Dragon's Fire [PUP Squad Alpha 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

Keira was as speechless as Brody. He’d prayed that Ava and Nathan would be okay, but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined to find them both completely unscathed and standing behind him.

Sheer terror gave him back his voice. “Get her out of here,” he yelled at Nathan, fear coursing through him even faster than before. Keira’s shock could lead to yet another uncontrolled shift, but Nathan just shook his head, a bemused smile on his face, and Ava stepped even closer to cover Keira with her coat.

“She’s the one,” Keira said with a wobble in her voice. “Sh–She’s the one from the prophesy.”

Ava’s first reaction was to explain to the child that prophesy wasn’t real, that nobody could predict what would happen in the future, but Brody seemed to tense up even more so she stayed quiet.

“What prophesy, Keira?”

“The one m–my grandmother showed me. It said a non-dragon woman would come. One who couldn’t be harmed by fire. It said she’d be the mother of the chosen one—the dragon who would bring peace to our people.”

“So why did they attack Ava?” Nathan asked curiously. “If they thought she was the woman from the prophesy, the harbinger of peace, why would they try to kill her?”

“Because my parents don’t want peace,” Brody said tiredly. “It didn’t even occur to them that the prophesy could be about their own grandchild. They only saw a threat to their superiority, and they moved to destroy it.”

“But,” Ava said quietly as her mind raced with different theories, “if they thought I was the chosen one, wouldn’t they have known setting the house on fire wouldn’t kill me?”

Brody smiled at her sadly. “I can see where your mind is going, Ava. You’ve got such a kind heart that you would try to see their actions in the best light.” He adjusted Keira in his arms, and touched a hand to Ava’s face. “They may have been testing you with the fire, sweetheart, but they had every intention of ripping you apart if you made it outside.”

“Oh.” It seemed such an inadequate word, but what did one say when faced with that sort of unwarranted hatred? Ava set the thought aside, determined to show a young dragon that she had nothing to fear. “How are you feeling, sweetie? Did the shift heal your breaks and bruises?”

“Hey,” she said, wriggling in Brody’s arms, “it did.” She squirmed like a little kid until her uncle put her on her feet. She dragged the coat around her and turned to face Ava. “I’m really sorry about the…um…you know.”

“No harm done,” Ava said with a smile. It was obvious that in dragon terms she was very young.

“Will I do that again?” she asked Brody worriedly.

“Probably not for a few more years. Dragons don’t usually get their wings until at least their twentieth year.”

“Hear that?” Ava asked. “You’re actually quite clever.” Keira raised an eyebrow and waited. Okay, so maybe she did have something in common with human teenagers her age. Ava leaned in and whispered, “You shifted long enough to fix your injuries years before you should have been able. In my book that makes you rather special.” She glanced up at Brody and said the words he was probably both wishing for and dreading. “The best part is that now that you don’t need to be in the hospital anymore, you can come home with us.”

She expected an argument, maybe even a flat-out “no” from one of her men, but she got neither. Instead Brody wrapped her in his embrace, kissed her soundly, and led them to the nurses’ station.

“How bad is the room, sweet pea?” the nurse who also happened to be a bear-shifter asked in a kind voice.

“Pretty bad,” Keira answered with a shy, nervous little laugh.

The nurse smiled widely. “I just knew you were going to be trouble the moment I laid eyes on you.” She winked and Keira smiled just a little more brightly. “You head on home with your family, and I’ll get someone in to clean the mess up.”

“My fam—” But Brody cut off whatever Keira was going to say.

“Thanks. Do I need to sign any paperwork?”

“Oh, honey,” the nurse said with a jovial laugh, “there is always paperwork.”

Ava leaned on the rail of the new deck and watched the horizon, sighing with contentment as the fiery red and orange sunset bled into the tree line. She smiled as the sun dipped lower and the night crickets began their familiar evening chorus.

“It’s beautiful here,” Nathan said as he joined her by the railing. She leaned against him, a sense of peace filling her.

“It is,” she agreed. “This decking is a perfect addition to the house. You’re quite handy to have around.”

“So does that mean you want to keep me?” he asked with a mischievous grin. “Because I’m so handy?” He used said hands to caress her all over, his fingers working their way under the hem of her shirt.

“Oh, most definitely,” she agreed with a laugh. “I especially love how skilled you are with your…um…hands.” He pulled her closer, laughing at their silliness. They stayed that way, wrapped in each other’s arms, as they watched the sunset fade into night.

Brody stepped onto the porch a few moments later. “Keira is finally asleep,” he said, pretending exasperation. It was obvious that he adored his niece.

“Any news on her brother?” Nathan asked. Brody had spent days giving statements and providing evidence to the Ruling Body about his family’s attack on Ava, their attitudes, and past behavior against others. Fortunately, in light of the fact that Brody’s mother had already been a suspect for one attempted murder, had attacked Brody, and threatened harm to the child Ava carried in front of a dozen witnesses and on camera, they’d immediately granted his request to severe her telepathic-like link to her children. Ava wasn’t sure exactly what it meant but she “knew” it was something like a lobotomy. She shied away from that thought, fearing that with her kooky skill more detailed information might come to her. She wanted her family safe, but in this instance especially she didn’t want to know all the details.

“No one has seen or heard from my nephew in over two years. Keira only knows what her father told her and even that seems vague. I’m hoping that he flew to an isolated corner of the world and is living a happy life, because the alternatives aren’t…” He hesitated, pulled Ava into his arms, and changed the subject. “I don’t think Keira will shift again for several more years, and I hope to have at least taught her enough to control the fire by then, but we might need to consider building a room for her separate from the house. Even if you are still fireproof after the baby is born, Nathan should at least be able to sleep without worrying the teenager three rooms over might set the house alight.”

Nathan laughed. “I appreciate your concern, but I already have several fire extinguishers on order. I’ll be fine, Brody.”

“Good to know,” Ava said with a bright smile and a soft laugh, “but there’s probably something I should tell you about the bubble or shield or whatever you want to call it that protected us from the fire.”

She stepped out of Brody’s arms so she could see both their faces. When she’d realized it, she’d been so excited, but now when it came to telling them she worried that she might just come off as a bit of a lunatic. She took a deep, fortifying breath and said the words really fast. “Nathan can do it, too.”

“Do what?” Brody asked, looking a bit shell-shocked.

“Build the bubble, or form the shield, or…hell I don’t know what to call it. I just know that Nathan has the skill to do it.”

Nathan looked even more skeptical if that was possible. “I’m pretty sure I don’t,” he said with a half laugh and a half grimace.

Ava looked at both her men and realized she wasn’t going to get through this conversation without explaining everything.

“In that moment when Keira began to change I sensed Nathan’s fear for me and knew that he knew what was going to happen.” She gave both her men a smile that she hoped looked bright and confident, but figured it probably looked shy and uncertain. “I’m not sure how to explain it. It all happened so fast, but well, when I sensed Nathan’s need to protect me, his need to shield me from the fire, I ‘knew’ how to do it. I understood what he wanted, and I sent him the information so that he would know how to do it, too. It was actually the bubble Nathan created that saved us from the fire.” She frowned slightly as she tried to explain that, too. Maybe she should have told them to sit down. The way she was stumbling over the explanation this could take all night. “Without Nathan’s unconscious suggestion I wouldn’t have known what was coming or what to do to protect us from it.”

“But I don’t remember any of that, and I sure as hell don’t know how to do it again.”

Ava shook her head. “I’m not sure how it all works. There’s a part of me wishing I’d taught science not English, so I could try and explain it better. I can’t even explain how I passed the information to Nathan. I only know that when you need the bubble, you’ll be able to create it.”

Nathan smiled, his demeanor suddenly more than a little cocky. She giggled when he pulled her into his arms. “So I’m bulletproof?”

“I don’t know,” she said quickly. “I don’t know the bubble’s limits. I only know it will protect us in a fire.”

Both men grinned, and she got the awful feeling they were planning something she probably wasn’t going to like.

“You up for a little target practice tomorrow?” Nathan asked Brody.

“Sure,” he said with a laugh as she frowned her concern. “But considering the look on our wife’s face, we better start with nonlethal stuff and work our way up.”

“Wife?” she asked, completely distracted from the fact that they intended to use Nathan as the target in their target practice.

“Uh, yeah, that’s something we wanted to discuss with you.”

Both men gave her wide grins, and then stepped closer, pressing her between them.

“We want to make our family official,” Nathan said.

“Marry us, Ava,” Brody said in a gruff imitation of what should have been a question.

Nathan laughed. “What my bossy dragon friend here meant to say was, ‘Please marry us, Ava.’ We want to make it official. We can have a human ceremony, or a dragon claiming, or a mixture of both. It doesn’t matter. Just as long as everyone knows we belong together.”

“I’d like that,” Ava said, trying not to let her eyes fill with tears. It might not have been the most romantic of proposals but for the three of them it was perfect.

“Say yes,” Brody said on a breathless whisper.

Marry two bossy, overprotective, amazing, caring, wonderful men who loved her as much as she loved them? There wasn’t any other answer she wanted to give anyway.

“Yes.”

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Abby Blake prefers to read or write romance over just about everything else—except maybe chocolate. Most days she can be found hurrying to do what needs to be done so that she can curl up with her laptop and her latest bunch of heroes.

Ménage Everlasting:
PUP Squad Alpha 1
: Vampires’ Witness

Ménage Everlasting:
PUP Squad Alpha 2
: Demon’s Embrace

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