Page 76 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
Finn
Iwas chattingwith Adrian when a tiny dragon came soaring into the living room.
“Taryn!” Adrian called out, his voice reprimanding. Even for children, it was bad manners to shift indoors. Adrian turned to me. “I thought he was with Ryan?”
“He was...” My eyes followed the small dragon until he flew right into his daddy's arms and changed back there.
“Daddy!” The kid seemed frightened, eyes wide open. “Come quick!”
“Shhh, calm down.” Adrian stroked his son’s hair. “What's wrong?”
“Ryan's lying on the floor.”
What? I stared at Taryn. “What do you mean?”
Taryn simply looked at me as if he didn't know what to say. I didn't wait for him to come up with something. Instead I rushed down to the basement, hoping that the kid was making things up or getting scared for no reason. Kids did that, right?
But Ryan wouldn't have let him fly back into the dining room by himself.
When I reached our practice room, the other twin was still there--kneeling on the floor next to Ryan's still form.
“What's wrong with him?” Eric asked, staring at me.
If only I knew.
I opened my mouth to say something, but didn't know what. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an ice cold hand as I sat next to the man I loved and pulled him into my arms and against my chest. “Ryan. Can you hear me? Please wake up!”
Nothing happened. Ryan was warm and he was breathing peacefully, but he wasn't responding.
“C'mon, Ryan, don't do this to me.” Cursing myself for ever letting him out of my sight, I held him against my body and stood up, carrying him. My injured shoulder complained a bit about the weight, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I needed to get Ryan to a hospital.
Just as I turned to the door, Zed came in, a questioning look on his face. Adrian must have sent him down here.
“Shit,” my friend said, looking at me and Ryan.
“Can you help?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that Zed could make it all better. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
Zed stepped up to us and put a hand on Ryan’s forehead. “I think he’s pushed himself a bit too hard. Let me see what I can do.” After a moment, Zed's hand began to glow. Ryan moaned softly and squirmed a bit in my arms. He really didn't like magic. Knowing what he'd gone through at the hands of his ex, I couldn't blame him. What I could do was hold him tight and try to comfort him.
“Shush. You're going to be fine,” I whispered, although I had no idea if he could even hear me.
Zed withdrew his hand again after another moment, and it felt like three million stones fell off my chest as Ryan blinked his eyes open. He shot me a confused look.
“You collapsed,” I explained. “Scared the shit out of me.”
“I'm sorry.” He looked at the floor. “You can set me down.”
“What if I don't want to?” I teased him, so happy that he was talking to me again that I couldn't help it.
“I think you were probably just exhausted,” Zed said to Ryan, making both of us look at him. “But you should get yourself checked out.”
“I have check-ups every week,” Ryan said, now really struggling to get down. I let him, eventually.
“We're going tonight,” I said.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to argue, but closed it again. “Fine,” he said after a second. And then, “I didn't want to ruin your party.”
It took me a second to remember what party he was even talking about. “Don't be silly. That's my job. C'mon now, we can party again when you're healthy and the baby has been born.”
Zed laughed. “You're not going to be partying for a while after the birth.”
“Yeah? Watch us.” I hit my friend lightly over the back of his head. “Will you tell my mom where we're going?”
“I will. You two head on out.”
“Thank you.” I took Ryan's hand and led him outside with me. He looked pale, still, and I wasn't going to sleep that night before I knew that he and our child were okay.
