After everyone introduced themselves, Daniel cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention, “Amaya only briefly explained what happened here today. I would like a full explanation, as would most of you I’m sure. So please, Audrina, whenever you’re ready.”
She let out a shaky breath but nodded her head. She recounted the story she told me without interruptions. When she finished, Daniel looked over at me pointedly, “What was Niklas’ full name?” I asked.
“Niklas Solberg. Why?”
“Fuck,” Daniel cursed under his breath. Pulling out his phone he entered a number and walked out of the room.
“What?” Audrina insisted.
“Niklas was second in line for the throne of the Eastern Water Dragon Clan. He was one of my dad’s best friends growing up because our lands border one another.” I told her, “He’s probably calling Niklas’ brother.”
“How could you keep something like this from us, Mom?” Viola asked.
“Would you have believed me? Where was my proof? I didn’t know how to tell you. I never thought I would have to, especially after neither of you got a dragon,” Audrina said, trying to defend herself.
Viola and Fox looked at me, “Is it possible we have a dragon, but it’s dormant?” Fox asked.
“It is. You need to be around your own kind, water dragons, though to know for sure,” I responded.
“And what’s your role in all this again? Phillip said ‘queen or not’ when he injected you with whatever that was. What did he mean by that?” Viola questioned.
“He injected me with snapdragon oil, the same thing he used to help him kill Niklas. It has a lot of uses against us, and in high doses it can kill us. I’m Princess of the Storm Dragons and Queen of the Dragons, a title given to me by our goddess. I’m abdicating my title as princess soon though, to Jace and his mate Finley. This way I can give all of my attention to being queen and Jace can give his attention to our people.”
“So does that make Fox a king then?” Sutton asked.
“No. We follow the titles of the monarchy in England, he is the Prince Consort.”
“If you’re a storm dragon how can you do everything you did today?” Audrina asked.
“When I was captured by hunters a couple of years ago, the goddess came to me and told me the heavens decided I was worthy and in need of the abilities held by all races of dragons. The queen doesn’t always have the abilities I have; my mom didn’t.”
“So one of your kids will be the queen or king of dragons when you pass?” Fletcher asked.
“No. It just so happened that my mom was the queen before me. It’s always a girl or woman who receives the title, never a man.”
“Why?” Sutton asked.
“I can’t disclose that,” I responded as Daniel walked back into the room. “You okay?” I mind linked him.
He just nodded, “Matthias would like to meet you all, Fletcher and Sutton included. He said he wants to meet his brother’s mate and the man that took in his niece and nephew.”
“When?” Audrina and Fletcher asked together.
“Tomorrow. We’ll fly out early in the morning.”
“What about our jobs? We can’t just up and leave. I have a job and a kid,” Viola all but exploded at Daniel.
“You work for the FBI right? I’ll call my contacts and get you all the time off you’ll need, you too Sutton. As for your son, surely you can get him out of school for a couple of days. It’s Friday now, so he’ll just need Monday and Tuesday off at the most. It’s just kindergarten.”
She glared at him but didn’t have a chance to say anything else as he walked out of the room again, calling his contacts. “Your dad is an asshole,” she growled at me.
“Yeah well he just found out his best friend since birth died a pretty horrible death, so I’d cut him some slack,” I shot back.
“What do you mean ‘died a pretty horrible death,’ if his throat was slit?” She shot back though I could hear the unease in her voice.
“The oil doesn’t just knock us out or disconnect us from our dragon, it causes us to feel like we’ve got fire running through our veins. It burns with the most pain I’ve ever felt. So what I mean by that is he may have passed out but he was definitely in pain.”
“Have all of you had a run in with hunters?”
“No, but we all know someone who has. We found Jace’s mate in one of their sheds, she still can’t speak. We don’t know if she’ll ever regain her voice. Alanza’s little sister was in the same one. I was held for a week until I was able to escape. We upset their operations as often as we can. I think that’s what Phillip meant when he said Audrina needed to come back. They’re losing too many people to us.”
Daniel came back in, “Okay. You’re both on paid vacation until next Friday. I would also like for all of you to come stay at the complex until we’ve fully assessed the threat.”
“How long will that be? And where is this complex?” Viola demanded.
Daniel sighed, “I won’t know until we’ve looked into everything. Hopefully just until the end of next week. The complex isn’t far from here. It’s off 168, near Northwest River Park. It gives us the privacy we need, while also being close enough to Chesapeake.”
“It’s been a long day, let’s get everything packed up and head to the complex. We’ll leave first thing in the morning. We’ll take one of the planes so we don’t have to deal with the eight hour drive.” I told them, “Jace, Alanza, Josie, and Lavi go back to the complex and start unloading everyone. We’ll be right behind you.” They nodded and started to leave before they could, I mind linked Jace, “be careful and don’t give Phillip too much sedative if you don’t have to, I want to question him when we get back. I think Daniel is planning on giving him to Matthias.”
“You got it cus. Stay safe,” Jace linked back.
We took time packing Audrina and Fletcher up and a few things for Jack since he stayed with them a lot. Sutton and Viola already had go-bags prepared in their cars, so as soon as we got Fletcher, Audrina, and Jack packed we hit the road.
“Do we get to see you as a dragon?” Sutton asked.
I shrugged, “Probably, at some point.”
“I bet you look cool as hell,” he said.
“She does. She’s stunning,” Fox said, kissing my hand. Niamh purred loudly at the compliment.
Author: Kailan Counahan 