Rob shuddered, his hands clinging to the bars. “How could I? Is this what it means to be a man?” He said to the lifeless form on the floor. He turned and fled.
The executioner picked her up slinging her over his shoulder. He walked to the incendiary room and tossed the body bag into the flames before he left by the rear door.
*~*~*~*
“Don’t move.”
“What? Why does my throat hurt?”
“I had to make it look good, or you’d be dead.”
“Who are you?”
“Jewal, one of the king’s advisors as well as a scientist.”
“Hi Jewal, I’m Kisame.”
“You are queen Kisame. It is my honor and my duty to protect you.”
“I don’t understand who you are or how you got here. Were you one of the ones sleeping?”
“Hibernating is a more accurate word. Yes, I was.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the Kingdom of Terra.”
“No, I can’t go without my mom.”
“My queen.”
“That’s right I am your queen. That means you have to do what I say.”
“Your protocol knowledge needs help. I am not to do anything that will put you in jeopardy.”
“Please, I have to free her. If I don’t, I know he will kill her.”
“Where is your mother?”
She gave him directions to the clinic they kept the patients like her in. “He said she was in a coma, fallen prey to the alien disease. We both know there is no alien disease.”
“How did you end up in Terra?” She told him as he drove.
“My queen you have to stay under the blanket. Do not move. I burned the tracker they had on you, but you may have one embedded in your body. Doc will have to take a look when you get back to the palace.”
“I’ll stay still. Please find my mom.” She gave him her name and room number. This might be the only chance she had to get her free.
*~*~*~*
“I haven’t seen you around here.”
“I’m new.”
“Welcome to the care of the comatose. I’m Raja.”
“Jewal, nice to meet you.”
“You don’t seem like a guard.” Raja looked him over.
“Did the jeans give it away?”
“The guards are required to wear a brown uniform like the one I’m wearing.”
“I’m an escort, they’re not as strict with our clothing.”
“You came empty-handed.”
“They sent me to retrieve someone.” He rattled off her number as well as her name.
“They never move this one. I heard she woke once, crazier than a nut. She was rattling on about dragons being real if you can believe that. She’s married to the head honcho. I think that’s why they don’t put her out her misery.”
“They killed the daughter today. I think that’s why they want to do tests on her.”
“I hear she was as crazy as the mother, that’s what my sources say.”
“Good sources.”
“What about that one?”
“The abomination? She’s only been here a few months. I think they’re using her as bait. Every day I come to work I expect her to dissolve into a gel-like state. They say as long as I don’t touch her, I’ll be safe. I guess that’s why I make the big money.”
“I don’t envy you.” He moved the woman to the wheelchair.
“You better take this.” Raja handed him the I.V. “According to those in charge this is what keeps them under and pliant.”
“Thanks, I need that.” He wheeled her out of the room. No one stopped him. They were scared to get too close to the woman who was suffering from an incurable disease.
He loaded her in the car and started taking the I.V. out. “See this? It’s a tracker. There’s one on the bag.” He tossed it into the trash next to the vehicle. “There’s one on the tape and one surface deep in her skin.” He took out a penknife and cut it out.
“When I tell you to, throw the one on the tape out the window. I’ll let you know when to get rid of the last one.”
They drove around for about an hour before he had her throw the second one over a hillside. Later he had her throw the last one into the lake.
“Now we leave. We’re going to a remote station that no longer works. A one-way trip to the station closest to Terra.”
The vehicle was quiet as Jewal drove and Kisame huddled in the seat in an effort not to be seen. When he finally stopped, she gasped as she took in their surroundings.
“Are you sure this is where you want to be. The relay here has been down for over ten years.”
“Trust me it’s working.”
They propped her mother up and then Kisame hugged her keeping her upright. Jewal worked with the controls and then shut all three of them into one relay.
“Last chance to go back.”
“All I want is my mate.”
He gave a tilt of his head in acknowledgment and they disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-four
Damn. She couldn’t open her mouth when she was met with identical twins. They embodied the word beautiful.
“My queen.” They said in one voice as they both went to their knees one hand made a fist in front of their hearts with their heads bowed.
She raised her eyes desperately to Jewal.
“Don’t look at me. That’s the impression they make on women. My queen meet the twins.”
“Hi,” she tripped over her tongue and it was only one word.
“I need one of you to change and the other to hold the queen’s mother safely. Take her directly to the floor in the palace that we have set up as the hospital.”
Without a word, one change and the other gathered her mother in his arms.
“She’s in good hands. The doc will take over when she gets there.”
“Things have changed.”
“Thanks to you. Only you could wake Rilan. Only he could wake the rest of us.”
Jewal changed forms, he was the color of the morning sunrise. She found his name appropriate. She never met anyone who could give the sunrise competition before she saw his dragon. For the first time, she acknowledged the stirring deep within her. She wanted to be a dragon with the ability to fly on her own.
It was rare that she wanted something for herself. She wanted this as much as she wanted her mate. To soar the sky the way she did with Queen Lumia, to accept her birthright even if no one else did.
To become a dragon was to become the thing her father hated. Once the thought would have scarred her soul. Now it didn’t bother her. She climbed onto Jewal’s back and held tight as he took off.
One day she would fly, reluctant or not. The flight was smooth but not as intimate as the ones she had with Rilan. She reached out again needing to touch his mind. She craved him.
“I’m here love. I’ve been here from the beginning.”
“I couldn’t feel you…”
“I was with Jewal. It was the only way we could mask his dragon.”
She nodded to herself not realizing what she was doing. That made sense, she didn’t peg him as a dragon when he first walked into her cell.
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I didn’t know your father would sentence you to death. Desperate times…”
She understood that one too. “I’m almost there.”
“I’m waiting.”
She had missed this city. Her heart hadn’t beaten in anticipation of going back to Penna. Now she was almost dizzy with anticipation as she saw Terra come up on the horizon. The palace stood tall and majestic as if welcoming her back home.
Jewal landed on a large balcony allowing her to slide down his back. Rilan was waiting in the door for her.
He grabbed her swinging her around when she jumped into his arms. The PDA must have been too much for Jewal who took off.
“You’re not leaving ever again,” he told her as he peppered kisses over her face. “I
almost lost it. Magnus and Jewal had to hold me down and come up with a better plan to free you. According to Magnus my plan to storm the city in dragon form could have only been thought of by an idiot in love.”
Her laughter trailed over the balcony spilling to the air around them.
“I had that dream myself. I saw you as your scales caught the sun and the people gasped in amazement as you swooped down, picked me up, and carried me away.”
“I knew Magnus was wrong, it took two idiots in love to come up with that plan.”
“I love you, Rilan, my king and my mate.”
“I love you, my queen.”
She gave him a long hard kiss before pulling back. “My mom is here; did you meet her?”
“No, but doc wants to see us.” They took off at a fast walk going to the floor they were using for the hospital.
When they got there, a man was calling out orders. Her mother was hooked up to an I.V.
“What’s happening?”
“My queen,” the doctor sank gracefully to his knees, head bowed, hand clenched in front of his heart.
“Please stand. What is happening with my mother?”
“Your mother has a tracker embedded in her hip. We are using a device to scramble the signal, but it still has to come out. I am taking her to surgery.”
“Why would he do that?” She turned to look at Rilan. Maybe he understood her father better than she did.
“Sometimes if we can’t have something or someone, we’re going to make sure no one else gets to play with what we think of as ours.”
“My queen?”
“Yes, surgery. We’ll be waiting.”
“You don’t have to stay here I’ll let you know as soon as it is done.” He walked away to prepare.
“Mom?” She walked over to her bed. “I know you can’t hear me but I love you.” She took her hand entwining their fingers. “I’m sorry it took so long to get you free. I didn’t know what he was capable of.”
“My queen,” there were two more dragons on the floor in front of her.
“Come on you can trust him.” Rilan directed her out the room. “They need to prep your mom for surgery, then move her.”
She took one more look at her mom, then walked away. They went back into the room with the tapestry in it.
She was amazed to realize it was still there.
“Waking them up is a slow process. Right now, Jewal, doc, the twins and three others that help doc are awake. Waking up is stressful, so it’s not wise to wake everyone together.”
“Did you know who you were waking?”
“Not at first. We woke Jewal last he was who we were going for. Tomorrow we will wake someone else.”
They left the room and went back to their place in the palace.
“I need a shower.” She felt dirty not just from the trip, but from what happened with her father. Her hands raked down her arms in an effort to get whatever was clinging to her off.
“Take a shower love and then we need to have you checked for a tracker.”
“Why would I have… you don’t think… a tracker?” Would he have stooped that low? Yes. He would have said it was for her own good, so they knew what was happening to her while she was in The Interior. She might have gone along with it willingly if he had asked. She walked into the bathroom, nothing she could say would justify her fathers actions. She didn’t want to give him a pass or even understand things from his point of view. If she ever went down the same hole as him, she didn’t think she’d ever come back.
She rubbed her chest the pain she felt almost enough to take her down. This is what it felt like to be at odds with a parent. She had two choices, no she didn’t. There was only one choice. She continued to stand for what was right.
Was ignorance bliss? It was the first time she ever had that thought. Would Rob, Director Davis and the others hate her for opening their eyes to a new world? Would they even remember by the time her father was done with them?
In some way’s ignorance was bliss, it was the cost of that ignorance that her soul couldn’t or wouldn’t pay. One quick shower later she was holding hands with Rilan as they went to see Jewal.
“I need you to lie on the bed while I run a detector capable of picking up the tracking devices your people are using over your body. It’s noninvasive. If you have a tracker on you, it will show on the monitor as a bright red flare.
“Let’s do this.” She laid on her back while he ran the ESD over her and then flipped to her stomach. When there was no flare, she found herself breathing easier.
“I need to do the bottom of your feet then we are done.”
She lifted her legs up placing her feet in the air even as she smiled. For a while, she was convinced that her father had a tracker placed in her. She was wrong. A bit of faith in the man who raised her was being restored.
“Rilan?” The anger coming from him made her turn her head and open her eyes.
“Look at the screen love.”
On the bottom of her foot was a red flare. “That’s impossible.”
There was no way this could be new. That meant this tracker was close to two decades old.
“Baby?”
“The summer I turned twelve I stepped onto a large piece of glass. I woke up in the hospital, they said it was from blood loss. They sewed the wound up because it was so deep. It was the only time…”
“… the process will be simple actually. Not like your mothers. We can get it out before her surgery is done.” She must have tuned out because Jewal was speaking.
Did she want to have this taken care of while she was still waiting for her mother to get out of surgery? She did, it felt like her father was standing next to her watching her every move.
“Let’s do it.”
Rilan stood like he was about to argue then he backed down and tilted his head to the side. She knew that movement it said later you and I will be talking about this. It also meant he was allowing her to make her own decisions. He has been asleep for centuries, he wants to be, even needs to be in charge. Every time she felt him curb his natural tendency for her, she was reminded of how much he loved her.
She decided she liked the twilight the medicine placed her in. Not actually awake, but not really out of it. It’s a beautiful place. She could see it all laid out before her. The past, the present, and the future. It all made a horrible sense. But she knew that when she woke up the revelations would be gone. She wanted to hold on to the identity of the enemy. It slipped away even as her name was called.
“Kisame wake up. Kisame?”
Her eyes opened to a glare of light.
“There you are. Your king is here being a royal pain in my nether regions.” Jewal smiled as he looked at her.
“Is it done?”
“It is,” Rilan’s strong voice assured her. “The tracker was online. We are running interference until we decide what to do with it.”
“Never a dull minute,” she reached out to touch Rilan's face as he leaned over her bed.
“Life with you could never be dull,” he told her taking her hand.
“Let’s aim for it in about three centuries.”
“Lets,” he leaned over and kissed her.
“Do I have to stay here?” She asked smiling up at her mate.
“No, but I want you to rest,” Jewal told her looking at Rilan.
They let her go about an hour later. Her mom was still in surgery. Rilan carried her through the halls to their private floors. No pressure on her foot if she could help it for several days.
“Do you think he will attack? I’m talking about my dad.” They were sitting in the living room in front of the fireplace. It was too warm to need a fire, but the scenery was beautiful. She was drinking a cup of tea and eating small sandwiches her mate prepared for her.
“He’s no more prepared for war than we are. Right now, we have the mystery of The Interior going for us. The fact that he claimed that it made you sick is in our favor. No one will want to co
me here. He can’t let anyone that knows about us or meets us live. He has tied his own hands for now.”
She nodded thinking about her friends and her confession over donuts and coffee. They were smart enough to keep her news to themselves. They would call it a theory and explain it away. Hopefully, it would tickle like an annoying itch in the back of their minds making them act on it when ignorance would be better.
She stretched out placing her head in Rilan’s lap. Sleep came over her slowly. Followed by an annoying feeling that she forgot something important.
“Mate!” The sound of Magnus’ voice echoing through the palace woke her.
Her eyes sparked purple before they lit up the room and seeped out to lite up the sky. The reluctant dragon woke. All she could see was the joy on her mate’s face.
Tomorrow she thought as he kissed her. There will be time to deal with everything else tomorrow.
From the desk of…
Hey guys!
So glad you made it this far! Did you see all that coming? I would say I did, but I didn’t. A little bit about this story. I was in the middle of another story when I had a dream in the middle of January. It was the scene where Kisame meets Rilan for the first time. My heart was pounding, I sat up in bed, my eyes were bugging out and I knew I had to write that story.
It’s just a story, right? There is no such thing as parallel worlds, right? Whatever lets you sleep at night.
If you loved Kisame then keep an eye out for the red head you may have noticed in the story.
What about the other story I was writing? I definitely see it coming out in the next couple months.
Hit me up let me know what you like about Rilan and Kisame. Don’t forget to leave reviews! Amazon loves a review.
P.S. Hit my Facebook page and tell me who your favorite couples are!
Serena
Where to find me
Once you’ve read The Dragon’s Mate you can leave a review where you purchased this book. Hopefully you loved the book, maybe you hated it either way leave a review. Like many other independent authors we’re looking for your reviews to help give us the social proof that someone has read it and felt moved enough to say something. It doesn’t have to be long but every review helps.
The Dragon's Mate (Ancient Dragons Book 1) Page 16
