Supreme's Kiss (Kiss Series Book 3)

by M. K. Eidem

  With that, she ripped Terron's heart out of his chest.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  "Autumn," Kirall called out before he began to carefully approach his mate. He'd never seen anything like this before, especially not from a female Dragoon, and he wasn't sure how his mate would react to another male so close, not even her mate.

  "Kirall?" she said his name as if she were unsure it was right, but when Autumn rose from Terron's now dead body, she shifted back into her Other form.

  "Are you alright?" he asked and watched her flinch and wrap an arm around one side.

  "I've been better," she gave him a wry smile, "but then again, I've been worse."

  Kirall started to smile then saw a gold form streaking toward her. "Autumn!" he shouted, knowing that even in his Dragon form, he couldn't get to her in time.

  Autumn turned to see what had her mate so concerned and didn't even have time to duck from the mouthful of razor-sharp teeth that were coming at her.

  Then suddenly, so close that she was knocked down by a wing, another dragon was there plowing into the side of the first, and both went over the cliff.

  "Autumn!" Kirall dropped to his knees beside her crumpled form, unsure if he should touch her.

  "Who the fuck was that?" Came the muffled question. When she started to roll over, Kirall helped her.

  "Are you alright?" he demanded, as both his and his Dragon's heart pounded in fear.

  "I think I already answered that question," she told him but gratefully settled into the comfort of his arms. "So answer mine."

  "The first was Tove," he spit out.

  "Oh, well I guess that makes sense," she said, closing her eyes for a moment then forced them open. "He's alwaysss wanted me dead."

  Kirall frowned at how she was starting to slur. "Autumn, what's wrong?"

  "I don't know." Her eyes tried to close again. "I'm just ssso tired. I haven't been able to draw any power from Kruba since we left."

  "What?! You haven't drawn any power?"

  "No. I don't know how," Autumn admitted groggily.

  "You don't…" he broke off because it didn't matter. Instead, he took his mate's hand and placed it over his heart. "Feel my heartbeat, mate. Feel my power and love for you." Able to feel she was doing as he said, he continued. "Now feel the Hoard we empowered with that love. Feel it and let it fill you."

  Autumn's back arched up, and she gasped as Kruba's power began to fill her. Kur, she hadn't realized how empty she'd been.

  'That's because you are willing to give all you are for those you love,' Kur's voice whispered in her mind. 'It's what will make you the greatest and most loved Supreme Mondu has ever known.'

  Slowly she felt her strength returning and moved to sit up.

  "No, stay down," Kirall ordered. "You need to absorb more power."

  "I can do that standing," she told him, "now that I know how."

  Kirall shook his head in disbelief. "How can you not know that, when you knew how to blow the roof off a supposedly indestructible dome?"

  "I don't know, just lucky, I guess?" She started to smile when the enraged roar of a Dragon pulled her back to what was happening around them. "Who was the second Dragon?"

  "Torn," he told her.

  "What?" She couldn't believe it. Why would Torn stop his father from killing her, because as surely as she was in her mate's arms, that's what he had done.

  Before Kirall could reply, a Gold Dragon flew skyward. It was bloodied and had a great many scales missing. Close behind it was another Gold that, while bloody, still had all its scales intact. As they watched, the second Gold flew beneath the first and dug its claws into it from below, just as Kirall had done to the Varanian ship. It then wrapped its tail around the other dragon's tail and twisting, forced the Dragon down. But unlike Kirall, this Dragon road the other one all the way down, driving him into the ground with an impact so strong the whole plateau shook.

  "Who?" she asked, not sure she was going to like the answer.

  "Torn is on top," Kirall told her peering through the dust of the impact to see Torn slowly moving off his father's still body.

  "Is he..?" Autumn asked.

  "Not yet, but he soon will be," Torn told her as he shifted and limped toward her.

  "Why?" She couldn't understand it. As bad as she knew Tove to be, he was still Torn's father.

  "The female you helped," Torn told her.

  "Female?" she asked and saw his eyes widen when she didn't understand. So much had happened that day.

  "The Gold one that the Varana were attacking as she protected her young' un," he clarified.

  "Oh," Autumn suddenly remembered, "Her. Is she okay? My fire got a little close?"

  "She's a little singed but otherwise fine," he paused. "She is my mate."

  "She's…oh." Autumn suddenly understood.

  "You truly didn't know that, did you?" Torn couldn't keep the astonishment out of his voice.

  "I really haven't been on Mondu that long," she tried to explain. "I'm sure eventually I'll figure out all the relationships."

  "That you saved her without caring about who she was, or how it might affect you, says a great deal about you," Torn told her quietly.

  "I…"

  A scream stopped Autumn from saying more, and they all turned to watch as Macawi ran to her mate, who was still in his Dragon form and fell to her knees.

  "No! Oh, Tove, no!" she sobbed. "Stay with me, my mate." Then she did something Autumn didn't understand. She ripped off a sleeve and stuck her arm inside Tove's Dragon mouth, slicing it open on his razor-sharp teeth. "Drink, my mate. Drink."

  "Can that possibly work?" Autumn asked in a hushed tone.

  "No," Torn answered, and Autumn saw the pain that filled his eyes. "If he were to drink from her now, it would kill her in the most painful of ways, and he would still follow her. No mated Dragoon would ever do that to his mate."

  Torn had no more than finished saying that when Tove's Dragon clamped down on his mate's arm and began to drink.

  "No!" Torn moved to pull his mother away, but it was over before he could take a step. Macawi screamed in a way Autumn never wanted to hear again, then fell to the ground. Tove lifted his Dragon's head and glared at the three of them, his eyes full of hate before the life drained out of them and his head crashed back down next to his mate.

  "Oh, Torn," she reached out and gripped his arm. "I'm so sorry."

  "It's not your fault," he choked out. "He made his choice, as did she."

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Slowly, Autumn let her gaze travel over the battlefield. Dramman lay in ruins and bodies were strewn everywhere. Dragoon and Varana alike.

  She watched as out of the dust and smoke, shapes began to appear. Some moved toward the dead while others moved toward Kirall and Autumn. From behind her, she heard the sound of Dragons landing. Turning, she saw Nixie and Dacke, along with Kirall’s and Dacke's entire family walking toward them. While they all looked a little worse for wear, they had all survived and a weight she hadn't realized she'd been carrying fell from Autumn's heart.

  "Oh thank you, Kur," she whispered to the God as tears streamed down her face, and for a moment, she could have sworn she heard the faint 'welcome' on the wind.

  "Torn?!" From the other direction, Autumn saw a Gold Prime female, and what to Autumn looked to be a male in his late teens running toward them.

  "I'm alright, Qi," Torn quickly reassured his mate before pulling both of them into his chest.

  "I was so frightened," she told him as she ran her hands over him, checking for injuries.

  "It didn't seem that way to me when you were defending your young'un," Autumn said as she walked over to the family. "I'm Autumn, by the way."

  "I… I know who you are," Qi stammered then stepped away from her mate and straightened. "Thank you for what you did, for me and my young'un."

  Autumn took in the singe spots on the other female's gown and knew she couldn't be looking much better. "No thanks ar
e necessary. Especially as your mate saved my life." A startled gasp went through those that had started to gather. Most, if not all, had been eyeing the Gold Prime family with anger and disgust before Autumn's words. "Sorry my fire got so close."

  Qi's eyes widened in surprise at the apology. "I prefer this to what the Varana had in store for me."

  "I can understand that." She looked to the young male that stood close to his father.

  "This is our young'un," Torn said. "Qismat."

  Autumn's eyes widened slightly at that, not only because the name meant fate on Earth, but because he wasn't named similarly to his father. "You named him after his mother."

  "It seemed fitting as she did all the work to give him to us," Torn told her somewhat stiffly.

  "I couldn't agree more," Autumn told him, "and I'll never be able to repay what you did for me today. I will forever be in your debt." She bowed her head slightly to him then turned to look back over the battlefield, missing the shocked looks on the Gold Primes. "We have a lot of work to do here."

  "Not as much as you might think," Kirall said, wrapping his arms around his mate. He'd been just a step behind her as she spoke to Torn and his family. "Watch."

  Autumn looked to where her mate pointed in the distance, not sure what she was supposed to be looking for. It was then she noticed that the bodies were beginning to change, at least the Dragoon ones. They went from the solid form they'd died in, to something that reminded Autumn of the remains of the people of Pompeii that had been discovered. Grey and ashy looking as if the slightest touch would destroy them. Once every Dragoon that had perished was transformed this way, a faint sound began to be heard moving over the area.

  "What is that?" Autumn asked, looking up at Kirall.

  "It is the Dragoon song for the dead," he told her quietly. "Family and friends call out to Kur. Asking him to bless those lost so they can forever fly with him over Mondu and help protect it."

  As the voices began to get louder, the wind picked up then slowly, one-by-one the ash-like piles of what was once a Dragoon began to blow away, lifted high into the air where they could fly forever until there were only two left.

  Autumn watched as instead of blowing away, what had once been Tove collapsed in on itself and hardened into something unrecognizable. The collective gasp from everyone around her had her looking around in confusion.

  "What does that mean?" she asked.

  "That Kur refuses to bless him," Torn told her quietly even though she saw the pain in his eyes. "He shall now spend eternity as stone, never to fly again. It's the worst thing that can happen to a Dragoon. But if anyone deserved it, he did."

  Torn was about to turn away when the wind picked up again, and what was Macawi blew away.

  "It would seem your mother was an innocent, Torn," Autumn told him. "I'm sorry she is gone, but hopefully that will bring you some comfort."

  Torn said nothing, just nodded and pulled his family close.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the carnage that was the Varana. It seemed unlike Dragoons, Varana bodies didn't just disintegrate. Instead, after a short time, they began to stink to high heaven. So it was decided that they needed to be burned as quickly as possible.

  Torn suggested that they pile them over what was once his father and burn them en masse.

  "It's fitting for a Dragoon that conspired against his own people." Torn had told them.

  Autumn hadn't been able to say a word, but Kirall told him that his wishes would be followed. So now they watched as bodies of the Varana burned.

  "It's time to return to Kruba, Autumn," Kirall said as he pulled her away from the fire.

  "But there's still so much to do," she told him, looking from the destroyed dome to the smoldering Varana ships.

  "That's for another day," he told her.

  "But…"

  "Your mate is right, Elder Autumn," Cai said, walking up to them for the first time. "The Council Guards will finish this."

  "Cai!" Autumn exclaimed, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh, thank Kur. Since I hadn't seen you, I thought…"

  "My apologies. I didn't mean to worry you. There were a great many things I needed to see to."

  "Of course, of course," she said. "I'm just so glad you survived."

  "As I am you or I wouldn't have been able to give you this." Reaching into a pocket, Cai pulled out Jack's crystal.

  With a shaky hand, Autumn reached out and took it. "Jack's crystal," she whispered, holding it to her chest. "How could I have forgotten about it?"

  "I believe you had other things on your mind," Cai said quietly, "Like saving all of Mondu."

  Before he knew what was happening, Cai found his arms full of Red Supreme.

  "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Cai," she cried out, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him. "You'll never know what this means to me."

  "I…" Cai looked cautiously at Kirall. While Kirall had told Cai he could speak to his mate, this was something else.

  "I think he knows, Autumn," Kirall said gently pulling her away from the other male. "Come on, let's go home."

  Epilogue

  Kirall paced in Kruba, ready to pull his hair out much to the amusement of his father. "I thought you said this got easier," he growled at him.

  "I lied," Kiran said, leaning back to sip his Fire Water. "Did you really want to know that every time your mother went into labor, I nearly lost my mind?"

  "No, but…"

  "Autumn is strong, Kirall," Kiran reassured his son. "She's already done this five times. She'll be fine."

  Kirall knew his father was right, but still, sitting here knowing his mate was in pain feeling what little bit she couldn't block, was driving him crazy. He looked around the nearly overflowing room. It seemed the entire family had turned out for this, along with all the Supremes.

  How things had changed on Mondu over the last three hundred years. It had taken time to completely remove all the evidence of the Varana attack, but they'd done it. Now all that remained was the permanently blackened spot where Tove had fallen, and the fact that it had been decided to leave the Assembly open to the sky.

  Slowly, the rest of the Supremes had been chosen.

  Cai for the Yellows.

  Kazos, a Green that had served with Kirall for many years.

  And Nidri, for the Blues.

  The only color they'd struggled with filling was the Gold Supreme. Autumn had wanted Torn. He had more than proven to her that he would do what was best for Mondu, but as he was already mated, it created a problem. Torn might be able to become a Supreme, but as he'd already mated Qi, she would remain a Prime, along with the males and females they now had.

  So instead, they persuaded Torn to become the Gold Prime Elder, something many protested especially so soon after the attack. But Autumn and Kirall had stood by Torn and told the full Assembly how he had protected Autumn against his own father, killing him in the process. It had gone a long way to settling the fears and prevented the endless attacks Torn and his family would have had to endure from those challenging him.

  Fifty years ago, after more than proving his worth, Autumn had chosen Qismat to be the Gold Supreme, solidifying their belief in Torn and his family that remained on Mondu. Toan and Maaike had both survived the battle, but soon left Mondu for parts unknown and no one, not even their brother, had heard from them since.

  As Kur had said, with each Supreme made, Autumn had fewer and fewer silver strands in her hair, but she still had a few, and Kirall assumed she always would as there were no Minor or Prime Silvers.

  His gaze traveled to the five Red male Supremes that sat across from him. Kur, it was hard to believe they were his. Unlike his father, Kirall had insisted that each one be able to shift before Autumn had another. His mate was young, and they had time. It was something Autumn had protested at first, but then she found she liked it, as it gave her a great deal of time with each one.

  Well, except Jack, their
last one. He'd been named after Autumn's brother and was only thirty-five, but he had already shifted much to Autumn's delight.

  Now there was another on the way, and Kirall couldn't wait to welcome the new Dragoon into the family. He was immediately on his feet when the door opened, and Nixie walked in.

  "It's time," she told him then laughed as Kirall all but ran out of the room. Walking over to her mate, she gave him a quick kiss before saying, "That never gets old."

  Kirall rushed into the Keeper’s Suite, hating that Autumn had kept him away so long, but after the way he'd acted before their first male had been born, she'd decided he only needed to be there for the final act. Kirall's mother and sisters would support her before that.

  "Kirall!" Autumn called out, and he was immediately at her side, taking the hand she held out.

  "I'm here, my Autumn." He winced slightly as she tightened her grip on his hand.

  "How do I keep letting you do this to me?" she gritted out through clenched teeth as she leaned forward and pushed.

  "I do not know, my mate," he told her.

  "From now on…" she broke off as she pushed through another contraction.

  "From now on?" he asked, having learned from experience that it helped to keep her talking.

  "From now on we are not mating on our Hoard. Anywhere else, but…" groaning, she started to push again.

  Kirall could feel the questioning glances he was getting from his mother and sisters, but his concentration was on his mate. "Anything you want, my mate," he promised as her face began to match the hair he so loved. "Autumn?" he gave her a concerned look, it had never been like this before. He was just about to question his mother when he heard the first cry of a newborn Dragoon.

  "Uh, one more push, Autumn," Niccele encouraged, although to Kirall she sounded strange. With a determined look, Autumn obeyed Niccele, and the crying grew louder.