by S. E. Smith
“Why is it so important for you to return? Your life there is no more,” he said with quiet frustration.
She closed her eyes briefly before opening them to look up at him sadly. “It will always be a part of my life,” she whispered before pulling away to walk toward the door leading out of the lounge area.
Harvey brushed up against him as he followed Carmen, leaving threads of gold that wound up his arms. Images of Carmen and another man burst into his mind. The scenes flashed rapidly. He saw her laughing with the man who must have been her first mate. She was very young and the boy was holding out an ice cream for her. He was small and had a black eye and a missing tooth. The scene flickered to years later when the boy was standing grinning at her with flowers in his hand this time. The next showed the two of them dancing slowly with multi-colors lights swirling around them. He could see the look in the younger man’s eyes. Love shone brightly as he awkwardly rocked back and forth. The scene changed to the man holding Carmen. She was weeping softly near what appeared to be fresh graves. He was holding her protectively near his body while others stood around talking. It was the last scene that finally broke through his resistance. The scene of the slightly older man lying on the ground bleeding. His eyes were filled with grief as he stared at Carmen with love, regret, and acceptance. His lips moved and Creon knew what he was saying without hearing them. He had told her he loved her and was sorry. The image changed to a man standing over his body and pulling the trigger while Carmen’s anguished screams filled the humid night air.
*.*.*
Creon muttered a curse before he quickly strode after her. He had been nervous about telling her about Kelan taking Trisha back to Earth. He had even debated about telling her but decided he wanted no secrets between them. He had talked to Ariel for a little while last night after he and his brother had talked. She had asked how her sister was doing. She was worried as it was coming up to the anniversary when her first mate and unborn child had died.
“Watch her carefully,” Ariel had warned him. “She gets very depressed as it draws closer. She…” Ariel’s voice died away as she bit her lip and looked down.
Creon could tell she was trying to control her emotions. “She…” he prompted.
Ariel looked up and he could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. “She almost took her own life the first year. She overdosed on the sleeping and pain pills the doctors gave her. I was worried when I couldn’t get hold of her. Something told me I had to find her immediately. When we found her, she…” Ariel took a deep breath before she continued. “…. she was lying on the stone bench in front of their graves with a serene smile on her face, as if she knew it wouldn’t be long before she was with them. It was freezing outside and she didn’t have a jacket on. She had swallowed almost a full bottle of the pills. Paul, Trisha’s dad, was with me when we finally found her. He carried her back to the car and we rushed her to the hospital. She spent a little over a month in the psych-ward. When the docs released her, she left the country. She barely talked to me for the next year and a half. Even now, she is distant. She doesn’t trust me any longer,” she said, crying softly. “I love her so much, Creon. She’s all the family I’ve got left and I didn’t want to lose her too.”
He had thanked her for helping Carmen through that difficult time of her life. He had reassured her he would take care of her and not let anything happen to her sister. He also shared that Carmen was expecting their young.
“Perhaps this will help her,” he had added. “I plan on filling her life full of happiness.”
“I hope you do,” Ariel had said with a sniffle. “She deserves it. I’m glad she has you as her mate, Creon.”
“Not as much as I am glad that she has you as her sister,” he had replied with feeling. “Watch over my hard-headed brother, little sister. You have truly blessed our family with your gentleness and love.”
Ariel had laughed. “Mandra may not agree with you on the gentleness part but I sure have the love part covered. Take care, Creon, until we meet again.”
*.*.*
Creon decided as he followed Carmen out of the lounge that it had been too long since their dragons had been out to play. Maybe a little distraction would help. He would do anything to help her get through this difficult time. He knew the longer they were together her pain and grief would eventually fade to a more bearable level. He did not expect it to ever go completely away any more than his own pain would but he knew he could heal as long as she was by his side.
He jogged up behind her, sweeping her off her feet. He ignored her startled squeal as he continued down the corridor at a brisk pace. He knew of a large storage bay that was relatively open. There would be plenty of room for their dragons to move without fear of damaging anything.
“What are you doing?” She asked breathlessly looking up at him with those beautiful brown eyes of hers.
“I want to have fun,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“Creon, I really don’t feel like fooling around right now,” she murmured, laying her head on his shoulder. “I would rather be alone for a little while, if you don’t mind.”
He chuckled. “Don’t you know that as the mate of a Valdier prince, you will never be alone again? If Harvey is not with you or a part of him is not on you, you will always have your dragon. And soon, you will have two very stubborn little ones who will demand your attention. I want to have fun before they come along to take your attention away from me!” He exclaimed with an exaggerated pout of his lower lip.
“You are being a little juvenile, aren’t you?” She asked with a sigh. “That pout is right out of a two-year-olds instruction manual for getting your own way.”
Creon raised one of his eyebrows at her in indignation. “I am a Valdier Dragon Prince! I am never juvenile. I am gorgeous, sexy, loving, adorable, delightful, handsome, sexy…”
“Full of shit?” Carmen giggled as he passionately declared all of his attributes.
He wiggled both eyebrows up and down as he walked through the doors of the storage bay. “Totally! And did I mention sexy?” He asked with a grin as he gently set her down.
“I believe you did… a couple of times,” she responded looking at him with a somber sigh.
He smiled down at her and gripped both of her hands tightly in his, drawing them to his lips. “Play with me… please,” he asked quietly.
Carmen looked into his serious eyes. She suddenly knew that he was aware of what was bothering her. Tears filled her eyes and overflowed. Her quiet sob grew until her body shook from the force of them. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
“Let it out,” he murmured soothingly. “You have held it in too long. Let the tears wash the pain away and soothe your grief. He was a very fortunate mate to have someone like you in his life. I am glad I am being given that gift now,” he said quietly stroking her back up and down. “Soon, our younglings will fill your arms. They will never replace what you have lost but I hope that you will let me and them fill your heart so it can help you heal as you have helped to heal me.”
Carmen listened to his softly spoken words as she sobbed out for the lives lost at too young an age. She knew life wasn’t fair, but damn it, did it have to hurt so much? She closed her eyes and breathed in the heady masculine scent of Creon. It pulled at her, calming her until she lay quietly in his arms.
He wrapped one arm tightly around her waist and the other around her head, rocking her back and forth slowly. “Close your eyes for a moment,” he said. “I want to show you something.”
Carmen drew in a shuddering breath but did as he asked. “What now?”
“Look deep inside you to where your dragon is,” he said in a hushed voice. “Let her show you what she is protecting for us.”
She drew in another breath and focused inward. It was difficult at first as her mind felt like it was beaten and bruised. She forced herself to relax as Creon continued to whisper quietly to her, urging her to look deep. She gradually made out th
e shape of her dragon curled deep inside her. The small, delicately built dragon lifted her slender head and looked at Carmen with flaming golden brown eyes. Her scales glistened and appeared to glow as she became clearer in Carmen’s mind. Her wing was lying slightly away from her body as if she was having problems closing it all the way. Carmen’s breath swooshed out when her dragon lifted her wing to reveal why she couldn’t pull it closer to her body. The two little sparks were more defined now. As she reached out to touch them, warmth flooded her. The sparks grew brighter and moved in excitement.
Now, you get to watch them while I get my mate for a little while, her dragon snorted. They have too much energy like you! Always moving and playing! I not get no sleep.
Before Carmen could react to her dragon’s statement, she felt the tingling over her body as the change came over her. Vaguely she was aware of Creon taking a step away from her as she transformed. Her body twisted and turned, tingling before warmth flooded her and her dragon took control.
Creon watched lovingly as Carmen’s body transformed into her dragon. Beautiful white, red, pink, and purple scales rippled and flowed over her skin in a glowing display of brilliance. Her long wings burst outward, expanding until their transparent white membranes stretched out above and behind her. Delicate claws formed with elegantly shaped pink nails peeking out from under her. Her head elongated until the beautiful curves of her jaw, snout, and forehead formed. Her small ears twitched back and forth as she looked around the storage bay.
“You are so beautiful, mi elila,” Creon said walking toward his mate.
He reached up to run his fingers over her delicate ear before sliding it along her jaw. He rubbed his fingers along her lower lip, using pressure to turn her head toward him. He smiled as she lowered her head and affectionately rubbed it against his chest. He continued stroking her and murmuring sweet words of love and need to her.
“You have helped to heal me, Carmen,” he said quietly as his fingers caressed her smooth scales. “You healed me when I thought I was beyond redemption.”
Carmen looked at him puzzled. She gently nudged him with her head, wanting him to continue. Creon looked into the dark golden brown eyes of his mate and sighed. His face softened with love as he stared into her eyes.
“The Great War changed me, making me harder and… darker. I changed greatly from the carefree young dragon before it began. It was later learned that the war was started by a small group of Sarafin, Curizan, and Valdier royals who wanted to take control. They began small, raising distention and unrest within their own clans. They called for radical changes. They wanted to restrict certain clans from having a say in the ruling of their worlds. They began making and changing laws to suit them. The non-warrior class was pressured to produce more while receiving less. Restrictions were placed on those who believed differently than they did. As the unrest at home grew so did the tensions between our star systems with the Sarafin and the Curizan,” he paused as she pressed her head into his shoulder and sighed heavily. “I guess you understand what I am talking about,” he replied gruffly before continuing. “The Valdier had always been more reclusive because of our symbiot relationship. We were not sure how it would react to other species or what would happen if one was captured and taken. Those fears were realized when one clan accused a group of Sarafin warriors of attacking their village and capturing both the warriors and their symbiots. It wasn’t until four years into the war that I found out differently. Ha’ven and I were in a fierce battle on one of the moons we use for mining the crystals. We had each become separated from the rest of our warriors during the battle. The tunnel we were in collapsed, trapping us. Ha’ven was pinned under some of the debris. When I moved in to kill him, he said for me to go ahead but the Curizans would never give into the cowards who would murder innocent women and children,” he stopped as he stared into the emptiness of the storage bay.
Carmen lifted her head and rolled onto her side. She pulled one of her wings around to grab him and pull him closer to her belly. She snorted to let him know she wanted him to rub her belly while he continued his story. The act of such innocent caring pulled a smile from him.
“You like me stroking you, don’t you?” He asked with a chuckle as he moved to sit down on the floor next to her and began running his hand up and down her soft belly. He sighed and continued his story. “I didn’t know what he was talking about. I dug him out with the demand I wanted to know what he meant. One thing lead to another and for the first time, two members of the royal families from each star system sat down and talked. It took four bloody years with countless loss of life for us to face one another and only then because we were trying to kill each other,” he shook his head in regret. “So many fine warriors lost their lives for the greed of a few. Needless to say, instead of killing Ha’ven he became my best friend. We worked together after that and began piecing together the facts until it became clear who was behind everything. The only thing we weren’t sure of was what part the Sarafin had played in the war. We needed to meet with a member of the royal family of Sarafin. That is not an easy task when you are friends with them much less enemies. It just so happened that we caught up with Vox at the same time as an assassin did. I ended up saving his furry ass. He had been shot with a poisoned dart. The assassin wanted it to look like the Curizans had killed him. Ha’ven captured the assassin. Once it became evident that the war was just a cover for what was really going on back on each of our planets, we made plans to bring the traitors down,” he stopped stroking her and sat very still until she nudged him with her head again. “We thought we had succeeded until… until the woman I thought I loved betrayed everything that I believed in.”
He looked with anguish at Carmen. “Aria was beautiful on the outside but cold as ice on the inside. She was a member of a royal family on Curizan. I met her not long after Ha’ven and I became friends. We became lovers and I made plans to bind my life to hers even though I knew she was not my true mate. My dragon tolerated her but my symbiot couldn’t stand her. It would leave whenever we were together. For over a year, she lead me to believe she loved me as much as I loved her. It was only when Ha’ven was kidnapped and tortured…,” he let out a long breath. “She had planned it all using information she had been getting from me after we made love. Vox suspected her immediately but I refused to believe someone so beautiful and passionate could betray me like that. It was only when he caught one of his warriors returning from her bed and tortured the truth out of him that I finally began to believe him. She came to my bed that night dressed in nothing but moonlight,” he explained in a quiet voice. “She was beautiful but for once I saw her for what she truly was, a cold-blooded bitch. I forced her to tell me where Ha’ven had been taken before I killed her,” he said in an emotionless voice.
Carmen raised her head and looked at him steadily. She let out a deep growl and a snort before she pushed against his shoulder a little harder than before. He gazed into her eyes waiting to see the horror for what he had done. Instead, she blew out a small puff of hot air and raised one curved eyebrow before shaking her head.
He smiled. “I should have known you wouldn’t be upset, my bloodthirsty little mate,” he chuckled drily. “We rescued him, of course. But not before he had been beaten and tortured badly. It took him several months to recover. He forgave me long before I forgave myself,” he said with a sigh.
Carmen realized it had taken a lot for the proud Valdier Dragon Prince to admit this dark time of his life to her. She loved him even more for having the courage to listen when he could so easily have ignored his doubts. She loved him for fighting to save not only the lives of his people but for forming a friendship with the ones who were once his enemy. And, she loved him for sharing with her his life, for good or for bad, and loving her for who she was… the pain, the grief, and the dream of a new life.
She rolled over, wrapping her wings around him and lifting him up until he lay on her rounded tummy. She cradled him against her body while rubbing
her head against his. He chuckled as she rocked back and forth.
“How about I let my mate spend some time with you,” he whispered in her pointed ear. “He wouldn’t mind doing some rolling around with you either.”
She slowly opened her wings so he could slide off of her. In seconds, his larger black body was towering over her. His dark golden eyes flaming as they took in her exposed belly. A low, rumbling filled the storage area as he moved over her. He wrapped his long tail around hers, pulling her lower region up sharply as he slowly mounted her. His loud groan shook the walls as he slid deeply into her.
Now, he was definitely having fun, he thought as he began rocking faster.
Chapter 20Two days later, Creon was fuming. They had arrived at the outer rim of the asteroid belt protecting the moon base Raffvin had built. Reports were coming in on what had taken place earlier in the day. His brother and Adalard’s forces had led an attack on the base. Raffvin had been present but from the reports, he had made plans to leave for another unknown base. This had forced his brother to make the decision to proceed in the hopes that the Horizon with her added forces and Vox’s ship, the Shifter, could back them up should they need it. He understood the need but he was also worried when he received word that Mandra had been seriously injured.
“Damn his hard-headed stubbornness! He should have waited for us! We were within a day’s travel,” Creon growled out as he slammed into the bridge conference room where Ha’ven was talking to Adalard. “He could have been killed and we would have lost both him and my mate’s sister!”
“Calm down, Creon,” Adalard said calmly over the holovid. “We didn’t have much choice. Bahadur intercepted a transmission that he was pulling up to move to another base. We had him cornered and out powered. We all agreed to take him out.”
“We’ll discuss your decision later, little brother,” Ha’ven said grimly.
“I’m not that ‘little’ anymore, Ha’ven,” Adalard growled back. “You can’t boss me around like you used to, big brother.”