143. Nicodeamus

CHAPTER 143

Nicodeamus

This afternoon's events were shocking, to say the least. Agnes was the last person I would have thought would have attempted to attack my family. I know sometimes with wolves, especially females, the loss of their mate can drive them to the brink of insanity. I also picked up on the fact that she was not pleased that my daughter was not a purebred Lycan like her son.

Even with all those facts put aside, I never thought it would be a female who would have tried to kill a baby. Pups are so rarely born these days amongst the different packs of wolves that they are cherished. This one lone, borderline-insane female almost succeeded in killing off her son's first child.

If it hadn't been for Tia being attached as she is to her siblings, we might never have found Kirra. One would never look that closely, especially at a grandparent when it comes to someone going missing. If it was several months ago and the threat from all sides was still real, she never would have even been thought of. I watch my daughter with her mates all snuggled up around the five children. Poor Aurora is still crying, feeling like she's to blame for her child going missing.

Slowly and carefully, I approach my daughter and her mates and sit down nearby. "Little one," I say, gently trying to rouse her from her grief. Slowly her eyes rise, and she looks at me, but no words are spoken.

"I know that you blame yourself for what happened, but you cannot do this to yourself." I look down as Tia climbs into my lap. I wrap my arms around her to steady her on my leg. Softly, I place a kiss on her temple and just hug her to me.

"But Father, it is mine and Klaus's job to watch over our child. Just as it's mine and Dimitri's, mine and Jayce's and mine and Alaric's." She motions to each mate as she mentions their name. Each mate that has had a child, currently has a child sitting on their lap. Arnulf and Dominik are standing shoulder to shoulder, watching over everybody.

I lean down and whisper into Tia's ear and tell her to go to one of her other daddies so that they don't feel left out. Tia hops down quickly and runs over, and clings to Arnulf's leg. "Can we go flying?" she asks as she looks up to Arnulf. A broad smile crosses his lips as he looks down at her.

"If that is what you desire, princess, then yes, we absolutely can. Just double check with your mommy and daddy and make sure it's okay." He smiles and bends down and lightly pats Tia on her butt, sending her over to Aurora and Alaric.

"Brother, you're as much her father as I am," Alaric says, looking at Arnulf. "If you wish to take her flying, then do so. Just please bring one of the guards with you to make sure she remains safe." Alaric smiles and then looks down at Ladon.

"Son, would you like to go flying as well?" Ladon bounces up and down on his father's lap, nodding his head profusely. He leaps up quickly and runs over to Arnulf, tugging on his hand.

"Can I go too, please?" Ladon pleads, smiling and beaming up at Arnulf, who now has the broadest smile I've ever seen on his face.

"Of course, young prince," he says and does a light bow. Aurora is cracking up and shaking her head slowly.

"Oh please, not you too," she says, laughing as she's rocking Kirra. "Please don't give them both an ego. I already have one big lug with a giant ego." She pokes Alaric in the shoulder several times.

"Then there's this one," she pokes Dimitri in the shoulder, "who has an ego for a whole ‘nother reason." She smirks, looking at Dimitri, and he just shrugs his shoulders.

"And then you have the underdog in the family." She points at Jayce. He blushes. She looks up into Arnulf's eyes and smiles at him.

"And then there's you, the wild card in the family." She smirks a little, scrunches her nose, and then looks over at Dominik. Her hand motions towards him. "Then we have the bad boy of the family."

I'm sitting here rolling my eyes at my daughter's description of her mates. She then sits there and pushes her foot against Klaus. "Then there's Mr. I'm-the-Alpha-when-it's-convenient." And she starts laughing at that, and so does he. We all know who's in charge of this family, and it's her.

Alaric gets up slowly and goes over to stand next to Arnulf. "If you don't mind, brother, maybe I'll come to stretch my wings with you. Hey, Dad, why don't you come with us?" I raise my eyebrows, slightly shocked because I'm not invited on these family excursions very often. I think it's mostly because they're not used to me having a second wing that my daughter so graciously was able to give to me.

Slowly, I rise and roll my shoulders and look over to my mate. She makes the shooing motion at me. I guess that's my cue to get out of her hair for a little bit. I nod at my two sons-in-law and follow them out to the large field behind the Alpha House. "Soon, gentlemen, we must address what needs to be done with Aurora's mother's castle. Either she needs to tear it down, or it needs to be fully rebuilt." Both boys look at me and nod slowly.

Alaric draws in a deep breath and nods his head again. I can tell he's in deep thought over this question. "After finding her twin within her mother's skeleton, Aurora is quite shaken. Part of her is not ready to return there for any reason." He shrugs his shoulders, assisting his son to undress to shift.

"The other part of her wants nothing more but to go back there and return her people to their ancestral home." He looks up at me and then shrugs his shoulders again. "I know the castle doesn't hold fond memories for many, but most that were harmed there are dead."

"I understand what you're saying, Alaric, but it's the birthright of the female Lycans in her family to inherit the title and that castle." I sigh softly and look back towards the house. "Klaus's daughter is next in line to inherit that throne. It's going to be up to Aurora and Klaus if they decide to continue on with that tradition." I make that statement reluctantly.

"In my heart, I know Anca would prefer for that title to be passed down from daughter to daughter. But with all things considered, we don't even know if Kirra being part dragon will have the same drive that her mother did." It was something about that subspecies of Lycan that the royal line took multiple mates. Klaus's bloodline is slightly different from Anca's. Instead of being your standard jet-black, long-furred Lycan, they have varying grey, white, brown, and black shades. Their fur is coarser with multiple layers, unlike Anca's bloodline.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Arnulf says reluctantly. "Maybe I could pose to Aurora summoning her mother from the great beyond again. And she can seek her mother's counsel as to what to do with the castle and the title." He dances from foot to foot, rather unsure of what our reaction to his suggestion would be.

"That is a brilliant idea, Arnulf! We'll leave it up to the current queen and the past queen to make that decision." I smile broadly because in one fell swoop, our newest family member solved our greatest problem.

Having lost track of what we were doing, we look down and find both children as german Shepard size dragons. I did not expect my grand babies to have grown so quickly in such a short period of time. My look of shock must have been evident because Tia comes over and starts rubbing her scaled muzzle against my thigh.

Alaric leads Tia away from the rest of us while we shift into our animals. Once the shift is complete, I roar, and Tia comes running over to me. I lie down slowly, and she climbs carefully up onto my back. The twins begin to preen my scales, removing any dead ones that they find. It feels so weird to have these little tiny talons cleaning my scales. When Alaric returns, he launches into the sky and roars for us to follow.

Arnulf's much smaller eagle takes off and starts gliding on the thermals. It takes me a few minutes and a slight running start to get off the ground. I am much more out of practice with flying than my son-in-law. Once up in the sky, the babies jump off my back and start flying on their own. I watch them circle and glide, enjoying the thermals between the mountains. We go up higher into the atmosphere. Eventually, I see Arnulf's eagle land on one of Alaric's horns as both babies take refuge on my back.

The evening temperature starts to drop, and the little ones snuggle in tightly between my wings. It's such a wonderful feeling to be able to experience this part of parenthood. In some ways, I wish Aurora had been born a dragon because she will never understand the intense bonding that takes place during flight. But in a way she does; she's taken the mating flight with Alaric, two of them in fact, and she knows how important it is. But one thing I've never gotten to do with her is taking her for a flight myself. I roar to Alaric that I'm returning, and I let him know what I'm planning on doing. He roars his response, and I go in and land behind the Alpha House.

Aurora and the guys come out just in time as Tiamat and Ladon go sliding off my back and run towards the house as their dragons. Aurora gets ready to head inside, and I blow a little frost at her feet. My beast rumbles at her, calling to her on a primal level. Her eyes shift and take on that ethereal glow. Before I know it, she's already running and climbing up my side to sit on my back. I turn my head around slowly and tilt it, wanting her to climb up and sit behind my horns. It takes her several seconds, and she gets what I mean and moves to sit upfront.

Carefully, I get a little bit of a running start and take off flying with my daughter. My heart is the fullest that it's been in my existence. I've been gifted with a strong daughter, a second chance mate, and grandchildren. I am the luckiest guy that has ever existed. I feel Aurora's talons cleaning my scales behind my horns. It's such a unique bonding experience for dragons. It's a level of trust that is not easily given, nor is it ever taken for granted.

Through the bond, I feel Aurora's excitement and her joy. She tells me softly that she always wanted to fly with me. If I could cry in this form, I would be bawling like a baby right now. She wishes she had the gift of flight, but she is grateful for the life that she's been given. I express to her my gratitude for what she has done to heal me. She gave me back the skies and part of my life I didn't realize was missing. She gave me the gift of grand babies that I never thought I would ever see. From what Dimitri tells me, little Luna looks exactly how Aurora did when she was a baby. So in a sense, I have a second chance of watching Aurora grow up.

The sun has almost completely set, and the skies have changed from hues of red, orange, and yellows, to cool tones of various shades of blue and purple. The light wisp of clouds makes it seem like a beautiful painting made by the guy who always said, "let's paint a happy tree." We watch the remaining light from the sun fade from the sky. And the stars start coming out twinkling above us. Aurora and I stay in the air for much longer than I had originally intended, sharing the magic of twilight together. The moon is slowly breaking over the horizon, and in three to four days, it'll be a full moon.

One of the greatest gifts of the dragon bond is that we can see through each other's eyes. Especially the paternal bond between parent and child; it's the strongest. Aurora sees breaking over the horizon another dragon coming towards us. Her eyes narrow in on it, and she goes on alert.

I hear her clothes shred as her beast breaks loose of her human bonds. She does that roar-howl of hers, summoning the rest of the family and her guards to her. I feel her pulling on the bond of the dragons that follow her. It's a Wyvern that's coming after us. It just so happens to be the one she saw in Alaska. The same one that stole Sebastian away from her.

Daddy, paybacks a bitch. I just so happen to be that bitch , Aurora says to me through the bond. I feel her calculating the speed and the angle at which the Wyvern is traveling. It comes darting up towards us, trying to position itself over us. I go into evasive maneuvers, and when I flip upside down over top of it, Aurora lets go. She lands on the Wyvern's back and sinks her talons in deeply. The Wyvern is trying everything that it can to shake her off. Little does it know the more it struggles, the deeper her talons sink in. Alaric, Marco, Dante, and Edgar can be seen breaking through the clouds.

Soon as the boys are close enough, I roar to stop them. I don't need them interfering or possibly getting Aurora hurt while she most definitely has this under control. I watch her beast lean down and sink its canines into the back of the Wyvern's neck. Blood begins to spray and coat her white fur, painting it vermilion. She whips her head back and forth, violently shaking her head, tearing at the tendons and sinew that holds the neck muscles in place. I watch her reach down and quickly sink her talons into the throat of the Wyvern. She rips up and back, violently severing the main artery. At this altitude, the blood is freezing almost as soon as it hits the air.

The Wyvern starts to falter in its flight, and that is when Aurora runs and jumps off of its back. Part of me is ready to have a coronary thinking about my baby falling hundreds of feet. It doesn't take but four beats of Alaric's wings for him to catch up, flip upside down, and catch her in the air. Gently, his taloned hand embraces his mate as he holds her tightly to his chest. From this angle, it kind of looks funny if you think about it. The giant Ice Dragon carrying a giant blood-covered Lycan hybrid like it's a doll. He slowly positions himself over Marco's back. Gently, he deposits Aurora onto Marco's back and decides to fly in formation with her guard. Let's face it, Marco is the biggest of all of us and with his acid breath, possibly one of the most deadly.

We watch the Wyvern crash into the side of the mountain, blood and guts splattering everywhere. The sickening thud reverberating through the mountainside. I watch my daughter walking along Marco's back, preening his scales as well. It's kind of funny watching her do it, mainly cuz his scales are almost the size of a shield.

The flight home was much faster than I had expected. I land first, then Alaric. Soon after comes Marco with Aurora on his back and then the two War Dragons—Dante and Edgar. Alaric is the first to shift back to his human form, and he rushes over to his mate's side. Aurora slides down and lands on her feet. Alaric checks her from toes to nose just before the rest of her mates run out of the house. That turns into a round of past the Aurora, so everybody has a chance to make sure she's okay. I look around quite puzzled because Jayce, oddly enough, is not outside.

We all walk inside, and in the main sitting room by the fireplace, Jayce is lying down as his wolf. He's curled up around the three new babies with two little dragons curled up around him. I guess after this most recent scare, nobody is willing to leave the new babies alone. You can't really blame them. You would think you'd be able to trust family. Quickly, Aurora runs off and showers and then returns much faster than anticipated. She slips herself into a recliner, and each male takes turns bringing her one of the new babies. Jayce almost whines because he doesn't want to shift back. So Dominik has the honor of carrying baby Luna to Aurora. Dominik is a huge mush when it comes to that baby girl. He's making funny faces and odd little baby noises just to hear her laugh. Promptly she grabs hold of his bottom lip and pulls. He starts to whine softly, and she giggles.

As soon as I set myself down, my mate, Helle, comes to sit with me. She curls up on the couch next to me and offers me a cold beverage. Dimitri hands me a pair of trunks—my dumbass forgot to get dressed. After each baby is fed, the guys promptly place them back with Jayce and the two older children. I opt to sleep in the living room tonight to watch over my little family. Dominik shifts as well and lies not far from the snuggle fest. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day with no danger. My poor baby girl needs to know what peace is.