He nodded. “You’re right, sweetheart.”
She jerked her head up. “I am?” Her smile was too sweet.
“Oh yeah. Because you’re locked down now. Completely.” It made no sense for him to be the alpha of the entire bear nation and not be able to protect his mate and their children. He didn’t give two shits that she was a witch leader who could command a force of thousands. She was his.
She rolled her eyes but apparently knew better than to argue right now with blood on her jeans. Oh, he had no doubt she would later.
Flynn shook his head. “I am never getting mated.” He clapped Bear on the shoulder. “If it helps, I’m not getting a sense that anything’s wrong.”
“It helps,” Bear said, his chest finally relaxing.
“Good.” Flynn looked around. “I went through the information you sent and have some ideas.”
Nessa’s dark eyebrows rose. “What information?”
“About whatever’s going on with Sam,” Bear admitted. “It has to do with fire, and I figured a dragon might have a different take on the situation. I would’ve explained this to Sam, but I’m sure Honor needed sleep.”
Nessa’s eyes filled. “I think she saved our babies, Bear.”
Everything inside him softened. He plucked Nessa off the sofa, sat his ass down, and settled her on his lap. Holding her. Right where she belonged.
She pressed a hand to his chest and kissed his jaw.
He kept his expression bland, but the soft touch slammed right to his heart. She’d captured it the first moment they’d met, and that hadn’t changed through the years. If anything, she’d taken over the rest of his soul. It was fine with him. She could have all of him. “What are your thoughts, Flynn?”
Flynn watched them carefully, an unreadable light in his dark eyes. “If Sam’s having trouble with fire, I need to know why and how. A demon-vampire hybrid shouldn’t have any fire capabilities. What don’t you know about him?”
That was a great question. “There’s a good chance he won’t reveal the entirety of what’s really happening.” Bear had always suspected that Sam had something to do with the Seven and their grand plan to hold some stupid ritual and kill a Cyst leader someday, and he didn’t like it one bit. “If he doesn’t tell me, they’re gone.” When Nessa started to object, he tightened his hold on her. “No. I’ve been at the edge of my patience for a while now, and I’m done. I’ll explain this to them and then they can decide what to do. Their future is in their control.” He wasn’t going to let any threat near his mate and unborn babes. Nessa had to know that.
She sighed.
He snuggled her close, inhaling her sweet scent. “So a dragon shifter, huh? Male or female?”
She settled herself against him. “Don’t freak out.”
Female. He was having a female dragon daughter. His half sister was one, as well as being a witch, and she was as wild as the wind. He tried not to groan.
Nessa chuckled and kissed his neck again. “No. According to Honor, whom I believe, we’re having a dragon son.”
Huh. A dragon son. It was a good thing Flynn was willing to visit and thus offer flying lessons. “This is fantastic.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I think we’re also having a witch daughter and bear son.”
Bear studied her lovely face. His heart filled. “That sounds like the perfect trio.”
“Yep.” She kissed him again. “Things are about to get interesting.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sam carried Honor inside with the blanket securely around her and settled her right in bed. Then he leaned down and looked at the burns. “At least the bullet went all the way through.”
She studied the raw burn marks. “In movies, vampire blood can heal people.”
He grinned. “Yeah.” In fact, it wasn’t a terrible idea. “Usually my blood would kill a human, but since you’re Enhanced with serious power, we could give it a try. A small try.” Plus, the fact that they’d had sex and already mixed fluids didn’t hurt. His fangs dropped, and he ripped open his wrist. “Take just a little.”
She looked at his blood, shrugged, and then licked him like a cat.
His cock nearly burst from his jeans. He forced desire down.
She sat back, her face filling with color. “Oh,” she whispered, the sound throaty.
Fire lanced down his arms, and he stepped back, keeping her from the flame. Pain flared beneath his skin. He growled. This was a fucking disaster.
Slowly, the wounds on her leg mended.
His eyebrows rose. “Well. That worked.”
Delight filled her eyes along with caution as she looked at his now burned arms. “I feel so much better. The pain is gone.”
“Good to know.” He slid in beside her. “Let’s get some sleep and figure everything out in the morning.” He needed to heal his arms as well as a nagging cut on his ankle that still hadn’t mended. “Deal?”
“Deal.” She snuggled her sweet butt into his groin and almost immediately dropped into sleep.
He held her, comforting himself with her even breathing and heart rate. Too many emotions bombarded him at once as he relived the attack, and he needed to shut it all down. So he concentrated on her breathing, matching his to hers, and soon fell into sleep. Healing cells surrounded him, fixing everything that hurt. For now.
In that moment, he was transported from this world into another one, reliving the ritual he’d endured eighteen years ago. Some of it good, some fascinating, some downright painful. Different dimensions, all unique.
A burst of fire started following him, trying to burn him alive.
He’d been here before.
He leaped through portals between dimensions, looking for escape wherever he went. If he could keep moving, he’d be okay. If he stopped, he was dead.
The fire propelled him, and he shot through an ice age, his skin freezing. Flames came for him again, and he turned to the nearest portal, jumping.
The stupid force was herding him.
He paused just as a wide portal opened in front of him, the interior dark. The pull was incredibly powerful. He looked down to see his bare feet skim across a black rock. One with eyes. Surprise jolted him just enough that he let down his guard and went flying into the abyss.
He landed hard on a beach at nighttime. Or maybe daytime wherever he was. He turned his head and coughed out sand, rolling to his feet. Liquid, an insidious black goo, slid up the sand and then receded, just like waves in an ocean. Trees of spiky nails rose around him, and in the distance, something screamed. Two moonlike orbs shone down, one tinged blue and the other orange.