Gifted To The Dragon: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance (The Gifted Series Book 2) (15 page)

Eyes radiating sincerity, Desmond leaned in and gave me another kiss, letting his lips linger a little longer this time.

"I promise you that, too. No more of me trying to push you away. No more running from love. This
is
a new chapter for us, Madison."

He soon left, and I finished the rest of my coffee in bed, heart soaring.

CHAPTER 15

Later that day, while we walked to Gifted practice, I told Emma all about the turn of events with Desmond, including the fact that we'd slept together again, thinking that it would all leave her stunned, or at least a little surprised.

Instead, once I'd said all I had to say, she just nodded, smiling a bit.

"Yep. That all sounds about right. I just kept thinking that if the two of you could just spend more time together, Desmond would come to realize that he can't keep his heart closed off forever."

"Yeah...thankfully, he did come realize that. And now I just have to make sure that he doesn't get scared of losing me and decide to close off his heart once again."

With sunlight glinting off her oversized, tortoiseshell sunglasses, Emma glanced over at me.

"Well, no, I don't think you've got that exactly right.
You
don't have to 'make sure' of anything. You can be your usual sweet, kind, supportive self when you're with Desmond, and hopefully, over time, he'll start to feel more secure about keeping his heart open; but you're not responsible for his emotions, as far as 'making sure' that he doesn’t get scared of losing you.

“That's
his
thing. You can't control whether he gets scared, or freaks out, or pushes you away, or whatever else. You can't control his emotions or his actions, nor should you feel like you have to. Yes, be supportive and reassuring, definitely...but just don't feel like you determine his behavior by your own. If he gets a bit scared and tries to push you away again, that will be on him, not you.

“And hopefully, he never will again, but get what I mean? People who are used to keeping their hearts closed off...well, it has much less to do with the behavior and actions of the other party than it has to do with
them
."

Pulling my gaze from a large planter of colorful flowers in front of a flower shop, I glanced at Emma.

"I think I get what you mean...and it seems like you've been giving some thought to the whole heart-closed-off thing lately...maybe as it pertains to you, and Eric. Have you?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. He brought over dinner last night, and our hands touched while we were both reaching for Jake's cup on the table...and for a second, I thought...well, I don't even know what I thought. I thought that feeling his hand brushing against mine, even accidentally, made me feel like I wanted to cry or something, but in a good way.

“But then I thought about all the talented Gifteds Eric could choose from for a long-term, equally matched partner, emphasis on
equally matched
, and I almost felt embarrassed for some reason, to the point that I barely even spoke to him during dinner. I could never enter into any kind of a relationship with him, being such a failure of a Gifted."

Coming to a sudden stop, I grabbed Emma's t-shirt sleeve to bring her to a stop as well.

"Just hold up a second."

"What is it?"

"You've got to stop with all this 'failure of a Gifted' stuff. You're not a failure. You just have some sort of a mental block because of what happened with Josh, and I think that's pretty understandable. I also think you're using this block as some sort of an excuse not to fully say goodbye to Josh and move on to what I think could be a very happy new relationship with Eric."

"I'm not using it as an excuse at all. In fact-"

"Really, Emma? Look me dead in the eyes and say that."

We'd reached the flower shop, and despite the fact that her oversized sunglasses kind of obscured her gaze, I could still clearly tell that she'd been looking at the large planter of colorful flowers, and not at me, when she'd made her denial. Now, folding her arms across her chest, she turned her focus to me, but didn't try her denial again, and I continued.

"It all needs to end today, Emma. Your mental block, the past affecting your present and future, and all your issues related to not being able to use your Gifted power. You've got to start writing a new chapter right now, today. And no better time to start that new chapter than two minutes from now, when we arrive at the training gym."

"But you act like me getting over my mental block is just going to be as easy as me snapping my fingers and wishing it gone."

"Well, I
don't
think that. But I think you should at least give using your power another try...or maybe even several. After all, it seems to be the day of everyone
trying
, so you may as well join in. Desmond is going to try to not get scared and push me away again, and I'm going to try not to get scared about that possibility and paranoid about it, which probably isn't going to be easy."

I paused, deciding I was going to bring out the big guns.

"But those efforts don't even compare to how hard someone else is going to have to try very soon, and that person is your own sweet Jake. He's going to have to learn how to walk soon once he doesn't have to wear the braces anymore, after barely being able to pull himself up to stand with them on. He's going to have to try over, and over, and over again, I'm sure, but something just tells me he's not going to give up until he can pull himself up easily on his own and walk.

“So, are you going to join him in all his trying by trying your own different thing yourself, or are you going to let him grow up thinking that quitting is fine sometimes, if we're scared of something, or if we get a mental block, or if we just don't think we can do something. With as hard as he works to try to pull himself up to stand every day, I can guarantee you this isn't what he thinks now."

Emma suddenly pushed her sunglasses up an inch and hastily wiped one of her eyes.

"Geez...you just had to mention Jake, didn't you."

"Well...I guess I did. All the things I said are true, but I also thought you needed a little push to really get on board with trying again to use your power. I'm your friend, Emma, and I think it's really important that you don't just let this go for the rest of your life."

Hugging her arms to her chest, she looked from the planter of bright flowers to me.

"All right. I'll give it a go today. But please don't pressure me while I'm trying to levitate. I think that will only make my mental block worse. Just let me kind of creep onto the practice floor and join in at my own pace."

"Deal. I won't even say a word. I won't pressure you in any way at all."

I didn't, though, unfortunately, that didn't seem to help Emma much. After kind of tiptoeing out onto the practice floor once things had gotten started, just like she'd said she would, she just as tentatively began extending a palm, clearly trying to levitate the Gifteds who were being "Angels" that day, but as far as I saw, she didn't levitate a single one of them a single inch.

Maybe halfway through practice, she left the floor and began heading in the direction of the restrooms, wiping her eyes, but I didn't follow her, sensing that maybe it was best that I didn't.

When she returned to the practice gym a while later, she briefly sat in her usual spot in the seating area before returning to the floor once again. But again, she had no luck levitating anyone. At the end of practice, Brianna and a few others told her in a low key sort of way that it had been great to see her out on the floor, and I said a silent prayer of thanks that they hadn't been more vocal about it. Something told me that would have made Emma feel even more pressure than she was already likely putting on herself.

When we left the building together and got out on the street, she immediately glanced over at me.

"Let's just talk about anything other than me not being successful back there."

I said that was perfectly fine, and after grabbing a few hot dogs from a street vendor, we talked about how it was pretty miraculous how I hadn't gained even a single pound during my pregnancy yet, despite the fact that I'd definitely been eating for two. Or three.

Early that evening, Desmond showed up at my apartment and pulled me into his arms first thing, saying that he'd had a very long day dealing with Angel dragons, and that I was a sight for sore eyes. After standing on my tiptoes to give him a kiss, I asked him what, specifically, the Angel dragons were doing, and he heaved a sigh.

"Well, I'll tell you what they're
not
doing. They're not acting like angels."

Thoroughly tickled by this little joke for some reason, I laughed, then took his hand and began leading him out to the living room.

"Come on. Let me pour you a whiskey, and then we'll sit down, and you can fill me in about the Angel dragons not acting like angels. Then, after that, I'm going to cook you dinner. Not trying to be funny at all, but I've been thinking about angel hair pasta with meat sauce all day."

It was true; I really had been.

Once I'd brought Desmond his whiskey, I settled in next to him on the couch, facing him with one of my knees bent, and told him to tell me what kind of trouble the Angel dragons were causing.

He took a long drink of his whiskey before responding, not even flinching, as if it were just apple juice.

"Well...to make a long story short, our intelligence sources have told me recently that the Angels and their Angel dragons are planning a full-scale attack on the city soon, which they haven't done since we Destroyers reclaimed the city.

“They're determined to now take it back, and worryingly, their numbers have really swelled lately. They might even have close to as many dragons as we do. Because of this, the leader of their dragons, Darius Archer, thinks that they'll just be able to stroll on in, take the city back for their own, and then keep right on rolling north, taking all the smaller cities like Quincy and Mason for their own as well."

Suddenly, my blood felt as if it had turned to ice water. Picturing my grandma in a city overtaken by sorcerers and dangerous outlaw dragon shifters that could hurt her was almost more than I could take.

Possibly seeing anxiety on my face, Desmond immediately continued. "Which will never happen, Madison. The Angels will never overtake Quincy. I promise you that. I'll never let them."

"But what if-"

"No 'what if' about it, so you don't need to worry at all. I'll never let the Angels reclaim Chicago, and because of that, their path to Quincy will be blocked. Your grandma will be completely safe at all times."

I believed him when he said he'd never let the Angels reclaim Chicago, but I couldn't help but still feel anxious.

"When are they supposed to attack?"

Desmond took another large drink of his whiskey with tension manifesting as a slight crease between his eyes.

"That's what we don't know. Our two spies that had infiltrated one of the Angel dragons' camps were recently found out and barely escaped with their lives before Darius Archer had made his mind up about when to launch an attack.

“At one point this afternoon, we even thought it might already be happening when some of our scouts spotted a group of Angel dragons coming toward the city from the south, but it turned out to be the same group of spies that gave us all sorts of problems this morning before getting away just as we'd nearly caught up with them."

"Well, no matter when they launch their big attack, I'm going to be ready to fight. I'm getting pretty darn good at using my zapping power, if I do say so myself, and I know I can be an asset when-"

"Over my dead body, Madison."

"What?"

Desmond had paled a bit, and he was now gripping his whiskey glass so hard that his knuckles were white. I was honestly afraid that with just a little more pressure, he might break it and cut himself.

"Only over my dead body will you be defending the city against the Angels and their dragons. And that's absolutely final."

*