Page 55 of Tempt the Dragon
He looked as overwhelmed by that information as she sometimes felthaving to go through these measures to protect the only family she had.
“Let me take care of it,” he said. “I can arrange for her to be sent to the best hospital in Miami with the best specialists. It’s not me paying for the surgery.” He knew to add that when she was just about to open her mouth to speak. “Isla can get into the computer system the same way you did and make some simple changesto the coverage on her insurance policy. That way she’ll qualify for upgraded services.”
“I still need to handle the surgery. As soon as the organs are available, she needs to be in the operating room.” Her fingers trembled and she hurriedly stuffed them into the pockets of the loose-fitting shorts she wore. “I’ll need to be there with her to make sure she understands everything that’s goingon.”
“What about Mr. Beaumont, won’t he be there?”
“Yes, but he’s not...he’s just...” He brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek when she paused, the words lodged in her chest.
“He’s not her daughter.”
A tear escaped at his words and she hustled to get a hand free of her pocket so she could wipe it, but the material was too baggy or her wrecked emotional state was makingher too clumsy because she fumbled to get free. But Aiken was fast, he moved a finger to catch that tear and then cupped her face. “I know you love her and you want the very best for her and I’m not going to try and stop you from going to her, if that’s what you really think is best.”
She almost chuckled. “You didn’t want me to go to the Congo anyway.”
He gave her that half smile thatnever failed to warm her. “I want you to be safe and happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you, Mel. That’s why I let you go all those years ago. Your happiness was my priority, even when it tore me apart.” He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “And you’re right, I didn’t want you to go to the Congo, but only because I know it’s not safe and the idea of you going onto that land by yourself,without me or anyone else close by to back you up, terrifies me. But if you say you want to go, I’m on that jet sitting right beside you.”
“And if I say I want to go back to Miami to be with Rosilda?”
“I’m on the phone with you when that jet takes off, checking on her status and yours. And the moment the mission is done, I’m rerouting that jet to Miami so I can see that you’re okay formyself.” He touched his other hand to her opposite cheek and kissed her lightly on the forehead, then on the tip of her nose. It was the silliest thing, but she loved when he did that.
When his lips brushed over hers, she closed her eyes reminding herself that she loved him.
“Tell me what you want to do, and we’ll make it happen,” he whispered.
“You won’t think I’m running from beinga Drakon?”
“You can’t run from what’s inside you, that’s the point I’ve been trying to make to you all along.”
And if she couldn’t run from it, didn’t she have a responsibility to do what she was called to do to save lives? Rosilda may be in danger of losing her battle with illness right now, but millions of lives were in danger of being lost if Duncan raised that vampire army. Could shehelp save them all? And if she could, isn’t that what Rosilda would want her to do?
She eased out of his grasp, going to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m not like you, Aiken. I don’t have it all figured out. It seems like every time I think I do another curveball comes flying my way.”
“You have a choice, Mel. Isn’t that what you told me before that it took me eighty years to figure out?You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Really? Was he telling her that now after all the things he’d said to her since she’d returned?
“How can I choose in this situation? I love her and I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“But logically, there’s nothing you, yourself, can do right now to save her. There is, on the other hand, something you can do to save the realms.” Hecame over to kneel in front of her. “Let me arrange for Rosilda to be transferred to a premier facility. The specialists there will run tests and maybe give another, brighter, prognosis. If not, we’ll be back in a day or two, we can go directly to the hospital and wait for the organs to become available.”
They’d have Duncan by then and she’d be able to collect her fee for capturing him. Whathe was saying was logical, as always. Did this guy ever get tired of being right?
She nodded first, then after a deep sigh said, “Let’s go talk to Bleu and have him call Isla. Between the two of them, we’ll see what can be done. Then we’ll go over the plan for the dead vamps with more detail.”
It wasn’t until later that night, when she lay in Aiken’s arms, that she allowed herself to breatheeasily. She’d called and spoken to Rosilda herself, telling her about the new plans Bleu had put into motion and that she’d be there as soon as she finished this job.
“I don’t want you worrying about me when you’re out there working,” Rosilda had said. Her voice was almost a whisper, but it still held that edge of authority. “You stay focused on what you need to do, because it’s important.It’s what you were born to do.”
She hadn’t known how to react to that. Rosilda had always acted as if she possessed little information about who and what Mel really was and thus couldn’t give any answers to Mel’s many questions when she was a young girl. After a while she’d simply stopped asking, stopped wondering.
“You’re the most important thing in this world to me. I don’t want youto ever forget that.” There’d been a burning need to tell her this, to speak the words that she felt she didn’t say often enough. “I’m gonna do this, and then I’ll come back and take care of you. I won’t travel around hunting anymore, I’ll just stay there in Miami and care for you.” It’s what she owed this woman who’d given her so much.
“No. No. We won’t talk about after. I only want you tofocus on what must be done right now. That nice man, Mr. Bleu, he explained it all to me because I knew if I asked you wouldn’t want to tell it to me straight. But I know what’s at stake here, Mel, and if I could I’d be there with you to offer any of the power I have to stop this plot.”
She hadn’t bothered cursing Bleu for going behind her back and calling Rosilda to dump all this vampiredrama on her at a time like this. “Ravyn’s a half witch and she seems pretty knowledgeable about what’s going on. She prepared the potion that’s going to put a stop to all of this. I just have to deliver it.”
“Then you do that. You do your part to stop this.”
They’d talked a few more minutes until Rosilda said the pain medication they were giving her was making her tired. Mel held thephone in her hands for a long while after that, thinking about her life and how the majority of the memorable parts had included Rosilda.
A number of her good memories also included Aiken. As she lay in bed next to him now, those thoughts overruled all else. The way they’d been able to reconnect immediately upon her arrival in Burgess. Frankly, it seemed their original connection had neverbeen broken. How was that possible? It’d been eighty years since she’d last seen him. Even to Drakon who sometimes lived thousands of years, eighty was a long time to be apart from someone they were not only in love with, but also selected to be with for eternity. Yet, they’d done it and for all intents and purposes they’d both survived.
But that was before she’d accepted her Drakon half completely.How would the beasts that had just been connected react to being separated again?
She’d told Rosilda she was coming back to Miami after this trip to the Congo and staying there. She had no intention of reneging on that promise, but now wondered how it would affect her relationship with Aiken? His place was obviously here with the Legion and hers was with her mother. He would understand that,wouldn’t he? What was she going to do if he didn’t?
Was she really prepared to live another eighty years without him? The answer to those questions never came because a bigger problem surfaced to claim her thoughts. How was she, the newest Drakon on the block, going to save the realms?
