42. Aurora

CHAPTER 42

Aurora

Dimitri leads me into a room off the main one and I freeze in my tracks. It was Andre's room. I walk in slowly. There are so many pictures of us over the years that I didn't know existed. I stare in wonder, watching myself grow up in the photographs—birthdays, holidays; they are all here. I quickly look back to Dimitri, who's in tears like I am.

"He kept a photo album of you growing up. I know he would have wanted you to have it." Dimitri reaches into a drawer, pulls out the album, and sets it on the table beside the bed. Elena's in the doorway, listening to our exchange with tears freely flowing down her cheeks. She can't bring herself to speak and offers me a cup of special tea. I look down at the contents and sniff it. Something's different. My beast surges to the surface, and I shove the tea at her.

"You drink it!" I stare at her, my instincts on high alert. Something isn't sitting right. Elena takes the cup from me and sniffs it, and all the color drains from her face.

"Princess, no! I didn't do this! Someone must have tampered with my herbs." Dimitri's bear makes his presence known as fur ripples down his arms and recedes just as quickly. My father comes up behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Old friend, we will just have to keep Aurora isolated, that's all. I will try to put her into a frost slumber. It's a state of torpor that some Ice Dragons use to leapfrog through time. If it doesn't work, I'll turn this house into one huge ice cube." My father shrugs his shoulders like it is no big deal. Then again, to him, it probably isn't a big deal.

"Before I sleep, Father, I want to try something for Dimitri." I look to Dimitri and he nods, moving closer to me. "Please sit, D. My blood healed Sebastian quickly. I'm wondering if it would do the same for you. Perhaps slow the progression of time." I watch the idea process quickly behind my father's eyes. His dragon surges forward just before he runs out of the room. Either I had a stroke of genius, or he doesn't want to witness what I'm going to do. When my father returns, he's holding a goblet, a bottle of vodka, and a spoon. Okay, I'm really puzzled now.

"My brilliant daughter, I completely forgot about the blood bonding. Dimitri, we can bond you to the two of us. It should stop the aging process and possibly reverse it some." Nico pours about four shots of vodka into the goblet, bites his own wrist, and bleeds into the goblet. He licks his wound, sealing it before he looks at me. I bite my right wrist deeply and hold it over the goblet, making sure the majority of the blood makes it in. Carefully, I pick up the goblet and hold it out to Dimitri. He bites his wrist and bleeds into it—about the same amount as my father did. Nico looks between Dimitri and me then decides to explain.

"I know you're wondering, why the vodka? It keeps the blood from clotting, and it makes the blood taste better." His eyes turn to Elena. "Knowledge of this does not leave this room, am I clear?" Elena nods slowly. She's obviously still frightened and sad that she almost assisted in killing me. Since I'm still holding the goblet, I drink about a third of the contents. I immediately feel the power of my father's blood in my body. Carefully, I pass the goblet to my father, and he drinks half of what's left.

Finally, Dimitri gets the remaining blood. He smiles at me quickly before drinking the rest of it. The surge of power that goes through him knocks him to his knees, and I rush over to keep him steady. I feel his muscles tense under my fingertips as they become thick and solid. Almost twenty minutes pass before he lifts his head and looks at me. It's as if I dunked Dimitri in the fountain of youth. He's absolutely handsome. I never noticed how beautiful of a man he was until just now.

"Aurora, please don't look at me like that," Dimitri says softly. He stands to his full height and stretches his heavily muscled body. He's a mountain of a man. I know part of it has to do with his bear, but damn. Maybe my wolf isn't fucking delusional for thinking of Dimitri as hers. Perhaps it's my heat talking, perhaps not. I would have to revisit this subject once my heat passes.

I laugh softly to myself and turn away from Dimitri to look around Andre's old room. He held onto so many little things that I brought him over the years. All the small animal skulls litter the shelves in his room. Looking at them, I start cracking up. My father comes to stand beside me in front of the shelves of skulls. He starts chuckling to himself.

"I guess you took after me more than I thought. I'm guessing, by the size of these skulls, you were a little one when you started this collection." He tilts his head to look at me, the liquid mercury of his dragon's eyes focused on mine. I nod slowly and look back at my collection.

"At first, it freaked Andre out that I was bringing him my trophies. After a while, he began to look forward to seeing what I would bring him that day." I pick up a cougar's skull and hold it in my hand. "I was ten when I killed the cougar. The guys were out hunting when it came into our yard. I had chores to get done, so I was in the garden when it attacked me. I guess it didn't or couldn't smell what I was. I felt its teeth sinking into the back of my neck as its claws dug into my ribs. Something came over me and my body went into its first full shift. Before that day, most times, I was only able to shift my hands and canines. It released me and tried to escape, but it didn't get far before I caught up to it and ripped it to shreds." I start laughing as I look over to Dimitri, who's definitely having a proud moment.

"Poor Andre had to deal with not only a freshly shifted she-wolf but cougar parts all over the yard. You know how jumpy Andre could be. He tried so hard to fight his instinct to run. In the end, Dimitri had to watch over me until I shifted back." Dimitri laughs for several moments before regaining his composure.

"She was stuck as her wolf for almost four days. That little white hellion was like a force of nature, hell-bent on testing out her talons and her newfound strength and speed. Hell, Andre was the only one fast enough to keep up with her when she went hunting." My father beams with pride as he listens to our story. He begins to walk around Andre's room, picking up different pictures—basically catching up on the last two hundred some odd years.

Nico holds up a picture that I hadn't noticed. I walk over to my father and lean over his shoulder to look at it with him. It's a picture of Sebastian holding me as a baby. I wonder how long Andre hid this picture from me. Sebastian looks so enamored with me, like the sun rose and set with every breath I took. I take out my phone and send my baby picture to Sebastian. I manipulate the photo to have a heart frame with the caption awe. Within a matter of seconds, he sends me several heart emojis and asks where I am. I tell him I'm in Andre's room and I'm being quarantined until my heat is over. He sends me several sad faces. I shake my head and put my phone away.

My father is now on the bed, sitting next to Elena, and they're both looking through the album. She tells him about the night of my arrival and the three months we spent with her and Sebastian. My dad thanked her profusely for caring for me and providing us shelter when we needed it most. I watch the exchange for several minutes until my phone goes off again. It's Jayce, and this time he wants to video chat. I walk to the corner of the room and sit in Andre's rocking chair.

"Hi, love," I say when I see his smiling face. The video changes; he must have cast it to the smart screen in the office. "Hi, everyone! I'm currently grounded because of my heat." The guys nod, and all start speaking at once. "Whoa! Settle down. First off, I need to let you know someone tampered with Elena's herbs. I was almost poisoned today." The guys start yelling back and forth, threatening to rip the compound apart. "We don't need to go that crazy. There is a traitor here, and we've been aware of that for quite some time. I want you to spread the rumor that I'm very ill, and you're not sure if I'm going to survive." I watch the guys ponder what I just said.

Sebastian speaks first. "Are you sure that's wise? I mean, they could attack, and we aren't there to protect you."

"Positive. I have protection, don't worry about that aspect. Besides, I'm in heat, not fucking dead, Bash. Give a girl some credit here." Dimitri prepares to step forward, and I raise my hand to stop him. I don't need my secret weapon revealed quite yet. I look back at the guys. "Any questions?" The twins look at each other then back to the screen.

"We'll patrol outside to keep appearances up. We need to keep this as legit-looking as possible for it to work." I agree with them and nod slowly.

"Do you want me or your father to make the announcement to the packs?" Sebastian is the next to speak. I bite my bottom lip, pondering what he said. There are very few who know about the tea's existence, and he's one of them.

"I think it's best if you and my father make the announcement together. The king and the first mate standing together makes for a stronger, united front. Say very little about what happened, just that I was somehow poisoned, and your mother is working around the clock and trying everything she can to save me." Sebastian nods then smirks.

"I'll keep the pack and the boys in line until you're able to return." He looks over at the twins and gives them a look I really don't like.

"No need, love," I state flatly. "It would be far better if my father oversees everything. After all, he is the Dragon King. Who in their right mind would oppose him?" I watch Sebastian's face contort a dozen ways before he reigns in his emotions.

"As you wish, princess," Sebastian says with a mild inflection of a venomous tone. I keep my eyes steady on him until he leaves the room the twins are in. I signal the twins to watch each other's backs. I carry on with casual conversation as I start writing messages to hold up to them.