Page 164 of The Aurora Marelup Complete Saga Omnibus

I reach out through the familial bond to our patriarch, Nicodeamus. He fills me in on the fact that the ability to search others’ memories is a throwback to his grandmother, the Blood Queen. He also tells me that Tiamat retaining scales along her spine, shoulders, and across her hips is another Blood Queen trait. It makes me start to wonder if my son also has the scales down his spine that I haven’t noticed. I look over to Aurora quickly and share with her the information her father just shared with me. Nonchalantly, she plays with the collar of Ladon’s shirt. She pulls it back and looks down into his shirt. By the slow shake of her head, I know that he does not bear the scales along his spinal column. It makes me start to wonder if it’s just a femaletrait in the family. Aurora has random scales down her spine but nothing like the pattern that Tiamat does.

Klaus and Jayce clear the table and set everything into the dishwasher to be cleaned. The rest of us head into the living room to just relax. Once there, Aurora goes over to her guitar and starts playing with the strings. It’s now that I notice there’s a full drum set and two other guitars sitting in the middle of our living room. I raise a brow at her, and she starts laughing.

“I fully intend to have everybody in this family playing something in the near future.” She walks over and hands the drumsticks to Dimitri, who looks at her quite puzzled. She locks eyes with him and places her hands on his temples. The glow from her eyes can be seen from my place on the couch. I can feel the tension rolling off of Dimitri through the bond. What in the world is my mate up to?

Several moments pass before she releases his head, and he walks behind the drum set. He takes a seat and starts testing out the drums. Once he’s comfortable, he starts playing a song I’m not familiar with. Aurora smiles, grabs a guitar, and starts playing. She looks over at Jayce and Dominik, and they give her a quick nod. They get up and go grab two of the microphones. They start singing a song that I’ve yet to hear. It’s the song called “Outlaws and Outsiders”by some man namedCory Marks.The main vocals are handled by Dominik, but the more aggressive singing is handled by Dimitri from behind the drum set.

Aurora sits there, happy to be playing her guitar in the corner, letting the guys have fun singing the song that apparently they’ve been working on. Part of me is jealous I wasn’t included in this, but then again, neither was Arnulf. Arnulf and I run around the room, opening up the windows letting the music drift out to the pack.

It doesn’t take long to start noticing a gathering outside. Ever since Aurora gave birth, no one dares come into her personalspace when the babies are present. Babies—my daughter appears to be four years old, yet she’s less than a year. My son appears to be almost seven and yet five minutes younger than his sister. It was a blessing and a curse to keep them in their dragon forms to keep them safe. The blessing was that they were able to defend themselves. The curse is that they grew up much faster than we had anticipated. My son is bound and determined to reach adulthood quickly, to learn to fight and defend his family. I didn’t realize that he felt so defenseless being so little. A hatchling should never have that feeling, and part of me feels that I failed as a father. Speaking of hatchlings, Klaus comes into the room with both of my children hanging on his legs as he’s trying to walk.

I run my hands down my face, trying to clear the negative thoughts. Aurora tilts her head, looking at me, picking up on my emotions, and I force a smile to try and ease her mind. Her happiness is what’s more important than the turmoil swirling in my mind. That poor woman has dealt with so much in her short life span; I don’t know how she’s kept it together. Females are revered in our culture because they are so rare. Yet, she’s been hunted, poisoned twice and still remains standing. It’s a testament to how powerful her bloodline is and her resolve to win. Most females would have buckled, bent to the will of others, and gave in under pressure. The six of us are truly blessed to have her as our mate.

Aurora decides to do one more song and switches it up a little bit. This is a song I definitely recognize from having heard her play it a few times already. It’s her favorite song fromIn This Moment; the title is “The In-Between.” The lyrics are very fitting, especially for her. The looks of an angel and the rage of the devil itself reside within her form. I guess you could say she is the embodiment of being in between. Not completely Lycan, not completely dragon; to me, the perfect mix of the two. She’salways at war with herself, though, not as bad as it was before. Instinct versus logic seems to be her biggest fight these days. The beast within wants to destroy, the human side tries to find a decent middle ground.

The tones that Aurora hits as she sings this song make my scales stand on edge. The raw, unadulterated power that comes off of her brings me to my knees. I watch my daughter, Tia, start to mimic her mother’s moves. Halfway through the song, Tia is standing in front of Aurora with her back to her mother and mirroring every movement. Lord help the man that ends up with my daughter. He’s going to end up with a mini Aurora with a full-blown dragon form. Hell on Earth? It’s possible, but I’m going to do everything I possibly can to prevent it.

The song ends, and the crowd outside erupts in applause. Aurora smiles and lightly bows to the crowd gathered outside through her window. It’s now that Klaus suggests the wolves go for a run and stretch out their tight muscles. Aurora, Klaus, Dominik, and Jayce all head to the back door, shift, and disappear into the woods within a heartbeat. The three of us that remain look at each other then head off to handle our respective duties now that we’ve returned.

CHAPTER 129

Dimitri

My bear is drivingme up the wall. He wants me to follow Aurora into the woods during her hunt. My other instinct is to provide a safe nest for her to return to.

After pacing around the house for about half an hour, I go into town. Several of the stores have reopened, and I go and investigate. The linen store is my favorite; I purchase several of the softest blankets and sheets I can find. With bags in hand, I run home and down into our private quarters. There’s a room down here that’s supposed to be for storage, but it’s currently empty.

Several text messages go off, alerting me to my other purchases being delivered. Multiple trips are made to bring my items downstairs. “Do you need help?” Arnulf asks, startling me and half scaring me to death.

Grasping my chest, I turn to face him. “Sure, there’s still boxes outside.” I motion towards the front of the house.

“Okay, on it.” Arnulf takes off, leaving me to ponder how the fuck he managed to sneak up on me.

Back in the room, I start ripping open the boxes and pulling out pillows. Dozens upon dozens of pillows line the one side of the room. Arnulf finds me in the middle of a sea of pillowsand starts laughing. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were building a nest.” He sets the boxes down just inside the door. The look on my face must have spoken volumes to him. He immediately stops laughing and starts opening boxes to help.

We work in silence for hours, using the sheets to hold groups of pillows together. Carefully, we set it up in the corner then used the rest of the sheets to make a “den.” The super-soft blankets go over the top of the pillow nest to make it extra soft. While I put the final touches on the nest, Arnulf installs the lock on the door.

Soft twinkle lights and a natural sounds radio are installed easily. Arnulf claps me on the back and smiles. “This is a nest any female would be proud to use.” Nodding slowly, I usher him out of the room and lock it behind us.

“You really think so?” Sighing softly, I head over to the sitting area and flop into a chair. “I’ve never had the urge to build a den before. It’s so important and scary at the same time.” Roughly, I run my fingers through my hair before leaning against the back of the couch.

“At least with your species your worth isn’t determined by the nest you build,” Arnulf says and sighs, looking down and away.

“I’ve built grand nests, and none were ever chosen.” Arnulf shrugs, then looks back to me, his eyes the gold hue of his eagle. “I guess fate had other plans for me,” he says smiling, his joy so very obvious.

“With bears, only the strongest boars were ever chosen to be mates.” I look down, rubbing the cut on my thumb that Irena and I made. “I was chosen, but it never felt right. I did my male duty.”

I look away and exhale deeply. “When I was chosen to serve at the queen’s side, I went without question. I didn’t know Irena was with cub.” Roughly, I slam my fist on the arm of the couch. “Duty will not pull me from my cub again.”

“Settle down, big guy, this time is different.” Arnulf smiles and shakes his head.

“You are mated to the queen. On top of that, the biggest threat to us has been destroyed.” Arnulf gets up, walks over to the bar, and pours us both a bourbon on the rocks. He comes back over and offers me the glass.

As I take the glass from him Tia and Ladon come barreling into the room. Ladon is carrying his wooden sword that the blacksmith made for him. Tia is in her favorite pink dress and dragging her favorite doll behind her. I open my arms, and Tia runs and jumps to me quickly. She nuzzles my neck and jaw, her little dragoness purring up a storm. My arms band tightly around her little body as my bear rumbles to her. Deep in my heart, I cannot wait to hold my own cub like this. “Papa Bear?” Tia says softly.

“Yes, little one?” I lean back and sit her on my thigh. Carefully, I sip at my bourbon and wait for her question.

“Can you teach me how to fish? Momma says you’re the best fisherman in the family.” Tia’s pale-grey eyes shift to that of her dragoness as she studies me.

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