Chapter Eighteen
Niko whistled quietly as he carefully heated the prong in the torch and bent it up to hold the diamond in place.
Six prongs for this diamond, surrounded by darkest blue trillium cut sapphires. Each of those trailed off into smaller and smaller diamonds, and the sides of the ring were perfectly flat, so it could not get caught on anything when Betsy wore it.
Aaron nodded. “That has got to be one of the most beautiful pieces you’ve ever done. The filigree crisscross is perfect. And that diamond is something else.”
Niko turned on the true white light on, and the diamond’s shine filled the room. “She may not wear this for years, but I had to finish it. It was a compulsion.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know…” Aaron waved him off. “I’m glad this is all working out. I gotta apologize for being a dick to you.”
“I wasn’t exactly Mister Sunshine to you.” Niko stuck a hand out. “Call it even.”
Aaron shook his head. “Done.”
“I really want to see this on her hand.”
The leprechaun snorted. “Dude, she’s human, no matter what talent she has. You have to give her time.”
Niko smiled. “Immortality has its advantages.”
“Hey. You’re the first dragon to find his mate since I’ve been here. That’s cool. So, how does it work? I mean, do you bite her and she’s a dragon too?”
“Are you really that ridiculous?”
“What?”
“I’m a dragon shifter, not a vampire, jackass. No, she doesn’t turn into a dragon.” He shook his head. “Works like what I’d expect most magical creatures mating or binding works like. You get naked, have sex, and exchange a touch of blood and make sure your element is represented. I was going to suggest a romantic bath when she says she’s ready.”
Rubbing a hand down his face, Aaron groaned. “Always with the sex. Does it have to be only during sex?”
“I… don’t know. That’s the way I was taught. Don’t you bond during sex?”
“No. We have blessed gold thread. The couple blesses their offering to the other, and it lies in the light of the moon for one cycle. It’s cleansed with sage, washed in flowing water, then offered to their intended. Under the light of the next full moon, the couple takes their thread, grasps arms, and has the clan leader bind their hands together. Once all the thread is used in binding, the other finger is pricked and to each other at the end of the thread. Then, you’re bound.”
Niko raised an eyebrow. “And you just complained about sex? I think I’d rather have my way.”
“Me too, because during the time you’re doing this? No sex.”
With snort, Niko stood. “Pass.”
“Says the freshly laid dragon.”
He let out a snort, and to his shock a puff of smoke curled out of his nostrils.
Aaron jumped back. “What the hell was that? I thought you didn’t have fire in human form.”
“I don’t!” Niko waved the smoke away in alarm. “I’m not supposed to have it. That wasn’t fire.”
“Dude, where there’s smoke.” Aaron stared at him. “Is it something you get after you’re mated or in the process of mating or finally have sex?”
“How the hell should I know? I’m kinda winging a lot of this.”
“No pun intended?”
“Screw off.”
The door out front chimed, and Aaron held up a finger to stop the conversation and help the customer. Niko was very concerned. He’d only ever had fire in his dragon form, and it wasn’t very useful when he could only be a dragon in water.
A shout, a shot, and the crash of glass pulled Niko out of his work and shot him across the back room and out to the main showroom.
Right into a nightmare.
There were two men, both with guns. One was smashing cases, and one had pistol whipped Aaron unconscious and tossed him out of the way. Before he could get a decent look at what was going on, and what they were pulling from the cases, the taller of the two was in his face, wearing balaclava, and holding a gun to his forehead.
Niko was painfully aware that immortal didn’t mean impervious to death.
“Take everything. I don’t care. It’s all yours.”
“The big diamond. Where it is?”
“What? All of my loose diamonds are in the display case—”
“No. The big diamond. The fancy one, that you sent away for.”
Niko wanted to scream. There were only two people in town who knew about the diamond and one of them was unconscious.
Finally, he saw the third figure—also wearing a balaclava—standing back, holding a pillow case as the shorter of the two men scooped the necklaces into the bag. There was no mistaking her scent now that he’d caught it.
She still smelled of sex and coffee.
Niko could feel his heart breaking as Betsy resolutely did not meet his eyes. He slumped, the cold of the gun’s steel finding its way into his soul. “Back here. It’s just finished being set.”
Without feeling, without any purpose to his life anymore, he walked to the back. The ring sat exactly where he had placed it just moments before. It gleamed and shimmered in the white light, but now was devoid of meaning.
“Sweet shit, she wasn’t kidding.” The masked man grabbed the ring and shoved it in his pocket. “You got any daytime alarms?”
Niko shook his head. “Just me and a dedicated police dial button.”
“Back out front with you.” He shoved Niko to the door and back into the main part of the store. “Your girl there was right, bro. This thing is impressive. You almost done?”
“Just the last few rings.”
The sounds of the rings dropping into the case was a dead, dull thud instead of the tinkling sound he usually heard and enjoyed. His dragon was riled, too, at the sound. But finally, and ironically, he now had enough control to keep it in check. Niko slammed the dragon down and shut it up.
There was no changing this course now.
He watched as the woman, his Betsy, agapi̱té éna, twisted the bag closed and handed it over to the shorter of the two men, who had to be Wyatt. He stared at her, willing her to look up at him, willing her to turn her head and just look. Just look at him.
One last time. The last chance to see her pretty brown eyes.
But she wouldn’t do it. She stared hard anywhere but at him. The floor, his back, the ceiling, the bag, the door. Anything. Just not him.
“This is it?” the shorter one asked.
“That’s it.” There was no mistaking her voice.
“All right, let’s get out of here. Come, bro. We’re gone.”
Wyatt grabbed Betsy by the arm and dragged her out of the building. Niko stared at her. Was she really doing this? Was she really going to just leave him after…
She looked up and caught his eye, finally. Her eyes were filled with tears.
It was the last thing he saw before the gun came down on his temple and he blacked out.
* * *
He rolled to the side and vomited, heavily. At least one set of feet came running at him that he could hear.
“Nikomedes? Can you hear me?”
He fluttered his eye open, to the comforting and familiar voice. “Mom?”
“No, Niko, sweetie.”
His eyes finally focused. “Grandma?”
“Oh, thank God.” Her warm, soft hand brushed the hair from his forehead the way she had when he had been young. Her skin was paper thin, but soft, and she still smelled like Jean Naté and fresh cookies. “Niko?”
He hmmed, enjoying the comfort in her touch. So many times, while his mother was sick, his grandmother would take her place in his world. “Grandma.”
“You got hit very hard.”
And with his next breath, everything terrible that had happened came flooding back. It stole the breath he’d just taken. He gasped and wretched and threw up again.
“Niko, I need you to calm down.” That was another voice he knew well. Sia. The magical grandmother.
But wait—
His eyes flew open and he tried to sit up. It didn’t work, and he thumped back on the pillow hard, fighting nausea again.
“What the hell happened…”
“Pistol whipped you in the temple, son.” The burly bear shifter deputy, Ragnar, stepped into the room. Niko realized he was in the medical center. “We were getting worried. Even with… Well. We had North Woods Baptist on call with the medivac helicopter. Hit you real hard in that temple.”
A woman in a white lab coat shoved through and pushed everyone out of the way. “I need everyone except Dolores out. Sia, Ragnar, take all these people out.”
Ragnar gave the young woman a smile and herded all the spectators out. Niko was shocked how many people had crowded in; there were close to a dozen bodies led out.
The doctor’s face turned benevolent. “Good evening, Nikomedes. I’m glad to see your eyes open. I’m Doctor Willard and you had better than half this town scared shitless until just now.”
“What happened? Where’s Aaron?”
“Aaron is down the hall being released as we speak. A goose egg on his skull and nothing more.”
“Where’s…” He halted himself. Niko wasn’t sure what was going on yet. He didn’t want to give them his mate if he didn’t have to.
“The robbers?” Grandma offered the word.
“Ragnar will come back in a few to talk to you about it,” Willard said. “Meanwhile… I need to talk to you about your brain.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, nothing. Your skull was cracked and bleeding when you were brought in and by the time we got an X-ray, it was a fracture, and by the time I went to see you up, the skin had healed.”
“The bandage is a ruse.” His grandmother smiled at him and combed his hair out of his face with her fingers. “We have Ragnar fixing the reports tonight.”
Niko couldn’t stop himself from staring at his mother’s mother. “You…”
She waved her hand at him. “My family has been in Pine Valley as long as any magical being. My grandfather was the sheriff. You think he didn’t know what was going on?”
“You knew? About Dad?”
“I knew he had magic. I didn’t know he was a damned dragon, but I did know. Just like I know Doctor Willard here is a Thunderbird, which is why she does emergency medicine.”
The doctor nodded gracefully and his grandma smiled.
“Now, about you, grandson. Are you more composed? That was a bitch of an injury when I first saw it.”
Niko touched his temple. “I don’t remember… the hit took me out.”
Doctor Willard was next to him, checking the dressing and the wound. Seeming to be satisfied, she pulled the gauze away. “I’m still amazed at how well we all heal. This probably would have left a human in a coma for weeks.”
“When did you get here?” Niko asked. “I don’t remember the medical center having a magic wielder.”
“Of course you don’t. I was five years behind you in school,” Willard said. “I went to college at Geffin at UCLA. You would have never paid attention to me.” She clicked her pen. “It’s all good. My whole intention was to come back here and work at the medical center with the magicals who got stuck in the human system.” She patted his cheek. “And lucky for you, I just got back. I’ll write this up as a mistaken diagnosis by the EMTs. They’ll take no heat for it. You’ll have to spend the night and I can release you tomorrow.”
Niko nodded, touching the tender spot on the side of his head.
“Thank you, Grace. It’ll be nice to see you around again.”
“It’s nice to be back.” Willard nodded and headed out of the room, writing her orders up.
As soon as the door closed, Grandma was right next to his bed. “You know who did this.”
No question from Dolores Frommer. She was always a self-possessed and she had given him confidence through the years.
“Yes. I know.”
“Your store is destroyed.”
“I don’t even know that it matters…”
“Niko, that place is your life.”
Coughing, Niko blinked slowly. “It was. It was going to be.”
Dolores pulled up a chair. “What happened?”
He let out a huff, not shocked at the small cloud of smoke. Dolores swished it away and waited. “The three people who destroyed my store are named Wyatt, Wayne, and... Betsy. They made off with nearly everything in the store. And one very special stone. A mating stone. Betsy’s.”
“Good gravy, grandson. Your mate is a thief.”
“I thought she wasn’t. I thought she was going to turn around. We talked about it. She made me believe she was ready to stop running. I guess I’ve been duped.”
“Does Ragnar know who they are?”
“I doubt anyone doesn’t know who they are at this point.”
She caught his hand with hers. “Nikomedes. What happened?”
After a moment of thinking, Niko told her the whole story. From the first moment he sensed Betsy across the lake, to the moment he blacked out. Edited for consumption for his own grandmother.
There was no question that he saw tears in her eyes as he finished. “Oh, sweetness. She loves you so much. Do you really think she went with them willingly? Do you know how strong her sense of self-preservation is? She’s been living with these animals for years. She just wants to live, and she want to see you live as well.”
“I told her the stone was hers. From me, or by theft. I didn’t know she was going to take me at the very basic meaning of that.”
Dolores stood, patting his hand. “Take your night here, grandson. I will talk to the right people, and I will see what we can do to find her.”
“Don’t, Grandma. Don’t try to find her. She made her decision. I’ll get over it eventually.”
“You’re lying to me, Niko. You know I don’t like that.”
“I have to lie to you. How else am I going to lie to myself about this?”
Dolores took a deep breath. “I’ll be back tomorrow to help you home, grandson. Take the rest of the night to just sleep. It was a long day for you.”
“Grandma?”
“Yes?”
Niko turned and looked at her. “You’re looking very young for an eighty-six-year-old woman.”
Dolores looked shocked for just a moment, then smiled. “Should I tell you that Dolores Frommer is going to pass away soon?”
“No, you can tell me how you managed this.”
“Ah, well. You can meet my beau when you get out of here.”
“Oh, Jesus. It’s a vampire.”
“My daughter married a dragon. I can fall for a vampire. And yes, he is. Tomorrow, Niko. I’ll be back when Doctor Willard says you’re good to go without suspicion.”
“Thank you, Grandma.”
“Family, Nikomedes. Always comes first.”