Page 54 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

She sliced the blade across Tex’s palm, making him hiss a little. Then she clenched his fist shut and his blood dripped onto the powdery substance in the bowl, making it crackle and sputter. She let go of his hand and he stepped back toward me. I grabbed his waist and pulled him closer to me. He held out his hand, and I licked it, stemming the bleeding and letting the taste of my mate soothe the part of me that hated to see someone I loved injured.

“You’re up, Sir,” Miranda said, not even trying to hide her snark. She was going to end up a snack in a moment, and not in a cute way. In the literal way.

Alexander’s nostrils flared in a distinctly dragonish fashion and now Judge’s body was all but shaking with restrained laughter.

He held out his hand, and Miranda grabbed it not very gently. She sliced his palm a little deeper than Tex’s and the blood flowed freely into the bowl.

“She’s pretty liberal with the knife when she’s pissed,” Judge muttered, and Miranda must have heard because she scowled and pointed the knife in his direction. I was too busy focusing on the smoke starting to curl up from the bowl to referee. So far it appeared white, but as it climbed further up, becoming a serpentine twist of smoke, the white tinged red and I let out a whooshing breath.

“It’s red,” I whispered, and Tex huffed out a relieved sigh. Up until that moment, I didn’t realize how much he wanted Alexander to be some kind of family for him, which made me feel like shit. How had I not known he wanted that connection? As the smoke whirled, it got redder and redder until it was the vivid color of blood. Alexander’s arms rippled with scales as he chased back his change.

“She’s alive,” he breathed. The pure relief on his face was for more than having a new grandson. It meant his daughter, the one that had been missing for centuries, had been alive twenty years ago when she’d given birth to a blind half-blood snake shifter.

Brody stepped forward, putting his arm on Alexander’s shoulder. Pack solidarity. It was something all shifters possessed, yearned for. Even Dragons, who were apparently the most solitary of all shifters, probably because they were also the longest lived.

Tex was shaking his head. “I didn’t think it would be possible in a billion years. It didn’t make sense. How could I be a python shifter, with a dragon shifter for a mother and still be so weak in the blood that I’m considered a half-caste?”

None of us had answers, but Miranda shrugged. “Sometimes that's just the way it happens. You have strong bloodlines, but your python was weak. If you permit me, I can search it for magical influence. Or maybe you just manifested more of your human DNA than that of your shifter traits. As much as the supernaturals of the world hate admitting it, humans aren’t any weaker than us because they don’t possess magic, or two-natures. They are just a different breed, and when it comes to bloodlines, theirs are stronger. More dominant. Even with a little human blood, there is a chance you may have ended up an everyday, average Joe.”

“Kaida’s mother was human. She is a half-blood herself,” Alexander muttered, and I froze. Alexander had never said her name before, always referring to her as ‘my daughter’. Never by her name, like it was too painful. But there was an aching hope in his eyes now that made my own sting with tears.

Alexander turned back to Miranda, bowing low to her. “Thank you, Witch Miranda. You have given me something today that I never thought I would have again.”

Miranda’s face softened as she looked down at the dark head of the Leader of the Shifters.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad it had a happy ending.” She held out the bowl that still contained a blood stained paste. “If you would permit, I’d be glad for cleansing fire to clear the energy from my scrying bowl.”

Alexander inclined his head, gently taking the bowl from her hands and sucking in a deep breath. When he exhaled, white hot fire poured from his lips, pooling in the bowl like it could catch its power and hold it. When he inhaled, the flames went with it, but the metal bowl remained red hot. Alexander held it easily, waiting for it to cool to an acceptable level before handing it back to Miranda. She gave him a tight smile as she tucked it back into her tote. “My work is done here. An honor, Your Eminence.”

Alexander smirked. “You may call me Alexander.”

Miranda raised her brows and nodded. Then she stepped back into her vagina portal and was gone.

Judge slapped his thigh in an exaggerated manner. “If there was any more heat between you and the witch, you could have cooked a hash brown in this clearing,” he said to Alexander, a shit eating grin on his face.

Alexander waved him away, but there was a slight pinking of his cheeks. Was a Convocation member, one of the most powerful people on the planet, blushing?

He walked over and pulled Tex into a tight hug. “Deep down, I knew. My dragon knew. But I had to be sure. Had to know that she was still out there, that my gut wasn’t wrong.”

Tex was nodding, slapping Alexander’s back as they embraced. “We both needed to know.”

Alexander pulled back, and I might have imagined it because it was dark out here, but his eyes seemed a little wetter than they normally were. “I have to go. The trail is already twenty years old, but I have to find her one way or another.” He looked between me and Tex, and I smiled, coming forward and hugging him too.

“I’ve got him. Go do what you need to do, but don’t be a stranger, okay? There's no point having a grandson if you never visit.”

He gave me a toothy smile as he stared down at me. “And great grandchildren.”

I shook my head, because a month ago when he turned up outside my door, I never would have thought those words would have been passing his lips.

He stepped back and nodded to Brody and Judge. “Look after them.” The ‘or I will eat you,’ was subliminal.

He strode to the other side of the clearing and shifted. Unbelievably quickly, a huge, twenty foot long dragon with coal black scales stood in the clearing with us, making us all step back a little so we didn’t get swiped by its swishing tail. The dragon puffed smoke in our direction and then lifted off with huge flaps of his wings.

I watched the dragon disappear into the darkness of the night and shook my head. “It's weeks like this I wished I could still get plastered.”

Brody leaned forward and kissed me softly. “Your wish is my command. Pup, crack out the tequila. Our girl is getting wasted tonight.”

Chapter Thirty

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