Chapter Twenty-Three
Jacob pierced the clouds and soared low over The Minch, a strait separating the Inner Hebrides from the Outer, and then swung around the Orkney Islands to the North Sea and the coast. He didn’t care who saw him flying. They’d never have proof, a fact they’d learned from Ivy.
He was happy Red’s blood had been able to alter River’s sister. He’d do everything he could to stop Red from turning anyone else, and mend what he’d broken with Garion. He’d just discovered that belonging to a family had been his heart’s desire. He wasn’t about to start losing members of it now.
He tried to keep his thoughts on Red, but River seeped into every corner of his mind like a mist, dousing every fire inside him but the one that burned for her. If he’d lost her, he’d win her back. If she chose not to be transformed, he would live each day with her until it was their last, making her happy, helping her make her dreams come true.
Where are you guys? He reached out to Helena and Garion after surveying the sky and the coastline of St. Combs Beach.
I just passed the Isle of May, his brother-in-law informed him. Helena stayed in Arran with Ellie. Anything from Red?
Garion’s brevity fell upon him like a sharpened sword. No, nothing, Jacob told him. Listen Garion—
I’d really rather not, his brother-in-law cut him off. We need to stay focused.
We will, Jacob said. This will only take a second. Ivy, who had not been dead as we believed, was taking her last breaths. River was listening to her sister die. I was losing them both. My family…my treasure. I can only hope you would do the same for Helena.
It was quiet for a little while. There was nothing more to say. Garion either understood and could forgive him, or not.
Jacob landed on the sandy shore and looked around. He saw a small stone shed with a square hole for a window a short way down the coastline. He lifted his spiked head to sniff the air.
Jake, Garion’s voice sounded in his ears, quiet, softer. I would.
Yeah, Jacob answered happily, not really surprised but glad to hear it. Things would be okay with Garion.
He stuck his head inside the dark shed and smelled the place. He picked up a slight trace of urine and something else, possibly Drakkon.
Jake! Garion’s voice rumbled through his head. He’s flying! He’s heading toward St. Combs Beach. I’ll be there in five minutes!
Jacob altered and stepped into the shed. He bent to his knees and looked outside the square window at the sky. He saw nothing but clouds for a moment or two and was about to turn his attention to a large duffle bag in the shadows. Something reddish-gold flashed against the sun.
He’s here, Jacob sent to Garion.
Crimson wings painted the sky as the Red dipped below the clouds and flew toward the shore a half-mile north.
Jacob wasted no time but leaped from the window and into the sky. He spread his wings, momentarily blocking the shed from the sun, and then set off after Red. He hoped to catch him as he landed and altered. One bite was all it would take. Though the thought sickened him and pulled him toward humanity, he resisted. Right now, he had to be Drakkon.
He spotted his prey landing along a rocky incline. The air changed and the Red shimmered into dust, leaving a man behind.
Triumph brought a snarl to Jacob’s mouth. He pulled his wings in close and dove toward Red, his jaws spreading wide. This was for Graham and Noah, and for all the pain he caused River.
Jeremy turned just several seconds before he lost his head. Eyes wide with surprise and horror, he threw himself to the ground, rolled, and came back up breathing fire.
Damn it, Jacob thought, diving into the water to avoid the flames. When Red’s fire was gone, Jacob came back up and met him in the air. He snapped his twelve-inch fangs at Red’s face. He caught the Drakkon’s snout and bit down but he couldn’t pierce Drakkon’s scales. It was their armor, only penetrable with pure gold.
Red swished his spaded tail and nearly hit Jacob in the ribs. They separated in the sky and then flew at each other again.
Jacob recalled what Garion had told him. If Red was Drakkon they should forget his head and go for his wings. Take him down. Kill him while he altered. Jacob tried to swing his neck around and bite but Red’s clicking fangs near his eyes stopped him.
Having both his arms gave Jacob the advantage. He swiped his razor sharp claws at Red’s face then used the power in his thighs to kick Red in the belly. Blood-red wings flapped unevenly while Red tumbled backward.
Jacob sensed Garion close and turned to see him almost upon them. Red had no time to fly out of the way when Garion smashed into him, knocking him twenty feet away.
Red altered into a man for just a second as pain coursed through him. His scales returned almost instantly and he held back Jacob’s teeth with a kick that sent Jacob sprawling.
Garion attacked, biting at Red’s wings, but Red fought furiously and got away. He flew for the ocean and dove deep within its churning waves. Garion followed, disappearing beneath the surface.
Jacob waited in the air. Red would have to come up at some point. Drakkon weren’t designed to breathe under water for longer than fifteen minutes. He’d be hot on Red’s tail when he came up.
Sooner than he expected, Red broke through the surface like an arrow shot from some fiery pit and landed where Jacob had come in.
Jacob took off after him and heard Garion erupt from the sea next. He’s going for the shed. I saw a bag in the corner.
A weapon maybe, Garion said, passing him with a mighty flap. Be careful.
Right. Why didn’t we bring any? Jacob asked as Red reached the shed moments before them, altered, and disappeared into the enclosure.
Garion didn’t wait to see what he was up to inside. He flew into the stone walls with the weight of his body, protected by his armor. He clutched the rooftop with his mighty talons and tore the stones away.
Red leaped out of the rubble with a shotgun pointed up. He shot the first thing he saw.
Jacob felt the sting of the gold bullet penetrating his scales, his muscle and deeper. He was turning. He tried to hold on until the fall wouldn’t hurt him further. He wouldn’t die, but he’d be helpless for the next three minutes while his body healed.
He heard another shot and watched Garion go down in the next instant.
This wasn’t happening. They couldn’t lose him. They couldn’t waste time healing while he was out there altering descendants.
When Red tossed the shotgun away and altered back to Drakkon, Jacob realized they might not get the chance to hunt him again. Red could eat them—
Was that an Aqua he saw flying over Red’s scaly shoulder? What the hell? Who the hell was it?
Jacob.
River. His heart raced, pumping blood from his wounds. He had to stay conscious. Is that…Ivy? he asked, hoping he was dreaming. Ivy couldn’t fight Red! Where are you?
Hitching a ride.
Oh no. Hell, no! She was on Ivy’s back? Was she crazy? River, what the hell—
How do I cut off its head? River asked over him. I have the sword Garion left at the house. Hurry!
Ivy was getting closer to Red. Red was getting closer to him and Garion. Any minute now, Red would sense her and turn his head to see her, or open his mouth and have the two pesky men for lunch.
He tried to change, but this time it wasn’t up to his will. He didn’t have three minutes.
His wings! He told her quickly. Ivy needs to bite off his damn wing. Then, when he falls, you cut off his head. But River—
He didn’t want her to be the one to do it. What she was doing was madness—riding a Drakkon to fight another Drakkon when she was mortal! He should have altered her, then if Red—
Garion, Red said, pressing his nose to Garion’s bloody chest. I wish things could have been different between us. But you were selfish. You wanted all this power for yourself. Well, guess what? I don’t need your blood anymore.
I know, Garion replied.
Jacob was glad his eyes were open so he could witness the perplexed arch of Red’s spiked brow an instant before the Aqua swooped in and sank her fangs into the base of his leathery wing. She managed to avoid his swinging tail and didn’t let go until she tore it from his shoulder.
Jacob’s heart leaped at the sight of Red falling to the ground, a Drakkon stripped of flight, a man defeated.
He sat up a moment later in dreadful anticipation when Ivy landed near him and River jumped from the nook between her sister’s shoulders. “I told you I’d kill you,” she said while her sister held him down with her claw and she lifted the sword high above her head. “This is how it’s done.”
She brought the blade down with all her strength, her flaming hair swinging around her face, and swiped off his head in one blow.
Jacob wanted to lie back and breathe with such relief it made him lightheaded. But he couldn’t take his eyes off her. His warrior life mate. She’d be a formidable Drakkon. Taking her to the stars in the ancient dance of the beast was almost too tempting to fight off.
She turned to look at him and the bloody holes in his belly. She knew he’d live but he knew it looked bad when her eyes filled with tears. I almost lost you. She dropped the sword and went to her Drakkon sister, who sat on her haunches, waiting for her. With a shrug of Ivy’s scaled shoulders, two robes fell to the ground. River picked them up and tossed one to Garion and then went to Jacob.
She covered his lap with the robe and then went to her knees before him and stared into his level, loving gaze. “When I saw you lying here…” She stopped and ran her shimmering gaze over his belly, “all I could think was how glad I was that you hadn’t turned me. I imagined an eternity without you…and I’d rather die now.”
He looked into her eyes and struggled to keep his disappointment concealed from her. Was this it then? She didn’t want to be Drakkon? He closed his eyes and lay back down, letting his body recover. His heart never would when he lost her. “I understand.”
She leaned down over him and whispered close to his mouth. “So do I, that’s why I want you to turn me.” She offered him an intimate smile when he opened his eyes and looked into hers. “Later.”
*
Later couldn’t come soon enough for Jacob.
Still, he had to admit that sitting at the dinner table in River’s kitchen, crammed as they were with the addition of Garion’s sister, El, was the only thing he’d rather be doing if he couldn’t be alone with River.
Garion didn’t argue when Jacob told him he was going to alter River. Your sister doesn’t want you to ever be alone again. Neither do I, he told Jacob instead.
Things between them were restored. Jacob was glad. He loved the quiet Gold. He sent a silent thank you to his sister, knowing it was she who’d convinced her husband to accept it. The sky was going to change. It was the purpose for which Garion had been born.
They’d broken the news gently to Hagan Wray that Ivy was a Drakkon and River had chosen to be one, as well. He took it better than they had expected.
“I’ve lived with one in my head for the last twenty-two years, children,” he told them. “I knew it was real. None could convince me otherwise. It wasn’t the dragon that hurt me though. It was everyone else. Now, a dragon—Drakkon,” he corrected with a smile aimed at Jacob, “has vindicated me before my accusers and brought a truth to the light which I should not have kept to myself.” He turned his warm gaze on his daughters. “I’ve always known my girls were strong and fierce, even if they didn’t always know it. If they want to be Drakkons, I have no problems with it.” He made a toast to Graham and Noah that made Ivy cry. River was there to comfort her.
“Yes,” Garion’s sister, El, sighed, aiming her large, luminous, turquoise gaze at her brother. “Not all of us will live forever.”
Garion rolled his eyes and continued eating.
“When are you going to turn me, Garion?” El slapped her hand down on the table, frustrated with him yet again. “I don’t need your blood anymore,” she threw at him and turned to Jacob.
He smiled. He liked El. She was strong-minded and almost as arrogant as her father. “Don’t look at me,” he told her.
She turned to Helena, who also refused. They were loyal to Garion’s wishes.
Finally, she looked at Ivy and smiled.
“If Garion says no, then it’s no,” Ivy told her.
Garion smiled at her from across the table.
El dropped her chin into her hand and sighed. “I should have let Jeremy find me.”
“Why didn’t you?” Garion asked and handed a piece of salmon to Carina in his lap.
“Because I didn’t want that creep to alter me. I want my brother to do it. How can you continue to deny me when everyone around me is Drakkon? I swear, I feel like the least important person in your life.”
Garion stopped eating. Jacob sensed his brother-in-law’s resolve faltering and smiled. As far as important people in Garion’s life went, it was Helena and then El and then everyone after them. El knew it but she also knew how to play with his emotions.
“I’ll think about it,” he finally gave in.
She nearly flew out of her chair and flung her arms around his neck.
Caught up in their warm affection, Jacob pulled River closer. He still couldn’t believe what she’d done today. She’d saved him and Garion from a Drakkon. She’d saved everyone else, too. She could have lost her life and yet, she did it. She radiated with confidence. The longing he’d seen in her eyes when they had first met in the shop was gone. Was he the fulfillment of her longing, as she was to him? Or did it have to do with what straightened her shoulders and made her look ready for anything?
It’s you, my love, she answered his thoughts, now privy to them whenever she chose to be. You are what I’ve longed for. You’re my closest, closest friend who knows me better than I know myself. The man I love and adore above all else. I want to spend eternity with you.
His heart felt as if it burst into stardust and then formed again. As crazy as it was, he had Red to thank for bringing them together. Though, he wasn’t certain he could have stayed away to begin with. She’d shined like a light that first day on the crags, and only grew brighter from then on, until all he could see was her.
Her scent enveloped him now. Desire made his blood burn. He wanted to turn her. He ached to do it. He was tired of waiting.
He gently touched her thoughts. Let’s go take a walk.
What will we tell—
Jacob stood up from his chair, bringing River with him. “We’re going for a walk.”
“To…ehm…” River paused to smile at her father while Jacob tugged her hand, “discuss our…wedding.”
Right? She turned to him and asked silently when he finally stopped pulling and stared at her.
Right, he agreed, letting his smile spread over her.
Everyone jumped out of their chairs to congratulate them even though almost everyone there knew they were life mates. Jacob had to fend his sister off three separate times when she tried to haul River away to discuss the wedding plans.
“Oh! You should do it at my parents’!” El suggested. “River, you’d love it. They live in a beautiful castle in—”
“Or, we can plan something in Italy!” Helena wouldn’t give up.
“We’ll decide and let you know,” Jacob told them and blocked out the chirping voices of his sister, El, and Ivy. Poor Garion and Hagan he thought as he hurried out of the house with his love, ready to see her in her full, radiant glory.
*
Darkness settled over Camasunary Bay. The sound of waves rolling in along the shore blended with Jacob’s short, shallow breaths against her ear, her chin, her lips.
They lay naked beneath the stars, entangled in each other’s arms and legs, touching, kissing, laughing as their passion swelled.
River gazed into his eyes while she made love to him. They spoke to her, revealing his heart and how deeply he loved her, how precious and beautiful she was to him.
“I wonder how I lived before I met you,” Jacob’s heavy, languid voice fell over her ears like mesmerizing music. “You’ve awakened me, just as you did that early winter morning. Now, I feel everything.” He quirked his mouth at her and thrust again.
“You were extraordinary today,” he told her on a low growl, moving his fingers through her hair, over her features. He licked the seam of her mouth then bit her lip and drove himself into her again. “Fearsome and sexy as hell.”
Every part of her screamed out for release. He commanded her muscles to respond to his slow, salacious movements. She clenched him tighter, rubbed herself against him as he sank deep and then retreated. She smiled and spread her tongue where he’d licked her mouth. He dipped his face and bit her chin. She pulled his hair loose from its clip and watched his silky locks fall around his face. “Tell me how I won your heart,” she whispered against his lips and lifted her legs high around him.
“It was your strength to battle fear and win.” He kissed her bottom lip, pressing his hips to hers. “Your courage to stand before a Drakkon and offer it a deal.” He smiled into her eyes and shifted his weight. She gasped, close to release. “It was the music you played to my soul that made the stars lose their glimmer.” He ran his tongue down her throat and whispered over her goose-fleshed skin. “It was the look of you, the scent of you, the way you sound to my ears and in my head. I’m never letting you go.”
After her teary climax in his arms, he held her close and whispered against her ear. “Are you ready to make this eternal, my love?”
She nodded, staying where she was while he sat up. She was ready to spend forever with him…and her sister. There was no denying it, she and Drakkon were written in the stars. He altered and peered down at her from his enormous eyes. Don’t be afraid, he sent her, holding up a razor sharp claw. It will heal quickly. He made a small slice above her left rib then cut himself on his right side and altered back into a man. He moved toward her and gathered her up to press their wounds together.
She didn’t feel anything but their hearts beating together, then she became aware that they were in perfect sync. Her vision also changed and Jacob’s fine chiseled features became clearer. “You smell good,” she told him and he smiled and kissed her while their blood mixed.
You’re Drakkon, he let her know. Just a moment to change your life forever.
You changed my life forever the moment I first saw you…both times, she assured him, reaching up to touch his face.
He kissed her fingers. “How do you feel?”
“Good.” She smiled. “Very good as a matter of fact.”
“Are you ready to fly?”
She was ready to fly. She wasn’t ready to turn. “I think so.”
He stood up and sent thoughts to her of flying with him, dancing to the stars with him. He altered in a flash of glimmering light and stepped back, beckoning her to the sky.
Her heart hammered in her chest at the thought of being Drakkon, of having scales and breathing fire. There wasn’t any pain, just a sense of coming apart. She almost altered twice but returned to her human form.
You can fly, my love. Go all the places you’ve dreamed of going.
I dream of being in your arms, she told him and burst forth in a flurry of scarlet wings tipped in aqua and traces of gold. She flapped wildly at first, lifting her ruby talons off the ground. She had talons! Wings! She was gigantic. Smaller than Jacob but not by much.
I knew you’d be a beautiful Drakkon, Jacob sent, flying to her and meeting her in the air. You take my breath away. My life mate. My treasure beyond all comprehension. They flew together, untethered to the cares of the world below. She sang to him, filling them both with the boundless joy of freedom. When her thoughts of making love to him again made her begin to shift and alter, he took her in his mighty, scaled arms. Take me as Drakkon and let me take you to the stars.
Her Drakkon form returned almost instantly and she snapped her great fangs at him when he coiled his tail around hers. He held her still for a moment while he penetrated her. She filled the sky with a loud, languid groan. The stars answered with music that made her dance.
Entwined in their limbs and tails, they rode the wind and twirled toward the stars in a vortex of iridescent light, four softly flapping wings, and the purity of love that brought them higher than either of them had ever dared to dream.