Thanks for your patience everyone. I'm back to regular updates again.
I begin following the scent of fire dragon and earth, making me believe that this young girl is a dragon/elf hybrid. If, as I suspect, these were once missing human children, its just one more reason to find them. If someone were to recognize them and worse, call the authorities, things would become really bad for the shifter community. It wouldn’t take long for the humans to realize that their children had been experimented on and who would they blame? One of their own or a shifter? They would always blame us. I follow her scent out of the city and into the forest. I come across other scents and I turn to look at Avani. “One at a time or do you want to divide and conquer?” I ask. “Divide and conquer,” he and Merethyl say at the same time. I lift my nose, smelling the scents of the others that passed this way. “I smell four. It seems like two are together. One male, one female and they both have the base of the dragon DNA, one earth, one water. Do you want to take them?” I ask th
I can’t believe that Oliver hurt this sweet little girl. I hate him even more than I did before. He doesn’t care about anyone other than himself. He truly is the monster that he claims that we are. “Ishir is the tiger’s name. He is my mate, my rider. Would you be okay if he came out to sit with us?” I ask Nova. “Will he hurt me, Zephyr?” she asks, her big green eyes looking up at me. “No, little one. He won’t. He finds missing children, like you. He helps them to find their families or for those without families, he helps them find a safe place where they can live,” I tell her as Ishir makes his way toward us. Nova snuggles into me. “You smell good,” she says. “What do I smell like to you, little one?” I ask her. “Snow. I like the snow,” she says. “I think she smells like freshly fallen snow,” Ishir says, cautiously coming out of the bushes. “Yes!” she says, but she’s watching Ishir cautiously. I lean in and sniff her hair. Beneath the dirt and grime, I can smell the fire on h
As soon as we’re in the bedroom I begin pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. “Ishir,” Zephyr says softly. “What if this sends you spiraling, Zeph? You’ve been doing better, you've been stronger for a while now. I don’t want to risk your mental state,” I say. “But this could save my life, Ishir,” she says. “And it’s the only reason I’m even considering it, Zephyr.” I turn, ready to continue my pacing, but her hand comes to my face. “It could save the lives of these juvenile dragons as well, Ishir. I owe it to them…” she begins. “NO, Zephyr! You are carrying my child. What if it hurts her? What if it hurts you?” I snarl. “We’ll ask the doc first,” she says calmly, and I can feel in her mind that she wants to do this, really wants to do this. “I will need an absolute assurance from him that this will not negatively impact you or our daughter,” I say to her. “If he can’t give me that, then the answer is no, Zephyr. Tell me you agree with me,” I say, and for the first time in my
I had wanted to help test the paralytic, but now that I can’t shift, there is no choice. Everett wanted us in our dragon form, and my little one is now far enough along that I can no longer shift. When Ishir puts me back on the ground, I put my hands on my stomach and look up at him. “I’m so worried about having a live baby. What if something is wrong and we don’t know it?” I say. “I can check you. I’ve checked both Tana and Merethyl. I am a doctor after all. I was a human doctor before I became a doctor for shifters,” Everett says. “He checked me when I thought I was a dragon,” Merethyl says, coming over and putting her arm around me. “I know it’s not the same, my body was made to birth live babies, but I trust Everett. And, he can show you an image of your little girl.” My head whips over to where Everett is still checking Avani, now in his human form. “You can do that?” I ask. “Yes. Since we anticipate that your child will be born more quickly than the others, it’s probably a
Nova looks up at me as we walk back inside. “Is that doctor going to hurt me?” she asks. Her little hand is inside mine and she looks up at me so trustingly. “No, sweetheart. Remember, I said he may have to do things like take blood, which can hurt because it’s a needle, but he won’t hurt you. I won’t let him and neither will anyone else. I am getting my own tests done. I thought you might want to sit in my lap while I get mine done. Then you can ask questions and find out what he’s doing.” “He’ll let me ask questions?” she asks. “I love questions. I love when others are curious about what I’m doing,” Everett says as we walk in. “We haven’t been introduced yet, young lady. I am Dr. Everett, but most everyone here calls me Doc or Everett,” he reaches out his hand to shake hers. Nova leans into me and I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “Doc Everett wants to shake your hand, Nova. It’s a greeting when you meet someone for the first time,” I tell her. When she looks at me again, I
When Everett prepares to leave the room, I go to Zephyr, kissing her temple as she wraps her arms around Nova. ‘Are you okay?’ I ask in the mind link. ‘Yes. Are you leaving?’ she asks me. ‘I want to go with Doc. I want to hear what he thinks about Nova away from where she might overhear,’ I tell her. ‘You’ll let me know?’ she asks. ‘Are you getting attached, my little dragon?’ I ask her. ‘Would that be a bad thing?’ ‘No, but I think being here, among her peers, is better than her being with us out hunting Oliver and the scientists and looking for more like her. This is a better life for her. You know that Kaylani and Everett will take good care of her.’ I can tell she knows I’m right, but as she look down at Nova in her lap, I hear her thoughts, wondering if I might be interested in living out here. She looks up at me with her big, blue eyes, and i know there will never be a time in my life where I'll be able to say no to this woman. Not when she looks at me like that. I'm doo
“What about her health, Doc,” I ask, needing to know if there is anything we can actually do for this girl. He takes a last look at Nova's DNA, probably trying to figure out how he’s going to fix this mess, before turning back and coming over to the massive amount of equipment he has. He takes some more blood and puts it into new tubes and then into something that begins spinning fast. Then he starts pulling up information with numbers and letters that start scrolling in rapid succession on the screen that he’s looking at. “Flash it up on the big screen, Everett,” Kaylani says, and with a push of a button, what Doc is looking at is on display for Kaylani and I to see. “Dehydration, malnourishment, low red blood count, high white blood count,” Kaylani sighs as she reads the information that is scrolling on the screen. “None of that sounds good,” I say. “No, she’s either too low or too high in nearly every point of her blood work,” Everett confirms. “What can we do?” I ask. “Trea
I close my eyes, holding Nova while she sleeps in my arms. When I felt Ishir’s concern, I tuned into his mind, so, I’m aware of the problems with Nova. When they walk into the room and I see the things that Everett has brought in, and the voices in my head start to wake up. It’s been so long since I heard them that I’m quickly becoming overwhelmed. That is, until Ishir makes his presence known in my mind. He helps me get my breathing back under control, helps me gain control of the voices in my head. I look back down at Nova. I hadn’t intended to stay with her, to let Ishir leave without me again, but I know I’m needed here. “You stay. Help her and the others. I haven’t met them yet, but they will also need help,” he says. “You’re not leaving now?” I ask panicked. “No. I’m not leaving for another day at least. I want to see what’s going on with Nova and then the others. I need to know what I’m dealing with before I go back out there,” he says to me. I watch as Everett begins addi