“Be patient, Alpha,” he gave me a kiss before slipping out of the cabin.
I picked up the maps again but couldn’t concentrate. Sea levels were still high in most of the world. Not high enough to sink California like some people predicted centuries ago, but high enough to swallow up some low-lying islands out at sea. Maybe the island would take itself closer to the states. The location wasn’t ideal for my job, but maybe I could live without work. I only took it up to find Brendan and now I had him. The island would provide many of our needs, but we’d need cash for somethings. Brendan’s family had a good stash of gold but selling it off would raise some eyebrows. Both historically and to those in the gold market. Sure, a little here and there wouldn’t hurt, but I didn’t want to take away anything he had left of his old life.
“RHETT! ALPHA!” Brendan’s cry cut through our link.
“BRENDAN?” I was on my feet before the word was out of my mouth. Tension coiled tight around me as his pulse raced in my ears across the distance.
“COME HERE! ALPHA! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!”
His words trembled over our mating link.
“Are you okay? I’m coming!” I left the boat following his scent.
“I can’t explain. I don’t have words… I..”
“I’m on my way mate!”
I almost howled, but my wolf swallowed the sound in case an enemy was nearby. Taking a deep breath, I searched out strange scents, but nothing new came to me. I raced through the cave, currently always open so we could easily pass through without worrying about that damn boulder. Outside the cave, I took a deep breath and looked around for him.
“ALPHA!” Brendan roared.
I raced towards the cry and skidded to a halt when he came into view. He sat atop a huge pile of sea blue scales. The largest he clutched against his chest with white knuckles.
“I found him! I found my carrier,” his voice shook as he spoke.
The sound knocked the wind out of me as I closed the space between me and the pile of scales. Little ones and half pieces littered around the bottom of the small hill. Bigger ones sat low supporting medium sized ones. They glinted in the sun the last remaining piece of the man who brought Brendan into the world.
“It was a spell,” Brendan said blinking hard, so he didn’t cry. “It cut right through his chest scale. It probably hit his heart. So, he didn’t suffer long. There’s that at least.”
He held up the scale and looked through a black singed hole. Anger surged through me and fists clenched at my sides. My fingers itched to close around the wizard’s neck to end his life, but the dragons took care of that asshole their selves.
“We have to take him home,” Brendan said. “We can’t leave him out here alone.”
I reached a handout for him and Brendan climbed down the hill. I didn’t step forward. It felt rude to step on someone’s remains. Not to mention, dragon scales sometimes have ragged edges.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. We just need to take him home. I don’t know if we should take him back to the ship or to what’s left of the ruins.”
“The ship to be back with his mate,” I hung my head as he stepped into my arms.
“I’m okay, really. This is a good sign. His protection is still here. He made it to the Other World okay after fighting for his people and his home. Maybe they’re chatting with your parents.”
“Are you really okay?” I leaned back to look at him.
“I miss them, but they both died to ensure the family lived on. We did. I’m alive and others made it off the island to have eggs.”
“Should we build something to mark the spot?” I asked him.
Modern Moonscales built huge monuments to the fallen and community gardens that served as reminders of those who gave everything to make the world a better place.
“A garden,” Brendan nodded. “When we rebuild, we should plant a garden here. It could stretch to the grove of trees just across the way. That’s where Father died.”
“That close together?”
“They were true-mates. They meant the world to each other.”
“We’ll plant all their favorites,” I smiled at him.
My heart broke for him, but I couldn’t resurrect the dead. I couldn’t bring them back, but I could do right by them and ensure their son lived a long happy life. I’d kill anyone who stood in the way of that.
“Will you go back to the ship and find something to carry the scales in? We could carry them by hand, but we’d be at it for days. There are some big baskets below deck. Some of them should be empty from all the food we’ve been eating.”
“It would be my honor,” I said and stole a kiss. “Are you sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone?”
“I’ll miss you,” he squeezed my hand.
We spent most of the afternoon hauling baskets of scales back to the ship. Brendan decided the best place to store the scales until they were needed was in his carrier’s bedroom. We arranged the baskets on the bed and sorted out the smaller ones and the broken shards into their own baskets.
“If I had pockets, I’d carry one with me. It’s too bad I never took to sewing,” he gave a sad chuckle.
“I don’t know if it’s okay, but I could poke a hole through one and make it into a necklace.”
“Of course, it’s okay. I mean, I’ll probably have to make the hole, but we mold the scales all the time. It’s not disrespectful to want them with us.”
It was too bad Stacy wasn’t a dragon then Seth could take her everywhere with him. My brother and I hadn’t spoken since he left the island. My phone was dead and with no way to receive calls I was sure he’d get himself thrown in jail. This time he’d just have to sit there and face whatever punishment came his way. I was getting too old to chase after him every time he felt the need to chase chaos.
After dinner, we fell into bed exhausted. I wasn’t a stranger to hard work but hauling dragon scales across the island left me achy and exhausted. In the end, Brendan was right. He had to make the hole in a bright blue scale. Using his claw, he gently cut a hole into it and put the scale on a piece of hemp string we found in storage.
“I never made it to find your present,” he laughed as we curled up together in bed.
“You’re my present,” I kissed him goodnight.
***
Sun rays barely showed through the windows when a familiar sound buzzed through my brain. I reached out to scoop my phone up from the nightstand. It was likely Seth again. That damn man was always getting stuck somewhere. My hand collided with a warm back.
“I’m so sorry, Alpha! I think I broke it!” Brendan said turning to me with my phone in his hand. “I tried to charge it with the crystals we use on the ships and stuff but it broke! It won’t quit shaking and moaning!”
“It’s ringing,” I yawned and reached out for it. “That means someone’s calling us.”
“Who?” Brendan let go of the phone.
“My boss,” I rolled my eyes and answered the phone. “Professor Warren speaking.”
“Rhett where the hell are you? I pay you to teach a class! Not to run around on my time! The chopper’s back, but you’re nowhere to be found! Charles doesn’t know where you are! Your brother is a closed-lip bastard and won’t tell me a damn thing either! You better be at that dig site or you can kiss your tenure goodbye, Professor.”
“Good morning to you too, Dean Stocklen.”
“I mean it, Rhett. I’ve been as patient as I can with you! I’ve given you chance after chance. Where are you?” The dean demanded.
“I’ve found my true-mate,” I sat up blinking the sleep from my eyes.
“Congratulations. I hope you know that doesn’t get you out of leading the dig. The TA can handle the classwork, but she’s not you. I pay you to take the students into the field and share your expertise. Expertise and experience that your TA does not possess.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. I wasn’t ready to give up my cozy existence with Br
endan and trade it in for clueless students and digging in the dirt.
“Rhett, are you listening to me?” Dean Stocklen asked.
“Yes, sir. I’m not sure I’m coming back.”
“I could sue you for breach of contract! You know that, right?”
Brendan snatched the phone from me and looked at it a second before bringing it up to his ear. “We’ll be there. Now stop being an ass.” He ended the call and handed the phone back to me.
“You know that means leaving the island, right?” I asked him.
“If you’re memories are right, we’re not too far from Moonstruck Isle. That’s where your dig’s at, right?” Brendan asked.
“Yes, but…”
“You gave him your word. This time we do the dig. Then if we decide not to do it again, that’s okay, but you can’t break your word. It’s against the Moonscale way.”
“Won’t you be bored?” I pulled him back into bed with me.
“If I get bored, I can fly back here and start rebuilding. It’s only a few minutes away by dragon’s flight,” he said and kissed me before I could protest the idea further.
Chapter Twenty
Brendan
Rhett and I flew to his onsite class the day before his TA was due to bring over his students. He needed time to set things up and ensure animals or unfavorable weather hadn’t caused chaos and destruction. I was happy to see where Alpha worked, but Moonstruck Island wasn’t what I expected. There wasn’t an ancient village standing proud waiting for students to take a tour of the past. Bits of buildings remained, but not enough to identify what they once were by sight alone.
Most of the land on the island was sectioned off by ropes creating a boxy grid. A long brick barracks sat in the center of the island surrounded by tents and storage buildings. The storage sheds were full of artifacts from shifters who lived on the island long ago. What bothered me the most was a storage shed full of plastic totes of dragon scales.
“I need to look at these. If any of them belong to my family I’m taking them back,” I pulled a tote off the top of the box.
“Clarence Moonscale was supposed to come by years ago and sort through them. That’s why they’re still here and not at a museum,” Rhett said.
“Do you know how crappy that sounds?” I opened the box.
“The Moonscales have a whole museum of dragon scales now. It has all these guards and stuff, but it’s like a big dragon shrine.”
“Well, he missed his chance. At least you didn’t auction them off to the highest bidder.”
“They’re technically property of Moonscale Academy.”
“They belong to the Moonscales then, right?” I sat down and looked up at him.
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Well, as far as I know, I’m the oldest living Moonscale. So, I get first dibs.”
“Only they don’t know you’re awake.”
“Well, if they show up send them my way. I’ll put the hatchlings in their places,” I laughed.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to meet my descendants. What dragon leaves boxes of scales piled up in non-dragon hands? Sure, Rhett was educated and respectable for the most part, but Clarence didn’t know Rhett was destined for a dragon mate. Maybe he sensed something, but a gut feeling wasn’t enough. I knew why I trusted Rhett, but why did he?
“You just have trouble trusting leaders after our carrier didn’t listen,” my dragon said.
Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact he let these scales pile up like a bunch of leaves from a dead tree.
“When you meet him, you can ask him why.”
Rhett double checked the rest of the island while I sorted through the scales. Some belonged to dragons I knew during my younger days. I put them into separate stacks as I sorted. Others belonged to dragons I never met but carried the humming energy of my family line. Some, I didn’t know where the heck they came from. I needed an updated family tree to help me sort through them. I sorted ones I couldn’t identify into stacks of scales that belonged to the same dragons. Most of the scales broke or shed off. A few stacks were huge telling the story of dragons who found their door on Moonstruck Island.
It was lunch time when I finished sorting the totes out, but I refused to eat until the scales were put to rest. I put the non-Moonscale scales back into the totes keeping them separated into their own stacks. Then I found unused baskets and totes to keep the rest sorted.
“I’m going to fly these home before I eat,” I stood up and dusted my butt off.
“Will they all fit on the ship?” Rhett asked.
“I’m not sure. I’ll find somewhere to put them all. They can’t stay here to be pawed at by people who don’t understand who they are or that these scales were all once part of a living breathing person.”
“They’re sort of home. The island is Moonscale owned.”
“They’re better off here. They won’t all fit on the ship. The castle is in ruins. We can take them home after we rebuild,” my dragon said.
“He’s right,” Rhett nodded handing me a plate of fried chicken, potato salad, and green beans. “We can move them into the storage closet of my cabin.”
“Don’t you sleep in the barracks with the students?” I asked.
“No. I like to keep space between myself and them once the sun sets. Inside the barracks they’re separated into omegas and Alphas. No babies are to be made on this island.”
“Well, then. You’re just trying to suck all the fun out of my first trip to Moonstruck,” I stuck my tongue out at him. “And besides, would you really make a baby with a student?”
“No,” he shook his head drawing out the word. “A few have tried to seduce me, though. My advice to them is always to wait for their true-mate.”
“Not all omegas wait.”
“True, but what happens when they have a pup by a chosen mate and their true-mate shows up?” Rhett asked.
“Chaos,” I shrugged.
“There are ways around pups these days, but not everyone uses them in the heat of the moment. So, relationships between students are forbidden on this trip.”
“What if they’re true-mates?” I asked him.
“I’ve yet to see that happen.”
After lunch, we carried the scales of my family into Rhett’s cabin. Once they were safely tucked away, we marked the cabin as our own territory. It was bigger than I expected with a full kitchen, mini-library, and a decent sized bathroom. We took our time marking each room as our own. It was the best afternoon of my life to date. Well, of my life since waking up to date.
***
I didn’t want to crawl out of bed the next morning. The past week or so of having Rhett all to myself had spoiled me. New mates usually spent the first few months attached at the hip or by naughtier parts, but our situation was a little more complicated than most. Okay, a lot more complicated than most. I was a lot older than Rhett and we weren’t ready for anyone to know that I was the Sleeping Omega Prince.
“Do you really have to get up this early?” I asked curling against his chest and pressing my forehead to his. “The sun isn’t even out yet. Can’t we just stay in bed and put a closed sign on the island?”
“I’d love to, but someone told the dean we’d lead this dig,” he chuckled and ran his fingers up my side.
“I didn’t think it would happen so fast, though. I’m not ready to give you up yet,” I laughed and leaned in close for a kiss.
“No one’s giving anyone up. You’ll be right here with me and I don’t want you to stay in the shadows either. I think you can provide some good insight into how they should treat the artifacts. I try, but not all of them go on to have careers as prolific as mine.”
“I think you were meant to handle Moonscale artifacts. You’re a Moonscale now.”
“You’re a Warren now,” he laughed and stole a kiss.
“Yes, but you’re mated into the flight too. That means you’re not trespassing. I hope that’s why Clarence trusted you with all the s
cales.”
“It’s not going to bother you to watch them digging around, is it?” He asked.
It would, but I wasn’t going to admit that to him. It’s not like Clarence or any of the other Moonscales were out here sorting through what our family left behind.
“Not as much as it would have before,” I said.
It was as truthful as I could be.
“This is the only way we can find the stuff my family and other dragons might have left behind. Besides, you’ve been doing this every year for how long now? There can’t be that much left, can there?” I asked him as I trailed my hands down his belly towards his cock. It came to life as my fingers neared.
“We usually find a few new things every year,” Rhett said leaning in closer to my parted lips.
“I’ve rediscovered something I really enjoy this morning digging around under the sheets,” I smirked and wrapped my fingers around his cock.
His lips closed over mine. I opened my mouth inviting his warm familiar tongue into my mouth. Rhett held my face with one hand and deepened the kiss as I squeezed his cock hard. He moaned into the kiss and his cock grew to its full size. I reveled in the heat radiating into my palm. The warmth was now a familiar sensation that felt like home.
Rhett trailed his hand over my shoulder and down my back to cup my ass. His touch left scorching paths of desire everywhere he touched.
“Professor Warren? Are you here?” Someone knocked on the front door of the cabin.
“Sorry,” I bit my lip. “Didn’t mean to make you this late.”
“I’ll be out in a minute, Samantha. You can go ahead and give them the tour. Don’t let them near the equipment yet!” Rhett called back.
“Aye, aye, captain! Can’t wait to meet the man who made the chronically on time Professor Warren late for the first day of a dig.”
“That’s my TA,” Rhett whispered.
“Do we have time to finish?” I laughed.
“If we hurry,” he said and flipped me onto my stomach.
Without the luxury of time, Rhett let his primal side out. Gone was the polite Alpha asking me if I was ready a hundred times like he had before our first time together. I woke up wet and ready for him so cutting to the chase was a welcome change. He ran his nails down my back stopping just short of my ass. He pushed his dick between my ass cheeks coating himself in my slickness. Tingles danced up my back and I arched my hips to invite him inside.
The Sleeping Omega Prince Page 10