“So, are you going to keep your promise or not?” Alvena seethed.
Kai watched as his mate stood in front of him in what he now thought of as her Valkyrie stance, a slight breeze seemed to pick up in the room and made her hair move around her face. As he watched, he could swear that smoke came out of her nostrils. His mate was acting like an untrained Dásreach. She reminded him of himself when he first accepted the dragon spirit guardian. But, that couldn’t be what was happening to her. She had to go through the mating ceremony to receive a spirit guardian and her powers.
“Fine. I’m leaving then. I’m going to go and find my friends.” Still in shock, Alvena was past him before he snapped out of his trance.
As she came close, he could swear she smelled slightly of smoke. The difference in her scent brought him around quickly and he grabbed her arm.
“Hold on, lass. Just a minute. Give me a minute.” He pleaded. “I’m confused Alvena and I’m just trying to catch up.”
“Okay. Five minutes, then I’m out of here. My friends need me. It’s my fault that they are in this mess and I need to get them out. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to them because of me.” Alvena was rambling and talking so fast.
“Lass, how about we sit and figure out exactly what we need to do?”
“No, you have five minutes to let me talk to Rogue and Nat or I’m gone.” She stood and glared at him.
“Alright, let me make some phone calls. When I talked to Dar earlier he still hadn’t had any contact with either of them.” Kai picked up the hotel phone and dialed Dar.
He ended up calling collect, because he didn’t have the money to charge it to the room. Once he connected and Dar accepted the charges, he jumped right in, his time was ticking away and he didn’t want to hurt Alvena by trying to restrain her.
“Dar, I need to reach Charlie and Malkum.” He demanded.
“No, you need to speak to Nat and Rogue. I don’t care about your friends.” Alvena demanded from beside him.
“Yes, lass, I know.” He said to her, before going back to Dar on the other end of the phone. “Dar, Alvena really needs to talk to her friends.”
“Um, well, I still don’t know how to contact Charlie or Malkum. I’m sorry Kai, but they are both staying way below the radar.” Dar replied.
“Shite. Alvena is really upset and something is going on with her. I’d swear she had gone through the mating and is now struggling to handle the changes that come with it.” Kai replied.
“You should contact the Shaman.” Dar stated simply.
“Do you have any leads at all on where either of them are?” He wasn’t too proud to beg. He needed to give Alvena what she wanted so she would calm down and they could figure out what was going on.
“Not really, Malkum is out of the bayou. He told the trackers that we sent after him that he was going to find out what happened to the women who disappeared after visiting the tattoo shops. But, he didn’t tell them where he was going and hasn’t called in. As for Charlie, he hasn’t checked in since that first time and I don’t expect him to with how he was acting.” Dar gave him the update.
“Kai, this is not acceptable.” Alvena chimed in from the other side of the bed.
“What do you want me to do, Alvena? I’ll do just about anything you ask.” He said as he watched her.
“I told you what I want.” She yelled at him.
“I know lass, but it’s out of my hands. If Dar can’t reach them, we won’t find them either.”
Kai stood up from the bed, the phone in his hand forgotten. He was feeling blindsided by the changes in his mate. He would love her no matter what, but he didn’t know how to react to her right now. Fear gripped him each time he said anything, afraid that she would do something foolish. Thunder crashed outside of the hotel. Kai looked upwards. What in the world? It had been a completely clear evening. There were no storms expected. He looked down into the eyes of a dragon. His mate was standing there, with fire behind her eyes. Shite. What the fuck is going on? He lifted the phone to his ear.
“Dar? I need you to keep me on the line and call the Shaman.”
“Sure, give me a minute.” Dar replied without asking any questions. There were times that he was grateful that Dar was a man of few words. This was one of them.
“Alvena, lass, we’re going to call the Shaman. If anyone can help, he can.” It wasn’t a lie, he just wasn’t calling for the question she wanted answered.
“Fine.” She said as she continued to pace at the bottom of the bed. She still hadn’t stopped moving since he had entered the room.
Inside himself, he felt another storm brewing. His spirit guardian was getting even more restless. Roaring and scratching at Kai’s insides, the dragon was demanding his mate. Not Kai’s mate, but his, the dragon’s mate. Too much was coming at him and for the first time, Kai was clueless about a course of action. Even when he was unsure in the past, he had always had ideas and a direction to start, but this time, he had nothing.
“Kai.” Dar called from the phone.
Kai looked at it a moment, before he realized who it was and answered him. “Dar, Aye.”
“I have the Shaman and I’ve connected him to our call.” Dar responded.
“Kai, go ahead, tell me what you need.” The Shaman said through the connection.
Kai explained to him what was going on, he told him about everything, not knowing what would be important for the Shaman to know. He started with when he first saw Alvena and how he had felt and continued on to when he had first spoken with her at the airport and then met her friends when they reached Memphis. He described all of the attacks and how they had found out that Rogue and Nat were Malkum and Charlie’s mates. His worry for his brothers couldn’t be held back. The Shaman listened intently and, oddly, so had Alvena. She had stopped pacing and had listened to every word.
“Kai, this is not something the Dásreach has ever seen.” The Shaman replied. “I won’t know anything for sure, not until you bring your mate here.”
“I understand. I’m so worried and I don’t know what to do. I would leave tonight, but with Alvena’s earlier collapse and now…” His voice trailed off.
Kai sat back on the bed hard. His shoulders collapsed inward and he placed his forehead into his free hand, his other still holding the phone clutched tightly to his ear. He felt the bed dip and then an arm came around him.
“Kai, I’m sorry.” Alvena whispered. “I didn’t stop to think about how hard this all must be on you.”
She cuddled into him and he dropped the phone and grabbed onto her. Tears were leaking from his eyes as he tried to squeeze them back. He had to be strong, so many were depending on him. This woman was depending on him, him and his brothers, to bring her friends back to her safely. It was killing him that he couldn’t guarantee any of it. His world had fallen apart. Women had disappeared and some were confirmed dead, just for looking at Dásreach Warrior Marks. They had a traitor in the Dásreach and no way of knowing who it was yet. He had found his mate just to watch her be attacked again and again, most likely because he had shown interest in her. It was all slipping through his fingers. How was he supposed to lead his brothers on the council as they lead their people? He was failing before he even began.
Alvena was rubbing his back and whispering reassuring words into his ear as Kai had a total collapse. Damn it! I’m supposed to be stronger than this.
“Kai, you can’t shoulder everything. It’s not expected of you.” She murmured.
He sat back and looked at her. “But, it’s my duty to take care of everyone.”
“No, Kai. There are thirteen of you in your group. You have twelve other men to help you do your best for your people.” She gripped his hands.
The headset beside him on the bed began to beep. Dar and the Shaman must have hung up. He placed the handset back in the cradle.
Turning back to Alvena, Kai cupped her cheeks in his hands. She seemed so delicate beside him, now sitting q
uietly with compassion and something else showing in her eyes.
“Lass, you came back to me.” He whispered as he brushed a kiss over her lips.
“I’m sorry, Kai. I have a bit of a temper and the more I sat here and thought about it, the more I realized that I always seem to do what everyone else tells me to do. Even if it isn’t what I wanted to do.” She rested her small hands on his chest as her dark chocolate eyes looked into his own.
“I know that I have so much more to learn about you lass, but you seemed so… angry. I’m not used to seeing that from you. Even when you’ve been upset with me, you’ve still… I guess you’ve held back?”
Alvena twisted the material of his shirt with her fingers. The gears in her mind churning, her thoughts flying across her face faster than he could read them.
“No… well… maybe a bit.” She grinned shyly at him. “But, this was different. I’m not sure why. But, I felt strange as if things were happening inside of me and encouraging me to take control and get what I wanted.”
“Alvena, do you promise not to get freaked out?”
“That’s a sure fire way to get me to freak out, Kai. Don’t you know not to ask someone that?” She pulled her hands back from his chest and placed them in her lap.
Kai grabbed them back and held them tight. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have started that way. There is nothing to be worried about, lass. It’s just… I think it will be shocking.”
“Go ahead then.” She encouraged him.
“Well, I have given you bits and pieces of information about the Dásreach and being a mate to a Dásreach male.” She nodded.
“There’s more?”
He looked down at their joined hands wishing that things could be as simple as meeting a girl, getting to know her, introduce her to your parents, and eventually ask her to marry you. Instead he had to explain to Alvena that she would change when she became his mate. He had to tell her that he thought she had already changed. Kai didn’t understand how, and they wouldn’t be sure until the Shaman saw her.
“Go ahead, Kai.” She prompted him.
“Alvena when you were angry and pacing, did you notice how hot you were? Did you notice the air moving in the room?”
“No, I didn’t feel hot.” She looked at him strangely. “As for the air movement, the fan must have kicked on.”
“Lass, I noticed some things. First was that your skin was hot to the touch. I thought you were running an extremely high fever. Then the air was moving your hair and the fan hasn’t kicked on, because it isn’t turned on.” She looked at him with disbelief. “Then, um, I swear that I saw smoke come out of your nostrils and that your eyes changed.”
“What?” He placed a finger on her lips.
“Just hear me out. I think… no, I should start at the beginning.” With a deep breath he continued. “When a woman meets a Dásreach that is drawn to her and she in turn is drawn to his Warrior Mark, the Dásreach explains to her about mates and asks her to come to a Dásreach Dásig to go through the ceremony to become his mate. When she agrees they travel to the Dásig and go in front of one of the Dásreach Spiritual Advisers. For the Thirteen it’s a bit different, we have to travel to Tiranam Dásig, which is the first community of the Dásreach and is located on land that we consider sacred. We take our mates in front of the Shaman and he performs the mating ceremony. A mate goes through a ceremony much like the one Dásreach males go through when we take our oaths. If the woman makes her own oath to uphold the values and goals of the Dásreach and to work with her mate to perform the duties given by the Great Spirit, then she receives her mate’s Warrior Mark. During the process, the mate will go into a sort of trance type state. She meets her spirit guardian. If they accept each other the mate comes out of the trance with a Warrior Mark, a spirit guardian, and the ability to shift.”
“What!” Alvena jumped up and looked at Kai. “You mean that if I were to agree to become your mate that I would be able to shift into an animal?”
“Well, aye, sort of.”
“What do you mean sort of?”
“Not just any animal. You will be able to shift into a dragon like I can and you’ll also receive the other gifts that I have...”
“Wait. Just wait. A dragon? You’re saying that I could have the ability to shift into a large fire breathing dragon, just like you did?”
“Aye.” He answered simply.
“And, I’ll receive some other gifts as well?”
“Aye.”
“And, what are those exactly?” She asked.
“Um, well, you’ll be able to heal quicker, you’ll live longer, and you’ll be able to control the weather.”
“I’ll heal like you do?”
“Aye.”
“And, just how long are we talking about for a lifespan?” She asked with a bit of a tremble in her voice.
“Um, about 300 years.”
Alvena sat back on the bed. She stared at him for a long time before grabbing his hands and pulling him down beside her and facing him.
“Okay. What about controlling the weather?”
“A Dásreach dragon shifter can control the weather, you know, make it rain, create lightning, make the wind blow. Pretty much anything that nature normally creates.” He answered. “I use it to camouflage when I’m flying and I think that might be why dragons are gifted with that power. If you think of the other animals they are all relatively easy to hide and explain away. This provides me a way to use my dragon while still protecting the Dásreach.”
He stopped and waited for her to process what he was saying. Kai was so afraid that she would have another panic attack. He didn’t ever want to watch her struggle for breath and lose consciousness again for as long as he lived.
“So, do all of the Dásreach get the same abilities?” She asked. “Will Rogue and Nat get these abilities if they were to agree to mate to your friends?”
“All Dásreach and mates have the ability to shift, the enhanced healing, the longer lifespan, and they have a special ability. However, all of the other spirit guardians bring different abilities to their Dásreach. Dásreach can shift into one of eight animals: Dragon, Panther, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Mountain Lion, Falcon, and Eagle. And, there are a total of thirteen different special abilities. Only dragons can control the weather. Charlie is a black panther and he can cause someone to fall asleep with just a touch. Whereas Malkum as a bear can track and find just about anyone or anything he wants to find. Dar is also a bear shifter, but his ability is to manipulate wood and metal into different objects. The others have other skills.”
“So, you’re saying that Nat and Rogue will get the ability that Charlie and Malkum have?” She clarified.
“Aye. Shifting into the same animal and having the same special ability allows our mates to work alongside of us. It allows them to understand the stress we go through when we have to use our skills.”
They both lapsed into silence. Alvena thinking through what he had told her and Kai wishing he could have done things differently. His fears centered on losing Alvena. He could handle anything else, as long as he had her by his side. That was one fact that he knew to be 100 percent true.
“Kai, why are you telling me all of this now? You could have told me earlier,” she gave him a pointed look and continued, “or waited to tell me once we were at your Tiranam Dásig. Why now?” Alvena pulled him out of his fear induced thoughts.
He looked into her eyes. They were calm now; he didn’t see any fire or shadows. He took in a deep breath and her scent that came into his lungs, was once again the smell of flowers and cinnamon. Last, he reached up and caressed her cheek. It was once again cool to his touch.
“Remember, I said that I noticed things while you were angry?”
“Yes.” The look on her face was leery of what he was going to tell her.
“Alvena, I think you’ve already found your spirit guardian.” Telling her straight out felt harsh, but he didn’t see any good coming from trying to beat around t
he bush.
She sat in front of him and shook her head. “No… no… no… that can’t be true.”
“Lass, it’s the only explanation. You were controlling the weather; there was wind in the room and thunder outside. Not to mention the smoke coming from your nostrils and how hot your skin was. Then, there was also the fact that I saw her in your eyes.” His voice dropped at the end.
“But, I thought you said that you had to have a tattoo and make an oath to have a spirit guardian?” Her eyes pleaded with him to agree with her.
“From all of my studies, I never heard of it ever happening any other way, but lass, I can’t deny what I saw.”
Alvena was up and pacing again. She stopped.
“Kai? Does this mean I have to… well, will you be forced to do the mating ceremony with me?” Alvena stood in front of him with her arms wrapped around her waist.
He could tell that she was bracing herself for his answer.
“Alvena, lass, no one will force you or me to mate if we don’t want to.” He watched a look of sadness cross her face.
“So, now that it looks like I’m a freak of nature, getting a dragon guardian when I haven’t…” Kai stormed over to her and grabbing her he kissed her hard.
When he pulled back he looked into fearful chocolate eyes.
“Lass, one, you are not a freak. If this has happened, it is the will of the Great Spirit. When we can talk to the Shaman, he should be able to give us more answers. And, two, I said no one would force us, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be your mate.” He gazed into her eyes, willing her to see the truth in his own. “Alvena, I love you and want to spend my long life with you. No one else will ever be able to take your place. You outshine every other woman in the world for me. I have seen no one else since the minute I saw you in that bookstore.”
Kai swooped down and kissed her again, he let all of his emotions flow through the kiss, urging her to open her heart to him. He knew that she cared for him back, but for some reason couldn’t allow herself to believe in his feelings. One day she would though. He wouldn’t stop until she believed him when he told her how he felt for her. Even if it took his whole life he would reassure her of his love.
Finding the Dragon (Dásreach Council Book 1) Page 31