Maliyah I can tell someone is here. I can hear pages of a book turning. My eyes flutter open and I raise my hand to the blinding light. I feel like I am going to be sick. I groan and lean over the side of the bed and vomit all over the floor. “Maliyah, it’s okay. You’re okay. You have a concussion and some broken ribs.” I look over and it’s Aspen. Great and I just vomited in front of him. I groan again holding my head. It’s killing me. “How long have I been out?” “Here drink this tea, it’ll help with your head pain. It’s been two days since the ball.” I look at him shocked. I can’t believe two days have gone by. I panic suddenly. “The twins?!” “They’re fine. They were not attacked. You were the objective. You fought well though. Had you not, you wouldn’t be with us right now.” “I lost though. Last thing I saw was you throwing some knives.” “One got away, the rest will never harm you again.” Meaning he killed them. I don’t feel too bad though for those that died. I throw th
Derek I wake up earlier than I normally do. I really am not looking forward to having to tell Owen about his sister. I hear Davina in the nursery. She must’ve not been able to sleep either. I get dressed and head to the nursery. Davina has both the twins up. Thierry is dressed and in the play area and Davina is finishing dressing Accalia before setting her down with Thierry. “Good morning love, how did you sleep?” “Not well, I kept getting up and checking on Maliyah to ensure she is still there. I’ve been scared I’ll walk into her room and she won’t be there.” “She’s here and alive. We will ensure it stays that way. You ready for today?” “No. He’s going to be so hurt Derek.” “I know. I have Aspen keeping Maliyah company today to distract her while we watch the video. He’s gonna take her to the library to read and paint.” “That’s good. She needs to rest still.” My mother walks in the room. “I’ll stay with the twins this morning. I’ve missed them and I really don’t want to be in
Davina As soon as the meeting ends I rush upstairs to my bathroom and vomit. Shit. This is not the time, I need to be able to shift to protect my children if needed. I cannot be pregnant. I flush the toilet and head to the sink to brush my teeth. I decide to check on Maliyah when I am greeted with Aspen outside my door. “Oh Aspen you startled me.” “Sorry Davina. Are you alright.” “Oh I’m fine. The video was harder to watch than I anticipated. Two shifters were killed. Derek wants to plan a rescue mission. Will the elves be able to assist in that?” “Of course but that is not what is troubling you, is it?” How does he know? “Please don’t say anything. There is so much death lately I don’t think anyone will be up for being happy about this pregnancy.” “I think that is exactly what everyone needs. A distraction from all this death. Something happy. But I won’t say anything. That is not my place.” “Thank you. How is Maliyah?” “She’s quiet. I may have trained her well but mentally
Derek Gabriel stands to run after Davina. I raise my hand to stop him. “Let her go Gabriel. Give her time to accept this. Maybe we can get further proof it’s him, though I really hope you are wrong.” “I hope I am wrong too Derek. I hope I am.” “Alright. Dimitri can you teleport and bring the warriors from the other packs? It’ll be quicker than my jet.” “Yes, I’ll send my daughter Anastasia to your pack Damon, Gabriel go to the flock and I’ll head your way Brian,” says Dimitri. “I’ll take this drawing to Aspen. See if he knew any other silver dragons with a scar like this. Get some rest everyone. We leave as soon as the coven finishes the potion. Shaun, you are welcome to a guest room. We could be leaving at any moment.” “Yes alpha,” he replies. Mark and Keila take their mates back to the guest rooms they’ve been staying at. I head upstairs to find my mate as well. I find her in our room vomiting in the bathroom. I rush to her side, holding her hair. “Are you okay? I can guess
Derek “Damn, Dimitri is there nothing you could’ve done to at least make it tastes somewhat alright?” I gag as I force myself to keep the contents down despite my stomachs protest. “I could’ve but that would’ve taken longer and I don’t think time is on our side.” He’s got a point and let it go. Dimitri, Anastasia and Gabriel chant two words. I recognize the first word but not the second. “Lanuae draconem.” I blink and find we are in the dragon realm. “Eyes and ears open people. Let’s assume they know we are here.” “Yes alpha,” reply the shifters. We take in our surroundings and us shifters immediately shift into our other forms. We can see better in the dark this way. Gabriel translates since only us shifters can speak to each other in this form. Gabriel and the others chant another spell and I can see their eyes glow. Must be something so they can see in the dark. We are well hidden in the woods. To the left is the lake from Maliyah’s drawing and on the far side of the lake i
“Derek,” says Dimitri to get my attention. “What did you find,” I ask as I walk over to the makeshift table he is at and see a map of the dragon realm. There are several x marks all over the map and there is a spot circled on the map that appears on that far side away from our location. “That is where the dragon palace was, here where they have circled is pretty close by the palace. They’re looking or found something important I believe. Maybe the dragon scale flower,” Dimitri replies. I put my paw on the map and Dimitri understands, rolling it up and stuffing it in his pocket. We are going to need that later. To the left of where we entered is the red door Maliyah drew. “Gabriel,” I say and he looks where I am headed. “That’s it isn’t? The door Maliyah drew.” “Yes Gabriel it is. Let’s get it open and get everyone out of here.” Gabriel gets ready to chant a spell to open the lock when we suddenly hear several growls and I see several shifters stalking towards us from another t
“Maliyah?” “I’m okay. I can stand.” She again tries to stand but I support her weight. Owen walks over to us. “Thank you,” says Owen. I put my hand on his shoulder and squeeze it. “You’re welcome.” “What the hell is Maliyah doing with you? I thought she was napping? That’s what she told everyone anyway.” I turn and glare at Maliyah. I grab her by the arms and shake her harder than I meant to. “What the hell were you thinking!? You could’ve been killed or kidnapped. The silver dragon that wants to kill you was there! Right there Maliyah! How did you even know where I was? Who taught you teleport?!” I am full on shouting and she is crying. I let go of her arms and pull her into a hug. “I’m sorry,” she cries. “You scared the shit out of me Maliyah. I don’t want to lose you too. Don’t you ever, ever do that again.” “I’m sorry,” she says again through her sobs. “I could feel Malayah and I saw her attack you. I knew I just wanted to be there to help you and I appeared.” I look a
Once I am comfortable that I am not going to fall, I head to my vanity to blow dry and curl my hair. Mom has always teased me I am not like other kids my age. I put on my shoe and head out the door. Before heading downstairs I peak in on the twins. They’re still asleep so I pull my head back out and close the door. I stare at the stairs contemplating whether I should take them or not when Aspen startles me. “I highly suggest taking the elevator.” “Aspen you scared me.” He laughs. He is leaning against the wall and walks over to me. “What are you doing up so early?” “I couldn’t go back to sleep so I showered and was going to head to the library before breakfast.” “As long as we aren’t having tea, I’ll join you.” “Sorry about that, really.” “It’s in the past Maliyah just don’t do that again.” “I promise I won’t do it again.” “I hear there is a thing called a pinky promise and it’s unbreakable. Do you pinky promise?” I hold out my pinky to him and he stares at me. I laugh and t