33. Dominik

CHAPTER 33

Dominik

We head to the study across the hall from Aurora's room, that way we're close enough in case she wakes up early. I move to where the maps are spread out behind the desk and consider what lies ahead of us.

"There's going to be a lot of casualties going across the Bering Land Bridge," I state very matter-of-fact. I can't candy-coat this at all. It's going to get ugly real quick, and not much can be done to stop it.

Jayce looks up to me as he speaks. "Have we heard more about this prince? I feel a faint presence, but I can't put my finger on it." So, I'm not the only one sensing the new entity. I release a measured breath before texting Sebastian to join us.

"I know what you mean, Jayce. I just messaged Sebastian to join us. He's been bonded to Aurora the longest, so he would know better than me." Speak of the devil, that smirking, arrogant asshole is now standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Ask, and ye shall receive. What's the secret meeting for?" Sebastian closes the door behind him, then flops into the chair behind the desk and hangs his legs over the arm.

"Have you been feeling another presence beside us?" I get straight to the point. If Aurora didn't love this fucker and have that "no hitting the other mates" rule, I'd love to beat his ass. The arrogant fuck acts like he's in charge when Aurora isn't present. I can't wait until the day someone bigger and worse than him knocks him down a peg or two. Sebastian quickly sits up and looks between Jayce and me.

"Yeah, it's different than when she acknowledged you two. This feels stronger, almost more primal." He shakes his head, looking at his hands. "Whatever it is, it's fucking strong." Sebastian looks worried, which is a first.

Nico's voice fills the hall after apparently hearing part of our conversation. "The it in question is an Ice and Gold Dragon mix. Alaric's mother is a Golden Dragon, and his father is an Ice Dragon, both of which are very powerful in their own rights." Nico breathes in deeply before continuing. "One sides with justice, the other with his horde and power. I, being an Ice Dragon, know the temptation of treasure. Treasure, when it's physical, can corrupt—in this case, Alaric's father." Nico strides into the room and shoos Sebastian from the office chair to sit behind the desk.

"If you three are starting to feel the prince, imagine what Aurora is feeling." He tilts his head to the side, looking at each of us in turn. "She has his scale implanted in her flesh." Nicodeamus taps the area over his heart. "He will always know where she is and how to find her, no matter the distance. Until they are mated, it will be faint, almost ghost-like—a whisper in the back of her mind, and his." A sly smirk creeps across Nicodeamus's lips as he looks at us.

"Be prepared for a battle of wills between Aurora and the prince, as they are both true-born alphas, unlike you three." His smirk turns into a sadistic grin as his eyes lock with Sebastian to drive his next point home. "Sebastian, you and Dominik are maybe betas in the pack; you'll never achieve full alpha because your animal will put survival over dominance." His almost feral look softens as his gaze turns to my twin. "Jayce, you already know you're an omega, and you're fine with your role. You are the safest of the three when it comes to the prince's arrival." Nico, with his ancient wisdom, literally told us that Sebastian and I may be fucked. We will not stand a chance against the prince in a physical battle. Kind of a bummer to hear, but at least Nico put Sebastian in his fucking place. I start to pace the room a bit, pondering everything that Nico said.

"So, if I understand this correctly, if Aurora's in a very high-stress situation, she may act like a homing beacon for the prince during the battle? Similar to how the guys and I sense Aurora's distress?" I stop my pacing to look at Nico. I've put a lot of thought into this, and I want to make sure my theory is sound.

"It's similar, but not the same. A dragon's bond is blood deep—spiritual, in a sense. It transcends time and space; distance means nothing to a dragon's bond." Nicodeamus sighs softly before stroking his beard a moment. "As Aurora grew and her beast became stronger, the easier it was for me to dream walk and teach her things in her sleep. I believe in time, the prince may be able to reach out to Aurora." My body tenses, and Nico holds up his hand to stop me from speaking. "However, we won't know how powerful he truly is until he attaches her scale to himself." Nico taps his index finger on his chin, then comes up with an idea. He rises up from the chair and goes to the lamp, shifting his index finger and using the talon to cut through half the electric cord. He bends the halves apart, so the power never passes through.

"Okay, so to make it simple, here's an example: the solid wire is Aurora, having attached the prince's scale to herself. The broken wire represents the prince on one side and Aurora's scale on the other side. Until he implants the scale, the connection is half-assed. Once he implants the scale..." Nico pushes the halves together and the light blazes to life. Across all our faces, realization dawns. Their connection may be the strongest out of all of ours. Sebastian seems to be taking this the hardest as he begins to pace the room, stress pouring off him. Besides, when we almost lost Aurora, I've never seen Sebastian look so terrified.

Suddenly, the door explodes, sending splinters and chunks of oak flying everywhere. Aurora, in all her hybrid glory, is ready for battle. A low growl rumbles in her chest as frost coats her fur and yellow-green toxin drips from her canines. Her beast looks around the room, talons clicking together as her mercury orbs search for the threat. Apparently, Sebastian's stress triggered Aurora's shift and attack mode.

"My love, it's okay, there's no threat. We're sorry Sebastian's anxiety woke you up like that." Jayce approaches Aurora with his hands held in a placating manner, trying to soothe her enough to shift back. Aurora shakes her massive wolven head, snarling before slowly regaining her human form. Jayce quickly removes his T-shirt and gives it to Aurora. Reluctantly, Aurora pulls the T-shirt over her head and stares Sebastian down.

"What the fuck are you drama queening about now? I was sleeping, fucking sleeping soundly until your dramatic pansy-ass woke me the fuck up. What's got your man panties in a bunch?" Jayce and I give each other the oh shit look before watching the train wreck that's about to happen. Don't get me wrong, I love Sebastian like only a bond-mate could, but he's an entitled, royal pain in the ass.

"Drama queening? What the fuck, Aurora! You're not about to be usurped by an unknown male who's not even here yet!" Sebastian flails his arms like a girl on the flag squad at a football game. Nico is trying like hell not to laugh out loud, but it's challenging, to be honest. Sebastian is being ridiculous.

"Usurped? Who the fuck do you think you are, the fucking king? The only king in this pack, is my father. Goddess fucking help me, if you ever try to usurp him—mate or not—I'll kill you myself." She growls and freezes the ground around her as she stares Sebastian down. Now is not the time to interject, but of course, Jayce does.

"Love? I think Sebastian is trying to say that we feel the Dragon Prince, even though he's not here, and we know you must too." He raises his eyebrows and smiles, putting his dimples she loves so much on full display. "We're just concerned since all of our bonds are so new. Some of us suck at expressing our feelings though." Jayce took that moment to smirk at Sebastian as Aurora steps up and snuggles into his side. She holds onto Jayce tightly and kisses his throat before looking at Sebastian and me.

"Guys, I love you, even when some of you drive me bloody mad with your insecurities. I feel the prince, but he's like a whisper in the back of my mind. I feel his anxiety, like something is going on behind the scenes." Aurora raises her hand to rub the prince's scale lightly. "Jayce, Dom, has Alex said anything new? Something's up. I just know it." Her eyes turn liquid mercury as she looks between all of us, and I watch Nico's eyes also change to that of his dragon. I'm not sure what's going on, but it has their animals on edge. While I text our brother, Jayce gently runs his fingers through Aurora's hair.

Motherfucker, something is up. My phone blows up with messages from Alex as he fills me in on everything that's going on. I hand the phone over to Nico so he can catch up. I watch his eyes fly over the messages, then he hands the phone over to Aurora and leaves. Aurora nods along as her eyes pass over the screen, then she hits call and starts pacing.

"Alex, it's Aurora... Yeah, I'm good. I see we need to adjust our tactics. My father and Dimitri will be there tonight. Yeah, I saw that. Hopefully the prince receives the skull sooner than later. I may need to summon him when the battle starts." Aurora goes silent as she switches to video call to show Alex the map. Her fingers glide over the map as she explains her plan for the attack. Her brows knit tightly together. "Yes, I know there's going to be dragons! I'll handle them, and you train the Dires to evade them. I'll bring the fuckers down." She sighs softly.

Through the bond, I can feel the idea of killing possible kin is tearing her apart. "I will do what I have to, to keep our people safe. Get a hold of Ellis; he needs to get to Alaric and secure a dragon force. The bears may or may not be enough." Aurora looks exhausted—more emotionally and mentally than physically.

Possibly as his smartest move, Sebastian goes over to hold her. Aurora rests her head on his chest and sighs again, still listening to my brother. "I get that, Alex. We are going to be fucking lambs to slaughter if Alaric doesn't bring reinforcements with him. My father can't fucking fly, and he's going to be a fucking sitting duck. If you think I'm going to lose him now, you're sadly mistaken!" Aurora hands the phone over to me and starts crying on Sebastian's chest. Okay, this now ranks in the top five scariest Aurora moments on record. Aurora plus emotions usually equals rage and destruction.

"Jayce, can you please take Dimitri and Nico to the airport? I'm currently being held hostage by a potential nuke." Sebastian kisses the crown of Aurora's head and holds her tightly. He's correct in thinking this can go bad really quick. I watch Jayce nod and kiss Aurora on the cheek before leaving on his mission. I motion for Sebastian to follow me. He carefully scoops Aurora up and carries her bridal style down to the kitchen. I decide that pouring her a glass of wine and giving her ice cream is probably an excellent idea to help calm her down.

Aurora won't release Sebastian for anything, like he's her own personal woobie. Watching him try to maneuver so he can sit with her on the stool is comical. However, I'm not used to seeing our mate in this state. She is by no means defenseless. Sebastian picks up the spoon and starts feeding Aurora the ice cream. Hesitantly, Aurora takes the ice cream from the spoon, and her eyes slowly fade back to their normal steel grey. Softly, she smiles at us and starts feeding herself instead.

"I'm sorry I lost it, guys. I don't want anyone to die because of me. I just got all of you, and I'm not even remotely close to consider being ready to lose any of you." Aurora sighs softly, then looks between the two of us.

"I'm almost thinking a small force will be easier to hide than a large mass of black bodies moving across the tundra. Number wise, it puts us at a disadvantage, but it may give us the element of surprise." Aurora taps the spoon to her plump lips, pondering what move to make next.

"Dom, get your brother to put together a group of the absolute best fighters in the pack. We're going to go in hard and fast. We'll break into alpha and bravo teams and converge on the Polar Bears. I'll run straight up the middle since my white fur will cloak me the longest. I'll head straight for the leader and rip his head off," Aurora says, so matter-of-fact it's almost scary.

Sometimes, her gaining Sebastian's battle strategy is a blessing and a curse all in the same breath. I don't like the idea of her charging alone into battle while we attack from different sides. The Polar Bears also have the white fur advantage as well.

I began to pace as I notice Sebastian grab the notepad on the island and draw a mini version of the large map we have upstairs. Aurora looks as well, making small adjustments to his drawing. "Her plan is solid, Dom. The only problem I see is that the Polar Bears and Ice Dragons are also white. It will be tough for us to spot them in time."

"Gee, ya think? " I say under my breath. Captain Obvious strikes again. I roll my eyes. Seriously, does Sebastian think we're stupid? With the way he speaks to everyone, he must think we are at times. Aurora spots the faces I'm making while Sebastian is busy. Aurora rolls her eyes at me, then slides off Sebastian's lap. He's so engrossed in what he's doing, it barely registers that she moved. Aurora goes behind Sebastian and starts making some of the silliest faces I've ever seen her make.

Sebastian must sense something is up because he turns to catch Aurora sticking her tongue out at him. He quickly grabs her tongue between his index and middle finger and growls at her. Aurora simply smirks at him. I look down to see she has shifted her hand, and her talons are millimeters away from his cock and balls. Realizing his family jewels are endangered, he quickly releases her tongue and backs away. Aurora clicks her talons together and looks them over before shifting her hand back to normal.

"Just remember, love, you may be my first mate, but I am still alpha." She pats his cheek and smiles at him. Aurora winks at me, then grabs her empty bowl and dumps it in the sink. I could tell she has a lot on her mind by the way she stared at Sebastian's drawing. Just about any way we slice this mission, there's going to be a high body count.

"Sebastian, I want to go swimming at the lake. Mind taking me?" Aurora smiles when Sebastian agrees. Slowly, she stands before me and gives me a soft kiss—one that could set your loins ablaze.

Gently, she rests her forehead against mine and says softly through our bond, Don't fear, my love. Call your brother. Make the arrangements. All will work out." Her terse sentences don't fill me with comfort. They do, however, give me something to do while they are off swimming.