Page 14 of Ember's Dragon
Ciris pulled me back from the bed, making the three of us stand against the wall. “Sit,” Ciris ordered, pushing me down on one of the sitting chairs. I did, not trusting myself to remain standing for long. I was both exhausted and filled with adrenaline, wanting to kill Vrenus for doing this to my omega. I was also angry at myself for letting this happen.
“What happened?” Midos finally asked, and I sighed.
“I heard a dragon roar in the hallway to the hot springs. I’d left Ember there to go and grab candles. No, actually I heard a man whimper in pain before the roar, so Ember must’ve fought him. I shifted in the hall, only making it into the room as Ember was tossed into the stone wall, passing out on the spot. I attacked Vrenus and then grabbed Ember and ran here. I have no idea what happened.”
Reinos came back, Herrold in tow, and made his way over to us, grabbing chairs for each of them. It was clear they were staying with me until Ember woke and I was glad for that.
“Vrenus will stay in chains until Ember is healed enough to tell us everything,” Ciris growled, staring at my omega with guilt. Vrenus was hired by him over one hundred years ago.
I just nodded and wished for Ember to wake up soon. I had so much I needed to apologize for and I doubted I’d be able to leave his side any time soon.
Chapter Twelve
Ember
Why did I feel like death? I blinked my eyes open to find two strangers looking me over, a female and male omega, both using some kind of power on me. I yelped and found myself on the floor, my tiny body aching at the impact.
“Ember!” River gasped and immediately I felt better knowing my alpha was there.
I whined, the sound weird coming from my phoenix form. Strong arms came around me, followed by soothing pheromones and then I was all mellow in his arms. “Thank you,” I whispered, feeling so drained I could easily nap in his arms.
“My omega,” River whispered, sounding off. Like he was holding back tears. I searched his emotions, the worry and guilt almost suffocating. Why was he so guilt-ridden? He hadn’t done anything to me.
“We need to keep healing him,” the female omega said, her tone urgent.
River then placed me back on the bed, ignoring my protest. I didn’t want to leave his arms. I knew no one in the room other than my alpha and had been attacked by someone I still had no idea who was. “I’ll be right here,” my alpha promised, standing by my head as the omegas continued to work.
I was being healed. I couldn’t believe it. My parents never had the money for getting us healed whenever we broke something, they just did their best themselves. My younger brother Junipe was stuck with two crooked toes because of it.
Closing my eyes, I decided to trust in these people and hopefully I’d feel better when I woke up again.
My alpha’s scent was around me, lulling me into a deep sated sleep and I truly didn’t want to wake up from the amazing rest I was getting. The thing that finally made me wake, was when River softly asked me to shift. Something about the healers needing to heal both of my forms. I would do anything for my alpha, so I shifted, hearing their startled gasps, but I drowned all of that out, still content to just lay there.
Pain erupted suddenly, and I gasped, my eyes flying open and my hand reaching for my neck. It suddenly felt hard to breathe, like air wasn’t going in properly.
Glowing light filled the room and the pain subsided. My gaze landed on the female omega as she held one hand on my neck and the other on my shoulder, her eyes closed shut, a deep furrow between her brows as she worked.
“We need to heal his back too,” the male omega murmured, and I moved my gaze to him next. His eyes were closed as well and somehow their frowning expressions told me that things with me had to be bad.
“We need to stop the swelling around the neck first,” the female said, her tone a tad authoritative, like she was the main healer here.
A pained whimper came from behind me, and I knew without looking that my alpha stood there, watching how they healed my body. I knew the alpha who attacked me had been strong. I also knew he’d tried to strangle me. I just had no idea my human form was this badly wounded as well.
“I’ll kill him for this,” River growled, his tone low.
“Not until we know why he did it,” a voice said, also coming from behind me. His tone was serious and firm, clearly one of River’s older brothers, perhaps even the king.
“Ciris is right,” another voice spoke. “We need to know what exactly happened and then he can receive his punishment.”
“I already know he’s going to die,” River said, his tone serious. “I don’t need his reasons for attacking my omega.”
“But we do,” Ciris said, and just knowing I was lying there, bruised as hell and in nothing but a robe, had me internally panicking. This was the first time my alpha’s family saw me. I didn’t want them to see me as weak. But I was. At least clothes shifted with us so I wasn’t completely nude. I’d failed to stay conscious, hell, I didn’t even know what had happened to the alpha who attacked me, all I knew was that something was coming towards us before I was slammed into the stone wall.
“Who?” I rasped, finding it hard to speak.
River knew what I was asking and thankfully answered immediately. “Vrenus attacked you. He’s a dragon alpha and one of the royal advisors.” Before I could reply with another question, River spoke to the female healer. “Penelope, should he talk, or is it best we wait until after his healing is done?”
“He can speak,” she replied. “The swelling is gone and all that’s left is some strain on his vocal cords. They will be back to normal in a few hours.”
