29. Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Garrick

I 'd failed. I'd failed. Again.

And this time, not only was Oakley going to suffer, but my beautiful witch would too.

And who knew what they'd do to Roman and Orangelica and all the people in the tower right now.

I could only pray that our security team was having better luck than we were. I had no idea if they'd be able to handle fighting blood witches and dragons—at least the dragons could only fit inside in their bipedal form.

Sylra grabbed the back of Oakley's neck and dragged them forward so the two of them were standing between Tan and me. Then she pulled Oakley closer to herself and held a dagger to their throat.

Oakley's eyes went wide with surprise and a flash of fear flickered across their face. It was that fear that made me pause. If Oakley was afraid that their own mother would slice their throat open, then I needed to be afraid of that too. I didn't want to think she could do it, but I never thought she'd curse me and kidnap our child either.

"Try anything, dear husband, and I'll slit Oakley's throat."

"Mother, I—"

Sylra slapped Oakley across the face before they'd even finished their sentence. "Shut your mouth. I'm here cleaning up your mess."

I growled. "Don't touch them. Leave them alone."

She ignored me, only staring at Oakley until they gave her a small nod.

Oakley kind of shrunk in on themself, and my heart dropped. My poor, sweet kid. There was no way they'd been a part of this attack. No way.

Her cruel smile was triumphant, and she nodded in my direction. "Put him in chains."

"No!" Tan yelled, but I shot him a look.

"It's okay, sweetheart. Just stay put."

"I'm not letting them kill you, Garrick."

I swallowed hard because I didn't want to lie to him, and I had no idea how to get out of this. "Please, Tan. Please don't do anything stupid."

The other dragons came and wrapped chains around my wrists, and since they were spelled to combat dragons, I had no chance of breaking them, which Sylra obviously knew. But I didn't resist them. I wouldn't risk my child that way.

As soon as I was chained up, she shoved Oakley away from her and said, "Kill him, Oakley. Complete your mission. Take what's rightfully yours. Tear out his heart." When Oakley hesitated, she yelled, "Now!"

Oakley took the dragonscale dagger offered by one of the witches and walked over to me.

I said, "No matter what happens, Oakley, please know that I always have and always will love you."

Tan started struggling against his captor. "No, Oakley! Don't! We can figure this out. Don't hurt him!"

Oakley didn't look at Tan because his eyes never left mine.

To Tan, I silently said, "It's okay, love. It's going to be okay."

"How the fuck is any of this okay?"

Out loud, I said, "I love you, Oakley. Always remember that."

A strange expression crossed their face, but it was gone before I could decipher it. They stepped forward and pointed their dagger right at my chest over my heart. With their dragon strength, I had no doubt they could press it right through my chest cavity and straight into my heart without a problem.

The tower rumbled again, and I silently said to it, "Please don't hurt them. They're the rightful heir. Do not intervene."

It rumbled lightly for a few more seconds before falling quiet again. The last thing I wanted was for the tower to react and hurt Oakley.

They met my eyes, and their words came out in a harsh whisper that every dragon on the roof could still hear. "Did you really think you could keep me here and make me love you, Dad?"

I blinked. They'd never called me Dad before. They'd barely acknowledged our relationship, let alone called me Dad . It made my heart flutter despite the circumstances.

"Did you really think that being kind and opening up to me would work? Did you really think you could break the curse?"

"Loving you was never about breaking the curse, Oak. I don't care about me. I only care that you know you're loved for exactly who you are, no matter what."

"Get on with it!" Sylra screamed.

Oakley ground their teeth together. "Well guess what, Dad?" They paused briefly, met my eyes, and whispered, "It worked. I love you too."

A gasp fell from my lips, and I closed my eyes as I let the meaning of that statement soak into my soul. My kid loved me. My sweet baby found a way to forgive me for never finding him, for letting him get taken in the first place, and they found a way to love me. My heart swelled with so much emotion, my eyes watered.

"I love you so much," I told them, and they sent me a small, sort of sad smile.

"Can… can you shift?"

Sylra ruined the moment by laughing so hard, she sounded like she'd lost her mind. "Did you two… actually think… that would work?" She laughed harder for a full minute, and even the other attackers looked at her funny. Finally, she cut herself off as suddenly as she'd started and shot me a malicious grin. "The curse cannot be broken, husband. Not for a thousand years, at least. I can't believe you thought…" She laughed again, and I sucked in a deep breath.

A thousand years? I was going to be locked away from half of myself for a thousand years?

Was she even telling the truth, or was this another trick? How could I believe anything she said?

Before I got too lost in my head, Tan said through our bond, "Don't listen to her. She doesn't know anything. We're going to get that curse off of you, I know it."

"I'm okay."

"Good, because I'm gonna need you to kick some ass right about now, okay?"

"Don't do anything stupid." I cringed. Tan was about to do something stupid; I could tell by his emotions. Shit .

Before I could convince him to stop, Tan went boneless in his captive's arms, and the guy fumbled between trying to hold on to him and onto the magical orb. The orb burst into nothingness, and Tan took that opportunity to swing his leg out and knock the bastard over.

Sylra screeched, and I used the distraction to knock my own captor over. He hadn't been expecting the blow and staggered back, taking his spelled orb with him.

Oakley threw the dagger right into the eye of one of the dragons standing guard, grabbed the keys out of my captor's pocket, and unlocked the spelled chains.

I saw them all rush forward for Oakley and me, so I ripped the chains from my body and dove for my sword that'd been thrown to the side. I came back up swinging. My captor still looked surprised, so I lunged forward, swinging my sword from left to right, and sliced his head clean off.

Another of Sylra's men cursed and backed away quickly, but Sylra came running at me, swinging her own sword. She may have lost her mind a bit—well, more than a bit, over the years—but she definitely hadn't lost her talent. She'd been good with a sword back when I'd married her, and she still was today.

She parried my attempts, and when I pressed forward, three of her clan jumped in to fight me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tan holding his own against a group of five guys with a dragon behind him, and I faltered. He was going to get himself killed.

Sylra's sword swung so close to my neck, she almost took my head off. She would have if I hadn't moved at the last second. But she came right back with another swing that caught me on the biceps, and I cried out in pain.

"Garrick!" Tan shouted in my head, clearly having heard or felt my pain.

But his worry was his downfall. I watched in horror as he blasted three silver magical orbs at three of his attackers just as the dragon behind him reached down, snatched his arm in his jaws, and pulled him into the air. Tan's body went flying and dangled in a way that wasn't natural.

"Nooooo!" I screamed, but it turned into a roar. Tan's pain echoed around inside my chest, and my dragon flared to life in a way that hadn't happened in twenty-five years.

My viramore needed me. He needed me, and I'd be damned if anything, curse or no, stopped me from saving him.

He was screaming and crying in pain as he tried to pull his arm free from the dragon's clutches, and hearing the terror in his voice pushed me over the edge.

Power rushed through my body so quickly and intensely that I was only vaguely aware of Oakley fighting a dragon shifter, both in human form, beside me.

The dragon inside of me that'd been locked away for two and a half decades rushed to the surface.

My skin rippled as I roared again, and this time, the roar ran deep in my lungs, a whole-body roar. And before I knew it, my body was shifting. Scales rippled to life on my arms, and for a moment, I thought that was as far as it was going to get.

But then Tan cried out again, and the next thing I knew, my body was moving, twisting, and growing.

It hurt a little, after not being able to do it for so long, like I was stretching sore muscles after being stuck in a chair for ages. But shifting was magic, and magic was extraordinary, so it was over quickly.

I couldn't have stopped the shift even if I'd wanted to, but I didn't want to. I welcomed it with open arms.

The last fragments of the curse broke, and as I came into my full dragon body, I let out a roar that shook the entire building below us.

I blinked everything into focus.

And then I struck.

I stretched my wings out and dove at the dragon holding my viramore.

I was bigger than he was, much bigger. I was bigger than all other dragons—a part of what made me king—so it only took one step for me to reach over and wrap my jaws around the other dragon's throat. He struggled for a few seconds, but I tightened my jaws further, and he stilled.

I growled at him, then rumbled, hoping to convey my wish.

Put him down, or I'll kill you.

The dragon slowly lowered his head to the ground and dropped Tan from a few feet up. My witch groaned at the impact, and I growled at this dragon. How dare he hurt my viramore. How dare he even touch him.

I put more pressure on his throat, and for a moment, I could smell his fear. Good. He should be afraid. I was going to eat every single one of these assholes who thought they could come into my home and threaten and hurt my family.

No. I don't think so.

A soft hand touched my shoulder, and I froze before turning my giant head to face Tan, dragging the dragon in my mouth with me. I kept my face sideways so I could look at him with one eye while using the other to keep an eye on any attacks.

Stretching my wing out, I wrapped it around Tan, protecting him from any further spells or dragons.

The others were circling me, so I gave the dragon's neck a shake, lifted him off his feet, and flung him to the side, knocking over several others in the process. He wasn't dead, but he was out for the count.

Since I was so tall now, I turned my head down to see our enemies. Fearful eyes looked back at me, and if I could've grinned at these bastards in this form, I would've. I'd forgotten what it felt like to take up so much room, to feel so strong and powerful, to have wings.

To Tan, I thought, "Are you alright?" I used my head to swipe away a volley of spells aimed at us.

"I think I have a broken arm, but I'll survive." He patted my shoulder. "Holy shit, you're beautiful."

"Thank you."

A growl came out of my mouth as another dragon attacked me, but I swiped him away easily and roared a warning to the whole group.

It didn't help. Sylra was shouting orders, and the witches kept throwing spells at me, but they were easily deflected with my scales.

And holy shit, I had scales again.

I wanted to jump into the air, fly around the city, and preen.

But first I had a few people to… eat.

I snapped my jaws at the group, caught one in my teeth, and chomped down.

I was done giving them second chances. They'd had their chance. They'd had plenty of chances to change their minds over the years. The only way to stop this madness was to take some of these assholes out. For good.

With a roar, I blew fire out of my mouth at the group. They had shields up, so my fire didn't harm them, but that didn't stop me from lunging for them. My dragon magic broke the shield, and I snatched another blood witch up into my jaws, chewed a few times, then spit them out.

Ugh . I really needed to wash my mouth out.

I roared another warning.

"I'm gonna run to Roman and Orangelica and get a healing tonic in them," Tan said, and I growled.

I didn't want him to move away from me. But when I glanced back, I realized I was big enough that Tan would still be right beside me. And on that note, I turned, wrapped my tail around Orangelica, and gently dragged her closer to Roman. Then I wrapped my long tail around the two of them, giving Tan a safe place to help them.

As Tan climbed over my tail to get to them, Oakley ran up to me and shifted into their dragon form. They were nearly as big as me but not quite—they still had some growing to do—but they were the exact same color as me.

I didn't know why, but that fact made me proud.

I nudged them affectionately behind their ear, and they let out a little huff but didn't push me away. They'd chosen me. They'd chosen to stand with me, to stand with us, and I couldn't be more grateful.

Oakley roared and jumped into the fray, body slamming a dragon much bigger than them. The two flew into the air, taking their fight above us. I almost jumped in too, but then I saw Oakley flying circles around their opponent, and I realized they didn't need my help.

But Tan, Roman, and Orangelica did. I needed to guard them against these evil hostiles.

Two dragons tried to take me out at the same time, jumping onto me from either side. One bit into my shoulder, the other into my opposite ribs. I hissed from the pain, but ignored it and I knocked one off, then reached around with my long neck and bit into the other's side.

She let go of my ribs and tried to jump on me, but I clamped down harder onto her belly. Then I pulled with all my might and dragged her closer to me. She wiggled and tried to fight me off, so I released her side and wrapped my large talons around her throat, squeezing hard. She was losing blood fast from my sharp teeth, so it didn't take long for her to pass out.

I dropped her body, then set my sight on the one person who deserved my wrath more than any other.

I lunged for Sylra. A blood witch tried to guard her, but he could do nothing against me and my dragon scales. I knocked him out of the way, and he flew into the cabana area Tan and I had set up months ago—fuck, we had a lot of clean-up to do.

Without missing a beat, I wrapped my jaws around Sylra's body, just enough to hold her still. I could tell she was trying to shift, so I bit down a little harder as a warning. She stopped moving. She knew if she shifted, she'd hurt herself more because my fangs could easily penetrate her hide.

As much as I wanted to squeeze my mouth shut and chomp her in half, I didn't think Oakley would appreciate me killing their mother. Maybe she was horrible, maybe she was abusive, but I wouldn't do that to my kid.

"If you can hear me, right now's a perfect time to help!" I shouted in my head.

As if it'd been waiting to hear my call, Sedoba awoke, and the entire building started to shake again. This time, I didn't try to tamp it down, I didn't try to calm it, I didn't try to stop it.

This time I welcomed it.

The floor beneath Sylra opened up as if it was made of liquid. It sucked the evil dragon halfway into it before solidifying again.

Wow.

"Thank you!"

I released her from my jaws and stepped back, looking for the next attacker, only to find all of them in similar situations. Sedoba had sucked every one of our enemies into the floor and trapped them there.

As much as I would've loved to off them all, we could throw them in the dungeons this way and hopefully we could get some information out of them and find out if more of them would be coming back to attack us again.

Sylra was screeching and trying to order the blood witches to continue their attack, but they weren't stupid enough to listen. They knew that neither I nor Sedoba would put up with any more of their bullshit.

I made eye contact with the woman who I'd once thought I loved. She stared back at me with pure hatred in her gaze, and I couldn't help but wonder how she'd ever fooled me so thoroughly. As much as I wanted to gloat, as much as I wanted to tell her off, I knew right then she wasn't worth it. So I turned away from her.

That only angered her further, but I didn't care. I had more important things to do, more important people to take care of.

Oakley landed heavily beside me and shifted to their human form, already speaking before they were fully shifted. "I see two figures in the sky, headed this way, but I don't think they're from my clan." They also ignored Sylra, and I wished I could shield them from the vitriol coming out of her mouth.

I turned around to see what they were talking about. In the circle of my tail, Tan had his forehead pressed to Orangelica, and I could feel him communicating silently with her. She let out a small purr, and the relief coming from my witch was palpable. She was going to be okay.

Tan said, "You okay to hang here for a minute?"

Roman replied, "Can't move anywhere anyway. I'm fine. Go help."

And now it was my turn to feel that huge sense of relief. Roman was going to be okay too. Thank the Mother of Scales.

Tan climbed over my tail again to join Oakley and me. He kept one hand on my body as he walked up the length of me, and I shivered. Now was definitely not the time for that . He came to stand beside me, leaning against my leg with his good arm. My poor little pretty was hurt.

"I'm fine, Gar," he said with a sigh. "I already took a healing tonic, so I'm improving as we speak. I have more downstairs, so I can take them later."

I grunted.

"Roman and Orangelica will both be okay."

"Good. Thank you."

He patted my leg. "I think it's just Seb and Ailin."

It only took me a few seconds to place the names. Tan talked about them all the time, but I'd only met them a handful of times for business. I hadn't met them as Tan's family.

To Oakley, Tan said, "They're family. I called Remi, you remember my wolf shifter friend?" Oakley had met some of Tan's friends over the last few months. "I called him, and he called his dads." He gestured to the flying creatures coming at us at top neck speed.

"You sure it's them?"

"Yes. It's them. So we're fine here, but we need to check on Terrell and make sure the others have been apprehended."

As if summoned by his name, the gargoyle, Terrell, walked through the broken staircase steps, scratching the back of his head. "So, um, the floor kind of… ate the witches, and I don't know why." His eyes danced around the rooftop, and they got bigger and bigger. When they landed on me, they widened comically. "Oh."

"Um, yeah, so… this happened," Tan said, waving at all the enemies in the roof. "Is everyone alright?"

The gargoyle grimaced. "There are a few injuries, but overall, everyone's okay."

My viramore blew out a relieved breath. "Thank the Mother."

Terrell smiled at him. "Now what?"

Tan sighed. "Now we take a breath, then we'll transfer all these assholes to the dungeon and figure out what to do with all of them." He waved his good arm around, indicating the dragons and witches stuck in the ground.

Most of them were quiet—Sylra had even slowed down some—but a few were moaning and groaning and trying to wiggle their way out. I was confident they wouldn't be able to without my—and Sedoba's—assistance.

"I'll round up a crew and grab our dragon-proof handcuffs. I'll be back to start transferring them."

"Thank you. You should do the guys inside first. They're more of a threat to the public right now."

"Will do." Terrell went back downstairs to check on things, and the two flying beasts finally reached us.

Bel and Remi sat on top of a manticore—a half lion, half scorpion that was nearly as big as Oakley's dragon form—and Ailin and Sebastian Ellwood sat on top of a dragon—a lesser dragon, not a shifter one, and about the same size as her manticore friend.

The second the lesser dragon landed, both men jumped from her back and took off toward us. Ailin reached us first, barely even looking at me even though I was three times the size of his dragon and clearly a threat.

He crashed into Tan, pulling him into what looked like a tight hug, and muttered, "Holy shit, kiddo, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ailin."

I growled because the witch was hugging my viramore for far too long.

Ailin glared up at me. "Knock it the fuck off, Von Stein. I need to hug my kid."

I blinked at that. His kid? I knew Tan was considered a part of their family—Remi had informed me on more than one occasion—but I didn't realize Ailin considered him one of his kids.

A warm, fuzzy feeling traveled over to me from Tan. Oh . He was happy that Ailin had called him his kid. The feeling coming from him was one of… familial comfort.

Well, I supposed that was acceptable.

Hearing my thoughts, Tan smacked my leg and said through our bond, "Of course it's acceptable. They're my family. I told you before that Seb and Ailin practically raised me, right?"

"Yes, I remember. Sorry. I just… you're hurt, and my dragon is not happy." It wasn't only my dragon half, but it was easier to blame it on that rather than admit that him being hurt had my protectiveness overreacting to everything.

"I'll lean on you again as soon as they're all done hugging me. I'm not going anywhere, Sir Dragon Breath."

Suitably chastised, I grumbled but didn't growl when Sebastian pulled Tan into a hug as well, whispering more nice things in his ear that made my viramore feel happy.

Oakley, who'd found pants to throw on after shifting, moved closer to me and said, "I'll go sit with Roman and Orangelica."

I nodded at them and gave the top of their head an affectionate sniff. They smiled up at me and gave my snout a sweet pet before heading over to our injured family members.

Remi and Bel both hugged Tan before my viramore did as he said he would and leaned against me. I gave him a nuzzle, but my head was so big, I almost knocked him over. Still he laughed, so I took that as a win.

Ailin said, "I'm so sorry we didn't get here sooner. We weren't anywhere close to the portal, and Jorah, Basil, and Thayer are in Faela. No one answered their phones, so we had to fly back to our house to use the portal, then fly here. And holy shit, there's so much traffic. People stopped in the middle of the streets to try and see what was happening up here, so we ended up grabbing Remi and Bel on the way."

Remi grimaced. "We got caught in traffic, and I was about to shift and start running here, but luckily, Dads got to us first. Are you okay?"

Tan nodded. "Yeah. I had a broken arm, but it's mending since I took a tonic."

"Kiddo, you're covered in blood. I think you had more than a broken bone." Ailin actually looked to be on the verge of tears.

He stepped forward and pulled Tan back into a hug. "I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry. I knew you guys would get here as soon as you could."

"That's not good enough. I should've been here to protect you."

Tan sighed. "Ailin… you can't be everywhere at all times. I'm fine. Garrick saved me."

"He did?" Ailin released my viramore and stared up at me. "Thank you for saving my son."

Tan sucked in a deep breath at that.

I gave the other witch a nod, then nudged Tan with my nose to pull him away from the others. Then I did the sensible thing and shifted back. I was hesitant because I hadn't been in my dragon form in twenty-five years—what if I couldn't shift again? But I needed to get my arms around Tan more than I needed anything else.

So I shifted back, ignored the fact that I was now buck naked, and pulled my sweet witch into my chest. I was gentle with his hurt arm and other cuts and bruises, but I held him firmly to me.

He didn't hesitate to hug me back and bury his face in my chest.

After a few seconds, I pulled his head back to look into his pretty silver eyes. "I love you, Tanyl Helegolor, so fucking much."

His chin wobbled a little. "I love you too, Garrick." He tugged me down into a kiss.

My chest lit up with warm and gooey emotions as we let the closed-mouth kiss linger for a long moment. And when we broke away and Tan smiled at me, my lips quirked up of their own accord.

He pecked my lips again. "Let's go check on Roman and Orangelica."

I gave him a nod, wrapped my arm around him, and strode over to my best friend and Tan's Bonded. Orangelica had wrapped herself around Roman in a protective manner that made me smile despite the situation. She loved Roman as much as I did.

Roman was propped up against Orangelica, using her as a fluffy backrest. He was awake and speaking quietly to Oakley, which I took as a good sign.

I squatted next to him. "How you feeling, Rome?"

He blinked at me, then wrinkled his nose. "I'd feel a hell of a lot better without your dick in my face."

I glanced down and realized I was still naked. "You've seen it all before."

"Doesn't mean I need to see it again. Ew."

I gently smacked his shoulder and stood. "I'll have you know that Tan thinks it's—"

"Nope." Tan cut me off, and Roman and I shared a grin. "We're definitely not talking about that. You okay, Roman? You can take another tonic in about an hour."

He nodded, then winced. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just sore. Sorta feel like I have a hangover or something."

"That sucks. I'm sure the second tonic will help a lot." Tan frowned at him.

"I can heal him," Ailin said as he walked over. "Healing is kinda my thing."

"Are you sure?" I asked him, squinting.

"When you have as many kids as I do, you learn real quick how to heal everything from a cut to a broken bone." The man did have a ton of kids, Tan being one of them, apparently.

Tan added, "He's the best healer I've ever seen."

Ailin shot him a grin. "Thanks, kiddo." He clapped his hands together and dropped to his knees beside Roman. "Let's see what we have here." He reached over to absently pet Orangelica and froze. "Oh, pretty girl, you're hurt too. Those assholes. Give me a moment, and I'll get the two of you on a healing bed."

"What's a healing bed?" Roman asked.

"You're gonna be sleeping on grass." Tan sent him a smirk.

"What?"

Tan chuckled, then waved him off, and the two of us walked a few feet away so I could hold my viramore in my arms again.

"You should really get some pants on. I don't like everyone looking at your bits." He said it, but he didn't pull away so I could.

I snorted. "Alright, let's go get some." Instead of letting him walk on his own, I pulled him into my arms, carried him to the private staircase, and called over my shoulder. "Be back in a minute. I need pants."

Tan snorted and held on tighter to me. He was feeling just as needy as I was, and neither of us had any plans to let the other go anytime soon.

I headed to our bedroom, deposited Tan on the edge of the bed, and quickly grabbed some pants. As soon as they were on, I scooped him back into my arms again.

He laughed. "Not bothering with a shirt?"

"It'll take too long to put on. I refuse to be away from you even a second longer."

He sighed and relaxed into me, practically boneless.

After a few minutes, Tan asked, "Your curse is gone?"

I thought I'd felt it break, but I closed my eyes and reached for it. I knew exactly where it sat inside my body and soul after examining it inside and out for twenty-five years. A slow smile spread over my face when I checked and rechecked, and every single time, I came back with nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"It's gone," I breathed. "Tan, it's truly gone."

He hugged me and kissed my neck, then sighed as he rested his cheek on my shoulder. "Thank the Mother."

I squeezed him tight, closed my eyes, buried my nose in his hair, and breathed him in.

After a minute, he muttered, "After all of this is taken care of, you're going to go back up to the roof, shift, and go for a flight."

"Only if you come with me."

He leaned back to meet my eyes. "You sure? It's the first time you've been able to fly in over twenty-five years. I won't be offended if you want time to enjoy it by yours—"

I cut him off with a hard kiss to his lips. "I'm sure, little pretty. I would love nothing more than to have you fly with me." No way did I want him out of my sight, but more than that, I wanted to experience this new freedom with my viramore. I wanted to show him my city— our city—from a new perspective. I wanted the wind under my wings and Tan on my back. I just… wanted him with me.

"I'd like that too."

I pulled him back into me, wrapping him up as tight as I dared.

For the first time in a long time, with Oakley home and safe and my viramore in my arms where he belonged, I felt… whole.