Alexa's Dragon (Dragon mates Book 1) (19 page)

“I thought we were going to George’s house.”

“We’re here.” Syn said with a chuckle in his voice.

“Look up, Alexa.” George gave that command tilting her head upward.

Above them sat a tree house in the loosest sense of the word. There was a house spread over the branches of five different trees. It was incredible and it was large.

“You live up there?”

“We do. There are steps along the side of the tree that you can take up or Syn can fly you up.

“How are you going to get up?”

“Like this.” A blur of metallic shadowed him and then standing almost chest high was the most magnificent cat she ever saw. He took a standing leap at one of the branches and wound his way up to his home.

Syn changed and she climbed on his back. He flew up to the landing before allowing her to get off and changing back.

George brought them inside before calling out for Tamia and checking his dwelling.

“Are you sure she just didn’t go for a run?” Syn asked quietly.

The despair in George’s eyes was enough to tell him no. “She wouldn’t, she knows how I worry, especially now. We had a run scheduled tonight. Something happened to her.”

Alexa covered her ears and tried to shake her head. The males turned to look at her.

“Are you all right?” Syn asked.

“Yeah I’m fine.” She dropped to her knees. “Don’t you hear that?”

“Hear what? All I hear is the animals of the night.”

“I hear a loud screech with what sounds like the cry of a child in the background. The child is in need of help. I have to go save it.”

George reached out to stop her but Syn stopped him.

“We need to follow her. I think we will find Tamia wherever Alexa is going. I will have Mace and Zeno follow us in the air. You might want to change.”

George nodded and in no time his cat stood before them. Syn followed Alexa down the stairs as George leapt into a tree branch. She walked deeper into the forest canting her head at times, listening to sound that drew her forth but only she could hear.

Syn looked up to see his brother circling overhead, giving them room while not drawing attention to themselves. Alexa walked until she came to something that looked like a hasty camp put together over several days. There were several females who looked like they made the jungle their homes with glazed over eyes.

“Welcome,” one of the males in the clearing said to Alexa as he tried to tie her hands up. She struggled half under the influence of something she couldn’t fight.

“We got a real fighter here; put her in the cage with the other one, maybe they’ll be our entertainment tonight.

“We’re screwed,” one of the men said who backed away looking up into the sky.

“Not yet but soon.”

“Stop thinking with your dick. Don’t you know who she is? Check out the hair.”

“Some freaky chick with white hair. You know we have all kinds around here.”

“She is Syn’s mate.”

The male holding her laughed. “That’s priceless, that male will go crazy when he discovers she’s gone. He’ll give us anything not to harm her. Maybe we won’t need Mutufa after all.”

“Think, Gorgan. Why is she so deep in the jungle? She’s looking for the other one. The one I counseled you to let go. Do you really think she’s alone?”

The man’s desperate eyes swept the sky again unable to see anything.

“Relax, she’s alone.”

“You’re a fool. If you want her in a cage have someone else do it.” He stalked off until he reached a tent. Within a few minutes, he came out with a bag slung over his back and headed out.

Syn waited, catching him by the throat and pulling him down an embankment before allowing him to breathe again.

“You’re alive because you didn’t touch my mate. That’s as far as my favor goes. How long you stay alive is up to you.”

“I told him that first female would bring trouble to our camp.”

“You were right. Tell me what’s going on.”

“We were approached by the Selins, they said Mutufa was breaking free and all we needed to do was collect some females for them. They would take care of the rest and we would be paid handsomely for it. They also told us we wanted to be on the winning side of the war. My brother thought we could play you both against each other. We would catch the females but no one would know, so if Mutufa didn’t break free we would still enjoy our freedom. It could have worked.”

“You’re right, but your brother got greedy. What weapons does he have?”

“The only weapon that matters. He has his voice and not even you can defeat it, dragon.” His voice was a gift that allowed him to entrance whoever heard it.

“I guess it’s time to test the theory.”

George walked over. He had been on the other side of the clearing scoping it out. “What are we going to do?”

Syn turned around and punched the male in front of him with the power of his dragon backing him up. The male fell to the ground unconscious.

“One problem down. His brother must be a singer. Something only the females can hear. We need to disable him and set the females free.”

“What if he has a range that can affect males also?”

“You let me handle that. You get Alexa and Tamia free. Then you worry about the others.”

“Understood. I won’t leave even one of them behind.”

They shook hands. George headed for the back to the cage where Alexa and Tamia were kept while Syn headed to the front of the camp where Gorgan was playing king.

He sat on a makeshift throne with several males around him naked from the waist up. They bent in supplication as he spoke to them of the glorious victory to come.

“Mutufa will come and cure our dragon problem. Once they have been taken care of, the magic that hides our land will be lifted. We too shall be part of the mainland and looked at by others as equals. More than equals when they see the tremendous power we hold. Everyone will want to bow down before us.”

They whispered among themselves of the things they would do when they were finally in power, in the world according to their vision.

“The other possibility is that he will kill the lot of you. Mutufa doesn’t share power and he craves any that anyone else may amass. That’s why he was locked away in the first place. Let me remind you that he’s a demon,” Syn said as he stood before them.

“A term you coined. You made the world scared of people like him because you wanted to rule it.”

“I live on this same parcel of land, clouded away from the rest of the world. I never called him a demon, it’s the name he and his people chose. I didn’t warn anyone against him. His actions did that and I didn’t make you stay here. You’re free to leave whenever you want. In fact, I insist you go. Try your luck with the others. Leave this place.”

“Bow down before me.” Gorgan’s voice changed becoming deeper more masculine. The males around him planted their faces into the Earth and begged for favor.

Syn stood as his voice washed over him tightening his hands into fist as he resisted the call.

“No one can resist me. Bow down before me.”

His knees began to buckle as he strained to stay upright. If he failed, it wouldn’t just be him that went down. His mate would take the brunt of this; they would make her suffer. The people of this land, his people would be tormented and tortured before given the sweet relief of death. He had kept a people down once because he didn’t know they depended on him. This time he knew and he would not give into the voice trying to control him.

“No!” The explosion of his voice broke the chains trying to wrap themselves around his mind.

Gorgan stood to run, but Mace swooped in and caught him between his talons.

Syn thought to tell his brother to go easy on him then stopped. If Gorgan lived through whatever Mace had planned for him, he would simply start over at a different place, again hurting others.

He turned to look at the males cowering at his feet.

“You like to hurt females?”

“Why is it that you and Mace always get to have the fun.” Zeno walked up to him with a huge smile on his face.

“Because you are an old dragon who doesn’t like to leave his cave.”

“So says the second born. Leave them to me; I know what to do with them.”

Syn just laughed. Zeno wouldn’t kill them; he would just make them wish he had.

Tabitha was the last person Alexa wanted to see by the time they made it back home. The females had been released and returned to their homes. Zeno took the males off. Mace disappeared with Gorgan and never came back. Syn said Gorgan would never bother them again and left it at that. She and Tamia hugged long and hard before they followed her and George back to their house.

Now Tabitha sat on their doorstep when all she wanted to do was fall exhaustedly into bed and sleep.

“I wish I could say I was glad to see you.”

“Next time I’m demanding a day turn and not a middle of the night turn so we can truly get to know each other.”

“Sounds perfect. Want to come in? With all that happened, Syn and I haven’t eaten since around lunch time I feel a bit peckish. Can I get something for you?”

“I could eat.”

“I knew you and I would be friends. Come on in.”

Syn followed them in and to the kitchen. Alexa looked in the fridge with her head bowed as if the weariness of the world sat on her shoulders. Tabitha came up behind her and directed her to a chair.

“I’ll make the food. It’s soup and grilled cheese sandwiches tonight and do not tell my sisters because I refuse to cook for them.”

Syn laughed and gathered Alexa in his arms letting her snuggle up against him. Tabitha made quick work of dinner and had it in front of them in no time.

They ate in silence as Tabitha watched the way Syn touched Alexa or how Alexa melted at his touch.

“It’s obvious the two of you love each other,” Tabitha said as the last of her soup slid down her throat. “Oh I’m sorry, haven’t you talked about the L word yet?”

“That’s something you’re supposed to let the couple figure out on their own.”

“Obviously an Oracle didn’t make that stupid rule.”

“Is that what you came to do, to confirm we love each other?” Alexa asked, shooting her a sleepy smile.

“Nah, you’d get there probably later tonight without me. I came to warn you. Call me doom and gloom oracle tonight. Time’s running out and so is your witch’s power. She can’t be a gateway between planes and continue to fight Mutufa. That one was on the house because I like your witch.”

“Do you know who the witch is?”

“Yes, but you need to work that one out all on your own.” Tabitha gave her a friendly smile but refused to say anything else.

Syn escorted her home just to be on the safe side while Alexa went upstairs and forced herself to shower.

Mutufa was using the witch. That should bother her and it did, but what bothered her more was the fact that the witch was really her mother. Why she was hiding behind a cloak she didn’t know, but her heart was telling her that holding on to the thought that she was some woman just caught up in this mess was lunacy. That witch was really her mother.

“I like Tabitha too, you know.”

She started as her mother’s form solidified in front of her.

“Are you really my mother?”

“Yes, Dear, I am.”

“Why are you covering yourself?”

“Would seeing me make it any easier for you to accept who I am?”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you conserving your strength?”

“I’m using my strength for what I need to; besides, no matter what Tabitha says, your dad and I don’t intend to die. So listen up. When the time is right, you will have to close the door Mutufa is trying to enter through. It’s a portal. You’ll know which one when you see it. I don’t know if we will make it, but I do know if Mutufa gets to our world your dad and I will be his first sacrifice. Don’t let us die like that.”

Her mother came to stand closer to her. She bent her head and whispered into her ear before disappearing.

Alexa knew this was the last time she would see her mother. Either she would come out of this alive or she would die, but there would never be another visitation like this again. With a heavy heart, she made her way into the bedroom. Sleep finally pulled her into its arms while she ran knowing this time there was no way out.

*~*~*~*

She woke up to warm arms holding her tenderly. The soft morning light came into the room bathing her skin.

“Hi,” she whispered softly as Syn opened his eyes. “I didn’t feel you get into bed last night.”

“You were exhausted. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Thank you, I needed the sleep. I’ve been thinking, dreaming, and then thinking some more.”

“Have you come to any conclusions?”

“Yeah, I have. I don’t even remember how I started out not wanting to be mate bonded with you. My reasons seem fuzzy and far away. I love you, Syn, and I didn’t need an Oracle to tell me that. I’ve loved you for a while. Maybe I was so used to saying no or denying myself that I continued even when the person I was hurting was myself.”

It had all seemed so reasonable in the beginning. She had plans for her life even if those plans weren’t evident. The desire to prove herself, that she was more than a freak to be laughed at on the street, had taken over her mind. Then she came here. Not one person looked at her funny. It was the first place she felt like she fit since she was a teen. But it wasn’t just that. Syn got her and when he didn’t he was willing to just sit and listen. He didn’t doubt her skills or her abilities and was more than willing for her to learn.

There was something about the way he made her heart feel. About the way he made her feel in general. The thought of being with him made her feel like she was flying. More than anything she wanted to be his mate bonded. She knew what she felt in her heart it was love.

“I love you, Alexa. I thought the first time I met you that you could steal my heart and you did. Every soft smile, tender kiss, and lusty scream. But it was so much more than that. In your denial of what I was, you still did what needed to be done to save us. You managed to suspend your disbelief. You have become a part of this land as well as a part of me. I love you for all you do, but then I love you simply because you are you.”