A Dragonlings' Easter (Dragon Lords of Valdier 6.5) (3 page)

Trelon
grunted as he crawled under another bush. He was glad his hair was still short otherwise it would be a tangled mess. He was covered in dirt and leaves. Jade and Amber had found a way to get to every damn egg before he did. It was like they were those damn sharks that Cara told him about, circling him and waiting until he found an egg then moving in for the kill.

Not this time,
he growled under his breath as he worked his way toward the bright green prize.
This one is mine. I’ll be damn if they get this one.

“
Trelon, you might as well give up. They aren’t going to let you win. Jade baby, Daddy is going to get the green one,” Cara laughed out in hysterics as Jade wiggled her little butt and swished her tail back and forth as she prepared to pounce on her dad who half way under the brush.

Trelon
glanced over his shoulder and scowled at Cara as he wrapped his hand around the bright lime green egg. He turned back and grinned at Jade who was staring at him with an intense expression before she sat down in front of him. He smiled victoriously as he held it up between his thumb and forefinger.

“
This one is mine,” he growled in triumph. His eyes widened in disbelief with the egg suddenly turned to ash. “Hey, that’s not fair!” He cried out as Amber snorted a puff of smoke at him. Jade just grinned, showing off a mouth full of colorful eggs.

Trelon
lowered his head to the ground in defeat as Symba hopped over and Jade shot the eggs she was hoarding in her mouth into the basket. With a flick of her tail, she climbed over his shoulder and down his back after her sister. He groaned as he lifted his head to look at the black ash where the one and only egg he had been able to retrieve before the girls did lay scattered on the soft ground.

I wonder if the other guys are having better luck than I am,
Trelon wondered dejectedly as he turned and sat up.

Zoran glanced around to see if any of the kids were close. He had found
ten eggs so far. He carefully slipped the last one he found into the hole in the tree where he had been placing his hoard.

Mine!
His dragon rumbled in a low voice.

Ours, my friend
, Zoran smirked.
We’ll retrieve them when no one is looking.

He had seen what was happening with
Vox and Trelon. The dragonlings and Vox’s son were teaming up to work against them. If he didn’t know better he’d think they were actually able to understand the babble between them.

He had been smart
, though. He had taken a different approach. He carefully marked where each symbiot had returned from and decided he would concentrate on one area. He was surprised he hadn’t found more eggs but the damn golden rabbits kept moving them whenever he was sure he was close.

He hadn
’t seen Zohar. He wouldn’t be surprised if Trelon’s demons hadn’t terrorized his son into staying close to Abby. He felt a tinge of guilt before he pushed it aside. Zohar was really too young to understand what was going on. Next year, he’d have better control over his dragon and he’d help Zohar find some eggs. Hell, he was even going to share one from his hoard with his son. He’d even let Zohar pick out which one he wanted. Zoran rubbed his hands together and grinned.

Now, let
’s go see if we can find some more,
he chuckled to his dragon.
I’m sure we can find a few more before the women call us in.

More, more,
his dragon called out, bouncing inside him.

Zoran bit his lip so his laugh wouldn
’t give away his hiding place. He hadn’t felt so young in years. In fact, the last time was when he and his brothers had found a stash of Maratts and Grombots when they were still younglings. The damn things had scattered in a hundred different directions and they had spent a fun-filled afternoon chasing them.

He moved quietly off. There was still another section he needed to check. He was so focused on finding the rest of the hidden eggs he never turned around. If he had, he would have seen the little
dark brown and copper dragon peeking out of the hole, the remains of a bright blue egg shell around his grinning mouth.

Kelan flexed the muscles in his shoulders.
He and Mandra were working together. They figured that Jabir was too small to do much and Bálint was helping Roam. There was no way they could miss getting some of the colorful treats and they were not about to be out done by a bunch of toddlers!

He had tried to talk Creon and Zoran into joining in with him and
Mandra so they could cover more area but both men had declined, saying they didn’t need any assistance in finding the eggs. He felt slightly guilty about not encouraging Trelon to join but he figured they needed someone to distract Jade and Amber. A slight shudder ran through him when he heard Vox’s loud yell again. He sniffed and grimaced when he caught the odor of burning hair.

“
I think your son just lit Vox’s hair on fire. I saw him with his head in the fountain,” Mandra chuckled. “Before this is over, he’s going to have shorter hair then Trelon.”

“
From the number of times I’ve heard him cussing and my last glimpse of what the back of his pants looked like, he isn’t going to be sitting down either,” Kelan laughed. “So, how many eggs do we have?”

Mandra
frowned and looked around for his symbiot. It had changed into a strange looking rabbit. It still had long ears and big back feet but this one had a pouch on its stomach, smaller front legs and hopped upright. It had followed them around as they collected the brightly colored eggs. Unable to hold them all, they had decided the pouch was the perfect place to keep their prizes safe.

“
I don’t know,” he said, turning in a circle. “It was here a few minutes ago.”

“
That’s okay,” Kelan said wearily. “I think we’ve found all of them in this section. I wonder how the rest of the guys are doing.”

Mandra
shrugged. “Personally, I think Paul and Ha’ven were the smart ones,” he responded with a tired grin of his own as he wiped at the dirt covering his arms.

Kelan grinned.
“
Dola
promised to make Paul a dozen which is why he is sitting out. I think she did that because she knew he would find them all before we could since he has done this before. Ha’ven is still in shock over having a daughter. Creon is the same way which is why he is hunting in the same section as Spring and Phoenix. I bet he is happy those two aren’t as bad as Trelon and Cara’s two.”

Mandra
shuddered. “I’m just thankful that we only had the one. Jabir is as bad about animals as Ariel. I swear I find a different one in his crib every morning. How the damn things keep getting in I have no idea. Asim is trying to figure out how the creatures keep getting out of their enclosures but he hasn’t had much luck yet.”

“
Well, I think we’ve got enough eggs between us,” Kelan replied, stretching his long arms over his head. “I need a shower. Those damn ‘rabbits’ made sure that some of them were hard to get to.”

“
I’ll find Precious and have him meet us over at the refreshment table. The others should be done soon,” Mandra replied.

He sent a message to Jabir
’s small symbiot to make sure his son was alright. He had been checking up on him throughout the morning and was happy when he saw Jabir quietly playing earlier. Now, he grinned at Kelan. Jabir was curled up sound asleep.

“
Jabir is taking his nap,” Mandra said proudly. “He is such a good boy. Luckily, he is too young to realize what he has missed out on.”

Kelan tilted his head and grinned as he heard another curse escape
Vox followed by a loud hiss. “I bet Vox was wishing Roam was too little.”

“
I’m just thankful that Bálint and Roam have taken a liking to each other and decided to stay in Vox’s area of the garden and not ours,” Mandra laughed. “Let’s go. My mouth is watering to see if colored eggs taste any different.”

Both men grinned and rubbed their stomach as Precious,
Mandra’s symbiot hopped over to where Ariel was sitting under the shade of a huge tree. Mandra’s heart filled with warmth when he saw her peek into the pouch before looking up at him with eyes filled with love and laughter. She had filled his life with so much of it, he felt he must be the luckiest warrior on Valdier.

“
I’ve got to go rescue Vox. That poor cat-shifter has bitten off more than he can chew this time,” Kelan laughed, nodding to where Vox was sitting in the fountain.

He slapped
Mandra on the shoulder and took off after Trisha who was trying to catch Bálint. His small son was puffing sparks at Vox. Roam was standing on his back legs with his front paws gripping the edge of the fountain. A large piece of his dad’s leather pants hung from his mouth.

Creon leaned back against the tree. He absently rubbed his ankle where he had stepped into a hole. This entire section of the garden was riddled with the damn things. He had stepped in at least three of them so far. He was going to have a long talk with the gardeners. He didn’t know what type of creature had made the burrows. Whatever kind they were, they were a hazard and he didn’t want to take a chance of one of the kids falling into them.

Want eggs,
his dragon growled.
I smell them but they not there.

You think I don
’t know that?
Creon silently growled back.

That was the other thing that confused him, he hadn
’t seen either one of his daughters. They had headed off in this direction but the moment they crawled under the bushes it was as if they vanished! He rubbed his forehead and gazed around the area one more time.

His eyes lit up when a splash of red caught his attention. Under one of the bushes, not ten feet from him, was a brightly colored red egg. It was the first one that he had found.

Finally!
He thought as he surged to his feet.
At least I’ll get one of the damn things.

He strode over to the bush and knelt down. A curse burst from his lips and his eyes widened in shock when the
ground under the egg suddenly opened up and the egg disappeared into it. Scrambling forward, he ignored the sting across his forehead as one of the low branches caught him. He fell to his stomach and looked down into the small tunnel that had formed. Bright golden eyes, framed by thick black lashes, gazed back at him.

“
Spring!” Creon whispered in disbelief as he stared down at the white, pink and gold dragon.

He watched as
Spring blinked back at him and grinned. She slowly uncurled her tongue, revealing the red egg that was wrapped inside it. Closing her mouth to hide her prize, she turned in the narrow tunnel and scurried away leaving Creon staring in horrified disbelief as she vanished.

“
Goddesses, help me!” He breathed.

He shook his head as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that all the tunnels were created by one of his daughters. He quickly scooted back out of the bushes and turned so he could sit up. His eyes frantically swept the area again. He stood up when he saw
Spring’s head pop up out of one of the holes twenty feet away. She carefully dropped the egg she was carrying onto the ground and pushed it away from the hole with her nose. His heart skipped when he saw her look around before making a soft cooing sound.

His knees buckled under him and he slowly sank to the ground when a blurred shadow flew down from the tree. The shadow solidified into the shape of a beautiful creature, half bird - half dragon. It scooped up the egg and quickly
dissolved again. His eyes narrowed in on the faint distortion in the air as it flew before the creature reformed on the branch of a nearby tree.

The small
figure was solid black like his dragon only instead of having scales, she was covered in silky black feathers. Even her wings and tail were feathery. She had the head of a dragon, fine boned with a long jawline. His throat worked up and down as he watched her turn to look down at him with solemn dark blue eyes. It was almost as if she was silently asking him if he accepted that she was different.

“
Phoenix,” he whispered in awe. “My beautiful, beautiful little girl.”

He knelt frozen on the ground, staring up at his youngest daughter. It wasn
’t until he felt a slight nudge on his arm and Spring’s soft nose that he looked down. The tiny white, pink and gold dragon pushed at his arm again until she could slip under it and into his lap. Creon wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close before turning his eyes back to where Phoenix was sitting high above him.

A frown creased his brow when he saw her looking over his shoulder. He turned to see what held her attention. Behind him, Carmen stood, frozen. Her fist was pressed tightly to her mouth and silent tears glistened in the sunlight. His heart swelled with love when she opened her arms wide and called to Phoenix.

“Come here, sweetheart,” Carmen murmured. “Come to mommy.”

Creon rose from the ground, holding
Spring close to his chest as Phoenix launched herself off the branch. She disappeared for a fraction of a second before reappearing right before she landed in Carmen’s outstretched arms. The moment Carmen had a good hold on her daughter, she wrapped her arms around her and buried her face in Phoenix’s neck.

Creon carefully shifted
Spring so he could hold all three of his girls close to his heart. A wave of protectiveness, more powerful then ever before, sped through him. He closed his eyes and held tightly to Carmen when he felt the shudder of emotion run through her.

“
It will be alright,” he murmured. “I’ll protect all of you. I swear. I’ll protect all of you.”

Carmen reluctantly pulled back when she felt tiny fingers touching her damp skin. Phoenix
’s small lips puckered and she pressed a kiss to her mother’s wet cheek. Spring, not to be outdone, did the same thing to Creon.

“
Mommy,” Phoenix giggled.

“
Dada,” Spring laughed.

“
Oh my,” Carmen and Creon whispered together before they both melted to their knees in the soft grass.

“
I’m beginning to feel a little...” Creon started to say looking at Carmen with a touch of panic.

“
Overwhelmed?” Carmen giggled. “Me too.”

Creon stared at his mate
’s glowing eyes. Unable to resist, he leaned forward and pressed a hot kiss against her lips. He released Spring when she began to wiggle so he could wrap his arms around Carmen’s slender waist and pull her closer. They broke apart and started laughing when the girls, thinking it was playtime, started crawling on top of them.

“
I love you,” Creon breathed out as he stared up into Carmen’s eyes. “Thank you.”

“
I love you, too,” Carmen whispered just before Phoenix and Spring poked their heads between them and started giving daddy lots of sloppy, wet kisses. “So do the girls.”

None of them saw the golden figure sitting high in the tree holding the Easter basket filled with colorful eggs.
Aikaterina held up a bright pink egg. With a wave of her hand, the shell disappeared. She studied the slightly pink egg for a moment before popping it into her mouth. Her eyes widened in pleasure. Glancing down at the happy family, she blew a kiss to Phoenix when she glanced up at her and winked before disappearing.