Falk Clan Tales - Chapter 87: Chapter 87

“How long do I wait, Nick? Fuck, I feel like I’m dying,” Devine growled, pacing their living room while a storm raged around their house.
Normally, he liked them. There was something beautiful about the raw, elemental power of a winter storm in South Jersey. Waves crashed angrily against the shore and lightning broke the cloudy gray black sky apart into tiny ethereal fragments every time it struck. Winter was coming in quickly.
“I am not the one who’s mated, brother,” Nicholas reminded him. “But if I had to guess, I would give her time to heal. I mean, you fucked up big time. Asking her to mate me, for one thing, which would be the best idea for any female since I am better looking, funnier, smarter, and my dick is bigger—what? Why are you wearing that expression?”
Dev, I am sorry. Sorry, love. So sorry.
“Did you hear that?” Devine asked—ignoring the whole bigger dick comment, which was a total lie, and turning to face Nicholas.
“Hear what?”
“Hello! Are you guys home?” Castor Falk came in without knocking, but since they had given him leave to do so, it was not all that unusual.
“Everyone is gathering together at Castle Falk for the storm, and we wanted to extend the invitation—hey, what’s going on?” Castor said, using the towel Nicholas had tossed at him to dry his hair.
“I don’t know. Something is wrong with Sunny,” Devine grumbled.
“Sunny? Who’s Sunny?”
“Sunny is his mate,” Nicholas explained, a frown marring his face.
“Mate? That’s good news, my friend, but what do you mean something is wrong? How do you know?”
“I felt it here a moment ago. Like I could hear her in my head saying goodbye, but now there is nothing. It’s all black,” he growled and slammed his hand on his head.
“Shit. Okay, look Devine can you look within yourself and find the matebond?”
“Fuck, it’s so small, like a thread,” he murmured and felt his own heartbreak damn near swallow him.
This was his fault. He did this. The phone rang and Nicholas rushed to answer. He heard someone talking on the other end, a female, hysterical.
“Dev, it’s Sunny’s mother. She says her daughter was waiting for a delivery when she called the trucker. The line went dead after the driver heard a crash and he contacted the company he was working for to reach out to the client⁠—”
“Give me the phone,” he said, taking the receiver from Nick. “Hello? Mrs. Daye? Yes—I’m on my way.”
“Hurry!” Sunny’s mother yelled.
“Sunny isn’t picking up her phone. I have to go,” he growled, yanking off his shirt and barely opening the door in time before his Dragon took him.
“Fuck. Don’t forget to cloak yourself. My brothers and I will be behind you!” screamed Castor as Nicholas took off right behind him.
Later, when Sunny was alive and safe in his arms, he would think back on how good it felt to have Clan at his back. But that was for after. After he found her. After he apologized for his idiocy and made up for all the mistakes he made. And after he re-claimed her, fortifying the bond between them that he’d almost killed with his self-doubts.
Devine flapped his wings hard against the raging storm. Lightning damn near hit him, but he was quicker than he looked. His spikes had grown double their size in his agitation, as they had a tendency too when he made ready for war.
This was not the typical battle. This was a fight to save his mate’s life and to win her love. No matter what else happened, Devine had to fix the hurt he’d caused. He just needed time.
Please be alright, Sunny, mate of mine. Stay strong for me. I am almost to you. Es meus.
When he landed at the rear of the building because that was where he felt her strongest, Devine saw the problem right away. Someone had built a temporary roof to cover the back lot without using the necessary frame to hold it against heavy burdens. It should have been fine against the rain, but with the added weight of what looked like more than three dozen heavy wooden pallets, the thing collapsed and fell apart under the onslaught of the storm.
Someone had already tossed the things off to the side, but it was too large a structure for any one person to lift alone. Even two people could not do it without risking the integrity of the structure. He spied two gray and brown Wolves circling the collapsed thing, trying to dig their way through.
Her father and brother, he thought, recognizing them despite having never seen their Wolves before. Devine landed quickly, his claws raking through the gravel. His brother was beside him in a matter of seconds and the two Wolves came racing over. They swapped their fur for skin and Devine and Nick did the same, so they could communicate.
“I scented her strongest this way,” her father yelled over the howling wind. “I just can’t get to her⁠—”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Daye. I will get her,” he promised, looking into the Wolf’s eyes.
“The easiest way is to lift the structure entirely, Dev. I have an idea, but you need to change into your Dragon,” his brother shouted as two more Dragons joined them from the air, and another two drove up in enormous SUVs.
Devine felt torn. He did not want to give up his skin. He wanted to be the first to get to her, but knowing Sunny was in danger, he Shifted to his immediately. Never before was he so damn glad to be a SpikeDragon.
QuartzDragon brother, his brother pushed the thought into his brain, and Devine growled softly. These are your pillars, and this is what they are truly for. For protecting your mate, your Clan. Now, prepare five of them. The Falk brothers will lift the structure from the corners, and you will use your spikes to hold them up. I will hold it up from the center. The Wolves will get Sunny. Ready on three?
Devine snarled his acquiescence, and his brother called the other Dragons and two Wolves to shift back to human.
“Ready on three!” Nicholas roared. “1, 2, 3!”
Everyone moved at once and Devine raced from corner to corner, concentrating on his aim as he shot one spike into the ground, acting as a stone column to hold the roof. Luckily, he was able to level one each time, creating a nice foundation for the roof.
Nicholas was able to let go as Devine changed to his skin and hauled the last spine with him to drive it into the ground at the center. Leaf and River, Sunny’s father and brother, were sifting through the shelves and empty display cases that had fallen when the roof crashed down, for any sign of her.
“I swear I scented her here,” Leaf growled angrily, and Devine saw why.
“Her shoe!” he yelled, racing over to lift the neon purple Croc from the wet rubble. It only took him a moment then to find the rest of her covered in mud and hidden beneath at least two dozen giant spools of twine that would undoubtedly be used to tie Christmas trees to the customers’ cars.
“Sunny. Sunny, wake up. SUNNY!” he yelled, lifting her none-too-gently from the rubble. Anguish washed over him like a tidal wave and Devine was fucking drowning in it. She was unconscious, pale, and wan looking.
“Sunny, please, please, please wake up,” he sat down hard on the ground, uncaring about his nudity as he wiped at her fast, rocking back and forth and pressed her closer to him murmuring all sorts of nonsense.
“Devine, maybe we should—” but he snarled and snapped at whoever the fuck was trying to get near them.
No. he would not let them. Sunny was his mate. His quartz rose. His maiden fair, and there was nothing he would not do for her.
“Please, meus lupus. Come back to me. I promise not to run again. I swear I will be the mate you deserve,” he whispered, kissing her eyes, her head, her cheeks, and fuck, he was sobbing, blabbering all over her, tears raining down his cheeks as he promised to be better for her.
That was the way this should be. He felt his Clan surrounding him, accepted the blanket her father offered, and wrapped her up in it. His Sunny, his sweet mate. So brave, so happy all the time. Fuck, she’d come into his life and disturbed everything, but in a good way. He had to tell her. She deserved to hear the words from his lips.
“Sunny, I didn’t think this would ever happen for me. I did not believe I was destined for a mate, and then I met you and my Dragon knew. You said mate first, and I scoffed. For the first time in centuries, I was afraid,” he said, laughing through his tears, and confessing to everyone exactly how much of a loser he was. “I was afraid of a pretty little Werewolf with a halo of curls and a wide grin, who wore no makeup, and no bra, and the ugliest damn shoes I have ever seen in my whole life on her pretty, and yes, really big feet.”
“You had to say big, didn’t you,” she whispered, her big brown eyes glazed with pain and something else.
Was it emotion? Maybe love? Please let it be love.
Hope flared to life and Devine pressed his head to hers, letting his tears fall unabashedly when she reached up to hold him back. This was the best fucking night of his life.
“Welcome to the Clan,” a booming voice said from behind him, and he recognized his Alpha.
“That’s Callius,” he told Sunny, who was trying to sit up slowly. “These are the Falk brothers, and you know my brother, Nicholas⁠—”
“Nice to meet you, all, uh, damn, my head hurts. Do I have a concussion?”
“What? Why do you think that, love?” Devine asked.
“Well, I think I’m hallucinating. Did I just get rescued by the Thunder Down Under or something?”
“Gross sis. And inaccurate. How can you compare us to a measly human male review?” River asked, shaking his head and pulling on a pair of sweats. The young Wolf was handing them out as realization dawned.
Devine snarled, and everyone jumped, pulling their pants on a little bit faster. He felt Sunny’s giggle before he heard it, and damn, had he missed that sound. She was still cradled in his arms like the perfect precious mate that she was, and even better, it did not appear as if she wanted to leave. Devine just held her, praying she understood what he was saying without words.
“A male review?” he asked, had to since she was the one who said it.
“What? I wasn’t a nun before we met,” she admitted.
“Sweetheart, didn’t I ask you, as your father, to not talk about those godawful shows you and Minnie used to go to in front of me?”
“Sorry, Daddy,” she said and turned her head to grin at her dad.
“How are you, baby girl?”
“Perfect. You rescued me,” she replied, and let him kiss her head, without leaving Dev’s embrace.
“Actually, I almost killed you. Me, River, and this shoddy roof job we did,” the man said, his face burning with too many emotions to name.
“It was my fault, Dad. I’m the one who designed it,” River said, claiming the blame, and Devine smelled the acrid stench of his embarrassment and regret fill the space.
He frowned. As much as he would have liked to beat the piss out of anyone who dared hurt his mate, the truth was these men would have never willingly done so. What happened was an accident. A perfect storm of missteps that all led to this near disaster.
Fuck, he was so grateful she was okay.
“That is not exactly true, gentlemen,” Nicholas said before Devine could. “The roof is sound. The real fault is with the foundation, or lack thereof. This is a temporary structure and should have been fine if not for the extreme weather and the palettes crashing onto it. Some tweaks, and it would have been perfect.”
“Really?” River’s eyes sparked with interest, and Nicholas pulled the Wolf over to show him what he meant, and Leaf followed.
“We’ll be off, Devine. Hope to see you all at Thanksgiving dinner,” Callius Falk said, before tossing a set of keys at Devine, and leaving with his brothers.
With Nicholas showing the Wolves what they did wrong, and where to improve, that left Devine alone with Sunny. He picked her up in his arms, taking her to the SUV.
“I will fly home, brother, and I will see the Wolves safe. You take care of your mate,” Nicholas called out, and Devine nodded his thanks.
“Let’s get you home,” he told her, tucking her against his body as he ran into the storm towards the vehicle.
Once seated, Devine turned to her. This was it. The moment of truth.
“Sunny, I⁠—”
“Home first, Dev. Aspirin. Warm clothes. And food. I really need some food,” she whispered—and, sure enough, her stomach growled. “Then we will talk, okay?”
Devine nodded. It was hailing, but he had superhuman reflexes and would see them home safely. His mate needed tending, and nothing in the world was going to stop him from taking care of her.
Poor beautiful mate. She’d suffered an ordeal, and after he made sure she was whole and fed, he was going to give her hell for scaring the shit out of him. Who was he kidding? He would never harm a single hair on her head.
All he wanted to do was get her home and make up for lost time. He wanted to kiss every inch of her. To let her know exactly where she stood with him. To explain with superb clarity precisely what she meant to him. His Dragon scratched and snapped, the enormous creature very on board with his plan.
Es meus.