Fight (The Aurora Marelup Saga Book 3)

February

The poor guys have been going nuts, especially this past month. Jayce and the guys not only built me a nursery, but they are also at an undisclosed location setting up for my birth. Poor Klaus and Dimitri are on Aurora duty today. Klaus has been my designated pillow most of the day. Dimitri is taking care of my every want and need. These stupid Braxton contraction thingies have been happening most of the day today.

I swear to the gods, if Klaus’s grandmother pokes me one more time, she’s gonna be a grandma-cicle real soon. “Guys, I need to pee again!” I practically whine out my words because I’m at my wit’s end with this. I don’t know how other species carry for longer than three months. The baby is upside down, and I keep seeing the occasional ass print pressed against my stomach.

The guys help me up; Klaus and Dimitri escort me to the bathroom. A girl can’t even pee alone anymore, all because of what happened to my mother. I get it, really. I’m the first of my kind, and no one knows what will happen with Tia and me. We make it to the bathroom, and I kick the boys out as far as they will go.

I know I’m getting closer to time. I mean, if guesses are right, it’s any day now. It’s been really odd lately; I feel like the baby never sleeps. I bet my baby has a full-blown circus going on in there. Thankfully, my bathroom trips are always uneventful; I wobble and waddle and take care of business.

We head back to what has been named my palace of pillows since regular chairs are so freaking uncomfortable right now. Klaus climbs in first, and Dimitri helps lower me back into my epicly soft snuggle area. The guys curl up around me, and I decide to take a nap till my next feeding.

I wake up late in the afternoon; my stomach feels really tight, worse than it did before I laid down for my nap. Klaus and Dimitri are both out cold; I’m actually kind of jealous. I reach out through the bond to sense how far away Alaric and the twins are. From what I can discern, they are on their way back.

I’m seriously not feeling good, and I can’t block the guys from feeling it anymore. Dimitri and Klaus wake up with a start, holding their stomachs and looking at me. They know it’s me; they also know I’ve been hiding my discomfort from them.

Klaus moves and kneels before me, wrapping his strong arms around my legs. “My angel, what can I do to ease your discomfort? Name it, and if I can do it, I will.” Klaus looks up at me, his eyes full of love and concern.

I don’t know what to say to him at this point. It’s a natural occurrence; I can’t stop what’s already starting. I reach down and rub Klaus’s scalp before doubling over, holding my stomach. Fuck, I think labor just got real. I feel my beast surge, scales ripple down my arms and spine. It’s time, and now every single one of my mates knows. The power surge I feel is absolutely insane. I start pulling energy from the closest, biggest dragons I can sense.

Nicodeamus comes running into the room and looks at me with my scales rippling across my skin. “Shit! It’s time! It’s time!” He starts running around the room, grabbing my go bag and several other little things he thinks we need. Dimitri and Klaus come to my side and help support my weight as I almost double over from the contractions.

“Alaric is almost here; we need to go outside now.” We start to walk through the hallways; one of the dignitaries attempts to block our forward progress. I feel a power surge unlike any I have felt before. I raise my now-shifted hand at him and a large ice spike shoots up from the ground, impaling him where he stands.

We need to leave, and we need to go now. My beast doesn’t feel safe here, and she wants to get out quickly. The guys look at me briefly and then proceed to expedite our departure. By the time we make it outside, Alaric has landed with several other dragons. He made arrangements earlier for everyone to fly with me.

“I can’t climb.” I’m almost crying as I look up to Alaric’s dragon for understanding.

I double over again, and this time my water breaks. We’re running out of time, and now my father and the guys are starting to panic. Alaric opens his dragon’s hand, extending it to me. He has his little finger curled so that it would act like a seat for me. Dimitri and Klaus help me get comfortable before Alaric closes his hand gently around me. I feel safe and protected in Alaric’s dragon’s hand, but I’m too warm.

Through the bond, I reach out to him. I’m too warm. Please use your frost if you have any; otherwise, I need to— Alaric’s hand slowly becomes cooler until it is a more comfortable temperature for me. I sigh softly and relax against the palm of his hand. I can feel that he is pushing himself to fly faster than he usually would.

It feels like only moments have passed by the time Alaric lands in our secret location. The first face I see when Alaric opens his hand is my father. I carefully step out and almost go to my knees from the next contraction. They seem to be worse without Alaric; I look back to him in tears. “Shift, love, I need you!”

I hold tightly to my father’s one arm as the other guys run up to assist. Alaric shifts quicker than I have ever seen him do, and he runs over to me. Something about him soothes my beast, and the contractions are not as severe as they were before. I’m having a hard time making the journey to wherever they are taking me. Dominik shifts and lies down, allowing me to climb onto his back. He moves slowly and cautiously through the cavern, making the trip much more pleasant for me.

As we enter this grand opening, I can’t help but look around in awe of the beauty around me. Various crystals line the walls, as well as hang down from the ceiling. I feel an odd sense of home here. An instinctual urge calls to me to go to the water.

“Dom, please bring me to the water; my beast wants to be in the water.” I look over to my father and he’s smiling. I love my dad, but he looks like a happy Hannibal Lecter.

“Something I need to know, Dad?” He’s still smiling, and if these freaking contractions didn’t hurt so much, I would almost find him comical at the moment.

My father takes my hand and begins to lead me to the water’s edge. “Your ancestors, when they chose to carry their babies as humans, used to birth in these same waters. They have healing and soothing properties. All the great queens of our bloodline have swam in this pool. Now it’s your turn Aurora. Go forth and deliver the future into this world.” He leans forward and kisses my forehead, then moves towards the opening of the cavern. He shifts to his dragon and takes on a blocking position, guarding the only entrance.

Alaric and Klaus decide they will go into the waters with me first. As we wade deeper into the water, a sense of calm washes over me, and the contractions are bearable. The guys take turns switching out, helping support me in the water.

The only constant throughout the hours is Alaric holding tightly onto me in some shape or form. I scream, cry, and want to give up at some point. I can easily take out a horde, but this tiny little being, this piece of me, feels like she’s trying to rip my insides out. At some point in the last few weeks, the guys have managed to stock juices here for me as well as food—mostly for them.

When I reach hour number ten thousand and eighty-five, I feel like I’m finally progressing somewhere. My beast urges me to climb onto the moss-covered island. “I need to move; I need to climb.” I’m panting between words as Alaric and Dimitri help me up onto the moss.

I crawl on all fours until I find a spot that my beast and I agree on. The contractions are stronger and closer together now, and I’ve regained the ability to partially shift. My forearms shift to my armored gauntlets. As I sink my talons into the earth, I bear down through a contraction.

“Alaric?! You need to get over here!” Klaus calls as he sits at my feet.

For now, he’s in charge of watching for the baby. I have my head resting on Dimitri’s shoulder, my talons sunk into the earth on either side of him. Jayce and Dominik were on either side of me, pouring cool pool water over my back to keep me comfortable. Alaric is on his way back with my juice when Klaus calls him. The panic in Klaus’s voice makes my father turns his great dragon head to look in our direction.

On his way past me, Alaric hands Dimitri my juice, who in turn offers me the straw. I take a nice long drink of the sweet, cool pineapple juice. I feel Alaric’s hand on my hip as he bends to see what Klaus is looking at. Here I am on all fours, in labor, and the guys are having a meeting staring at my hoo-ha.

“Everything is okay love, we see the baby’s head, that’s all,” Alaric says, then kisses my temple. The twins go back to rubbing my lower back, each of the guys keeping some form of contact with me at all times.

“Angel, I’m going to need you to push and hold it real soon, okay?” Klaus’s German accent is still sexy, even though I feel fucking gross and tired.

Dimitri nuzzles my cheek then kisses it. “You can do this, baby girl. If you can take out a horde by yourself, you can push out one baby.” I smile at Dimitri’s encouragement as I hear the other guys back up his statement.

I’m tired, I won’t lie. I feel one of the guards enter the cavern, and I start to draw some dragon energy from him. Right now, I need it more than he does. I hear Alaric say the man is down and to release him. I release him quickly and push hard again on the next contraction. I feel my baby slide free from my body, but I don’t hear any noise from it. I turn quickly to see what’s wrong, and then I see it.

My baby was born as her animal; Tiamat is the cutest little thing. She has almost pure white scales that are edged in fur. Her front legs are typical dragon hands; her hind legs have wolven paws for feet. Tia’s tail is mostly dragon in shape, but it has fur along the underside of it. As a matter of fact, her underbelly scales have more fur on them than the scales on her back. I reach down and pick up my daughter, holding her tightly to me. Tia’s eyes are like mine and her father’s silver orbs with a black slit in the middle.

I am in complete awe of this beautiful little girl in my arms. My father’s dragon comes ambling over and lowers his large head to look at the baby. Tia attempts to blow fire at her grandfather. She blows a small plume of frost flames that are quickly snuffed out. I can’t help but laugh at the tenacity of my daughter.

Alaric moves off the island and shifts to his dragon, lowering his head to Tiamat. My brave little girl slides off my lap and onto the ground; she walks wobbly over to her father. Alaric opens his mouth and without hesitation Tia climbs in to lie down on his tongue. I’m kind of jealous; I will never have that part of the dragon connection with my daughter. I watch Alaric and Nicodeamus with Tia, playing on the ground on the other side of the pool.

Slowly, I move and climb into Jayce’s lap to rest and watch my newborn dragoness play with her father and grandfather. I’m in shock when I suddenly feel another contraction out of nowhere. Dimitri assures me it’s normal for my body to expel the placenta from my body. I shrug and look around, over by where I was before is Tia’s placenta.

“Guys! Tia isn’t an only child!” I scream before doubling over from the force of the contraction. Jayce is in panic mode, Dimitri is white as a sheet, and Klaus is holding another juice for me like it’s no big thing. Dominik comes running back in from the cavern that we have deemed the bathroom.

Alaric shifts back to his human form and carries Tiamat back over with him. This baby is coming much faster than the first one, and that scares the shit out of me. I feel like I’ve barely had time to rest after the first baby, and now surprise, there’s a second one in there. Klaus switches out with Dimitri. The twins are on baby watch; Dimitri and Alaric are at my sides, comforting me.

The cool water feels freaking fantastic running down my spine as I rock back and forth with each contraction. I open my eyes to find Tia looking up at my face from underneath me. I can’t help but smile through the pain at my baby girl. I shift my arms to my gauntlets, and Tia moves to go investigate my scales. When her nose touches my scales, I feel her frost move over them slowly. That’s my girl! She may have grandpa’s fire. But she can freeze a fucker like her momma.

Eventually, I feel my second baby slide free, and I hear it cry out; I can just see a small plume of blue flame. Okay! We have a mostly frost dragon hatchling this time. I move so I can see my child and it’s beautiful. I make sure to shift my hands back so I can handle my new baby. I’m saying it because one, I wasn’t expecting this one. Second, how do you sex a baby dragon? Alaric picks up the baby, flips it back and forth, earning him a blast of blue flames in his face. He smirks as he shifts his eyes to his dragon’s, and the baby settles down. “He’s going to be a tough one,” Alaric says and then tilts his head, looking at me, waiting for me to catch on.

“Aren’t all babies hard, though?” I say, not catching his drift in the slightest.

“Aurora, love, I know you’re tired, but you have a son to help me name,” Alaric says, passing the new baby over to me.

I smile, looking him over and nuzzle his face. His face! I look up in shock, from the baby back to Alaric, then to the guys, finally back to my son. He’s almost exactly like Tia, except he has more wolven features than she does. His front hands look like my shifted ones: heavily armored gauntlets with long white talons. His hind feet are all wolven. He also has less fur adorning his scales than Tia does. Like his sister, his stomach and underside of his tail are covered in my white fur, thick armor scales protect his chest and belly underneath the fur. For the most part, his face is all dragon until you get to his eye shape and his ears. I smile softly and grumble at my son; his little tail whips about excitedly.

“Ladon Uther Kraus. Named after the legendary thousand-headed dragon, and after the original Pendragon from King Arthur’s court.” Ladon blows more blue flames, celebrating being named, and then proceeds to slip from my hands, chasing after his sister.

The two babies play-wrestle back and forth. They are just about equal in size and strength; that is until they start blowing fire at each other.

At this point, Alaric intervenes and I just lay back, resting against Klaus. “Well, that explains why I felt like I was going to explode.” I motion to my babies and rub my stomach. I notice I’m still bleeding, so does my father.

“Aurora, you need to shift. I think the babies’ scales and claws cut you up a little on their way out. I can bathe you in my flames to help heal you faster.”

The guys all freeze looking at me, only now noticing the small, steady stream of blood running down my leg. I stand and stretch before walking to the middle of the cavern. I look back at my babies and smile before I begin my shift. Slowly, I shift my body to that of my beast, making sure everything moves and rearranges in perfect order.

My animal has grown in size again. Her frame is more muscular and defined. I’m easily ten foot now. My arms and legs are as thick as tree trunks. I swing my great wolven head around to look at my body; I now have heavily armored scales on my paws up to the bend of my knee. Next, I raise my hand and examine my gauntlets; they have become more aggressive-looking. My scales have sharper edges to them than they had before. My talons are still long, hooked, and razor-sharp. I have the urge to try something new. I reach down deeply as I probe my father’s knowledge.

Nicodeamus’s eyes light up as he senses what I’m searching for. He shifts quickly and demonstrates how to breathe fire; his flames bathe me and help accelerate my healing process. I tilt my head several times before that familiar sound of the ignitor clicks can be heard.

My mates leap back as my beast breathes fire for the first time; I freeze everything in the flame’s path. My babies leap towards me, and I lower myself down onto all fours, greeting them as my animal. We sniff and lick at each other as we get to know each other. My mates are concerned as to what this will mean for me. As far as I’m concerned, today is just another day, and I’ve acquired another weapon to help me on my journey.

I lock eyes with my children, and as I shift back I force their shift to happen along with mine. Both children’s transition to their human is rather effortless. I don’t have to use too much Alpha influence to help them assume their other forms. I now have two chunky little cherubs sitting there looking at me. Having been born in their dragon form gives them an advantage.

They have the trunk control of an older baby. I am truly amazed looking between them as I move to pick them both up. I snuggle my babies to my breasts and both latch on, feeding immediately. Softly, I yawn, and immediately Dimitri and Alaric are at my side to guide me over to where Jayce and Dom have set up a place for me to rest. I snuggle in, holding both babies, watching them feed from my breasts. Now I really must work on hunting down those that may bring my children harm. First, I need to make sure the Ice Palace is sorted before moving on to my next target.

The guys all gather around, looking at the twins in my arms. Both babies have platinum blonde hair and grey eyes. Tia has flecks of green in her eyes, like Alaric. Ladon has blue flecks like Nicodeamus and I do. Both babies have my birthmark on their wrists; it’s a white crescent moon. The twins finish feeding, and I pass one off to Alaric and the other off to my father after he sits down. I smile softly, looking at my little family that I’ve made. The rest of the guys gather around the babies, excited to get a closer look at them.

I slowly remove myself from my pillow palace and head to the water surrounding the island. My father said it has regenerative properties. To be brutally honest, I feel like I was just put through a shredder. Slowly, I swim lazy laps around the island, letting the water work its magic. Under the water, I notice movement, so I dive and go after it. It’s a large catfish. Apparently, there’s a small feeder stream that it must have used to get here. I surface, drawing in a deep breath before hunting the catfish. Two attempts later, I’m finally able to sink my talons into its flesh. I throw my catch up onto the island and swim to the edge after it. My shift comes quickly, and it just so happens, my baby’s shift too. They wiggle out of their father’s and grandfather’s arms to head over to my catch. I quickly skin the catfish, lower my muzzle, and rip a chunk of flesh off to eat. The babies imitate me, biting and ripping at their food.

My wolven and bear mates look at the scene before them in horror. The twins and I are eating sashimi as our animals. The dragon’s side of the family is happy to see my young eating so well. I eat at least half of the catfish, leaving the rest for the babies. Slowly, I shift back to my human form and sit close by, watching over my children. For now, my enemies have been given a reprieve. I’ll soon be going over all of the intel I’ve been given, and I’ll formulate a plan of action.

The babies eat their fill and come over to me, ready to go to sleep. “We need to be thinking about heading back. The babies are safer if they remain as their animals for now. At least they can run, hide, and defend themselves if they have to.” I lay a hand on each child before looking to my mates. Slowly they nod, agreeing with me. Alaric moves to the end of the cavern and starts making arrangements for our trip back. Klaus helps me stand and dress in my flight clothing. Now that I’m not pregnant, I have room in my coat for my babies. I haven’t bounced back one hundred percent yet; a few more shifts should have me back in top form. I gently pick up my sleeping babies and bundle them in my coat to protect them from the wind. Alaric gives me a look as if to say, “What the fuck are you doing?”

I open my coat to show him our babies, and his dragon’s head nods slowly. He then gets into position so I can climb on. Once in place, my father joins us, sitting just before Alaric’s wings. Are you ready, love? Are the babies settled? Alaric asks me through the bond.

I gently rub my cargo and smile. Our children are asleep. Tomorrow, however, we will rain hell upon those that may stand against us. Then we leave as quickly as possible to Klaus’s pack and then summon the others, I say to Alaric through our bond. I feel Dominik’s fear through the bond as his guard goes into free fall out of the mouth of the cavern. Jayce, on the other hand, is elated, enjoying the fall. I swear those two crack me up. They are such opposites. One tough, one soft, one terrified of heights, the other loves it. It’s kind of comical if you ask me.

Alaric carefully launches us out the mouth of the cavern; we gently glide upon the thermals until he feels it’s safe to start really flying. I feel my babies moving about within my coat, so I pop two buttons in the middle, allowing them to poke their heads out. Is it too cold for them out here, Alaric? They are quite curious about the flight. I gently stroke my babies’ heads, waiting for Alaric to answer me.

No, love, they are part Ice Dragon after all. Take them out one at a time and let them see over the top of my head as I fly. Make sure to keep a good grip on them, so they don’t go into free fall. Alaric’s concern for the babies’ safety warms my heart. Carefully, I pull Tiamat out first and rest her little taloned hands on the ridge of her father’s dragon’s crown. She calls out her excitement, making her little baby dragon noises.

We spend the remainder of our flight with the babies taking turns watching the flight over the top of their father’s head. My own father is quite amused watching me with the babies. I guess, in a way, he wishes he could have done this with me. I mean, have my mom hold me while he flew us around. It makes me want to cry over all that we have missed out on, all because of Vladimir. There will be no mercy for him, nor for the rest of his bloodline.

We arrive back at the castle by early morning and apparently, we’ve attracted the attention of all of our guests. I pull both babies out of my coat, and they perch on my shoulders. They are looking around curiously at all the people. “Do not trust anyone other than whom your fathers, grandfather, and I say it’s okay to go to. There are bad people here who would love to see us dead.” Both babies move to look at me, and I shift my eyes to that of my beast and begin to teach them the recent history.

Alaric senses what I’m doing, and keeps his head held high, and remains standing. I gently pat his scales, letting him know I’m done, and he slowly lies down when the rest of my mates gather. My father slides off first and moves to back the crowd up. My War Dragon guards assist my father in containing the group. Jayce and Dominik are already shifted to their wolves waiting for me. Dimitri and Klaus are in a position to help me off of Alaric’s neck.

Oohs and Ahhs, and a ton of oh, they’re so cutes are heard as I’m escorted into the castle, then back to our private chambers. I’m starving, and I have two babies I still have to nurse yet. Everyone gathers in what I call my bedroom, and the babies are let loose to play as they wish. “Any updates while we were gone?” I ask, looking towards my father and Alaric.

My father is the first to respond. “Your personal guards snuffed out several more usurpers in our absence. Having them sleep in your bed was a stroke of genius, daughter. All appears to be settled here. We just need to have a gala to announce the babies’ births, and then we can leave. We can plan the christening for some time after we take back the Marelup throne.” Nicodeamus smiles, then jumps because it seems that Ladon just tried to freeze his grandfather to the floor. I can’t help but laugh at their actions. Alaric, however, is just shaking his head, looking at the twins.

“Oh, relax, grumpy! They are just playing!” I say to Alaric as I try not to continue to laugh at my children’s antics.

The babies continue to run and play as the guys sit down to do all the planning. When I say the guys, I mean Jayce and Klaus. Dominik, Alaric, and Dimitri are handling setting up security, and Nicodeamus is on the floor playing with the kids now. I have to say, for once, everything is right in my world. My mates are all bonded to me, my babies are happy and healthy, and my father has a perpetual smile on his face. Everything is very good in my world right now.