132. Nicodeamus

CHAPTER 132

Nicodeamus

My daughter's tactical mindset has always impressed me. Even now, I can almost hear her thoughts as if they are my own as she assesses the situation that's been laid out before us. I watch her as she makes her plans and can see her studying every little minute new detail. Nothing has missed her gaze as she flips between the map from fifty years ago versus the one that was brought to her.

Tonight, I will send my mate to ground with my grandchildren. I would prefer to be sending my daughter to ground as well, but she makes a valid point. More than likely, the leeches are after her trying to get revenge by wiping out one of her strongholds. So if she stays topside, they will hunt her. It'll be easier for us to funnel and kill them if she's present. I have been in conference through the entire meeting with the other dragon councils, reaching out to those I am closest to. They, too, are prepared to assault the caverns near their homelands.

They also relay that their battle with the leeches was won far too easily, as if they were expecting it. We assumed that the leeches would be of a hive mind, where what one had learned, then they all know. And apparently, our assessment was correct. When in a swarm, dragons become of a hive mind, following blindly the most dominant and strongest dragon's orders. Tactically, it's a very bad idea. But if that dragon is a Wyrm Dragon with thousands of years of knowledge, then it's brilliant. It doesn't always work out that way, unfortunately.

The fae woman, Laurel, has appeared yet again and brings forth a scroll from the king of the fae, Oberon. Of course, it's my luck that it's magically enchanted only to be able to be open by the person it's intended to. I move through the house and go and find my daughter at the kitchen table eating again. She appears to be about four to five months pregnant by human standards. But because of who the fathers are, she's just barely two. Couple that with a multiple birth, she's much larger than she should be.

I present her with the scroll, and as soon as her fingers touch it, it opens up. I watch her eyes shift to that of her beast. My head, and I'm assuming her mates' heads, are filled with the knowledge sent to us. Oberon wants the last of the leeches dead. He is sending his best warriors to each of the dragon clans to assist with eradicating these leeches. This is the most excellent news. Aurora looks it over and reads the letter at least three times before pricking her finger and putting a drop of blood on it. I tilt my head to the side, curious as to why she did that.

"Daddy, he wanted to make sure that we are all serious about this assault on them. So to prove we are serious, he asked for a drop of blood to be put on the scroll." Aurora smiles, then shrugs.

"The drop of blood itself will alert him not only to the fact that I received the scroll but that I also agree with what he's getting ready to do for everybody. We don't have to wait for his messengers to return the scrolls to him for him to receive the answer." Aurora stands and touches my shoulder. "This was the quickest and most practical way."

I just nod slowly at Aurora and smile. "That is a brilliant plan that he laid out for us. I just hope this is the final battle for you, once and for all." I hug my daughter tightly and kiss her temple.

"I would like for you to know peace for once in your lifetime." A single tear rolls down my cheek, and of course, it's on the wrong damn side that I always have a hard time reaching with my right arm. Aurora quickly reaches for it and wipes it away for me.

"Daddy, you may not have been physically in my life my entire life, but you taught me so much when you were able to reach out to me." She smiles and hugs me again.

"You have done more for me than some fathers that are in their children's lives all the time." Aurora wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me tightly. I band my arm around her ribs and hold her flush to me. My poor baby girl is an emotional, hormonal wreck right now. What I find to be the second happiest moment, besides becoming a grandfather, she's over here crying during it.

All six of her mates come barreling into the kitchen, feeling her distress, and they find us hugging, both of us blubbering like idiots. Alaric is the first to break and start laughing at what they find.

"Here we go again, boys, someone get the kleenexes. Clean up, aisle two," Alaric says as he laughs. Jayce just shakes his head and pulls out a small pack of tissues from his back pocket.

"You guys still haven't learned what we need to have with us at all times for her. Please, I may not be the first mate, but I'm the best." He smiles, beaming with pride as he walks over and hands Aurora a tissue and then one for me too.

I look over at Jayce and just start shaking my head. "Son, out of all of her mates, you're the most emotionally in tune with her. That is an absolute blessing and probably a curse." I toss my tissue away and then lay my hand on his shoulder. "I'd hate to feel the emotional roller coaster these next few months are going to give you."

"It's all good, Dad, and when it's my turn to be a father, I will bear the weight yet again, without problems." Jayce smiles and then moves to Aurora and kisses her belly.

"Don't worry, little ones. Daddy Jayce is on the job," he says and then moves to the refrigerator and grabs out Aurora's pomegranate juice.

Aurora raises an eyebrow at him, questioning what's in his hands. "Is that what I think it is?" She says, looking at him hopefully.

"Yes, it's your favorite juice; no, there's no vodka in it," Jayce says as he puts a straw into the bottle and hands it to her.

Aurora licks at her bottom lip and pouts, looking at him. We all know she's not serious; she would never drink while she's pregnant with the babies. Granted, she occasionally likes to lick a drop off of one of our fingers just for the taste but never more than that. She rubs her stomach gently and then looks at all of us. "We have about an hour before the sun's low enough for them to start moving. Make sure all the final preparations have been made, and we will meet up on the front porch in about forty minutes," Aurora says before she comes over and grabs my hand.

"Daddy, I need your help getting into my armor. Laurel brought me a new mithril that Oberon had sent for me, all things considered." I smile knowingly and follow her down the hallway to find Laurel in Aurora's upstairs closet.

Laurel bows her head graciously to me, then smiles. "Welcome, my King. My King has sent armor for yourself and for your daughter." She holds up two different sets of mithril, one that is in the shape of a beautiful gown, the other meant to protect my chest. I am quite impressed with its construction.

"Laurel, please pass on to your king my gratitude for this wonderful gift." She bows her head and then pulls over the dressing screen. I hear the oohs and ahhs of Laurel gushing over Aurora's belly. Never in a million years did I think I would get to see grand babies, and here I am again, awaiting the birth of more of my grandchildren.

Aurora steps out from behind the dressing screen, looking like a warrior queen. Her great-grandmother's ruby crown upon her head and her hair done in a braid around the top of her head. The new gown fits her perfectly, and I notice that there is extra chain mail around her midsection to protect the babies from all sides. I must remember to thank Oberon in person for this great boon he has given my family.

Once Aurora is settled, Laurel comes over and assists me with putting my armor on as well. Sometimes being a one-armed warrior is a bitch, but I've adapted and overcome my disability.

It's now that I look up and see Aurora has adapted her sash for her sword to be able to work around her pregnant belly. I can tell, though, she's not really thrilled with how it's sitting, but it's better than nothing. She gives me a terse nod, and we head downstairs to meet up with the others on the front porch.

Upon arrival, Jayce hands Aurora a chicken leg that she promptly eats while she's waiting. He continues to hand her food, and I'm guessing it's to keep her mind off of what's coming. My eyes dart around the porch, making sure that all of her mates are present. The only one I don't see is Arnulf. It's then I notice in the sky he and several of his brothers are flying around watching for the assault.

The cries of the Merlin falcons are heard long before you hear the cries of the Golden Eagles. Aurora lets loose a roar-howl of her own, pretty much assembling every species living in town. My mate Helle is at the door holding up my grand babies. Aurora pops the door open briefly, kisses both of her children quickly, and then orders Helle to go to ground. I didn't even get to say goodbye to my mate before she's swept away and down into the bunker. Tactically, I don't know if it was a good idea to send one of the War Dragons down there with her, but I understand why Aurora did it. The heir to the throne is in my mate's arms. Tiamat stands to inherit both the Ice Dragon throne as well as the Lycan throne. That is until Aurora gives birth to a female Lycan.

The roar of Marco's dragon fills the air as he and his team start to lay a thick blanket of acid as Aurora requested it to be. The screeches and cries of the leeches fill the air of those who try to breach the acid. Now that we start seeing the dirt move, knowing full well that they are tunneling to get to us. Aurora nods to Dante, and he shifts immediately, taking his dragon form to add extra protection. With the flourish of her hand, he starts setting the ground on fire around the Alpha House.

The fire prompts the leeches to come up out of their hiding spots, and the fight begins. Aurora remains on the porch, watching everything until she signals Marco, and he comes and picks her up. She sets herself behind his crown of horns to have the best and safest vantage point.

We all know she's able to siphon energy from the dragons if she needs it. With a raise of her hand, she starts sending ice spikes up through random leeches as they appear. She's working double time, impaling as many as possible, taking their heads from their bodies with the force of the ice. I watch her eyes take on an ethereal glow, and she spots her main target. Tomas is in the fray with the rest of his legion.

Aurora commands Marco to go forward, and as he does, she launches off of his head to go flying at Tomas. He was not expecting her to come flying through the air at him. He's tackled to the ground and quickly flips her off of him, and she lands with a hard thud.

I just about feel my heart stop in my chest, seeing her fly and fall onto her back. Several beats later, she's back up again, her face contorted in rage, her canines bared and dripping with venom as she charges forward. Her forearms are shifted into her gauntlets. Tomas, the poor bastard, doesn't turn in time to see her coming at him. Her hand punches through his chest. Her taloned hand sticking out of his sternum, his heart stuttering before the final beat ends. He turns to ash in front of her and falls away to nothing.

With his death, his legion starts to desiccate immediately. Like anything of a hive mind, you cut off its head, and it cannot function. But in the leeches case, you kill the leader, and the legion dies. Aurora stands still for a beat too long, and I become quite nervous about what's wrong with her. Klaus is on her in a second, and oddly enough, he cuts his forearm open and sticks it in her mouth. She drinks greedily at his open vein, feeding off his life essence.

Soon the color returns to her, and she licks his wound clean, sighing softly. He picks her up, carrying her bridal style as his beast back to the house. By the time she gets to me, she is completely asleep in his arms, and we dare not move her. I assist them in getting into the house and bring them into the living room. With some of the house staff's help, we drag one of the giant bean bags we had purchased for Aurora over. It takes four people to help Klaus sit in the bean bag as his Lycan holds Aurora to his chest. She's sound asleep, her beast rumbling to his.

One by one, the rest of her mates return as I sit there with the washcloth, cleaning off my daughter's exposed skin. Not a single mate questions as to why Klaus is still his beast with her sleeping on him. She felt better with her first litter with them sleeping as their beast; apparently, it's no different right now. We'll have to watch and wait to see what happens over the next few days, but the drinking of blood concerns me. I'll have to ask them later why that is and why that was his first instinct. For now, I'll just tend to my daughter, making sure that all her needs are taken care of while the boys go and clean up.

It's about midnight before Aurora awakens again, completely refreshed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, sitting there petting Klaus's beast as if he's a puppy. I guess to her, he is her puppy. Either way, he's enjoying the affection.

"Well, that went better than expected," Dominik says as he comes into the room. He heads straight to the refrigerator and starts grabbing out cold beers and a cold pomegranate juice for Aurora. He brings the juice over to Aurora and also hands her the beer for Klaus. She raises an eyebrow looking at Klaus, and then shakes her head slowly.

"Are you going to shift back, my love, or are you going to try to lick the beer bottle?" she asks as she taunts his beast with the beer. Carefully under her, Klaus shifts back to his human form and then smirks at her.

"I would rather have licked the beer off of you than to drink it out of the bottle, to be honest." Aurora just rolls her eyes at Klaus, and she leans back against him again, drinking her juice slowly.

Dimitri comes back in with some fried chicken and sweet potato french fries with coleslaw. Aurora's eyebrows shoot straight up as her nose twitches, smelling the food that's coming her way. Dimitri offers Aurora the plate and she takes it and kisses him gently. "Thank you, babe." she says, then starts scarfing down the food in front of her.

Sweet potato fries and some pieces of chicken get shoved into Klaus's mouth when he's least expecting it. We watch this comedy going on because he never knows when she's about to feed him. I would have to say it's an eighty-twenty split, eighty percent of the food going to Aurora, the other twenty percent randomly getting shoved in Klaus's mouth. Either way, they're both eating.

Arnulf comes in with several of his people, all raiding the kitchen looking for something to eat. Aurora starts to giggle as she notices that Arnulf had split the back of his pants somehow. With the occasional step, all you see is his ass crack. Then cheek then crack, then cheek then crack. She's in a massive giggle fit to the point Klaus has to take the plate away from her before she ends up wearing it all. We can't help but laugh, too, at her reaction to what she's seeing.

Arnulf realizes his pants are destroyed. His hands go to cover his ass as he runs out of the room. Aurora winks at us and follows him out of the room; I wonder what exactly my daughter is up to.