A month went by.

While the dragonkin and other ancients that had been saved from the facility were transported either to the compound hospital or to one run by the Counsel, Rhia had refused to go anywhere but back to Nolan's house in Los Angeles. She refused to go anywhere near a medical facility and the only doctor she let near her was Nolan himself, but not to treat her like a patient. She was done being poked and prodded and stared at.

She couldn't even be in the house when they got there, finding the walls too confined, and she kept imagining them closing in around her. Sleep wasn't even a consideration the first few nights. When she did doze off, it was for no more than twenty minutes at a time before the nightmares had her waking in a screaming fit, losing control of her magic and setting his and the neighbouring houses on fire more than once. Dragonkin specialists had to be called to set protection spells around the entire block, make repairs to the electrical grid, and make assurances that any damages could be covered.

Rhia spent most of the first week curled up on a lawn chair, wearing one of Nolan's shirts and surrounding herself with his scent. He stayed with her as much as he could, holding her in his arms, speaking in a low, calm voice, and telling her the happier stories of his past. When he wasn't with her directly, he made sure she wouldn't have to do more than turn her head to find him again. Her anxiety of being away from him was at a ten, and he didn't want to make it worse.

He was determined to work around it and refused to leave the house. He would take a hundred phone calls if he had to and had invited several Counsel members to his home so he wouldn't need to leave. At one point, every elven representative was in his kitchen, including Zesstra, where they had been too distracted by the realization the Rhia was a pure-blooded dragon to be angry about anything the dark elf princess had done. Arkil had been surprisingly respectful of her space and did not insist on a proper introduction.

When Rhia did finally start coming into the house, Nolan made sure to keep every window big enough for her to crawl through wide open. When the panic set in, he wanted her to be able to get to the open air and see the sky. The first couple nights when the nightmares came, she would escape to her chair outside instead of coming back to the bed.

She broke down several times in his arms, worried that she was being too much of a burden on him. All the things she had done to be strong for him, and she couldn't even withstand a few nightmares? Of course, he never once agreed with her emotional ramblings. He loved her. All of her. The good, the bad, the hysterical... what kind of person would he be if he left her with this dumpster fire of a situation.

Not the kind of man he had ever aspired to be. Not the kind of man she needed or deserved.

His efforts to make things start to feel normal again were thwarted by internet. The truth was out. There were ten dragons, and one of them had been mistaken as a human for almost thirty years. The once fringe group of conspiracy theorists who would constantly claim that there couldn't be just three, became overnight celebrities. Their platforms exploded with activity, hundreds of thousands of people tuning in to listen to what they had to say. A lot of them were genuinely crazy, but the ones that were able to pull themselves into something that resembled a respectful appearance, went on television to talk to news hosts and drone on and on about how they knew they were right the whole time.

There was no chance in keeping Rhia's name out of any news, the papers, or off the internet. And once it was out there, the stalking began. It stared with Facebook, then moved to Twitter and her Instagram. Her mother had been taken into protective custody by the Counsel to keep the paparazzi and half-starved news hacks away from her. The dragonkin security team around the neighborhood were working overtime to keep them away from his house when it was discovered that she wasn't even on the compound. They'd even had to chase them off the water when the boats started appearing.

For the most part, Rhia had been able to ignore the cameras and the rumors. The Counsel and the kin were successfully keeping them away. But she had expected a lot more harassment from the dragons and the dragonkin. She expected the kin to try and wait at her hand and foot or tell her that she needed to take her place among the dragons, or this and that and the other thing.

She'd gone into a full panic attack when Juniper came over, expecting her to scold Rhia for not wanting to live on the compound. Instead, the wyvern just hugged her and assured her that she didn't need to do anything until she was ready. Then she delivered the news that the hatchlings she had escaped with were all safe and back with their families. Most of the others, obviously including herself, had escaped as well, but there were a few who were still missing. Sophie was among them, which sent Nolan into a state of depression of his own.

Dáithí came by at some point. It was awkward and he wouldn't look her in the eye for longer than a few seconds. He didn't call her 'little bird' anymore, and she hadn't realized how much she had enjoyed how aggressively blunt he'd been with her before. But she was a dragon and, just like Juniper said, he was a black and white kind of guy. All dragons were bad to him. She wouldn't change that. She didn't see him for a long time after that one visit.

But they were the only dragonkin she spoke to. Luna hadn't been that in tune with the situation and had tried again to throw herself into Rhia's path. By the way she was knocking, it sounded like she was ready to knock the door off the frame. Her anxiety and panic taking over her actions and she locked herself in the bathroom. Nolan had tried explaining, but Luna refused to go anywhere until she officially met Rhia. It had taken several of Nekros's elites to drag her away so Nolan could calm Rhia down.

There was no word from Nekros. He respected Rhia's wishes from the letter to the very spirit. He didn't try to contact her. He didn't even send a dragonkin to deliver a message. He would wait. It was such a simple action, but she respected him for it and was eternally grateful.

The only time she saw him was at night and when she sat on the porch when she would see him and Luna flying in a lazy dance in the light of Luna's magic. A few times, she would only see his massive shadow in the sky. Huge and black, even with the orange tinge of the Los Angeles light pollution. She wondered how bad his suffering was compared to hers. She had only been in the facility for two days and could still only remember flashes of her time as a child... but he had been in one of those cages for twenty-six years.

Who would she be if they had the opportunity to be a family? Who would she be if he had been able to raise her instead of Richard?

Those thoughts scared her. For all the bad, there was a lot of good in her life. Madeline was the best mother anyone could have ever asked for. Maddox was her big brother and had sacrificed his own life and freedom to help her. She had been a paramedic, and a damn good one at that. She had friends. She met Nolan. Would she have even met him if she had been raised as a dragon? If they had met... would he have even looked at her twice? Would she have been interested in him?

After a while, that became the real reason she had refused to meet him. Her wonderings got darker and darker the more time she spent on it. Every time she woke up from the nightmare in the shape of Quin's massive jaws, she wondered if she would have ended up as cold and cruel as he had been. He tried to kill her. For all his talk about protecting her and the kin... the tried to kill her. Just like Richard had.

How did she know if Nekros was any different? Just because he left her alone, just because he defended her from Quin... How did she know he wasn't just as bad as the rest of them?

But no mater what the other dragons had done or not done, Nekros was her father.

It took her a month after escaping the facility before asking Nolan to contact him. It was long after they were supposed to be in France, but Constantine had been surprisingly understanding of Nolan staying behind. It was a month before she felt like she could get through a conversation without breaking down in a mess of tears.

Nekros came without hesitation. He arrived on the beach outside Nolan's house and waited patiently for her to build up the nerve to walk out there and meet him.

"Are you okay?"

Nolan's quiet voice dragged her out of her thoughts, and she looked up. If there was one good thing about awakening, it was being able to see through the eyes of a dragon, and Nolan was even more beautiful than she remembered. She could see every fleck of white in his already intense blue eyes. Not only that, but she could now appreciate just how much he had been holding back in the bedroom. He was right, he could have hurt her. But now they could have each other in ways they always desired. For the moment, they had to put away the restraints because of the intensity of her trauma, but he took her hard and rough and gave her more pleasure than she ever thought possible. There was still a slight sting to her ass from the night before that brought a smile to her face.

"Yeah," she said softly.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "He's been outside for forty-five minutes and all you've done is stare at the counter."

She wanted to say something witty, something to make him laugh... but her throat felt dry. She looked back down at her hands. "What am I supposed to say?" she whispered.

"Generally, 'hello' is a good place to start." He gave her a charming smile as she glared at him. "Do you want me to go with you?"

She shook her head and took a deep breath. "No, I can do this."

Nolan walked around the island and brushed his hands through her hair. He pressed his lips to her forehead. "I'm right here if you need me." he said gently. "I love you."

"I love you too."

His smile was radiant as he kissed her. She didn't think she would ever get used to how he reacted when she said that.

Taking another deep breath, she finally walked past him towards the door to the back porch. Nekros stood patiently at the edge of the water. His head tilted slightly when he heard the door slide shut, but he didn't move until she was standing beside him. His eyes were the exact same shade as hers. But they were deeper... richer... There was five billion years of experience behind those eyes.

"Hi," she said in a voice so tiny, she didn't even recognize it as her own.

"Hi," a small laugh escaped him, and his nervous smile eased her tension. After a moment of silence broken only by the waves over the sand, he reached up and rubbed the side of his neck. "This is... awkward. All the times I imagined seeing you again... I never once considered that you wouldn't know what you were."

"Yeah," She chuckled softly. "And all the times I imagined meeting you, I never once thought you would be a dragon."

His laugh was louder and more genuine this time. "I guess we both had different expectations of each other." he smiled brilliantly before offering his hand. "Let's just start from the beginning. I'm Nekros."

The moment she took his hand, she knew it wasn't enough. A familiar warmth rushed through her, and magic lit up in her heart like a Christmas tree. He didn't even try to hide the emotions in his power. Excitement... sorrow... and a love so deep it sang back to the few memories she had of being with him.

She threw her arms around him, desperately needing to know her father. Nekros, while a little taken aback, did not hesitate to hug her back. Too long. It had been too fucking long for this to be the first time to hold her.

It was over too soon, but he did not fight her pulling back and he certainly did not miss the tears she scrubbed away before letting them fall. "I'm Rhia," she sniffed before her eyes widened in embarrassment. "Or... Rhiannon... I guess. You kind of named me after a fae queen and they were not happy about a human having the name, so I've always just gone by..."

He was laughing again, and she gave him a crooked smile. "If you prefer Rhia, then that's what I'll call you."

She gave him a sheepish grin and ran her hands through her hair. "I'm going to be honest with you; I didn't really know what to expect when I asked Nolan to call you."

His smile faltered slightly. "I have come to accept that you are a grown adult, Rhia," he said hesitantly. "Nothing will bring back the years we should have had together. I know you were raised with another family, and I'm not looking to replace anyone in your life."

"Richard Kincaid was never my father, if that's what you mean." She said, unable to hide the bitterness in her voice. "The rare moments he acted like one doesn't make up for the years..."

She stopped herself and looked out across the water. She was still working out the anger she felt knowing that the man behind everything was the same man she lived with for twenty years. The pain he caused her, her mother, her brother... her real father.

"I know it's selfish, but you really have no idea how happy I am to hear that. When Luna told me who had been raising you..." Nekros rubbed the side of his neck again. "What I mean is that I don't want to assume anything. A lot has changed for you and there is still a lot to figure out. I want to be a part of your life, of course, but in whatever capacity you are ready for."

"Well," she chuckled, tears sparking in her eyes again. "I don't know if you know this, but I just found out that I'm a dragon and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I could really use a good teacher."

Excitement flared in his face, his smile stretching wide, and eyes started to glow slightly. "Yes, of course, I would love to. Everything you have experienced so far has been simply instinct, and, as strong as that can be, you are capable of so much more. Giaros, the island where you were hatched, is..." He paused and glanced nervously back at the house. "But I suppose you have to discuss things with Nolan. I understand you had planned to accompany him to France."

"We have talked," Rhia sighed heavily and followed his gaze. She could see Nolan pacing in the kitchen, a phone to his ear. "And we've decided that, for now... maybe me being in France isn't the best plan. I can't participate in the whole civil war situation, but I'm not really the kind of girl to wait by the window for news of her lover's death or success. I'm probably going to get him in trouble. So... I was hoping that maybe... I could stay with you for a while. I can figure out how to be... this. We can get to know each other. And Nolan can play babysitter to an emotionally stunted, twenty-thousand-year-old vampire toddler."

His mouth twitched in a smile, but he didn't laugh. "Are you sure?" he asked softly.

"Greece is a, what, thirty-hour drive from France? I've done longer road trips."

"You can also fly."

Chills tore up her spine and every hair stood on end. "Let's put a pin in the flying thing for now."

He did smile this time, but it was fleeting. "But I meant that this civil war has been going on for two hundred years and may take just as long to resolve. Are you sure you want to be away from him for so long?"

"Oh, fuck no," she blurted before she could stop herself. "Sorry. I mean..."

Nekros was laughing again. "I understand what you mean." He chuckled. "You are willing to step back and allow him to do what he needs to do, but you're not going to let that get in the way of what you want."

"Yeah," she looked back towards the vampire she had fallen in love with entirely accidentally. Accidental or otherwise... she couldn't imagine her life without him anymore. "Pretty much."

"You're like Luna, in that way."

She wrinkled her nose at the mention of the other female. She looked up at Nekros again. "From what I've heard about her, I don't think that's a compliment."

His smile did not waver, but he did start rubbing his neck again. It was a fascinating example of how human the dragons could be if they wanted to. "She is impulsive," he admitted. "But when she cares, it's with a depth and ferocity I have never seen from another. She struggles with the concept of patience and regularly needs to be reined in. You should know that when she found out you were in L.A., she didn't want to wait. She wanted to find you and tell you everything."

"Why didn't she?"

She was pretty sure she knew the answer, and Nekros confirmed it.

"Quin." His voice did not get any louder or quieter, but she could see in his eyes that the mere mention of the dragon had his temper bubbling dangerously.

She wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. She'd dreamt about Quin the night before again. His refusal to listen... his need to kill... how easily he had repelled her and Dáithí's attacks and how willing he had been to kill her. She could feel the ice-cold grip of panic starting to rise in her chest again. "Why?" she gasped, fighting back the tears again. "Why did he..." she couldn't even get the question out.

Nekros's expression shifted to a deep sadness, and he looked at her like wanted to comfort her but didn't know how. "I stopped questioning Quin's state of mind long before your egg was laid." He said softly. "He wants to protect us and the kin, that I understand. But he also seems to think that we are untouchable. His idea of our power is at complete odds with what he wants. I fear the last few decades may have split his mind. He can't accept a world where humans have deliberately caused us harm. The last time a species did something like this to us..."

He shook his head and rubbed harder at the spot on his neck. Rhia's eyes widened as she realized why. An old, thick, jagged scar wound around from the back of his neck, along the side and disappeared into his shirt. It was almost the same colour as the rest of his skin, and she only noticed when his rubbing pulled it tight, and it went pale in the sun. She had her own scars from the facility, but nothing as big as that. What had they done to him?

He cleared his throat and looked back down at her. "He will not lay a finger on you." He promised darkly. "I will not let him."

She tried so hard to smile, but everything she had seen was making that hard. "It's not over, is it?" she breathed. "There are still dragonkin missing. Who knows how many other ancients they have? Richard is in the wind, and..."

She took a shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes again. She hadn't wanted Nekros to think she was a blubbering mess when they finally met, but here she was, water pouring from her eyes like a damn waterfall.

Her father could only look sadly down at her. "No, it's not over." He agreed in a whisper. "We are at war. We have been at war since the organization was formed. We know about it now and we are not in a position to ignore it. It will be some time before they resurface. We should use that time as best we can. I am going to teach you everything I know. We cannot afford to lose to them again."

She nodded slowly and swallowed the lump growing in her throat. "Did they kill... what happened to Phoenix?"