Page 192 of The Aurora Marelup Complete Saga Omnibus

Slowly, Marco lowers me back to the ground, and I walk to stand in front of him. Gently, I place my hands on his great maw to stroke his heavily armored scales. “It’s time to head off to the Winter Palace. I want you to wait to land last.” Ever so slightly, I feel his head nod before I release him and set off on my next task.

I look over at Dante and Edgar and nod my head to them, signaling for them to take to the skies. They start circling the castle courtyard, waiting for the other dragons to launch. I signal the four Gold Dragons that will be escorting us to take off as well. Alaric already had the contingent of four additional War Dragons for this flight waiting for the rest of us to launch. The last two to launch would be Alaric and Marco.

I move swiftly over to Alaric’s side and scurry my way up onto his back and then walk up to his crown of horns. I motion to Marco for him to launch next. As soon as he’s airborne, Alaric and I follow. The War Dragons fly in formation around my father, Alaric, and Marco. We fly slowly over various mountainranges and hidden lakes and streams and en route to Siberia’s Winter Palace.

We skirt China’s edge, knowing full well that the Chinese Dragons don’t always appreciate other dragons in their airspace. A decisive move made by Alaric and my father, we head up into mother Russia, where the Ice and Gold Dragons thrive. We remain high enough in the air that it allows us to be able to circle over the Kremlin. It’s such a beautiful palace, ornate and decorative, yet has such a foreboding history. We head further into Russia’s airspace, heading towards Siberia.

We go past Chernobyl and the abandoned towns around it. At the height that we’re flying, we are in no danger of any radiation harming us. It’s just amazing to see what’s left of that part of history. We take the time to explain to Tia and Ladon what had happened in this once-thriving mecca. Both children listen intently as we relay the history of the area to them. Ladon has millions of questions that we keep trying to answer for him before he fires off his next question.

After answering my son’s fifty million questions, he finally lays down to take a nap. I’m not sure which one of us is more thankful to stop talking, myself or my mate. But we are quite overjoyed at the silence we are now experiencing. On the other hand, Tia is standing up, holding on to her father’s horns, looking at the winter wonderland around us. Spring has not yet touched this part of Siberia, and it’s a huge blanket of snow.

We spot in the distance a herd of oxen and yak moving through the tundra in single line formation. I know the dragons that are currently carrying everyone must be hungry from the long flight. I reach out through the bond and advise those that are carrying the family to land. We land far enough away from the herd, and I spread out a blanket to sit all the children on. Thankfully, it’s a very thick wool blanket with a fur backing, so I snuggle all the little ones into the middle.

Once I’m sure the little ones are snuggled, I throw an extra blanket over the top of my five children. I have Jayce and Dominik shift and curl their wolven forms around the blankets. Myself, Klaus, and Dimitri shift and take on the form of our beasts. Arnulf, who’s not built for this weather, climbs into the blankets with the babies to keep them safe. It’s time to hunt.

The dragons take to the sky and one by one start to pick off oxen and yaks for themselves to eat. In the process of them culling the herd, they drive the rest of them towards us. In the interest of protecting the children, I have Dimitri and his Great Bear stand guard by them. Klaus and I split up and start stalking one large oxen in particular.

You can tell this mammoth beast has escaped being hunted numerous times. Claw marks from what I assume to be Polar Bears mark this ancient warrior’s back and shoulder. Today is not his lucky day. Klaus and I are quick and light on our feet as we separate him from the rest of his herd. He makes the mistake of focusing on Klaus since he’s the one able to be seen easily. I launch myself from out of nowhere and land on the beast’s back. I sink my talons in deeply and start to bite at the back of his neck.

The oxen starts to buck and spin, throwing his weight around, still trying to keep Klaus in his line of sight. Blood sprays everywhere, painting the snow and my fur vermilion. My adrenaline’s pumping, and my heart thunders in my chest as I hold on for the wildest ride of my life. Surprisingly he throws himself on his side, trying to dislodge me. Little does he know that gives me the advantage. He’s semi stuck on his side and slightly weakened from the blood loss.

I take advantage of his miscalculation and lunge, sinking my talons through his thick fur and into his flesh. I have never met an animal with such a thick hide on it before. It takes some effort to slice through till I hear the gasp from its trachea. I keep telling myself a little further, a little harder, a little deeper as I pushmy talons in. Eventually, I throw myself from his body, and he stands up and wobbles. Blood is pumping out with every beat of his heart, staining the snow at his feet.

One last great huff of breath escapes the hole in his throat before he falls to the ground. He huffs several more times before he expires and lays down dead in the snow. Klaus and I make short work of breaking up his body to drag it back to the children. We quarter it and sink our talons into the hunks of meat. We return to the babies and call them out so that they can eat. Dimitri wanders off and starts to bite into the carcass to drag it back to us. Thankfully, before he’s even halfway back, Alaric lands and takes the oxen in his mouth and carries it back over to us, making Dimitri’s job that much easier.

The babies eat their fill, while Arnulf eats snacks out of his bag. It would not be wise for him to shift in this weather because he may just freeze to death. When we are sure that everyone has eaten sufficiently, we pack everyone back up onto their dragons and take off again. It’s not much further to the Winter Palace. It takes us only maybe another thirty minutes in the air to get there.

Upon arrival, one of the duke’s that are good friends with Alaric is waiting in the courtyard for us. As everyone shifts, he passes out robes for us to wear. “Greetings and salutations to my King and Queen,” he says, then bows deeply. He stands back up and offers us warm beverages that one of his assistants was holding for us. I take the offered beverage and sniff at it several times before deeming it safe to drink. He looks at me oddly, not used to the fact that I just don’t trust.

“Please follow me. I will have the staff set up baths in the master suite for you to get cleaned up and rest a little bit before dinner. We will be serving caribou later tonight with several different desserts,” he states formally as he reads off the scroll that was handed to him. “If there’s anything that you wish ofus, please let someone know.” He bows again graciously before heading back into the castle. I raise an eyebrow looking at Alaric because I’m just not used to this level of formality.

He raises his shoulders and shrugs slightly, looking at me. For him, everything’s back to status quo because this was the castle that he was raised in. We enter the castle and the entryway is exactly how I remember it: beautifully polished floors, a winding staircase going up to the second floor, the study directly off to our right where the guys will have their meetings. I trail upstairs to the master suite with all five children in tow. My little hellions are still coated in blood from their meal from earlier. We definitely did get some odd looks when the children disembarked.

I guess you can say we’re not your typical royal family. I’m not stuffy, nor am I all about the pomp and circumstance. Most of my mates did not grow up royal, and neither did I. We’re back in the same master suite that we were in previously, and it’s still just as gorgeous as it was the last time. The bathtub is big enough to be a small swimming pool, and we set it up so that I can bathe the children first because it’s almost their bedtime. After their bath, we will be all set up for bed, and then the adults will be off for dinner.

CHAPTER 150

Alaric

It’s such a strange homecoming,returning to the castle of my birth. My friend, the Duke, addresses me as King even though he knows that my title is King Consort. I don’t mind the difference in titles; after all, it is just a title. I am not of royal lineage nor of noble birth. My father had stolen the mantle of king, sending Aurora’s mother to an untimely death because of his betrayal.

I watch my mate conduct herself around the others. It’s definitely a huge change for her to be acknowledged as a ruler in an actual palace that doesn’t hold bad memories. Well, not as bad of memories as the ones in her mother’s palace. She moves our children swiftly into the palace and up to our suite. The fun memories of things that have occurred here, I can only hope we get to relive some of them again.

Apparently, during my inner monologue, I lost track of where my mate currently is. I go searching around our room, trying to see exactly where she had gotten herself off to. I start to hear the splishing and splashing of the bathtub and the giggles from our children. Bath time has always been one of our family’s favorite times. Not only do the children get bathed in their human form, but they also get bathed as their animals.

To start off, Aurora has Tiamat and Ladon in the tub with her. She’s scrubbing the children’s bodies one by one, making sure that they are completely clean. Tia and Ladon’s hair is a few shades lighter than mine but still darker than their mothers. If I had to give Ladon’s hair color a name, I would say it’s a medium ash blonde, whereas Tia’s is a light ash blonde. Where Tia has curls, Ladon’s hair is straight while her eyes are grey-blue. His are a grey-green like mine.

Once their human forms are completely cleansed, Aurora has them shift to their animals. Ladon’s dragon, now about the size of a german shepard lays on the steps waiting his turn. While Tia’s dragon lazily floats around the pool, slowly wiggling her way away from her mother. Aurora giggles while chasing after Tia with the scrub brush loaded with soap. She finally gets a hold of our wayward daughter and begins to preen her scales with her talons. Aurora has a small pile of dead scales on the edge of the tub that Jayce promptly takes away.

Furiously, Tia is scrubbed and then allowed to dunk under to remove the soap from her scales. Shortly after, she trades spaces with Ladon. He just lays there and lets his mother do whatever she wants to him. I know I personally enjoy it when my scales get preened. His scales were not as bad as Tia’s since he recently had gone through a growth spurt and had all the dead ones removed. Aurora scrubs them and then dunks him under and sends him off to exit the tub with his sister.

The process is repeated a little faster with Odette and Kirra. Both little girls love bath time. Odette has honey brown hair that has a wave to it like her father’s and warm hazel eyes, also like her father’s. Whereas Kirra has the same ringlets that Tia has, and her hair is a light brown with a few streaks of white similar to her mother’s hair color. Both little girls enjoy their tub time and get bathed as humans and as their animals. Once they’redone being washed, their animals climb their ways out of the tub and go to sit by the hearth to dry off.

The last one is always the most skittish, poor little Luna. For this, Jayce strips and gets into the tub with Aurora and Luna. While one parent holds the child, the other one washes. The poor little girl is so frightened. It must be tough being an Omega, always afraid of something happening, always concerned that things aren’t just so. Aurora must be noticing my thought process, and she growls lowly at me. Through the bond, she tells me that the way I’m staring must make Luna uncomfortable. I walk away slowly and return to the main part of the castle finding Nicodeamus and his mate sitting at the table already beginning their dinner.

I take a seat not far for them, and the young man comes out and takes my order. “So, Father?” I say softly to Nicodeamus. “Anything you notice that may be slightly off here?” I ask in a low enough tone not to alert anyone else to where my thought process is going. He looks around and then back at me.

“No, not yet. Then again, we also just arrived,” he says low.

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