The Magic of Eternity (Emerald Lakes #5)

by Britt Andrews

I think I peed myself. My unborn child just Chuck Norris’d my bladder so hard I pissed myself. I snorted as I wiped. I bet that was Sloane’s kid. I’d put money on it.

You don’t get to pick who you’re born to, but you can certainly choose who your true family is… and this bitch wasn’t it.

I was going to kill all of these motherfuckers. Just when I thought I was going to pass out from lack of air, a vision of me making all of these bastard’s brains go boom drifted behind my eyelids and holy fuck, my cock actually stirred. I’m sicker than I thought.

How he would feel out of control in his own mind. With my own affinity, I knew that fate was sometimes—nearly always—worse than death itself. Not being able to trust yourself, or know whether your thoughts were your own, or if your trauma had grown a body of its own and snatched yours. Like a possession.

I felt a complete sense of disassociation. It was like I was actually standing in the corner, watching. Waiting. Observing.

“I’m here now and I’m never leaving your side again. We’re going to get out of here, I swear it. Stay with me, K. Please, please, stay with me, Alpha.”

“Bravery doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid. Bravery means you accept that fear and let it fuel your purpose. It’s okay to be scared. You just can’t let that fear rule you, brother. Let it fucking guide you to achieve your goals.”

What the fuck? Is he going to kill her now? Oh please gods, let me be witness to that.

“I can’t wait til you get what’s coming to you,” Laurie sneered, and Cam chuckled darkly. “If anyone has karmic payback coming, I think we both know it has your name all over it. Get. Me. A. Healer. If he dies, so do I.”

“Tell me the truth then, Thunder Daddy.” He didn’t smile. His mouth didn’t even twitch at the use of the ridiculous nickname. My stomach sank, because whatever he was going to tell me must be pretty bad.

Was the hero of this story really a black mouse with the soul of Napoleon Bonaparte? It was looking more and more like yes, yes he was the fucking hero.

Napoleon scurried down the bed toward my feet. “Mon dieu, I was so excited to see you that I nearly forgot. Daddy of Thunder, please lift me to that vent.” “Daddy. Of. Thunder?” Cam choked out. If I had the strength, I would have been crying tears of laughter.

“Cam, shove that in my ass right now!” I barked, excitement and adrenaline mixing with the fever, causing me to feel like I was on a serious drug trip. Something cool and wet brushed over a small area of skin on my right butt cheek. “Definitely not what I thought I’d be doing the first time I heard you say those words to me...”

in this moment, it was simply me and Sloane. The kitten and the dragon. The asshole and the sweetheart. The mage and the witch. Man and woman. And I needed him.

“In the darkness, you’re my sunshine. You’re the sun at dawn, chasing the shadows from my wicked soul. I love you, and I’m so sorry, kitten.”

“It was just a bit. One of these babies jabbed me right in the bladder and it was game over.” I had to roll my lips inward to stifle the laugh threatening to slip out. She really might’ve hurt me if I so much as smiled at her predicament.

These were dragons that were working with Asrael; they couldn’t be trusted. The largest male of the group, who was bright orange, snorted. ‘If you truly believe that any of us are here of our own free will, then you’ve been shocked by that magical fence a few too many times,’

I fucking hated public speaking. Actually, I hated public anything. Especially anything with people. Or in this case, dragons.

My belly dipped with butterflies—which, let’s face it, were probably gas, because these girls were making me gassy as hell. It felt like the first minute we were flying, I was propelled half by the power of my wings and half by the power of ripping ass. I was so thankful Sloane had flown ahead so I could fart in peace.

He didn’t get to finish his sentence because I launched myself at him. I slapped his dick and pulled his boxers back up over it, then shoved a finger in his face. “This is mine. No other female will be seeing it in this lifetime or the next. Understand?” His pupils dilated and glowed orange as we stared at each other. “Did you just slap my dick? That really happened just now?”

Damn, I was getting so pissed at the thought of this hypothetical dick viewing. Probably partly due to the hormones... But that was my dick!

“I would really like it if you would eat something. And maybe drink some more water? You’ll probably need to pee, right? That’s pretty much all I know about pregnant women. They pee. A lot. And eat weird food,” he added as an afterthought, and I laughed at how put off he was at not knowing all about something for once.

Sloane was a soldier. Trained for times like these—being faced with the unknown and having to keep going. It was getting harder for me to do that. I wasn’t anything special... A low growl rumbled against me, coming from deep within his chest. “Not anything special?” My eyes widened and I realized I must’ve spoken that part aloud. “How can you—” He paused and pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply. After what felt like an eternity, he lifted his head and his gaze seared into my soul. “You listen here and you listen good, Saige Wildes. You’re everything that’s special. Everything you are is special. I’ve been all over our realm, seen dozens of countries, millions of people, and let me tell you something. Not one of them even came close to being as special as you.” His voice was deep and full of absolute sincerity.

“Okay, I better go pee now. Since I stood up, it kind of hit me all at once.” I stepped back and tromped off to find a tree. “Make sure you get all of those farts out over there too!” he shouted, then laughed like hell. I pretended I didn’t hear him. But gods, yeah. I did have some to unleash on this poor tree. If he tells the others a word of this, I swear I’ll get payback.

‘I think I saw something shiny down there,’ I said to Sloane through our mental link, the one that only existed while he was in his dragon form. I squealed when he abruptly shifted to the left and began to descend. ‘You could warn a girl next time!’ ‘What was it? Gold? Some kind of gem?’ ‘I told you, I just saw a shimmer of something. Fly over there and I’ll see if I spot it again.’ Crazy, treasure-loving dragons... Worse than a dog hearing the word ‘ball.’

‘Found it!’ Sloane squealed. Squealed. Like a two-year-old who’d just found a dropped gummy bear covered in dust. None of that mattered. Treasure was treasure.

his whole body shook with excitement, like a big, scaly puppy. It was especially funny when he shifted to his human form and his ass continued to shake. There was no way he even realized he was still doing it and I wasn’t about to tell him.

I mean, he was strong, but surely there was no way he was going to lift all two hundred plus pounds of me out of a lake like I was nothing more than a— “Oof!” My feet hit solid ground as water ran down my body, and I looked at Sloane like he was Thor or some shit.

Hours left alone in the dark would be enough to cause any man to lose his fucking mind, but to do something so psychologically damaging to a man who never had his full mind in the first place? Fucking stupid.

He grinned, and I was taken aback momentarily at how gorgeous he was. Totally not Gandalf. Maybe if Gandalf was in his thirties and ripped... I felt Sloane’s eyes on me, and a blush bloomed on my cheeks. Busted.

We didn’t get a say; we were merely along for the ride. Passengers in our own lives as we hurtled toward the ending the stars had already mapped for us. On one hand, I supposed that it should have been comforting. If you accepted that it was fate and that you had no control over where your life was heading, it would be easier to roll with the punches and not second-guess your decisions.

‘Oh, sweet Cub. I’ve never stopped feeling you. You’re like the sun. Even when I can’t see you, I can feel you. Your warmth, the way you give me life. The way you brighten everything.

“Your back,” he growled. “What the fuck happened to your back, Kai?” Fish slowly rose from his chair, like an avenging angel, or maybe a devil. Either way, he was terrifying.

The love I had for our stoic leader and the way he always knew what we needed without having to be told. My mouth opened to thank him but I stopped when I felt his eyes trailing down my body, taking in the look of his larger shirt on my leaner frame. When he finally focused back on my face, he winked. Winked.

Who would’ve thought that this tiny mouse, with an insane ego and a serious obsession with murder, would be the one who’d helped save us? I was convinced that he must have been a man in another life.

“That’s fucked up,” one of the men mused, this one wearing a gas mask. “I like it.”

As he rolled, I decided to give him a little bit of a boost and so I kicked him in the face, forcing his body into a rotation that landed him on his back. He snarled at me. Where were this guy’s fucking manners? You think you’re helping somebody, the next thing you know they’re growling at you like a beast. Life was too short to be rude to people. “I was just trying to give you a boost, man. There’s no need to look at me like that.” “Oh, fuck you.”

Number Fifty was just staring at me. He’s probably jealous. I’d be jealous too, if I was staring at me. His gaze had a hint of judgy to it that I really didn’t appreciate, and I narrowed my eyes, suspecting he wasn’t taking my killing skills seriously.

“Okay, Number Fifty.” I sighed, pinching my nose. “You’re right. That last one really wasn’t too special since anyone could pull that off.” His mouth opened and closed like a fish. A big, grumpy, demon fish. Not cute in the slightest, like some fish were. I gave him a couple of minutes to respond. Okay, maybe more like half a minute. After what was actually probably only four seconds, I started talking again. Number Fishty had his shot and he was too slow.

decided I would let him stand up because I felt bad for him—not because I was going to kill him, but because the man was clearly an idiot.

“You know, the queen? The prophesied one. I heard she’s curvy and has a big juicy ass.” I glanced around me, because seriously, was this really happening right now? Was this male, who was already marked for death, honestly standing here and saying nice things about my fucking woman? Because yeah, she does have a big juicy ass! I didn’t like him talking about it though. I was about to let him know that, but he let out a mocking laugh, which pissed me off even more.

You couldn’t handle a woman like her if you tried. And now, Number Fishty, I’m officially bored, and also like seven point eight percent pissed off. I offered you a choice and you chose to talk shit, so it’s my decision now.” I swear to the gods, I blinked once and as my surroundings came back into focus, there was only a leg. A hairy, beefy-looking leg. Where the hell’s the rest of Number Fishty?

Gran had always told me that anger was never the way. Anger caused people to do stupid things, things that they would normally not have done. But today, like this? This was a day that was anything but normal. I felt on some level that I needed to become something else.

I couldn’t wait to see how it felt to be on the receiving end of his orders, though something told me that he wouldn’t appreciate my stubbornness in the same way Cam did. That was a game between us. No. Sloane Sullivan would work for my complete obedience. I looked forward to it.

“Like you want me to bend you over that log and fuck your brains out.” Oh, moon maidens. Don’t picture him railing you like a woodland nymph, Saige. Stay strong. “Fine,” I acquiesced and lifted my chin, my little pep talk helping me regain my wits. “Help me get this gown on because the longer I’m standing here naked, pressed against you, the more I want to feel you inside of me.” Shit! That’s not what I wanted to say. Filthy, filthy witch demon. That’s what I am.

“When I get free, I’m going to rip your fucking throat out! Then I’m going to stomp on it and shove it in this guy’s mouth. That’s a promise. Do you know who I am? Do you know how I earned my nickname? Khol the Merciless—or as the rumor mill likes to say, Khol the Cold. Either way, just know that I fucking earned that name and it’s been a long time since I let the lid off that fucking monster.” I didn’t miss the way the guards cast nervous glances at one another. Shit, he was terrifying.

Where the hell have you guys been? Did they make you kill people too? How many did you get?” All I could do was stare. I couldn’t even speak. “Faris, do you understand what’s happening here?” Khol asked gently. “We’re here to be executed as soon as the sun comes up,” Faris replied, without skipping a beat, looking at Khol like he was asking dumb questions.

They always say to expect the unexpected. But I say fuck the expected and fuck the unexpected, and fuck everyone in the ass, because the only people who matter are you and your circle. Who gives a shit what anybody else does?”

Gods. This woman was going to be the death of me. She was like a little sugar-packed gumdrop; every taste I got had me craving her more. Just being near her gave my darkness a hit of sweetness. A sugar high for a monster. Her monster.

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from her. Maybe tears. Maybe, I don’t know... screaming, raging, trying to get past me to run outside. What I hadn’t expected was the look of absolute fury that now morphed her normally pleasant features.