Ahoy Mate-Jefferson

I blink my eyes open as I hear someone come through the door. I shake the sleep away immediately so that I can pay attention. I still don’t feel rested even though something tells me that I did actually sleep. The pain does that to me though. It makes me lose track of how much time I have been here. I know its been at least a few weeks.

The first few days I had prayed for those in my clan to come and get me. once the tortured started though, I just wanted them to stay away. I don’t want any of them to suffer as I have been suffering. When my eyes finally focus I expect o see my brother as he stands before waiting. It’s the same each time he comes. He cuts, and cuts, and cuts until I pass out. Sometimes he doesn’t cut at all and he beats me.

I can tolerate the beatings. Even though we are the same kind of dragon we can both handle the pain. Its those damn knives of his though that cause pain. They are made from something special that actually allows the metal to pierce my skin. I haven’t bled since before I got my dragon. I did not miss the feeling. He hardly says a word when he comes in. I can tell how he feels though. I can smell the joy it brings him to hurt me.

I let my head fall back into its hanging position when I realize that it is just the doctor entering the room. I cant move where he has me chained to this wall. He hasn’t unchained me since I got here. They let me down three times a day to use the rest room but that’s it. They even have someone feed me my food. He has made me completely helpless. I still haven’t been able to hate him though.

I feel his dragon. My own reaches out for his other half. His dragon is so weak that he can barely be felt but we get a brief glimpse ever now and then. My brother on the other hand is no where to be found. I don’t know what happened to him but I see the evidence all over his skin. The scars cover every inch of him that I have seen. Its so odd to see a dragon that scarred. They must have used the same blades that he now uses on me. I am still so grateful that he has never cut my face.

I close my eyes as I try to wipe the images from my brain. I have done nothing but think of my brother since he got here. I tried talking to him. I tried telling him what I have been through. I even offered to help him. None of it did anything though. He would proceed on with the torture as if it didn’t matter. I take a deep breath as I hear the footsteps come near me. I hear as others enter the room too. It looks like I will be the victim in one of their teaching classes again.

It is such a sick irony how they operate here. The doctors come in as if this is an actual procedure each time and not a cruel and unusual punishment. They talk about me as if I am a specimen in a jar instead of an actual person. They don’t see me as someone that had feelings. Someone who was taken from their life. They don’t even see me as a someone. I am no more than a lab rat.

I inhale a deep breath as I hear the footsteps stop in front of me. I know a poke will be coming any moment. I hope it’s a poke. If its not then my eyes will remain closed this entire time. Each other time I wasn’t poked they decided to strip me bare and go over each part of my anatomy. They have studied us so closely that they know where each human part of us transforms into the dragon part. I find it sick and twisted. It has taught me a lot though.

I freeze when I inhale and my eyes fly open as I start to search the room. My dragon rises inside my chest as he lends me his vision to search the room too. I barely see my brother as he lays down the person I am hyper focused on. A rumble comes from my chest as her head faces me and I look at her face for the first time. I strain against my chains needing to go to her. I inhale rapidly over and over as I take in her scent.

Mate. This is our mate.

She smells like apple pie on a cold winter morning. I sigh as I taste the scent on my tongue at her being so near. A smile stretches across my face as I look at every inch of her I can see. She looks to be a bit damp but other than that she looks fine. She looks beautiful in fact. Her skin is a deep chocolate. The contours of it are so smooth as they shape over her slender face. Her cheeks are puffed in a healthy way. I bet if she were to be smiling right now then she would have dimples in both of them.

Her hair is an array of different black and browns. Its dreaded and they are long. She has definitely been growing them for quite a while. Her lips are plump and full under her button like nose. I have yet to see her open her eyes but yet I am caught up by the way her eye lashes cast a shadow on her cheeks. She looks so tiny as I stare at her from across the room. More than anything I want to lay a hand upon her skin to see if she is real.

We need to get her out of here. She cannot be here.

I still once the gravity of the situation finally gets to me. I growl loudly once I realize what my horrible brother has done. He just brought our mate here to this place. There is nothing good that can happen to her here. I wasn’t able to hate him before now but now, I know that I could. Only a monster would subject the only blessing that we get to this. My vision goes red as I picture being back in my kitchen and using my knives on him. I would make him bleed worse than what he has done to me for this.

The doctor in the room eyes our exchange curiously. Morbius must also see how much attention the doctor pays because he sends me a scathing look. I may not know a lot of things but that look obviously means to keep my mouth shut. My eyes stare back at her as I ignore them in the room. They start conversing about the next steps that they will be taking in a few days’ time. They seem to be speaking in some kind of code because I am unable to follow any of it. The only thing that I worry is if she will wake.

I sniff the air as I test it for the scent of her blood and am happy when I don’t find it. She must have been given something is has been knocked unconscious. Both thoughts still cause a growl to rumble in my chest and it catches their attention.

“It looks like you have found a dragon mate this time. You should try to do this more in the future” He tells my brother. My brother just nods his head at the man without changing his expression. “I do believe that we should allow them to get better acquainted. If he earns it, we can remove his chains so that we can get more specimens” he says nonchalantly. My dragon comes forth at the threat to our future young and we bare our teeth. I would surely die before allowing such a thing to happen. I am however glad that they exit the room swiftly.

I wait for a few quiet moments to pass before I focus on trying to wake her. “Hey” I say calling out to her gently. She doesn’t stir at all. A muscle on her body doesn’t even twitch. I let out a loud whistle that echoes in our small steel room. Still she doesn’t respond to the noise. I think about what I could do to wake her. It would be much easier if I weren’t attached to these chains. Every one awakens when you shake them.

We could scare her awake.

The idea from my dragon has merit but I hardly want that to be the first impression that I make to my mate. I would never want her to fear me. I would never wish to cause her harm. I know that I don’t have many options, however. There are always people in and out of this room. I would prefer if she were awake when they came to visit. Seeing no other option I allow my dragon forth. I feel my chest vibrate as we let the roar inside of us build up.

We release the sound in a sharp burst that cause her to jump up from the floor. She stumbles on her feet as her gaze flies around wilding. “Tika” she calls out lowly. Her back is now facing me and I don’t wish to frighten her more. She finally seems to catch her balance and immediately heads over to the door. She bangs her fist against it as she starts to scream. “Let me out of here. You open these doors right now.”

The fear leaching out of her voice breaks my heart and I wish I had the power to grant what she wanted. I don’t have that power and I don’t know if I can help. I can show her that she isn’t alone though. “The doors will not open unless they want them to” I say calmly.

She spins around fast on her feet as her hand flies to her chest. She presses her back into the door as she eyes me from across the room. When her eyes flicker to the chains that encase me she seems to relax a bit. “We are prisoners here. As far as I know, this is the facility where they have been bringing our kind” I tell her as I hold her gaze.

I don’t even know if she knows about us. I know in some parts of the world they still believe us to be a myth. I truly don’t want to have to explain to my mate what I am and see the fear on her face. I watch as recognition shows on her face and she takes a step toward me. “Is-is your name Jefferson?” she ask as she cocks her head at me curiously. The shock must be written on my face because she smiles.

This does not seem right. How does she already know who we are. This could be a trick.

“How do you know who I am?” I ask her warily. She comes closer to me as she holds my gaze.

“I know your alpha and beta. My best friend Emily is mated to Maximus. My other friend Tika is mated to Xander. They took me from the Scarlet Light Clan. I have lived there for the past few months” She states.

Her words could be true. I just don’t know if we can trust her human. This could be another way for them to cause us pain.

I can see how he would think that. I would say that it would be impossible for them to stoop this low. However, I know its not. They let one brother torture another so they would use a mate too. “I do not know if I can believe you” I tell her honestly. She looks hurt for the moment at my words. Her feet pause and she comes no closer. I watch as her brain thinks and I see when an idea hits her mind.

“A few days ago you felt a pull but you couldn’t understand why. Every time you think about the pull all you see is Xander’s face and what your homeland looks like. You feel a stronger connection to all the dragons you know even though they are so far away” She says in a rush as she looks at me.

I know that I am not hiding the shock on my face well. I don’t even know how she knows that. I never stated it to anyone here. “When Maximus completed the bond with Emily, it opened up a link between all dragons that Xander is alpha to. You guys can talk in your minds to each other. Have you tried it?” She ask hopefully. I frown at her when I don’t understand what she is saying. I shake my head and I watch her shoulders droop.

The quiet in the room gets tense as I watch her chew on her plump bottom lip. The sight does things to me as I watch her twist her tiny hands together. She really is a little thing. I could probably pick her up with one arm and I know that I have lost a lot of weight since being here. “Can I know what your name is?” I ask her as her gaze flies to mine.

“I’m Julia….Well I would shake your hand but seeing as you are chained, it would be difficult.” She says with a chuckle as she eyes me.

“You can still shake my hand. They have had me in these chains since I awakened here. I have grown used to being in them” She nearly balks at my words. The look she gives confirms my suspicions that I have been here for a while. She seems to look at me for a moment before turning away. A sense of disappointment fills me that she didn’t want to shake my hand.

I quirk my eye brown at her when I see what he does though. She goes over to the table in the room and grabs one of the chairs. She picks it up and carries it over to me. I watch her curiously as she places it next to me. She climbs right on top of it and grabs my hand with a gasp. I feel the slight shake she gives and a laugh leaves my chest. She’s so small that she needed a chair to reach my hands which are suspended above my head.

She gets down from the chair so fast though as she backs away from me and my laughter dies easily. The look on her face is one of pure fear as I strain in my chains to wonder what just happened. I look at the hand she touched and then back at her to see if I had caused her harm. I didn’t even move or grasp her hand back. I was unable to. Her eyes fills with tears and I watch as she turns away from me.

“Have I don’t something to offend you?” I ask her to her back. Her head shakes but she gives me no verbal answer. I try to move my head so that I can peer over her shoulder but I am unable to adjust my view. I wait in the silence as I wonder what could have gone wrong. When it stretches on for too long, I have to ask. “What is it?”

I’m not ready for the look on her face when she turns back toward me. The anger that is in her gaze is shocking and I have no idea what to do. I don’t even understand the fury that I see. “I know what I am to you and its not going to happen. I don’t need a man or a dragon so you can forget about it” She states plainly. I watch as she goes to sit on the other side of the room. She doesn’t even take the other chair but instead curls into a ball in the corner.

Did she just reject us. She doesn’t even know us yet. This isn’t right. She has to give us a chance.

“We don’t know her either. We don’t know what she has been through or what caused her to make this decision. It is her choice though” I say in answer to him.

We need to change her mind. She is the only choice for a future that we will ever get. What if our other half did something to her and that’s why she doesn’t want us?

“If he touched her in any way to cause her harm then I will be the last face that he ever sees. We may share a mate but that doesn’t exclude him consequences for harming her” I state back to him.

“What do you mean share a mate?” she ask as she rises to her feet. I jerk in my chains because her tone of voice shocks me. If I thought that she was angry before then now she is downright livid. It dawns on me that I was having that conversation out loud. She wouldn’t have been able to hear the words of my dragon but she could hear mine.

“I am nothing like him” I state to her instead. She marches over to me as she comes to get in my face. She is so small however that she barely reaches my chest.

“What do you mean share a mate?” she ask again pointedly.

“I’m a twin. The dragon that brought you here is my twin. If you are my mate, then you are also his” I tell her plainly. Her face pales and I watch as all the fight leaves her. She looks at me with no expression at all as she says her next words.

“I don’t want either of you. I am no ones mate” She says.

When she goes to take her seat in the corner this time she doesn’t stay facing me. She crosses her legs as she collapsed onto them. Her head leans forward until it rest against the wall. I am left staring at her back as I wonder what could have happened to her to cause her to not want me. Or us. I thought that humans and dragons both needed their mate. That they would feel a pull to be with us just as we do with them.

I pictured it as us already being the perfect match for each other. The true reality of the situation is saddening instead. I’ve wanted my mate since I found out that I would have one. I planned for how to court her and how to treat her. I planned on having a chance. I wanted the mate bond and marriage too. My dragon and I even planned names for our future children. To know that we aren’t going to have any of that now, there is nothing else to say. My dragon turns his back in my mind as he curls us. With all the fight in me gone I place my head back on my chest and I pray for sleep. Even if I am tortured in my dreams, it would be better than how I feel now.