The Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lore) (28 page)

She leaned her head back against his shoulder, her body still trembling with aftershocks as a single tear trekked down her pale cheek.

“When you walk out the door,” she whispered, her arm hooking around his neck as another tear escaped, “you’re taking the only people in the world I love with you.” She turned into his arms, wrapping her arms around his torso. “Please come back to me.”

“Shelby, I–” He closed his eyes as the words locked up in his throat. His body curled around hers, so goddamn desperate to protect her.
“Ryuu,
woman, I will not allow anything to happen to me. It would upset you.”

She let out a teary snort. “Exactly. I love you, so you better get yourself back to me.”

“Always.”

He wasn’t going to fight it anymore. He knew others might be able to love her better than he could, but he knew none of them would ever be able to love her as much. There wasn’t an inch of his body or soul that didn’t ache with the need to love her. He knew wherever he was, whatever happened to him, when time finally broke and everything ended, all he was would still be in love with her. Instead of scaring him, everything inside of him went calm.

As if to prove his point, a heavy fist pounded against the door. “Ashborne. It’s time.”

He leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. “I’ll be back.” He set her down, then, and yanked up his pants. Without so much as a backward glance, he opened the bathroom door and walked out, his body braced for war.

24

“Shelby.” Seren knocked quietly on the bathroom door. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Shelby wiped her hand over her face and opened the door, plastering on a smile she so did not feel. “Really, I’m okay.”

Seren held a cup of tea out for her. “I know you are.” Instead of moving out of the way so Shelby could leave the bathroom, Seren moved into the room and shut the door behind her. Without a word, Seren leaned back against the vanity as she took a sip of her tea. “I’m not.”

Shelby blinked as she realized Seren’s hands were shaking, and her face was pale. Shelby set her cup down on the edge of the tub as she reached out to grab the small woman’s free hand. “Are you alright? Do I need to go get Gabriel?”

“It’s not the baby. She’s fine.” Seren squeezed Shelby’s hand, and for the first time, the serenity on the woman’s face was gone, replaced with a terror Shelby was becoming very familiar with herself. “I just…” tears welled in Seren’s eyes before she made a pathetic attempt at making a face. “I hate this. I hate this so much.”

Shelby felt the blood drain out of her face as terror rolled, slick, hot and awful in her belly. Seren cursed quietly, set her cup on the counter, and wrapped Shelby in a fierce hug.

“Honey, this is so normal in my life, you have no idea. I’m a Dragan, a dragon and I’m not just married to
a
Hunter, I picked
the
Hunter.” Seren’s mouth lifted in a half-hearted smile as she stepped back, her voice shaky. “This time, it’s my family and trust me, it’s been a long time coming. None of this is your fault.”

Shelby searched the woman’s striking eyes for a long time, looking for an ounce of the resentment she was sure would be in there somewhere. It wasn’t.

Shelby exhaled finally on a long, shuddering breath as she slumped back against the wall, tears stinging her eyes again. “Does it ever get easier?”

“Are you kidding?” Seren let out a teary snort as she picked up her teacup again and carefully lowered herself to the edge of the bathtub, her free hand supporting her belly. “We chose warriors. We love them for their warrior hearts, but no, watching them walk out the door and into battle never gets easier.” She swiped a hand under her eyes, dashing away the tears. “You have no idea how it feels to not be alone this time. I love Gabriel, but he’s not the most sympathetic person out there. No matter how old they get, the males just don’t understand what it feels like to be the one left behind.”

“How do you do this and stay sane?” Shelby asked, desperate for an answer. Any answer. Just
something
to take away the fear before it choked her.

“I pace.” At Shelby’s bland look, Seren managed a smile. “And I usually use the time to catch up on paperwork, or check in on patients, or pick up an extra shift or two at the hospital. The fear never goes away, but keeping my brain busy with something other than counting the minutes helps the time go by a little bit faster.”

Shelby took a deep breath. “Don’t you hate me?” she murmured, her eyes searching Seren’s. “They went to war against your father and brother.”

The corner of Seren’s mouth lifted up in a sad, crooked smile, her hands resting protectively over her pregnant belly. “No, honey. My father died a very, very long time ago. There hasn’t been anything left of the man who loved us more than his own life in more than three thousand years. He’s an evil man who does evil things. I’m honestly surprised Cage held off this long.”

Because Seren didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the bathroom, Shelby slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. “What about your other brother, Micah?”

This time, Seren blew out a breath. “Honestly?” When Shelby nodded, Seren shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. He’s my big brother. I don’t want to think about him being that evil.”

Shelby hugged her knees tighter. “I’m so new to this world. I feel like I’m in over my head, and a million miles behind everyone else. I have to rely on everyone else’s instincts, and it’s so foreign to me, you have no idea. Trust hasn’t been a part of my world for years.” She sniffled back the last of her tears and dropped her chin down on her knee. “I know Daniel. I love Daniel. And I’m slowly getting to know the others in his life–you, Cage–Adrian, right? Luca, Dallas… but this whole world is so different to me. I don’t know how to get a handle on it.”

A slow smile bloomed over Seren’s face. “You’re in love with Daniel?”

Shelby nodded. “So much it hurts.” She scowled, and tried to keep the worry out of her voice. “It scares me a little. He seems to accept it now, but I don’t know what I’ll do if he decides to fight me on it.”

Seren shook her head. “Daniel’s…well, you know how quiet he is, and he does have a tendency to sound like an ass sometimes. He doesn’t mean to–he just doesn’t know how to soften what’s in his head before it comes out of his mouth. We all understand it about him, but no one else has ever stuck around long enough to attempt to get to know him. Women want him for his body, for the innate danger they sense in him. They love the idea of the strong silent type, only they very quickly become frustrated when he can’t just switch it off to become a talkative non-jackass. The very thing that drew them to him in the first place is the first thing they throw in his face and expect him to change. To make it worse for him, he’s taken the whole isolated species thing to a fault over the last half century. He doesn’t give any of us a real chance to convince him life’s better with people you care about in it.”

Shelby didn’t understand. How could anyone not see how wonderful he is, how gentle? How didn’t they fall head over heels in love with all he was?

She sighed. “He doesn’t believe the other dragons are his friends,” she murmured quietly. “He thinks it’s dragon loyalty that brought them to help us.”

“Let me guess, ‘dragons don’t have friends?’” When Shelby nodded, Seren rolled her eyes. “Dragons are isolated beings, but we’re fiercely loyal, and Daniel has never wavered. Ever. For as much of the bastard he thinks he is, whenever anyone needs help, he has always been the first one there, and bashing heads together to make sure everyone else is, too. Then when I chose a Hunter as a mate, nearly causing another war, Daniel was the first one to accept and see Cage wasn’t using me, that he does love me the way I love him.”

“Can I ask you a personal question that’s none of my business?”

Seren rubbed a hand over her belly as she bobbed her head and smiled, though her eyes were still watery. “Of course. I fully plan on us becoming friends, so ask away.”

“Why do you call your mate by his last name?”

“Cage?” Seren blinked, before a laugh bubbled out of her. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I just… do. I call him Cage when it’s not just the two of us, and he calls me wife. When we’re alone…” A grin lit up her face. “He calls me baby, and I call him husband. It’s funny, I’ve never thought about it before. I guess it’s because we want something just between us, if that makes sense.”

“It does,” Shelby murmured. “So how did you know Adrian was the one? How did the two of you decide all the outside forces aside, you’d find a way to make it work?”

Seren laughed. “It took us two hours after our very first meeting to decide we wanted each other, and would do whatever it took to make it work. He decided it meant taking control over the fractured Hunter world, and facing off with the dragons I cared about most. There are three people in the world Adrian loves–me, our baby, and his sister, so when he decides he wants something, he’ll take on any force in the world to make them safe and his.” She smiled. “That man has a possessive streak a mile wide. When he knew I wanted him, he would have destroyed any force that tried to stop me.”

“So he wasn’t worried about you coming from two different worlds?”

“No, he was.” Her smile faded a little around the edges. “It got worse when we realized I was pregnant. Honestly, as long as my father’s alive, I don’t think Adrian will ever be able to relax.”

Shelby turned her head to rest her cheek on her knee. She couldn’t explain how good it felt to have someone to voice her greatest fears to about Daniel. Someone she could trust. “He went to war because I’m not safe. Who does that? Who wages war over their girlfriend’s safety?”

“Dragons and Hunters.” When she blinked, Seren reached over and covered her hand with her own. “These men know the kind of horrors and pure evil that is out there. Dragons were created to watch over humans, while the Hunters were created to keep us from taking over the world after my father’s sanity started to slip, followed by other power-mad dragon lords. Both sides were created to defend and protect, and with nothing else to fight, they’ve continued to destroy each other. If there’s one thing you need to know about this world, it’s that your safety will come first before anything else in Daniel’s life. The idea of you ever being scared is not something he will ever accept, and he will kill anything that puts you in danger. No questions asked.”

Shelby shifted her gaze to stare across the room. There was no doubt in her head that Daniel had changed since she’d told him she loved him. A sudden smile tugged at her mouth. “I’ll have to cut back on the acting.”

Confusion flickered over Seren’s face. “Don’t you love it?”

“No,” she laughed softly, “Not really.” She lifted her head to look at Seren. “I can live without it. It’s not part of me, but Daniel… I don’t want to live without him.”

Seren nodded, then canted her head. “What would you do if you weren’t acting?”

“Anything,” she said immediately on a laugh, “and everything. Learn how to cook, garden, see how I feel about housework. Take art classes, learn yoga, and find out if I have any talents beyond acting.”

“Kids?”

The word brought Shelby up short.

Seren raised a brow. “Do you want children?”

Shelby suddenly couldn’t breathe as the image of her being pregnant with Daniel’s child became the only thing she could see. She had no idea how he’d feel about being a father, but as much as she wanted Daniel with all of her heart, she knew he’d be a wonderful dad. She so very, very much wanted to find out.

Tears stung her eyes. “I’ve never thought about children before, but I want to be a mom. I want to bake cookies. I want to pack lunches and watch Daniel teach them how to ride a bike.” A thought occurred to her, and her eyes went wide. “Would our children be dragons? Would they be able to fly? Can you imagine Daniel teaching a little boy with his silver eyes how to fly?” She squeezed her eyes shut as a tear fell over. God, she wanted that picture. She wanted that life.

Seren stood up slowly, leaving her teacup on the edge of the tub and held her hand out for Shelby’s. “Then you know how to start convincing Daniel to see things your way.” She winked at Shelby as they got to their feet. “Daniel loves you. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be tearing himself up about this still. He doesn’t want you to sacrifice anything for him.”

As they stepped out of the bathroom Gabriel was leaning against the wall directly across from them, a dark scowl on his face. “I heard tears,” he accused.

“I’m pregnant.” Seren leaned up to kiss the giant’s cheek. “I do tend to cry over every little thing.”

The corner of his mouth lifted in what Shelby thought might be his attempt at a smile. “Dinner is ready,” was all he said, as he turned and stalked down the hallway.