“Are you okay?” Maceo asked him.
“Yeah, maybe I should come and hold your other hand.” His quick wit came back, but his eyes were haunted.
“Just stay close the real fights about to start.”
“Lucky me,” he whispered before they stepped off the last step.
A dark shape flew at Nadia’s head causing her to scream before she tried to let go of Maceo’s hand to run.
“Nadia,” He caught her. “You can’t run whatever it is we will take care of it together.”
“It was gruesome a ghost or a spirit of something dead.”
“Mutufa is playing with you that’s what he does. He shows us our worst nightmare or the thing that we long for the most. Stay with me.”
She nodded ignoring the wetness that came unbidden to her eyes.
“Maceo,” Nadia called out. “Something’s wrong with me.”
“Nadia you're fine.”
“No somethings wrong with me. It’s like a nuclear reactor in my belly. I feel myself boiling like I’m about to be burned up alive.
“Maceo, she glowing,” Zeno’s voice was urgent.
Nadia turned around letting go of Maceo’s hand and lost her dinner. “I feel so sick. What’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know, but we’re almost to the car. Let’s try to make it.”
“Why don’t you leave her with me? I’ll take good care of her.”
The voice came out of the darkness, but she knew who it was. It belonged to the shadow the voice that haunted her dreams and followed her during the daylight hours.
“Mutufa I don’t know how you slipped your bonds, but you can’t have her, and soon you will be back where you belong.” Maceo’s arms went around her.
“Who will shove me back your precious Syn and his bond mate. I don’t see either of them here. Or were you planning to do that with the help of a mate who can’t even control her powers? I think not. The only thing left for you to do is crawl back where you came from and let me have her. She’ll be a tasty little mortal treat.”
“You came back for more. Your defeat the first time at my hands wasn’t enough.” Her stomach tried to revolt again, but she doubted she had anything left on it.
He was going to kill her. Whatever happened the first time to keep her alive didn’t seem to be happening again.
“As much as I appreciate your offer to take my mate off my hands I must insist I keep her. We both know that mates are hard to find and are incredibly valuable.”
Maceo kept walking towards the car as he spoke to Mutufa as if he wasn’t concentrated on making a swift retreat.
She felt the first tug in the opposite direction. Something cold had reached out to grasp her arm and was pulling her away from Maceo.
Maceo had her fully in his arms tugging back. She was beginning to feel like the rope in a deadly game of tug of war. Zeno caught her by the arm and began adding his weight to the game.
“Stop,” she rasped. Her body wasn’t liking it and her stomach was rolling again. An explosion was imminent.
“Please, Maceo I feel like I’m going to blow.”
Chapter Six
“Nadia.”
She pulled away and began backing up. “Leave me, please. I don’t feel good. My stomach is rolling like someone poured battery acid down my throat. Please Maceo, please.”
“We can beat this.”
“What’s happening to me?”
“Your power is unstable. Something has triggered it. I should have seen it earlier, but you were so calm in the house.”
“How long has it been like this?”
“Couple of months. At first, it was nothing just a stomach ache. I even went to the doctor but they told me to take an antacid, so that’s what I did, but it got worse. I went back, but they told me there was nothing wrong. I stop going treated it with milk, but nothing helped.”
“This is power, Nadia. You can’t treat it with medications or food.”
“Thanks,’ she said dryly, “but I think I’ve figured that out already.”
“You two are cute, but what are we going to do?” Zeno asked as Mutufa began to advance on them.
The blackness inched towards them. Nadia shook as she watched it slowly eat the space in front of them up.
“Maceo?” she whispered.
“Welcome to the world of mate bonds and dragons,” Maceo said before he dragged her close and fused his lips to hers.
If she had to die, this was the way she would have picked, kissing a hot guy while her body went supernova. A hand touched her shoulder before a blinding light poured out of her body encircling all that were surrounding her.
She opened her eyes to find out she wasn’t standing in Alexa’s front yard anymore. The landscape was bare; there was nothing but an unending gloomy light.
“What happened, where are we?” She looked around to see Maceo on his knees and Zeno on his back behind her.
“You pack quite a punch mate bonded,” Maceo said trying to stand.
“What?”
“Your power it exploded brought us here but once again you protected us from yourself.”
“Where is here?”
What was happening to her? She was the normal one or at least that’s what Alexa always said. Of the two of them, Nadia was the normal one with her flame red hair and brown eyes. No one needed to know that the flame red of her hair was natural and not from a bottle. This wasn’t normal. Alexa was wrong between the two of them Nadia was the one who needed the help.
“How do we get back?”
“I don’t know.” He walked over to Zeno kneeling beside him. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, your mate packs a punch.”
Maceo threw her a smile over his shoulder filled with pride. “Yeah she does.”
Maceo helped Zeno to his feet before he took in the surrounding terrain.
“Where are we Maceo?”
“I asked the same question,” Nadia put her two cents in.
“We’re on a plane that I’ve never visited before.”
“Eternities plane?” Nadia looked around her.
“No, we’ve been there. This isn’t it,” Zeno answered.
“Welcome to the demon plane.” A disembodied voice spoke.
“Let’s go. We have to get out of here.” Maceo tugged on Nadia’s hand before pulling Zeno close to them.
“Run,” the voice laughed. “I’ll give you a head start you can’t hide.”
The landscape changed filled with hills that were black and trees with long branches that looked alive. They ran.
“I want to go home,” Nadia screamed as she ran as fast as possible.
“We all want to go home,” Zeno said. “First, we have to get out of this alive.”
She knew he was right. Whatever she was it was time to make the best of it and do whatever was needed to get out of this alive.
Off in the distance, she could hear what sounded like a pack of dogs and not the friendly kind. A tree root came up and wrapped around her foot pulling her off her feet. She screamed as she turned around to claw at her ankle.
“Nadia!”
“Maceo, something has me.”
He ran over to find the root wrapped around her ankle several times.
“How does something like this happen?”
“We’re on the demon plane everything here is against us. Watching us die would give the tree and all of its friends a dark joy.”
“I can’t get it off.”
“We have to cut it off. Do you have a blade Zeno I don’t have one on me?” Maceo asked.
“No, I didn’t bring one.”
“Nadia?”
“Strangely I have one in the bag I packed. I carry a knife, but the bag didn’t come with us. Now, what?”
“Now you get to make your first link with me whether you want to or not if you want to get free.”
“English please.”
“We can use your power to break you free but to use it you ha
ve to link with me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we take our first step to mate bonding.”
“Mate bonding is your way of marrying?”
“Yes, that’s the simple way to put it.”
“Don’t get upset when I ask this but mate bonding isn’t a nice way of you killing me eating my heart or doing some other weird thing that I won’t survive or will regret surviving.”
He threw his head back and laughed with Zeno joining in.
“You're funny. Where would you get such an idea and no none of the above will happen. The worst thing about mate bonding is that we are married forever and will share each other’s mind.”
“The eating heart thing might be better than sharing another’s mind forever. Okay, let’s do this. How do we do this?”
“I’m going to kiss you again and slip inside of your mind, and that will start the initial connection. Zeno is going to watch our bodies and alert us to any danger.”
“Yeah don’t take too long. I have the feeling the longer we’re out in the open, the more danger we’re in.”
Maceo looked at him. “We’ll go as fast as possible while we're dealing with power that’s untethered.”
Zeno sighed and dipped his head in acknowledgment. “This has not been fun.”
Maceo reached out and grabbed his shoulder “Soon you’ll get your chance to laugh at me wooing my mate.”
“Are you ready?” He looked at her with his blue eyes crinkled at the sides letting some of his worry show and his mouth that was tilted up in a gentle smile.
She was ready. Not to face some mysterious power she supposedly had inside. The thought of facing whatever she was because she couldn’t be human, she wasn’t ready for that. No, she wanted to kiss him one more time. If she was going to die, she needed to know the heaven of his lips. The comfort of his arms. The thought that maybe there was a possible shot with him was what she needed before her life ended.
She nodded. He leaned over getting closer; she watched him fighting the urge to close her eyes until his lips met hers. Then her eyes drifted shut on a small wave of pleasure. His tongue swiped against her encouraging her to open her mouth. The taste of him was heady as his tongue swept over hers. Her heart sped up as the taste of him seeped in.
She slipped her arms around him as she felt her body move, change.
Opening her eyes, she noticed the trees were gone, and the black hills were no longer there instead they were in a kitchen. The kitchen of her dreams it was wide and spacious with different workstations. It was silver with blue accents, and she wanted to stay here forever.
“Where are we?”
“A room in your mind.”
“I’ve got style.”
He gave her a big smile. “Yes, you do.”
“What do we do now?”
He stood and reached down to take her hand and pull her to her feet.
“We look for the center of your power or get as close to it as possible.”
She reached out and took his hand, happy not to be alone in this.
“Tell me about yourself Maceo. What do you do when you’re not flying around as a dragon?” If they could be on the demon plane, then he could be a dragon.
They walked around her kitchen she checked out the different workstations with a bright smile until they came to a dark door that would lead them out.
“I live on an island humans don’t know exist.”
“Is it beautiful?”
“Very.”
“I’d like to see it one day.”
“I’ll take you. Promise you will love it. Are you opening the door or am I?”
“I’ll open it.” She stuck out her hand and slowly turned the handle. The door flew open, and they ducked as an energy bolt soared over their head.
“What’s happening here?”
“This is your power losing it’s ever loving mind. The good part is that your powerful.”
She took a step in the room. “Pull yourself together! We do not act like this.”
A blast came aimed at her head she barely made it to the floor before it flew over her.
“I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“I would never let myself get like this. I know better. What’s happening to me?”
“Your power was never meant to be controlled just by you. It was meant to be controlled by us, and I have never heard of a dragon’s mate being born with so much of it.”
“None of that is helping me.”
Bolts of lightning were crossing over her so close a few singed her hair.
“We’re not going to get to the bottom of this right now. What we have to do is trap a portion of it and use it to saw through the tree root. If we get enough, we’ll be able to use it against the demon chasing us.”
“You're crazy, aren’t you? Who’s going to try and capture this stuff in their hands? Hands that don’t have gloves on.”
“Not crazy and you are going to do it because I don’t think it will hurt you. At least not too bad.”
“Wow, that put me at ease.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“All right I hear you. Not because I believe you, but because what does it matter if I die here or at the hands of a demon and a tree root. I’m going to need a therapist when we are done.”
“Don’t worry I’ll pay for one.”
“You’re just a bunch of laughs.” She carefully turned over trying to do it between lightning strikes. Once on her back she straightened her arms over her head and prepared to catch one as it went flying past.
Deep breath she told herself and raised her hand as a bright orange piece of lightning came for her.
“I caught it,” she laughed, as it wiggled like a fish in her hands.
Maceo dipped down and pulled her up and back towards the door quickly.
“Hold tight we’re not done yet.” He tucked her in front of him and made his way back into the kitchen and closed the door behind him.
“We’re going back. Don’t drop the power.”
She nodded and looked at him as he bent his head and gave her another hot kiss.
“Nadia, open your eyes.”
She was back sitting on the ground a concerned look in Zeno’s eyes.
“Remind me to tell you what you both looked like later. Did you get it?”
She nodded and held up her hands.
“Use it like a knife,” Maceo told her.
Holding the power over the root of the tree she slid it back and forth, the tree gave an inhuman cry of pain and unwrapped leaving her ankle swollen and throbbing.
“Did you think you would escape?”
She looked up to see a nightmare come to life. This wasn’t a shadow. It was a humanoid looking stranger with red skin, horns, and teeth that hadn’t been brushed in forever. It had claws several inches long. They looked bloody like maybe he had disemboweled someone before coming to find her.
The power in her hands quaked, and she found herself scouting back using the good ankle to help her.
“You were rather slow. I thought we would have to track you down,” Maceo gave him a once over.
He raised his hand coming closer to Nadia.
“I’ll kill the dragons mate first her power will be glorious.”
“Now Nadia!” He threw himself at her and took her hands in his, and together they aimed and let her power flow free.
It carved a hole into the chest of the demon who fell to the ground. Maceo pulled her up.
“We have to run.”
They had a pack of dogs on their trail.
Chapter Seven
Nadia limped with Maceo’s arm underneath her helping to hold her up. Nothing would matter if she didn’t find a place to rest soon.
“Hang in there Nadia; we’ll stop soon.”
She bit her lip and nodded, her ankle throbbed. That tree held her so tightly like it was trying to break her ankle and now all she wanted to do was sit down and cradle
it.
They were in the hills now walking through a lake. It was cold, and that was helping some. Maybe her swelling would go down. The dogs were getting further away. The water was hopefully throwing them off the trail.
“I see shelter,” Zeno said. “Can we afford to stop?”
“I don’t think we can afford not to stop.” Maceo was holding Nadia up now. If not for him she would have fallen long ago.
He swung her up in his arms. “We stop Nadia can’t walk, and I can’t fight holding her.”
Zeno nodded and took the lead. The shelter turned out to be a cabin. Not exactly cozy but it was more than they had.
The interior was stark. There was a couch and two chairs. The walls were rough wood looking like someone had forgotten to finish them. There were two bedrooms and a small bathroom. The living room had a kitchen off to the side. For a cabin in the demon plane, this place was downright homey.
Maceo carried Nadia to the couch lowering her gently until she was settled, lowering himself to the floor beside the couch he took off her tennis shoes.
“It doesn’t look good.” Nadia was leaned over him looking at her swollen ankle.
“Hopefully, it’s not as bad as it looked.”
Her dark skin was purple from the bruise that circled her ankle. It had swollen to be at least twice the size it should be, and a simple twitch of her foot or even her toes was enough to make her want to scream in pain. Yeah, she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Zeno, any ice in the freezer?” Maceo asked gently probing her ankle.
“I’m not sure the freezer even works. I think it’s a demon joke.” Zeno was standing with his head buried deep into the freezer. “No ice.”
“Of course, there isn’t,” Maceo muttered to himself.
Ripping the bottom of his shirt he tied it around her ankle before going outside.
“Where’s he going?” Nadia asked Zeno.
“I have no idea almost little sister, but I have faith that he won’t leave us here.”
Nadia shuddered, the thought had never crossed her mind that he would leave them or rather her. Zeno was his brother, but she was just some woman he was starting to get to know and now she couldn’t even walk. It made sense to leave her.
With a shake of her head, she left that train of thought. She didn’t know Maceo well, but he didn’t strike her as the type of person or dragon shifter that would leave her to face Mutufa and his band on her own.
Nadia's Dragon: Nadia's Dragon: A BBW Paranomal Romance (Dragon Mates Book 2) Page 4