Page 81 of The Aurora Marelup Complete Saga Omnibus

Nicodeamus begins to pace, then stops suddenly. “Yes, high up in a mountain range not far from here. Alaric can fly there and make sure it’s safe. When the time comes, we can take you there.” Nicodeamus smiles broadly. I swear he looks like a deranged serial killer at times.

“Let’s go under cover of night. I want to make sure that Aurora has a safe place to go when it’s time.” I move to Aurora’s side and kiss her temple. I close my eyes as I breathe in her scent. I will do everything within my power to protect her and provide for her. If it means I have to spend the next few weeks searching the mountain ranges for a cavern for her, I will.

Nicodeamus and I move swiftly through the castle, heading towards the gardens, I motion to four of my closest friends. Two I put on Aurora duty, which they cringe over. Well, there are two reasons for that. First, she hates having guards escort her everywhere. The second, she threatened to hang them by their testicles if they try to get too close. My other two friends leave with Nicodeamus and me.

We fly for about forty-five minutes before Nicodeamus starts telling me where to head towards. On one of the tallest peaks, there is a cavern on a cliff face in the most dangerous mountain range. I bank and fly past it three times before I decide I can fit. On my final approach, I tuck my wings in and land in the mouth of the cavern. I guess it’s an advantage not being an overly huge dragon species. Carefully, I lie down and allow Nicodeamus to slide off before I shift back to my human form. Nicodeamus hands me clothing, and I dress before we go exploring.

Talon marks line the walls of the cavern as we move deeper into its depths. Eventually, we come to a large opening where stalactites and stalagmites line the room’s outer edge. In the center of the room, a hot spring has created a pool, as well as an island in the middle.

“It’s been almost eight hundred years since I was last here,” Nicodeamus says as he moves around the room. He bends over slowly and picks up a fragment of an eggshell. Nicodeamus moves the piece of white shell around in his hand before handing it to me. “I was born here; my mother laid my egg instead of carrying me as a human. She felt she could protect me better as her dragoness than a weak human.” Nicodeamus sighs and looks to the island, then back over to me.

“I wish Aurora had a dragon form. I’m so scared for my daughter it’s not funny. I saw what was left of her mother, and I honestly don’t think I can survive that again.” Nicodeamus’s voice breaks raw with emotion. Tears roll freely down his cheek as he looks to me. I didn’t know fear till now. I’m blubbering right along with him.

My heart breaks for Nicodeamus, especially after the story Dimitri told. I’m scared of watching Aurora being ripped apart by my daughter. My chest tightens with fear. I look back over the water, trying to compose myself. I draw in a deep breath, then turn around to Nicodeamus. “I’m sure Aurora will love ithere, especially since you were born here.” I briefly embrace Nicodeamus, then smile. “Let’s head back before she starts to worry. I’ll bring a couple of the guys here tomorrow night, and we’ll work on setting it up for her.” Nicodeamus nods and follows me to the entrance. I strip out of my clothing and put it back in the sack Nicodeamus was carrying for me. Quickly, I shift back to my dragon and lay down for him. He climbs back on and gets settled on my back.

I leap out of the cavern and go into free fall for a few moments before deciding to open my wings. We glide silently, just over the treetops, trying to remain out of sight if anyone is looking for my dragon. As we approach the mountain the castle is on, I decide to do laps around it, changing direction several times before landing. I can’t be too cautious these days. The courtyard is vacant and silent. I’m concerned, so I refuse to lower myself to the ground.

One of my guards send a plume of acid towards the corner of the courtyard. Screams erupt as a Lycan comes out of the corner, its flesh melting away from its skeleton. As a precaution, I breathe fire, lighting up the entire courtyard. No other intruders are present, other than the remains of the fifteen that were in the corner. I send out a small force of Black Dragons to scour the mountain and burn anything that moves to a puddle of flesh.

My guards land near me, watching my back during the vulnerable mid-shift time. I lie down and allow Nicodeamus to slide off my back. I shift back to my human form and slip on my clothes that Nicodeamus hands me. Once dressed, Nicodeamus moves off with my guards to investigate the bodies. My concern right now is that Aurora is in danger. I race through the halls and into the joint suites. Jayce meets me at the door and raises his finger to his lips, signaling for silence.

I follow Jayce into the room, and there’s Aurora, asleep, cradled in Dimitri’s arms. Dimitri looks at me and mouthshelpmeand then looks down at Aurora. At least lately, she’s been allowing us to sleep as humans with her. I approach slowly and nuzzle Aurora’s cheek and let my dragon rumble to her. Almost instantly, she curls towards the sound and rolls right into my arms. Ever so carefully, I stand with my beautiful mate in my arms, I listen carefully, and I hear her beast rumbling back at mine. I walk slowly and carefully, heading to the massive bed we all have been sharing lately.

Ever so gently, I lay Aurora on the bed and tuck her in tightly. I feel like I’m defusing a nuclear bomb with every movement I make as I step away from the bed. Now, it is time for our nightly ritual: the rock, paper, scissors tournament for sleeping position. Dimitri and Dominik are out since last night they won. I look between Jayce and Klaus; we nod that we are ready and Dimitri starts the competition.

“One, two, three, shoot!” Dimitri says, and we each pick an object. My dumbass chose paper, of all freaking things. Klaus and Jayce picked scissors, an automatic win for both of them. They smile and high-five each other. Deep down, I think they ganged up on me. I laugh and motion to the bed, and they assume the positions closest to Aurora. Dimitri chooses the foot of the bed. I lie above where Aurora is, and Dominik takes first watch.

There have been too many attempts to let our guard down now. In four hours, Dominik will switch out with one of us, then the next swap will be four hours after that. The only two to get a full night’s sleep are the ones sleeping next to our beautiful mate.

This next month coming up is going to be hell. Between having to sneak out to work on the cavern, pretending to make preparations here, and keeping Aurora fed is becoming a challenge. Oddly, cooked food is making her sick, but raw food she can stomach. I know they say each pregnancy is different. I hope the next four are easier on all of us.

CHAPTER 68

Dominik

February-

We’re in the home stretch, and I feel as though we are walking on eggshells lately. Aurora is miserable; her poor body aches, and her breasts have started to leak on occasion. Her sexual appetite has calmed down some to where it’s manageable. The days of teaming up with my brother are over for now. Thankfully, we are not fucking to the point of exhaustion anymore. Now, Aurora wants it slow, sweet, and gentle, Honestly, it’s because she’s afraid the baby will be born with a dick imprint on its forehead.

We all attempted and failed miserably at trying to keep a serious face when she said that to us over dinner. Poor Nicodeamus needed the Heimlich maneuver because he decided to literally inhale his chicken wing. The rest of us have gotten smart. We don’t eat or drink when Aurora is talking at the dinner table. I can say, without a doubt, you never know what’s going to come out of that girl’s mouth.

In theory, today is going to be an easy day. Jayce and I have Aurora floating around in her oversized bathtub to ease some of her discomfort. My brother and I take turns holding her head above water as we walk backward around the tub. Hell,this thing shouldn’t be called a tub. It’s a fucking small pool. It’s gotten quite interesting to watch the odd shapes Aurora’s stomach takes on when the baby moves. The freakiest thing to date was the hand. I say the hand because out of nowhere, the baby pressed her hand to Aurora’s stomach, and the outline was perfect.

We all stared in wonder as that little hand slid around the one side. Klaus decided to reach out and touch it, and immediately the hand disappeared. The next thing we know, there’s a little foot there instead. Nicodeamus and Dimitri sat there telling us stories about what Aurora was like when Anca was pregnant. I’m glad Aurora isn’t going through half of what her mother did.

Dimitri regaled us with stories about how constantly nauseous Aurora’s mother was during her pregnancy. There were days on end that she couldn’t keep any food down, which made her very angry for a she-wolf. Nicodemus told us about how he would hunt for her to bring her back fresh meat, but she wouldn’t touch the raw food because of the way she was raised. Aurora sat there rolling her eyes because the raw food doesn’t faze her one bit. To be perfectly honest, she prefers to hunt and eat her food as her animal versus as a human.

Aurora comes over and sits on my lap, curls up, and presses her forehead to my throat. She stays snuggled like this for several minutes, and eventually her breathing evens out and she’s fast asleep. We’ve all noticed that she’s napping more often and for longer over the course of the day. We know it’s getting close to time for her, and we’re doing everything within our power to keep her happy and healthy. Klaus’s grandmother has been on high alert, preparing everything that she feels she may need to deliver the baby. Little does she know, she’s going to be riding a dragon, probably in the middle of the night, to a destination we’re not telling her about.

We’re keeping everything very quiet about our plans for the swift departure when we know it’s time. Just recently, there was another attempt on Aurora’s life in the middle of the night. I’m very thankful that my brother, Jayce had decided to remain as his wolf that night. With his heightened senses and not needing to sleep, Jayce was vigilant throughout the entire night. Somewhere around one in the morning, someone entered our quarters through a hidden passageway that we were not aware of. The assassin did not know Aurora would have all of her mates with her. He didn’t even make it ten feet out of the passageway before Jayce was on him and ripped his head off instantly.

Jayce was so stealthy that night we didn’t even hear the body hit the floor, nor was there any evidence of the attack the next morning. He pulled us aside and told us what happened so that we didn’t concern Aurora with it. We’ve gotten rather sneaky in the last three months, things that would stress her out, she has no clue happened. Alaric, Klaus, and Nicodemus have been running the kingdom for her. We’ve hosted several dinners with visiting dignitaries. Still, at the slightest notion she was getting tired we would give Aurora an excuse to leave the room. So far, the kingdom is unaware Aurora is unable to shift. We fully intend to keep it that way, especially for her and the baby’s safety.

I feel the baby moving within my mate’s womb, up against my stomach. The baby does unfortunately seem to prefer her father over the rest of us. I’m guessing it’s a dragon thing. Hopefully, it’ll work out differently for Aurora than it did for her mother. She has the advantage that her mate will be present for the birth. There’s also a lot of things different between Aurora’s birth and now her baby’s. Firstly, Aurora is half-dragon, so her body is already acclimated to the child she’s carrying. It wasn’t like her mother, whose body was hosting a tiny alien that literally burst free of her body.

Secondly, we are on her like white on rice; she doesn’t sneeze without all of us being alerted to it. From what Dimitri and Nicodemus told us, Anca’s other mates had very little to do with her during the pregnancy. They spent very little time interacting with her, and most nights she slept alone. That, by itself would cause undue stress to the mother and child.

We only have maybe a week, possibly two at most before the new little princess is born. I’m kind of frightened right now. Let’s face it, I’ve never witnessed a birth, nor have I ever had the title of father. Genetically we know the child isn’t ours, but it’s Aurora’s and Alaric’s. As a group, every child is all of ours; paternity doesn’t matter. I motion to Alaric to come over and take our beautiful mate from me.

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