The Dragon's Cure - Shaun

Chapter 40

Shaun insisted on joining them downstairs for dinner after begging Amanda to forgive him. He did not die intentionally, after all. As proof of her forgiveness, she pushed a ring onto his finger and smiled up at him.

"Chezlin gave me the gold and stones and Luke melted the gold for me to shape your ring. I figured since you're the king and all, you should have a ring fit for a king. It's not as fancy as the one you gave me, but it has all four colours to represent the houses and I had to ask Chezlin to carve the dragon twirling through them and around your finger, but I added a spell to keep it on your finger. When you shift, it will appear on this chain around my neck," She said pulling at the chain that held her own ring a few days before.

"Have I told you how amazing you are? Beautiful, talented and smart. Those are positive attributes not imperfections. That's what makes you so irresistible," Shaun said before brushing his lips against hers.

She stepped back and waved a finger at him saying, "Oh no you don't. The last time you kissed me, your heart stopped and I had to hurt you to get it working again. You're not getting another kiss until you are completely healed up."

Shaun chuckled and had to grab hold of his ribs again. "Feed me woman, so I can go shift. You might want to keep that sexy body inside while I change. I don't trust him yet. He's been after you since the first day we set eyes on you."-He pulled her lip out from between her teeth.-"Please do not do that. It reminds me of that first kiss all over again."

He leaned towards her to kiss her, but she turned and walked to the door. "Luke bring your brother down, before I shock him for good measure."

They both laughed, but Shaun's was cut short by the pain that ripped through his chest again.

***

No one spoke much during dinner, though Jenna did try to spark a few conversations with Elizabeth. After the third one word answer she gave up. Mandy could feel the tension and excused herself early. She used the excuse of saying goodnight to the sun before bed.

Shaun wiped up the last of the sauce with a piece of steak and sighed, satisfied and sated.

"I'm going to go shift. Are you two joining me?" Shaun asked looking at first one brother then the other.

"That sounds like a good idea," Luke said before getting up and walking out.

"Okay, that's it. Get back in here right now!" Shaun shouted.

"Shaun, just drop it," Luke said from the door.

"No, I will not drop it. The one minute you two look like you want to eat each other alive and the next you can't stand to look at each other. I can feel the attraction you have for each other, so go talk it out like normal people. Jenna is your cousin and you can't say more than two words to her. Life can not possibly be that miserable that you would want to shut out your own damn family. Go sort your shit out because you are making my child sick," Shaun said.

As though on que, Mandy screamed out in pain. The table shook and his chair went sliding on its side, crashing into a wall.

"Daddy!" Mandy shouted as he ran out the room.

She hobbled over to him, dragging a bleeding leg behind her. He pointed towards Amanda when a window crashed in the nursery and she ran past him, straight into Amanda's arms.

Shaun only saw the tail, but he knew what had bitten Mandy. Only one creature had the tail of a scorpion and would have had to rip through the double pane window to get out. Only one creature would fight to protect the large, hairy, dinosaur sized eggs that covered most of the walls in the nursery.

The only place he had seen a mutated spider with a tail of a scorpion, was on the other planet.

"We need to find it and kill it. The female will be close by. Take extra care not to damage the venom sacks. I need it to make an antidote for Mandy," Shaun said while walking back to Amanda. "Ask Chelsey and the others to get the kids out of there. We have to torch the whole room."-He looked back at Amanda and said, "Give me a chance to explain, before you judge me. I have to go kill that thing so I can help Mandy. I'll explain it all. I promise."

She frowned, but nodded, until she saw Chelsey and Charles coming out of the nursery carrying babies. Her eyes darted between them and then, as realisation set in, she took a step back from him.

"Amanda, please. It's not what you think. I swear. Give me a chance to explain it to you," Shaun begged.

"I'll talk to her. Chezlin told me everything. Go get that..."-Jenna waved her hand at Mandy.-"Whatever ripped a chunk out of her leg. Just hurry up. She's bleeding really badly,"Jenna said while wrapping a kitchen towel around Mandy's leg.

Amanda looked down at Mandy and ran up the stairs calling down to Jenna to bring her some ice packs and a few herbs from the kitchen.

Shaun went the other way, out the front door. He pulled at the bandages and removed his clothes, to join Luke and Chez in their shift. He spotted the giant spider heading towards some trees, but Luke and Chezlin, having completed their shift before him, blasted it with streams of fire.

Luke, the larger green dragon, swung around and breathed fire straight at it, catching it full in the face. Chezlin's smaller aqua coloured dragon, streaked up into the air, avoiding being sprayed by the brown slime that burst from the arachnid as it exploded.

Shaun grunted as his bones started reshaping and his muscles pulled. His wings slid free and fell limply to his sides. He cried out as his spine stretched, pulling at the flesh that had been ripped open. His vision blurred so he called to his dragon, asking for help. When his vision cleared a few minutes later, he stood as a large white dragon, shimmering in the last rays of the sun, glaring at a giant black spider.

Her mandibles looked like crab claws and her abdomen shaped like a black widow. Her rattle snake tail hissed as she tilted her head slightly. Shaun did not miss the spear shaped stinger as she whipped her tail at the two dragons circling her.

When Shaun stepped closer, he pulled his wings level with his body to hide the claws on the ends of his wings. She turned to face him, no longer interested in the pesky dragons flying over her, when his magic crackled like electricity over his wings.

"Come on, you ugly bitch. I know you want it. You will have to suck it from my dead body, because I will not hand over my powers that easily. Come get me," Shaun said.

She charged forward a few steps, before being hoisted in the air.

"Watch out for that stinger. She's a bit more twisted than the others we had to deal with. CHez, do not harm her head. I need that venom!" Shaun shouted when fire surrounded her body. "I can't fly. My wing is still busted. Luke you will have to drop her and remove the head for me."

Luke dropped her a few feet away from him, but she got up and tried running towards the trees. Shaun conjured up a gust of wind and sent a bolt of lightning at her. She dodged it, but it gave Luke the time to stomp down on her tail. A really loud screeched echoed through the trees, sending birds flying in every direction, as Luke's teeth closed around her neck. Her head rolled free and Luke stood gagging, wiping the brown sludge off his face, against the grass.

He spat out some brown slime and said, "I am not doing that again. She smells worse that that swamp water they breed in. Wonder why she chose the nursery to lay her eggs."

"It's the only heated room and it only has one window. I have to get that venom to the lab to make the antidote for Mandy. Get rid of that please. Make sure you check for others. I don't want any more casualties," Shaun said before shifting back to his human form.