Chapter Four - I don't trust her

Freya Rose

Selene howled into the air as she charged towards me. I ascended, revealing my magnificent grey wings. I wanted to fight her a little first because Traian's words kept swimming around in my mind, ‘you haven't been trained to fight her yet. You're not strong enough.’ Knowing that I could ignite and stop her at any moment, gave me the confidence I needed to fight her. I prepared myself to jump into the air as soon as she reached me, but I didn't get the opportunity. From the corner of my eye, I saw a blur.

"Traian, no. She's mine!" I screamed out in dominance, but he didn't listen.

He tackled her to the floor, pinning her to the ground. Within a few seconds, I could smell Marik approaching. I huffed and descended. I felt like stomping my foot on the floor, but I didn't want to look childish. Instead, I stormed off shouting a few profanities. Marik slowed down as I charged towards him.

"Little wolf?" He asked softly.

I just replied with a scowl and an extremely erected middle finger. I could hear him chuckling as I continued to walk towards the cabin.

How the hell am I supposed to be the leader of all supernatural beings, if men keep coming along to rescue me? Don't they understand? I need to train. I need to get stronger and hone my abilities. Azael isn't going to go easy on me, and I have no idea what type of army he will have when the time comes to fight him. I need to be the strongest I can be.

My stomping became less aggressive as I neared the cabin. I was still fuming, but I needed to calm myself before I met the young teens. The last thing they needed was to be frightened half to death by me. They'd been through enough already today. I took in a deep breath as I reached the pool, just outside the cabin. A sudden scent swept past my nose, carried on the wind. I lifted my head and sniffed the air deeply. It was a scent I recognized, chard flesh and ash.

"Gideon!" 

I turned on my heel and began to follow the scent, after what he did to me, I wanted to rip the fucker apart.

"Freya, no," Savanah's soft voice called out. I turned around and saw her standing at the sliding glass doors. Her face was pleading with me as she shook her head. "You can see him later; these kids need to speak to you."

I sighed with a nod. I did as I was asked, and made my way towards her. She held her arm out and ushered me inside. When I entered the cabin it was empty, all except the two frightened teens, who were sat on the couch. The boy had his arm wrapped over the girl's shoulder, and a blanket had been placed around them both. The girl was clutching hold of a cup of hot chocolate, and I could see her hands visibly shaking. Most would assume it was from being cold, but I could smell her fear.

I sat down on the couch opposite them, and the girl backed up a bit. I held my hands out and said in a soft tone, 

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Freya, and this is my pack. You are safe here, I promise."

The girl smiled slightly, but the boy just scoffed, 

"Yeah right, what the hell kind of pack is this? I saw werewolves, vampires, and whatever the fuck you are," he pointed at me with disgust, and the girl quickly slapped his hand down.

"Draco, don't be so rude."

"No Lorena. I'm not being nice to this thing until it tells me exactly what it is..." I burst out laughing which cut his speech off, I couldn't help it, I loved the guts this kid had. "And where they have my father stashed."

As soon as those words escaped his mouth, I hissed into the air, trying my best to stop myself from grabbing the little shit by the throat. But I knew it wasn't his fault who his dad was. They both sat back in their seats, the stench of their fear filling my nose. I sat back in my seat and sighed. Savanah handed me a cup of coffee before taking a seat next to me.

"Look I'm sorry for my reaction. You're Gideon's son?"

He shuffled around in his seat a little, then replied, 

"Yes, where is he?"

My expression softened when I heard the worry and concern in his voice.

"He's safe, but I don't know his fate as yet. He attacked me and tried to kill me..." I explained as honestly as I could.

"No, no he wouldn't. He isn't like that. You're lying! You kidnapped him for his power." The boy became agitated and stood up while he shouted at me.

"Sit the fuck down!" Marik yelled from the sliding doors, Lorena began to scream and cry hysterically, and Draco quickly sat down and held the girl.

I turned to scowl at Marik, not liking the fact that he felt the need to defend me. I was getting fed up of this and would definitely have to have a word with the pair of them. I could tell that if he wasn't gripping hold of Selene, he would have had that boy up the wall by his throat.

"Get her out of here!" I yelled out, trying to make myself heard over the girls incessant screaming.

Glancing over to Savanah she nodded, knowing exactly what I wanted. I hadn't had a chance to practice my vampire powers of persuasion, so I needed her to calm the girl down for me. Savanah headed over to Lorena and placed her hands on either side of her head. I don't know how or what she did, but the girl began to calm down, and her screams ceased. The twins had taken Selene into the basement, and I mind linked Traian to tell them both to stay down there for a bit.

Once Lorena had calmed down, Savanah moved over to Draco and placed her hands on his temples. His head shot back, making him slump onto the couch. I guessed she was showing him a vision. When she finished, he crouched forward and gasped for air. When he had taken a few deep breaths, he tilted his head slightly to glance up at me.

"You're a Phoenix?" I nodded at him in reply. He shook his head then placed it in his hands. "He promised he wouldn't do that again. He's been clean for so long. I don't understand why he'd start hunting down Phoenix’s again.”

Lorena reached over and placed her hand on Draco's back, and while gently rubbing it, she leaned in and said, 

"Oh Draco, I am so sorry. I know how hard it hit you last time. I can't believe after what happened to your mom, he would dare to go back on Phoenix power. What the hell is he thinking?" She sounded concerned, but as her speech continued, her voice became one of pure anger.

"Please, Lorena, enough. I know what you're saying, but..." He paused to glance up at me and Savanah.

I was just frozen, with my mouth hanging open slightly, listening in to their conversation. I must have looked like one of those weird plants waiting for a fly to come past. I looked at Savanah and she had her eyebrows raised and was awkwardly avoiding all eye contact.

"I feel like I'm intruding on their private moment," Savanah mind linked me.

"I know, me too. But I wanna learn as much about Gideon as I can."

"Do you want me to read his memories tonight, while he's sleeping?" She questioned through the link.

I turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

"You can do that?" 

"Yeah, people are more willing to open up while they're sleeping." She said it like it was nothing. 

It made me wonder if she had done it to me over the past year or two. The thought had me a little worried. The idea of her knowing some of the personal things I've done or thought, made me blush a little.

"What are you mind linking? Is it about my dad?" Draco snapped. I shot my head around with a hiss. He jumped back. "Fuck, you're a vampire too? What the hell are you?" He demanded an answer with a little more dominance in his voice than I cared for.

I tilted my head to the side when I saw a flame flash in his dark brown eyes. 

"What?" Lorena asked me in concern, before pulling Draco's face towards her. "Crap. Draco, you're a Dragon!"

"What!? No, no I can't be. Please, God, anything but that," he cried out, obviously devastated with being a Dragon, whatever that might be.

"Shhh, it’s okay, we will figure this out. I won’t let you turn into your father. I promise. Gideon can’t know about this."

I nudged Savanah in the arm with my elbow, and when she glanced at me, I tilted my head towards the garden. She nodded in agreement, before going over to Lorena and Draco. I got up and made my way to the sliding doors. I mind linked the pack and told them all to go shopping or something. Have a few hours of relaxation time. I then sat down on the lounger and mind linked Traian.

“Hey, you got her all settled down there?”

“Yeah, we fed her some sleepers. She’ll be out cold for a few hours. Can we come up yet?” He asked, although his voice sounded a little annoyed at having to ask permission.

“Yes, can you both meet me outside, please?”

“Of course, let me run up and get Marik some clothes first. He insists he doesn’t need them, but I’m fed up of looking at his junk.”

I didn’t reply, I couldn’t, I was laughing too hard. Savanah soon joined me with four coffees. The woman was outstanding, more like a psychic than an oracle. She always knew just what I needed. She placed the tray onto the table at the side of the loungers, then took a seat next to me.

“Thank you, Savanah. How are they doing?”

“They’re fine. A little shaken up and confused, but they will be okay with time. We need to discuss this dragon business,” she said with seriousness and worry.

“I know, but we will wait for Traian and Marik. Maybe they’ve heard of it all before?”

“Yeah, maybe. I tried to read Draco’s mind, but he blocked me out. I managed to calm them down and hopefully, they will sleep soon. I can then explore his unconscious without him fighting against me.”

“That sounds like a plan,” I replied while picking up my coffee cup.

Traian came out through the sliding doors to join us. He walked around the lounger and to my surprise, he picked me up. I was going to protest, ask him what the fuck he thought he was doing. But when I saw his face filled with torment, I resisted the urge to be dominant. He sat down on the lounger, placing me onto his lap. His large arms wrapped around my body, while he rested his head on my chest. I stroked his raven hair as he took in my scent. There was a sire bond there that I couldn’t deny, and at that moment, I just wanted to make him feel better.

“What’s wrong, Traian?” I mind linked him. 

“Nothing little Rose. I just wanted to hold you.”

I knew that wasn’t all it was, but he clearly didn’t want to divulge anything, so I just let him hold me. Eventually, his body relaxed, allowing me a little breathing space. I used the opportunity to get off of his lap and sat next to Savanah. By the look of his face, he wasn’t best pleased. He titled his head at me and shot me a slight scowl. My response was to roll my eyes and shake my head. His eyebrows raise to his forehead as he leaned his head forward. In a ‘really?’ kinda way. We were pretty much having an entire conversation, with no words or mind linking. It was just an exchange of scowls and dirty looks. Thankfully Marik joined us and broke up our silent argument. He walked over to me and bent down to place a kiss on my cheek.

“Hey little wolf,” he greeted me after the kiss. 

When he stood back up, he looked at me, but I was still giving Traian the evil eye. By now it was more of a battle of the wills. He wanted to be the dominant force in this relationship, or whatever ‘this' was, and I wasn’t having any of it. Marik glanced over at his brother, then let out a little chuckle as he sat beside him. Traian huffed out of his nose at his brother, but he didn’t remove his glare from mine. Marik had clearly had enough of the tension, and when he slapped Traian on the back he said, 

“So, why is there a dragon in the cabin?” Traian and I both shot our glances to Marik, making him squirm around in his seat as we stared at him. He rubbed the back of his neck, while his eyes flitted between mine and Traian’s. “What? What did I say? Was it a secret or something?”

“How do you know he’s a dragon?” I asked him outright, not bothering to wait for Traian to speak up.

“I can smell him a mile off. They are extremely rare, but I have met one who turned into an actual dragon. It’s a very distinctive smell,” he replied, then after screwing his face up in disgust, he continued, “yeah, it’s like a burnt lizard shit, kinda smell. And don’t bother asking me how I know what that smells like, I’ve had a pretty wild life.”

“He means literally living out in the wild, not like partying wild,” Traian added with a smirk.

Marik just shrugged as if to say, ‘yeah and?’ I couldn’t be bothered to get into the sibling rivalry bullshit. I needed to know more about this dragon boy, and work out if he was a threat.

“Tell me everything you know about dragons,” my voice was a little snappier than I’d intended, but I didn’t care, I was worried.

Marik raised an eyebrow then nodded his head. 

“Okay, so here is what I know. They shift just like we do, but into much larger beasts. They shift into dragons.”

Savanah gasped before grabbing my head in both hands.

“I was trying to make sense of this for weeks.”

“Make sense of what?” I asked, but didn’t get a verbal reply.

I screamed out in agony as she thrust her visions into my mind. She didn’t mother to push gently against my thoughts, she just ripped her way through them like a wolf’s claws tearing through flesh. She showed me the vision that she drew back at the hunter’s mansion. There I was on top of a cliff like before, but this time, instead of Tristan, Mason, and Samael standing beside me, they we now behind me, and Traian and Marik were beside me.

Bellow us were masses upon masses of the supernatural community. They were all cheering and chanting my name. It felt amazing to see everyone together. Just when I thought the vision was going to finish a monstrous shriek filled my brain. I watched in awe as a giant ashen grey dragon flew above us on the cliff. He circled around, then landed next to me. The vision ended with the dragon lowering its head, and me petting it.

“Now it makes perfect sense. I didn’t believe they were real, so the vision threw me.” 

Savanah took her hands away from my face and sat back on the lounger.

“So, you mean to tell me, that I currently have an unstable boy upstairs in my room, who can shift into a gigantic dragon at any moment?” I asked Marik in a sarcastic tone.

“No, don’t panic. Very few of them can actually shift. They need enough flame power to awaken the ancient curse,” he replied casually.

“Wait, so Gideon's a dragon too, right?” He nodded in reply. “So, what the fuck was your mother playing at, bringing him here to help me?” I shot up to my feet in a rage. “She basically dangled pure power in front of him, and expected him not to take it? Or was she hoping he did, so I wouldn’t be more powerful than her? Did she make a deal with him?” I paced back and forth asking the questions out loud, but not actually asking anyone but myself. I was trying to figure it all out.

“Calm down little Rose,” Traian said calmly while standing and gently grabbing my arms.

“No! I need to speak to her. I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. She’s unstable and frankly, a liability. I can’t keep watching over my shoulder, wondering what she’s going to do next, or whether or not she’s on my side.”

“What are you saying, Freya?” Traian asked me with his brows furrowed.

“I want Selene gone. I don’t care where she goes, as long as it’s far away from me.”