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“Should we kill it?” Dare asked quietly.

  “It wants to kill us,” said Nathan.

  “But it works for her. Maybe she’s done something to it.”

  “I work on my own.” Topaz snarled, still enveloped in smoke. “And you won’t stop me with parlor tricks.”

  Theo snorted. “I’ll stop you the old-fashioned way, then.” He swung his huge, spiked tail forward into the cloud and slammed it into Topaz’s side, sending him flying out of the black cloud.

  Topaz rolled a bit and then pushed to his feet, hissing. He opened his mouth to let out more electricity, but Theo simply raised a hand, pulling up the ground in front of him to block it.

  The dirt absorbed the charge, leaving the air tingling.

  Topaz stared in shock. “Telekinesis.”

  Irial floated down from the building, walking toward them. “My powers. Clearly, this is above your pay grade, Topaz. I’ll be collaring one of them, and I won’t need you anymore.”

  The dragon looked at her, eyes narrowing in hatred. “You can’t discard me, you bitch.” But as he opened his mouth to attack her, she simply waved a hand, and he keeled over.

  “That should keep him out of this for now,” she said. “I’ll kill him later.” She advanced on them, rolling up her sleeves and pushing back her cloak. “But this is interesting. Let’s see what you really are.” She thrust her hands forward, and waves of dark energy shook the ground as they blasted toward the dragons.

  Theo and his brother braced themselves but didn’t have any response.

  Dare swung his huge, spiked tail at her, only barely missing as she jumped back, hovering in the air.

  Her purple eyes were menacing, and her hair was starting to come lose from her bun. “How dare you point that at me. I am your mother.”

  Dare roared at that, swinging his tail again. “You are nothing! And you’ll die before you touch our mates or our children!” He opened his mouth, but she raised a hand and called down darkness.

  Theo and his brothers could do it with humans. With a wave of their hands, they could make humans sleep using darkness.

  Irial was using more of it now than Theo ever had. This much could kill a normal person. But he and his brothers weren’t people, and they were luckily far enough from Ada that she wouldn’t be affected.

  Besides, Irial had good reason to keep Ada alive.

  Still, Theo couldn’t see anything, not even his brothers, as the darkness settled around them, thick as fog but so much black and cold.

  “You can’t see, can you?” Irial said. “You won’t even know when I take your mate from you. Tragic. One of you can come with me if you want. Since you can’t see each other, you won’t know. But I’ll accept the first dragon who steps out of the darkness.”

  Theo took a calming breath, reminding himself he had nothing to fear from the darkness. This was where he lived.

  He turned to face Irial, suddenly seeing her as she walked among them, utterly arrogant about her own powers.

  He could see his brothers and knew they could see him as well.

  Theo sneered at Irial’s shock as they closed in toward her. “You think to shock us with darkness? Thanks to you, we are the dark.”

  She gasped and began to stutter, and Dare grabbed her with one claw around her.

  “Her past,” he said. “It’s awful. She tried this before. She tried to take other dragon’s mates and their babies. She won’t stop.”

  Dare released her, and Nathan stepped forward, grabbing her as Dare had. “In her future, she will keep going. If she is only captured again, she will escape and do more harm. She will never stop. She thinks only of herself, and other life doesn’t matter. How she treated us is representative of who she is.”

  Theo nodded as Nathan withdrew, letting Theo take his place.

  Irial just glared up at him, irritated that she couldn’t do more because she had created creatures immune to her own powers and with powers she didn’t possess.

  Theo looked into her heart, as much as he didn’t want to.

  He saw only black.

  It wasn’t like his own heart, which was red like anyone else’s but tainted. It was black to the core, utterly dark.

  There was nothing else there, and she smiled at him in response.

  “If you are going to try to kill me, then do it,” she said smugly. “But I doubt you have the heart.”

  But he did because of Ada. He had the heart to do the thing no one wanted to do. He could kill because others wouldn’t and because it would save Ada and countless others in the end.

  And because some people just weren’t savable, no matter how much he wished that weren’t the case.

  Because he wouldn’t let anyone hurt his family.

  He felt something building inside him in a burning, giant ball just as his brothers stepped back in trepidation.

  Which was a good idea because when Theo opened his mouth and directed everything he’d been building at Irial, he saw pure-black flames come out and encircle her.

  She tried to run as they closed in, and she shrieked as her clothing caught fire and then her skin. She didn’t burn like a regular person. It was as though she were dissolving. Like everywhere the black flames touched her, she simply disappeared from sight until she was just a small, flickering ember that floated upward and vanished with the echo of a scream.

  Theo sat back, heaving.

  He felt the transformation reversing now that the danger was gone and looked over to see that Topaz was unconscious, back in human form.

  Dare was walking over to him in his regular nightmare form, and Theo knew he would take care of it.

  Nathan went with Dare while Theo ran to check on his mate.

  Ada poked her head up from behind the rock and then ran to throw her arms around him, and Theo felt himself become human once again.

  “Oh gosh, there are three of you,” she said, hugging him as if her life depended on it.

  He held her, kissing the top of her head and then resting his cheek on it, blissfully happy to be holding his mate.

  “Are you okay with all three of them?”

  She nodded. “Three is better than one, right? More than anything, I want you. You and our baby. A life together. We can figure the rest out.”

  “I want you, too, Ada. I’ll protect you and our baby forever.”

  She lifted her face to kiss him, and Theo was about to lower his lips to Ada’s when a cleared throat interrupted them.

  “I think we should probably split,” Dare said as Theo groaned at the interruption.

  “Finish that back at your place,” Nathan said. “It’ll be safer to talk there.”

  “What about that guy?” Theo asked, pointing at the unconscious Topaz on Dare’s shoulder.

  “We’ll have to talk to the oracle about it, the non-evil one,” Dare said. “But you don’t worry about it. Someone is watching out for our mates. Go take care of your own.”

  Right. A mate. He had one. He scooped her up in his arms and let the nightmare take over, giving him wings.

  Whatever he had, whatever powers or forms were at his disposal, he was hers. Now he would fly her somewhere safe and make sure she knew that.

  Chapter 20

  Ada could still hardly believe her eyes, or her heart, as Theo carried her through the sky, beating his wings in his smaller form.

  There was so much more to him than she had ever imagined, yet in a weird way, looking back at their time together, it all made sense.

  The things she’d seen defied description, defied explanation. Yet it had been Theo. She knew it. He’d saved her and their baby.

  But there was still a lot that needed clarifying.

  She was still in a bit of a haze when they landed together on the grass outside the house Theo had brought her to when they fought earlier.

  But now she felt different. Less nervous about what was about to happen. She still noticed the things she had earlier. That it was beautiful, with well-kept grounds, fully mature tr
ees, a modern, clean appearance.

  But with Theo and her living there together, it could really be home.

  Ada pushed to get down out of his arms, in case he was tired, but he just held on tighter.

  Still, his comforting warmth as he held her seemed to whisk away all worries, all troubles, erasing the horrors of the past few hours and giving her an eye into a wonderful future.

  Theo crossed over the threshold and brought her inside, setting her down on the couch, the plush fabric soft and relaxing after so much stress. Already, she was starting to feel better. Theo, looking deep in thought, paced back and forth.

  “I have some things to explain. Obviously.” He still looked worried, as though she might turn him away or something.

  But today’s events had only further solidified the feelings she knew she’d had for a very, very long time.

  Ada just patted the couch next to her, but he remained standing. When he was ready, he spoke.

  “So I’ll just start at the beginning, I guess, though I’m sure you were able to piece a lot together yourself already,” he said, chest heaving with a deep breath. “My brothers and I were created more than a century ago, a mix of creatures that ended up, well, what you saw earlier.”

  She could still remember seeing their forms as they charged in. Then later, the giant dragons, red and black and regal and dangerous.

  And incredible.

  “Though, I suppose we’re more dragon than we thought before. My whole life, I’ve had to be awful and hide in the darkness. I’ve had to do terrible things, Ada. Things I don’t want to tell you about.”

  “Then don’t,” Ada said. “Because it doesn’t matter. It won’t change who you are to me. If you did things, you had your reasons.”

  He sighed, visibly relieved. “One day, maybe I’ll tell you more, because I don’t want to have secrets. For now, suffice it to say, things were dark for me and my brothers.”

  “I see.” Ada sat back, hands in her lap, just listening.

  “Irial, the woman before, she’s the one who created us. She promised us redemption if we met her conditions. It’s hard to think that it was a trick, but it doesn’t feel like it matters much anymore now that I have you, Ada.” Theo knelt on the ground next to her, so tall even like this. His bright-blue eyes were swirling with emotions, and she wanted to kiss him right there and then. But she wanted to let him get everything off his chest first.

  He continued. “For a hundred years, I’ve been waiting. Waiting for a way out, a way to change what I was, anything. But unlike my brothers, I focused on making a life for myself, not just waiting for a new one once we finally discovered what we were and how to fix it. But that made me afraid, Ada,” he said, his huge palms taking her hands in his. “Afraid to lose everything. So I tried to stay distant, learned to be fine with half a life, one separate from the rest of humanity around me. But all that changed when I met you.”

  Ada tugged on his hands, wanting him closer, and he sat on the couch, pulling her into his lap, soft yet hard muscle cradling her.

  “Once I realized you needed more than I could give, I felt lost. Angry that because of what I was, I’d never be able to be the man you needed, that you deserved. I always transformed into the thing after midnight.” His gaze was stormy, staring off into the distance.

  Her eyes widened. “That makes so much sense. You didn’t want to work after midnight, until—”

  “Until you changed something inside me. With you around, I didn’t change. I didn’t know what it meant, but I do now. You’re my mate, Ada. Do you think you can accept me forever? Because that’s what a mate is, and I know I’m not normal, and—”

  She put a hand on his cheek and turned his face until his eyes were forced to meet hers. At once, his gaze softened, the tense lines on his face relaxing a moment.

  “Theo, I don’t just accept you. I’m crazy about you. You just don’t know it. No normal person could have rescued me like you did just now. Or countless times before. Or saved my little sister. No normal man could be the kind of surgeon you are or have treated me like you have in our time together.”

  Theo smiled. “I know you’re not in love with me yet, but I’m so in love with you, Ada. If you can just give me a chance, I promise I—”

  “Theo, I love you.” Ada interrupted.

  For a moment, confusion and hope lit up his eyes.

  She laughed. “You might as well start getting that through your stubborn head because it’s true. I’ve been in love with you for a long time, longer than you could possibly imagine.”

  “You loving me now is more than I can imagine, so yes,” Theo said. “But are you sure you’re okay with this? Raising a family with a nightmare dragon?”

  She sighed and cupped his face, wanting to drive this home for him. “With Theo, whom I love.”

  At that, Theo’s lips covered hers in a deep kiss, the moment enveloping them like a starlit sky. Ada’s entire body warmed from head to toe, responding instantly to the strength of his love. Ada knew in her soul that Theo was the one. And she’d tell him that every day if she had to.

  Finally, he slowly withdrew, expression soft as he looked down at her, holding her tightly as if he held the world within his arms.

  “I’m sorry about what I said before, about the pregnancy, about us. I’m still nervous, but I’m also very excited. Before, I didn’t know how it was going to work out. At night I transform. I hunt the darkness. I feared involving you and our baby in a world even I don’t fully understand still. I feared the baby hurting you. I was afraid you’d discover what I was and leave, taking everything with you. But I’ve found people who can help us, and I have faith we are going to be fine.”

  “Well, good, because you’re stuck with me now. No escaping.”

  “I would never want to,” he said with a grin. Then he sobered. “I can still sense criminals, can feel their movements from time to time. And some nights I’ll need to go after them, to still the darkness inside me and protect innocent people from harm. But I feel like I’ll need to do it less and less the longer I’m with you. And even when I do need to hunt, saving people’s lives helps me, keeps me feeling more human myself.”

  Ada nodded. Somehow, it all made sense. Or even if it didn’t, she was okay not having all the answers at once. Their years of working side by side had already proved they could make it under extreme pressure. Now that they could truly be together as a couple, Ada couldn’t help but feel things would only get easier from here on out.

  “As long as I get to keep you, I’ll be happy,” she said.

  “You have me forever and beyond, Ada,” Theo exclaimed, nuzzling his nose into hers, the sensation ticklish and arousing. It made her toes curl up in her shoes.

  She made to get up out of his lap so they could take a proper tour of the place, mostly the bedroom, but he surprised her by standing up, carrying her in his arms as though he thought she’d forgotten how to walk or something.

  “Nuh-uh, you’re pregnant. Gotta keep you off your feet,” he said, mouth quirking up at the side as he headed down a hallway.

  “Need I remind you I’m only two weeks along?” She tried furiously to fight back a blush, but her cheeks were warm with desire for Theo. “You’re going to be incorrigible, aren’t you?”

  “Oh, just the worst. Better ready yourself.” He chuckled at the end. “Now how about we go put another baby inside you. Make it twins.”

  “You know that isn’t how it works, Dr. Lancaster,” she said incredulously.

  “Who’s to say? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  Theo reached a doorway and prodded it open with his foot, bringing her into the master bedroom. A giant bed with luxurious white, gray, and black linens and surrounded by plush, modern furnishings greeted them.

  With Theo around, the place was feeling more at home by the second.

  “I’ll just settle for getting lucky with you for now. How does that sound?” Ada asked, heart thumping in her chest as he came closer
to the bed.

  Theo’s attention was wholly on her now, laser focused as he set her down on the bed and came on top, surrounding her.

  “That sounds perfect.”

  * * *

  There were a million things going through Theo’s mind, but above all of them, a single word rose to the top of those thoughts.

  Mate.

  He growled as he pulled Ada’s shirt off, then her pants, leaving her in only her underwear. Her soft curves were as beautiful as they were enticing, and Theo knew she was the one for him, the only one for him.

  “If only you knew how sexy you are to me, Ada,” Theo murmured, kissing along the slope of her shoulder, then down her collarbone.

  “How about you just show me, then?” Ada remarked, moaning softly as he bit down lightly on her skin.

  He’d do that every day of their lives together. Multiple times a day, if needed.

  He eagerly took Ada’s bra off, then her panties, leaving her completely bare to him. When she tugged on his shirt, he took that off for her before gathering the voluptuous flesh of her breasts in his hands and squeezing them, pressing his thumbs into her nipples and watching as she strained with arousal. Then, still holding them, he suckled on one nipple, then the other, letting his tongue lave over the hardened tips.

  Theo then lowered one hand, letting his fingers trail over the soft skin of her belly and hips before reaching her wet slit. She was already wet for him, already wanting him, and that only turned him on more.

  “My, my, you go fast, don’t you?” he said casually, letting his fingers feel around her soft folds, enjoying the way her hips bucked lightly with even the slightest touch.

  “That’s your fault. We both know it.” She covered her face in embarrassment, making him smile.

  “Well then, this is my fault, too, I guess.” With that, he let his middle finger stroke up along her clit in one long, smooth motion, and Ada’s hands flew to her sides, clutching the bed beneath them.

  Theo just watched with heated wonder as he relentlessly pressed his hand over her center, making Ada squirm back and forth without escape. Every tiny reaction, every moan, every tensed muscle or glossy gaze from her eyes was his now. For him alone. And nothing excited him more than having the rest of forever with his mate, giving her this pleasure over and over.