128. Alaric

CHAPTER 128

Alaric

The flight back to the pack lands was uneventful, thankfully. It feels odd to me that I'm not the center of Aurora's universe. She's not ignoring me or anything, I'm just used to being the one she always came to for comfort. Now... now I don't know what my role is. The dynamics have changed and I'm guessing that's going to happen with every birth. I carry my mate and my children on my back. It's not that I don't trust the others… Okay, I'm a bit of a control freak and want to personally oversee their safety. After everything my mate has endured, I just want to give her a happy and safe life. Is it wrong of me to take every precaution? Nicodeamus is in full agreement with me. Then again, he's a father who only met his adult daughter a year ago.

The field we use to land on has been cleared, and most of Klaus's pack has returned to the town. I circle several times, making sure that our guards have landed first to ensure our safety. The winds are with me and help me gently glide to the ground. Three strong pumps of my wings and my touchdown is flawless. Slowly, I lower my massive form to the ground and extend my wing so that it's easier for Klaus to get onto my back.

I feel my babies awaken first, their little taloned feet moving along my scales and then a push before they launch into the air. I watch them having fun riding the wind that's moving through the field. It's only been a few short months since their first flight. And each time they take off, my heart swells with pride, knowing that my bloodline continues on.

I turn my head slowly to watch Aurora awaken and go into Klaus's arms. It tugs at my heart the way that she's holding on to him. A few months ago, I was where he's at right now. Am I jealous? Yeah, I'm man enough to admit that I am. I guess this is how the others have been feeling since Aurora became pregnant with my children.

It's now that I notice that Dimitri is waiting at my side for Klaus to help Aurora down. It's a modified game of pass the Aurora because Klaus scoops her up in his arms then drops her straight down to Dimitri. Aurora giggles upon impact and wraps her arms tightly around Dimitri's neck. Yeah, I'm jealous. I shouldn't be jealous because she never puts anybody above the other. But I'm still just a man, that for a time, was the center of her world.

As soon as Klaus is off my back, I shift to my human form and stretch my muscles. The flight always takes a lot out of me, especially carrying my precious cargo, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Aurora comes bounding over with a pair of pants for me and smiles. "Hey, no looking bummed out, you."

She pokes my chest several times. "I know it's going to take some adjustment for you. And that's my fault. I clung to you like a small child to her teddy bear." She sighs softly and shakes her head back and forth.

"I love you, Alaric. Time nor space will ever change my feelings for you." Aurora goes up on her tippy toes, and I wrap my arms tightly around her waist, holding her to me. She kisses me passionately and reminds me exactly how strong our bond is. Her beast rumbles to me, causing my dragon to answer her. This woman owns me on a primal level. Mind, body, soul, and beast all belong to her without question. It's my own insecurities that cause me to question my place with her. Carefully, I lower her back down to the ground and onto her own two feet.

Klaus's grandmother comes running over to us and offers her hands to us. "My King, my people have food prepared in the main house for you and your family," Elsa says happily as she tries to pull the two of us towards the house.

"Elsa, you don't have to address me as king. I'm just Alaric." I shrug my shoulders and smile at her, trying to be reassuring with my statement. Aurora pokes my side and starts laughing at me. Apparently, what I'm saying versus how I look are two different things.

"For a man, my beloved, you have the most epic resting bitch face," Aurora says with a giggle. She, who is the queen of the resting bitch face, just said that I had one.

I smirk, looking down at her and then school my features to be cold and emotionless. "I took lessons from you, my beloved ice queen," I say as gently as possible and then kiss her temple, hugging her tightly. The next thing I know, my thigh is ice cold, and it feels like my pants weigh a ton. Aurora skips away just before I look down and see that she froze my pants solid. Leave it to my mate to make her point.

Elsa attempts not to laugh but to be honest, I can't help laughing at it myself. I finally make it inside after I thaw my pants out. Everybody's already sitting at the table digging into the wonderful meal the ladies that run the kitchen have prepared.

Interestingly enough, Aurora is sitting between our two children, trying to get them to use utensils. Ladon has almost perfected using a knife and fork. Tiamat, on the other hand, has her hands shifted to that of her gauntlets. She's using her talons almost like chopsticks to pick up her food after she cuts it. Aurora's laughing her ass off while attempting to be serious. Her attempts are an epic fail but valiant nonetheless.

Dimitri moves over to Tiamat next and whispers in her ear. "Okay, Papa Bear, I'll try, but just because you asked me to."

Tia does her typical pout with her little rose-colored lips before shifting her hands back. An ethereal glow surrounds her pale-grey eyes for a moment. I can feel a slight tickle at the back of my brain. Shit, my daughter is in my head. I turn quickly to face her, watching exactly what she's doing. I'm not sure exactly what she's searching for, but as fast as it occurs, it ends. Soon after, she picks up the knife and fork and starts cutting her food properly. Of all the things that she could have searched my memory for, she took the ability to use utensils. Thank the Goddess above for her innocence. The things that my poor child could have seen would have aged me at least a hundred years.

Aurora sits there staring at me with a brow cocked. Through our mate bond, I show her exactly what our daughter was searching for. A chuckle escapes Aurora's lips before she looks at her daughter. With a quick roll of her eyes, Aurora goes back to eating her breakfast at last.

I reach out through the familial bond to our patriarch, Nicodeamus. He fills me in on the fact that the ability to search others' memories is a throwback to his grandmother, the Blood Queen. He also tells me that Tiamat retaining scales along her spine, shoulders, and across her hips is another Blood Queen trait. It makes me start to wonder if my son also has the scales down his spine that I haven't noticed. I look over to Aurora quickly and share with her the information her father just shared with me. Nonchalantly, she plays with the collar of Ladon's shirt. She pulls it back and looks down into his shirt. By the slow shake of her head, I know that he does not bear the scales along his spinal column. It makes me start to wonder if it's just a female trait in the family. Aurora has random scales down her spine but nothing like the pattern that Tiamat does.

Klaus and Jayce clear the table and set everything into the dishwasher to be cleaned. The rest of us head into the living room to just relax. Once there, Aurora goes over to her guitar and starts playing with the strings. It's now that I notice there's a full drum set and two other guitars sitting in the middle of our living room. I raise a brow at her, and she starts laughing.

"I fully intend to have everybody in this family playing something in the near future." She walks over and hands the drumsticks to Dimitri, who looks at her quite puzzled. She locks eyes with him and places her hands on his temples. The glow from her eyes can be seen from my place on the couch. I can feel the tension rolling off of Dimitri through the bond. What in the world is my mate up to?

Several moments pass before she releases his head, and he walks behind the drum set. He takes a seat and starts testing out the drums. Once he's comfortable, he starts playing a song I'm not familiar with. Aurora smiles, grabs a guitar, and starts playing. She looks over at Jayce and Dominik, and they give her a quick nod. They get up and go grab two of the microphones. They start singing a song that I've yet to hear. It's the song called "Outlaws and Outsiders" by some man named Cory Marks . The main vocals are handled by Dominik, but the more aggressive singing is handled by Dimitri from behind the drum set.

Aurora sits there, happy to be playing her guitar in the corner, letting the guys have fun singing the song that apparently they've been working on. Part of me is jealous I wasn't included in this, but then again, neither was Arnulf. Arnulf and I run around the room, opening up the windows letting the music drift out to the pack.

It doesn't take long to start noticing a gathering outside. Ever since Aurora gave birth, no one dares come into her personal space when the babies are present. Babies—my daughter appears to be four years old, yet she's less than a year. My son appears to be almost seven and yet five minutes younger than his sister. It was a blessing and a curse to keep them in their dragon forms to keep them safe. The blessing was that they were able to defend themselves. The curse is that they grew up much faster than we had anticipated. My son is bound and determined to reach adulthood quickly, to learn to fight and defend his family. I didn't realize that he felt so defenseless being so little. A hatchling should never have that feeling, and part of me feels that I failed as a father. Speaking of hatchlings, Klaus comes into the room with both of my children hanging on his legs as he's trying to walk.

I run my hands down my face, trying to clear the negative thoughts. Aurora tilts her head, looking at me, picking up on my emotions, and I force a smile to try and ease her mind. Her happiness is what's more important than the turmoil swirling in my mind. That poor woman has dealt with so much in her short life span; I don't know how she's kept it together. Females are revered in our culture because they are so rare. Yet, she's been hunted, poisoned twice and still remains standing. It's a testament to how powerful her bloodline is and her resolve to win. Most females would have buckled, bent to the will of others, and gave in under pressure. The six of us are truly blessed to have her as our mate.

Aurora decides to do one more song and switches it up a little bit. This is a song I definitely recognize from having heard her play it a few times already. It's her favorite song from In This Moment; the title is "The In-Between." The lyrics are very fitting, especially for her. The looks of an angel and the rage of the devil itself reside within her form. I guess you could say she is the embodiment of being in between. Not completely Lycan, not completely dragon; to me, the perfect mix of the two. She's always at war with herself, though, not as bad as it was before. Instinct versus logic seems to be her biggest fight these days. The beast within wants to destroy, the human side tries to find a decent middle ground.

The tones that Aurora hits as she sings this song make my scales stand on edge. The raw, unadulterated power that comes off of her brings me to my knees. I watch my daughter, Tia, start to mimic her mother's moves. Halfway through the song, Tia is standing in front of Aurora with her back to her mother and mirroring every movement. Lord help the man that ends up with my daughter. He's going to end up with a mini Aurora with a full-blown dragon form. Hell on Earth? It's possible, but I'm going to do everything I possibly can to prevent it.

The song ends, and the crowd outside erupts in applause. Aurora smiles and lightly bows to the crowd gathered outside through her window. It's now that Klaus suggests the wolves go for a run and stretch out their tight muscles. Aurora, Klaus, Dominik, and Jayce all head to the back door, shift, and disappear into the woods within a heartbeat. The three of us that remain look at each other then head off to handle our respective duties now that we've returned.