“Well, I better help you get him free so you can try your hand at dragon dick then,” she teased.
“Samantha! I do not know what has gotten into you, but this behavior is not like you. Have you been getting any lately?” I teased back.
“No, sadly I have not been with anyone since Thomas passed away,” she replied.
My heart squeezed at her words. I hated that she had been so lonely since the death of her fiancé, and I understood why she meddled in my life so much. She was living her life vicariously through me.
“When this is all over, I am going to help find you a man,” I declared.
Samantha laughed and hugged me tight.
“I am grateful that you are my sister, June. Do not ever forget that,” she said as she released me from her hug.
We left to go to the lab space so we would beat them there. I was nervous and excited. I was going to set Mishal free for a second time.
12
Mishal
I struggled against the chains that held me to the wall of the cargo plane that was headed for the United States. I looked at my people that were chained along with me and my heart broke for them. We were once again captives and I did not know how long it would take for us to get free this time. I had been stupid to think that the humans were friendly, and I should not have let them into the compound the way I had.
I wondered if the Nazca had anything to do with what happened, but I was not even sure of the Nazca was still around. There were still a lot of things that I did not know since being freed from the volcano. I knew that June would most likely know what had happened by now as the man that took us had said it would be on the news, whatever that was. I hoped that she would not try and save us. I knew we would be able to get ourselves out of the mess I did not need her putting herself in danger on my behalf.
I knew what the man was up to and I knew the best thing we could do was pretend that we were human and not shift no matter what, but I knew that would be easier said than done. The man called Jonathan was already testing my patience as he started to mistreat a few of the women. I was brought from my thoughts by a loud smack and a yell from one of the women a bit farther down than I was. I stood and strained against the restraints as hard as I could, but they would not budge.
“What is the matter dragon boy? You do not like seeing a woman being put in her place?” he asked.
“A woman’s place is tucked beneath the arm of her protector. Your parents must not have taught you anything about caring for a woman,” I replied.
The smug smile vanished from his face as he stomped over to me. He raised his hand as if to slap me but stopped.
“You better think twice before slapping me. You may not like what happens after you do,” I threatened him.
He dropped his hand and stepped back away from me.
“You are full of a lot of talk for someone that is chained to a wall,” he said as he laughed.
“Maybe so, but we both know that one slap from you and the chains will be busted into nothing and so with this plane,” I replied.
“Hey boss, prepare for landing!” The captain of the plane yelled back to Jonathan.
“Well boy, it looks like we are there. Now, the fun begins,” he said as a sadistic grin spread across his face.
For a moment, fear fell over me and I wondered if any of us would make it out alive, but then I remembered who I was, and the fear slipped away. I was not going to give these humans the satisfaction of knowing they had me scared. I braced myself against the wall as the plane made its descent to the runway. My mind raced as I tried to think of a way, we could escape without blowing our cover as humans.
Part of me hoped that June would try to rescue us even though I knew that was a bad idea. She could barely keep herself alive while repelling how could she be expected to rescue me and my people? The plane landed with a jarring thud and slowly rolled to a stop. The man called Jonathan and a few of his associates started removing our chains from the wall of the plane so we could walk but did not take them off us. That was a smart move on his part.
I could tell the women were getting more scared as the minutes passed, and it broke my heart that I could do nothing to protect them. I realized in that moment that I was not the right person to lead a kingdom and my father had been wrong about me. I made a mental note that when we got out of the mess, we were in to appoint someone else king.
I was brought from my thoughts as I was led out of the plane and into a large vehicle with many seats. The man that led me was being rough and shoved me into the seat in front of him. I felt my dragon clawing for a way out and I knew I could not let it happen. I took a deep breath and calmed my breathing, so I did not ruin the vehicle by shifting.
Once they had all of us in the vehicle, we took off down the road and I had started to lose hope that we would get out of the situation alive. I knew that I had to do something to try to save my people so that if I did not make it out alive, they could at least say that I tried to get them out. I knew anything I did would most likely be in vain since they had me in chains, but I knew I had to try. The man smirked at me as I continued trying to gather myself. Without thinking I shot my leg out in front of me and caught him directly on the shin. The man screamed as he fell to the floor of the vehicle.
“Never mess with a king, asshole. If I wanted to be a dick about things, I could break your other leg and fuck you in the ass while you lay there helpless. I am not that cold hearted though, so you better thank whatever deity it is you pray to for that,” I said as I watched him writhe in pain.
“I am going to remember you, dragon boy,” he groaned as he held his leg.
“The sentiment is mutual dirt bag,” I said.
Jonathan rushed to the front of the vehicle where I was and when he saw his man laid out on the floor, he smacked his hand across my face.
“How dare you harm one of my men! Who the hell do you think you are?” He demanded.
“I am Mishal the King of Fire and I will not tolerate myself or my people being treated this way. I do not know what you intend to do with us, but we do not deserve to be thrown around and shoved,” I told him. “Also, if you put your hands on me again, I will reach down your goddamned fucking throat and pull out your spine.”
Our captor backed off muttering under his breath about how crazy I was, and I knew that I might have a chance to help us get out of this without anyone being harmed. Intimidation was a good skill of mine and I was not afraid to use it. I was not afraid to let anyone think I was crazy either. It had helped me get out of trouble a few other times before. We were shuttled to an unknown location and led into a large room. They then stripped us of our clothing and sprayed us down with foul smelling water.
“What the fuck are you doing? Why are you spraying stagnant water on us?” I demanded.
“Shut up you!” One of the men shouted.
I felt anger welling inside me and I knew I had to do my best to stamp it down. I did not need to shift and rip the building to shreds with everyone in it even if the humans might deserve it. I knew I had to hold it together if I wanted to continue the plan of making them think we were human, and they were stupid. Once everyone had been sprayed with what I found out was antiseptic soap, they draped ill-fitting gowns over us and put each of us on a stretcher with wheels on it. The man in charge of it all walked down the line of us inspecting every one of us.
“Well, now that you all have been cleansed and are germ free, I am going to give you a choice. You can tell me which ones of you are dragons and which ones are human. That will save you all a lot of pain. If you do not tell me, then everyone including the children will suffer immense pain,” he warned.
I worried that some would be scared and point out the dragons, but everyone stayed still and quiet much to the man’s displeasure. He walked over to the wall and hit a button that opened a metal door on the other side of the room and people in medical clothing filed into the room. They were all holding baskets with what looked l
ike needles and other things in them.
“What are you going to do with that?” I asked when a young woman stepped closer to my cot.
“I am going to insert the needle into your arm and draw some blood per Jonathan’s request,” she said as she prepared her items.
I knew if she took blood from me, they would see I was different. I had to do something to keep her from getting my blood without giving myself away. I needed to appear human for as long as I possibly could. I was just about to start a ruckus when my eyes caught sight of something, I never thought I would see again: June. I took in a big breath and she laid her finger over her lips telling me to stay quiet.
I watched as the young woman gently slid the needle into my arm and extracted the blood she needed. I knew if June had anything to do with it, that blood sample would never make it to its destination. I looked to my left and noticed her sister was in the room with the testing equipment pulling cords and wires. I shook my head at the foolishness of those to human girls who risked themselves for me and my people.
Once all the samples were collected, the blood takers exited out the door they had come in. I had no idea what June’s plan was, but I hoped that she and her sister would get us out of here before anyone was harmed worse than they already had been. I was proud of the way I had stayed calm and not lost my temper. Shifting into a dragon is the last thing I wanted to do.
I looked down the row of stretchers and looked at all my people who had been so brave and my heart swelled with pride. They had stayed unwavering when threatened with pain and it showed me just how loyal they were to me and the kingdom we were building. I felt ashamed of myself for thinking that I needed to hand my father’s kingdom over to someone else. It belonged with me and no one else. I was the rightful king and as soon as I could get free, I would claim my throne and disappoint Cassius.
Thoughts of Cassius flooded my mind and for a moment I wondered if he had anything to do with this. It was not like him to fraternize with humans but for a man so obsessed with war and my kingdom, I would not be surprised if he lowered his own standards to get what he wanted. My thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash and I whipped around on the cot to see June and another woman fighting over a machine in the other room.
I smiled as I watched June punch the woman in the jaw and took the blood samples from her hands as she hit the floor knocked out cold.
“That’s my girl,” I whispered to myself as she side stepped a large guard and made her way out of that room.
I watched as June flourished in the situation and I realized that she had always been a strong woman, but even strong women need help sometimes. I watched as she headed for the door that would let her in the room where I was with the blood samples in her hands. Just before she reached the door, Jonathan stepped in her way and grabbed her, making her drop of the vials of blood on the concrete floor.
“No!” He screamed as he flung her to the floor and dropped to his knees.
He grabbed the shards of glass and held them as if he could not believe they had broken. He dropped the blood covered glass and whirled to face June.
“You stupid bitch! Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get that blood? How long it took me to get the plans made for me to go to Japan and retrieve these…. people. If you can even call them that,” he snarled.
“I am sure it took you a long time to get everything planned out, but I am also sure you know there are laws against kidnapping people and holding them against their will. I shudder to think what might happen to someone like you once the authorities get wind of what you have done,” June threatened.
“Do you really think the authorities will believe you and not me when I tell them it was you that did all this?” He asked.
“Oh, Jonathan I feel so sorry for you,” I said. “I guess you did not realize it aired on the news here as well as in Japan. All of your people saw everything you did,” I gloated.
He looked at me as if I had two heads and raked his hand sharply across my face.
“Shut up, dragon boy. You have no power here. Here I run the show. I know that it was broadcast on the news, I wanted it that way,” he sneered.
“Then how the fuck do you expect people to believe it was not you? You must be a special kind of stupid,” I said.
I could tell my words were getting under his skin and I loved it. The more distracted I could get him the easier it would be to get everyone out.
“You think you are really smart don’t you dragon boy? You think you can pull one over on me, but I am one step ahead of you,” he spat.
I laughed in his face and watched as he turned a deep red.
“How about we settle this like men? Why don’t you send your associates away and we fight it out on our own? That way neither of us will be tempted to cheat. If you win, I will let you do whatever kind of tests you think you need to do. If I win, you let us all go and leave us alone forever,” I said.
He stared at the wall behind me for a moment as he thought about what I said, then held his hand out.
“You got yourself a deal there dragon boy,” he said shaking my hand.
While he was busy making sure his associates left the room, I signaled to June and Sam letting them know where to take the others out at. I watched as he came over to me and untied the restraint that held me to the cot I’d been on. I knew I was going to have to do this carefully and not let my anger rise or there would be serious trouble.
I stood from the cot and eyed him warily as I gained my footing. I had been sitting for hours and needed a moment to get my bearings before going into a fight. I took several deep cleansing breaths to keep the dragon at bay and got into fighting stance. I circled around Jonathan a few times before he tried to swing at me. I saw it coming and dodged just in time. I could tell he was already getting frustrated, so I kept myself on the move.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Jude and her sister started freeing the others from their cots and leading them to safety. Jonathan’s associates saw what Jude and her sister were doing and tried getting his attention by banging on the glass, but he was too intent on winning the fight between us that he did not even glance in their direction. I laughed to myself as Jonathan came at me again and I easily sidestepped and missed his punch yet again.
I looked up to see June with the last person headed out the door and at that moment, I planted my right hand squarely on his jaw and he dropped to the floor. I took off for the door and met the others outside.
“We have to get out of here now!” I yelled.
“You can at least tell me goodbye this time,” a familiar voice said.
I turned to see June standing behind me and I grabbed her in a hug I did not want to let go from. I knew right then I loved her, and I could not be without her again. I just hoped she felt the same about me.
13
June
I was in his arms again and it felt like the safest place in the world even though I knew it was not. A lot had happened in my life since I had met Mishal and it was safe to say he kind of turned my life upside down. I pulled back from the hug and looked into his deep blue eyes.
“You better get them out of here before that guy wakes up,” I said softly.
“June, I am not going anywhere without you. I cannot be without you again. I need you in my life always,” he said as he grabbed my hand.
“Mishal, I cannot just pick up the life that I made here after you disappeared for six months. I have a job here that they count on me to do and my sister is here. I cannot just leave everything to chase after you while you chase whatever dream it is you have,” I replied.
I watched as the joy left his face and I knew I had hurt him. I did not want to hurt him, but I could not keep putting my life aside for people. I had been doing that ever since I was a child.
“It is not just the fact that I have a life here that is stopping me either. Trouble follows you wherever you go, Mishal. You were trapped for how long in that volcano? Noe this has happene
d. We would never be able to truly be happy because we would always be looking over our shoulder for the next disaster,” I told him.
He stared off in thought for a moment then looked at Kyal and Danol.
“You take the others and get them home. Start fortifying the compound and make it stronger so it is harder for our enemies to gain access. I will be behind you shortly, I just want a few moments with June,” he said.
The others nodded and disappeared. Danol was even kind enough to escort Sam home. I smiled a sly smile as I thought about the possibility that they might hook up.
“What is so funny?” Mishal asked.
“Oh, I was just thinking about how cool it would be if Danol and my sister got together,” I said as I watched his face for a reaction.
“That would be an interesting match,” he said with a smile.
“Do you really think so or are you being sarcastic?” I replied.
He laughed and kissed my forehead sending electricity buzzing through me.
“I think they would be a good match for one another, they are similar in many ways. I do not think it will end up happening though because Danol is too shy to make the first move,” he told me.
I nodded in understanding as he took my hand and we walked down the alley leaving the lab behind us. I was thankful that I had been able to help rescue them and free him from captivity again.
“What if I could guarantee that you would be perfectly safe with me? Would you come and be my queen then?” he asked, bringing me from my thoughts.
I wanted to say yes but something was telling me not to and I did not know why. I knew that there was always going to be some kind of trouble because of the fact they were a different species.
“Can you guarantee me that there will never be any trouble and we would always be safe? I do not want to have to look over my shoulder all the time and wonder if someone is out to get us,” I told him.
He nodded his head and stopped walking. I noticed he had walked me to my sister’s apartment building.
The King 0f Fire: Dragon Shifter Romance Page 9