Stones of Dracontias

by N. D. Jones

  CHAPTER NINE

  “ARE YOU SURE?”

  Armstrong had asked her that question five times. Kya refused to answer it again. Yes, she was sure. Yes, she’d been seen by a gynecologist. Yes, she’d gotten a second opinion.

  Yes. Yes. Yes. Kya was certain she was pregnant.

  She sat on the couch in the living room while Armstrong, still in his black Secret Service uniform, sans the bulletproof vest, stalked back and forth. She wished he would sit down or at least stay still. His agitation wasn’t helping nor would it change their predicament. They’d taken precautions to prevent conception. Clearly, they hadn’t been cautious enough.

  Before they became intimate physically, Kya explained about dragon-human reproduction and Kesins. Armstrong assured her he would “take care of everything.” In the weeks leading up to their first night together as lovers, Kya had learned much about human conception. Since neither of them knew how genetically human dragons became when they shifted, Armstrong was uncertain if female contraceptives would be effective or safe for Kya to use. When she’d given herself to him that first time, and every time afterward, Armstrong wore a condom.

  Except, at least once, he did not. Kya’s unplanned pregnancy was the result. The sad truth wasn’t that the offspring was unwanted, despite the unexpectedness of the news. Kya and Armstrong wanted to share parenthood, desired nothing more than to create and raise a product of their love. But no offspring of their union could live among humans without revealing secrets of the Dracontias.

  Armstrong dropped to his knees in front of Kya. If she were in dragon form, she would be able to smell his sadness and desperation. She didn’t need her enhanced senses, however, because everything her diata felt was in the agonized eyes that met Kya’s and in the hands that gripped hers with fierce possession.

  “I should be happy. I want this. I want our child.” He kissed her lips. “But I want you more. I can’t lose you, Kya. I don’t want to go back to living my life without you.”

  Kya didn’t want that either. She’d known their relationship wouldn’t last. She just never imagined it would end so soon. With a young dragon to care for, Kya wouldn’t have time to spend with Armstrong. She couldn’t leave their Kesin for days and weeks while she played human and courted her feelings for him.

  “Don’t smack me or get mad. There’s another option, we should consider.”

  “What option?”

  He squeezed her hands. “Sometimes, when a woman becomes pregnant and isn’t ready for motherhood, she aborts the fetus. The father may want the same thing, although she’s the one who decides because it’s her body. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Abort,” she said, repeating the word and thinking about its meaning in the context of what Armstrong had just said. “Are you suggesting I abort our young before it has a chance to be birthed?” Kya withdrew her hands from Armstrong. “You want me to deny life?”

  “No, not want. Dammit, Kya, I want our baby. I want you both. But if you have the baby, you’ll go away and take our child with you. If that happens, I won’t have anything.”

  “I’m a healing dragon.”

  “I know.”

  “You don’t. What you ask is not done. Every dragon, Afiya or Kesin, is like the stone in our skulls, unique and precious. We can live without our Dracontias stone, but the power of the stone is worthless if the dragon owner of the stone dies.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Kya felt tears pooling, and she wiped them away. Too many uncontrolled emotions as a human and far too few ways to conceal all she felt. They should’ve been more cautious. This is what came of losing control of one’s emotions, of being too human and less dragon.

  She no more wanted to lose Armstrong than he did her. Over the years, Kya had adjusted to and adopted many human customs. But this, the aborting of her young, she couldn’t do such a thing, not even for her love of Armstrong.

  “It means the might of the Dracontias aren’t our healing stones and magic. It’s not our long lifespans and armored scales. What makes us powerful and a threat to humans is our unbreakable bond and unconditional love. We’re unwavering in both. I’m a dragon, Armstrong. Abortion is not an option. I’m sorry.”

  For more than he would ever know. In all she’d explained, the implication was that she would forsake their love and him for the Dracontias. The pain and realization were there, in the eyes that lowered and the body that slumped to the floor.

  She’d hurt him, and she’d hurt herself. If there were any way for them to be together as a family, Kya would do all within her Bloodstone Dragon power to give them that life. Their Kesin couldn’t stay in the land of humans, and her Armstrong couldn’t live on Buto with dragons.

  Their worlds would have to stay forever separate. They’d tried to bridge the divide. For a while, they’d fooled themselves into believing in miracles. But there was no miracle to be found, not even with all the magic on Buto and within the Dracontias.

  “I’m sorry.” Tears fell, and she couldn’t stop them from falling. Kya dropped to the floor beside Armstrong and pulled him to her. He came, wrapping his arms around her waist and settling his head in the crook of her neck. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know. What am I going to do without you?”

  She had no idea because she didn’t know what she would do without him.

  “I love you, Armstrong Knight. I have for a very long time.”

  A confession she’d pledged to never make because the repercussions for her heart would be too great. But a broken heart couldn’t break twice, and hers had fractured the moment she’d learned of her pregnancy.

  She hoped telling Armstrong how she felt would help alleviate the pain of the parting to come. It didn’t. Her confession only served to deepen the wound.

  “Will you at least stay until the baby arrives? You said Kesins are born human and will stay that way for a few months. If that’s all the time I have, I want every second of it.”

  She lifted his chin, wiped the wetness from his cheeks and kissed him. He returned the kiss, feverish and forceful. Yanking Kya onto his lap, Armstrong deepened the kiss.

  His hands tore at their clothing until they were naked, and he overtop of Kya and driving into her. There was nothing gentle about their lovemaking, and she didn’t need or want it to be. But it was passionate for all the love they shared and the loss they would have to endure.

  Kya would miss Armstrong Knight. A part of her would even miss her human form and all the ways her diata made her feel like a woman.

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he sank deeper. His moans of pleasure, low and gruff in her ear, were among her favorite sounds. There were others, such as his rich laughter, his soft snores and his grunts of release. She would miss those, too.

  And his hands that held her while she slept.

  The lips that kissed her good morning and goodnight.

  The cold feet she kept warm in the winter.

  The fingers that dug into her hips when they were intimate. And the heart that told her she was loved, no matter her form.

  “I’ll stay. Mmm, Armstrong. Do that again.”

  He did, his hips grinding just the way she liked.

  “We’re going to do this every day.” A harsh bite to her neck. “Every day. You’re mine, no matter where you are.”

  Kya was Armstrong’s, his attempt at a claiming mark unnecessary.

  “And you’re mine.”

  “Damn right.”

  They exhausted themselves making love, starting and stopping and then beginning again. Filling up on memories, Kya knew, for the lonely days and nights ahead.

  Armstrong had told her, several times, to take one day at a time, to not ruin the present by looking too far ahead to the future. For once, she saw the merit in those words. At most, Kya and Armstrong had fourteen months before she would have to return to Buto with their Kesin.

  Not much time. Not much time at all.

  After two weeks
on the campaign trail with the president, Armstrong couldn’t wait to see Kya and fall asleep in his bed with her by his side. The president’s reelection bid was in full swing, which meant the commander-in-chief spent a lot of time away from the White House and DC. Which amounted to Armstrong also being away from home and Kya. They didn’t have much time left, so he’d balked at the away assignment.

  His supervisor had noted his displeasure and request for leave. Noted and then dismissed both. He and Kya spoke as often as they could, sometimes on the phone other times telepathically.

  Her pregnancy hadn’t been easy on the dragon. Morning sickness plagued her for the first and second trimesters. She’d lost weight instead of gained, which had Armstrong concerned. Kya had assured him she and the baby were fine. Now, with about a month to go, Armstrong was torn between wanting to see his child born and wishing Kya could stay pregnant forever.

  Stupid, but each month that passed was one month closer to Armstrong losing his family. He’d watched Kya grow round and big with their child. He made every doctor’s appointment he could, pampered Kya, and read to the baby. Armstrong strove to live a thousand lifetimes in the months left to them.

  He’d taken dozens of pictures of Kya and her ever-growing stomach. Armstrong converted the small room he’d used as an office into a nursery and purchased bags full of baby clothing. He’d accepted donations for the baby from his siblings, and his colleagues had surprised him with a baby shower. They’d invited Kya and lavished gifts on the dragon, who had no idea how to respond beyond a polite smile and a genuine, “Thank you for your kindness.”

  So much fuss over a child who, in a few months, would be a baby dragon and unable to use any of the gifts meant for a human infant. Armstrong knew he hadn’t faced his reality. Everything he’d done these past months mirrored the actions of a man who would soon become a father. He’d ignored Kya’s soft, pleading eyes for him to accept the inevitable.

  He couldn’t. No more than Kya could shift. She’d been forced to forego her dragon form for the safety of their child. Her inability to transform into a dragon had left her uncharacteristically depressed. She slept too much during the day and spent the night hours on the roof staring at the sky. Armstrong never knew how she’d managed to climb onto the roof, particularly after she entered her final trimester.

  With Kya unable to turn into a dragon, their home had become a revolving door of dragons in human form. He’d met all of Kya’s siblings and her mother. They were as lovely as Kya and treated Armstrong like a member of the family. Their visits were irregular, and they didn’t stay long. When they left, however, Kya was more like her normal self.

  Her dragon family filled a void in her life he couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried. They hugged and kissed her. They cuddled on the couch with Kya, stroking her hair and belly. They were, without a doubt, the most openly affectionate family he’d ever met. A dragon family, he finally saw. They would care for his child when Armstrong couldn’t. Seeing them with Kya, loving and warm, he knew his baby dragon would be well taken care of by the Dracontias.

  The thought should’ve brought him peace of mind, but it didn’t. A father was supposed to provide love and security for his child. He could do neither. What he could do, however, was make sure his baby had a beautiful nursery to come home to, filled with toys, clothes and furniture from a father the baby would never know or remember.

  It was a depressing thought that had Armstrong tossing his duffle bag onto the floor of the foyer and slamming the door closed. He didn’t worry about disturbing Kya. He’d convinced her to stay with Isaiah and Nicole while he was away. She hadn’t liked it, telling Armstrong, “I can take care of myself. I’m the Bloodstone Dragon.”

  She’d looked adorable, all round and indignant, he’d kissed her until her frown disappeared and she moaned, an arousing concession Armstrong had taken advantage of before he dropped her off with his family.

  Standing in the middle of the foyer, Armstrong heard nothing in the empty house. It smelled of Kya. A sweet floral scent he would always associate with her. He stood there and listened. This would soon be his reality. An empty, quiet house. He wondered how long it would take after Kya left for her smell to disappear, too, denying Armstrong even that small connection to her.

  A fist smashed into the wall. Again. Again. He ached to tear the whole goddamn house apart with his bare hands. What would it matter? Who would care after Kya and the baby were gone?

  Armstrong raised his bloody fist to slam it into the wall again but stopped when the phone rang. He stared at his knuckles. They reminded him of the first time Kya had healed him. Back then, he’d had no idea how profoundly his life would change.

  The ringing stopped, then started again. Who in the hell kept calling him? Couldn’t a man wallow in self-pity without being interrupted? He guessed not because the person on the phone called him a third time.

  Stalking into the living room, Armstrong picked up the phone. “What?”

  “Armstrong, thank God you’re home.”

  “Nicole. What’s wrong? Did one of the girls fall off her bike again and get hurt?”

  “No, nothing like that. It’s—”

  “Are those sirens in the background?”

  “Yeah, listen, Isaiah’s talking to the police.”

  “The police.” Bloody knuckles forgotten, Armstrong’s heart began to pound. “Nicole, I need you to tell me what’s going on.” She sounded like she’d been crying, and her breaths were coming fast. “Calm down and tell me why the police are there.”

  “You need to come over now. It’s Kya. She’s missing.”

  Armstrong didn’t remember running out the house and leaving the door wide open. He didn’t recall jumping into his car and speeding all the way to Isaiah’s home. He had no memory of crashing his car into the curb in his haste to get out and find out what in the hell had happened to his Kya.

  Armstrong remembered nothing but the screaming in his head. His voice telling him he was too late to save his family.

  Kya wasn’t missing. She didn’t get up and leave. Kya never went anywhere without telling Armstrong. She may have been an independent dragon, but she was also a thoughtful one. Kya wasn’t missing.

  Kya had been taken.

  Armstrong knew, with every bone in his body, the enemy he’d thought was out of their lives had returned. The ‘how’ of her disappearance confirmed what he’d already concluded.

  The officers were gone, and he sat at the kitchen table with Isaiah and Nicole. They both looked terrible—Isaiah angry and worried, Nicole weepy and frightened.

  “Are the girls okay?” he asked.

  Nicole nodded, her face blotchy, eyes red and swollen. “I’m sorry. You asked us to watch Kya.”

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  No, it was his. He’d kept the truth from Kya. Armstrong should’ve told her the real reason those five men had come to his home. If he had, she wouldn’t be missing and in danger. Kya hadn’t known there was a threat to her freedom, maybe even her life. His selfish need for his dragon was to blame. With his lie, he’d betrayed her, and now she was gone.

  He’d given one of the officers the picture of Kya he kept in his wallet. He hadn’t appreciated the sympathetic eyes and nod of the head. Armstrong had worked in law enforcement long enough to know what the officers thought about Kya’s kidnapping.

  They would search for her, do their due diligence, but they didn’t expect to find her alive. If they found her at all.

  The girls had told the officers Kya had been shot. She’d fallen to the ground and then four men had surrounded her. There was more to the story the girls hadn’t told the police.

  “I think those men followed Kya and the girls to the park,” Isaiah said. “Michelle said she saw one of the men watching them as they played. She thought he was ‘creepy,’ so she told Kya.”

  Michelle was Nicole and Isaiah’s oldest daughter. At nine, the girl was all long legs and bright smiles. She hadn’t been
smiling when she’d rushed into his arms, crying into his chest about, “Aunt Kya and those awful men.”

  “She said Kya gathered them up and headed for the park’s exit. That’s when the other three men appeared. They blocked their path.” Isaiah pushed from the table, waves of fury wafting from his older brother. “They threatened my children, Armstrong. They cornered Kya and said they would hurt the girls if she didn’t go with them.”

  Armstrong couldn’t meet the hard, furious gaze of his brother. Not only had he put Kya in danger, but his actions could’ve also cost Isaiah his children.

  Nicole’s warm, small hand reached across the table, found his unharmed hand and held it. “Kya shoved them behind her, right before one of the men shot her in the shoulder. Michelle described it as a dart. There was no blood, and Kya didn’t seem to be in pain. The man shot Kya two more times after that.”

  “They were hysterical when they got home.” Isaiah slammed the palm of his hand on the countertop. “Do you know how they got home, Armstrong?”

  He had a good idea what Kya had done. She loved and protected children. The men who’d taken her had to have known that, which was why they’d struck when they did. It also meant the men had Kya and Armstrong under surveillance and he’d never known.

  Damn him.

  “Fucking magic. Poof. One minute they were in the park, screaming their heads off because their aunt had been shot, and the next they were in the goddamn backyard. Scared the shit out of them.”

  “Kya sent the girls home. Bloodstone magic. Looks like red fog.” On shaky legs, Armstrong stood. “The assholes knew they couldn’t take her in a fair fight, so they used her affection for the girls to get close to her. The darts were probably some kind of animal tranquilizer.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  He shoved the chair out of his way and approached his brother. If Isaiah wanted to take a swing at him, he damn well could do it while Armstrong was standing.

  “The Knights may love Kya, but you also think she’s strange, from the way she speaks to her eating habits and her mood swings. You’ve been too kind to say, especially since she’s made me happy and is caring to everyone.”