Kerrelyn Sparks - How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying)

“Emma saved the babies.” Neona motioned toward the egg room. “Come and see.”

Zoltan followed Nima and Neona down the narrow tunnel into the egg room.

Emma had transferred the babies to a clean nest. “Shouldn’t I bathe them? And put nappies on them? What do you feed them?”

Nima scoffed. “Do you think we’ll let you take our dragon babies away?”

Emma looked up at her. “I’ll do whatever I have to do. I’m their mother now.”

Nima huffed. “How can you possibly care for them? You’re dead half the time.”

“I’ll help you,” Neona offered. “The babies like goat milk. We have a few goats here in the valley. I’ll go milk them.”

“Thank you.” Emma suddenly stiffened and looked back at her babies. “What’s wrong? I can hear them crying!”

Everyone crowded around.

“They can’t breathe!” Emma shouted. “Oh, God, they’re turning blue.”

Neona reached for one. “Maybe I can—”

“No!” Nima yanked her back. “This is what happened to Xiao Fang’s sister. When Calliope tried to help her, they both died.”

Neona grimaced. “We can’t just let them die.”

Emma gasped. “I have to save them.”

“There is nothing we can do,” Nima cried. “Oh, God, we’re going to lose them both!”

“No!” Emma picked up one baby, then struggled to pick up the other. Zoltan leaned over to help her.

“I’ll take them to a doctor.” Emma stood. “Leah knows how to treat shifters.”

“You cannot remove the dragons from their home!” Nima shouted.

“Watch me.” Emma vanished, taking both babies with her.

Nima huffed. “She dares to steal them from us! Where is she taking them?”

“To Tiger Town,” Zoltan explained. “That’s where Leah is. She’s a brilliant doctor and geneticist. She can figure out what’s going wrong.” He eyed the five nests. Only two remained with eggs. “I would guess it’s a case of too much inbreeding.”

Neona nodded. “We’ve been worried about that, but I don’t know what can be done. These are the only dragons left in the world.”

“Maybe Leah can come up with something. We have a number of excellent scientists on our side. They’ll try their best to help.”

Neona smiled and linked her arm with his. “Thank you.”

“You’re thanking him?” Nima scoffed. “These vampires are ruining everything.” With a huff, she marched away. “I’m going to my house. I don’t wish to be disturbed.”

He watched the queen go, then muttered, “How will we survive the rest of the night without her?”

Neona gave him a wry look.

“Alone at last.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you. Thank you for believing in me. And my friends.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Thank you for helping us.”

He led her into the larger cavern. “I need to tell Angus what happened.”

Neona nodded. “I’ll stay here with Tashi and try to get the children to sleep.” She yawned. “It has been a long night for all of us.”

Zoltan teleported to the next valley. All the teams had returned. Lydia was climbing the rope ladder by the rock wall to return home. Freddie and Freya were walking slowly toward the rock wall, accompanied by J.L. and Rajiv.

“We’re done for the night,” Angus announced proudly. “A total of one hundred and fifty-three soldiers taken.”

“Fantastic.” Zoltan smiled. Lord Liao would have less than fifty soldiers left. “Liao must be livid.”

“Aye.” Angus grinned. “So how is Emma? I heard she went to the next valley. Something about eggs hatching.”

Zoltan rested a hand on Angus’s shoulder. “I have news for you.”

Angus’s smile faded. “Is Emma all right?”

“She’s well. Did you know she can communicate with the dragon children?”

“Aye. What has happened, man? Tell me.”

“The babies hatched and bonded with Emma. They believe she is their mother.”

Angus blinked. “They . . . adopted Emma?”

“Yes. And she adopted them. A boy and a girl.”

Angus blinked again. “We have . . . bairns?”

Zoltan nodded. “But they took ill suddenly. They couldn’t breathe. Emma teleported them to Tiger Town.”

“Bloody hell,” Angus whispered. “The bairns canna breathe?” He shook himself. “I have to go. Tell Robby he’s in charge.” He vanished.

Zoltan walked over to Robby MacKay to break the news that the MacKay family now included two dragon shifter babies. While everyone was drinking a toast to the new parents, Zoltan teleported back to Neona’s house.

She was there, naked and washing herself from a bowl of water.

“Wow,” he breathed as she gathered her hair up and wiped the back of her neck with a washcloth.

She spun around to face him. “You’re back.”

“Just in time.” He grabbed a bottle of spiked blood and guzzled it down.

With a smile, she watched him drink. “I wonder if your seed is reviving itself.”

“There’s only one way to find out.” His gaze drifted over her sweet body, then settled on the bandage on her arm. “How are you feeling? Are you in pain?”

“A little bit.” She walked over to the bed and crooked a finger at him. “I expect climax number seven will take my mind off it.”

She turned pink as his eyes glowed red. “I expect you’re right.”

It was late afternoon when Neona woke up. She glanced over at Zoltan. After climax number seven, she’d fallen fast asleep. He must have teleported home then, for his clothes were clean and his face shaven. She peeked into the box where he kept his blood bottles. Six new bottles and a half-full bottle of Living Water. While everyone was sleeping, he must have sneaked into the cave to get more Living Water to mix with his blood.

The women of Beyul-La drank only a small cup of it once a month in order to keep from aging. Zoltan was ingesting more than that every night. So far, he claimed there was no effect.

Neona looked him over. Gorgeous as always. It might take a week or more for any changes to be noticeable. Or it could be that his vampire healing abilities were erasing any changes during his death-sleep.

She dressed and hurried to the outhouse. While she was washing up in the stream, the alarm sounded. Someone was striking the old cowbell by the cave entrance.

The women rushed to the cave.

“They’re gone!” Winifred announced. “Xiao Fang and Norjee are missing.”

“What?” Nima shouted. “You were supposed to be watching them. How did you—”

“I’m sorry,” Freddie cried. “I was so tired, I dozed off.”

“Of course you were tired.” Freya came to her defense. “We were up all night.”

“They’re probably in the valley somewhere,” Neona said. “Maybe the pond where they bathed yesterday. They loved it there.”

“I’ll check.” Lydia ran upstream.

“I’ll see if the other children know anything.” Nima rushed into the cave.

Freddie leaned close to Neona and lowered her voice. “Huo and Chu won’t tell the queen anything. They’re afraid of her temper. But they confessed to me.”

Neona swallowed hard. “What did they do?”

“They were jealous that Xiao Fang and Norjee were getting so close. So they told Norjee that he wasn’t wanted here. That his own grandmother had given him away because he was a nobody.”

Neona winced.

“That was cruel,” Freya whispered.

Tashi touched her stomach. “If I have a son, I’m not giving him away.”

“They told Norjee that we keep only special children here, like the dragon shifters,” Freddie continued. “They saw him slip out while I was sleeping. Then Xiao Fang got upset and followed him.”