Mated by The Alpha Dragon: The Exalted Dragons (Book 3)

by K. T. Stryker

  “I’m not feeling like it. I’m a little sick. I don’t know why,” she said. I noticed the hesitation in her voice.

  This was the moment. It was the moment when I should have leaped out of hiding and taken the king’s life at once. I had the perfect opportunity, but I was afraid that fighting him while being in the same proximity as Elise could put her in danger, so I waited.

  “Is it your back?” he asked her, suspiciously.

  “Yes, a little,” she replied, with less hesitation in her voice this time.

  “It is an effect of the injection that you got for your spine to hurt a little. A necessary pain, and a healthy one. As long as you feel this way, we don’t have to worry about anything getting out of hand, now do we?” he said, his voice getting farther away from me.

  “I figured, and it’s better this way,” she said, obviously complying with him just to get him out of the room at once.

  “Rest for now, but not much because she wants you to be with us,” the king said.

  “I will lay in bed for a bit, and the moment I feel better I’ll come down,” Elise replied.

  “It smells like, something dead in here,” he said, and he walked closer to where I was.

  I began to feel my heart racing. The blood was rushing to my eyes, and I knew that if I just thought the wrong thought, I would begin to turn right and there.

  “Oh, I left the window open,” Elise said and quickly walked ahead of him, rushing toward the windows above me.

  “Must be the stench of those dirty men sleeping in the yard. They are rotting like the animals they are,” the king said with disgust in his voice.

  “Why don’t you let them go back to their homes? If they are this much of an annoyance to you?” Elise asked.

  It was a mistake to ask that question. It gave the king a reason to stay in the room and start talking about himself for a long time.

  It was nothing but disgusting to hear his words. He explained how he needed his army of men around him in the yard, but at the same time he knew it was dangerous to do so. He thought this left them room to someday revolt against him or try to kill him. However, by treating them like animals and giving them the bare minimum of food and shelter, they would always feel like they need him. So, no matter how badly they were treated, they would still think him to be divine for the many things that he had to offer them.

  “Again,” he said as he began standing up from the bed, “rest and meet us downstairs. She has felt much better with you around.”

  I rose with half of my head from behind the bed when silence followed the king’s words. His hands were on the side of her face, and I could see the expression of disgust on Elise’s face.

  My stomach cringed at that sight, and I rose to my feet once I saw him touch her and admire her face. I lost it. The anger gripped me in that moment, and I was about to leap forward and attack him. I stood on my feet, read to turn at any moment.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Theo

  In the moment when I surrendered my body to the anger that took over, Elise pulled Harold toward her and hugged him. Behind his back, her hands signalled to go back into hiding, and the desperation she wore on her face left me no choice. I went back hiding behind the bed until he was gone.

  Elise stayed by the door, leaning her ear on the door and listening to his footsteps until they ceased to be audible. She turned and sighed.

  “Theo,” she said, “he could have caught us. You don’t know what could have happened if he had found you here.”

  “I would’ve brought him to his knees if you had let me,” I nearly shouted and remembered that I still needed to maintain the whispering.

  “You don’t understand,” she said.

  “There is no need to now. Let’s leave, and we will have all the time to talk,” I told her and grabbed her hands, heading toward the window.

  “Wait,” she said, “we can’t leave now. And even if we could, how are we going to get out of here with all the guards everywhere?”

  “Through the window. We will fly out of here,” I told her and proceeded to walk toward the window again.

  She pulled her hands away from mine and hid her face in her palms.

  “Do you not trust me?” I asked her, beginning to realize that she wanted to stay there more than she wanted to come with me.

  For a moment, my whole world began crashing. I felt that the purpose that I had ascribed all my life for was suddenly a lie.

  “Of course, I trust you, Theo. It’s not about that,” she said, holding my hands again and pressing her body against mine.

  I looked at her face and saw the fear that was taking over her thoughts.

  “My mother, she is here. She has been with the king ever since she left me at your house,” she said. “I cannot leave her here, she is hopeless.”

  “We will come back for her,” I said as I brushed her cheeks with my hands. “Come with me now, and we will come for her when tomorrow’s sun sets.”

  “I will not leave her here,” she said and pulled away from me, turned around. “You think if I could leave, I wouldn’t have? He threatened to hurt my mother if he senses any form of disobedience from me. I can’t help it, Theo. I’m trapped here until I can save my mother from him.”

  “Then let’s save her together,” I said in desperation, not being able to control my chaotic emotions at that moment. “Where is she?”

  Elise walked toward the door and pressed her ear against it again. She turned toward me and whispered, “Theo, you have to go now.”

  “I won’t leave you here,” I said. “I’ll stay here. I’ll hide somewhere.”

  She wasn’t listening to me. Instead, some sort of terror was overwhelming her. She approached me, pressed her body against mine while holding my hands tightly. She lay a soft and gentle kiss on my lips that brought all the intense frustration in me to crumble and rest.

  “Come back, tomorrow same time, and, please, Theo, don’t do anything stupid,” she begged me while our foreheads were touching. “Now go. I can hear him coming. He is in the hallway.”

  My heart couldn’t bring me to speak any words except to give her the promise of getting her out of all this. I was breaking, thinking that it was far beyond my power to save her at that moment when my passion outgrew my abilities. I kissed her once more and headed for the window, jumping, and, while in the air, stretching my wings so that my only comfort became the night sky.

  A part of me wanted to head back to the village and see Matilda. But the bigger part of me wanted to stay by the willow tree.

  I realized I was only a child at heart. My father was right. I needed more patience than I had, and I understood that the magnitude of my impatience was tremendous.

  My impulses were much stronger than my ability to control them. If I had faced the king again, I would have ended up dead. I remembered what Bernard had taught me about controlling my powers, and I stayed by the willow tree attempting to meditate. However, I couldn’t. I endlessly thought of Elise, losing every bit of my power in the thought of her.

  It was true that she was like no other. Elise had a heart of gold. At the same time, she was intelligent and able to use her words to charm anyone. A testimony of that were the words that she left me in her note that kept me tied to the pursuit of her for years and years.

  I wondered if she would be able to use those abilities of hers to trick the king, perhaps save herself and her mother without ever needing me. One thought lead to another, and I started thinking clearly. I asked myself why hadn’t Elise turned a single time? Back in the village, she didn’t even seem to try and fight the king with me.

  That was quite odd, and just for a moment I doubted her intentions. We could have defeated Harold back in the village if she had fought by my side. Was I a fool for risking my own life trying to save the life of someone who didn’t even try to save herself?

  The sun began to rise, and I still was in the same place with my body sitting up in the same position. My back
was to the willow tree. I moved to the back until I was under its shade and closed my eyes once more.

  I had many questions that needed an answer from her or else my journey would have been in vain. I waited until night fell, and when the moon shone bright, I was getting ready to go to the castle again.

  ***

  I went into her room the same way I did the night before. However, this time I hid for some time before she showed up in her room. When we talked, I asked her all the questions that had left me quarrelling with my own mind. I realized how much my doubt had caused me to misunderstand.

  The king had developed some sort of injection that suppressed the dragon form in a shifter’s body. I confessed that for a moment I doubted her, and it hurt her. For the first time, I felt what it was like to be betrayed by my own thoughts and for that to cause hurt to the one I loved the most. I was shown how much I needed patience in my heart. I needed to never rush into thinking or into feeling. My father’s words were right, and for the first time in my life, I began to be in control of more than just my body but also my mind.

  Chapter Ninteen

  Theo

  Love magnifies all, and through our devotion to what we love, we learn to see the whole world through a magnifying lens. But does that mean that the feeling of love is an illusion? The absolute answer is no because the magnification that love does to everything we see or feel is not an illusion but rather a way to see things for what they really are.

  When I loved the purple roses Elise had so much admired, my whole attention was stolen once I saw them. I would see nothing but them and only the beauty in them. The thorns disappeared or were just another element of the beauty of that rose.

  For days and nights, my thoughts of Elise were unstoppable, a necessity to my mind. Just like the water I had to drink, I had to see her whenever the moon hung on the purple skies.

  But things began to get tighter and more smothering as time passed. The king was on to us. Without knowing who I was, he knew that something was different about Elise. She was happier, brighter, and she had an appetite for food. He began visiting her room more often and at times would send a guard to check on her at random times.

  Disaster struck when we were too immersed in our most passionate kiss. The room felt as if it were wider, safer, and a keeper of our secrets. We forgot that our words could be heard and that touch was the safest way to communicate.

  We lay in bed embracing and exchanging words with both our lips and our bodies. We didn’t pay attention to the sound of the footsteps in the hallway. Suddenly I felt Elise’s body freeze and her grip on my chest tightening. She pushed me out of bed all of a sudden, and I fell on the ground by the window. I was about to get up when I heard the door open and a guard entered the room.

  The guard wouldn’t leave—he was sure someone was in the room. I had to act. Something had to be done. I waited until his back was to me, and I picked up a candle stick that was on the bed stand and hit the back of his head. He fell to his knees immediately, but he didn’t pass out. He was conscious and about to utter a yell, so I hit his head once more, harder. He fell on the floor head first and lost consciousness.

  “You have to go now. Harold must have sent him, and when he doesn’t come back, he’ll come himself,” Elise said in a trembling voice.

  “I can’t leave you like this,” I said, fearing that she was in ultimate danger.

  The door opened again, and this time the guard looked me right in the eye. He shouted for more of the guards to come to his aid, and he attacked me. I dodged the sword that was pointed to my chest and pushed the guard out of the window. More of them were coming, and I was beginning to lose control of my body—I was turning.

  When I realized that the only way to end this was to escape, I turned for the window, and before I jumped, I received from my body the one impulse that changed everything. I turned around and rushed toward Elise. I pulled her arms and ran toward the window, taking her with me. I jumped with her in my hand and as I turned, she held on to my hand until the claws pierced out of it.

  Next were the night skies welcoming our racing hearts and the moon close to our faces as we flew away from the castle.

  Elise was still afraid. She begged me to go back, but I wouldn’t listen to her. I had to keep her safe, away from the wicked king and all who served him.

  We went back to the village. Matilda and my father were there, and for the first time in my life, I had my whole family gathered in one place. But things weren’t complete. Something still remained a burden on my heart.

  Elise wasn’t OK. She was unable to even smile. All that she was thinking of was her mother who was left in the claws of King Harold. I took her to our sacred spot by the willow tree, and this time she was the one who was weeping.

  “You had spent all your life looking for me, wanting to find me, and I can’t blame you. I asked you to,” she said as the tears rolled down her cheeks. “But I spent the whole of my life looking for my mother, and like you didn’t rest until you could find me, I wouldn’t rest until she is safe and away from him.”

  “I love you, Elise,” I said as I held her in my arms and felt her tears cold on my chest, “and it isn’t finding you that will make me rest, it’s your happiness that will. I promise you, I won’t rest until we get her back. Your purpose now is mine too.”

  “Let us go at once,” she begged. “I can’t wait a single moment. He will kill her like he said he would.”

  We suddenly had the stronger hand. There were three of us who could turn into dragons while the king was all alone. With all of his army and guards, I knew that he couldn’t stand a chance against the three of us.

  “When does the injection wear off?” I asked her.

  “By sunrise I’ll be able to turn,” she replied.

  “Then we will wait until sunrise, and my father will come with us.” I held her hand and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry, Elise. This will all be done before nightfall.”

  The world wasn’t falling—only her tears. That was the world falling for me. I held her closer as we dangled our legs off the edge of the cliff and eyed the range of mountains.

  Our eyes were full from looking at mountains, and instead, we gazed into each other’s eyes. I felt like she was nature’s most intricate project, especially the depth of her eyes and the subtlety of her smile.

  I grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her crescent lips. No worlds were falling any more. Rather, heartbeats and breaths were stolen away by the heat of that moment. Our chests were pressed against one another, and I kissed every single gently soft tissue of skin on her neck.

  I never knew that there was something more intense than my body turning into a dragon, but there was. When our bodies melted into one another, I remembered the closeness I felt to her in every dream of mine and realized that it was nothing. Every fantasy and every hope that I had were mere glimpses compared to that moment.

  It went fast yet smooth. My lips found themselves called to every inch of her body, as if those kisses were my way of showing gratitude for the existence of her.

  Every moment we spent with one another was a moment forgot about all else. The sun was rising, I lifted her off the ground, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. We kissed for as long as our breaths could hold.

  Chapter Twenty

  Theo

  When the world fell to pieces in the war 200 years ago, a lot was lost. Most of the knowledge that was written in books disappeared. Some were kept and saved. I was lucky to be the son of a woman who had some of those books in her possession. She owed it to Bernard, and he owed it to the king. I never knew who the king owed his knowledge to, but I guess it was the men who wrote the books a long time ago.

  Matilda had told me that people once knew a lot about the world. About the earth, the water, wind, and fire. They even knew nearly everything about how our bodies worked. She said that the brain and the heart were our life givers, and both owed it to blood and water.

  Our he
arts controlled everything, from the stiffness of our muscles to the boiling of our blood. But even without all the knowledge that the world had before, I could easily figure out that life was all about the beating of our hearts. I didn’t need knowledge to know that, just a little bit of observation.

  Life was like the pulses in our hearts, ups and downs, beating out of and into our chests. The night and day were also witnesses of that, with every sun rising, a moon following, and darkness coming just to be eaten away by the morning sun again.

  Completeness wasn’t in a single moment—maybe for only the lucky it was. But for me, I only found completeness in my life when I reflected on the wholeness of it, on the whole journey. None of my destinations were ever a heaven. They were all mere places that lost their charms once I got used to them.

  On that night, as I held Elise in my arms and walked toward the village, her heart was melancholic and afraid. I felt her trembling at times, and all I wanted was to end that right away. Still, we had shared in only one moment two of the most genuine things people can share with each other, a promise of devotion and the nakedness of both body and mind.

  The walk wasn’t long, but as soon as we had reached the village, I felt an eeriness flow into my veins. Something was off, and it showed in the desolation that took over the village. I began hearing the shouts of the Hawks roaring. I grabbed Elise’s arms and took several steps back, hiding behind a tree that was right at the edge of the village.

  I feared for my mother and father back at home, and so at once, I got out of hiding and started running toward the house. I thought that the sound of the Hawks was the sound of them attacking, but it wasn’t. When we arrived a little before the house, my father was fully in his dragon form, fiercely attacking all the Hawks in the area.

  He was launching fire from his mouth, burning the cottages nearby. He had gone insane, and I didn’t know what to do. He was killing some of the people of the village by accident. The Hawks were flying around, some of them caught in his teeth and others on his claws like rings.