by Kate Rudolph
My mouth tasted like something had died in it and finding a bathroom and some toiletries catapulted to the top of my list of things to do.
There were several pairs of boots in another drawer and thick socks that looked like they would stand the test of time. I found the pair that fit best and looked down at myself. I didn’t look terrible, but already I was missing my Earth clothes, even if these weren’t too different than something I could find at home.
I just missed home, even if it had treated me like shit.
I needed to find the Gods Clearing and that portal. It had to be able to take me home and away from this weird dragon land filled with people who looked human but weren’t. I didn’t know why the Celestial Mates beings had thought that I’d be a good match for the alpha, but they were clearly wrong. He didn’t want me, I didn’t want him, and it was time for me to get gone.
Bathroom. Breakfast. Portal. Plan in my head, I exited my room and started creeping down the hall like someone escaping curfew. Most of the doors I tried were locked and I almost got an eyeful when one of the unlocked doors led to someone else’s sleeping quarters. But I finally found a bathroom and let out a silent thanks to whatever benevolent being had kept me alive this far when I spotted indoor plumbing and felt the humidity of hot water.
I flipped the lock on the door and took my time cleaning. And I only accidentally washed my mouth out with nasty tasting soap a little. There was nothing that resembled toothpaste, but a tin of powder beside a basin on the far end smelled minty and seemed to do the trick. The lack of a hair dryer was a let down and I didn’t know if I’d find one in another room. The place clearly had electricity or whatever the equivalent was on this planet. Lights were recessed in the ceiling and cast a faint glow around everything. I could hear the distant hum of a fan. And the water had been warm enough that I hadn’t wanted to climb out of the shower.
Time slipped away as I got cleaned up and by the time I’d managed to towel dry my hair as well as could be expected and slip back into my purloined clothes, I was feeling more awake and all traces of the sickness from the night before had melted away. Maybe it had been food poisoning.
My stomach grumbled and I hoped not, but it was one more reason to get back to Earth as soon as possible.
Still, I journeyed back into the hallway and made my way to the great hall. It was where we’d eaten dinner the night before, so it stood to reason breakfast might be waiting there. Unfortunately, the hall was empty of tables and full of people rushing around and setting it up for whatever purpose it served during the day. It still felt early, but I wondered if I’d missed breakfast. Or maybe breakfast wasn’t a thing here?
“Kristen Mora?” a smooth, masculine voice asked. It sent a shiver down my spine and not in the good way.
I turned and spotted a man who looked vaguely familiar. I might have seen him the night before, but we hadn’t been introduced. He was pale with ruddy cheeks covered in a thick, dark beard. His wild brown hair was a halo around his head and could have used some product to be tamed. His green eyes danced, and if we’d been back on Earth I might have let him buy me a drink. But there was something in the way he was looking at me that made me uncomfortable. If we’d been at a bar, I might have expected the predatory and sexual glint in his eye. But it was way too early in the morning and so not the time.
“You can just call me Kristen,” I said, managing something like a smile. “Is there a morning meal, or have I missed it?” If he wanted to flirt, the least he could do was point me in the direction of a bagel.
“I am Veyne, the high alpha’s second.” He offered an arm. “There is food prepared in the kitchens for those of us who rise early. I will join you.”
Not a question, but I was hungry enough that I didn’t need to fight myself too hard to set my fingers in the crook of his elbow and let him lead me to the kitchens. As we walked, Veyne gave me a tour of the castle, speaking of past alphas and battles like he’d lived through them, though the heroics he talked about seemed to have been done by his ancestors. He didn’t ask any questions about me, but gave me plenty of space to praise his stories. I knew his type very well and it didn’t matter how far away from home we were, these guys were always the same.
“You know so much!” I gushed as we turned a corner. The smell of food was getting stronger and my stomach rumbled in hunger. I ignored it. I’d gone hungry before and one night with barely any dinner was nothing. “What about the areas surrounding the castle?” I asked. “Someone said something about gods or something last night. Did your ancestors have anything to do with that?” I wanted to flat out ask him about the Gods Clearing, but I didn’t want to tip him off. Talking around the issue seemed safer.
And off he went. The gods first walked onto Drakus through the clearing and gave the gift of dragonflame to the people who lived there. Those people had also found the planet through the Gods Clearing and Veyne could trace his family line all the way back a thousand years. He told me about the firestones that lit the path to the clearing and I almost cheered out loud, but coughed to cover up the victory. And when he showed me the firestone on a necklace he wore I couldn’t suppress my smile. It looked a lot like citrine, but something flickered inside it, like there was literally a spark of flame buried in the gem. I wondered if it would be warm to the touch, but Veyne hid it back in his shirt before I could tell.
If there was a path near here covered in rocks like that, I’d find it in no time.
Once we made it to the kitchen I took a large roll and a piece of fruit that looked a bit like if an apple and a pear had a baby. My first bites were cautious, but when I didn’t feel immediately sick I decided to take my chances and scarf it all down. No one else approached me, but that might have been because I ate with all the table manners of a lioness on the savanna. But once that hunger was sated I had a new target.
Firestones.
No one stopped me when I exited the castle and made my way towards the wilderness outside. Riga, Ceri, or Safa might have, but I hadn’t seen a sign of any of those women, nor had Drikal made an appearance. Maybe they all slept late. Or maybe they’d forgotten about me. I didn’t really care as long as I made it to the Gods Clearing.
The sun rose quickly and before long I was sweating bullets, more than I would have expected. It wasn’t like I was running, but the heat burrowed deep inside of me and radiated out. My vision went a little hazy and I was worried it was the same thing that had hit me the night before, but at least I didn’t feel ill. Small blessings. I found the shimmering stones on the ground; the walkway looked old but well tended. Anyone looking for me wouldn’t have trouble finding me, but the whole path seemed deserted.
I wiped sweat from my eyes and hissed at the heat of my skin. A fever? Really? My throat was parched and I wished that I’d thought to bring a bottle of water with me. I had no idea how long the walk to the clearing was or how long it would take me to figure out how to work the portal. As I stumbled between one step and the next I wondered if this had been a dumb idea. Maybe I should have just asked them to send me home.
But trusting the wrong people had gotten me into this situation in the first place and I couldn’t risk that again.
Something burning tickled my nose and I jerked my head around, but there was no sign of fire. I had to gulp in a deep breath as another wave of heat assailed me, and when I let it out, I knew I must be going crazy. It wasn’t cold, so why were there puffs of gray air coming out of my mouth?
It was my last thought before I collapsed to the ground and landed besides one of those burning stones.
Chapter Six
Drikal
“How did this happen?” I demanded as Veyne and his companion rushed an unconscious Kristen Mora to the infirmary. She was covered in sweat and some of her clothes had burned away, as if she’d gotten too close to a fire. “Was she attacked? Where was she?” Whether I wanted the woman as a mate or not was irrelevant, she was in my territory and should have been safe.
; Veyne didn’t answer, but his companion whose name escaped me wasn’t so quiet. “She was on the fire path, alpha. I don’t know how long she was unconscious for, but she was in this state when we found her. There hasn’t been a sign of intruders, but the wyverns are masters of stealth.”
Jayk. The name came back to me in a flash and I thanked him for the report. He didn’t need to tell me about wyvern stealth; my hide had been nearly burned to cinders too many times because of their trickiness.
The healers rushed them as soon as the door opened, no one paying any more mind to me. Why should they? I was just their alpha. And while I knew they would tend to the strange woman with all of their considerable skill and I could leave them to see to my other duties, I followed the group through the door to the infirmary. Kristen Mora was not my mate, no matter what concession I’d given my mother, but she was my responsibility. If she’d been attacked on my lands, I would see the responsible party brought to justice. And if she was ill, she would be given the best medical care that the planet could provide.
She looked overheated, her cheeks flushed, and dark hair stuck to her skin with sweat. Besides her ruined clothing, there were no signs of injury or attack, but the healers would do a more thorough check.
Veyne and Jayk set her down on a bed in the center of the room and retreated. I didn’t realize that they’d gone until I heard the door shut behind them. I really should have followed. The head healer and her two assistants whirled around in an incomprehensible dance, administering medicine and taking samples to try and figure out what was wrong with Kristen. There was nothing I could do here, no way for me to help.
And yet I was rooted in place.
She groaned, her first sign of consciousness since she’d been brought in, and attempted to roll to her side. The assistants rushed across the room to hold her in place, and the head healer, Gerin, shot them a frustrated look before turning her gaze to me.
“Alpha, if you insist on observing, make yourself useful.” Her voice was a whip cracking me into action. It wasn’t a tone I’d accept from many people, but the head healer had been around since I was a boy and I had too many memories of time spent under her care to do anything but snap to attention.
I went around the far side of the bed and sat beside Kristen. If she was injured I didn’t want to hurt her further, but her rolling around could cause too many problems for the healers. To start I placed my hand on her forearm, and before I could make another move, she let out a sigh and calmed.
I would have expected her skin to be scorching from the way she looked, but it felt normal enough to me. My dragonflame sparked deep inside and tried to rush out to join my flame to hers.
That was madness. She wasn’t from Drakus, she was no dragon, and even if she was, merging our flames was something so dangerous it was almost never attempted. If she were not my true mate or a blood relation it would incinerate her from the inside out. I could guarantee she wasn’t a relation. And I was certain she wasn’t my mate.
Though my flame seemed to think otherwise.
“What are you doing to her?” Healer Gerin asked as she sent her assistants to run their tests.
I rubbed my hand gently against her forearm. “I’m attending.”
The healer gave me a look that would almost put my mother’s gaze to shame. “Whatever it is, keep doing it.”
I didn’t plan to stop. I lost track of time as the healers tended to Kristen. I had places to be, duties to see to, but I couldn’t drag myself away, especially since every time I removed my hand from her arm she started to whimper and curl in on herself. I had no special healing powers, there was no reason my touch would make her feel better, but for some reason it was and I didn’t want to see her suffer.
One of the assistants brought in a tray of food and left it at the table beside the bed. No one spoke to me and if I didn’t hear news of Kristen’s condition soon I was liable to start making demands. Though almost as soon as the tray was set down, Kristen’s eyes fluttered open and she looked at me.
Her eyes had been brown before, I was sure of that. A deep brown bordering on black, warm and inviting even as they held secrets in their depths. Now they’d lightened to amber with red-orange flames flickering deep inside.
Dragonflame.
Impossible. And yet, when she blinked the flame didn’t disappear. I’d never heard of an adult finding their flame. If it didn’t spark in childhood, it didn’t spark. But what if it was something about our planet that brought out our dragons? What would happen if someone had that potential inside of them but was born far from Drakus?
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kristen asked. Then she glanced around. “Where am I? What happened?”
She looked confused and a bit scared. My heart ached and I wanted to soothe her. The instinct seemed to have rooted deep within me, the same thing that had left me sitting at her side for hours, and I wasn’t sure I understood or liked it. When I spoke, my voice came out softer than usual, like I didn’t want to startle her. “You’re in the infirmary. You collapsed and my men brought you here. The healers are trying to determine what is wrong with you.”
She huffed a little laugh. “Good luck with that. No one’s figured it out in twenty-five years.”
Was she ill? Had something about her home planet made her that way? Perhaps it had to do with her newly ignited dragonflame. I would have asked, but Healer Gerin was back, and as soon as she saw Kristen was awake she was at her side.
The healer didn’t glance at me as she spoke, too busy checking out Kristen. “Thank you for your assistance, alpha, but I’m sure you’re needed somewhere.” She didn’t even try to be subtle in her dismissal.
I wanted to know what had been found out about Kristen’s collapse, but unless it would pose a threat to the safety of the castle or my people, Kristen had the right to discuss her illness with the healers in private. I could push—there were benefits to being high alpha—but a wise alpha knew when to insist and when to retreat. Satisfying misplaced curiosity was no way to act.
And so I retreated. I was certain I’d been in the infirmary for hours. Time had a strange way of moving in the sick rooms, but when I entered the hallway it was to see that it was still only mid-morning. Most of the keep’s inhabitants rose late and stayed awake later into the evening. As I headed to the wing where my own office was located I saw my mother headed down the stairs. I took two steps to try and make it to the hallway before she spotted me, but she’d always had the senses of the keenest predator and waved me down.
I could have run, but an alpha didn’t flee his mother, not unless there was no other choice. I was strong, not stupid.
“What’s this I hear about our guest being ill?” my mother asked as she joined me on the walk towards my office.
I relayed the information as I knew it, keeping my suspicions about Kristen’s flame to myself. If she had dragon heritage, that could be tested for. Rumors started with the barest hint of a whisper and I didn’t know what would happen if people began to suspect she was one of us.
It could make her a target, especially if she was strong enough to shift. Dragons capable of a full shift were rare enough that they made prized mates. Alphas were even rarer, those who could summon fire in human form. I was the high alpha and leader of my people, and the other alphas and dragons supported me. How would they react if another alpha, a potential mate, appeared from another planet? At the moment she was reserved for me, but unless I claimed her as mine the more daring of my court might try to take her from me.
Claim her as my own? Not likely. Though how the thought had gone from an impossibility the night before to whatever I was feeling now, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps seeing her so vulnerable, unconscious and suffering in the infirmary, had ignited my protective instincts. But I was an alpha dragon, and those protective instincts were part of who I was. I could no sooner turn them off than sacrifice my dragon and live only as a man for the rest of my days.
But claiming a stranger? O
ne chosen for me by the machinations of my mother and Celestial Mates?
My mother’s expression grew grim. “Is her constitution so weak that she grew ill from one day on our planet? Perhaps the match was not nearly as compatible as I expected. We can’t have a weak mate for you. I’ll contact the agency to have them send her home.”
“Don’t.” The command came out before I could stop it. My brain rebelled. What was I doing? This was exactly what I wanted: my mother was backing down without a fight. But I remembered the way my fire had raced towards Kristen, roiling inside of me and begging for release. It seemed impossible that she could be my true mate, but why else would I want to join my flame with hers?
My mother looked at me as if I’d grown a second head. “Are you saying we should give her time to recover before we send her back?” She asked it carefully, each word weighed and measured as if I might lash out if she said the wrong thing.
I’d never been that man, but the alpha before me had been prone to fits of pique. My mother had done her best to keep away from him, just as she’d kept me hidden until I was strong enough to hold my own. I’d never turn into him. I’d step aside and sacrifice myself in battle with the wyverns before I let that happen.
“It would be inhospitable to bundle her up before the healers are finished with her,” I stated.
But even as I said it, I knew I wanted more. I wanted to see just how strong her dragonflame was, wanted to see what she looked like gliding through the sky. Wanted to feel her under me, her legs wrapped around my hips as I plunged into her and joined our bodies and flames together.