I turned around to see Fox and Jax standing just on the edge of the clearing in which I just shifted. I took a step toward Fox who took a step away from me. “No stay away from me, from us.”
“Fox. Are you serious? I’m still me. I would never hurt you,” I took another step forward with my hands up and he took another step back, “Look I’m just trying to grab my clothes.” He finally looked down at my naked body, realizing for the first time I was completely naked. He swallowed hard, barely able to take his eyes off my body, “Fox. My clothes.”
His eyes snapped to mine. He slowly moved with Jax around me, keeping a wide berth which caused Jax to roll his eyes, but Fox didn’t see because he was so intently focused on me. I quickly dressed and without sparing them another glance, walked back to the house. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the house?” I said in a snarky question.
“You can’t go back there. Jax tell her she can’t go back there,” I turned toward them slowly.
“Fox, this is Amaya you’re talking to. Why would I kick her out of the house?” Jax asked calmly.
Fox turned his attention quickly to Jax, “You knew. How long have you known? Are you whatever she is too?”
“An overgrown lizard? No,” I threw my arms up in the air before sitting against a tree, “Might as well, right?”
“Yeah sure. Dragon’s already out of the bag. Oh I’m sorry, ‘overgrown lizard’, you fucker,” I said with an eye roll.
“Dragon? Are you serious?” Fox put distance between himself and Jax, looking between Jax and me.
“Jax speed it up, would you? I’m starving.”
“Right. So you just saw Amaya in her dragon form. I’ve known about her since basic, because I smelled it when she walked up to me. I’m also a shifter, but my animal is a wolf. The town we were just in was founded by my family generations ago for our pack. Everyone here is a wolf, except Amaya and the guy you met today.”
“What was he?”
Jax looked at me, and I sighed, “He’s a dragon too. He’s over the clans in this area. When I first got here I was flying and I was attacked by one of the leaders under him, which is how I was injured and why he was here.”
“Has anything been true?”
I got up from where I was sitting, “Everything except a few details. Everything, Fox,” I stepped closer, but he still stepped away, “I’m not a danger to you. I could never hurt you. I’m still the same person.” I walked away without waiting for him to say anything else. Niamh cried out in my head.
When I walked into the house Ava hit me with a hug instantly, “You’re so cool. Dad said that the rogue you punched is still knocked out.”
She finally released me and Noah enveloped me, “Thanks, Amaya.”
I gave him a squeeze before letting him go, “Any time guys, but I’m sure your parents would prefer it if you didn’t make it a regular thing. Is your mom around?”
“She’s in the library. I’ll take you,” Ava said, grabbing my hand.
Once we got to the library Ava left me at the door with another hug, “I hear my second son messed up big time.”
I settled in across from Jo as she put down her book, “What were they doing out there in the first place?”
“He has the best intentions, but rarely executes them well.” She sighed, “I’m not sure what they were doing out there, but I do know he’s trying his hardest to fix what he’s done.”
“How would you deal with this? Having a mate that’s human, that just found out about you and your world because your idiot best friend decided to go for a walk in the woods?” I looked at her, tears threatening to spill over, “He wouldn’t even let me near him.”
“It’s okay, sweetie. He’ll come around,” she stood and hugged me to her, rubbing my back soothingly as I cried into her stomach, “It’s so much information thrown at him all at once. Plus you’re such a huge dragon which is enough to scare anyone who isn’t a super. Just give him time.” She held me until I was cried out, “Jax just linked me saying he needs you back at the clearing. He says it’s urgent and he’s also asked for several other top warriors, so I don’t think he’s trying to help you. I think it might have something more to do with the rogues we had today.”
I was out the door and to the clearing as fast as I could get there, but I hung back to observe once there. Jax had placed himself between the rogues and Fox as best as he could, but there were more than last time and they were starting to flank them. “The Prince is consorting with humans now? Yet us rogues are considered beneath humans somehow.”
“Not beneath, just measured on a different scale,” Jax answered diplomatically.
“Where’s the storm dragon from earlier that killed all of our friends?” The speaker looked at Fox, “She’s the one you should concern yourself with, not us.”
“She didn’t kill anyone, simply knocked everyone out. Well everyone except the two that fled, and you’re the only ones that should be concerned. Especially considering you kept the-what was it? Princess of Storm Dragons from getting a snack.”
I came out of my hiding spot with an exasperated sigh, “How many times have I told you Jax? It’s Queen of Dragons. Honestly you lose so much punch when you demote me down to princess.”
He looked back at me, “But you are a princess too.”
“Yes but if you were both king and a prince, which title would you have on your letterhead? King. Don’t try to lie because we both know it’s true,” I said leaning my elbow on Fox’s shoulder.
“That may be true, but what isn’t mentioned in the Queen of Dragons title, is the fact that you are in fact that storm dragon, with the legacy that even wolves know about.”
“Jax, I’m the-”
“Enough!” The speaker for the rogues cut me off with a shout.
“We weren’t done!” Jax and I both shouted back.
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” I gave the speaker a pointed glare, “I’m the spitting image of my mother, who mated into the Wardwell family, who carry that legacy. Anyone with half a brain-oh no, yeah I get it. Never mind.” I put my hand up, “sorry for holding everything up. I forgot I was dealing with rogues. People without even half a brain.”
“I told you it was necessary.”
“This is the first time in your life you get to say I told you so, isn’t it?”
“It is. Thanks for coming, everyone. Happy you could all make it,” Jax put up a hand, “It’s been a long time coming, but, uh, today something truly amazing hap-”
“SHUT UP!” The speaker screamed, barely holding on to any control over his wolf.
“Were you tearing up a little? Was that emotional for you?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going to be emotional. When I kill you and send your head to your father in a box,” the speaker barely managed.
“I’m terrified. Really. But the only emotion you’ll get from him if you do that is completely uncontrolled rage. So if you want to die a horrible death, by all means please kill me if you think you can,” I replied, inspecting my nails.
He growled loudly, “Maybe you want to stop antagonizing this guy, and do whatever it is you’re planning on doing. He seems dangerous,” Fox said quietly in my ear.
“Nah he’s nothing but a big softy,” I said out loud before quietly adding, “I do this all the time for a living. Give me some credit.”
The speaker watched our little exchange and slowly started to put the pieces together. His eyes returned to normal, “It looks like the Queen has found her mate. You plucked chickens do have those, don’t you?”
Niamh growled inside my head, “Why aren’t we just killing him?”
“Not our jurisdiction. It’s a capture so Jax’s people can question him,” I explained. She growled and paced inside my mind.
A storm began stirring above us, “Look at that boys and girls. There’s that notorious storm dragon temper. Looks like someone is ashamed of their mate.”
The rogues began to laugh, and a slight smell of death moved into the air. My brow furrowed, “No. Not ashamed. Unsure of how to tell him considering this isn’t his world, but never ashamed. Lucky would better describe it, because unlike all of you, I can meet my mate and I have a better chance of him accepting me. You all will almost certainly be met with rejection because hardly anyone chooses to go rogue.” The look in the speaker’s eye told me I had hit a sore subject, “So what is this like some mate run to see if any of you have mates here, and if so if they’ll actually come with you? Live life without the benefit of a pack.”
“Why not? What’s so great about living in a pack? You don’t have a clan,” I couldn’t conceal the pain that crossed my face, “We’ve all heard about what happened to your clan. Tell me what good is having a pack or clan if you’re still not protected? Your clan still died that night. You know Joseph is bu-” A lightning bolt came down from the sky and struck him. He was dead before he could finish the word.
All eyes turned to me, “That wasn’t me. I have enough control that I wouldn’t kill him.” Just as I said that two more came down, one aimed at me and the other at Jax. I quickly bent the one meant for Jax away from him, but took the full blast of the one coming for me.
I screamed as it hit me, falling to my hands and knees, I didn’t fight it to stay in my body. I willed it to flow out of me as quickly as it entered. As it left my body I breathed deeply and noticed two new smells in the air, death and just the slightest hint of mint. “This is who I think it is, isn’t it?” I asked Niamh.
“Yes. We need to shift,” Niamh said.
“Are you okay?” Fox asked me, “Amaya, can you hear me?”
I rolled so that I was on my back, “Fuck that sucked. Someone, anyone, remind me never to do that again.” I groaned, “Jax you can take the hit next time.”
“Me?! A hit like that will kill me!”
I groaned again, “I need to shift. Where are the rogues? Are they still around?”
“Yep we’re still surrounded.”
“Cool,” I bent lightning down and hit all of them with a stunning strike, “Did I get them all?”
“Yep. Where do you want us?”
“Completely out of the way. You can leave the rogues, but I want you guys out of the way.” I thought for a moment, “Can one of you go get me a change of clothes please? I don’t feel like getting up.”
“We’re on it,” Jax said as he grabbed Fox and ran out of the clearing. “We’re clear. You’re good to shift.”
I rolled so that I was on my hands and knees and triggered my shift. It was one of the more painful shifts I had been through since I started shifting. “How are we looking Niamh?”
“Better. We need to rest, but we’re doing much better.”
“What do you think, take a flight to find the culprit or stay on the ground to protect Fox?”
“We can protect him from the sky. You already know who did this though. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself,” Niamh said.
I pulled the clouds down from the storm above me and flew into the sky. I looked around for Joseph, but only smelt traces of what seemed to be his new scent. “I think he’s gone, Niamh. Am I okay to shift back?”
“Yes. We need to rest though when we shift back.”
I flew back down, shifted, and looked around me. Jax’s pack had already picked up the rogues and I spotted Fox waiting on the edge of the clearing with some clothes for me. “Did, um, did that help?”
I walked over to him and he tensed. A sharp pain went through my heart, but I grabbed my clothes, “It did. Thanks for bringing these.”
We walked back to the house in silence. Once we got inside, Jax was the first one to wrap me in a hug, “You good, Little Duck?”
“Yeah. I just need to rest.” He gave me a hard squeeze before turning me over to Jo, and I was passed around for hugs from all of the Jacksons.
“It’s a good thing storm dragons can survive a lightning strike,” Ava said.
“We can’t. I need to call Daniel, if you’ll excuse me,” When I walked in my room, I grabbed my phone off the dresser and hit Daniel’s number.
“Yeah?”
“I’m pretty sure I had a run in with Joseph,” I recapped what happened for him, “I feel okay, just really tired. Niamh said we needed to rest after shifting, but I wanted to call you first.”
Daniel was quiet for a really long time, “I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t know how, but I’m glad you are. And you’re sure it was him?”
“Niamh is. I didn’t see him, but I caught the scent of death.”
“Fuck. Niamh has to be right. I remember the distinct scent of death that night, but not actual death, that was there too. This was different,” he sighed. I knew how hard talking about this was, “Do you still have the scent on you?”
I breathed in deeply, “Yeah.”
“I’ll be there in a few hours,” he said, disconnecting.
I laid down in bed and passed out almost instantly. Several hours later I woke up with my stomach growling, demanding to be fed. I went downstairs and was greeted with the scent of steak, potatoes, veggies, and some sort of chocolate dessert. “There she is.”
“Hey,” I said sleepily. “I’m glad you made it in, Daniel.”
“How are you feeling kiddo?” Daniel asked as he wrapped me in a hug and our dragons reached out for each other.
“Better but still tired,” I responded into his chest.
Eventually we pulled apart, “So do you think this whole near death thing is going to be a regular thing or are you going to stop scaring me to death?”
I sighed, “I couldn’t have saved us both.”
“I know. We’ll work on that, just in case it happens again.” He put both hands on either side of my face, and just looked at me before bringing my forehead to his lips, “We need to get back to the complex. Charlie and Jo have agreed to let us take several of the rogues you were with when Joseph hit you.”
“I might need until tomorrow to recover.”
“That’s fine. I’ll take the rogues now, and you can follow tomorrow.”
We settled in at the table. Fox was noticeably giving Daniel a strange look, but he ignored it. “How did she survive if storm dragons can’t take strikes from lightning?” Jax asked.
“I’m not sure. It might be because of how Niamh was born, her status as Queen of Dragons, or the goddess protecting the last of the storm dragons from the man who seems determined to kill them all,” Daniel responded with a shrug.
“What would her status as queen have to do with it?” Luca asked.
Daniel looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I shrugged, “It’s not so much a status as it is an appointment by the goddess herself. It just so happens Amaya’s mother was also queen, but the woman before Ingrid wasn’t in her family line, not even close.”
“Niamh is also fire resistant so it could be a gift from the goddess to protect me in case what happened with James happens with a lightning bender,” I offered.
“Wait, so not all dragons are fire resistant?” Jax asked.
Daniel and I looked at each other, “It’s your choice, Amaya. As queen you can disclose as much as you want,” he mind linked me.
I nodded to Daniel before looking at Jax, “We are to an extent just like all dragons are ice resistant to an extent. However, a direct hit from a fire dragon will burn any other type of dragon, unless they have fire dragon in them. It has to do with the magic we have in us, that allows us to do what we do.”
We continued chatting throughout the meal until we finished and it was time for Daniel to leave. “You’re always welcome here, Daniel.”
“Thanks Charlie,” he responded as they clasped hands and embraced in a one armed hug. Daniel was passed around to all of the Jackson family members. Fox just watched on from afar.
“The warriors have the rogues you wanted to take with you ready for transport. You just have to pick them up,” Jo told him, “I’ll go with you to show you where.”
Daniel walked over to me and wrapped me in another crushing hug, “Have a safe flight tomorrow, please. I don’t know if I could handle another one of these trips or calls.”
“You have a safe flight today. Be careful with the rogues,” he gave me a nod when we broke apart.
He followed Jo outside. “So Daniel is your dad,” Fox said, not quite accusingly, but close enough that it rubbed me the wrong way.
Author: Kailan Counahan 