Chapter 118

THREE MORE YEARS LATER

"Again! Again!" cried my wild five-year-old, Archer, as I threw him skyward on a gust of wind, his black hair a mess of strands as it blew wildly in the breeze. He sailed up twenty feet then came plummeting towards me with a whoop in his throat before I caught him and spun him around with a laugh.

"Me, Me," my little girl tugged at my pant leg, her tiny hands fisting in the material with determination.

I sent Archer flying back up towards the sky and whipped up my tiny two-year-old in my arms, her dark wavy hair and big green eyes reminding me of her mother, especially with that cheeky little smile on her face.

"Azura Vega-Orion," I said in a stern voice which was all play. "You think you can handle the sky as well as your brother?"

"Sky," she said, tiny hands reaching for the air where Archer was spinning in a wind of my creation, laughing his head off.

"That answers that." I sent her flying up too and she squealed her delight, her and Archer racing around in a whirlwind as a grin split my cheeks apart.

"Lance!" Darcy called excitedly.

I glanced back at our house as she came running out the back door in a pink summer dress that hugged her figure and made my eyes drag over her hungrily. Our home was a beautiful old farmhouse with ancient stone walls rising up high to sloping red tiles on the roof and even a tower on one end of the building. The kids had miles of land to roam here, a whole lake of their own and a collection of magical animals that kept ‘mysteriously' turning up. Except I knew full well that Darcy was taking in strays and rescues, subtly adding another shimmer duck or estian goat to our growing petting zoo and thinking I wouldn't notice. But I did. And I had a soft spot for those creatures even if I played the game of being stern every time Darcy added another animal to the numbers. Hell, we had the staff to manage it all, and the money to boot. So I was hardly going to complain. And having a reason to punish Blue was always a pastime I liked to enjoy, one she enjoyed just as much. Shadow loved to play with all the animals my mate collected, and I could see him in the distance now bounding up a hill with at least ten goats in tow.

"They're here," Darcy said keenly, smiling as if she hadn't seen our friends and family two days ago, always so happy to have them close. And I couldn't blame her, even if I wanted to steal her away to myself sometimes.

She let her wings fly free and raced up to join our children in the sky. I gave her a ride on the wind too before bringing them all down to the ground and nestling them close. Archer sat on my hip despite his growing size and Darcy hugged Azura between us.

"I wanna go play," Archer said keenly, trying to wriggle out of my arms but I didn't let him escape until Darcy and I had secured a kiss on each of his cheeks.

Darcy placed Azura in my arms and my little girl tugged at my beard while I pretended to try and bite her fingers, making her laughter fill the air.

"I'll go say hello." Darcy pecked me on the lips. "Ready for the chaos?"

"Always, Blue." I watched her go, racing back into the house and tearing away to greet our friends and family.

"Oh we forgot to make a cake, lucky I have this little lump of dough to bake." I squished Azura's tummy, and she squealed.

"No, Dada, no," she laughed, batting me away then glancing at her tummy, clearly wanting me to do it again.

I lifted her higher, blowing a raspberry against her tummy through her flowery blue dress and she grabbed my ears, yanking them as hard as she could. I barked a laugh, detaching my tiny warrior from me and tucking her against my side. "Let's go see your friends, shall we?"

"Kale," she said keenly, and I arched an eyebrow at her. She had a thing for that boy of Seth and Caleb's, always toddling after him and rolling in the mud with him like a hellion.

"And your cousins will be here," I reminded her, and her green eyes lit up as she clapped her hands together.

She started listing off the many, many cousins she had, Tory and Darius having provided two sets of twins and finishing it off with triplets last year. I didn't know if they were done, but I did know that they were crazy.

I could hardly keep an eye on two tiny terrors, let alone seven. But shit, they seemed happy – though I well remembered the day Tory had shown up here screaming about her husband's danger dick when she'd found out she'd fallen pregnant with triplets. I'd found it all very amusing, but apparently she didn't appreciate my witty comments on the subject. I'd almost earned myself a cock kick that day, but she'd been so angry at Darius that I suspected he'd been the one to get it in the end.

Our friends and family came pouring out into the sunny garden and I shot over to them with a burst of speed, embracing Gabriel, Darius, Tory and doing the rounds between Seth, Caleb, Max, Geraldine, Xavier, Sofia, Tyler and all the kids. Tory had three cots floating beside her on a gust of air that rocked all of them gently, the three one-year-olds, Axel, Nero and Bowie taking naps inside silencing bubbles, and I smiled at their content faces.

We practically had a whole Pitball team between us, and I'd admittedly had a thought or two about coaching them when they got older. We could take on the League with these powerful fiends…

"Can you take us to the woods again, Uncle Lancelot?" Darius's seven-year-old boy, Rygar, asked keenly. He'd come up with the nickname himself after reading about the legend of King Arthur at school, and I liked the reminder of my father's old name for me.

"Before our snickety snacks have reached our tumblebums?" Augustaline scoffed, looking to her dad, and Max shrugged, turning to Geraldine who snapped her fingers.

"By the wind on my nelly, she's right. Let's eat and be merry as mangoes in a sweet soup before we go gallivanting into the yonder." She steered Augustaline towards the fire pit where a pizza oven was ready to go for our meal.

"Oh come on, Moon Uncle," Elara pouted at me, and I threw a glare at Seth who smirked at the name he had most definitely told her to call me.

Archer came running over to give me that pleading look I always caved to, and I sighed.

"Take them to the woods for a bit, I'll get the pizzas started," Darcy said, and Seth moved to help, placing down Elara who chased after her brother Kale.

I was suddenly surrounded by a hoard of kids, all looking at me with those dangerous pleading eyes, and Azura prodded me in the cheek, making me focus on her.

"Fly, Dada!" she cried.

Damn, I could never resist what the kids wanted. I swept them all up in a gust of air, this latest game their favourite as I sent them flying towards the woods at the far end of our land, shooting after them with a burst of speed.

I made it among the trees, halting where the play area was, the wooden swings, climbing ropes and obstacle course made by Darcy's earth magic. I placed the mass of kids down and they all split apart with wild cries like they were charging into battle, Archer and Rygar picking up sticks and falling into a sword fight.

Azura predictably went toddling off after Kale, the boy's dark hair hanging down over his back now. Tarin grabbed Elara's hand and he led her onto a climbing frame, helping her up. It was calm. Suspiciously so. Though it was still early in the day, and I knew the tears would come. Someone would fall, be pushed or hit and chaos would ensure. But it was the kind I adored. I still loved the quiet, loved my reading room here in the house plus mine and Blue's favourite spaces at the Library of the Lost, but I wouldn't have traded any of that for this.

Tory and Darius's five-year-old twins, Ender and Kylo, were up on the top of a high slide, pounding their fists and baying roar cries before launching themselves down it one after the other face-first. I cast a pillow of air at the bottom of it before they could go slamming into the earth and they bounced off of it with bright laughs.

A scream pitched up from Gabriel's youngest. RJ and I shot over in alarm, finding a tree on fire right before her.

"What happened?" I gasped, and she pointed skyward.

My neck craned as I found Azura up in the treetops, two fiery wings blazing at her back.

"Holy shit," I gasped as she sailed through the leaves, setting them all on fire while singing softly to herself, seemingly unaware that she was burning the whole woodland down.

"She's Emerged!" Archer shouted in shock. "Dad – save her!"

"By the stars." I quickly looped a whip of air around Azura's leg, gently bringing her down to the ground and trying to process the fact my daughter had just sprouted flaming wings. Kale shifted into a white and grey Wolf cub right beside Azura, grabbing her hair between his teeth and snatching her away into the bushes.

"Kale!" I barked, my heart pounding madly.

I shoved the bushes aside, racing after my daughter who had just been kidnapped by Seth and Caleb's son, a trail of fire blazing after her and taking root in the dry foliage. I worked to douse it with my water magic, crawling along the dusty ground and shoving the bushes and nettles away from me with blasts of air.

Azura was giggling like this was some game and when I made it to the other side of the bushes, I found Kale sitting up on a tree stump with Azura nowhere in sight. He lifted his nose to the trees again and I spotted her flying away through the canopy and off into the sky.

"Azura come down this instant!" I ordered, throwing air under my feet to propel myself after her, panic scoring through me.

Gabriel came flying fast from the direction of the house, the trees now alight with flames as I worked to snare my freshly-Emerged daughter in a net of air.

"Watch out," Gabriel called. "Her Emergence is triggering others."

A great crack sounded below me just as I trapped Azura in a bubble and brought her back to my chest, keeping her in the sphere of safety while holding her damn tight.

Two trees were felled beneath me and I found Darius and Tory's seven-year-old twins shifting into two beautiful metallic Dragons, one bronze, one silver, the other kids cheering in excitement and Kale letting out a howl of joy.

I'd known that chaos was coming, but this?

I stared at Azura who was flapping around in my bubble with blazing wings of fire.

"But Darcy and Tory didn't Emerge until they were eighteen," I rasped, knowing this was going to add a whole other layer of insanity to our lives. Shit, it wasn't as if I wasn't happy or proud as hell, but a two-year-old with flaming wings was gonna need a helluva lot of watching.

"Maybe the Mortal Realm supressed their Emergence." Gabriel smiled at Azura, having no better answer, then turned his attention to the kids who were piling onto the backs of the two Dragons beneath us.

"Uh-oh," Gabriel said. "We should probably tell the others."

"That their kids are all about to ride away on two newly-Emerged Dragon children?" I drawled. "Yeah, Noxy. I think we should tell them."

I cast a dome of air over the top of the kids, and Gabriel helped me douse the last of the flames licking their way along the trees. I could already see Darcy and Tory headed towards us through the air, and a sudden laugh fell from my throat at the madness.

I turned my attention back to my daughter. A Phoenix. Of course. And a spirited one at that.

It was too perfect, all of this. The life we'd forged together and made our own. This was where living really happened. Between the layers of havoc and sweetness of all the love we shared. And I couldn't have imagined up any better dream for myself, than this. Simply, purely, this.