"Where did the clothes come from?" I ask as Verando slowly adjusts into a more seated position. "What happened?"
Dabbing at his mouth with the back of his hand, he clutches the sleeping boy to his chest. "I don't know. One moment I was here, the next I was there. This is the outfit I was wearing the night before we left." He brings the shirt up to nose, sniffing it. "Not quite certain if they've been created or if they're the same ones. My body feels like it's been shredded."
I lean closer to him, checking over his eyes, searching his face. "You just got a full dose of a magical pulse. I imagine you feel pretty shitty." Touching his cheek, I brush the blood from under his nose. "He loves you so much."
Frowning, he rewards me with a patented warlord eye roll. "Splendid. I'm riddled with satisfaction. Are you alright?" Wrinkling his nose, he offers me a weak smile. "Beyond smelling like a wet dog."
I'd clip back at him if I wasn't so worried about him. Honestly, I was feeling jealous of his relationship with the young unicorn. The boy didn't know much else, Verando had taken care of them almost exclusively save for Legardo and Stefan. Often times, I felt like most of what I did was yell at him for his misunderstanding of magic. In fact, I was thinking of the scolding as we spoke about using his magic on his father. But, it was becoming more clear that this method wasn't working.
I couldn't raise him as my father raised me, I had to teach him how to use his magic. "I'm not a good father." I mumble, falling back to sit on my hip only to jump back up at the ground on my naked form. Verando looks like he wishes to laugh though concern rests on his brow with my statement. "He hardly knows who I am."
"He's not very complex, love. You also haven't spent much time around children, you'll get the hang of it." Flinching, he carefully stands, shifting Darrius as he slides his shirt up and over his head. "It's not pants but.." He knew how I felt about my chest. I pull the shirt on, thankful that it's length covered most of everything though it did remind me to much of a dress.
Glancing towards Helen, I purse my lips. "Perhaps the woman with breasts should be wearing a shirt?"
Helen had already shifted back, trekking towards us with her head low, nearly crawling in her shame. "I'm fine like this, I'm not ready to go back-"
"Darrius! Gods, Darrius!" Tyler comes crashing through the wreckage of trees and brush. Randy and Cas following close behind him. Sighing in relief when he sees us, he nearly drops to his knees if he wasn't so full of adrenaline. "You people sure do know how to cause a damned mess." Trembling, he rushes towards us to take in my scuffed and battered body coupled with the blood smears on Verando's stubble. "I don't even know where to start."
"Darrius is quite familiar with me, it would seem he knows where to find me. I didn't think he would.... appear.. here. He's not supposed to be in until tomorrow." Verando shifts the boy to his hip uncomfortably and I hold out my arms.
"Please?" I beg. He willingly hands the child over and I hold him so tightly as his clammy face nuzzles into my neck.
Helen averts her eyes, Tyler shifts awkwardly, only just noticing her. "Did you come out here to fight with Verando? After we talked about this? After we decided that it was not the time?"
"You're not my father, stop acting like one." She snaps back, cold.
"Tyler filled me in... on Helen's theory. If Malka is a fracture of my grandfather, then it is the truth that you must have all of the white spirit before completing the cycle." Randy interjects, crossing his arms over his chest as it would seem the scene made the entirety of us uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if that means taking her life but I'm also not sure what that means for you." Glancing up at the older version of himself, he frowns.
"Who will we become? What if father was right and this-" Gesturing to all of us makes him deepen his concern, "This is some echo of what you 'should' be. Father always said we weren't to his design, are you prepared to risk this? If completing the cycle changes us?"
Verando changing wasn't something I had considered, though frankly, I'd not given much thought to him completing anything. It had seemed secondary to every other hellish point of our lives and I'd been consumed with attempting to get the youths back to their own time. But, thinking on it now, it would come up in very short order that we would have to make a decision on what to do with Fenrir.
"Killing Helen is not an option." Tyler's voice is stern, almost raspy with it's emotion.
"Nobody is killing Helen." Verando snaps, giving the white wolf a sharp look that makes her take a step back. It's not submission that subdues her but the shame and regret of hurting someone in her family. "It's honorable that you would sacrifice your life. It would appear you really have learned something, going for Nic was good battle tactics to provoke a fight. To bad about the water."
Cas snickers, "What? You don't bathe in the future?"
With a low growl, I scowl at the man and Darrius whimpers, cutting me off as I carefully rock him back into sleep.
"You tortured me." Verando reminds me, it wasn't something we'd gone into beyond cutting off Caspian's arm. At the retort, Cas slinks backwards much as Helen did. Shame, regret, he wraps his arms around himself with a wince.
"I'm... I'm sorry."
Blinking, I stare at him, bewildered. I wasn't expecting an apology.
"We need to have a meeting, we have to make some decisions." Verando concludes. "It's quite obvious this is not going to go away, we aren't very far from the location to open the Dragon's realm. We will send the younger versions home and then we will figure out what to do about Caspian but not a moment before. We can not keep altering the time line, we can not keep putting Darrius in this amount of stress."
Exhaling shortly, his gaze returns to me. "Triggering Darrius can't be good for him. We have to think about the after effects. I need your guidance on this."
Nodding, I press my lips to the boys hair. "It would appear altering the time line is affecting your position in the plains of time. Sending the past versions home should take the strain off."
Caspian shoulders the younger Randy, clearing his throat as he takes a slow step forward. I flash my teeth, warning him to stay back. "Randy and I have been talking. What if we came here for a reason? You obviously don't remember the past or don't want to, you need us.. I think you should make a decision about my future before you send us back. You're going to stop traveling, right? So there would be no way to have this opportunity again. If you have to kill me-"
Practically snarling himself, Verando rolls his eyes once more, tossing his hands in exasperation. "Nobody is killing anyone, for the love of the bloody gods. We're all naked for gods sakes, can we stop standing in the woods and go back? You drive a man to drink with all this nonsense." Taking a step, he stumbles, nearly collapsing as Helen rushes to help keep him upright. Cursing under his breath, he flinches once more. "Damned magic users."
Caspian fans himself dramatically. "Damn Randy... it should be a sin to be that mouth watering. Why don't you ever talk to me like that?" He elbows the youth who shakes his head in exasperation. "You get... really... good looking. I get my arm chopped off and go crazy, how the hell is that fair?"
"I'm not good looking now?" Randy mumbles, offended.
Caspian scoffs. "Not like that!"
Slumping to the ground, Verando sits with a shaky breath. I quickly move towards him but he puts his hand up to stop me. "It's not the magic I assure you.. I'm just-" Setting his jaw, he glowers at the group before looking back towards me. "I was almost pushed into the river, we are still quite close and it's just getting to me."
"A panic attack?" Helen sounds confused, flicking her eyes towards Tyler.
"It's happened before, can we just leave?"
"You're the one sitting." Caspian points out with a shrug, while my husband looks furious for a moment, it ends in a chuckle and he shudders at the relief of the tension. Smirking, the young man walks over to help him up, "Lean on me you lumbering bastard. I'm just slightly taller than your boyfriend over there."
"We're literally the same height." I snap. "And I'm his husband. Not his boyfriend, I invite you to not touch what's mine, thanks." Bewildered by the audacity, I would maul him myself if I wasn't holding Darrius.
Calming me with a glance, Verando declines the offer, opting to use Helen for support instead. "One of you owes me something freshly killed, argue among yourselves who that will be."
Randy pales and I adjust my hold on the toddler. "Freshly killed animal. Not people." I correct as we begin the short trek back towards the house. Darrius is surprisingly heavy, even with my lycan strength, it impresses me how much I feel his weight given that he's just a young boy.
Caspian gives one more appreciative sigh, the amount of violence it insights in me presses me to give my husband a firm smack on the ass to claim him as my own. Embarrassing Helen and Tyler while earning a murderous glower, I smile sweetly and keep pace with the gray haired man.
Given Tyler's entrance, I could only assume that she had spoken to him before coming to hunt for us, given the circumstances I'm not sure I could blame her for seeking us out to assure her death. It seemed to be a genetic trait though Legardo seemed quite sure of himself and his lot in life, Tonic had also struggled with coping with morals and dealing with the weight of doing the right thing.
Helen was braver than I gave her credit for, she'd come to us ready to die today, though even in that thought, she didn't want to leave this world with us hating her. It would of been a clean break, death by Malka, I'd admit that I was impressed by that much as I hated her for trying to force my husband's hand.
"I'm sorry, Papa." She mumbles, bumping him with her head as he hangs his arm over her shoulders.
"I know you are." It's acceptance, allowing her the dignity of not being scolded. "I might have tried to do the same thing if I didn't think Nic would chase right behind me to the gates of hell."
We enter the porch, I flinch at the door blown off the hinges, the obvious wreckage of a toddler gone rogue. Frowning, I turn my attention to the youthful Randy. "He thought you were his daddy."
Randy nods. "He wasn't thrilled when he realized I wasn't."
I could imagine that. Taking the young boy back to our room, I lay him in the bed, not bothering to honor the stares that I was only in my husband's shirt and covered in mud. Taking the shirt off, much as it was no longer clean, I lay it beside him and carefully brush his hair. "It's going to be alright, Darrius. We're going to figure this out." My voice is soft, softer than I had imagined it would be.
Staring at the roman nose that resembled my own, the shape of his mouth, he looks so much like Gabriel that I wonder if this was why I'd distanced myself. Yet, the more I think about it, the more I can't allow myself that excuse. I was to invested in my own misery to think that this little boy needed me. "I'm going to be here for you. I promise." Bending to kiss his head, I brush the soft, thick, white hair once more. He snuggles into the shirt, peeking at me through one eyelash.
"Tata. I'm tired." He mumbles through a yawn.
"You used your magic today. It can make you very sleepy."
Frowning, his little lip quivers as he holds the shirt tighter. "I'm sorry Tata. I didn't mean to. It was an accident."
"It's alright, baby." What do you tell a child? Do I tell him that there were no casualties? That damage was extensive but not in any area of consequence? Do I reprimand him for his tantrum? "I'm glad you're ok." It comes out easier than anything else.
Blinking away the uncertainty, he shuts his dark eyes, holding the fabric to his cheek. "Don't go."
"I've got to talk to your Daddy and aunt Helen. But I will be right down the hall."
"Promise?"
Taking a slow breath, I tell him to wait as I quickly skirt out of the room and return with my phone, despite the horrified gasps from Tyler's mother that I was now completely naked. I couldn't be bothered, my child needed me. Placing the phone beside him, I show him the buttons. "Press this button and it will call your Daddy. We are just down the hall."
Gathering the phone in his shirt, he nods as I kiss him once more before slipping into the bathroom to wash the mud off my body. Verando appears, clothes in his hands as he rests them on the counter, staring at his reflection with a pensive expression. I peer at him around the shower curtain, "Are you alright?"
"I'm a damned coward. But, I couldn't allow you to keep showing your goods to the entire extended family. I had to make sure you had clothes, by popular request. Much as I do love to watch you run in the buff."
"Don't you dare. You've got trauma, Randy. I was fine, it was all fine."
Not convinced, he swallows back the obvious ache in his body. I'd been hit with a charge before, I knew the effect it could have on the body. "Darrius is not going to let us leave him here while we go searching in the desert for the dragon realm. If I freeze up like that again-" Cursing, he moves to slam his fist but stops himself in fear of waking up the small boy.
Finishing scrubbing myself, I grab a wash cloth, lathering it as I step out of the shower and approach him to press the cloth to his chest. His body is hard, tight, a slight tremble rushes through him at the feeling of the wetness from the cloth. I leave damp footprints, my hair still dripping, my body still saturated. "You are allowed to have your limits."
Gripping my wrist, his jaw is tight as he stares down at me with a conflicted grimace. "If anything had happened to you-"
I press my wet, naked body to his, kissing the back of his knuckles where he grips my wrist. "I'm not nearly as breakable now, I can handle myself. If anything had happened, it would not of been your fault."
Shutting his eyes, we collectively wait for his heart rate to go down before he carefully releases my wrist, allowing me to touch him with the cloth. I work small circles into his chest, cleaning off some of the grit. "You've never been breakable, love. Trust me, I was much more worried about Helen. You are quite the formidable force." Kneeling before me, he takes in the wound on my calf with a small smile.
"Like what you see?" I waggle my hips, attempting to pull him out of his own darkness.
Kissing my thigh, he trails his fingers carefully over my calf. "We match." He remarks, commenting on the leg I had gained my bite mark on. In a quick motion, he unseats me from my feet, I'm nearly sent careening for the floor before he grips my wrists, holding me pressed to his body before slipping me down until my back rests on the cool tiles.
"Mr.Mercer." I gasp, shivering against the chill.
Shouldering my heel, he examines the wound on my leg, carefully dragging his tongue over one of the bite marks. "Perhaps I'll just eat you instead."
Wide eyed, I stare at him from my position on my back, flushing at the sultry nature of his tone. The warm tongue traces up the wounds, healing them with each pass. His eyes never leave mine, in such an intimate display of affection I find my breath catching in my throat as he slides up my body to hover over me. "I mean, they already consider us heathens." My voice is breathless, afraid to speak to loudly with Darrius sleeping in the next room.
He grazes his lips over mine, parted, tempting me as I drag my thigh between his legs. "Rightly so. You are rather delicious, I must say. Want a taste?" Kissing me, I shiver at the taboo nature of it, knotting my hands in his hair, my blood fresh on his tongue.
"You're a sinful man, Mr.Mercer."
Breaking the kiss, I sink my teeth into the base of his neck, gripping his hair tightly to hold him in place as I draw blood from the bite mark. The airy gasp I'm rewarded with practically makes me chuckle as he curses under his breath, running my tongue over the injury, it was an interesting experience to taste his blood. Iron but somehow sweet, a flavor uniquely his but that matched the intoxication of his scent.
"You don't know what that does to me, love." The tone of his voice nearly sends me over the edge. Deep, rumbling, full of desire for me.
I cock an eyebrow, wetting my lips as I meet his gaze. "I don't know, I think I have an idea." Brushing his erection with my thigh, I grin at the low growl I'm rewarded with. "I forget how rough you like it."
Tilting his head, he exhales slowly and I know I've lost him. "They're looking for us."
"Isn't everyone?"
Kissing my forehead, he brushes his nose against mine in an affectionate nuzzle. "Thank you for saving me from myself. I love you, truly and deeply."
"I know a few ways you can thank me?" I offer hopefully, pleading with my eyes, exposing my neck to him to tempt him.
While he seems to consider my offer, I know better than to get my hopes up. Lowering his head, he presses a kiss to the corner of my jaw, resting his weight on my body as much as he dared to. It's a form of pressing, grounding himself to me, getting that last ounce of comfort. "To be continued, darling."