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“Lord Typhon,” I said and bowed my head as I stood in the dank cave.
“Sire Ryder,” Typhon said, his voice echoing off the walls.
“You summoned?” I asked as Abeloth separated and bowed his head as well.
“This woman’s turning ceremony will not be permitted,” Typhon said.
“Why not?” I asked him.
“Because she is not worthy of your mark, when the time comes you will be glad that she doesn’t bear your mark,” Typhon said.
“Forgive my insolence Typhon, but she carries my heir,” I said.
“She carries your child, not your heir,” he said.
“I don’t understand,” I said to him.
“You will, this girl has only half dragonkin blood, she will not be fit to rule in your stead, she will not be as mighty as your true heir,” he said.
“You wish for me to not claim this child?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he hissed.
“You don’t approve of me with Ava?” I asked him.
“You have needs halfling, fulfill them at your own risk, but your heir will be borne by another woman,” he said.
“What?” I asked him.
“It is not the time for the truth to be revealed. In time all truths will come to light,” Typhon said and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.
“Abelo …”
I opened my eyes and Felix’s face appeared in my view. “Welcome back.” He extended his hand and helped me to my feet.
“Sire Ryder, congratulations, you may kiss the bride when you feel up to it, the ceremony is complete. I give you Ryder and Ava Grey,” Elder Michael said.
I felt confused by everything Typhon had said and before I could blink Ava pressed her mouth against mine and I pulled away after a few seconds. I felt conflicted as to why Typhon urged me not to claim my daughter in the realms of dragons.
Confetti appeared out of nowhere as we walked down the aisle to the outside where our parents stood and Felix gave me a look. I shook my head slightly; I would talk to him later. Abeloth was quiet too and it seemed that what Typhon had said had changed his feelings towards Ava.
“The Elders would like to speak to you,” Lucas said as I let go of Ava’s hand and stopped next to him.
“Typhon just congratulated me,” I said.
“Congratulations seems to be in order too, Ava told your mother that the baby’s a girl,” Lucas said.
“Yeah thanks,” I said.
I suddenly didn’t want to be there. I felt out of place and I really needed a drink or ten. My father and Felix kept watching me throughout the night. Lucas knew something was up and I would tell him later, maybe, after I’d made some sense of it.
We had taken it easy for two weeks, regrouping, training and generally just spending time together, plotting mostly. For Ava nothing had changed but for me everything was different, I couldn’t even touch her without thinking about what Typhon had said to me.
Felix and I had discussed it at length. I had told him everything that had happened in the dragon realm, Typhon’s words to me and how I couldn’t think of anything else now. Would my heir be another one night stand that I’d be stuck with or would I meet someone that I wanted to claim?
“Is it a rule that only men can take over a lair?” Felix asked me.
“No, not really, it is preferred, because the woman usually leaves her lair, if she was to take over from me, she would have to bond to a second or lower,” I said.
“And Typhon didn’t say when your true heir will be born?” he asked me.
“Nope. He can be very cryptic at times,” I said.
“No shit. I don’t know, maybe he was messing with you,” Felix suggested and I laughed at that thought.
“Typhon doesn’t mess around. He’s the father of all dragons, he doesn’t have time to mess around,” I said.
I found Felix in the dining room, Emily and Link laughing with him. Felix gave me a look which I ignored and sat down. Ava appeared and started dishing up for me. I didn’t really feel like eating but I tried anyway.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Felix asked me.
“We’ll conference with Tank and Basil, put them to work officially, start making enquiries,” I said.
“Enquiries about what?” Ava asked as she sat down as well.
“Information Felix needs,” I said looking her straight in the eye as she nodded.
“What did you do before you joined the Unit, Felix?” Emily asked.
“I was recruited to the Unit while I studied law, I’ve been a hunter ever since,” he answered her.
“And what are you going to do now?” Ava asked him pointedly.
“That I’ll decide once I have the information I need,” he said with a smile.
“You were missing for a year, don’t you want to spend time with your family?” Ava asked him.
“Ryder’s my family too and Basil and Elio aren’t far,” he said.
“But they’re your blood, Ryder isn’t,” she said.
“Blood doesn’t make family, Ryder will always be my family,” he said.
“I agree,” I said.
“So the bond of brotherhood you two share is more important than his child?” she asked him.
“Ava …”
“It’s a fair question, brother. You don’t know what we did in the Unit, how important our work is. We fight every day for the wellbeing of every supernatural creature out there, we take out the immoral ones to preserve life for the moral ones,” he said.
“Ryder’s not a hunter anymore,” Ava said as Felix chuckled.
“Once a hunter, always a hunter. It’s not a job title, it’s who you are, when everything else is stripped away, the need to hunt will remain,” Felix said as he put his fork down.
“I see,” she said.
“I don’t think that you do, Ava. Ryder’s child will always be the most important but eliminating these lawless creatures will make the world a better place for all children to grow up in,” Felix said. “That’s how Ryder’s built, he’s a protector more than anything else, he hunts so others are protected.”
“The Unit does good work and they need people like us to join, to keep the evil at bay,” I said.
“I married a Sire, not a hunter,” Ava said.
“I was a hunter long before I became a Sire, that will always be part of who I am, Sire or not,” I said.
“What Ryder means is, he’s not actively a hunter, but if his services were needed, he’d take the garbage out,” Felix said.
“Felix and I have some meetings to attend, we’ll be back later,” I said and stood up from the table.
“What time will you be back?” Ava asked as I reached the doorway.
“When I’m back,” I said and walked to the front door.
Felix followed me outside to the truck and he remained quiet as he climbed inside. I drove away from the house and took the highway towards Chicago. We needed to speak with Wentworth as well, inform him of everything that had happened, especially that explosion in Guatemala. Abeloth was strangely quiet but I knew he was listening. Felix was right about it all, I’d always be a hunter as well.
At times I was angry with Typhon and Abeloth would snort as he felt my emotions. Time in this instance was a bitch and there was nothing I could do about it. I glanced over at Felix and smiled again. I was happy to have him with me.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped,” Felix said.
“You didn’t, she just doesn’t understand,” I said.
“Ryder …”
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?” he asked me.
“Everything’s changed,” I said.
“It’s okay to miss her but you can’t love a ghost forever,” he said.
“I know, but some days I wake up thinking she’s not dead,” I said.
“You saw her die brother, she is somewhere, but she’s not here,” he said.
“I saw you die too.”
“You didn’t see me burn,” he countered.
“I know she’s dead, tell that to my stupid heart,” I said as he smiled.
“What you’re feeling is guilt, you didn’t know,” he said gently.
“I should’ve known,” I said with irritation.
“You need to get laid,” Felix said as I shot him a look.
“So do you,” I said and he laughed.
“Is this what we’re doing today? Getting me laid?”
“You might want to drink after we’ve seen Wentworth,” I said and grinned.
“You do realize he’s going to try and rope me back into the unit.”
“He’ll never stop, I get a phone call every week,” I said.
“Does he know you killed Joe?”
“He does,” I said.
“Did you tell him I’m alive?” Felix asked.
“No and no he doesn’t know we’re coming,” I said.
“Still an asshole,” he muttered.
We drove the rest of the way in silence with Felix looking out of his window the whole time. I kept replaying Megan’s death over and over in my head. Could I really have a celibate marriage? Even if Ava loved me, I didn’t feel the same way.
The second I knew Megan wasn’t coming everything changed for me. Getting married again wasn’t something I saw happening and here I was, married and becoming a father. I took a vow and I married Ava.
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