The floor under her feet shook, and she found herself falling to the ground. When she stood up, she was facing a hangman’s noose, four of them. Her father’s neck was in the first one, her mothers in the second one. In the third was her grandfather and the last held Nathanial.
The rope around each of their necks was thick and cruel looking. They stood frozen on a wooden platform. On the side of each platform was a round disk. She shook her head not believing what her eyes were seeing.
“Three of people in front of you will die today. You can only save one. The choice is yours.”
“Are you crazy there all dead except for one. I don’t want to play this game anymore.”
“Whoever you choose will live.”
“Where are you, I want to fight and not choose between lives!”
There was no answer as she looked at the people she loved and then looked at the one she hated. She could choose one. Her father with his love and adventurous spirit could live. He would have been there for her, fought the world for his little girl. He died too young, and her heart still grieved for him.
Her mom, she’d forgotten how black her hair was and how beautiful she was. She would have pushed her to succeed. She believed in her even though she didn’t always have the right words. Then there was her grandfather he became her world when she was all alone with nothing but sadness and memories to keep her company. How could she pick between the three of them? Could they live again?
Reluctantly she turned to look at Nathanial. Now the table was turned, and she was threatening him with death. It should have felt good maybe it would have felt good if she wasn’t fighting the acid in her stomach.
Why should he live? She seethed with bitterness bordering on hatred for how his actions affected her life.
“Is your decision made?”
“No, I need longer! How do I know which life to save? Who would make the best addition to the world and my life? How do I pick between those I love? I need more time.”
“Your time is up. Each platform has a disc on it within your reach. Whichever disc you touch is the person who I will spare. The others will die a painful death. If you choose not to touch any of the discs, then they all die. You have five minutes starting now.”
Her feet felt like they were stuck in quicksand refusing to move as she looked at her family longing in her heart.
“Four minutes.”
She moved dragging her feet. Her dad how she loved him. She stopped in front of him. The image in front of her was the last time she ever saw him alive. She moved to her mother remembering the times she read bedtimes stories to her. It was such a strange thing to remember, but her mom showed her love in ways that weren't always apparent unless you stopped to think about it.
“Two minutes.”
Her grandfather. There was nothing to say because he was everything. He may have been the perfect mix of her dad and her mom, and she missed him. Then there was Nathanial, was he even worth the air he was breathing? She didn’t know.
She moved out to look at each of them. Tears flowed down her face like she was losing them all over again. She reached out and touched a disc. The scene disappeared, and she was facing the pulsating wall again.
“What happened where are they?”
“The one you saved is enjoying life the others are where you can find the dead.”
She slumped to the ground. This wasn’t what she was expecting when she came on this journey to unbind her power.
“Life. The third question.”
“What does life mean and how many questions are there?”
“There are four questions, and you are judged on the words I say after your challenge.”
“Perfect! How am I supposed to know how well I am doing if the answers are based on some vague words you utter?”
“You will know in the end. Isn’t that the way of all test?”
“I’m ready.” Why argue with a wall, it was a being she knew she couldn’t defeat.
She was sitting at the desk in her office. In her hand was an offer to run another hotel. It was one of the newest constructions in San Francisco. Her head came up at the knock on her door. She checked her camera to find a handsome gentleman standing there. She went and opened the door.
“How can I help you?”
“Skye Wilson?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Edward Thompson. I sent you a job offer to come manage the Ultrium we will be opening soon.” He offered his hand and she took it feeling his strong grip.
A smile she couldn’t stop hovered on her lips. She already liked him.
“Please, come in and have a seat. I was just looking over your generous offer.”
They moved into the office, and he took the seat in front of her desk.
“I’m surprised you came here.”
“I go after what I want, and I want you.”
“If you choose to go with him all of this will be a dream that never happened.”
“I remember him. He wined and dined me. I was sure he wanted more than just my professional services.”
“The two of you would have married, and had beautiful children together. It was your chance to live your dream life. No dragons, no Mutufa, no me.”
“Why me?’
“You’re a very accomplished woman Skye as well as a very beautiful one.”
Would she regret it if she let him get away? Part of her screamed hell yes, but the other part of her was looking for more. There was always the chance that what she was looking for would never come her way. The day she saw him off at the airport she cried because she knew she would be alone forever.
“He’s your future Skye, don’t let him get away.”
She nodded and started to walk after him before she stopped and turned in the direction of her car. He wasn’t right for her the first time, and he wasn’t right for her now. She embraced the loneliness of living her life alone.
“You made the same choice the second time around.”
“It hurt as much as it did the first time.”
“Why didn’t you chose him?”
“Because I didn’t love him and I didn’t think I could learn to love him.”
“Love. It is time for the last question.”
She stood preparing herself for the final question.
“If you could choose between being the person you have always known without a hint of the person you might be if all things went well. Would you choose the known or would you still stand before me today choosing the unknown?
That should be the easiest question, but it was the hardest because it was what she had struggled with her whole life. If she could jettison the closet that held that secret part of her that haunted her at night, would she? Did she want to slide seamlessly into society like she always belonged there? Did she want to fight the good fight or settle for a chance at a good life and let the world around her fight for themselves?
Who was Skye Wilson?
“The smart answer is that I want to blend in with the shadows around me and smile at the status quo no matter who it hurts. That’s the smart answer, not the honest one. I’m a fighter; Zeno called me strong. I might not be strong but I’m stubborn, and I won’t stop until I reach what I believe is right or you tear me down. I can live with either of those possibilities, but I can’t live with being untrue to myself.”
“Your test has come to an end.”
“What happens now? Do you kill me?”
“Why do you automatically assume you failed?”
She shrugged and then stood tall. “My answers go against the grain of what the world might think of as right.”
“Fortunately for you, I am not the world. You passed.”
“How?”
“Honesty. You value the truth no matter what it cost. Life. You chose Nathanial at the expense of knowing your loved ones would die again. They were never there; even I cannot raise the dead, but you didn’t know that. I could have killed Nathanial, but you spared his life.
Love. The desire to love and be loved is a normal desire. You chose to wait because you knew that he wasn’t the right one for you.”
“The last one?”
“Self-worth. It is so easy to think that another person is more important than yourself and to model your life after theirs. The world already has one of them it doesn’t need two, but it does need you.”
“So that’s it? I get through the wall, and you go away.”
“I’ll always be watching you Skye, but yes you may enter.”
The barrier came down, and she took her first steps into the unknown.
Chapter Twenty
She stepped into the space that used to house the wall to find a closet. In different circumstances, she would have sat down and laughed. It felt so anticlimactic until it felt so real that she could almost wretch. The closet theme wasn’t lost on her. It was like she was hiding a vital part of herself from herself. ‘F’ the world the only person who matters here was her.
Stubbornness, her best friend, dragged her to the closet. They didn’t have time to wait because their mate was dying. She reached out expecting another trap or Mutufa himself to appear, but nothing happened. Turning the handle, she threw the door wide open. There was nothing much to see.
Inside in nice straight lines were what looked like bolts of lightning. Instinctively she knew they were sources of power, but only one belonged to her. The question was which one. If she picked incorrectly, she could end up with power that wasn’t strong enough and would fizzle when she tried to use it. The opposite was just as bad. She could pick one that was too strong for her to handle. It would be like a loose cannonball.
Her eyes widened as the colors flared bright summoning her to pick them. The red was beautiful, and it seemed to call to her almost like it knew her name and was waiting for her to touch it. She reached her hand out ready to grasp it then pulled back suddenly. The red seemed a little too easy, and she couldn’t remember a day in her life when things were easy.
The yellow hypnotized her reminding her in some small way of the gold encrusted jeweled knife she threw at the shield that held Zeno. Yellow it would make sense. Who wasn’t attracted to gold although she liked diamonds more? Once again she reached out, encouraging her fingers to grasp it. The closer she got to it the colder she felt. Not knowing what to do she took several steps away from the closet and squatted down to look at every color represented.
Instead of the barrier asking her impossible questions and expecting rational answers. It should have been telling her what color to pick. Any mini miny moe? Nope, that didn’t seem to help either.
She could spend her life here staring and never making a decision. She stood and decided to grab something, as she did her pendant sparked and then the gem on her wrist sparked. There was only one bolt the exact color of the jewels she wore. She trusted her parents and there was a reason the both gave her jewels the same color, she stretched out her hand and picked it up. Her body lit up like she was a Christmas tree. A scream of pain would have filled the room if her vocal cords had been working. The bolt went through her body until she was so weak she fell.
Then power the kind she didn’t think existed flooded her.
“You Picked right. We have to hurry, even with all the power I’ve given you, your body is still weak and in need of refueling.”
She ran through the barrier to find herself back in the cave. Zeno was on his back, and Mutufa was trying to penetrate his body with a black spear.
“You won’t survive this time there is no one here to help you.”
This would be the perfect time for her to say something, smart, brave, or strong. Instead, she crept over to the jeweled knife that was lying abandoned on the ground. She threw it at Mutufa hoping it would distract him long enough for Zeno to get away.
He gave a scream of pure fury as Zeno rolled out from under his shadow.
“You! How are you still alive?”
“Turns out the All-Knowing was a rather cool barrier.”
She was inching her way to Zeno. He looked worse for the wear, and she wanted to be able to close him in her shield if at all possible. Now that she had power she should be able to erect one on her own.
“Having power and being powerful are two different things, Skye. I intend to kill you before you become powerful.”
He sent a bolt of lightning at her. She raised her shield the one thing she knew how to do. His shadow dissolved and came at her in waves. Her shield broke as she ran to Zeno. How could they defeat him?
“Zeno, I need the dragon.”
“I’m too weak.”
“I’m not.” She touched him and watched as his dragon shadow wrapped around her arm. She fueled it with her energy. It roared, opening its mouth to devour the shadows coming after her.
Mutufa backed away declaring defeat temporarily. “This isn’t over you will belong to me soon.”
She collapsed on Zeno when he disappeared.
“Well, that was fun.”
Zeno laughed. “I think you’re always going to understate things.”
She chuckled because she knew he got it.
“You got your powers back. I was right your strong.”
“I only got them back because you faced Mutufa alone and held him off long enough to for me to work my way through the puzzle. I think you’re the strong one.”
“I was losing.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not strong. Take what you need to heal yourself.”
“I can’t you’re not strong enough for that.”
“Love, I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
“I’m stronger than you think. If you’re not whole, then we will both die here. Take what you need and when it’s over we’ll celebrate our victories together.”
“I love you, Skye. You don’t have to respond I just need you to know how I feel about you.”
She closed her eyes as she felt him begin to siphon off her power. Soon she slipped into unconsciousness with one thought on her mind. Her mate loved her.
Zeno felt his mate's power going through his body. She was strong, and the power that dwelt within her reflected her strength as well as her goodness. He knew immediately that she made the right choice when her power presented itself. He wondered what she went through even as he felt the last of his side mend and the bones in his arm start to knit back together.
The fight with Mutufa hadn’t been pleasant. He was strong much stronger than he or his brothers had given him credit for. He would be breaking out of his enforced prison soon. They may push him back onto Serenities plane one last time. After that, they would have to finally destroy him or live with the fact that he would destroy the world.
He moved his arm it pained him, but he could move it. Instead of trying to get up. He stroked Skye’s cheek and ran the fingers on his good hand through her hair. He needed to be completely healed to get them home. He wouldn’t risk injuring himself by moving before he was ready.
This cave had been home for so many years that it was still hard to say goodbye to it. After today he never planned to come back. He would guard the entrance with a spell that would never allow it to be entered while he and his mate were alive. When they no longer walked the Earth nothing in here would matter. Soon he would take her to Dragons Cove. Hopefully, she would be willing to spend the rest of her life with him there, with brief vacations on the mainland.
He tested his arm again this time it moved without any effort. He gathered Skye close to his body and rocked her back and forth as he tried to pour comfort and warmth into her. He kissed her softly before he set her aside. Standing he walked to the entrance of the outer cave and looked for the phone he hid before he came in. When he changed from male to dragon whatever was on his person came back when he changed forms including his clothes. To him, it was a bonus for having to be a male at times. That was how he used to think of it. Now he thought of it as a life-saving measure.
“George, we need a pickup.”
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“No, everything didn’t go according to plan, and yes Skye is still alive barely.” He stared out the cave as George lost his shit on the other end of the phone.
“I’ll tell you all about when you come get us. She’s unconsciousness, and I have to get her on the plane.”
“Yes bring all the supplies.”
“How am I going to get her on the plane if she’s unconsciousness?”
He was wondering that one himself. There was only one possibility, and it was deadly, but he didn’t have a choice.
“My dragon’s going to carry her.”
“Yes in his claws.
“No, I haven’t lost my mind. George unless the next words out of your mouth are Zeno I know you can do it. I don’t want to hear it.”
“I’ll be looking for you at zero three hundred hours.”
“I know, but I’ll do it. She’s my life, George.”
He went back into the cave and picked up his mate. Zero three hundred hours seemed like a lifetime away.
How was he going to carry her without hurting her? His claws were sharp, deadly. They were never meant to carry something as fragile as Skye. He rocked her not because he was comforting her; he was comforting himself. Periodically he walked to the entrance of the cave and watched the sun travel across the sky. Then he went back to her. Finally, it was time to go.
They would leave from where they were no going back to the field where they landed. He walked over to his jewels and placed several in his pocket before picking up Skye. He laid her on the ground when they left the cave and then turned to seal it. It didn’t take long, but with that one act, he said goodbye to the past that had clung to him far too long. Now he had a chance for a better tomorrow. He climbed further up the mountain until there was space to lay her and for him to change without hurting her.
He watched the sky looking for the plane. He would never see it with the eyes of the male, but the dragon would spot it easily. It helped that Syn had it painted in a color that only the dragon could see. He watched as the plane circled once before he moved away from Skye and transformed into a dragon.
Skye's Dragon: Dragon Mate's: A BBW Paranormal Romance Page 12