And nothing was more important to Jack than family.
Epilogue
“Mom. Mom,” Cade whispered.
Eva rolled over and opened her eyes, her heart stopping when she saw her son standing at the side of the bed, his face close to hers.
“Mom. Grandpa told me it was time.” Cade whispered more likely. “Now Lucas has made Daddy a member of the Council, you can get the Dragon’s Tear.”
“Grandpa.” Eva put her hand to her temple, the room seemed to spin around as she asked, “You heard Grandpa talking?”
“In a dream,” Cade answered, lisping through his missing teeth. They had fallen out a couple of weeks ago, and the new ones were only half grown. “He told me to tell you that you can’t ignore him forever.”
Eva sat up and cast a glance across to where Jack lay asleep, who stirred, and turned over, but didn’t wake. Once Jack had settled, Eva took Cade’s hand, led him from her room, and back to his own room. “Into bed, sweetheart.”
“Do you know what Grandpa meant?” Cade asked. “Or do you want me to ask him?”
“Have you dreamt about Grandpa before?” Eva asked.
“A couple of times. But those were fun dreams. He told me this one was important.”
“Well, you tell Grandpa I understand, and I’ll get to it when the time is right,” Eva said, kissing Cade’s forehead.
“That’s what he said you would say,” Cade answered sleepily.
“Did he?” Eva smiled sadly. “OK, tell him I understand.”
“And you’ll talk to Daddy about it?” Cade snuggled down, his eyes closing.
A sadness crept into Eva’s heart, but she nodded, and said, “I’ll tell Daddy about it.”
She got up, walked to the door, and stood watching for a while, as her son drifted off to sleep. The pressure inside her head, she identified as her father trying to speak to her, increased. He wanted her to get the Dragon’s Tear from where it had been interred, so that it could be returned to the last dragon. But she was afraid. She didn’t want to lose Jack, not when their second child was so close to being born.
Eva rubbed her hand over her stomach, and felt a strong kick. Is it wrong to want your mate to see his child born? she asked her father.
No, he answered sadly. It’s not. But Jack won’t be the one going on this mission.
Are you sure? Eva asked.
You have a couple more children that have to be born, that is not going to happen if Jack isn’t here.
Sophia told me… That Jack would leave, Eva said.
This is Liam’s fate. It’s his destiny to take the Dragon’s Tear. Things have to be set in motion.
Set in motion, that doesn’t sound good. But her father had gone.
Eva went back to bed, wanting to feel relieved that Jack was not the one who was going to take on this quest. But she loved Liam, she loved everyone in the squad, and hated the thought of change. She was happy, part of a family. And she wanted it to stay that way.
Yet the shadow of the Templars reached further each day. And one day, they would find a way to get hold of the Dragon’s Tear. It had to go home. It had to be returned to where it belonged.
She would miss Liam terribly, and so would Jack. Eva turned over and lay with her body pressed against her mate’s. Tomorrow, she promised her father.
***
“A Night Hunter and a Council member walked into a tomb…” Jack said, trying to lighten the mood, but it sat heavy around them. Dark and foreboding.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t have told Lucas?” Liam asked. “He made you a member of the Council, he trusted you.”
“No. It’s best no one else knows. They won’t even know,” Jack nodded at Eva. “You have the spell?”
“Here. My father visits the Grimmwold.” She cocked her head. “Brings a whole new meaning to head hunting.”
“Good. It’s a useful trick, being able to get into people’s heads and get information, even when the person is bound.” Jack grimaced. “But not mine. Your father is forbidden, he knows that, right?”
“He knows,” Eva said. “Although I’m not sure why it’s all right for him to be in everyone else’s head, but not yours. Are you hiding something?”
“No.” Jack shook his head. “Are you ready? And he said we can do this without Helena either?”
“Yes,” Eva said. Lately Helena had become a stranger. Different. There was something odd about her, and none of them knew what it was.
“I hate that we don’t trust her,” Liam said.
“I do trust her. With our lives. Just not with something this big. It stays between the three of us.”
“And how are you going to explain me leaving?” Liam asked.
“I’m going to say you’ve gone to see Mom and Dad. No one will know any different.”
“And where exactly am I going?” Liam asked.
They had asked him to pack a backpack, and told him he was going to take the Dragon’s Tear back to the last dragon. He’d agreed. Liam had a thing about dragons. What they hadn’t told him was where he was going. It was on a need-to-know basis, and her father had said he would tell Liam when he had the Dragon’s Tear in his hand.
Eva tried not to feel untrustworthy. Her father would only tell Liam. She was going to have to blank her mind off for a few seconds while the information was passed over. Henry insisted the secrecy was necessary. Jack had not been pleased, but he had agreed. The growing strength of the Templars worried him and if his dead father-in-law said this was the way things had to be, Jack would go along with it.
Eva closed her eyes, and then flicked the lit match into the bowl in her hand, which contained the ingredients of the spell. The ingredients snapped and sizzled, burning bright, before dying down to ashes. Smoke filled the tomb, a gray plume that danced in the air, before it moved, snake like, spiraling toward the east wall. Then it went into the wall, and a small opening appeared.
“There.” Jack took her hand, they had to do this together. A Council member and a Night Hunter.
“Do you feel it?” Eva asked. Their fingers closed around the stone at the same time, and she felt the warmth of it, and knew it was real. Knew that this was real. Liam would leave. And one day so would Jack.
The child inside here moved, as if trying to comfort her. Would there be any comfort when her mate left her life? And then the burning questioned erupted in her head, the one she had wrestled with for years.
If Jack left her, would he ever return?
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Bear Creek Clan and Bear Bluff Clan
Complete Box Set
Or available individually
suggested reading order
(each can be read as a standalone
but why not start at the beginning and get to know all of the characters?)
Rescued by the Bear (Bear Creek Clan Book One)
Finding Her Bear (Bear Creek Clan Book Two)
Tamed by the Bear (Bear Creek Clan Book Three)
Snowbound With The Bear (Bear Creek Clan Book Four)
Biker Bear Billionaire (Bear Creek Clan Book Five)
Bound To Her Bear (Bear Bluff Clan Book One)
Doctor Bear (Bear Bluff Clan Book Two)
Stranded With Her Bear
(Bear Bluff Book Three)
A Bride for the Bear (Bear Creek Clan Book Six)
Home Or Her Bear (Bear Bluff Book Four)
Fated To Her Bear (Bear Bluff Book Five)
Lonely Bear (Bear Bluff Book Six)
Wolf Valley Raiders
Complete Box Set Now Out Now!
Or available individually
suggested reading order
Redeem the Wolf
To Catch A Wolf
Reclaim the Wolf
Awakening the Alpha
Biker Bears
Forbidden Bear
Secret Bear
Christmas Bear Brothers
Complete Box Set Now Available
Santa Paws
Christmas Catastrophe
Bear Humbug
Christmas Bears
Sleighed
Claused
Wrapped
Fated and Mated
Love at First Site
Her Scars To Bear
Her Choice To Bear
Her Russian Bear
Who’s the Daddy?
One Bear and a Baby
Her Bear and a Baby
Second Chance Bear and a Baby
Baby Protector Bear
Return to Bear Bluff
The Bear is Back in Town
His Bear’s Necessity
Black Bear Down
Who Bears Wins
When Bears Collide
Wish Upon A Bear
Cowboy Brother Bears
Cowboy Bear Blues
Cowboy Bear’s Mate
Shifters Prime Sleeping Lions
Complete Box Set Now Available
Living a Lion
Freeing a Lion
Fighting a Lion
Chosen by the Karal
Complete Box Set
Or available individually
Deceit
Love
Power
Hunger
Devotion
Warriors of Karal
Stranded
Found
Taken
Hunted
Allies
Sci-Fi Romance
The Princess and her Alien Rogue
The Princess and her Bounty Hunter
Her Dragon's Bane Serial
Soul Of The Dragon
Blood Of The Dragon
Heart Of The Dragon
Love Of The Dragon
Fate Of The Minotaur
Mate Of The Dragon
Bound To The Flame - A Virgin For The Dragon
When the dragon egg hatches for Trinity she becomes the Dragon Princess and must remain pure until the dragon comes back to claim her as his mate on her twenty first birthday.
An Heir For The Flame (Dragon Fantasy Romance)
The elder dragons have predicted that Trinity will conceive the new dragon child tonight. So she mates with ShanRohit under the full moon.
Waiting For Curves (Curves For Her Wolf) (BBW Erotic Romance)
Curves For Her Wolf Doctor (The Greystone Wolves - BBW Paranormal Erotic Romance)
Mistaken Curves (Her First Time With A Wolf) (BBW Erotic Romance)
Sold To The Wolf (Auctioned Curves For The Werewolf) (BBW Erotic Romance)
Curves For The Lone Wolf (BBW Erotic Romance)
An Auction Of Curves (BBW Erotic Romance)
Anna (Curves in the Family (BBW Erotic Romance))
Heated Curves (Curves For Her Firefighter) (BBW Erotic Romance)
Words Unwritten (Curves For Her Soldier) (BBW Erotic Romance)
Christmas Curves (BBW Erotic Romance)
Winning Her Curves (previously titled Virgin Curves)
Returning For His First Love
For The Love Of The Wolf (Erotic Romance Fairy Tales)
Marianne : Unmarked (His) (Paranormal Shifter Romance)
Bred By The Unicorn (Virgin Paranormal Erotic Romance)
The Escort Box Set
***
The Escort Series
The Escort (The Escort Series Part One)(Free in some regions)
The Escort (The Escort Series Part Two)
The Escort (The Escort Series Part Three)
A Curvy Christmas: Robin's Romance (BBW Romance)
Helen’s story:
His Secretary (Her Second Chance Book One)
His Secretary (Her Second Chance Book Two)
His Secretary (Her Second Chance Book Three)
Captured By The
Hannoth Barbarians
Captured By The Barbarian: Cilla Part One
Claimed By The Barbarians: Cilla Part Two
Taken By The Barbarians: Dinah
Tilda - Captured By The Hannoth Barbarians
Thandor - Captured By The Hannoth Barbarians
Princess Yolanda - Captured By The Hannoth Barbarians
Bound By The Barbarian: Tirim
Bound To The Barbarian: Tirim Part 2 (Reluctant Gay Sex)
Captured By The Barbarians: Scarla
Tamed By The Barbarian: Shona Part One
Hunted By The Barbarian: Shona Part 2
Teaching The Barbarian: Petra
***
Saved By The Pack
Alice
Sarah
The Dualis
(Mate of the Cave Bear)
Found (Book One)
Lost (Book Two)
Return (Book Three)
Shifters Of Spellholm - The Bears
Her First Time With A Bear (Book 1)
Too Much To Bear (Book 2)
Bear With Me (Book 3)
***
Curves
***
Curves For Her Bears (BBW Shifter Erotic Romance)
Saving You, Saving Me (Bad Boys Love Big Girls (BBW Erotic Romance))
Rachel (Curves in the Family Part One (BBW Erotic Romance))
Snowbound Curves (Curves For Her Brother's Best Friend BBW Erotic Romance)
BBW - Curves For Her Soldier
Longing For Her Soldier (Curves For Her Brother's Best Friend BBW Erotic Romance)
Return To Sender (Curves For Her Soldier) (BBW Erotic Romance)
BBW - Greystone Wolves
A Virgin For The Wolf (Curves For Her Werewolf Boss) (BBW Erotic Romance)
***
Curves For Her Cowboy (BBW Billionaire Cowboy Erotic Romance)
Betrayed Curves
***
A Virgin For The Billionaire