me to be happy, even if that means me moving on with Eric."

Emma paused, eyes growing increasingly pink.

"The grass was really dewy and cold where I was sitting by Josh's headstone, but once I really got talking to him, I started feeling like something warm was wrapping around me...like an invisible heated blanket or something...and it felt like Josh was giving me his blessing."

Her voice had cracked on the last word she'd spoken, and a tear had begun rolling down her cheek.

Wincing, she wiped it away and then smiled.

"These are really happy tears. I'm not going to burst right out and tell Eric how I feel just yet...I'm just going to kind of wait for a time when it feels right...but I think that maybe happy days are ahead. And not just for me, but you, too. I think we're both about to get our happily-ever-after endings."

Putting an arm around her shoulders, I smiled, thinking she was exactly right.

CHAPTER 16

The next week or so passed with me in a near-constant state of bliss. Desmond and I grew closer, sharing many meals together, as well as many passionate late nights. Even a few passionate early mornings, too.

Though he was extremely busy with leading his men in surveillance operations, trying to determine when the Angel dragons were going to strike, one Saturday he made time to surprise me with a picnic in one of the city parks, complete with a basket he'd packed himself.

Afterward, we strolled around the park, hand-in-hand, in the warm May sunshine, and then Desmond took me shopping for maternity clothes, not that I needed them quite yet, having only the tiniest hint of a baby bump. However, my regular jeans had become too snug by maybe just an inch.

Near the end of the shopping trip, we did a little window shopping, and I briefly admired a gorgeous ruby-and-diamond necklace displayed on a velvet cloth in a storefront window. But then, I quickly moved on to an antique shop next door, not wanting to seem like I was wanting something
else
, especially a ridiculously expensive something else, after having been bought an entire maternity wardrobe by Desmond. Really, I felt vaguely embarrassed for some reason that I'd even paused to admire the necklace.

That evening, while we waited for dessert after having dinner at the nicest restaurant in the tower, just the two of us, Desmond stunned me by presenting me with the ruby-and-diamond necklace, saying that he hadn't been able to resist, knowing that it would make me smile.

However, at first, I couldn't even manage a smile, overcome with gratitude and emotion while I looked from the sparkling gems to his face and then back again. But then, as Desmond fastened the necklace around my neck, eliciting a collective murmur from everyone in the restaurant, as well as envious looks from women sitting nearby, I turned my head to look at him, beaming, and brushed a kiss against his lips before thanking him with my heart feeling as if it might soar right out of my chest.

Later that night, Desmond confessed that he'd fallen "head-over-heels in love" with me, and I admitted I'd done the same for him.

"In fact, I've fallen so head-over-heels in love with
you
, Desmond, that I'm willing to keep letting you pretend that we're actually having a son."

This had come up once more again at dinner.

Mouth twitching, he pulled me into his arms.

"I'm so head-over-heels in love with
you
, dear Madison, that I'm willing to further indulge your delusion that the baby we're having is actually a girl. You can just apologize to me later on, when you're proven wrong. You can apologize to our son later on, too, for ever doubting his masculinity."

All the happiness continued a few days later, when Jake's doctor gave the green light for him to begin standing without the corrective braces. If all continued going well with his development, he'd never have to wear them again.

The afternoon of that momentous day, Emma called me up, sounding nearly hysterical with joy, and told me to please come to her apartment when I could and just let myself in. I all but flew over and came into the living room, where Jake was wobbling around on his feet, with Eric following behind, holding Jake's chubby little hands up for support.

            Emma grinned at me, positively glowing.

"He's been toddling around like this for over an hour. He just loves it. Even though I think he's not quite sure what to think yet about being able to bend his knees."

Proving her point right then, Jake took a few jerky little steps, saying "Oh!" and "Uh-oh!" The look on his face was priceless, something like a mix of wonderment, intense concentration, and surprise. The look on Eric's face was equally as priceless, however. Grinning, he watched Jake with a look of such obvious pride that if I didn't know any differently, I would have thought he was Jake's father.

Another week or so passed just as blissfully. The weather started getting much warmer, with a few days approaching eighty degrees. Desmond found time to take me on another picnic, just because I'd mentioned a few times how much I'd enjoyed the first. Our steamy nights and mornings continued, bringing me to feel more sexually fulfilled than I'd ever dreamed was possible. Though at the same time, I never became so satisfied that I ever stopped hungering for the feel of Desmond's body against mine.

We were also becoming much closer on an emotional level, too, sharing different things about our pasts and childhoods. Desmond told me that he'd decided to join the military at age twelve, after joining his grandpa at a local veteran's club and hearing one of the men give a speech about defending one's country being one of the greatest acts of love a person could do for their family and future generations. Desmond also told me that at age six, after his dog had been hit by a car, he'd grieved so deeply and for long that his parents had taken him to visit a child psychologist.

I found this story heartbreaking and sweet, but it also clued me into the fact that Desmond's fear of losing those he loved might have even started long before he'd lost Alison, which just endeared him to me even more. I
wanted
a man who loved hard and felt losses deeply. I just didn't want the fear of loss to ever make him push me away again.

During our weeks of bliss, I never once brought up wanting to fight against the Angel dragons, even though I still definitely did want to take part in the fight. In fact, during a few visits to my grandma with Emma and Jake, I'd become even more determined to be a direct part of keeping my grandma safe, along with all the other elderly folks and Eloise, too.

I almost felt like I had a moral obligation to, that it would be unethical if I didn't. If I just sat back and crossed my fingers that all the other Gifteds and Desmond's Destroyers could handle things, I wasn't sure what kind of a granddaughter that would make me. Or what kind of a mom. I wanted to be a part of keeping Chicago safe and free for my child's sake, too.

It wasn't like I thought that I, as just one Gifted, would be likely to turn the entire tide of a battle or anything. However, I knew that sometimes, just a single person could play an important part in a fight, and that important part could ripple. And that's what I intended to be, a "rippler," if I could be.

I just wanted to be part of a successful defense, and not a finger-crosser. Besides, like I'd try to get across to Desmond, Brianna had told me a lot about fighting against the Angels, and from what it sounded like, she'd been able to do some serious damage while at no point being in very serious danger herself.

Yes, she'd gotten zapped a few times, but the way she explained it, Gifteds were usually so surrounded by Destroyer dragons on the ground that it was rare for any Angel zaps toward Gifteds to even meet their mark, let alone the dozen or so times in rapid succession that it took to cause serious injury or death. In fact, Brianna had said that sometimes during the fights she'd participated in, she'd had to yell at the Destroyers protecting her to just make way a little so that she could hit
her
targets.

I knew Desmond was afraid about the
what ifs
. What if the fighting became too intense for me? What if I somehow became separated from my fellow Gifteds. What if I became overcome by dizziness or morning sickness and couldn't continue, or even collapsed in the midst of fighting.

Honestly, this last one was kind of a
what if
fear that I myself had been thinking of, though as the days went on, it was becoming less and less of a concern, as my bouts of dizziness and morning sickness had all but disappeared. Now the only time I really started to feel gross was if I went way too long without a substantial meal, something I'd been very careful not to do.

Bottom line, I was determined to fight if and when the Angel dragons attacked the city, and I felt ready and able to do so. I just didn't know when to revisit the issue with Desmond. A big part of me never wanted to, even though I knew I'd have to at some point, and I was pretty sure that
he
might bring it up at some point. I got the feeling that we were both just wanting to revel in our happiness for the time being.

In contrast with Desmond, Eric had been fully supportive of Emma joining in a possible future fight once she felt like she might be ready, which she almost did after taking part in numerous successful Gifted training sessions. She was actually already proving to be one of the best levitators in the city, even able to use her power to levitate two "Angels" at once and hold them both aloft for at least ten seconds, which was about double the length of time that most Gifteds were able to do, even after a few years of continuous practice.

Brianna remarked more than once that it was as if she'd just been saving up all her power during the time that she hadn't been able to use her gift.

At the beginning of our third week of Desmond and I not discussing the possibility of me fighting, I decided it was time. Over dinner, he'd told me that Angel dragons from different camps had been spotted massing just ten miles south of city limits, making him almost certain that they'd be launching their attack soon. Desmond's plan was to try to not even allow them to enter the city, killing as many as possible before they even reached it.

"In fact, once my scouts report to me that it looks as if they're more or less all gathered in one spot, I may decide to launch an attack on
them
. It would be ideal to take them out before they can get anywhere near the city. Even with that, though, there might still be problems. Some of them could just go around us during the fighting and make a beeline for the city anyway.

“And if that happened, everyone here would be incredibly under-defended, with so many of our Gifteds and dragons having advanced to fight the Angel dragons. Part of me thinks it may be wisest to just let them attack
us
, though without letting them breach city limits. I need a day or two more of thought and a few more reports from my scouts."

While we cleaned up after dinner, I contemplated how I was going to phrase what I intended to say. Basically, I was going to tell Desmond that I intended to fight, no matter where the fight took place. I just didn't want to say it in any kind of a hostile, belligerent way that would make him think I was just being stubborn, instead of having carefully thought through my decision.

Once we'd finished loading the dishwasher, I told him I wanted to talk to him about something.

"Maybe we should get comfortable on the couch, though, first."

Just then, his phone began going off, and he pulled it from his pocket, apologizing.

"Considering that an attack seems imminent, I need to answer all calls immediately from now on."

I said I understood, and after answering, he just listened for a few seconds. His expression was fairly unreadable, however, I thought I saw him pale just slightly, though I couldn't be sure. He'd also clenched his strong jaw, and I could now see muscles working in it, like he was grinding his teeth.

After a few more seconds spent listening, he finally spoke.

"Call every single member of our elite to the north, Eric. Half of our guard right behind them, and the other half are to be spread throughout the city. I'll be right there to join you."

He hardly needed to tell me what was happening, but after ending the call and pocketing his phone, he did anyway.

"Darius Archer is leading all the Angel dragons toward the city. They'll be here within minutes."

*

Before I could respond, Desmond continued. "I want you to stay right here in the tower, no matter what happens. Because it's new construction, it's been built to be Angel-proof and Angel dragon-proof. There's so much titanium and steel in the frame, it would take a thousand of their dragons ramming it at once to even make it sway. You'll be completely safe here. Now, I need to go. I'll call you when-"

"But, Desmond, just wait. I want to fight, too. I'll call Brianna and see where the other Gifteds-"

"Not a chance. You're staying right here, Madison, where you'll be completely safe. I can't lose you, and I can't even take the chance of losing you. Or our baby, either. I won't have you out there in the fight, pregnant and all, risking-"