Chapter Three
The next morning passed without Ash’s presence to wish them safe travels. Despite her obvious dislike of him, Sigurd couldn’t help but feel let down by her lack of appearance. He found the perfect area, nestled at the base of the mountains where he could shift to his dragon form without much notice from the natives.
Hours later, he landed Dr. Kovak down on St. Ives island where Giresun Manor resided.
“I’ll never get used to flying Air Dragon.” Dr. Kovak staggered to regain his land legs. “I mean don’t get me wrong, it most certainly has its advantages, but I feel quite unbalanced going around a marry-go-round too fast for a bit afterward.”
He shouldn’t have taken the egg scientist so high up in the clouds, poor fellow had lost oxygen to his brain, but Sigurd wanted to make sure no one saw or followed them.
“Sorry I couldn’t accommodate you first class, Doctor.” Sigurd picked up Dr. Kovak’s pack after shifting back into his human form and led him up the path to the main house.
“Fascinating,” Dr. Kovak said from behind him. “You probably get an assortment of rare birds and other creatures migrating here.”
“You have no idea.” Sigurd spotted Blake and a moment later Emily stepped outside with a baby cradled in her arms.
“Pappa is here.” Emily bounced the infant in her arms rushing down the walk toward them.
“I’ve come too late, I see.” Dr. Kovak put down his travel pack. Instead of hugging his daughter, he took her by the shoulders and kissed her face, one cheek then the other. Blake stood back, held reserve, and waited for the egg scientist to acknowledge him. None came. Dr. Kovak pulled back the thin flannel swatch of cloth cradling the child in Emily’s arms.
“I told him it would be a girl. The egg was elongated and pearled.”
Dr. Kovak’s eyes lit up as if his daughter had offered him the sweetest thing in the world. “And you. Are you, all right? I was told the egg fused to your skin.”
Emily looked back over her shoulder. Blake stepped up beside her and she handed the infant to him. In a blink of an eye the baby shifted and became a bundle of pale gold with a stubby little tail pointing out and the baby sucked it into her little snouted mouth.
Dr. Kovak watched, fascinated. Sigurd had no words. He’d seen a handful of dragon fiú, and none could compare to this one. Precious maybe. Invaluable, definitely.
Emily pulled up her shirt and showed her father the faint scars from where the egg had burned a seal to fuse to her skin.
“You’re scarred,” Dr. Kovak said.
“No more than a mother’s stretch mark,” Emily explained with a laugh. “At least she won’t be able to deny I am her mother, after all I have the marks to prove she was part of me.”
Blake shifted the baby in his arms and Emily leaned into him. “Welcome to my home, Dr. Kovak. I’m Blake Beuwolf, Lord of Giresun Manor.”
“Ah. Yes. You are the dragon who has claimed my daughter as his mate.”
Sigurd stepped back, not one for getting involved in family matters. He picked up Dr. Kovak’s travel pack and stood to the side.
“I brought great trouble to our family. I’m sorry, Pappa.” Emily twisted the hem of her shirt in her hands.
“Our troubles did not start with you. They started when your mother’s sister over stepped her bounds. I fear there are some in our society who have been blind to Margaret’s leadership. She does not follow the code of the Keepers, nor does she abide by the rules of the dragons who placed us in their eternal service. This is only the beginning. I believe a battle has been brewing and a challenge to the ways as we know them is under way.”
“So, we are to go to war then? I thought you blokes were the ones ensuring our existence in the world.” Sigurd tossed Dr. Kovak’s pack over his shoulder.
“When it comes to Margaret Moldvan, I doubt anything less than a war will solve the predicament we now find ourselves in.”
“Let us not stand around and talk of this now. Emily has refreshments ready out on the patio and Sigurd can take your things to your room. Unless, that is, if you’d like to rest first after your flight?” Blake juggled the squirming baby dragon in his arms, she lost her diaper in the shift, and Emily reached over to take the babe.
Sigurd followed them inside. At Blake’s instruction he set the egg scientist’s bag in one of the upstairs guest rooms. Famished, he headed for the kitchen and raided the refrigerator. With his arms stacked high with leftovers and lunch meats he turned and dumped them on the counter.
“Whoa there boy, you’ll empty the fridge and I’ll have Emily after me again for going to the market.” Bogdan flipped back his dirty blond hair. Not as dark or nearly as sexy as Ashlyn Sullivan. He’d almost pushed the voluminous dragoness from his mind for a moment. His stomach grumbled in protest, he started to make himself a triple decker sandwich. “Naomi is still with Garth?”
Naomi and Garth had come to stay at Giresun Manor to help oversee the island and watch over the baby that now hatched and was being held in Emily’s arms. Garth had been injured in a fight with one of their own, Olaus, an elder dragon of the manor.
“She’s dead, man.”
Sigurd almost dropped the mustard. “Dead? What happened? I’m gone a few days and all hell breaks loose?”
Bogdan leaned back against the kitchen counter. “She attacked Emily and tried to take little Aurelia.”
“But for Blake to kill her?” Sigurd didn’t feel so famished anymore.
“Nah, dude. Garth landed the blow. Now we’re not so sure Olaus is to blame for the egg snatching thing.”
“That’s rough.” Sigurd didn’t wish harm to Naomi. She hadn’t been bad to him. Neither had she been the cozy, friendly sort of housekeeper, but she’d been Garth’s mate and one of the dragon bloods. He looked down at the half-made tier of his sandwich.
“What’s rough is hearing little Amelia squall at night. If I didn’t need to stay here to help secure this place, I’d run off to Rainsburg with the fury, Jacques and hang for a bit.”
“He’s right enough there. This Margaret is a piece of work. Got her mitts into a bit of everything. I’m headed back to the hatchery to keep an eye out while Emily’s father has a visit. Perhaps you can bring him back when he’s ready, then?”
Bogdan stroked the bit of dark fuzz growing on his chin. “Aye. Are there dragon eggs there, too, we need to protect?”
“There’s a whole lot of them, more wild bird variety than dragon that I saw.”
“Unless the Moldvan bitch has gotten her hands on them already.”
“Not if I’ve anything to do about it. Dr. Kovak left his other daughter there, but even so, I plan on going back to ensure the hatchery stays secure in his absence.”
“Ah.” Bogdan pushed off from the counter. “You’re after Emily’s sister?”
“She’s not like other girls,” Sigurd said.
“Not fawning over you, is she?” Bogdan wiggled his brows.
“She’s not human.”
Bogdan’s eye brows rose.
“She’s one of us. Only she’s hot and she doesn’t know it.” Sigurd took a knife and cut his sandwich in half.
“And you think she’s the one?”
“Obvious, is it?”
“Aye. You’ve the look of a dragon who has found his mate. First Blake, and Edmund’s took to hiding with a lass, and now you. Will I be the only bloody bachelor left among us?”
“You can always go hang with our new furry friend at the flat in Rainsburg.” Sigurd picked up a piece of his sandwich and Bogdan snatched the other half.
“Hey!”
“Appetizer. I suspect you’ll need a full course to refuel before your flight back.” Bogdan bit down and chewed. A moment later he made a face. “What did you put in this?”
“A shake or two of roasted hot pepper.” Sigurd tried not to laugh. “Can’t take the heat?”
“It isn’t me I’m worried about. Be careful you don’t get yourself burnt.” Bogdan took another bite of the sandwich, turned and left Sigurd in the kitchen.
Thinking of heading back to the redhead at the hatchery suddenly kicked started his appetite once again.