Page 31 of Matched By the Dragon

The higher I got the more of the playroom I saw. Not far off was the dragon-metal swing set. Once I got Resin down, I’d try to get them to swing for a while and save me a few heart attacks this afternoon. Brad was still having a good time at the party, but he felt the shock of mild panic coming from Resin just like I did. Resin was the one he tuned into night and day. He was the kidnapped cub. The cub they snatched away from him as soon as he was born.

He stood up when I was a single platform away and I pointed for him to sit down. Only that’s when he jumped toward me. He hit my legs hard and I staggered backwards. He rolled too close to the edge and I tried to grab him. My foot slipped as I got an arm around him and we both tumbled off. Only the playset was made for kids to tumble down from not bears of my size. I knew I was fucked before I heard the clunk. I wasn’t sure what would fuck me over – the floor, something unseen, but I felt it in my soul. So, I held the growling bear cub to my chest and prayed whatever clobbered me, didn’t clobber him too. I curled into a ball, one hand out, trying to grab anything. It wasn’t the dragon-metal swing set that got me. It was the dragon-metal edge of the little trampoline the kids had dragged over from its original home that I cracked my head on and then bounced and cracked it again before I managed to push it away.

Pain cut through my skull and I saw stars. I clutched Resin to my chest as he snarled and squirmed. I couldn’t make myself speak. It was as if the side of that little trampoline had knocked all the sense out of me. I felt Brad panic and knew Bennie and Slyvin stood over me, but then the world was black.

Chapter 11

Brad

The Hemlock Wolf Pack, Star’s Territory

The room spun. One second, I was laughing with Ryder and Silas, the leader of the Raven Hollow Wolf Pack, and the next the room spun and my ears rang. I pressed my hands to my head, trying to shake it off. Was this a pressure change? Were we under attack!? No one else was freaking out. No one else was yelling or shouting about the room spinning.

I dropped one hand to hold onto the corner of a banquet table and someone grabbed my shoulder. My eyes were still squeezed shut and I almost threw an elbow back until I smelled Alby.

“We’ve got to get to Frost!” he said, squeezing my shoulder, like he was trying to tug me and turn me around. Only the room was spinning. Had we all died? How else would we even get to Frost? “Need to get to--- You need—”

I only caught snatches of what he said. I didn’t need to get to Frost. I probably needed the doctor. Was this the onset of preeclampsia? Skyrocketing blood pressure could do all of these things. Oh shit! I was going to die and my babies weren’t here and---

“Shut off your mating link!” Silas yelled at me. “Shut it off right now! Brad, you need to shut off your mating link to help him!”

“What?” I shouted back.

I looked around. I needed someone to make this make sense.

“Shut down the mating link!” my bear growled inside me. The voice on the inside my head was loud and clear. “Shut it down!”

I did and the world stood still.

“Durin. Hurt. Fell. Head. Shifted. Eat everyone!” my bear panted, shaking his big furry head like his ears still rang.

I moved without thinking. I squeezed between Silas and Alby and headed for the door. I wasn’t sure what had happened to my mate but I had to get to him. The only thing coming over our mating link was snarling and those horrible feelings. The Temple of Frost was a few blocks away. I shifted and ran as hard as I could. Probably harder than Clyde, Durin, or anyone else would like me running while I was pregnant. Someone was there next to me. It was Silas. He was keeping up with me in wolf form. One of his mates was a bear. That made sense. A second later, someone scooped me up and I snarled turning to bite, until I smelled Raziel.

“Fucking hell!” he cussed over the group link and kept right on cussing as he carried me in his talons to the other temple. I might’ve beaten his ass for carrying me off under different circumstances. Okay. No might about it. I would’ve torn off his toenails and fed them to him. Only now, it didn’t matter how I got to the Temple of Frost. I just had to get to my mate and my babies.

He set me down on the roof and I ducked inside the room exit and took the steps down. Thankfully even the staircases were built for wide bodies to traverse so I didn’t have to shift back. I sniffed Durin out. Everyone was trying to direct me this way and that. Familiar and unfamiliar faces blurred together. Where had Silas gone? Was Alby on his way? Had Durin already eaten someone? Had he hurt himself more? Where were Resin and Oaklan in all of this?

I headbutted the door to the playroom open. All the kids were behind Durin. He hadn’t only gathered up Resin and Oaklan in his altered state, but all the kids in the playroom. He had them behind him in a corner while he snarled and snapped in the direction of Bennie and Slyvin.

“BRAD!” Daisy yelled.

None of the kids looked like they were hurt. They weren’t even in danger – I didn’t think.

“Durin!” I shouted over our mating link, ignoring the ringing in my ears and Bennie’s little sister Daisy. She was a sweet little girl, but even if Bennie and Slyvin were out of Durin’s reach, it wouldn’t take much for him to charge and try to eat them. I barreled across the room, leaping over toys.

Durin looked at me mid roar. His pupils were blown. I opened up the mating link just enough to catch his thoughts. His head was killing him. His vision was blurred and his sense of smell was a bit off. It was definitely a concussion at the very least.

“Cubs safe. All cubs safe. No eat. No take. No one took.” His thoughts were broken up even as he tried to talk to me. If I was in human form, I would’ve hit my knees and bawled. Even with a head injury he wanted to keep our babies safe. I ignored Slyvin who was attempting to tell me what had happened. That didn’t matter now. I needed to calm him down so he could get help. Had someone called Clyde or the hospital or someone?

I walked up to him, and he came down onto all fours, swaggering a bit. I leaned my head against his. Maybe that was dangerous. Maybe I’d make things worse. He sniffed twice and then twice more.

“Brad,” he muttered over our mating link and hit the floor hard.

Resin and Oaklan ran over to sniff him. Medics seemed to materialize from thin air. Had they been there the whole time? I’d only seen Bennie and Slyvin when I ran into the room. I let them take him and nosed the cubs away. They strapped him onto a big bear-sized stretcher and carried him out. I shifted back to my human form and scooped up my kids. Then I followed. Everyone was talking at me, but I couldn’t make sense of what was being said. All I knew was that I had to get to the hospital and had to do whatever it took to make sure Durin was okay.

“We don’t normally let kids ride in the ambulances,” a bear shifter wearing a medic’s uniform said.

“I don’t have anyone else! My parents tried to kill me and kidnapped my baby!” I shouted, trying to explain and hating that I had to explain why I had no one to hand my kids off to. “They killed their sire and I’m pregnant and---”