Chapter Five

I stayed in the water and sighed at the warmth, moving from the seat in the rock and instead, floating in the pool, shivering at how exposed I was but at the same time I didn’t really care at the moment. I was just enjoying the water and the wind on my exposed skin. I floated with my eyes closed, my hair long and floating around me in a wild swirl. It had grown so much longer in the short time I’d been here. I was convinced it had something to do with the abundance of magic flowing in every inch of this place. It just made you feel...more alive. I was sure that when I finally did leave the island that I would feel a little bogged down with the invigorating magic suddenly gone. I wonder if that’s how Magnus felt whenever he left his home.

“Well, now that is a view I shall cherish for all eternity Darling.” His voice purred from nearby, making me gasp and sink into the water, ducking under the water before choking and coming back up, coughing and spitting out water as I looked up at him in surprise. His indigo eyes gleamed with the magic of his dragon and his naked body was on display making me blush and lower my gaze. He chuckled deeply as he looked around at the various pools and pointed to the amethyst as he set a picnic basket down by my clothes.

“Let's go in this one. Amethyst helps in awakening higher consciousness, so it might help you connect to the dragon inside you.” He motioned as he walked into the pool and submerged himself. He came up moments later and then turned to look at me with a smile.

I blushed and swam to the edge of my pool before pausing and climbing out, my entire body flushed with embarrassment and the feeling I got from him watching me. I walked across the ground towards the pool and slid into the water, looking at Magnus who’s indigo eyes were glowing with his power. Once submerged in the pool I feel a rush of the effect of the crystal, sighing at the sensation.

“Alright, I want you to float with your eyes closed just like you were in the black pool. Focus on the feel of your energy and the power inside you. I will stay turned around and guide you through meditation. This pool should help, if it doesn’t we try another one with a crystal that helps with focus and or transformation.” Magnus said as he turned around, swimming to the edge and resting his arms on the rock ledge.

“I’ll try my best.” I sighed and floated in the water and closed my eyes, focusing on the energy of the dragon inside me, feeling it more than I have before but still not being able to access it. I floated in the pool for an hour with Magnus giving out an instruction here and there but still to no avail. I sighed heavily and shook my head as I swam to the ledge and climbed out, pulling on my robe and sitting on a dry rock with a huff.

“Not working I take it darling?” Magnus asked as he climbed out and pulled a pair of cotton pants out of the picnic basket and pulled them on before sitting beside me and pulling the basket close to us. 

“Not in the least. I can feel the power, I can feel the difference between it and my wolf but I can’t make it come forward.” I groaned aloud in frustration and shook my head with a heavy sigh. “I just feel so...off-kilter. I thought I knew what to expect out of my life but now everything is so...turned around and upside down and inside out. Nothing makes sense anymore.”

“I’m sorry Darling. I know it can’t be easy. All I can say is I know the frustration you’re going through. I felt it at one point in my youth.” He soothed as he rubbed my back before opening the basket and handing me a warm toasted sandwich. I opened the wrapping and took a bite before looking at him with a frown.

“What do you mean you know my frustration?”

“I have a wolf form as well. When I was young it was hard for me to access it at first. It’s the complete opposite to my sunset dragon in every way.” He said with a shrug, a small teasing smile on his face as he watched me closely. I looked at him with a frown wondering what he meant. What did the colour of his dragon have to do with anything? The moment I got it it was like a proverbial lightbulb light up above my head. I looked at him in to see him trying not to smile as I stared at him in shock. Mother trucker. It was so obvious now that he mentioned it. God did I feel like an imbecile.

“Magnus you ass! All this time! And you didn’t think to tell me? What the hell.” I growled in annoyance and anger and hit his arm before standing up and pacing back and forth in front of him. “Why...why did you help me? Why did the forest hurt me? How in the world were you able to heal me like that?”

“Whoa whoa slow down Darling. I can hardly answer any of your questions if you just keep throwing more at me.” Magnus said as he stood and took my hands, pulling me to sit back down beside him and giving me my sandwich so I could eat and listen.

“First, it wasn’t done maliciously. I wanted to see how you would react first about the wolf that doesn’t exactly fit with any other wolves. I helped you because I am fond of you Darling. I would think that is very obvious by now. It was an immediate attraction on my part, though our meeting was not exactly conventional I still felt drawn to you. The forest hurt you because meeting Silas muted you briefly so that the dragon in you was less recognizable. It was a defence system so to speak. And I was able to heal you because of the attraction we share. You may have been mostly unaware of it, but the dragon in you was not. She felt the attraction and as such, I was able to heal you. It’s something we are able to do with our mates if our mates are also like us. We are wolf and dragon and as such, we called to each other on an entirely different level.”

I stared at him dumbfounded and rapidly blinked as I tried to make sense of everything that he was saying, my skin tingling each time he admitted to the attraction between us and my entire body flushing when he brought up mates. I took a bite of my sandwich and chewed slowly, buying myself more time to think. He could heal me because the dragon in me already accepted him. Did she accept the others too? Because I was definitely starting to. It was just so...it’s not how I was raised. Wolves mate for life so the concept of having more than one mate was strange to me. I would never judge anyone for living their life that way, but I just honestly never thought that it would be something I would do. But the thought of not having Magnus, Blaze, Cadmus and Brodryn hurt my heart. Though I knew it was also very conflicted when it came to Silas and Kane. I sighed and looked back at Magnus now that my sandwich was done. His indigo eyes were warm and patient with me as he finished his own sandwich.

“Ok, that’s a lot to take in. Until I know what to do about Silas and Kane I'm not sure I want to make my mind up about any other potential partners. Is that ok Magnus?” I asked him softly, chewing on my bottom lip. He smiled fondly and lifted his fingers, pulling my lip from my teeth and running his thumb along my bottom lip.

“Of course, that is ok Darling. We have all promised you that we will never push you for more than you are willing to give and if you decide you are not willing to give anything we will respect that and adjust accordingly. Now, would you like to try a different pool? Perhaps the one with Moldavite in it. It’s a crystal that aids in intense and rapid spiritual transformation, evolution and healing. Seems like a gem we are in need of.”

I nodded and slipped off my robe, climbing into the pool he gestured and was surprised it wasn’t very deep, sitting on the bottom it was only up to my neck. Thank god the rocks weren’t jagged and the moment I was submerged I could feel it thrumming over my skin in a wash of power. Magnus sat on the edge of the pool, cross-legged so none of him was in the water and walked me through meditation. It was frustrating but not nearly as hard as in the other pools.

A couple of hours later we called it quits and all I had accomplished was changing my eyes from human to a slitted reptilian iris that glowed with the presence of my dragon. It was definitely a major improvement. I climbed out of the pool and pulled on my dress and robe, putting my gems into my pockets and walking over to the basket, stealing another sandwich to soothe the ravenous growling from my stomach. Working in the crystal pools was a little more draining than anticipated.

“Were done for the day. I’ll take you back to your room and you’ll be able to rest for a few hours before dinner tonight. Your aunt and Aiden will be joining all of us as well as my father. He wants to meet you.” Magnus explained as he took off my robe and placed it in the basket, gems falling out as he did so and then holding the empty basket out to me. “Now you won't accidentally lose gems. Let's go, darling.”

He shifted and turned into a dragon, using his tail to help me climb up his back, clutching the basket to my chest. He flew in silence back to my room quickly, the air cool and giving me a bit of a chill. When he landed I climbed off, taking the basket with me before facing him and placing a brief kiss on his snout before moving back as he flew off and disappeared around the mountain. 

I took the gems out of the basket and placed them all on my dresser before moving to the bathroom, dropping my clothes in the hamper and taking a nice hot shower to warm me up. I stepped out, dried off and then slipped on a soft green slip before climbing into bed and snuggling into the blankets, asleep the moment I stopped moving.