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Chapter 20: Avani
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
CooperThis is quite a large facility, and they still haven't found the control room or Kayid yet.
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The Dark Protector Chapter 21: Merethyl
So many of my people are here. “Help me get them out!” I say and we start to go into the rooms, releasing my fellow elves. Several of them are in bad shape. I push my healing into them, which is easier than doing it for other shifters. I can feel that something is off, but I don’t have time to figure out what it is. “Princess, what are you doing here?” Someone asks me. “I came looking for Yhendorn, I didn’t know they had captured so many of you. I was worried you were dead.” I say. “Some of us would have preferred dying to what we’ve experienced here.” Another says. He’s one that feels ‘off’ to me. “Have you seen Yhendorn?” I ask. “No, Princess. We have not seen our King.” One says and I hear someone suck in air behind me. I turn and see the Komodo dragon shifter. “You’re an elven princess?” He asks, his eyes wide. Avani has just come out of a room, carrying an elf. He hears the Komodo dragon and snarls at him, putting the elf down and cornering him against the wall. “Keep yo
The Dark Protector Chapter 22: Avani
I had a moment of pure terror when I saw that fire about to engulf Merethyl. I scooped her up and raced outside, thankful that the blast hit me and not her. Even for me, that was painful. I’m pretty sure my back is scratched, and my wings are probably torn. It hurt pulling them in, but it would have hurt worse landing on them. Now, as she straddles me, watching the blazing inferno behind us, I feel like I need to do damage control. So, I revert to what always works for me. Arrogance. When I make a joke about her wanting to be on top, she responds as I expect. She practically leaps off of me. If we were alone, I might have considered taking a more flirtatious approach, but we’re not and there are still many injured out here in the forest where they are easy targets for hunters. We get up and I move to find Kayid. He had been unconscious when Merethyl had found him. Since I had smelled his blood on the hunters, I’m not surprised. As a shifter, he may have advanced healing, but it’s no
The Dark Protector Chapter 23: Merethyl
The nerve of Naremyn, thinking that a dragon is meant to be tamed. I’ve heard of it being done in the past, and I also heard that dragons became nothing more than slaves to their riders. Elves, in particular, could not handle the power that came with claiming a dragon and they abused that power. I won’t allow that with Avani. I don’t know what is going on between us, and his arrogance irritates me like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, but I won’t allow one of my brethren to try and take away who he is, especially not Naremyn. He and his family have been after my family’s position as leaders of our elven troupe for longer than I’ve been alive. I know that the only reason he wants Avani is to gain the power he thinks would put him in a position to overthrow Yhendorn. I won’t stand by and allow that to happen. I’m surprised when Avani lets me pull him away without a fight. I take him into the forest where no one is around and turn to him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were injured?”
The Dark Protector Chapter 24: Avani
I realize my subtle attempts to see if Merethyl likes me, aren’t subtle at all. When she tells me she likes older men a lot, it actually has the opposite effect than what I was hoping. I had asked the question, hoping she’d say yes, meaning she liked me. But her response and the way she said it made me realize that my mate may have quite a bit of experience with older men. It immediately makes me jealous. No one touches what is mine. I watch as she strides away, full of grace and confidence. I need to get my jealousy under control. The potential that one of the elves in her troupe that are standing on the other side of this tree line from me may have touched my mate has me on the verge of shifting and roaring my claim over her. Not that it would matter. Elves can’t be claimed like that any more than a dragon can. I take a deep breath and walk out of the forest. Merethyl is already organizing her people to go back to their lands. I take the opportunity to go speak to the shifters. “Y
The Dark Protector Chapter 25: Merethyl
I love flying on Avani’s back. It’s like I was meant to be here. I can feel the wind blowing over my skin, taste the water particles in the air, feel the coolness of the clouds as we pass through them. I lean back, letting my fingers caress Avani’s back again. I’m so amazed at how his body is a dichotomy of hard versus soft. The scales are hard as stone. You can feel that they can’t be penetrated, and they lay over top of each other, giving him protection, like he’s wearing armor. But if you actually run your hands over the scales, you can feel the warmth, the muscle underneath. It’s very similar to Avani’s personality. Cold and hard on the outside, soft and warm on the inside, although I would never tell him that. He’d just deny it anyway. I feel Avani’s rumble under me and I sit up, looking around. We’re over the forest and I’m not sure, but I think he wants me to help him look for anyone that shouldn’t be here. He makes a couple of circles around the forest area before finding a
The Dark Protector Chapter 26: Avani
I took the opportunity while I was getting the dead elves out to the pyres made by Merethyl, to see if the bullets in their bodies matched the ones I saw in the hunters’ laboratory we just found. They don’t, which means, that while those hunters knew about this place and what happened here, they weren’t the ones to capture Mere’s brother and her brethren. Merethyl’s grief is palpable, and I knew that when it came time to say goodbye to her parents, she would struggle. One good thing about dragons is that we have good memories. Because her song was something that sounded like it came from the earth, I was able to pick it up easily, so on our final night of laying her dead to rest, when Mere couldn’t sing the words, I did it for her. Each night, after we’d send off the next group of dead, I’d curl up around her in the forest and we’d fall asleep. Tonight, as we lay here, I can tell that she won’t be able to sleep. I can almost hear the wheels turning in her head, keeping her awake. I
The Dark Protector Chapter 27: Merethyl
As he lifts us into the sky, I sigh. “So, you don’t like Naremyn either, huh?” I say to Avani. “Or at least, you don’t trust him? Probably good instincts.” I say and lay down on Avani’s back. I really love riding on him. The air up here is so clean and clear, the sky seems so much closer. Of course, Avani doesn’t answer me. Even if he did, I don’t speak dragon. It’s an ancient language, older even than the elves. So I lay there, thinking of our next steps. Avani said he had other places where we could search, coordinates he got from Ishir. I wonder how the tiger knows about these places. And I wonder if we’re going to one right now. I didn’t ask Avani where we were going, but he keeps insisting that he’s with me, so I trust that. I need to find Yhendorn. I need to find him before Naremyn tries to take over our troupe. I have no doubt that he’ll try to do that while I’m out looking for Yhendorn. And if it takes too long, Yhendorn will have to fight for his position once more. As t
The Dark Protector Chapter 28: Avani
I about lose my shit when I show up on top of the mountain. Merethyl is gone and these hunters arrive telling me to give myself up. When I see her climb up the mountainside in my peripheral vision, I feel like I can breathe again. The moment the leader tells them to get me, Merethyl and I are in motion. I realize we’ve fought together before, but it’s like we’ve been fighting together for years. I go for the leader, and she goes for the minions. I see Mere take the first one by surprise. She throws him off the mountain. By then, I’ve jumped on the leader. He has weapons and if he is here, knowing what I am, then it is likely that they will be able to hurt me. I grab hold of his gun with one hand, swinging him around so he’s facing away from me before grabbing him by the throat. I look to make sure the Mere is okay before extending my claws and ripping the leaders throat out. I take the gun out of his hand as he falls to the ground, and I aim it at the guy that just turned from Mere
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The Dark Protector Epilogue 2: Avani
After Enki was born, Merethyl and I spent one more week together, letting Merethyl readjust to the loss of dragon DNA in her system. I had noticed it after Gaia’s birth, but I’m noticing it even more now, her body is absorbing dragon DNA every time she gets pregnant. She still had some dragon tendencies after Gaia, and now, after delivering Enki, she has even more. Her ability to cdonnect to me mentally, sift through my memories and thoughts, is nearly as strong as mine. It doesn’t bother me that she has the abilities that she has, it’s more that I’m worried about the long term effect of her body taking on the dragon DNA. Once things are settled with this assassin, I'll be taking her to visit the doctor. When we get back to the elf lands, I know I can’t stay long. I’ve been out of the hunt for two months and Ancalagon is still missing. But, when we arrive and my little girl, now nearly 8 months old, comes toddling out of the castle, her arms raised to me, I refuse to leave without sp
The Dark Protector Epilogue 1: Merethyl
Four months later We still haven’t found Ancalagon. I’ve searched with Avani periodically, but between our daughter needing her mother and my belly starting to grow with our son, I’ve stayed home more than I’ve gone out with him. A few months ago, Ishir started finding shifters that had been murdered. At first, it was a rare occurrence, one in the first month. We assumed that it was some sort of lucky hunter kill. Then there were three more in the month after that, then more. Lately, it feels like Avani and Ishir are finding a dead shifter or supernatural every few days. Not only that, but the ones they are finding now are apex predators or leaders of their supernatural groups. Avani had told me that they had found a high priestess of a coven along with a very powerful warlock. Avani has refused to allow me to leave the pack lands in the last month and has asked Kenna and Bajaro to guard us. Kenna is happy to stay here. She wants to protect her mate, even though Yhendorn doesn’t lik
The Dark Protector Chapter 75: Avani
Being loved and cared for by my mate goes a long way to making me feel better. I’m still distraught, still angry that I can’t find my son, but at least now I feel like I have the strength to start again. I fly Merethyl to Cedric’s pack lands. I already knew that Zephyr wouldn’t be here. She hasn’t stopped and unlike me, she doesn’t have a rider to care for her. I know Mere thinks that Ishir is her mate, but without being claimed, the draw to her son, the need to protect him, will be stronger than the draw to her mate. When we arrive, I pull Mere into my lap. She is all that is keeping me sane, having to be here, listening to this when I should be out searching for my son. I know this meeting is important, but I’m struggling with this feeling of helplessness and weakness. ‘You’re not weak,’ Mere says in my mind. ‘Or helpless, and they may be able to help us. It’s good that we’re here.’ Kaylani begins telling us that the most recent dragons that they have found are hybrids, all of th
The Dark Protector Chapter 74: Merethyl
Zephyr told us that she had left Ancalagon with the mountain goat shifters, while she went into town. She was oddly vague about where she was or why she was gone, but it doesn’t matter. Ancalagon should have been safe. He’s nearly a year old now. When she had returned, Zephyr said she could smell death and the paralytic. The hunters had killed all the goats and paralyzed Ancalagon so they could take him. Zephyr had been frantically searching for a day, when she finally gave her dragon’s call, knowing she needed help. We began searching immediately, Avani tearing apart every hunter’s lair and laboratory that we could find. He had contacted Ishir to get more intel, but he wasn’t able to tell us much. He gave us a few more laboratories, but most of them had been destroyed when Kaylani, Cedric and Ishir had hunted them down, rescuing the dragons. I had to split my time, hunting for Ancalagon and taking care of my newborn. I love my time with Gaia, but I worry about my mate every moment
The Dark Protector Chapter 73: Avani
I walk Merethyl to the stage that is set up for the event. As his only living relative, she will be leading the coronation ceremony for Yhendorn. She looks gorgeous as always, but dressed as she is right now, the royal blood in her is much more obvious. She was meant to be a queen. I’m just the lucky dragon that gets to claim her as MY queen. She stands beside Yhendorn, who also looks regal in his dress robes. Merethyl begins speaking in elvish. I don’t understand the words, but I understand the intent as I sift through her mind and feel the words she’s speaking. A peace settles over the people, an acceptance of their new King. I look out over the elves, watching as they begin to sing and chant in Elvish. I look behind us at where Kenna is laying, being here for her mate in her dragon form. The air around us begins to feel magical and I look over at Bajaro. She’s holding Gaia and I swear, my daughter looks like she’s paying attention. Maybe she is, both Mere and I have the earth as
The Dark Protector Chapter 72: Merethyl
After Avani dropped me and Gaia off on the mountain and went to get me some clothes, it wasn’t long before I hear an eagle’s call. I look up to see Shiv and it’s only a moment later when I hear Bajaro in her hyena form and Kayid in his fox form yipping as they run up the side of the mountain. As soon as she gets to the top, Bajaro shifts and walks toward me. “Please tell me you’re going to let me hold that little one.” I walk to her, putting Gaia into her arms. She immediately starts to purr, gently rubbing her face over Gaia’s. “Bajaro, meet Gaia,” I say, stroking my daughter’s hair. “She’s beautiful. She smells like you and the earth dragon,” Bajaro says quietly. I can tell that Avani was right. She will want to be a surrogate mother to Gaia and will protect our daughter with her life. “Speaking of the earth dragon, where is he?” Kayid asks. “He went to get me some clothes.” I say, watching as Bajaro begins humming a strange tune that I’ve never heard. It’s a gentle but hauntin
The Dark Protector Chapter 71: Avani
We stay in our cave for another week after Gaia is born. We carefully take her out every day, making sure she has fresh air. Merethyl lays her in the grass and then will use her element to grow flowers around her. My mate is back to normal now. As much as I loved having her desire for me run as deeply as mine does for her, there’s a reason she’s my mate. I need the balance that she gives me. So, I'm glad she's back to normal again. “We need to head back to the elf lands, love,” I tell her. “I know. I’m just enjoying this time, with only the three of us. But Yhendorn has waited long enough to take over as king and it’s time to introduce our daughter to my family and to your son.” “I wanted to discuss something with you before we return,” I tell her. “What’s that?” “You know that the Chief’s son is still out there. I need to help hunt him now that you’re back to your normal self. I don’t know how you feel about me leaving…” “No! I won’t let you go alone. What if something happened
The Dark Protector Chapter 70: Merethyl
I love being in our cave of treasures. I can feel the metals singing to me, calling to me. I feel their differences, their density and weight making their song different. The gemstones also have their own feel to them. I’ve found a couple that I like, that seem to speak to me louder than the others. But mostly, I love having my mate here with me. I can’t get enough of him. There will never be enough of him. He is everything, the world is nothing without him, my mind, my body, my soul are incomplete, empty without his touch, his caress, his presence in my mind. I’m just starting to wake when I feel the first pain. I look down, my stomach large and swollen. As I watch, I see the muscles in my stomach contract, sending another shooting pain up my side. I look around. Avani isn’t here. Our child, I need to protect our child. I rub my stomach, cooing at our daughter. I can feel her mental presence in my body. She is agitated and irritable. She wants out. “Not yet, baby girl,” I coo at h
The Dark Protector Chapter 69: Merethyl
The scent of evergreen and cinnamon fills my nose. I’m so drawn to the scent that I try to burrow myself deeper into the warmth where the scent is emanating. I hear voices, men’s voices, speaking around me. There’s a deep rumbling sound and it reverberates in my body, making me hum. Then I hear a female voice. My eyes flash open and I snarl. “MINE!” I snap at the beautiful woman that is standing too close to my mate. That’s who I smell, who I feel inside me, in my mind, in my soul. My mate. I feel him begin to purr behind me and my body calms, relaxing back against him. His hand touches my face, moving the hair away from me. I lean back against him, rubbing myself against him. “Merethyl, do you know where you are?” “With you, my mate, my love, my life.” “Yes, you are with me. Do you know where WE are?” I open my eyes again and the beautiful woman is still here. I growl at her. “I don’t want your mate, Merethyl. I’m here to help you. Do you know who I am?” “The water dragon.”
