by Leela Ash
Zaden was struggling with knobs and dials, cursing in frustration as he tried to open each cage, one at a time. The people inside were no longer conscious, and stared into the air at nothing.
“Zaden,” she said, touching him gently. He was frantic with the need to help, but her intuition was telling her to move on. “Zaden, these people are gone. They have found their peace. We have to keep them from harming anybody else. Please, it’s the only way to win this fight.”
Zaden roared in pain and anger, knowing that Kala was right. He didn’t want to leave anybody behind, but now that he knew they were there, he would never stop fighting for a way to release them.
“They’re going to unthaw soon,” she said gently.
“All right,” he said reluctantly.
“I’m going to get fired!” a man was shouting. “Why is he naked?”
Zaden raised an eyebrow at the man as he struggled to open the cage. Kala gently pushed him aside. She would be able to do this. She closed her eyes and concentrated, willing herself to find the combination and release the prisoners. After a few moments of silent button pressing, there was a hiss and a click, and the door opened.
“Get home,” Zaden said sternly to them. “Now. And get help for the rest of the people here.”
The group nodded. The man’s authoritative voice was convincing enough for them, and they took off running through the back door, which Zaden and Peter had left gaping open.
“I guess we should run, too,” Zaden said to Kala. And so they went.
Chapter Nineteen
“Do you think they’ll be all right?” Kala asked Zaden over the roaring campfire. It had taken a few hours for the events of the night to sink in. Zaden nodded.
“Humans are great at making a fuss. Did you hear them squawking about being late to work? As if they were purposely oblivious to the fact that their lives were in serious danger. They probably contacted the newspapers already and have had the place raided by police.”
“Thank goodness,” Kala sighed. Her lavender eyes filled with tears, and she dropped her head in her hands.
“Hey,” Zaden said, moving close to her and putting his arm around her shoulder. “Everything’s all right. We did the best we could.”
“I know; it was just so horrible.”
“Yeah,” Zaden said, holding her face in his hands. “But we made it. Richard can’t hurt you anymore.”
Kala embraced Zaden tightly, allowing his strong, masculine body to reassure her. She looked up with a gasp, suddenly realizing that she hadn’t told him.
“I remember who I am,” she said, her purple eyes serious.
“What?” Zaden asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “Since when? Who are you?”
“I have to give a message to the leader of the Kersh clan,” she said dutifully. “I remembered back at the Guardian’s place. I’m a Loni, from Kaldernon.”
“What?” he asked, shocked. Suddenly, it made sense why she seemed so familiar. There had been a nearly pure-blooded Loni woman in the clan when he was small, but she had since been victimized by the Guardians.
“I came from Kaldernon, directly. And I need to speak with Clayton as soon as possible.”
Zaden was silent for a few moments, and pulled away from her a little bit. “So on Kaldernon…” he began. He seemed to be having some difficulty getting the words out.
“Yes?” she prompted.
“Did you have a husband?”
She laughed, a musical sound that brought a deep blush to his face. “No, Zaden. I had nobody. Nothing. I was an orphan, too.”
He looked up at her in shock.
“Really?”
“Yes,” she said gently, taking his broad hand in hers. Their thumbs stroked each other for a long, intimate moment, before Zaden finally spoke again.
“Then…does that mean that we could be together?”
“Is that what you want?” she asked, examining him closely.
“I came here to see what the Guardians knew about you. So you could be with me without having to worry any more about your identity. I don’t think it’s right to be with someone who doesn’t even know who they are.”
She laughed again, this time stroking his arm flirtatiously.
“I think sometimes it’s better to lose myself when I’m with the person I love,” she said softly, tilting her chin up to meet his lips. Zaden took them greedily, not needing any further invitation. He lifted her easily onto his lap and she could feel his manhood harden from the heat of her middle. A moan of pleasure escaped her lips and they kissed deeply, his tongue sliding sensually against hers.
He gripped her waist as she began moving gently on top of him, slowly grinding him until he had to grit his teeth to keep from groaning out loud. He slowly stripped her, admiring her body in the firelight. She was all he could have ever asked for, and he buried his face in her breasts, taking a nipple into his mouth as she lowered her on top of him, teasing the head of his cock with her clit until neither of them could stand any more foreplay. They had been beating around the bush for far too long, and she had seen exactly what Zaden was made of.
She groaned as he slid his thick shaft deep inside of her and began pumping his hips expertly, taking her on a ride of pleasure unlike anything she had ever experienced. The sex had been good the first time, but nothing compared to the exhilaration of knowing who she was and fully trusting the man she was with. Somehow, she knew he would never abandon her, and they would be together.
Soon, she was shuddering on top of him, the bliss overwhelming her completely. She had never felt so completely pleasured, and when he sensed her nearing her orgasm he picked up his pace, grunting as his cock was enveloped by her hot body. She moaned deeply as his body brought her deeper in the pools of ecstasy and he hissed in pleasure as her body contracted around his shaft.
Suddenly, her body was filled with the hot power of his explosive climax. It enhanced the bliss of her own orgasm and they both moaned as they were taken to a new height together; a plateau where neither had ever even hoped to achieve.
They fell to the ground together, panting, and Kala rested her head in the crook of Zaden’s arm.
“Is it all right if we’re together for a long time?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said with a grin. And with that, they fell asleep.
Epilogue
Clayton’s young son was the first to see the couple appear in the distance, and he ran up to them and embraced their legs.
“I’ve been so worried!”
Kala and Zaden exchanged looks. They had spoken briefly during their journey back to the settlement about Zaden’s feelings for Archer, and Kala had helped him understand that it was normal to feel jealous, and that it didn’t take away how much he loved the boy. Zaden held him tightly and grinned when they broke apart.
“We just had to go fight some bad guys,” he said with a wink. “I killed Richard.”
Archer’s eyes filled with excitement and he ran in, shouting for his father.
Clayton looked worn out when he emerged, and laid eyes on Zaden as if he had finally discovered a missing treasure.
“You had me worried sick!” he exclaimed, embracing Zaden. Zaden softened and allowed Clayton to fuss over him for a few moments before he remembered the importance of Kala’s mission.
“Could we have a word please?”
After speaking briefly with Clayton, it was decided that Kala would make her announcement to the entire clan. Clayton wasn’t sure what it was, but he trusted Zaden that it was important.
“People of Earth,” she began, once the entire clan had gathered around together in an assembly. Everybody shifted nervously, confused by the way she was speaking. “My name is Kala. I was chosen as a messenger from Kaldernon. The trials of traveling through the dimensions took its toll, as you may know. I lost my memory. But upon seeing the noble Zaden defeat Richard, I remembered my goal. People of Earth, you are not alone. Kaldernon has not forgotten you.”
> Everybody was silent for a moment, before the room roared with thunderous applause. Kaldernon hadn’t forsaken them. And Kala’s very presence there could only mean one thing.
Soon, they would return to Kaldernon.
THE END
Breaking The Dragon
Novella 3 Dragons of Kaldernon
Leela Ash
Copyright ©2016 by Leela Ash. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter One
Kyna lay outside the Kersh settlement, her golden eyes fixed upon the sky. The dragon shifter men had gone out on a hunt, causing the underground village to feel empty and unsafe. They were usually there to protect everyone and keep the peace, but when they left the underground tunnels were mostly filled with people whose strength dwelled within, leaving them vulnerable. She couldn’t wait for them to get back, and made herself comfortable in her favorite spot on the grass, where she could see the sky with nothing in her way.
Although the leader of the Guardians, who were hell-bent on destroying the dragon shifter people and Loni counterparts, had recently been killed, all it served to do was lend an aura of danger to the air.
Kyna was one of the few Loni women in the settlement, and believed wholeheartedly in keeping up the traditions of Kaldernon. Most of the bloodlines had been diluted after a rip in the fabric of time and space had caused several shifter and Loni people to fall to Earth from their own world, where they were promptly persecuted. The Guardians were formed; men who felt the need to protect Earth from what they considered uncivilized alien life.
But the dragon shifters from Kaldernon had never wanted war, and struggled to maintain peace. Even though it meant sacrificing their freedom of flight and enjoying the world in their dragon forms, they had quickly made a pact to do so, thus avoiding creating a disturbance in the strange new world in which they found themselves. The Lonis, women and men who shared the world of Kaldernon and were able to carry shifter children, were also persecuted. Lonis were naturally adept to the unseen forces of the universe. They were the most sacred and revered of races on Kaldernon.
The fundamentalists had a different name for them though – witches. They soon had to hide their powers to see into the past and future from those who were far less capable. Instead, they resorted to creating things of intrinsic beauty and value. They worked day and night to find a way back to Kaldernon, using their amazing creative powers to peddle a living making blankets, clothing, and music. It was enough to keep them in food and water as the shifters and Lonis sought each other after a devastating earthquake separated them from their world and each other.
When a large enough group was finally settled together, they called themselves the Kersh clan and set to work creating a society where they could uphold the traditions of Kaldernon. It became increasingly important to maintain a refuge where they were free to be themselves. However, not all shifters and Lonis had been recovered after the fall to Earth, and those who were forced to adapt often took human spouses and diluted the bloodlines. Whenever a shifter was discovered, they set to work to show him or her what they were capable of. Sometimes this backfired and got the attention of the Guardians, and sometimes, it led to a new member of the clan.
It wasn’t until the Kersh clan finally wandered through the forest in western North America and looked to the sky that they were able to see something that shocked them all. Kaldernon was glimmering in the distance, the intricate colors of home just out of reach. It was there that the clan began to dig and create the underground city where they all now dwelled.
And how did Kyna know this? She saw it. The Loni blood in her veins was almost pure, though she had been born far from the Kersh clan with a second sight. Dreams of her ancestors and their plight haunted her. Through her, their struggles stayed alive. It meant everything to protect the way of life that they were often killed for maintaining, and no matter where she ended up, she would keep those traditions in the forefront of her daily rituals.
This, of course, meant that she would never marry; never carry a shifter child in her belly and continue propagating the clan. The shifter men seemed wary of her, fearful in a way. As if they wouldn’t be comfortable being with a woman who might one day be able to tell exactly what they were thinking. It was lonely, but she was distracted enough by her job that it didn’t matter. She was there as a last resort, recovered from a small band of Lonis that were traveling toward their visions of the underground settlement just a matter of months ago.
She lay back in the grass, keeping her alert, golden eyes fixed on the lights of Kaldernon. She was waiting. Something was coming, and she was going to be the first to know it.
Chapter Two
Cain’s boots crunched heavily on the turf. Most people didn’t understand why he had taken to hunting at night. The solitude and peace of mind it gave him was unmatched.
“Isn’t it hard to see?” one man had asked.
“I’ve always had good night vision,” he replied.
That was true. He’d been adopted as a baby, and his parents had some strange stories to tell about him. He could navigate the dark like a predator, and had never broken a bone in his life, despite an inclination for dangerous situations. He seemed to spring back like it was nothing.
Cain leaned his gun over his shoulder, keeping an eye out for any movement. He had decided to try a new area this year, but so far he had been shit out of luck. There must have been other people working the vicinity.
He stumbled into a clearing and inhaled deeply. Something smelled great; almost like somebody was cooking off in the distance. He tried to place the type of meat that he felt sure was simmering, but there were too many spices to be able to pinpoint it. They were spices he didn’t recognize, but they instantly made his mouth water.
Cain dropped to the ground and rooted through the bag on his hip for his small pack of rations. He didn’t know how long he had been out there, but it certainly warranted a snack. Cain munched absently on trail mix and jerky, his eyes wandering the forest for any movement.
“Whoa, what the hell?” he breathed quietly.
Above him, the sky was shimmering in colors he had never seen before. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, sure that he was imagining things. Before he was able to fully recover from the lights in the sky above him, a woman who looked like she had just walked right out of a dream approached him from the distance.
“You,” she said softly, staring at him.
Cain stared back, raising his blue-green eyes in disbelief. The woman was stunning. It wasn’t necessarily the specific way she looked that struck him so powerfully, but rather the ethereal way she moved and kept her gentle, amber-colored eyes fixed upon him. Her hair was silver-blonde, almost the exact shade of the moon shimmering above their heads, and she wore a gown that reflected the same impossible colors in the sky.
“Who are you?” he asked, trying to summon all of his courage. He had been renowned for his boldness and his bravery all his life, and women had always been oddly attracted to his brazen nature. They considered him an anomaly. A rugged outdoorsman raised in the city, stubborn and a man of his own narrow vision, they surrounded him like flies. But they hadn’t interested him much. What he truly loved was solitude; chances to find himself surrounded by the natural world. No women had held his interest longer than three seconds. Until now.
“My name is Kyna,” she said, her eyes intent upon him. She came toward him, her body more gliding than walking. Was she some kind of spirit? There was something otherworldly about her.
“What are you doing out here all alone at night, Kyna?” he asked, his voice strong, as if he encountered this kind of thing regularly. In truth he was terrified. And enraptured. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous?”
“It’s all right if
you’re afraid,” she said with a soft laugh. She stopped walking then and peered at him, her eyes squinted in contemplation. “I sense your fear, but you should know it is unfounded. I won’t do anything strange.”
I don’t think –“
They stared at each other. He trailed off, feeling as if it was impossible to lie to her. That was all right, he usually spoke his mind just as he saw fit. The only thing he was never completely honest about was his fear. But if he was honest about that he would have no way to fight back and face the fears head on.
“Are you hungry?” she asked suddenly.
Immediately, thoughts of the delicious smelling meat flooded his mind and he nodded, almost involuntarily. Was he under some kind of a spell? The mysterious woman smiled, a gesture that lit up her entire face and brought him from his comfortable perch on the forest floor to standing on his feet. He walked toward her, holding his hand out. If he could touch her, maybe he would be able to believe that she was real.
“Who are you again?” he whispered, lowering his hand as he approached her. He felt suddenly silly, but she didn’t laugh at him.
“Kyna. What’s your name?”
“Cain.”
“Follow me, Cain. Dinner is ready to be served.”
He looked around, raising his eyebrow at her as if she were stupid.
“There’s nothing here,” he said, staying steadfastly in his spot. In truth, he was afraid to follow this strange woman into any unknown place. But she had captivated him so fully that he wasn’t sure he wanted her to leave without him either.
“Do you really believe that?” she asked, her face creasing in a knowing smile. He was surprised to realize that he didn’t, and looked up again at the incredible colors in the sky above his head.
