In my fury over being violated and played like a violin, I leap out of bed and into the shower, turning the jets on and up to steaming hot before I realize that if Laurentis were in fact here, the shower is the last place I would want to be. I tell myself I am being ridiculous as there is no way that he could be in the D.F.K., but the memories of Aelfric are all too real and without even giving myself a proper cleaning, I leap back out and wrap a towel tightly around me, pushing my soaking wet hair out of my eyes.
Stop it! I yell at myself for being so stupid. I spin in a circle and I am ready to go and meet Remiel. Seeing as I intend to go to Earth, as I also need to find myself a human Feeder. I dress appropriately in jeans and a blouse, with my beloved Louboutins on my feet. Man, I miss proper clothes. I have been-there and done-that with big gowns and flat shoes. I think it is time to end this and move back to the Underworld or even back to Earth. I glance at the clock and blanche. It is about two hours later than I thought it was. I must have overslept and now it is mid-morning already. I wanted this over and done with early.
I head downstairs quickly and run straight into Drake and Kalen. Both of them are looking anxious and when they see me, they cross over quickly as Kalen takes my hands. He drops a kiss on my forehead, which isn’t to my liking, so I tilt my head up and he smiles and kisses me on the lips instead.
“Better,” I murmur as Drake looks on in approval. “Why the anxiety?” I ask.
“We have a bit of a situation,” Kalen says, squeezing my hands.
My stomach drops to my feet and my heart lurches in my chest. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DAUGHTER?” I roar at him so loudly he backs away from me with his hands up in case I go homicidal Faerie on him.
“Nothing,” he stammers. “She’s Shifted is all.”
“And she won’t Shift back,” Drake mutters. “You need to fix this, Aeval. I cannot have a small Dragon flying around, no matter who she is.”
I can’t help my smile as I picture the little, Golden Dragon flying around over our heads. It would be so sweet. But then I frown. Why would she have done this? Here, of all places? “Where is she?” I demand.
Drake leads me to a room tucked away into a corner and points to the door.
I hesitantly push it open, not wanting her to escape, and then hastily enter and shut it behind me. I am in an empty room with a wooden floor and empty book stacks against the walls. It is up near the high ceiling where I see Delinda perched precariously on a shelf in Dragon form. She is gorgeous, her golden scales shimmering in the dim light, but she is wary. She doesn’t come to me when I call her and that worries me.
“Delinda,” I say and hold out my hand for her. “Come down, baby. We have somewhere we need to be.”
She just peers at me with her big, green globe eyes and I chew my lip. I try a few more times and then inspiration hits me. I sink to my knees and sit back on my heels. I call her again, “Delinda, sweetheart. Come to Mama.”
This time she swoops down and
settles in front of me, keeping her wings outstretched to keep her balance.
I can look her in the eye now. She felt intimidated by being on the ground with all these adults in human form towering over her.
“Sweetie,” I say. “You need to Shift back; we have an adventure to go on.”
She shakes her head slowly.
I try to think of all the things that might have triggered this response in her and I land on it quickly. “Do you want to go and see Papa?” I ask her carefully.
She nods her head.
“I will take you to see him now, but you must Shift back first, okay?” I cajole her.
In an instant she has Shifted, and she sits on the floor with her legs crossed. “Right now?” she asks.
“Right now,” I say, thinking that perhaps I should have told her we were going in the first place and we could have avoided all of this. “He wants to see you too.”
“He does?” she asks, brightening up.
“Definitely,” I say and take her hand. “He misses you.”
“I miss him as well,” she says. “Daddy is fun, but I don’t really know him.”
“I know, sweetie,” I say to her and give her a cuddle as she crawls into my lap. She has been through so much lately and it breaks my heart.
“Let’s get you dressed and then we will go,” I say.
“Will Grams be there?” she asks.
“No, Grams is still angry that I took you away,” I say to her.