For the Love of Her Dragon (2 page)

The
scent of incense and candles filled the room as one after the other the healers
his uncle had summoned began to appear. He could feel the massive power of his
clan pouring into his parents as they melded into one entity with the common
goal of saving his mother and unborn sister. They prayed with one voice and all
the power they could muster to save the first purebred dragon female to be born
in over a thousand years. Rhianna was to lead the way to the resurgence of
their race and give strength to the human mates each dragon shifter was
promised by the Universe.

They
chanted through the night, while Niall used everything in his abundant arsenal
to heal
Riona
and Rhianna. The tiny, premature baby
girl was born sometime in the wee hours of the morning, and although she was
barely breathing and pale as the snow on the mountain tops, she was beautiful
to all that saw her. She shared Royce’s head of bright red curly hair and the
one time she graced them by opening her eyes, the brilliant blue that shined
behind those tiny lids were an exact replica of his mother’s. The tiny babe had
looked right into his eyes and an unbreakable bond was instantly formed. Royce
willingly funneled all the energy he had left into her tiny body, praying with
all that he was that she would live, that he would have the chance to watch her
grow and flourish and live the life the Heavens intended.

But
at daybreak, just as the warm golden rays of the first light of day crested the
mountainside, the two most important people in Royce’s life simultaneously took
their last breaths. The complete and utter silence of the moment rang in his
ears. Everyone in attendance watched as Ronan, their Head Elder, gently laid
his wife upon her pillow, placed their tiny daughter into her arms and covered
them both lovingly with the blood soaked sheet. He stood watching them, as if
by sheer will alone he could wish life back into them. The vast darkness felt
endless, but no one moved; he wondered if they even breathed. Then, in the
blink of an eye, his father threw back his head and roared. Raw power and
emotion blasted through the entire lair. Windows shattered and the very timbers
of their home trembled from the sheer weight of his anguish. One by one, each
clan member added their voice to their leaders until the ground shook and trees
toppled.

As
quickly as it had begun it stopped, like a switch had been flipped, and the
powerful ruler of the Blue Thunder Clan of the Dragon Shifters was gone…one
second there, the next not. Royce looked out the window over his mother’s head
as the growing light of a new day shone through the shards of glass still stuck
in the window pane, and there, flying towards the sun, was his father’s dragon.
He watched the beast get smaller and smaller as a crippling loss filled him.
Turning his head he saw what he was feeling reflected on the faces of his
brothers.

Unwilling
to relive any more anguish he called upon the strength his dragon, and together
they pushed him from his dark revelry back to reality. The residual effects of
the overpowering emotions left him spent and panting. While attempting to
regain his control, he looked up to find
Rian
leaning
against the wall of the cave, head bowed, with sweat dripping from his brow.
“You ok,
Ri
? What happened?”

“You
happened, little brother. You and your blasted memories of the past. You and
your ability to relive events as if they are happening all over again. I had no
idea we were taking a stroll down memory lane until it was too late. A heads up
next time would be nice.” He turned and faced Royce. The sweat that dotted his
upper lip and the slight tremor in his hand gave away the power the memory had
over him.

“Now
you see why I cannot mate with her, no matter how impressive her lineage or how
sterling her reputation.
Ilsa
had never done anything
remotely dark.
Hell
, her parents were two white witches from highly
honored covens that hadn’t practiced or even spoken of the dark arts for
centuries. She was of the great mage’s lineage for Heaven’s sake! She lived
with our family…our clan, for hundreds of years and was mother’s closest
friend. That piece of shit, waste of skin and bones helped
raise
us, and
in the time between breakfast and lunch was overtaken by a dark spirit seeking
the power only the sacrifice of a female dragon and child can yield.”

He
paused trying to regain some semblance of control. With none to be found, he
continued, his voice a low snarl, “She
slaughtered
our family.”

The
look that crossed
Rian’s
face let Royce know his
older brother was uncharacteristically thinking before speaking. His older brother
turned, stopping with his feet shoulder width apart, his hands clasped behind
his back, reminding Royce of all the speeches
Rian
had given before the Guard had flown off into battle, but was sure this oration
was not to be uplifting. He braced himself for the recrimination he was sure
would follow. The voice that reached his ears was one he hadn’t heard since
childhood. “Royce, I know this isn’t what you wished for or could’ve ever seen
happening, but
it is
your reality and you need to find a way to accept
it. You’ve been given a gift, one that every dragon shifter hears tales of from
their first bedtime story and wishes for from the second of their
transformation.

“As
much as you don’t want to hear it, you
will
listen…The Universe does
not
make mistakes. She and She alone knows what you
need
even if you
don’t. Most times
She
acts in spite of what you
believe is right for you. You have to find your faith. It is not your destiny
to die alone and loveless. You more than any of us deserve to be happy, to have
an entire clan of your own running around and to have a woman at your side that
reminds you to
lighten the hell up
!”

Both
brothers burst out laughing, the tension breaker needed before they ground
their teeth to nubs. Royce knew his brother was right, in theory, and he was
instantly filled with regret for burdening
Rian
with
his personal problems after the horrible hand Fate had dealt
him
. “
Ri
, I’m…”

“Shut
the hell up, Roy. Do you really think I’d be working so hard to pull your
stubborn ass out of the past if I was still stuck there? What’s done is done.
But you, my
little brother
,”
Rian
stopped,
eyebrow raised and took a step forward, “have a bright future just waiting for
you. All you have to do is grab it.”

“
Ya
’ know I really hate that you know what I’m going to say
before I get it out of my mouth, and I know you’re right, at least for the most
part, but there are no guarantees she won’t fall to the dark arts.”

“
Dammit
,
Roy, pull your head out of your ass! Guarantees? You want
fucking guarantees
?
Life has no
guarantees
! We get what we get and it’s up to us to make the
most out of it!”

Rian
turned and stood staring towards the mouth of the cave. Royce could see his
brother’s shoulders rising and falling as he took deep breaths to regain his
composure. It was an uncommon occurrence for his older and although he hated to
admit it, wiser brother, to lose his temper. There had to be something else
going on besides Royce’s inability to accept his mate. He listened as
Rian’s
breathing and heart rate returned to normal, but
decided not to resume the conversation. If
Rian
wanted to he could, but Royce was fine with letting the subject die the death
it deserved. Of course, his brother liked the sound of his own voice just about
as much as he liked anything, so Royce was not surprised when
Rian
began again.

“I’ve
seen your little witch in your mind, just as you see her with your own two
eyes, and more importantly, with your heart. You’re drawn to her, just as it’s
meant to be. Your dragon pushes for you to go to her, but you hold the past in
front of you, shielding, protecting you from real happiness, from life as it
was intended. You have to stop holding on to the past as some sort of tribute
to mother and Rhianna. They are gone, Royce, have been for over a hundred
years. Father’s gone on to join them in the heavens and they’re looking down on
all of us, wishing they could bitch slap some sense into
you
. You’re not
honoring their deaths by refusing the one person you are meant to spend all of
your days with both here and in the next life…”

Rian
paused, and for the first time since Royce had arrived at the clan of his
birth, he realized how tired his brother looked. Something was weighing on him,
something he wasn’t sharing with him. Just as he was about to speak,
Rian
held up his hand and looked him right in the eye. “No
justifications, you are dishonoring them.”

Before
Royce could respond, the space that
Rian
had occupied
was empty. Royce was left feeling even angrier and more confused than before.
He paced beside the fire, looking to the mouth of the cave every few minutes,
not sure who or what he was waiting for, but sure things were about to go to
hell.

~
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~
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Drip…drip…drip…
Kyra
watched the raindrops slide off the leaves and fall into the huge puddle that
had formed outside the makeshift shelter Lance and Devon had built for her.
Each
splat
seemed to accentuate the incredible amount of time that was
passing and the utter failure of her quest to catch the little shithead that
had tricked her into helping him hurt the nicest bunch of people...and dragons,
she had ever met. They actually
cared
for one another and saw each other
as more than a means to an end. It was something she had never experienced
before.

Smiling,
she remembered how her ‘escorts’ had reacted when the first raindrop had fallen
about an hour ago. It had been absolutely comical as the two big bad Guardsmen
bickered like little boys as they constructed the lean-to that kept her and her
supplies somewhat dry. She had laughed so hard tears had run down her face.
Lance and Devon were worse than a coven full of teenage witches and
that
was saying something. About an hour into her wait, she’d wondered if it had
occurred to them how the bright blue tarp secured to the ground behind her and
attached to two large pieces of wood in the front stuck out like a sore thumb
on the side of the mountain they were perched upon.

“You
do know I won’t melt, right?” She yelled. “That was the Wicked Witch of the
West. I’m the Short Sarcastic Witch of the South,” she snorted at her own joke
and heard them laugh along.

“Yeah,
I’m pretty sure you won’t melt. I’ve heard only sugar melts. However, all your
witchy goodies may and after thirteen days of absolutely no sign of the
traitor, I’m not taking a chance that we’ll miss him the first time you get a
jingle or whatever happens on your magic mirror,” Devon answered, and she could
tell that he and Lance were moving closer.

She
shifted her bags to the side to make room for their larger than usual bodies
when the toe of a soggy, worn-out cowboy boot entered her view. “Hey, Snarky
Witch,” Lance chuckled at his own joke and the thought of kicking him in the
shin made her grin, “Looks like the weather is clearing up. Since we’ve
established you won’t melt, how about you get packed up and let’s see if we can
find the little asshole?”

“Thank
the Goddess,” she mumbled as she grabbed the handles of her bags. “I’m
so
ready to find that shithead and give him a swift kick in the ass.” She stood
and walked out into the reappearing sunlight.

When
she saw them, she laughed out loud. “You guys look like a couple of drowned
rats. You sure you don’t want to head back and get some dry clothes before we
continue.”

The
last word was barely out of her mouth before they answered in unison, “
Hell,
no!
”

She
raised her palms in a sign of surrender. “No problem. I just don’t want your
mate,” she looked at Lance, “and your momma,” she looked at Devon, “to get
pissed at me when you both get the sniffles.”

“We
don’t get sick,” they answered in unison.

“You
two really need to talk one at a time or take your ventriloquism act on the
road,” she laughed as she placed her bags on a rock and turned to start taking
down the shelter.

“We
can get it. You just cop a squat and we’ll be on our way in a minute,” Lance
winked and she wondered if his new mate, Samantha, ever got tired of his
constant joking.

Then
she remembered the dreamy way they looked at one another, as if no one else
existed, and she
knew
the answer. Unfortunately, the image of the
largest man she’d ever seen with brooding brown eyes and absolutely luscious
lips burst into her mind. It didn’t matter that she’d barely ever seen them in anything
but a frown or heard little more than a grumble come from them, his lips were
still completely kissable and occupied her thoughts way more than they should.
She hadn’t seen the man she knew Fate had picked out for her for almost two
weeks. Apparently, he had left before sunrise the morning after Baby Jay’s
first birthday party.
Jerk!
He’d been completely unbearable and
basically anti-social, even to his brethren, during one of the most joyous
occasions his clan had known. It was a huge deal that the Commander of the
Elite Dragon Force and his beautiful mate had been blessed with a son, and an
even bigger deal that in the middle of the search for the traitor that had
damned near killed the child’s mother, the entire Force had taken a day off to
celebrate the little would-be warrior’s first birthday.