by Pierce Smith
“Oh my, Uro, that is the one. You outdid yourself, it’s beautiful,” Sam whispered.
“I agree.” Shemne squealed and clapped her hands.
“Your turn, Shemne.”
Shemne did the same thing and laid out the three menu items, appetizers and drinks.
The first one was an elaborate serving of exotic recipes from their planet. Shemne also including some French recipes from Sam’s planet, Earth.
They reviewed the menus and decided that menu number one was what they wanted to go with.
“It’s my turn now,” Sam said, smiling at the group. Reaching into the bag sitting by his chair, he pulled out three decoration samples for each area. For the ballroom he’d chosen the blue sapphire silk material embroidered with silver thread. For the Banqueting Hall, Sam had chosen the military theme of red, black and sapphire blue. Outside, Sam had planters of flowers in all the colors of the rainbow placed around the palace grounds. Tents hung with lights were set up around the grounds as well. The biggest tent sat in the middle of the palace grounds. It had several tables with chairs and had a hard floor area for the guests to dance as the music flowed from the palace ballroom.
“Oh, Your Highness, you’ve outdone yourself. These are amazing. The king will be so proud of you.” Uro and Shemne praised Sam for his work.
“Thank you,” Sam blushed. He was overwhelmed at how the dragons were accepting him as their Consort . He hugged both ladies and let them go.
Chapter Two
Baby Check-Up
A WEEK LATER IT WAS time for Sam’s pregnancy check-up. Kyg held Sam’s hand as they walked down to the new medical clinic that Erga and his staff had created in the palace. It was impressive with the latest technology to give patients the best quality care possible. Ergo had even read up on human anatomy to understand Sam’s body. Using intel from some unsavory characters, Erga imported some new equipment from Earth through a notorious thief, to assist Sam’s human pregnancy. Kyg had planned to have a special delivery and treatment room in his palace for his beloved partner, but Sam had declined, stating that he wanted to be treated like a general civilian, so that he could interact more with the Byndraians. Agreeing, Kyg added that Sam wouldn’t get any special preference whenever he wanted to visit even when he had his appointments.
Today they would get to see the baby and talk about the delivery. Erga wanted to give Sam some idea of what to expect as the pregnancy progressed. Even though Sam wasn’t due for a few months yet, there were going to be lot of changes to his body and carrying an egg was something new for him to contend with. The last months, since the fight, were full of ups and downs. When Kyg became the king his time was consumed by royal duties in the court. Sam started spending more time in his special room along with maids and nurses. He suffered complications every day as his human body was not born with the capability to hold an egg, but slowly he adapted to areas of his life and with the magical properties of the egg which seemed to help Sam’s body to adjust, he started to accept the changes . Erga had told them he might face more problems, but everything would be under control. As they settled to wait for the healer, Kyg placed his arm around Sam’s shoulders and smiled at him.
The wait was short for the new nurse, Shenarah Falen, an elf that had transferred to Byndra because of her love for Erga. There was another cause for Shenarah to visit Byndra. She was an expert in vampirology. Erga had sensed the danger of Solomon and thus he requested the elves send her to Byndra. None, could deny due to the danger of more vampires and dragons bitten by them. So far, there was no cure for vampire bites, and ultimately dragons were burned to saved the rest of their species. Erga reached out to Shenarah, telling her to keep the secret between the two of them until they needed diehard help. By then, she would be an obstetric nurse occupied in the running of the medical clinic. .
Shenarah approached them with a large smile on her face, bowing to Kyg and looking at Sam, “Hello, Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, we are all set up in the back. Please follow me.” She led Kyg and Sam to the exam room. Once Sam was situated on the examination table, she took his vitals, then listened to the heartbeat of the baby. “Your baby has a strong heartbeat.”
Shenarah pulled a rolling monitor over to the side of Sam’s bed. Pulling his shirt up and his jeans down, she squeezed a large blob of ultrasound gel over his stomach, making him jump. Taking the probe Shenarah moved it slowly across his abdomen.
Sam gasped, as he saw the egg that held their precious baby. Seeing his baby encased in the soft shell, Sam was hopeful, his growing fetus was well protected. “Does he look healthy?” he asked tentatively.
“Yes, but I will leave that to Dr. Erga to decide on the results of the imaged scan.” The words had just left her mouth when there was a knock on the door and Erga walked in.
“Hello, Your Majesties, how are you both doing this fine day?”
Kyg stood and shook Erga’s hand. “We are good.”
“Well, let me take a look at the image and I can tell you how we can move forward.” Shenarah moved to the other side of Sam, as Erga sat down in front of the screen. After pressing a series of keys, the image came back up with all the data about the baby. He smiled.
“Would you like to know the sex?” Keg and Sam nodded excitedly. “You are carrying a healthy son. By his size I say you have a few more weeks before we can deliver him. Keep exercising, eating healthily, and relax when tired. In the meantime if anything comes up, please call me on my private line.” He stood and clasped his hand on Sam’s shoulder and smiled at him. “He’ll be here soon.”
Kyg walked Sam back to their room on cloud nine. Kyg couldn’t get the smile to leave his face. Their son was a fighter, a true prince in the making.
“Our son looks well. I’m anxious to hold him in my arms. I’m also anxious to make love to you. I’ve cleared my schedule today to spend it with you, my love,” he said, making Sam smiled.
Kyg reached out and pulled Sam into his arms, kissing him with reverence and love. Kyg caressed the bulging stomach where he sensed his son’s strong heartbeat. His dragon surged ~He’s a strong son. He is fully dragon and fully human. He will have great power and will rule our kingdom with a strong hand and compassion.~
~I can sense that as well, I wish Sam could transform into a dragon.~
~You need to remember things which you have forgotten.~
Frowning at his dragon’s comments, he pulled Sam closer to his body to hold him.
~What do you mean?~ he asked perplexed at the comment.
~ Sam is human and his pregnancy could complicate the situation. Keep things rolling on as they are. Now take our mate to bed and make love to him, showing him that we love him.~
Kyg smiled at his dragon’s suggestion. Lifting Sam into his arms as if he weighed nothing, he proceeded to carry him to their large king size bed, where he spent the rest of the day showing him how much he loved him.
A WEEK LATER FOUND Kyg sitting in his office with Xeg before him. “I tell you, Xeg, things just don’t seem right. Until Solomon and Thydin are found and put in the dungeon, I will have this unease. Have you sent your spies to try and find Cezzot? I want you to beef up security around Sam. Tonight I am going to tell him he can’t leave without a bodyguard.”
Kyg stood and went to the window that overlooked the training grounds. “I see you have your new Elite warriors out training today. How are they doing?”
Xeg listened to all of Kyg’s concerns. He too had a feeling that things were not going to remain as peaceful. Unbeknownst to Kyg, Xeg had placed extra security around him and Sam. He too was worried about the missing criminals. Cezzot had turned out to be a vindictive bitch and with the help of the elder dragon, Solomon, she’d managed to slip under Xeg’s line of security. He’d requested that King Edrontar go into hiding on the moon where they had prepared an underground bunker to hold the Royal Family in times of extreme danger.
“I have already done that, Kyg. You don’t see them, but they are there
watching and protecting you and Sam. I’ve sent our father to the moon until things can be sorted out and fixed.”
“Good, brother. I have good news, my baby is strong and well. Erga says a few more weeks or so before they deliver him.” He smiled at Xeg.
“A son. What are you going to name him?” Xeg asked, rising and going to the sidebar; getting coffee and a pastry to eat while they chatted. Walking back to Kyg, he staggered, dropping his pastry and almost falling to his knees, but he controlled himself. “I’m fine. Little tiredness affecting me, that’s all”.
“Okay, if you are sure. You must sleep, Xeg, tiredness can get you killed. We’ve decided to call him, Talzex. Erga says he will be a strong dragon and a strong human. He will have the best of both worlds.”
As they sat chatting the fire alarm rang. They both rose and ran into the corridor. Smoke filled the entire hallway and Kyg gasped. He raced outside, semi-shifting into his dragon, he flew down to their suite. When he got there the entire suite was engulfed in flames. Running inside he looked for Sam; soon he found the kitchen was where the fire had started. Growling, he extended his dragon sixth sense to look for Sam, but something concealed it. He yelled in rage, deafening all the burning sounds. “Sam!” he yelled over the roar of the wood being eaten by the flames. Not caring for his own life, he rushed into the burning room. The smoke didn’t bother him as he searched for Sam. He raced around the room looking as his dragon took control over his semi-human form and his scales replaced his skin to protect it from the flames. He couldn’t find Sam anywhere and his heart was dropping. He checked their bedroom one more time, where out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bathroom door being pushed open. Rushing forward he saw Sam lying on the ground trying to get out of the burning room. Trying to cover himself with a wet towel, Sam choked as the smoke filled his lungs.
Kyg bent to lift Sam into his arms, wrapping his dragon wings around Sam’s body to protect him from the flames. Kyg transformed into a full dragon and flew outside breaking the wall. The alpha dragon in him roared in anger. How could I be so careless? he thought. As he rushed outside, Kyg landed safely. Panic set in when he realized that Sam wasn’t breathing. He roared as he rushed to the medical clinic. Yelling, “Erga.” Not waiting for a response , Kyg flew to the ICU.
Erga and Shenarah came running out. Erga immediately arranged equipment around Sam laid on the table. Grabbing the oxygen tank, he placed the mask over Sam’s mouth and nose. Kyg stood back, but he was shaking so bad, his back hit the wall and he slid down to the floor. He couldn’t lose Sam. He couldn’t lose their child.
Kyg didn’t cry much, but he was overwhelmed with fear at the thought he might lose the two most important people in his life, and he couldn’t comprehend that someone hated them to the point of wanting to kill them so much they would do this. If it was his mother, Cezzot, he would take great pleasure in ending her life. From a distance he heard coughing and looked up with tear-stained, soot-covered cheeks. He watched as Erga adjusted the oxygen mask over Sam’s face, telling him not to talk, because his throat and lungs were damaged by the inhalation of smoke. Erga was just finishing administering a tranquilizer so Sam could rest when he noticed Kyg sitting on the floor.
“Your Majesty, are you harmed?” Erga asked as he rushed over to where the prince sat on the floor. He looked Kyg over, but didn’t see any damage done to him. “Are you okay, Sire?”
He nodded, “I’m fine.” His voice trembled, “Is my Sami okay?” he asked, grabbing Erga by his arms.
“He is fine, Your Majesty. I gave him medication to keep him calm and to allow him to rest. It will be several days before he will be able to talk and he will have to be on a liquid diet until his throat heals. Other than that, the baby is fine. Sam has you to thank; that you wrapped your dragon wings around him gave him protection from the smoke.”
He sat on the floor beside the prince. You need to forget, Sire, Sam is human and a male. Though, the magical dragon egg has given him power to carry a baby for you, we still don’t know yet if that magic gave Sam the power to shift to a dragon form until he shifts, or his dragon starts communicating with you. We are facing this challenge for the first time in our lives, so we need to wait and watch. We cannot harm the baby,” Erga spoke soothing Kyg.
Kyg definitely wanted Sam and baby to be fine before any magic would happen on him. Though, he wanted Sam to inherit dragon properties, so Sam would became more acceptable among his subjects, his health came first. “I hear you,” he mumbled to silent Erga.
“This is all new territory for us here on Byndra, and I am sure it is an even stranger anomaly on Earth.” Erga put his hands on Kyg’s shoulder. “In the meantime, Sam is going to be fine, but I want to keep him in the hospital where I can make sure he and the baby are okay.” Erga rose from the floor and offered his king his hand to help him up off the floor.
IT HAD BEEN THREE WEEKS since the fire and Sam was home relaxing on the bed in the bunker watching a local news station. Kyg came out of the bathroom looking hot in his tight black T shirt and dark colored jeans. “I have told the builders if they have any questions they can buzz you on the intercom . They are not to step one foot into this bunker. Understand my love? I don’t trust anyone.”
Sam held his arms out to Kyg who moved into his arms, hugging Sam and kissing him, “I shouldn’t be very long today. I have had my advisor clear today’s court session. I thought you might like to get out for a while today.”
Sam smiled and hugged Kyg back giving him a big kiss on the lips, “I would love that very much.”
THEIR LIVING SUITE was undergoing major repairs. Until then he’d moved them to his hidden secure panic room beneath the palace. To make the secure rooms more comfortable for Sam, Kyg instructed the staff to decorate them like their personal suite. A small kitchen where Sam wasn’t allowed to cook though he could gratify his taste. Nurses, maids, and musicians to keep him busy.
TODAY KYG WAS GOING over the camera footage that Xeg had gotten of the hidden cameras in Kyg and Sam’s living suite.
Kyg knocked on his brother’s office door. Kyg knew he looked like shit, but he was tired. He hadn’t slept soundly since the fire and would often stay awake at night just to make sure Sam was okay. When Xeg said, “Come in.” Kyg walked in and sat in a chair across the desk from Xeg.
“Brother, you look like shit.”
“Thanks, brother, I needed to hear that,” Kyg snarled at his brother. “You don’t look so hot yourself. Are you feeling any better, Xeg?”
Xeg rolled his eye and didn’t bother to answer his brother, but instead continued looking at the tapes.
“Let’s get on with this. I have some palace duties in an hour, then I want to get back to Sam,” Kyg said.
Frowning at his brother’s rude behavior, Xeg turned to the computer screen and pulled up the camera feed. A hooded figure in black was seen dousing their suite with a propellant that made the fire accelerant envelop the entire suite in just moments. What really pissed Kyg off was the masked person looked directly at the camera and saluted them. The cameras were hidden and no one was supposed to be able to find them let alone salute him, taunting Kyg as if saying, ‘you’re next’.
“Who the fuck is that, Xeg?”
“I have no idea. I have put his covered face, body build and height into the recognition program and the only thing I get is he’s muscular, and six feet, eight inches tall. That could be the physical description of half the dragons on the planet. I have even run the stats against Thydin, Nilandra and Solomon, but they don’t match.” He sat back, grabbing his coffee and taking a drink of the hot liquid. He ran his hand over his face. “I just don’t know. This is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever worked on.”
“I need to leave. My presence is needed in the throne room. Keep searching, brother. We will find him, I know we will,” Kyg said, as he departed to the throne room.
Chapter Three
Cezzot and Thugs in Hiding
On Phehutera
, a moon in the galaxy Ophiuchi Nebula, Solomon grumbled loudly that he found himself back at the place he had survived in his early days. Phehutera was located at the other side of the galaxy, remaining hidden for most of the days. It was an uninhabited place, except for him and his servants. When he ran away during the fight on Byndra, he escaped back to his abode, a safe haven for situations just like this one. He also carried Thydin and his other supporters, both to protect them and plan ahead. They were definitely not going to stop here.
This was where Solomon had secured their place to await Cezzot’s communications. Cezzot was secure in a safe place, staying at a private location on the planet Yomiri. Solomon had placed her there, so she would not have to mingle with the riffraff of the city. He knew the queen would use her own magic to cloak her whereabouts. Cezzot didn’t trust others, and being in a galaxy far from him, she needed to use her wits.
Solomon sat at the pub table with Thydin and a new face they had added to their group of miscreants. “You set the fire in the new king’s room?”
“Yes. And just like you said, Sam couldn’t shift. Unfortunately the king...” the new member sneered, “...was able to rescue him.”
Solomon tossed back the pirated Rum Black Slag. You couldn’t find this drink anywhere but on Yomiri. He listened to the girl’s banter about the fire, but he nearly choked when he found out that it hadn’t killed Sam.
“Fuck me!” Solomon bellowed. “Cezzot is going to have my head. You had one fucking job to do, kill Sam. Why is it you continue to fail us?” he bellowed in rage. “Do not worry. I have enlisted others in Kyg’s employ and soon we will bring him down. And our queen will take Kyg’s place.” Solomon smiled and then yelled at the bar keep to bring three pints of their finest ale.
