Chapter Thirteen

Levi

A ll at once, the reality of what I'd just learned hit me.

I was a father .

The world spun crazily off-axis, shapes and colors blurring together as a whole new reality took shape. One where I had a child. No, not a child.

A son .

Reaching out to the wall, I steadied myself, taking some deep breaths, watching the little boy, my little boy, entertain himself excitedly while running from window to window, looking at all the goings-on below us. He would grow bored soon, the little ones always did. But for the moment, there was nothing other than absolute joy on his face.

I studied Jakub, trying to see bits and pieces of myself in him. He had my eyes—that much popped out almost instantly. I berated myself for not seeing it in the picture the other day because in person it was clear as day. So should his age. That should have been a clue.

Except why would it be? I'd had no reason to suspect Jakub was mine. If he were, Sarah would have told me. Or so I'd believed.

"Are you okay?" she asked, peering into my face and examining me. "You look a little pale."

"It's a bit of a shock to the system to find out one has a nearly five-year-old son," I muttered, keeping my voice low.

Sarah just stared back.

"You never told me," I accused, surprised at the level of my own hurt.

Her head tilted back, a single bark of laughter ringing off the ceiling.

"Mommy?"

"It's okay, baby. The nice man just told a funny joke, that's all. Go back to seeing if you can spot any new dragon colors, okay?"

"Okay! I've seen red, and blue, and ummm, yellow?"

"Orange?"

I watched the little interaction as Sarah gently corralled Jake's attention and redirected it back to the window.

"Look, that one has dots all over it!"

Her son suitably distracted, Sarah returned her focus to me.

"What was that laughter for?" I asked.

"You're joking, right?" Her eyes were wide with surprise. "Seriously, that has to be a joke. Please smile because now is not the time for miscommunication."

I didn't smile. "I'm very serious. That is my child, Sarah. My son ."

My son. The words echoed in me like mighty hammer blows, never fading. Nothing would be the same now. Not ever again.

"I'm a father," I whispered, still reeling, unable to keep my composure.

"Absentee."

My head snapped up, eyes fixing a fiery gaze on her face. But Sarah didn't recoil or shy away. She met that fire and threw it right back at me with a matching crescendo of hissed anger she'd spent nearly six years holding back.

"Do you want to know why I didn't tell you, Levi ? Would you like to know the cold, hard truth of it? The reason I didn't say a word is because I couldn't . You got up one night and walked out of my life without a word, a phone call, a handwritten note, anything . You. Abandoned. Me. Us ."

Gritting my teeth, I powered through her objection. Because it changed nothing.

"What about when I saw you in the White House?" I challenged, my voice just as low and quiet as hers but no less angry. "You could have said something then. Or when you arrived here. Or I don't know, maybe when I saw a picture of him? "

She waved my points off, shaking her head. "Why would I, Levi? Why would I just invite you back into his life? Into our life? You haven't done a damn thing to deserve any of that knowledge. Kidnapping and forcing me to come out here sure wasn't it."

I had to fight back the rising tide of fury being fanned by the wings of my dragon in my mind. That was our son! Couldn't she see that changed the past? Why was she being so stubborn!

"Were you ever going to tell me?" I asked, not entirely sure why. I doubted I wanted to know the answer.

The long, hard stare was all the answer I received.

A corner of my mouth quirked up in angry amusement. "Well, I know now, which is a good thing."

"Why is that good? I wish you'd never found out," she said.

It was my turn to laugh sarcastically. "Come now, Sarah, think . You're not an idiot. Your brains were part of what attracted me to you. What made me want you here at my side. Use them. Think about the situation."

She shook her head after a moment.

"Do you really think you're equipped to raise a dragon child all on your own?"

It was Sarah's turn to grow pale and more than a little wobbly on her feet. Credit to her, however, she recovered quickly. Likely all her training with the Secret Service.

"Jakub is a dragon?" she asked in disbelief. "He doesn't show any signs of it."

"No? Soon, then. It could be any day," I explained. "Somewhere around their fifth birthday the first signs start to emerge."

"No, nothing that I've seen." She looked mildly panicked.

"Unless, of course, he's not actually my child," I pointed out.

"He's definitely yours," she said.

"You're sure?"

"It would be impossible to be anyone else's," she said. "There was nobody but you. Not for years."

I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. Years? That was unexpected. Given the intense frequency with which she'd come to me, I'd expected her sex drive to be much more demanding than that.

"Then, in that case, yes, Jakub is a dragon."

Sarah was silent.

"I'm a dragon?" a tiny voice asked.

Both our heads whipped around to see Jakub standing facing us.

"Uhhh," Sarah stammered.

"Yes," I said, not willing to lie. "You are."

Jakub stared for a moment, processing. Then his face broke out into a huge grin. "That's so cool! Mommy, did you hear? I'm a dragon!" He ran into her arms.

She scooped him up robotically, holding him to her side.

"What color dragon am I? Can I breathe fire? I want to breathe fire. Rawr! " He held both hands up like claws.

I chuckled.

"Wait." He gave me a serious frown. "How do you know, mister?"

"Because …" I hesitated. As much as I wanted to, I knew it wasn't my place to say.

"He knows your daddy," Sarah said, swooping into the rescue.

"You do ?" he asked. "What color dragon is he?"

"Red," I said.

"A red dragon! Cool!" Jakub shouted. Then another look. "Are you taking me to see my dad?"

"Maybe one day, Jakub," I said after a hard look from Sarah. "Maybe one day. That will be up to your mom."

"Can I go, Mommy? Can I?"

"We'll see, baby," she said. "Why don't you go practice your dragon wings. You're going to have to learn not to knock stuff over with them. Do you think you can do three laps without knocking anything over?"

Jakub snorted with perfect childish confidence. "Of course, Mom . Watch this!"

And just like that, he was off.

"Thank you," Sarah said as she watched.

"For what?"

"Letting me decide if and when to tell him."

" When ," I said coldly. "There is no if , Sarah. He deserves to know. I will show you I can be a good father. I also know you can't just spring it on him. But you will have to tell him, and soon. If you don't, I will."

"Prove to me you can be a good father figure, and we'll talk," she said, trying to be defiant, but in the backs of her eyes, I could see the acceptance.

Besides, kids were smarter than we gave them credit for. Jakub would likely figure it out on his own before long anyway.

"Now that I'm aware of him, I'll be there," I said to her, swearing an oath to myself as well that I would do my best by him.

To my son. A son I hadn't been there for. Almost five years of his life, without a father. Without me .

Five years of Sarah being a single mother. Unsupported and alone.

It was so antithetical of dragon society, going against everything I knew. I reeled some more. I had missed so much. His birth. First laugh. First words. First steps. All of that and more, I'd missed.

"I need some air," I said abruptly, heading for the stairs. Not just air, but time. I needed time to sit and think and truly process it all.

I'd told Sarah I would be there, that I would help, and I meant it. But a new question, a new worry, began to eat away at my insides. One I couldn't stop from growing with each passing second.

What if I'm no good as a father? What if I fuck it up?

Half-sitting, half-falling onto the edge of the roof, I lay back, staring at the sky while my feet dangled freely over the ledge. My chest rose and fell. The panic slowed, but it did not fade at all, even as the minutes passed.

Whoosh .

I sat up abruptly as two dragons landed lightly on the roof.

"Levi," Malakai called. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course," I said, springing to my feet. "Just relaxing."

"Good, good. Are you ready?" he asked, his dragon snout twisting oddly as he spoke, the lack of true lips also adding a soft hiss to every syllable.

Was I ready?

The festival! The speech!

I nodded, furiously recalling the words I'd written. It was perfect timing. A distraction of my mind while I came to grips with my new reality as a dad.

"Yes, I'm ready," I said.

Malakai's head snaked forward, eyeing me. "Are you sure?"

"Don't question me," I growled. "Have I ever lied to you before?"

The purple dragon head recoiled. "No, I suppose not."

"You do seem a bit pale, though," Lydia said, bringing her snout down to my level, mere inches away. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine," I said, letting a confident smile play across my face.

It was not the time to tell Malakai I'd sired a child with a human. I wasn't sure how he would react to that news.

"Then let us go," Malakai said, lifting into the air.

I glanced back at the door. Sarah would understand. It was only for a short bit. She could use the time to reconnect with Jake. Prepare him—and herself—for the news that I was his father.

Then we could work on being a family.

Shifting into my dragon form, I leaped into the air after Malakai and Lydia, a big grin on my face.

Everything was looking up now. A son. A mate. And soon, a new leader installed, one who had to listen to the people.

Freedom for all. It would be beautiful.