Page 144 of The Aurora Marelup Complete Saga Omnibus

Vladimir growls, and his wolf’s dull-gold eyes can be seen. “Where did you hear that name?” He leans forward and places both hands on his desk. His fingernails are barely able to become claws. I take note of the fact that he more than likely cannot shift at this point.

I tilt my head left, then right, then move forward and place both of my hands flat on his desk. My talons digging into the wood beneath it. Vladimir finally takes note of the heavy chromatic dragon scale gauntlets that cover my arms. “Mother told me. One of my mates is a mystic and brought her to me through the veil. I know all of your dirty little secrets, Vladimir. You will pay for every single one of them.”I smirk, looking at him, knowing full well I struck a nerve. “With my blood, this I swear.”

I speak the ancient oath, and he knows his time is almost up. He makes the mistake of lunging at me from over the desk. I grip him with one hand and push Klaus out of the way with the other. “Go, Klaus, leave. He’s sick. I’ve got this.” Klaus hesitates and moves to the doorway, out of my way.

Vladimir grapples with me for several moments, and I can tell the exertion is wearing him down quickly. I fling him halfway across the room. It’s not as easy to toss a full-grown man as a human. But I have to admit it’s much more enjoyable this way.

Through the bond, I send my mates to get onto Marco’s back and get airborne. Klaus goes running down the stairs to join the others. I carefully remove Klaus’s flannel and shift back to the form of my hybrid beast. I summon Dante to me and watch him circle the outside of the tower. I run my talons over my toxin-covered canines, making sure they are entirely coated again.

This time when Vladimir charges me, I sink my talons into his flesh deeply and hold him there, waiting for his eyes to revert back to human. Dante calls, letting me know he’s just about in position. I move towards the window with Vladimir screaming and pulling at my gauntlets. His fear must be overriding his pain because he’s shedding his fingertips on my scales. I throw Vladimir out of the window and let Dante catch him midair. I watch as Dante circles the castle, waiting for me, and I can’t help but smile at what I’ve accomplished.

I shift back to my human form and slip Klaus’s shirt back on. Standing on the windowsill, I reach out to my allies and ask them to see the castle’s clean-up and its grounds. We won the battle and the war. I congratulate them on the victory and advise them to take care of the wounded, and we will bury the dead in three days. Cheers erupt in the courtyard as my allies chant my name. I wave to everyone just before I leap out of the window to land on Alaric’s back. There’s one more piece of business left to handle, and that’s back at the German Lycan camp. I restcomfortably, sitting on Alaric’s dragon’s back. Eventually, the events of the day catch up to me, so I lie down between his wings with my arms wrapped around one of his spines as I fall asleep.

My love? Wake up. We’re home. I told Dante to remain airborne until you summon him,Alaric says through the bond, rousing me from my nap. Damn, that felt like the shortest nap in the history of naps.

Alaric lands, and my father, children, and his mate come running towards me. “Daughter? Were we victorious?” Nicodeamus asks with such a hopeful look.

“We were, Father. We were victorious, thanks to all of your planning and knowledge.” I motion to Dimitri, and he comes forward with two cloth bags. I furrow my brows for a moment, and then it dawns on me.

Nicodeamus makes the Joker look sane with the way he’s smiling. “First, Father, I would like to present you with the Lycan head of Josef. He died at my talons, though honestly, he wasn’t a worthy opponent at all,” I say, then pull Josef’s head out of the bag and offer it to my father.

Nicodeamus pulls me in tight for the best hug ever. It’s excellent being Daddy’s little hellion. My own toddlers pull at my legs, and I drop Josef’s head on the ground. Dimitri clears his throat, drawing our attention back to him. He pulls out the Elder Dame’s head, drops to his knees before me, and holds the head up. His thoughtful gift brings tears to my eyes, and I lean down to kiss him passionately. Ladon screams,“eww!” Tiamat says, “awe.” Helle says,“get a room”, and my other mates just smile at the two of us.

I motion to Alaric, and he comes to stand behind my father. “Forgive us, Father, but I wish your gift to be a surprise.” With that, Alaric covers Nicodeamus’s eyes just before Dante lands with my prisoner in tow.

Dimitri rises and quickly moves to grab Vladimir. I take some knotted fabric and make a ball gag and shove it into Vladimir’s mouth. Honestly, I can’t wait to see my father’s reaction.

CHAPTER 115

Nicodeamus

The last twoweeks have been heaven and hell. Heaven because the gods saw fit to grant me a second mate. I was sure I would die alone, with my only joy being my daughter and her children. Speaking of my daughter’s children, they are indeed a breath of fresh air. The last hatchling I was able to see run around was actually her mate, Alaric.

I swear this war that she’s waging has aged me faster than anything else I could ever have imagined. Then there’s all this technology that Helle is helping me learn and master. It’s kind of sad that my grand babies have a better grasp of things than I do.

Klaus has this thing called a Switch, and the little ones sit there for hours like tiny zombies making a mushroom-looking man bounce all over the screen. I have no idea how any of this stuff works. But if it keeps them happy while their momma is away, I’m all for it.

Helle has been an angel, accepting Aurora’s babies and me so quickly. Then again, it helps that she’s Jayce and Dominik’s mom. To my surprise, Aurora actually likes her—that’s huge. If my daughter doesn’t like someone, she’s not afraid to let them know.

I feel the height of the battle waging in what used to be my mate’s home. I can almost track where Aurora is on the battlefield. She’s left her bond with me wide open. All I have to do is close my eyes and focus on her. I have been guiding Aurora through the entire castle. I have been giving her the history of the castle as well as where hidden passageways are.

Sadly, in a way, I am glad that Anca has passed on. If she could see the state of her father’s castle, she would be heartbroken. Aurora is still on the fence whether she wants to destroy the castle and build a new one or just resurrect this one. I watch her kill Josef and then her leap to Alaric. I have never been so proud of my child in all of my days.

She lands on the tower then proceeds to climb. I have a perfect view of how her talons allow her to grip the stones as she moves. It’s impressive, to say the least, that she moves with such ease up the rocks. I regret that she wasn’t born a dragon; she would have been a very deadly dragoness. She pauses as she catches Vladimir’s scent; he’s got a blood sickness that’s slowly poisoning him to death. Idiot used dragon blood to prolong his life span. I guess he didn’t realize it doesn’t work that way.

I advise my daughter how to approach the situation, and then suddenly, I can’t see through her eyes anymore. It is frightening in the first few moments, and then it dawns on me that she really needed to concentrate so as not to be distracted, so she closed the link.

What seems like forever passes, and finally, Aurora reaches out to me.We won, Daddy! On our way home, see you in a few hours.With that, I feel her lie down and go to sleep. I reach out to Alaric, and he fills me in on the entire battle from his perspective. My daughter is courageous and made me very proud of her.

Anca can rest in peace now, knowing her castle is no longer under Vladimir’s and the Strigoi’s control. It took so long toliberate her ancestral home, but in the end, it was more than worth it.

I run and tell Helle and the babies that Aurora and her mates are on their way home. She squeals from excitement; not only is her daughter-in-law on her way back, but so are both of her sons. Helle runs to the kitchen and gets the staff to start cooking various meals for the family.

“Love.” I rest a hand on Helle’s forearm. “Aurora may not eat what you are having prepared. Please don’t take offense over it.” I look down at my feet, then back up at my mate. Tears threaten to break and run down her cheeks. “It’s not you, my beloved. She’s been hunted all of her life. She needs time to trust you the way she trusts her mates. The last woman that claimed to love me tried to kill her.” I furrow my brows and look at her, hoping she understands.

Helle nods her head slowly and wipes her eyes before looking back up at me. “I understand, my love. I just hope she can trust me like she does my sons one day.”

Smile at her and press a kiss to her forehead. “Without a doubt, it will happen. You’re a good woman and my true mate. How could she not love you?” Helle’s laughter is like music to my ears; I love seeing her smile. I freeze suddenly as I sense Alaric reaching out, letting me know that he can see the village from where he is. “Hurry! We need to go outside! They are almost ready to land.” I grab Helle’s hand and drag her through the house. All of the commotion I’m making awakens Aurora’s children, and the toddlers chase after us.

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