Mate's Call

by Lola Gabriel

  She expected that Storm had his flaws. Everyone did. However, he was a far cry from the selfish, maniacal beast she had expected.

  “You’ll come with me then? Away from your life as a Slayer.”

  Where will I live? What will I do for money? How will I survive? Lilith ignored the questions in her mind. All she knew was that she needed to trust him.

  “I know I can’t go on killing beings that are mostly innocent, but I hardly know you. I’m not going to run off in to the sunset with you in hopes of finding a happily-ever-after.”

  He squeezed her hand firmly. “Well, separating from the Slayers is a start,” he breathed, meeting her gaze with a surprising flash of adoration.

  She still waited for his kiss. It didn’t come. Instead they continued walking, deeper and deeper into the cave.

  “So how’d you get up the mountain, anyway?”

  “I drove my car.”

  He laughed before looking at her and wiping the smile from his face. “Oh. Oh, you’re serious. Wow.”

  “It’s gone though. Probably buried in the avalanche,” she muttered.

  Storm suddenly stopped, looking at a small enclave about three feet tall and three feet wide. It appeared to be a miniature door that led off into another cave somewhere.

  “That’s it!” Storm said. “My old hang out!”

  7

  Storm jogged over to the hole and bent down to look in. “There it is,” he laughed. “My God. I can’t believe it.”

  “Pretty small door,” she said, crouching like a cat next to him. She kept stroking her whip to keep it illuminated.

  “We didn’t want adults coming in,” he told her. “Let’s go inside!”

  She stared at him like he was completely nuts. “Go through the tiny door into a dark cave with no idea what’s inside?”

  “Ah, I’m immortal,” he said. “I’ll survive. Onward!”

  With that, the outrageously powerful dragon shifter got down on his hands and knees and attempted to squeeze into a door half his size. His broad shoulders barely fit, but he managed to force his way in.

  Lilith knelt down and watched him stand up on the other side. “Did you die?” she called. “Are there snakes in there?”

  “Big, horrible snakes,” he replied. “Eating me right now, in fact.”

  “Jerk,” she muttered, crawling in. She had no problem fitting through door as she crawled in on all fours. She took her hand off the whip to crawl, and it went dark a few moments later. Without her touch, the light disappeared.

  “Who turned the lights off?” Storm asked in the blackness.

  Out of the darkness, a glowing red light emerged. She inhaled sharply when she saw it. It was him. He had formed fire in his chest, and it shined bright through his chest and into his throat. Even his eyes were illuminated, which he directed towards her.

  She clambered up. She could’ve touched her whip and turned that light source back on, but she didn’t. She was amazed at Storm’s genetics. He was making himself a human lantern. She reached for his chest to see if he felt hot.

  “Can I touch you?”

  “Please do.”

  She placed her hands against his broad chest and felt the head radiating from him. “Amazing.”

  She met his eyes briefly, and he smiled.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I don’t know if you really had dreams or not, but thank you for not killing me.” She gave a pained laugh. “I hate to think that I have hurt some innocent people. I just didn’t know. I have so much blood on my hands—”

  “Lilith,” he said.

  She sighed. “What?”

  “May I kiss you?”

  Lilith blinked in surprise. “What?”

  “May I kiss you?” he asked again. “I don’t want to get slapped again, so I thought I’d ask this time.”

  She felt color rise to her cheeks. “Fuck yeah, you can.”

  He slid a hand behind her lower back and pulled her close to him. He met her eyes for an eternity before leaning down and placing his lips on hers.

  She didn’t want to let him go, but finally, he pulled back and stroked her jawline with his fingers lovingly. “You don’t need to apologize for anything,” he told her. “You were used. Slayer politics are extremely complicated. Most dragons are old and have acquired a lot of wealth. Your leaders take our money and possessions after you’ve killed us, and pay people like you a very small bounty.”

  She felt tears well up on the brim of her lashes. “I had no idea. I truly believed I was doing the world a service.”

  “Just like humans, there are some bad seeds in the dragon world, but for the most part, dragons just want to live our lives in peace.”

  “Why are you being so kind to me?” she asked him. Her heart was racing. “You have no reason to even like me.”

  He grinned impishly at her and tapped his head. “The dreams,” he said. “I have all the reasons in the world to like you.”

  “I think I just kissed a lunatic.” She didn’t mind. At least he was a dashing, handsome lunatic.

  He kissed her on the forehead. “I’m not crazy.”

  “Dragons don’t have fortune telling abilities.”

  “Not normally,” he admitted. “But I think fate stepped in with this situation.”

  “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

  He winked. “If I didn’t have the dreams, I would have killed you. Then, we would never have had a moment like this. In my dream, you were my mate. The one I will be with for eternity. When I saw you with the rifle on top of the hotel, I knew it was true.”

  She ignored the mate comment. “You saw me? I was so far away. And you knew it was me? From the dream?”

  “Of course. I also knew where to find you on the mountain.” With that, he turned around and looked at the rest of the room. “Oh my god! Look at all this stuff! I can’t believe it’s survived the centuries.”

  Lilith didn’t look more closely at the stuff that excited Storm. She stood still, jaw dropped. A dragon had basically just confessed that she was his soulmate, and then he starts reminiscing about his childhood like he didn’t just turn her world upside down.

  Lilith didn’t know what to think. She suspected it would be a while before she did. Numbly, she observed the rest of the cave. It was small and compact with a ceiling that scraped the top of Storm’s head. A table made from stone was in the center of the room. Dragons carved from the same stone as the table lined a shelf that was built into the wall.

  Storm ran his hand along carvings that were etched into the wall. “It’s been so long that I forgot all about this language. My brothers and I made it up to talk in secret.” He chuckled. “This was so long ago we could actually transform into dragons in here and cut into the walls with our claws.”

  That was impressive. Storm in fully-grown dragon form could probably fit a wing and one of his legs in that room. The thought was amusing, but it brought up an interesting point: he was still injured. His wing was badly damaged.

  Hours earlier, she wouldn’t have cared whether or not he was hurt. But now, she was worried. He’d torn a hole through his entire wing.

  “Are you going to be able to heal?” she asked him.

  “What?” he asked, holding one of the stone dragons in his hand.

  “Are you going to be able to heal your wing?” she asked, more to the point.

  “Soon. I’ve never had my wing damaged so badly. I don’t know how long it will take. Maybe a few hours. Maybe half a day.”

  She looked at him with something like amazement on her face. “You are the calmest person I’ve ever met. Does anything bother you?”

  “Of course things bother me. Right now, I’m with you. I’m happy. But, I’m also used to facing danger. And then my personality turns…” he snickered. “A bit more primal.”

  I wish I could see this primal side come out, she thought excitedly while biting down on her lower lip.

  She cleared her throat to redirect her thoughts. “You know, y
ou can’t say that about the dreams and not follow up.”

  He turned to give her his full attention. “I figured that. What would you like to know?”

  “How do you know I’m your mate? You have to realize it seems pretty unbelievable.”

  He looked her directly in the eyes. “I know I’m meant to be with you. I have no doubts. You need to ask yourself how you have so easily accepted what I’ve told you. You’ve accepted it because you feel it too.”

  He was right. Every cell in her body wanted to be near him. From the moment she first laid eyes on him, she felt a connection, but her mind denied the attraction. It was the reason she didn’t shoot him. It was the reason she kissed him right after she’d slapped him.

  Can my soulmate really be a dragon? Do soulmates really exist?

  She inhaled deeply. Oh, boy. This was not how she expected the day to go when she woke up that morning. She expected by this time to have killed off the Keeper of the Wind and have a very healthy bank account because of it.

  Instead, she was stuck in a cave with him, and the dragon was practically proposing to her.

  “And what if I don’t feel the same way?”

  There was a physical pain in his eyes when she said that. “You leave,” he said. “We go through with the deal we made.” He took her hand in his. “And then I follow you,” he said. “And win your heart.”

  She liked the sound of that. “I can be stubborn,” she warned. “I’m not easily won over.”

  “I’ve got time,” he told her. “I’m immortal, remember? Lilith, finding a soulmate isn’t something I take lightly. You’re a masterpiece, Lilith. A diamond among stones.”

  “You hardly know me. You met me today.”

  “I’ve only met you in person today,” he said. “I’ve waited for you for thousands of years. I didn’t know your name. I didn’t know what you would look like. But I knew that I would recognize you, and I did.”

  Looking into his eyes, she could see his heart. He truly cared for her, despite having never met her. She’d never had a man look at her like that. Even her closest boyfriends hadn’t. It was a stare of absolutely devotion, of desire, and of unrestrained passion.

  He wasn’t forcing himself on her. Storm truly wanted her to decide. Somehow, without knowing him and with hating him earlier that day, she just knew she could trust him with her life—literally.

  “If I say I’m open to exploring this,” she said. “What happens?”

  “I cherish you,” he said. “You become immortal. And then I’ll spend eternity making your every wish come true. I’ll protect you from any dangers you face—even when you think you don’t need protection. I laugh with you in your highest moments and comfort you in your lowest.”

  “I don’t know. You really only want one woman for eternity?”

  He stroked her strong cheekbone. “Well, hopefully you won’t be the only woman in my life.”

  There it was. She knew it was too good to be true. Well, at least he was honest about not staying loyal.

  “If you stay with me,” he said, “I hope we will both have another girl in our lives.” He gave her a sweet smile. “She’ll call you, Mommy.”

  Damn, he was good.

  8

  Wow.

  Lilith felt like she should say something, but her mouth refused to work properly. She couldn’t quite form words. Nobody had ever said such a thing to her, and it took her completely and totally by surprise. How should she feel about it? Should she be offended? That didn’t sound right. Should she be pleased and flattered? Maybe…it had a ring of truth to it.

  Before she could form a coherent thought, Storm stepped back towards the exit of his childhood playroom. “Don’t give me an answer. Just think about it.”

  Lilith tried again to say something clever. Nothing came to mind. She was never at a loss for words. Her wit was as fast as lightning. Nothing took her by surprise. And it wasn’t just because Storm was ridiculously hot. She’d had plenty of good-looking boyfriends and friends. An attractive member of the opposite sex wasn’t a deal-breaker for her. She was still clever.

  Yet Storm had the innate ability to make her tongue-tied. She hated not having a response. Even if she didn’t say it, she liked to know she had a response prepared.

  While Lilith tried to figure out her new feelings, Storm crouched down and attempted to wiggle his way out of the small door. His shoulders caught.

  “Uh-oh.”

  Lilith managed to shake herself out of her daze. “What?”

  Storm pushed harder. “I’m stuck.”

  “Are you serious? Back out.”

  “Gosh, I’m sure glad I didn’t think of that one,” he said sarcastically. “I’m wedged. Push me through.”

  She hesitated. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Okay…”

  She planted her foot on his rear and pushed. Nothing. He really was stuck.

  “You’re going to need to try harder,” Storm grunted. “I’m not quite the size I used to be.”

  Lilith sat down on the ground and placed both of her feet on his rear, while using her hands for support. She pushed using the force of every muscle in her legs before finally pushing him through.

  He grinned from the other side of the door, laughing at himself easily. She joined him in his amusement.

  Who would’ve known? She figured she’d hate him. He was the Keeper of the Wind, world-renowned powerhouse and legendarily impossible to kill. She’d expected a challenge when she went after him. She had not expected to be considering an eternity with him.

  The thought made her pause. How would she become eternal?

  No! No, she was not that easy. She didn’t meet strange men that she had intended to kill and agree to spend eternity with them. They hadn’t even had sex yet! That wasn’t her.

  Still…

  So much had happened. The only life she had known was a lie. She was simply relying on Storm for emotional support. That’s why she felt so strongly connected to him, right?

  Using reasoning, he had probably discovered Night Star and Red Shadow’s plan to execute him by word of mouth. Or, Night Star had been discovered while being at the hotel. It was only logical. Maybe, just maybe, she needed to let logic play a role in the decision.

  She didn’t know if what he said was true. Did dragons have prophetic dreams? Did dragons have soulmates? As a Slayer—now a former Slayer—she had only learned about their strengths, weaknesses, and habits. She knew practically everything about Storm in this way. If she had been able to get close to him at the hotel and they’d gone hand-to-hand, she was prepared to put him down. From the Slayer community, she knew Storm favored his left hand while fighting. Rare. Most people fought with their right hands primarily. He tended to expose his ankles when he fought. A Slayer had once put a bullet in his left chest, which was an easy thing to exploit. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t beat him—especially not in hand-to-hand combat. She wasn’t even entirely sure her enchanted bullets and rifles would do the trick.

  Not wanting to purse the soulmate conversation further, Lilith remained quiet. As she thought about her life, Storm’s revelation about Slayers being the bad guys made more sense. How could she not see through the lies?

  As the minutes—and eventually hours—ticked by, Lilith watched Storm, the Keeper of the Wind. She observed him, making a mental note of everything that he did to decide what she thought about him. They talked, but the conversation was light and easy. He was clever and witty. And, she admitted to herself, rather charming. He certainly had a silver tongue. He had a sense of humor and laughed easily, which she found to be a good thing. Slayers weren’t typically a jovial bunch.

  Frustratingly, she couldn’t decide what do. She liked him. There was no doubt about that. Were they soulmates? Maybe, but Lilith wasn’t interested in diving into a relationship with the pressure of staying together for eternity.

  She had other things to worry about, anyway. The most obvious problem s
he had in that moment was that she was out of job. Obviously, she couldn’t kill dragons. And that meant that she would no longer hunt werewolves or vampires either. Were all beings—including animals—sentient? Would she even be able to eat meat again? Probably not.

  I guess I’ll become a vegan chef, she joked to herself. Wait, I don’t like to cook

  She couldn’t even do well with an imaginary job. She’d only been a Slayer. She was doubtful those skills would translate to another career choice. Luckily, she had saved most of her money over the years, but that wouldn’t last forever. It likely wouldn’t even last five years.

  As if the money wasn’t enough, she knew the Slayer community would come after her when they learned she betrayed them. Who knows? Maybe she would even get a bounty on her head. If she split from Storm, she’d have to keep moving until she could find a safe place to stay, where other Slayers couldn’t find her.

  A place like that didn’t exist. There was always a loophole, a way to find a target. Lilith knew that from experience. Even when her target was seemingly impossible to find, she’d find a way.

  Lilith and Storm finally made their way back to the place in the cave where they had fallen in.

  Lilith sat down, still with Storm’s jacket wrapped around her shoulders. “So,” she said. “I’m bored.”

  “Only boring people get bored.”

  “My dad always said that…”

  “He probably got it from me,” Storm said. “It’s funny. When you’re my age, you see things that you helped create.”

  “Like the United States, in your case,” she said with a knowing smile.

  “What do you mean?” asked Storm.

  “During the Revolutionary War, Washington was able to get his men to safety because of thick fog during the Battle of Brooklyn. That wasn’t luck, was it? It was you!”

  “How did you know that was me? I’ve never told anybody about that,” said Storm with a wide grin.

  “A giant fog storm shows up in the middle of nowhere, and nobody thinks that the Keeper of the Wind is related somehow? Yeah, sure…”