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  I couldn't be sure that he wouldn't try to hurt them. So, for that reason, I tore off toward the backyard, hearing some huge commotion behind me, something like the twisting and crunching of metal.

  I didn't even need to turn and look; somehow I knew what had just happened. Darius had shifted into dragon form while still in my car, destroying it like an overheated tin can exploding. He'd probably even intended for the noise to make me turn around and slow down, but it had actually only made me pump my legs harder, determined to lead him away from the care home.

  From what I'd seen of him during the probably tenth of a second before my zap had connected with his forehead and I'd jumped out of the car, he wasn't a large man; I'd gotten the impression that he was actually on the smaller side. Not terrible-looking, dark-haired, maybe a little on the pale side.

  But it was his eyes that stood out to me most during the blip of time that I'd looked into them. A pale bluish-green, something like sea-foam, they should have been attractive, beautiful, even. But instead, they were ugly, because they radiated pure hate and malice.

  I'd actually never seen any more evil-looking eyes before. Darius hadn't even been glaring or scowling. It was almost as if there was something sick inside of him that lit his eyes from within, or maybe darkened them would have been a better way of putting it.

  I made it to the backyard before I felt the heat of him breathing fire. Whirling around, I gave him a zap but missed, probably because like he was in his human form, he was on the smaller side when in his dragon form, too, making him a less-than-ideal target, because his smaller size seemed to give him increased speed and agility.

  Trying again, I fired off another zap while jogging backward toward the woods, still determined to lead him away from the house. But again, he swerved away, flying just a few feet off the ground. I fired again, this time hitting my mark. Not wasting a single second, I turned and began sprinting toward the deep woods, hearing Darius groaning in pain.

  It was such a stupid, newbie Gifted move that did me in. While still running, I turned to see if that last zap had brought Darius down. If I hadn't done that, I probably would have made it all the way to the woods, no problem. I surely wouldn't have run headlong into a baby hibiscus bush that I hadn't seen, tripping over it and falling to my hip, rolling to minimize the impact.

  "Oh! Oh, ow. Dammit."

  I was in extreme pain, the kind that made me suck in my breath through my teeth with tears in my eyes, but at the same time, I knew my injury wasn't serious. I was going to have a dark purple bruise somewhere on my hip, but I was pretty sure that would be the extent of it. It felt like I'd landed on a rock or a stick or something, though as badly as it hurt, it may as well have been a knife.

  I had about two seconds to get over the pain, though. I had much bigger problems. It appeared that my last zap had indeed felled Darius, but now he was pulling himself back up, already flapping his dark wings. Maybe thirty feet away, he could be right on me within just a few hard flaps.

  Not even taking the time to stand, I fired off another zap, but he dodged it with just a slight swerve. Immediately after, he launched himself into the air with a mighty flap of his dark wings. I fired off yet another zap, but Darius was speeding toward me now, and I missed again. With my heartbeat sounding like a jackhammer in my ears, I knew I had about one more second, and I couldn't miss, but Darius was coming at me so fast I could barely aim my palm to zap.

  THE FINAL CHAPTER

  In that next blink of time, a few things happened pretty much simultaneously. The first thing was that I did a wild hail Mary zap, squeezing my eyes shut reflexively because it appeared that Darius was going to fly right into me, probably killing me, or at the very least, knocking me out.

  The second thing that happened was that almost instantaneously with my zap, I heard a roar of pain. Somehow, I'd hit him. Just a split-second later, though, this roar of pain was cut off by some thunderous thud. It was only when I opened my eyes that I realized what had made it. From what it looked like, Desmond had tackled Darius in mid-air, colliding with him, and probably not a second before Darius would have fallen on me, probably crushing me to death.

  Now the two of them, both dark gray in color, were rolling around in the air, maybe just twenty feet above the yard. In the fading light of early evening, the only way I could tell them apart was that Desmond was so much larger. He was also louder, his roars actually making me cover my ears.

  I began backing up to the house, though I didn't want to take cover inside because I was worried that some of Darius' Angel dragons would soon show up, greatly outnumbering Desmond. And if that happened, I wanted to be able to use my zapping power to help him. Although at present, he looked like he could probably take on a dozen Angel dragons at once, single-handedly. At least.

  Clawing and snapping at Darius, he soon took him down to the ground, where he breathed a brief jet of fire into his face, making him roar in pain. I knew Desmond had likely only breathed a brief jet and not a longer one because he was probably afraid of the heat from a lengthy fire stream getting too close to me, so I continued backing up to the house, but a little faster now, so that he could breathe all the fire on Darius that he wanted to.

  Very soon, he breathed a jet that lasted for at least five seconds, making Darius roar again, writhing beneath Desmond's razor-sharp claws, and it wasn't long after that that Desmond began decapitating him by clamping his strong jaws around Darius' thick, scaly neck.

  Not needing to see all that gore, I turned my face away just in time to see more dragons descending from the sky. Worried that they were Angel dragons, I prepared myself to start zapping, but once the first of them had landed, I quickly saw that it was Eric.

  After a quick look at the carnage Desmond was causing, Eric shifted and spoke to me.

  "Did any other Angel dragons make it here?"

  I shook my head. "No. It was just Darius, I think. I haven't seen any others, anyway."

  "Good. We have about four hundred of us Destroyers back there dealing with about a hundred of them who were heading this way. We were pretty sure we contained them all, though. All except Darius Archer, and I see Desmond's dealing with him right now."

  Actually, Desmond had already dealt with Darius, past tense. Head separated from his body, Darius was clearly dead, though Desmond was still in fighting mode, flying over to the woods, presumably to look for any Angel dragons that might be lurking in there.

  Eric began jogging over to Desmond, calling out to him, and Desmond shifted into human form as well, briefly, just to say something to him before the two of them once again shifted into dragon form and charged into the woods.

  Still searching the skies for any stray Angels, the other dozen or so dragons who'd landed in the vast backyard were remaining in dragon form. Seeming to be straining their ears for any Angel dragon roaring as well, they were also being fairly quiet. Which is why I was able to hear very light footsteps of someone padding on the grass behind me.

  I turned and saw that one of the care home residents, a petite woman with a short gray bob, had wandered out from somewhere, either the front or the back. She stopped right beside me and began surveying the dragons standing in the backyard, hands clasped to her chest, as if in rapture. Her expression was pretty rapturous, too, as she settled her gaze on the dragon nearest us, who was a dark jade color.

  "Oh! He's a nice one. I like his long green wings."

  Just then, Eloise came tearing out of the house, yelling at the top of her lungs. "Bettina! Bettina!"

  Not seeming startled or phased in the least, Bettina turned to look at Eloise with a smile.

  "Just look at all these marvelous creatures. What a treat! I don't remember you telling us that we'd be getting such a special visit."

  Winded and clutching her chest, Eloise came to a stop and took in the scene, and her frantic expression changed to one a little calmer once she saw that all the dragons that had landed in the backyard didn't mean anyone any harm.
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br />   After catching her breath for a few moments, Eloise gently took Bettina by the elbow.

  "Time to head back inside. This special visit is over."

  Following behind them, I went inside the house to make sure my grandma was okay, as well as everyone else. I feared that maybe some of them had seen the fight between Desmond and Darius, and unlike Bettina, had actually found dragons and gore pretty scary.

  However, Eloise gestured to the living room, and I saw that somehow, improbably, most of the residents were fast asleep on the couches and in various recliners and chairs, including my grandma. She'd always been a hard sleeper, though I'd never dreamed she could sleep through something like the thunderous boom Desmond had made when tackling Darius. Apparently, I'd been wrong.

  The only two residents who were awake, two men in recliners, were tranquilly watching a game show, and one of them now turned and asked Eloise if a garbage truck had recently rumbled through.

  "It was awfully loud. Made me miss hearing them announce the bonus prize of the day."

  Soon, after sitting Bettina down, Eloise took me out to the kitchen, asking if I was all right.

  "Are you hurt anywhere?"

  "Miraculously, no. Other than a bruise on my hip maybe, but I feel pretty lucky that is the worst of it."

  I went on to explain to Eloise what had happened, and not a moment after I'd finished, Desmond came striding into the house, asking if I was okay. Eloise went out to the living room to give us privacy, and I pretty much repeated what I'd just told her about the worst of my injuries being a bruise.

  Visibly relieved, Desmond took me in his arms and just held me tightly for a long time. Just like I'd wanted him to do earlier that day. Melting into him, I rested my face against his hard chest, inhaling his heavenly scent, realizing something. I couldn't be parted from him ever again. I loved him too deeply, and I was going to do whatever it took to make us work.

  I wasn't exactly ready to say that I'd never fight again or anything like that, but I was willing to try my hardest to work through things. I was going to fight to work through things just as hard as I'd just fought to save my own life when Darius had been attacking me.

  Becoming overcome with emotion, I lifted my face from Desmond's chest to tell him exactly what I was thinking, but he spoke first.

  "I've faced it now twice...once when you fought in the city, and then here when Darius attacked you. I've faced losing you. At first, it made me want to push you away, so that I wouldn't fall any deeper in love with a woman who seemed intent on taking risks that made me fear losing her.

  “But then just now...when I saw Darius charging you...I realized that I can't live without you. No matter what, Madison. Losing you to my own stupid fear of loss would be the greatest loss of all. So, I'm not going to hold back anymore. I'm never going to push you away ever again.

  “If you'll agree to give things another shot with me, maybe we can compromise. Maybe we could agree to something like no more fighting Angels when you're in your second and third trimesters. Then once the baby is born, you could rejoin the rest of the Gifteds. This is just an example of a compromise, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I'm going to fight to make us work."

  With my eyes filling with tears, I nodded.

  "I am, too. I want us both to fight. And I like your compromise. I can work with that. I just want us to be together."

  With his own eyes surprisingly a little shiny, Desmond smiled.

  "That's what I want, too. More than anything. And I'm willing to compromise on some calculated risks to make that happen." He paused just long enough to plant a brief, firm kiss on my lips. "I think you're incredibly brave, and brilliant, and strong, Madison. You're also kind and sweet beyond belief. You're everything I've always wanted in a woman...you're everything good all in one person...and I think you're going to make a phenomenal mother."

  Tears flowing freely now, I could only manage to croak out a thank you. Desmond grabbed a tissue from a box on the counter and dried my tears for me, kissing me a few times along the way, and just as he'd finished, my grandma came shuffling out to the kitchen, one side of her hair matted from sleep.

  Praying she'd still recognize me, I introduced Desmond to her.

  "He's my baby's father, Grandma."

  At first, she looked a bit befuddled, and she looked from Desmond to me, and then back to him. But then her eyes got a bit of a spark to them and she opened her arms wide to hug him.

  "Welcome to the family!"

  Grinning, Desmond gently wrapped her in a hug. Instantly misty again, I just watched them embrace, wanting to freeze the picture in my mind forever.

  Bettina soon wandered out and joined the group, too, asking Desmond if he'd seen the dragons. He replied that he might have seen one or two. My grandma laughed and called him a "big kidder," then began telling him a joke.

  I rode back to Chicago on Desmond's broad, scaly back, with the wind drying yet another wave of joyful tears streaming down my cheeks.

  Over the next several weeks, it became clear that though the Angel dragons were probably going to remain a problem for quite some time, they were a much weaker group without their leader. It would likely only be a matter of time before they chose a new one and became more organized once again, but for the time being, Chicago had entered a period of relative tranquility.

  Because of this, and because he didn't have to spend quite so much time tracking the Angel dragons and directing surveillance operations on them, Desmond had more time to spend with me, and I enjoyed every minute of it, thrilled that our love was growing deeper and deeper.

  In fact, one night after a marathon lovemaking session followed by an hour-long talk just spent in each other's arms, Desmond asked me to move into his penthouse, and I gladly said I'd love to. He had all my things moved in the very next day.

  We continued to tease each other about whether we were going to have a son or a daughter, but when I was four months along, the day of truth finally came when I went in for my ultrasound. However, first, Desmond and I were in for a bit of a scare.

  Immediately after moving the ultrasound wand over my now-very-pronounced baby bump, the technician looked at the screen intently. Then, expression neutral, as she'd probably been trained to keep it, she said she'd be right back with Dr. Jansen, and she left the room.

  For at least a solid minute, I just clutched one of Desmond's hands, hardly even daring to breathe, while he told me that everything was going to be okay, looking as if he was struggling to really believe that himself. When Dr. Jansen came into the room, I instantly began begging her to please just tell us what was wrong, and to my astonishment, she just gave me a little smile.

  "Nothing's wrong. Just lie back and relax again."

  Relieved but dumbfounded, I did as I'd been told, and soon the technician was gliding the wand over my stomach again, producing images that only she and Dr. Jansen could see, because the monitor was turned toward them. Dumbfounding me even further, the technician began giving Dr. Jansen funny little glances, then moving the wand again, and giving her more funny little glances. Looking like she was fighting a grin for some bizarre reason, Dr. Jansen just looked at the monitor, murmuring things like, "Uh-huh," and "Yep, I got that" every so often.

  Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

  "Please...will one of you just tell us what's going on with our baby?"

  Dr. Jansen looked up from the monitor, now not even fighting a grin, just outright grinning.

  "Commander Grant, you told me that the two of you are having a boy, and Madison, you told me that the two of you are having a girl. Would you both like your guesses confirmed now?"

  Desmond and I nodded simultaneously, and I spoke in a voice half-strangled with anticipation. "Yes. Please tell us."

  Dr. Jansen grinned even bigger. "Okay. I'm officially confirming your guesses."

  A long moment ticked by, then two, and she didn't say anything else, just looked at us, smiling.

  I struggled
not to leap up off the table and grab her by the lapels of her white lab jacket.

  "Dr. Jansen, please...no more suspense. Please just tell us."

  By my side, Desmond joined in. "Yes. Please, Dr. Jansen. Tell us."

  Still smiling away, she just shrugged.

  "I already did tell you both. I confirmed both your guesses. You were both right. Jessie, why don't you turn the monitor toward them so they can see."

  Jessie the technician did as she'd been instructed, and once the monitor was squarely facing Desmond and me, Dr. Jansen gestured to it, brown eyes twinkling.

  "There's your girl that you were so certain of, Madison, and there's your boy that you were equally certain of, Commander Grant. There are your twins."