149. Aurora

CHAPTER 149

Aurora

I leave the study swiftly, and in my mind's eye, I reach out to all five of my children. Each one always has a bag ready to go if we need to leave in a hurry. I task Ladon and Tia to gather the three youngest ones and bring them downstairs to the main courtyard. I give Marco the task of assisting children and the babies with their bags and bringing them downstairs with them. I next reach out to my mother-in-law, advising her to join us with my father in the Winter Palace journey.

In less than twenty minutes, I have my entire group, minus my mates ready to go. My father has shifted, and his mate is riding behind his crown of horns. In his taloned hand are their bags ready for the trip. My children sit with their bags in front of them, waiting for their fathers to arrive.

With five minutes left to spare, my mates make it downstairs, each of them bickering, saying they can't locate the children. My five little cherubs are here sitting with their bags in front of them, waiting patiently. Being the wise-ass that she is, Tia decides to stand up and drag her bag behind her in front of her father. "Daddy, what took you so long? You're a boy." she says in a huff with her little hands on her hips. She's emulating me perfectly; it's kind of hysterical. Alaric is shocked, looking from his daughter to the other children and then up to me. I smile at him and tilt my head to the side, motioning to all the children with their bags.

"We've been waiting for you guys for almost ten minutes now. What took you so long?" I pose the same question to all of my mates, looking at each one in turn. Jayce, Arnulf, and Klaus look ashamed of themselves for having taken so long. Dimitri and Dominik just shrug their shoulders, both of them with two bags apiece. I could almost bet the second bag has weapons in it. I shrug my shoulders slightly. And Alaric just stands there, bag in hand, coffee mug in the other, and I just tilt my head looking at them. "Did you remember to bring everyone coffee?"

He sheepishly looks down at his coffee and then holds the mug out to me. "No, my love, but here, take mine. I'm sure you need it more than I do," he says with a smile on his face, trying to hide that he did not think to bring everybody coffee. I take the mug from him, take a sip and then hand it back.

"No love, it is you that needs it more than I do; I'm not the one flying," I say with a smile as I look at him. He chuckles slightly and then hands me his bag. He finishes off his coffee quickly and then looks at the War Dragons, motioning for them to shift.

Slowly, I walk over to Marco, who is holding Luna, and I take her gently from him. "All right, big guy, time to get this little bundle of joy to the Winter Palace." I smile as I talk to him. He nods slowly and then walks away from us. Shyly he looks over his shoulder at us, and I put my hands over Luna's eyes. He nods his head at me and smiles before he shifts.

Once Marco is fully shifted, I motion for Jayce to approach. I hand him Luna and start to guide him back over towards Marco. "My love, yourself and our little princess will ride with Marco. Dimitri and his daughter, as well as Klaus and his daughter, will also be joining you on Marco." As I name my other mates, they come walking over with their daughters in their arms. "Time to load up everyone. We need to get going." I smack each of my mates on their asses, sending them scurrying up Marco's wing.

Jayce remains standing next to me as I tilt my head, looking up at Marco. I wiggle my finger at him and get him to lower his great head. I take Luna from Jayce before he starts to climb onto Marco's neck. With great skill and excellent balance, he walks his way up to the crown of horns and sits himself down. I nuzzle my daughter several times and kiss both of her cheeks. Her little chubby hands grip my face as she plants big wet, baby kisses on my face. Marco senses what I need to do next, and his tail comes around to my side. Carefully, I step on the flat portion of his tail, and he raises us up level with Jayce. Ever so carefully, I hand my daughter over to her father and make sure that they are safely snuggled in place.

Slowly, Marco lowers me back to the ground, and I walk to stand in front of him. Gently, I place my hands on his great maw to stroke his heavily armored scales. "It's time to head off to the Winter Palace. I want you to wait to land last." Ever so slightly, I feel his head nod before I release him and set off on my next task.

I look over at Dante and Edgar and nod my head to them, signaling for them to take to the skies. They start circling the castle courtyard, waiting for the other dragons to launch. I signal the four Gold Dragons that will be escorting us to take off as well. Alaric already had the contingent of four additional War Dragons for this flight waiting for the rest of us to launch. The last two to launch would be Alaric and Marco.

I move swiftly over to Alaric's side and scurry my way up onto his back and then walk up to his crown of horns. I motion to Marco for him to launch next. As soon as he's airborne, Alaric and I follow. The War Dragons fly in formation around my father, Alaric, and Marco. We fly slowly over various mountain ranges and hidden lakes and streams and en route to Siberia's Winter Palace.

We skirt China's edge, knowing full well that the Chinese Dragons don't always appreciate other dragons in their airspace. A decisive move made by Alaric and my father, we head up into mother Russia, where the Ice and Gold Dragons thrive. We remain high enough in the air that it allows us to be able to circle over the Kremlin. It's such a beautiful palace, ornate and decorative, yet has such a foreboding history. We head further into Russia's airspace, heading towards Siberia.

We go past Chernobyl and the abandoned towns around it. At the height that we're flying, we are in no danger of any radiation harming us. It's just amazing to see what's left of that part of history. We take the time to explain to Tia and Ladon what had happened in this once-thriving mecca. Both children listen intently as we relay the history of the area to them. Ladon has millions of questions that we keep trying to answer for him before he fires off his next question.

After answering my son's fifty million questions, he finally lays down to take a nap. I'm not sure which one of us is more thankful to stop talking, myself or my mate. But we are quite overjoyed at the silence we are now experiencing. On the other hand, Tia is standing up, holding on to her father's horns, looking at the winter wonderland around us. Spring has not yet touched this part of Siberia, and it's a huge blanket of snow.

We spot in the distance a herd of oxen and yak moving through the tundra in single line formation. I know the dragons that are currently carrying everyone must be hungry from the long flight. I reach out through the bond and advise those that are carrying the family to land. We land far enough away from the herd, and I spread out a blanket to sit all the children on. Thankfully, it's a very thick wool blanket with a fur backing, so I snuggle all the little ones into the middle.

Once I'm sure the little ones are snuggled, I throw an extra blanket over the top of my five children. I have Jayce and Dominik shift and curl their wolven forms around the blankets. Myself, Klaus, and Dimitri shift and take on the form of our beasts. Arnulf, who's not built for this weather, climbs into the blankets with the babies to keep them safe. It's time to hunt.

The dragons take to the sky and one by one start to pick off oxen and yaks for themselves to eat. In the process of them culling the herd, they drive the rest of them towards us. In the interest of protecting the children, I have Dimitri and his Great Bear stand guard by them. Klaus and I split up and start stalking one large oxen in particular.

You can tell this mammoth beast has escaped being hunted numerous times. Claw marks from what I assume to be Polar Bears mark this ancient warrior's back and shoulder. Today is not his lucky day. Klaus and I are quick and light on our feet as we separate him from the rest of his herd. He makes the mistake of focusing on Klaus since he's the one able to be seen easily. I launch myself from out of nowhere and land on the beast's back. I sink my talons in deeply and start to bite at the back of his neck.

The oxen starts to buck and spin, throwing his weight around, still trying to keep Klaus in his line of sight. Blood sprays everywhere, painting the snow and my fur vermilion. My adrenaline's pumping, and my heart thunders in my chest as I hold on for the wildest ride of my life. Surprisingly he throws himself on his side, trying to dislodge me. Little does he know that gives me the advantage. He's semi stuck on his side and slightly weakened from the blood loss.

I take advantage of his miscalculation and lunge, sinking my talons through his thick fur and into his flesh. I have never met an animal with such a thick hide on it before. It takes some effort to slice through till I hear the gasp from its trachea. I keep telling myself a little further, a little harder, a little deeper as I push my talons in. Eventually, I throw myself from his body, and he stands up and wobbles. Blood is pumping out with every beat of his heart, staining the snow at his feet.

One last great huff of breath escapes the hole in his throat before he falls to the ground. He huffs several more times before he expires and lays down dead in the snow. Klaus and I make short work of breaking up his body to drag it back to the children. We quarter it and sink our talons into the hunks of meat. We return to the babies and call them out so that they can eat. Dimitri wanders off and starts to bite into the carcass to drag it back to us. Thankfully, before he's even halfway back, Alaric lands and takes the oxen in his mouth and carries it back over to us, making Dimitri's job that much easier.

The babies eat their fill, while Arnulf eats snacks out of his bag. It would not be wise for him to shift in this weather because he may just freeze to death. When we are sure that everyone has eaten sufficiently, we pack everyone back up onto their dragons and take off again. It's not much further to the Winter Palace. It takes us only maybe another thirty minutes in the air to get there.

Upon arrival, one of the duke's that are good friends with Alaric is waiting in the courtyard for us. As everyone shifts, he passes out robes for us to wear. "Greetings and salutations to my King and Queen," he says, then bows deeply. He stands back up and offers us warm beverages that one of his assistants was holding for us. I take the offered beverage and sniff at it several times before deeming it safe to drink. He looks at me oddly, not used to the fact that I just don't trust.

"Please follow me. I will have the staff set up baths in the master suite for you to get cleaned up and rest a little bit before dinner. We will be serving caribou later tonight with several different desserts," he states formally as he reads off the scroll that was handed to him. "If there's anything that you wish of us, please let someone know." He bows again graciously before heading back into the castle. I raise an eyebrow looking at Alaric because I'm just not used to this level of formality.

He raises his shoulders and shrugs slightly, looking at me. For him, everything's back to status quo because this was the castle that he was raised in. We enter the castle and the entryway is exactly how I remember it: beautifully polished floors, a winding staircase going up to the second floor, the study directly off to our right where the guys will have their meetings. I trail upstairs to the master suite with all five children in tow. My little hellions are still coated in blood from their meal from earlier. We definitely did get some odd looks when the children disembarked.

I guess you can say we're not your typical royal family. I'm not stuffy, nor am I all about the pomp and circumstance. Most of my mates did not grow up royal, and neither did I. We're back in the same master suite that we were in previously, and it's still just as gorgeous as it was the last time. The bathtub is big enough to be a small swimming pool, and we set it up so that I can bathe the children first because it's almost their bedtime. After their bath, we will be all set up for bed, and then the adults will be off for dinner.