Dragon's Angel

by Donica Covey

  "Daddy, please be nice. Xavier is wonderful. He saved my life."

  "What?"

  "I'll explain to you both in a few minutes. I'll be back.” She turned and ran to the old barn behind which the large garden was fenced. The gate stood partially open. She found her mother bent over a large head of cabbage. “They look healthy this year."

  Jilly Morgan jerked up in shock. “Keely? My Keely?” She shouted and grabbed Keely up in a warm embrace. “Where have you been? What happened to you? Are you all right? You're thin. Oh my.” Tears streaked down her cheeks as she pulled back to study Keely and then she squeezed her close again.

  Keely hugged her mother back. “I'm fine, Momma. I need to talk to you and Daddy. It's very important."

  "Oh Keely! I've been so worried. So scared. You have no idea what thoughts raced through my head. The police and your friends all said the last time anyone saw you, you were with some man."

  "Xavier."

  Jilly's eyebrow lifted. “Xavier?"

  Keely nodded. “Yes. He's so wonderful. We're going to be married."

  Her mother's face was quickly masked with shock. “Married? To the man who kidnapped you? Oh Keely! It's that, oh what's that syndrome called, when you fall in love with your kidnapper?"

  "He didn't kidnap me. He actually rescued me from the man who did."

  "I knew you were abducted. Oh my baby, did he hurt you?"

  Keely wasn't sure how to answer the question. If she said yes it would only bring her mom more pain. If she lied it would be even harder. One look in her mother's eyes answered the question for her. “No, Momma. He didn't hurt me."

  Jilly scanned her once more. “You've seen Daddy?"

  Keely nodded. “I've got to talk to both of you. It's very important and I don't have much time. Please come with me."

  "Not much time? What are you talking about?"

  "I'll explain it all. Just come to the house with me."

  Jilly nodded and took Keely's arm.

  * * * *

  Xavier watched Keely run up a weed-grown gravel path. He felt the man's anger and he wasn't sure what to say or do. “Mr. Morgan."

  Jake studied him. “What have you done to my daughter?"

  "I fell in love with her."

  The older man didn't say a word. His glance didn't change and the anger in his eyes was just as strong.

  "I'd never hurt her.” He felt the guilty flush creep up his neck as he remembered his attack on her. His hands around her slender neck as he tried to squeeze the life from her. He regretted that whenever he thought of it. Keely was his lover, his life, and he would never harm her again.

  "I don't believe you, boy. I can see it in your eyes, you're lying."

  "I love her."

  "It's not as simple as that. I know a man who claimed to love his wife, but he beat her whenever the hair touched him."

  Xavier exploded. “You think I'd do that Keely? I made one mistake and I've got to live with it forever but I swear to you no one will ever, ever touch her in anger again. Never. I'd kill any man who even thought of it."

  Jake Morgan's face turned a mottled maroon shade and his eyes squinted. His fists formed at his sides. “Kill? Mistake? What kind of a man are you?"

  "I'm the man who's going to marry Keely. I'm the man who's going to stay beside her, father her children, give her a safe home, and will be with her until the last breath is expelled from my body.” He felt Keely come up behind him. “I'm sorry, Keely. He just made me angry."

  "I know.” She answered softly.

  He watched her mother and father exchange questioning looks. “I think he'd really do it."

  "Do what?"

  "Shoot me."

  She laughed and took her mother and father by the hand. “We need to talk."

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  Twenty Three

  Keely paced her parents’ living room. The dark wood panel had always intrigued her. The old Cuckoo clock, sent from Germany by a loving cousin, still hung on the wall. An old grandfather clock in the hallway chimed the hour and half hour.

  "Keely?"

  She faced her father. Xavier sat on a chair close by to give her the strength she was going to need. “I'm marrying Xavier. We're moving away and I don't think we'll ever be coming back."

  Her mother gasped loudly and her father's face turned an ugly mottled red. “Just as simple as that?” He turned to Xavier. “What have you done to her? I'm going to...” He didn't finish but shoved out of his chair and grabbed Xavier by the neck of his shirt.

  "Daddy!” Keely cried and rushed to pry him from Xavier. “Please, you don't understand. Xavier didn't do anything to me. Everything he's done has been for me."

  Her father still hadn't released his grip on Xavier and she could see him getting as angry as her father.

  "Please just sit back down and let me tell you what I've got to say."

  For a moment longer Jake held on to Xavier and then shoved him away. Keely watched her father stalk back to the sofa near her mother. “I know this is going to be hard for you. It's hard for me. It was hard for Xavier to tell his mother, too.” She inhaled a steadying breath. “I've met my birth parents."

  Her mother's face reflected the same shock Aramantha had worn. She shook her head to push the thought away. “Mom, Dad, I know where I come from and I've got to go back there. My life has a purpose, a meaning, and I've got to go back and live that new life.

  "I've loved you all my life. You've given me so much more than you'll ever realize. Leaving you is the hardest thing I'm ever going to have to do. The fight against giving in and staying here is the hardest battle I've ever fought and trust me, that's saying a lot. But I have to go. Please try and understand."

  "How can I understand? You're going to leave us for God knows how long. Letters and phone calls won't be the same as seeing your face."

  Keely swallowed hard. “There won't be any phone calls, no visits, and no letters. Where we're going, well it will be impossible for us to communicate with you. With anyone."

  "But you can't just leave. Disappear off the face of the earth again? Keely, you've got to think this over."

  "Mom, it has to be this way. I've got people who need me, a world that depends on me, and I have to go back to them."

  "People? A world? A life? Keely you're not making sense."

  "This is ridiculous,” her father shouted. “You're not going anywhere. You're home and you're staying here. That man,” he pointed at Xavier. “I don't know what he's done to you, but we're going to break the spell he's holding over you. We're going to keep you here and safe."

  "It's not possible. If I don't hurry and get back now I won't be able to go home at all. Xavier and I will be cut off from the world we belong in."

  "This just doesn't make any sense,” her mother muttered again.

  "Look Mom, I don't know how to make you see. The parents who gave me up, they did it because they had to. They did it to protect me and make sure I was raised in safety then one day I'd go back and save the people I was intended to save. Xavier and I did that, together. He and I are going to be married and live there for the rest of our lives. Leaving without saying a word to you killed me but there wasn't time. I couldn't get to you until now."

  Keely's dad radiated concern and confusion. “He's drugged you, hypnotized you, something."

  She shook her head. “No Daddy. It's all true. I don't belong here any more. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how desperately I want to stay, I can't."

  "You waltz in here, announce your going to marry a complete stranger and that you're disappearing again. You're going to rip our hearts out again?"

  "I don't want to hurt you."

  "Isn't it a little late for that?"

  She looked from her mom to her dad. “I know it's difficult but this is the way it has to be."

  "Then go.” Her father's voice was harsh. “Get out. You say this isn't your life, that this isn't your world, fine. Get out. Go find the peopl
e who dumped you. Turn your back on the ones who have loved you all your life. Go on. Get out of here."

  She tried to read the emotions behind his words but her pain was clouding her power. “Daddy, please don't."

  "Please don't what? Be angry that you've decided we don't mean anything to you? Be angry that you're bound and determined to make the biggest mistake of your life? Well, live it. Go on, but don't think you can just come back here begging when it blows up in your face."

  "Jake,” her mother cautioned.

  "No. She runs off for three months, puts us through hell because we thought the worst and we find out she ran off with some man? No. I'm done with it. Have a nice life.” He turned and stormed out of the house.

  Keely watched him leaving and felt the life fade from her. She turned to her mother. “Momma?"

  Jilly stood and embraced her. “Your father's hurt. He's confused and you know what he's like when he gets angry. I'll talk to him."

  "I don't want to leave this way."

  "Then don't leave,” her mother pleaded.

  "I have to."

  Jilly pulled away. “Then I guess this is it. If you change your mind, I'll be here."

  "I know. Thank you, Momma."

  "Be happy."

  "I'll try."

  Keely felt Xavier stand beside her and place his hand on her back. “I know,” she whispered to him.

  The front screen door closed behind them and Keely stopped on the stone porch. Under a canopy of crabapple trees hung the old swing, the weather worn fabric and bent bars showing its age.

  Her mother's hummingbird feeders were full with the small birds darting in and out getting drinks of the nectar. Her father's tractor rolled down the drive past her. Jake never looked back.

  What was left of Keely's heart cracked and she felt as if her world had completely shattered. She should change her mind. It wasn't too late. She could send Xavier away, mend the fences with her dad. Tell her family that it was all a mistake, that she didn't want to go. Tell them she wanted to come home and live on the farm again. Pretend as if she'd never heard of Grogan or Xavier.

  "Keely, you don't mean it. Do you?” the ache in his voice was overwhelming.

  She turned and looked into his eyes. Love and pain. “We can stay here. We can live here and find our happily ever after right here."

  "You said it yourself. I don't belong on a farm.” He turned and walked down the steps. He opened the door of the Mustang and got in. The engine turned over and she could only watch him.

  * * * *

  Xavier sat in the car and stared at Keely standing on the steps. “Please come with me. Please, Keely. I need you. Isn't that what you said to me, that you needed me?"

  She didn't move. He could see the tears flowing down her face. Her heartbreak was so strong. She wasn't going to come with him. She was going to turn her back and walk away from the life they were supposed to share. From their destiny.

  "You can't do it. Think of all you've done. Think of all we've still got to do."

  She shook her head and stood rooted on the steps. In the distance, he saw her father's tractor mowing in the field and Keely turned to watch the large rotating bars cut down the long grass.

  Xavier knew she wanted to run to him. She wanted to go and beg her father to forgive her and assure him she'd never leave. She glanced back at Xavier and stepped off the porch. She turned and walked away from him and off to the fence that separated the pasture from the house.

  She'd chosen them over him.

  He backed the car out of the drive and turned down the highway. He still had a life to lead, with or without Keely. Could he do it?

  Without her, why bother?

  Maybe he should go back to his mother and resume his old life.

  The other world had been there before he and Keely arrived and it would be there long after they'd gone. The hardest part of living anywhere was knowing he'd have to be without her. “Bye Keely. I will always love you."

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  Twenty Four

  Keely watched Xavier drive away. He'd left her behind. She'd never see him again. Had she made a mistake? Choosing her family over her heart?

  The soft purr of the engine faded away and panic hit her full on. She'd made a horrible mistake. She needed Xavier. She belonged with him. No matter where they lived she belonged by his side.

  She slogged through the long field grass, across the freshly mown lawn, ran down the drive and along the highway, her heart pounding with each step. He'd left her and he was never coming back. “Oh Xavier, what have I done?"

  A mile passed. Her lungs burned. Her legs trembled and her mind reeled. She had to get him back.

  "Xavier, can you hear me? I need you so badly. Please come back. Please come back,” she cried over and over. The highway sloped ahead of her and it became difficult to force her legs up the incline.

  "Please Xavier.” Exhaustion filled her. Her entire body ached and burned. How far ahead was he? She chuckled wryly. That Mustang with the 4.7L V-8 engine would be long gone.

  The highway headed into a steep drop and momentum of the angle pulled her downward. The strip of road was desolate of houses. All along the highway was National Forest. It wasn't a well-traveled road so if she dropped off no one would even notice.

  "Xavier,” she cried again and finally stopped running. She sat down in the ditch and tried to catch her breath. Her body's trembling became harder and a stitch in her side tore up her ribs.

  She lay back in the deep grass and closed her eyes. All she was supposed to be. All she had ahead of her, gone in the blink of an eye.

  The sound of a passing car barely registered. He was gone and wouldn't come back. Too far away to hear her call. Too far away to know she'd made a mistake. Too far away to know how much she needed him.

  * * * *

  Xavier heard Keely calling. It took ten minutes to find a suitable and safe place to turn around then he whipped the car back in her direction.

  Where was she? The road was empty. Trees seemed to stretch for miles. He slowed the car to a crawl as he closed the distance between them. She was here, somewhere. But where? Come on Keely, talk to me.

  Xavier?

  That's it baby, talk to me. I'm here.

  He scanned the road and when she stood up in the ditch his heart slammed into overdrive. She hadn't turned her back on him. She had chosen him and life by his side.

  He stopped the car and jumped out. He grabbed her up in his arms and swung her around. “I love you so much."

  "I love you, too. I'm so sorry, Xavier. I'll live wherever you decide. Here or Grogan, I don't care as long as you're beside me."

  He couldn't let her go. She felt so right in his arms. Finally, he pulled her to the car and pressed her against it. He fisted his hand in her hair and his lips claimed hers. Her mouth, warm and sweet opened to him. Her tongue slid around his and his body trembled with desire. He leaned his face away from hers. “Whatever you want is fine by me,” he whispered.

  He continued to hold her and he listened as her thoughts whirled in her brain. She wanted to stay. She wanted to go. Which was the right answer?

  "Listen to your heart, isn't that what you're always telling me? Well, listen. What is it telling you to do?” He knew her answer even before she said it. They were going back. He nodded and opened the door for her. “Then we better go. We've got a long drive ahead of us and our time is running out."

  "I know.” She sat down in the seat and turned to look up at him.

  He couldn't resist, he had to kiss her one more time. “I love you so much."

  "I love you, too."

  He slid in, turned the car around to head for Grogan. For home. He reached for her hand. It fit in his perfectly. Her skin soft, silky and warm. She felt so good, so right. “We're going to be all right Aldmakeelia. Together we can face anything. Together we will be stronger, and happier than ever before."

  "I know Xiuhcoatl. Together always. Lifemates dest
ined for greatness."

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  Epilogue

  Xavier stood on the grassy slope watching two of his children, Alexino and Xatia, splashing through the small crystalline creek. Keely sat under a tree holding their newest baby, Aramantha Jilly, a sprightly little girl with light amethyst eyes and porcelain complexion.

  His pride swelled with each second. His wife, a wholesome gentle woman, and a wonderful mother, was also a temperate queen who ruled with an even hand and kept him on the path of light.

  It had been years since the old king was defeated and all around Grogan peace and prosperity reigned. Crops grew lush and green. People were healthy and happy. Their life was perfect.

  "Father,” his oldest son Xochitl called and raced up the hill from the tree line.

  Xavier looked down into his son's deep green eyes. “Where have you been?"

  The golden rings around the child's irises glowed. “I've found something wonderful, Father. In the woods there is a beautiful waterfall and when I stepped behind the curtain of water I found a large cave. The tunnel was deep and narrowed in places. But that's not the most amazing thing. I found a strange place in the stone. A whirling window. It was a place unlike any I've ever seen before. What is it?"

  "You have been told not to leave the path cut for you. Roaming the woods is dangerous."

  Xochitl dropped his eyes for a split second then looked back up at him. “I felt drawn there. Like something was pulling me forward. What is it, Father? Why did I go there?"

  It sounded so like Keely's first words to him. He reached down placed a hand on his son's shoulder and led him to a tree. He sat down and pulled the boy near him. He inhaled a deep breath. He knew this day would come. Grogan history the children learned wouldn't be complete until they learned of the portal. How will to explain it to him?

  "It's all right, Xavier. You'll find the words,” Keely bolstered him.

  "A long time ago your mother and I came through that very portal. We came to fulfill our destiny."

  About Donica

  Donica Covey spent most of her childhood making up stories starring herself and the hunky actors of her time. From there blossomed a love of fiction. Family members were convinced that she would either be a politician or a writer. Thankfully she chose the latter. She makes her home in a suburb of St. Louis with a large loving family that includes a teenage daughter and a grown son, daughter-in-law, and her Ulisi ageyutsa Alyx, as well as one clingy Cairn terrier. When she can break the chains from her computer she can be found reading, hiking, ATVing or hanging with her friends.