Snowflake Unbound, page 6
She paused. “And before you ask, they know I am not a natural blonde.”
She kissed Jack’s jaw. “You boys figure it out. I am getting some garlic bread.”
She glanced back at her elite. “No fighting. There is a newborn in the house. I want voices low and everyone calm. That goes for all of you.”
Luna returned to the house, washed her hands, and headed to the dining table. Erik handed her the garlic bread, and she sat down, munching calmly.
Nikolai asked, “Why are the elite in my back yard?”
She mumbled, “Erik, cover your ears.”
He snorted and followed instructions.
“They were horny, and I am the most consistent piece of tail in the area.”
Nikolai blinked. “Jack knows?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Jack has never pursued me. He has no right to me, and he has surrendered the block, so I feel like I can breathe again. For that, I am grateful. Jack is now in negotiations for a sort of time-share.”
Alita frowned. “The dragon will share?”
Luna kept chewing on the garlic bread. “I have no idea. We will find out.” She tapped Erik’s arm, and he nodded and lowered his hands.
Nikolai grinned. “She knows you can hear through them, right?”
Luna shrugged and got herself some chicken linguine alfredo. “It was our way of saying that I didn’t mean to offend him or degrade myself when discussing things frankly.”
She managed to get a pretty solid amount of food in before Jack returned.
“Luna, may we have a word with you?”
She slurped up her forkful of spaghetti, wiped her mouth, and stole Erik’s soda. “Mom tax.”
Alita grinned. “I hope I am like that with my son when he is that age.”
Luna winked. “You can even steal their clothes. Their sweatshirts are amazing.”
She got up, burped delicately, and put the soda down. She headed outside to find out what the boys had worked out on their own.
Jack slid an arm around her, and he walked with her to the elite, where they were standing in an arc.
Luna looked at the guys, and they all seemed calm.
Loki said, “We have come to an agreement.”
She brought her hands to her chest and said, “Oh, goody.”
He frowned. “Did you eat Italian? It always makes your sugars spike.”
Tim touched her cheek. “You look a little flushed.”
She waved his hands away. “I am fine. I needed to fortify myself or load up in case Jack tried to fly with me again. He was not going to get away with that unscathed.”
Jack chuckled. “Noted.”
She nodded. “So, decision?”
Loki nodded. “We have agreed to reduce when we call upon you and to make sure that we are in agreement as to timing. We will coordinate our schedules and then run them past you and still enjoy your company if you are amenable.”
“Well, I am no longer running with the same hunger, so the timing doesn’t matter.”
Loki nodded. “He has explained the block and its removal, and we would like to offer you something to bridge the gaps in your personal energies. Will you take them? Without sex... today.” He grinned.
“Is there a weird-ass IOU involved?” She had to ask.
Fenris chuckled. “Not this time.”
Tim grinned. “I’ll go first. This will go easier if you talk to us while we are kissing.”
She knew what he meant, but when he caught her up and kissed her, his tongue sliding along hers, she spoke, “You twit. Why are you kissing me?”
“Best way to transfer the power. A handshake is so impersonal.”
She pulled in the power he offered, and it settled inside her. “I can’t get used to that. I can keep it now.”
“You can? What a clever snowflake.”
“Stow it, Tim.”
His laughter in her mind remained until he set her on her feet. Her hands and feet were tingling. The next one took her in his arms, and she braced herself.
Chapter Six
Prior to this moment, she associated the scents of the elite with ozone, but Tim had tasted like cinnamon, and Loki tasted like spearmint. “Are you controlling yourself like a good girl?”
She chuckled. “Of course I am, plus I just had a lovely meeting with Jack. Oh, that takes me back, that tail of his.”
“You do like to be fully engaged, don’t you?”
“Wouldn’t you if you had the option?”
“No. Not particularly. That is why we sought out a charming female.”
“And you found me, poor guys.”
“We have... enjoyed your company, and we wish to continue it. Perpetually.”
Her eyes widened, and she pulled on his energy until he chuckled and cut off the supply. She slumped against him.
Fenris took her away from Loki and held her close for a moment. “Are you nice and steady?”
She chuckled. “Rarely. One to go.” She focused on keeping her mind blank.
He kissed her slowly, softly, making her lean into him. He opened his mouth and slid his tongue along hers, kissing her softly and deeply. “Why no chatter from you, Snowflake?”
“I am trying to keep myself together.”
“You are not doing a good job. I am getting flickers all over the place. I see a baby. Yours?”
She stilled.
He probed at her mind and battered away at her memories until she was hanging in his arms, and he had peeled her thoughts open. She heard shouting, and hands pried her away from Fenris, but she pulled hard on his energy until he staggered backward.
Luna glared at him. “Don’t you dare go after her.”
“I have a daughter?”
Jack scowled. “You had a daughter, Luna?”
“No, it wasn’t mine. Fenris did me a favour a few years ago and helped a friend who had been attacked by elite get over her fear. The product of that therapy is five years old and getting ready to start school.”
Fenris was shocked. “You have known for months.”
“Yes. But the elite don’t have the best track record with how they treat little girls.” Luna sighed. “And Sarah didn’t want you to know.”
Fenris blinked. “But, they are here. In town.”
“Yes. I will ask her if you can meet her daughter.”
“My daughter.”
She stroked his arm. “Yes.”
“Were you going to tell me?”
“Sarah is. She came back to a safe place for her where she could get protection and have resources to help her.”
“Ah, the book club you started. They are sheltering her?” Fenris had a curl to his lip. He couldn’t break the protections that the different betas could offer Sarah.
“They are. She’s safe. If you promise to ignore Estell, I will see if you can be introduced to her at Aurora’s introduction to our weird little group.”
He swallowed and looked at his companions. “I have a daughter.”
The guys congratulated him, and Jack looked at her. “Why do you know and he doesn’t?”
Luna looked at Fenris, and his cheeks pinked. “Simple. He thought she couldn’t get pregnant because she didn’t when she was attacked by six of his people.”
Jack needed further clarification. “You set her up... with him?”
“Yeah. He is the scariest-looking elite I know, but he also can go nice and slow when he has to, and with her, he had to.” Luna sighed. “She had been afraid of her own shadow, but she chose him as a method to get over her fear of being snatched off the streets by elite again. She’s been on her own since, so I am guessing it worked.”
Fenris looked at her with eyes blazing. “She was on her own?”
“A figure of speech. She was with a mentor who helped her get a job and a place to live. Even helped her with the baby until she was big enough to go into childcare.”
Fenris blinked. “She could not be with her?”
“I will ask her myself, but oh shit.”
Nora was driving toward them with another adult on the passenger side and a child in the back next to the baby seat.
Fenris was vibrating with tension when the woman in the front seat went around to get her daughter while Nora got hers and let the little girl run toward the house. She saw the elite after turning away from Nora, and the woman’s eyes widened. “Myka. To me.”
The little girl immediately paused and ran back toward her mother.
Luna walked to her and explained the situation. Sarah’s cheeks went from dark to pale in cycles.
“Oh. So, he wants to meet her?”
Luna smiled. “I would say that is an understatement. Hello, Myka.”
The little girl giggled shyly. “You have hair like me.”
Luna looked at the snow-white hair of the little girl and her vivid purple eyes. “Yeah. I do. Yours is prettier. It is like your mom’s.”
Sarah’s hair had gone white after the attack and stayed that way.
Sarah looked at her. “You have my back?”
“I do. If he grabs you, I will put him to the floor, but you have to be fast.”
Sarah nodded. “Right. Well, at least I only had one of them.”
Luna kept the power and fire accessible and roiling around inside her. Fenris tensed when Sarah walked up, and she looked up at him.
“You left something behind.”
He stared at her. “I... you didn’t tell me.”
“If you wanted to know, you would have left a number, a location, email address. Likely place to appear. You told me that it was one and done. Never happen again. A favour to Luna.” She smiled. “A favour to me, too. This is Myka. Myka, this is your father, Fenris.”
He looked at her and swallowed. He held out his hands. “May I?”
Sarah asked Myka. “Can he hold you?”
Myka shook her head and burrowed against Sarah. “Okay, baby. Do you want to go to Aunty Luna?”
Myka looked over and reached out her hands for Luna. “Please.”
Luna took the small girl and held her, walking away from Myka’s parents as they hashed things out.
Jack came close and smiled. “You look good with a baby in your arms. Did you want more?”
She sighed. “Where I was born, I was taught to want a dozen or more. I still wanted six when I was a teen, and when I knew Erik was all I would have, I settled on one shining star.”
“What if I could give you more?”
“My body barely responds to dragon fire anymore. I don’t think that it is likely it will happen.”
Nora went inside with a nod and her baby.
Myka tugged on her hair. “Is Momma talking to the men?”
Luna looked, and Fenris was hanging his head while Loki and Tim had earnest expressions.
Luna was about to go back, but Jack held her back. “Let them have a few minutes.”
Myka smiled. “Mom says that special people have hair like me when they aren’t old yet. Are you old?”
“More by the day, sweetling.”
Jack chuckled.
“Is this your man?” Myka looked at him. “He smiles a lot. Mom doesn’t have one, but she says some people do. Do you have a man?”
“She has four. Maybe three now.” Jack said. “And your mom may be getting one.”
Fenris had grabbed Sarah and was kissing her. There was a glow around them, and Sarah gradually put her hands on Fenris’s chest and let them creep upward. She moved toward him, and Luna turned and zapped Fenris on the side of his head with a tiny flick of Loki’s power. He lifted his head, and Sarah blinked, stepped back, and slammed him in the chest with her fist.
Myka asked, “Can I go to my mama now?”
Luna set her down, and Myka streaked toward her mom in a blur. “Whoa. She’s quick.”
Jack pulled her into his arms. He tilted her head to his and kissed her, pouring fire into her. It went on and on, and she felt full with the energy, but it kept coming. He hadn’t done that before. He slipped his thigh between hers and rocked her hips against it, and she rapidly spiralled toward a shivering orgasm from the contact.
Her energy shot out of her, and his poured in. It just kept coming, and so did she. When she drooped in his arms, her body was humming, and Jack chuckled. “That’s more like it.”
He lifted her and walked over to Sarah. “Come inside. You, too, little Myka. Fenris, would you like Luna to give Sarah your number?”
Fenris nodded. “Yes. I... yes.”
“You and your guys call it a day?”
He swallowed. “Yes. I have some incidences to look up and some challenges to issue.”
Sarah scowled. “Do not remind those morons that I exist. Please.”
“Fine. I will insult them for their fashion sense, but they will pay.”
She looked at him. “Whatever you choose. We will arrange it so you can see her again until she is used to you.”
He nodded and extended his hand to Myka. “It was nice meeting you, Myka.”
She put her tiny hand on his. “Hello, Papa.”
Luna saw the electric moment when the little girl made contact. Fenris lit up. Myka giggled. Sarah smiled softly and kissed her daughter’s temple.
“I will see you soon, little Myka.”
She smiled shyly and hid against her mother, but there was another giggle.
Luna leaned limply against Jack, her entire body humming with warmth. They walked with Sarah back into the house. When she glanced outside, the elite were gone.
Nora was checking up on Sarah in a moment, and when she saw Luna, she asked, “What happened to you?”
Jack moved inside and sat at the table with Luna in his lap. “Something far overdue. Healing dragon fire. I am not good at it, but this seems to be working.”
She rolled her head. “Where’s your band?”
“Taking a day to sightsee. Why?”
Alexi organized Myka on a bench to take pictures of her holding the two babies. The newborn and seven days old.
Sarah was looking, and she blinked. “Oh, he’s Erik’s father. The hair, the eyes, the way the eyes narrow when someone is talking about you.”
Erik chuckled. “I noticed that one, too.”
Nikolai had Alita curled against him. “Thanks for coming, Luna. I wouldn’t have known quite what to do, and my dragon was so freaked out he was running laps in my head.”
Luna sighed and smiled. “The first one is always rough and usually dies if the mother doesn’t die with them. The dragon gets smarter for the second mate, or if the woman survives, she gets smarter and knows when to get help.”
Alita sighed. “How did Erik come into the world?”
Luna paused, and Erik nodded. He had found the medical records and news clippings from his birthday. He knew.
“It’s a long story. I need coffee. I feel all warm and sleepy.”
Erik nodded. “I will make you some.”
He took some plates and asked Jack a question then the coffeemaker started to burble and chug away while the scent spiralled in the air.
Jack touched her jaw, and more fire flowed in until there wasn’t room. The coffee came, and she curled around her cup and looked at Alita. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“Yeah. You both survived, so I am sure I can manage it.”
Nora looked wary, and Sarah was intrigued. Alexi was off with the babies and Myka, taking them for more photos in the studio.
“Well, I was huge. Erik was enormous. Like Aurora. I was at my house in the hills and moving around, doing chores, when I felt a twinge. I smiled and went inside to call Rickart for a ride to the hospital, but the phone was dead, and I didn’t have a cellphone yet. No service in my area. The radio said that the power was out in most of the county but expected back on in a few hours. The crews were on it. So, I finished preparing the house for the coming storm. Made a fire. Got some water heating, and I went to sleep.”
“I woke up twelve hours later, covered in blood from the waist down. I tried to call Rickart, but the line was still dead. I was hungry. So very hungry, so I walked to the kitchen and ate everything that was cooked or palatable. It still wasn’t enough. My body burned, it was using everything, and I was trailing blood wherever I went. I got weaker, and my reserves of energy were depleted.”
She swallowed. “I stoked the fire, propped myself up, and lay there while in labour. My body took everything from me for the effort, and when it came time to push, I had nothing left, so I got it where I could. First, I took the animals on the farm. I pulled their lives together and got his head out. I continued that way, pulling rings of life from the land and using that to push out my little boy. When he was with me, I was hollow. There was nothing left. I couldn’t reach any further, and I was bleeding out. I tied off the umbilical and held him to my breast, figuring that he could at least last longer than I did and he might survive. The fire went out, I went out, and two days later, Rickart showed up. I had missed my check-in calls, and he was worried. He gave me fire that wouldn’t stay in me because there was nothing to hold it, wrapped us up, and dropped us at the hospital, creating the first dragon sighting in that area for one hundred and thirteen years.
“They got Erik into an incubator and started feeding him and warming him. They hooked me up to IVs. The tissue in my womb was necrotic, and they had to carve most of it out. Then antibiotics and so much blood and plasma. He spent his first month in hospital with me, I wasn’t able to feed him in there, but they let me hold him.
“Rickart couldn’t apologize enough, and it had been his assistant who told him the check-in calls had arrived, but he had this feeling that they hadn’t, and he checked the news and saw the power still was off, and phone lines were down, so the calls couldn’t have come out.”
She looked at the horrified listeners. “I was alive. Erik was alive, and then I knew how draining a first baby was for a dragon mama and why the dragon had crooned to me about being with me and watching over me. At that point, it made sense, and I really hated you then, Jack.”
She looked up at him, and his eyes were red. He crushed her in a hug the same way she crushed Erik.
