Page 61 of His Prodigal Alpha

Which, yeah, okay; considering we were people who could turn into animals —includingfire breathingdragons— at will…that shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did.

Still, how much magic (there really wasn’t a better word for it) was out there in our world, undiscovered and untapped? Could it be accessed by more than just our alphas? It was worth asking Eric and Brandt, anyway.

Shit. Eric!

With the fight over and the remaining men subdued before they could shift and run away, my limbs became wobbly as the adrenaline faded, but I still turned to look over at the crumpled dragon in the field. I was torn between checking on him, and making sure my mate and cub were okay.

A whine burst from the back of my throat, and Rex was at my side almost instantly.

“Are you hurt, kitten?” he asked, crouching beside me, Cam tucked against his chest. Our baby was no longer screaming, but I wanted to get him out of the cool night air and into the safety of our home.

Our home.

Somewhere in the past couple of weeks, I had started thinking of Rex’s cottage as ours, even if I hadn’t officially moved in. Our combined scents permeated the space, and it truly had become the setting where I imagined raising Cam.

I shook my head and then concentrated on shifting back to my human form, ignoring my aches and pains in preference of throwing myself at Rex. I nuzzled Cam and then my mate, finally letting the tears come.

“I’m so sorry, Damon,” Rex held me tight against him, but I could hear the strain of emotion in his voice. “This is my fault.I should have been upstairs with the babies. I—”

“Stop it.” As much as I wish the protest had come from me, I was beaten to it by Beck. The Pack Alpha’s expression was grim as he closed the distance between us. Ollie was pressed to his side, holding their son, and Beck himself was cradling their daughter to his chest. He frowned. “You should have been safe in our home. Everyone should have. I…we…should have considered that they’d come after the kids. After last time, we thought they just wanted an alpha. We should have realized that they might use the kids as bait. Or…God, I don’t know.” Ollie rubbed his back.

I nodded, then pulled away so I could look my mate over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? I should have been there with you.” Once again I was afraid of losing him, but now it was a fear that he could be taken from me. That he almost was. That our baby was almost taken. My voice wobbled as I continued, “The thought of something happening to you…God, Rex, I was so scared. I can’t believe none of us thought they might come for the kids.”

“We were short sighted,” Ollie sighed, leaning into Beck, visibly drawing comfort the same way I was with Rex. “We got lulled into a false sense of security. All of us did. This isn’t anyone’s fault.”

It felt surreal to be surrounded by death and destruction, standing naked as our pack regrouped. It hurt my heart to see that some of our own people had been hurt —some even killed— in the struggle. They were innocents in all this mess.

Those who weren’t hurt were corralling the survivors from the attacking group, herding them into a small group guarded by Brandt’s looming dragon form. I had no idea what we were going to do with the handful of bad guys, but I figured thatwas something Beck and the council would need to decide. Maybe hand them over to the authorities? That didn’t seem the greatest idea, when these guys were shifters and the human police had no way to manage that.

Anyway, that wasn’t going to be my problem, and I didn’t feel guilty in washing my hands of them. Even in human form, I thought Brandt eating them might be the best course of action. I mean, they’d taken my baby. They couldn’t possibly redeem themselves from that.

Thinking about Brandt reminded me about Eric again.

“Eric,” I gasped, taking a stumbling step out of Rex’s grasp in the other dragon’s direction. Only, the dragon was gone, replaced by a curled up, human form. I hurried over to him, understanding that he was the person I would call for to give medical assistance, and Brandt —our dragon guard— was the other.

“Where the fuck is Sage?” I demanded of Beck and Ollie. “Or even Dexter?” We could use another dragon right now. One to threaten the remaining bad guys so Brandt could see to his brother.

Beck frowned, passing Rory to Ollie as he hurried over to help me with Eric. “I don’t know.”

“Shit. Dex is at the house. He was with the babies. They knocked him out somehow,” Rex explained as he joined us, hovering anxiously as he still cuddled Cam. “And the others are locked in the bathroom downstairs. I should go check on them.”

“But Sage?” I repeated, frowning. “He wasn’t running —flying— with the pack?”

Beck shook his head. “I assumed he was with Dex.”

On the ground, Eric groaned. “He’s…out of town.”

“Stay down,” I told him, eyeing the epic open wound over his shoulder blade. “Don’t move. We’re going to need to get you an ambulance.”

He groaned again and attempted to push himself up, shaking his head.

“Stay down,” Beck issued the command using his magical power, and Eric flopped back to the ground.

“That’s cheating,” he complained weakly. “Asshole.”

My lips twitched. Eric and Beck had a funny sort of friendship, and it was a reassuring sign to hear Eric falling back into banter.

Beck snorted and relaxed a bit, too, probably thinking the same thing I was. “You love me, Weldman. Stay put. We’ll get you help.”

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