Mated To The Alpha Dragon (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (13 page)

Elizabeth squeezed her shoulder and then looked at me. "This sound good to you? We just wait for the men and hope and pray for the best?"

It honestly didn't; not at all. Even though I had faith in Victor, as well as in his men, something just didn't feel right about waiting for them.  But I couldn't think of a better plan, and I knew anything half-baked might get us all killed. So I just nodded. Elizabeth said, good, and we all fell silent.

The voices of Miles and his men rose and fell some maybe fifty or sixty feet outside the tent. A minute or two went by. I clutched my stomach, a dull ache in the center of it intensifying again. Julia put her trembling hands between her knees. Eventually, Elizabeth turned to the petite blonde girl sitting next to her and asked for her name.

The girl lifted her face from her fists. "I'm whore twenty-five."

Elizabeth winced. "No, I mean...your real name. Do you have one?"

"Well...all of us girls in Cold Creek just call each other by our numbers, because we don't want to get in trouble with Miles, but...one of the older women once told me that my mother called me Rose when I was born. Right before she died."

Elizabeth smiled. "Then that's your real name. Rose. And it's a beautiful name."

Rose flushed pink and then buried her face in her hands, smiling a little, as if she wasn't at all used to anyone speaking kindly to her. Which I was sure she wasn't.

Elizabeth looked at the other young woman. "And what's your real name?"

She didn't answer right away, appearing to be thinking. "My mother didn't die until I was maybe four or five years old, and I remember her calling me Brook. She said she liked calling me that because the water in a brook flows free, and it gave her hope that maybe somehow, I'd be free someday."

Elizabeth nodded, smiling, her eyes suddenly shiny. "Brook. That's a beautiful name, too."

Brook smiled a little, but kind of looking all around the tent, avoiding Elizabeth's eyes, as if she, too, wasn't used to hearing a few kind words and wasn't quite sure how to react.

We all fell silent again. Maybe another minute or two passed before Rose looked up at a small hole in the top of the tent and suddenly spoke.

"Sometimes I imagine myself rising into the clouds. Wouldn't that be nice? I think that's where my mother's soul went to when she died."

Nobody responded at first, but after a moment or two, Elizabeth agreed that it would be nice to rise into the clouds.

She sighed. "Especially right about now. Oh, I hope the men would hurry. I hope one of them can magically lift the force field."

I stared up through the hole in the tent, at the little patch of visible blue sky beyond. Thinking. Wondering. And after a few seconds, I lowered my gaze to Elizabeth.

"We don't need the men to rescue us. We're going to rescue ourselves."

C
HAPTER FOURTEEN

Elizabeth frowned at me. "What are you talking about?"

"Our men aren't the only ones with magical gifts, remember? I may not be a shifter dragon, but I do have one magical gift of my own."

It seemed to dawn on Julia what I was talking about before it did Elizabeth.

She gasped. "You're right! Your power to levitate things! What object are you thinking about? Like maybe a boulder or a tree? If you can somehow look out of the tent and spot a boulder or some kind of big rock somewhere in the forest, you can levitate it and just drop it on Miles' head. Then, while he's pinned beneath it, you can do the same to the rest of the men."

"Well, I was actually thinking of something much easier."

"What is it?"

"Rose gave me the idea. I think I can levitate us all right up into the clouds. And then, out of sight of Miles and his men, I can levitate us back to Stonebrook. Maybe before they even realize we're missing."

Julia peered up through the hole in the tent. "It's still partly cloudy and partly sunny. I think there's just enough clouds that this could work."

Elizabeth furrowed her gingery brows. "Just wait a second, here. Kate, have you even ever levitated a person before?"

I actually hadn't. "No, but a few days ago when Julia and I were bored, I levitated one of the long tables in the great hall, and those weigh several tons each. Easily. And the only reason I didn't lift it the whole fifty feet to the ceiling was because Julia and I heard people coming down the hallway and I just felt funny about being seen levitating a table. This definitely wasn't the only time I've practiced my skill lately. I've been practicing a ton."

I really had been.

Elizabeth chewed her lip. "Well...let's just see if you can levitate a human being in the tent, here, first. Go ahead and try to lift me. Maybe just a foot or so off the floor."

"Okay."

I looked at her, concentrating, thinking about how I wanted to lift her off the floor and picturing it actually happening. But I felt no tingling in my wedding ring finger. And she didn't levitate an inch.

Julia looked from her to me. "It's okay. Just try again. Just keep trying."

I did try again but without success. My palms began to sweat, and I wiped them on my shorts. I tried to levitate Elizabeth, even just an inch, yet again. After my fourth still-unsuccessful try, Elizabeth told me I didn't have to keep going.

"You gave it your best."

"Well, I
have
tried but...." I sighed, wiping my sweaty palms on my shorts again. "I just know I can do it. How can I pick up a several-ton table and
not
be able to levitate a human being? Or several? I just need a few more tries. But I know I can make it happen."

Elizabeth said okay, give it another go, and I did. I looked at her while imagining her rising a foot in the air, while wishing for it to happen, willing it to happen with every fiber of my being, still nothing happened.

I looked around at Brook, Rose, Elizabeth and Julia, sighing. "Bear with me, guys. Just hang in there. I can do this."

Julia glanced over at the tent's entrance. "I believe in you, and I know you're trying your hardest and hurrying, but...just keep on hurrying, okay? Because...." She swallowed, glancing over at the tent flaps again while Miles continued talking with his men in a loud voice not far away. "Because I think we're running out of time."

I nodded. "I know. Just let me give it another try. I'm hurrying."

With perspiration dampening my forehead, I looked at Elizabeth again and wished for her to levitate. I pictured her rising in the air. But she didn't. She just sighed instead.

"It's really okay, Kate. The force field Miles has around the mountains will lift soon, and then the men will come. There's a chance one of them can break whatever force field Miles erects around this encampment. And I really don't know what kind of a chance, maybe not the greatest chance in the whole world, but it's still a chance. Our men are strong."

Julia glanced at the tent flaps again, cringing. "They're going to rape us in front of our husbands. Sam will be in absolute hell. Kate, you've gotta keep trying."

I agreed with her. I knew I couldn't quit. I took a deep breath and prepared to try again, my hands beginning to shake. But Rose suddenly told me to wait.

"I just have a quick question before you try it again."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well...how are you feeling when you usually do this? Are you usually scared, like right now?"

I thought about it. "Well...no, not at all. Every time I've done this before, I'm just how I usually am, which is pretty relaxed."

"So maybe that's the problem. You're not relaxed now; you're scared. And you're maybe...you're trying too hard."

I knew she was right. When I'd first levitated something, the wineglass in the hot springs, I'd been completely relaxed, and not only had I not been trying too hard, I hadn't even been trying at all. I'd just been vaguely, lazily wishing for my wineglass while in a state of complete relaxation.

I nodded at Rose. "You're completely right. Thank you."

Julia glanced at the tent entrance again. "Okay, then, Kate, just...just totally relax as fast as you can."

Elizabeth sat up a little straighter, her gaze on me, and brushed a long red curl out of her face. "What makes you feel completely relaxed and at ease? Is it the hot springs? Or being in the sun? Or how about-"

"Victor."

I hadn't even needed to think.

"Okay, then, you've got to think of him and try to clear your mind of all other thoughts. Not going to be easy, I know. But just give it a try."

Despite the loud, rising and falling voices of the Oppressors outside, it wasn't hard. I closed my eyes and thought of Victor: his deep gray eyes, dark brows, the strong angle of his jaw, his muscular arms and me, wrapped in his muscular arms, safe, protected and  completely at ease and relaxed. The tent didn't seem as hot anymore. My hands began to feel a little less shaky and my palms stopped sweating. I pictured Victor and nothing else, thinking only the vaguest, haziest half-thoughts about wanting Elizabeth to rise a few inches off the ground.

I hadn't been thinking of Victor even a minute when my wedding ring finger tingled. Julia made a little gasp and told me to look. I opened my eyes and saw Elizabeth, her own eyes wide, sitting several feet in the air, holding her criss-crossed legs beneath her. Her head just skimmed the top of the tent. One of her legs began slipping out of her grasp, and she grabbed it at the ankle.

"Wow. You really did it. This is amazing. Now see if you can gently put me back down and do it again."

Silently, while looking at her, but really still seeing Victor in my mind's eye, I did what she had asked, and several times, for good measure.

The final time I put her down, she gave her head a little shake. "This is incredible. But here's the real test. Can you lift all four of us at once? And yourself?"

I imagined Victor's strong arms around me. I thought of him gently putting my head on his hard chest how he sometimes did. I thought about his clean, masculine, woodsy scent filling my nostrils. I thought about how safe and loved he made me feel. And within seconds, my ring finger tingled, and all five of us in the tent, including myself, rose several feet in the air. Rose stifled a giggle with her hands.

I set us all back down, looking at Elizabeth. "I can do this. I can levitate us all into the clouds. I can get us to safety. I think we have a better chance doing this than taking a gamble on whether or not one of the men can disable whatever force field Victor's going to do. I even think our husbands would
want
us to do this. They'd want us to take the best chance at getting out of here before anything really bad happens."

Elizabeth looked at me for a long moment and then nodded. "You're right. Let's do this. But...." She glanced at the tent flaps. "
How
exactly are we going to do this? They'll see us if we leave the tent to levitate but if we don't, we'll have to take the tent with us. And they still might see us. Do you think you could just kind of shoot us into the air really fast, which I'm sure will draw their attention, but maybe we'll already be in the clouds and out of magical spell range by then?"

I had no idea.

Rose crawled over to the tent entrance, her dirty pale blonde ponytail hanging over one shoulder, and peered through the tiniest fraction-of-an-inch crack in the flaps. She didn't look long before crawling backward and taking her seat on the ground again.

"It's gotta be now. Miles is doing this thing his brother used to do before battles. He's showing them all some things in the dirt with a stick. He's showing them all exactly what he wants them each to do during the fight. All their backs are turned away from us. So we have to go now. We can just take the tent with us. The stakes are in soft ground and shouldn't make any noise when we lift up. We can throw the whole tent off when we're in the clouds. So, let's do this, right this second. Let's rise."

I didn't even wait for any kind of signal of approval from Elizabeth. Fairly relaxed, my thoughts still on Victor, I began levitating us all. We rose silently and braced our hands on the top of the tent to take it with us.

Only when we were maybe thirty feet in the air did it occur to me that everyone would fall to instant death if I couldn't sustain the levitation. While this thought sunk in, crowding out all thought of Victor, we began slowly descending. But only for a second or two. I immediately closed my eyes, pictured his face, and focused on that and that alone. We began rising again, and a little faster this time, I could feel. And before long, I felt something like a cool mist on my skin. I heard a bit of giggling and Julia saying that we were definitely out of earshot now.

I opened my eyes and saw we were actually inside a cloud. Misty white vapor swirled all around the inside of the tent, which we still all held. I dared pull my mind away from Victor to take in the experience, figuring that as long as I remained calm and relaxed, we'd be okay.

And we were.

I looked around, giggling a little with everyone else. "This is amazing."

Elizabeth beamed at me. "Yes, it is. And you did it. You did it, Kate. I guess we didn't need the men after all."

After a bit more giggling and looking around, I began navigating our levitation again, and we glided in the direction of the mountains. We moved through patches of cloud for a while, and at the first real clearing, we ditched the tent. We all watched as it fell hundreds and hundreds of feet to a grassy meadow below. Soon after, Elizabeth mentioned with a completely straight face that she thought she was officially over a fear of heights she'd had since childhood. She hadn't meant to be funny, but Julia giggled; Elizabeth cracked a smile and then laughed; and Rose, Brook, and I joined in. But we all stopped suddenly when we saw dark shapes in the distant sky. Dark shapes that were way too big to be birds. And they were heading straight at us.

Julia gasped. "Our husbands in dragon form! Quick, Kate; better put us down before we crash right into them!"

I turned my focus to putting us all safely on the ground, and we began descending, slowly. We were maybe a hundred feet from the ground when Victor and his men got close enough to really see us, and us them. With his massive charcoal-colored wings beating the air, Victor flew just a little bit ahead of all the other dragons, all at least two dozen of them. Julia began shouting and waving her arms just as she, Elizabeth, Rose, Brook and I touched the ground.

The moment Victor's long dragon claws touched the ground, he shifted into human form and then scooped me up and held me so tight my breath whooshed out of my lungs.

"I was coming for you. I was coming for you, my beautiful angel."