A Long Night

A Dante’s Circle Short Story

Author Note: A Long Night is a short story set in the Dante’s Circle World. It’s a peek into the lives of Eliana and Malik during a sleepless night. It’s best of you read their book, Prowled Darkness. (Dante’s Circle Book 7) first.

JONAH

I’ve lived through wars, palace coups, a battle that took my leg, heartache, and a man who had become my best friend falling in love and having a child. Yet tonight of all nights seemed to be one of the longest of my life.

Baby Penelope hadn’t slept two days, her tiny aching lungs screaming out in pain when they weren’t coughing. Her parents were beyond exhausted, and as much as they might not want me to, I knew it was time for me to step in.

Malik and Eliana’s child had her first cold.

Pen was almost a year old now and a fierce little lion cub. But even the strongest lion could be felled by a cold.

As could the cub’s parents. Malik was the strongest lion I knew, the King and Alpha of their Pride. Eliana was a Phoenix. She had literally risen from the ashes after saving her mate’s life.

And now, as I made my way through their living quarters in the large palace, I knew it was time to step in.

Malik and Eliana needed to ask for help. And though either of them could have asked anyone in the palace or in most of the other realms, they hadn’t. Pen was their child, and they would do anything for her.

So as Pen’s protector and Malik’s second, I would do what they couldn’t.

I would let them sleep.

I walked into the nursery and held back a sigh. The room had been decorated in soft creams and yellows with bees and giraffes dotting the landscape. Why Eliana had decided to decorate a lion cub’s room with prey was beyond me, but my Queen had an odd sense of humor. And whatever made Eliana happy, in turn seemed to make Malik happy.

Currently, my Queen was pacing back and forth with a very angry baby in her arms. She murmured sweet words to Pen, but nothing worked. Malik paced with her, a frown on his face as he followed his mate and child.

“Jonah,” Malik said, his voice a little hoarse. “What are you doing here? It’s your night off.”

I just shook my head and held out my arms. “Give me my charge and get some sleep.”

Malik let out a growl. “We can take care of our daughter.”

Oh, lions. They just couldn’t let someone help.

As I was a lion myself, I could understand that. But enough was enough.

“You are exhausted and must meet with the Djinn tomorrow. You only have about eight hours left and you need to get some sleep. Let me hold the baby and you go hold your mate. You can trust me.”

I’d added that last part on purpose, of course. Nothing got Malik riled up like mentioning trust and honor.

“How could you doubt my trust?” Malik roared. He was a lion, after all.

And because her daddy had roared, little Penelope had to roar, as well. Only hers came out as a cough, and Eliana started crying.

She quickly wiped her face and handed her child over to me. The strength of this mother always awed me, and tonight was no different.

“I don’t know what to do,” Eliana said, her tears drying. Seriously, her grace and strength surprised me daily. “The medicine is working, but not fast enough, and I hate to see her in pain.”

I nodded slowly while cradling Pen to my chest. “Pen senses you two are exhausted and hurting for her. Go to sleep and come back in the morning. You said it yourself, the medicine is working. It just takes time. Let me help.”

Eliana kissed my cheek, and that’s when I knew Malik was beyond exhausted. The other man hadn’t growled at the contact, and that told me about his state of mind more than anything.

Each of them kissed Pen’s head before staggering away to their bedroom. I hoped they just fell into bed and slept for as long as possible. They truly needed it.

Now alone with my charge, I rocked back and forth with Pen in my arms. I wasn’t the baby whisperer, and there were countless others that could do a better job than a lion with one leg and scars covering his body.

But I was here, and now I could at least take the burden off my friends’ shoulders.

“I would sing to you, little one, but I don’t want you to cry harder,” I whispered.

Pen kept sniffling, but she had stopped screaming. That was a plus, at least. Her face was a blotchy red, and she had snot and tears running down her face, but she was still the most adorable baby I’d ever seen.

She tugged on my beard, and I held back my wince. She could pull as hard as she wanted as long as she gave her lungs a break. When she was distracted, I quickly moved to the changing table and wiped her face. She kept blinking up at me with wide eyes and opened her mouth to perhaps scream again.

As I didn’t want her to hurt those tiny lungs, I started speaking. She quieted immediately as I told her stories from my childhood and folk tales my mother had told me when I was a young cub.

Hours later, I found myself with my own voice hoarse and rocking in the rocking chair in the corner, but Pen was sleeping soundly in my arms.

Of course, she wasn’t exactly how her parents had left her.

“She shifted!” Eliana exclaimed as she rushed in. “I didn’t know she needed to shift.”

She hovered over me, and I handed over her cub, exhausted myself, but happy I could help if only for a night. She held Pen close, though the cub slept on. Malik walked in, a carafe of coffee in his hands, as well as three large mugs. His eyes widened at the sight of a lion cub in Eliana’s arms, but he seemed to recover before Eliana looked at him. Now pride radiated off his face, and I knew they would be okay.

Bones achy and in need of a nap myself, I stood up. “She’s been sleeping for a while now and should continue to do so.”

Malik hugged me close, and I sighed. It was good to be able to help my friends. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but think nothing of it. I would like to think that one day if I find my mate and have a child as precious as yours, you would do the same.”

Eliana blinked wet eyes at me. “Of course, Jonah. You don’t even have to ask.”

And that was why we were best friends and trusted each other so simply. We never needed to ask. What was a long night after ages of having each other’s backs?

I laid a soft kiss on Pen’s sleeping head and limped my way out of the nursery. I had done my deed for the night, and perhaps one day, just one day, I’d find that peace of my own.