Finding the Dragon (Dásreach Council Book 1)

by Josette Reuel

  Kai continued to work with Alvena, showing her the movements that would break an attacker’s hold, either from behind or by grabbing her hand. He showed her how to use her weight to throw off an attackers balance and to give her punches more power. She picked up everything he taught her very easily. But as the day wore on, her spicy scent and curvy body were taking their toll on his control. Each time he touched skin, his skin burned in return. He found himself doing more and more moves that required him to hold her.

  He knew what he wanted, but he knew she was still conflicted. She didn’t feel that she was his equal. That was her reason for pushing him away. But, Kai didn’t need an equal, he needed the woman who could balance him the way the original Thirteen were balanced by their mates. Alvena was a compassionate woman, but she was also thoughtful and logical when necessary. Kai recognized that it was easier for him to accept that she was meant for him, because he had heard about his mate and what she would mean to him his whole life. He had not realized how strong the connection would be and how fast it would take over his thinking, but he was ready to accept it. On the other hand, his book worm knew of love written in books. Love shown in movies. An abiding love created from common interests, time together, and a building of trust. They had had only a handful of days and in that time she had been attacked multiple times and separated from her friends. Alvena probably wanted the flowers and candy type of courtship and he couldn’t give that to her. He needed her to accept him right now. Her life was in danger and he needed to protect her. He might not love her yet, but she did things to him. As he instructed her in self-defense, his cock was so hard it hurt, just by being near her and smelling her.

  Distracted by his thoughts and his manhood, Kai wasn’t prepared when Alvena did a maneuver that should have flipped him over her leg and away from her. And, since Alvena knew that they were practicing, she was not prepared for Kai to actually lose his balance. Their feet got tangled together and they both fell to the ground. Using his Dásreach speed, Kai twisted as they fell and pulled Alvena in close to him. As he hit the ground, she landed on top of his aroused body. Kai found his lips next to her shoulder, her rough breaths caressing his neck turned him on to the point that he could no longer hold back, and he began to trail his lips along her neck to her ear. He sucked the earlobe into his mouth and bit down on it. Alvena let out a moan as her hands grasped his biceps. Kai began to move his hands down her back to her arse. He gripped it in both hands and squeezed as he pulled her into his erection that even now pushed against his jeans. Maybe I should just show her how we fit together. He thought. His mind was hazy with lust as he ground her against him. His lips found hers in a crushing kiss. Her taste was all he knew. She pulled back, breathing hard.

  “Alvena.” Kai moaned as he went back in for another passion filled taste of his mate. He rolled Alvena under him and moved his hand to cup her through her jeans. He wanted inside of her so damn much. Kai felt Alvena’s hands on his chest. At first he thought she wanted him to take off his shirt, so he started to pull away to grant her wish, but then he realized that she was pushing him away. Shite.

  “Kai.” She said through heavy breaths. “Stop. Please. You must stop.”

  “Why?” Kai asked as he pushed up on his arms to look her in the face. “I want you and I know you want me.”

  “Because, Kai, I don’t do one night stands and that’s all this would be.” She said softly as she tried to get out from underneath him. Kai rolled away from her and lay on his back. His body was strung so tight, his dragon guide was in an uproar inside of him. They both agreed that Alvena was Kai’s and he needed to take her. But, Kai was connected enough to his human side, to know that he couldn’t force the issue with her. He sat up and looked at her. She was hunched with her arms around her legs against the sofa.

  “Alvena, I’ll stop, but this – what you and I have – is no one night stand. One night is nowhere enough for me. I want forever with you, lass. You are my mate, but it’s more than that.” Kai took in a few deep breaths and then told her the truth that was written on his heart. “With you here beside me, I feel like I can breathe for the very first time in my life.”

  Alvena gave him a look of frustration and then got to her feet.

  “Kai.” She sighed. “You need to stop saying stuff like that. I’ve already told you that I’m not your mate.”

  “Damn it, Alvena. Stop fighting it. You feel the connection, why do you keep denying it?” Kai was sexually frustrated. All he wanted was to be with his mate and with the lust clouding his mind, other parts of his body were demanding that he had already waited too long. He stalked towards her.

  “Kai, please.” She pleaded. “I… I… I don’t know what to think. There are so many thoughts and feelings rushing through my head. I need time.”

  “Fine. We need food. I’m going to town. You can have your time.” Kai walked out of the door, slamming it behind him, and partially shifted to give himself more speed as he took off into the trees.

  Chapter 18

  Al sighed as she watched Kai race into the woods. He was just a blur of motion. Further proof that he was more than the man you saw. A few minutes after he left, she heard a loud roar in the distance. She hoped that it was Kai and not some animal that she should fear while alone in the middle of nowhere. It sounded like the roar she knew from her dream and from when Kai had shifted at the house, but with the distance and distortion of the trees and bayou surrounding her, she wasn’t sure. So, just to make herself feel better, Al closed and locked the door and then turned on another light.

  Hot and sweaty from the self-defense training, she walked into the bathroom and splashed water onto her face and swished some around in her mouth. It tasted like minerals and left a copper penny aftertaste when she spit it out. Kai had been right about the water. Al looked up and looked in the mirror for so long that her vision started to blur. She slapped her hands against her cheeks. That’s enough of that. What she was looking for was not going to be found in her reflection. She had angered Kai, but what she said was only the truth. He may not see it, and sometimes she didn’t believe her own words either… but she didn’t want to be hurt. She had had a few typical teenage relationships that at the time they had ended it had felt like the end of her life and she had dated a few assholes in college and after, but the main reason that relationships scared her was because of people she had called friends. Granted they had all been teenagers and it shouldn’t still bother her, but it did. She knew it wasn’t logical, but when did logic have anything to do with the human heart, with the human soul? She worried about people’s true intentions. Do they really think what they say they do? Do they really like spending time with her? Maybe they just need someone for this day or this event. That’s what her high school friends had made her feel. They only seemed to like her when they had classes together or needed something. Otherwise, they acted like they were embarrassed of her. Al wasn’t blind to truth, she recognized that she had her own issues and had done things that her friends didn’t understand and things that hurt them, but… as she said, logic had no place in the heart. Hers had been damaged at an impressionable age, and only with the help of the Book Worms was it beginning to truly mend.

  Regardless of the past and her fears, the truth remained that Al wanted that man, that dragon, more even than books. Everything about him fired all of her cylinders. There were times during the self-defense exercises that she had almost turned into his arms and kissed him, so she couldn’t blame him for what he had done or for misinterpreting her signals. Because, truth be told, he had read her signals exactly as they were being flashed at him.

  With a sigh, Al walked out into the living space of the cabin. She might as well practice what Kai had taught her. She took the stance he had put her in to start and moved through each movement he had shown her. Pretending to have an attacker coming at her was difficult, but she at least wanted her body familiar with the movements. After a bit of time had passed with no Kai, she began to thi
nk about all of the information he had given her. She knew that it wouldn’t make her Jet Li or Chuck Norris, but she hoped to at least be able to free herself so she could run away as Kai had told her. Al wasn’t the type to just sit and do nothing, she normally spent time on her computer or reading when she was home, which kept her mind busy. Stranded in this old cabin in the middle of nowhere was giving her way too much time to think.

  Bored with the self-defense she decided to move the furniture back while she waited. There was nothing else to do and she wasn’t comfortable walking outside on her own. So, she spent a short amount of time moving everything back to its original spot. Once that was done, Kai wasn’t back yet, not that she expected him to be back already. Even with his speed, she figured it would take him a bit of time to return. Besides, Kai may decide not to return. The look on his face right before he went out the door was pure, passionate fury.

  Sigh. Al figured she probably should be frightened of Kai. Especially after his response to her pulling away from him before anything more happened, but somehow she knew deep down, that he would never hurt her. She knew she was safe with him. It wasn’t rational, but sometimes things just couldn’t be explained. Al had learned early on in life that there were times you just had to go with your gut. None of that had ever helped her shyness. Yet, she had not felt shy around Kai, not once since she met him. She had felt flustered. She had felt lust. She had felt safe. She had even felt friendship and laughter while with the man. But, not once had she felt debilitatingly shy like she usually felt around handsome men.

  Wandering from area to area in the small cabin, Al looked into the rooms she had not yet seen and turned on all of the lights in the large open living area. Realizing how bright the light might seem to someone who came anywhere near the house and not wanting them to question the fact about her being there, she also pulled all of the curtains tightly shut. It didn’t take her long. The place was extremely small and contained nothing that showed who might have lived here, but it was obvious that no one had been in the house for a very long time. An old newspaper she had found in the kitchen had a date several years old.

  Standing in front of the cold fireplace, she twiddled her thumbs and looked around. There had to be something else to do. Being a technical writer, Al was used to writing instructions based on what other people told her, so maybe she should write down what Kai had told her. That way she could make sure to remember it later. Yes, she could do that. She walked down the hallway to the office in the very back of the cabin. Sitting down at the desk she began to open and close drawers. She gathered all of the pens and some paper together and began testing the pens. When she had tested them all, with most being dried out, she took the few that worked back to the front sitting room. Sitting on the edge of the couch, Al pulled the coffee table to her and began scribbling down self-defense instructions and tips that Kai had given her. By the time she scratched out the last few words and drawings, the last of her pens had run dry. She sat back on the couch and tipped her head back, closing her eyes, she wished for a pillow and a blanket.

  Still feeling like she had too much time on her hands, her mind refusing to calm down and relax, she looked up the stairs that led to the loft area. Why not? Heading up the stairs she was able to see a lot more with the lights shining from below. Once at the top of the steps, she found a small bedroom with a dresser and a queen sized bed. She looked through the drawers, but found nothing but some sheets and a few blankets in a cedar chest at the foot of the bed. Figuring she would eventually need them, she pulled an old, but beautiful handmade quilt and the sheets out of the chest. Al looked at the bed. She shivered. Yeah, I don’t think so. She grabbed the quilt, sheets, and a pillow that had been left on the bed and headed back downstairs. There was no way that after what happened she wanted Kai to find her in a bed when he finally decided to return. If he returned.

  Once again downstairs, she laid out the bed linens on the couch and then sat down. It still appeared to be daylight outside, and without her cell phone she had no idea of the time or how much had passed since Kai had left. She was at loose ends. Nothing to do and nowhere to go. If only she had a book to read, then she could escape to another world and not think of what was going on between her and Kai. Or, if she had had her cell phone, she might be able to access her Facebook account and talk to the other Book Worms. It had been over a day since her last communication on the group’s page and she was sure the other girls were getting worried about them. It was likely that Nat and Rogue, like her, had left all of their belongings in their rooms, which included their purses, wallets, and cell phones.

  Al lay back on the couch, her head on the pillow. It had a slight musty smell, but there was nothing she could do about it and she really didn’t care. Her mind was in turmoil over a man she had known for a handful of days. A man who had made her laugh. A man who always seemed to ask her what she wanted without pushing his desires on her. A man who listened to her. A man who protected her. Kai might have a dragon residing under his skin, but when it came to how he treated her, he was all gentleman. She sighed as she stared at the unlit wood in the fireplace across from the couch. Louisiana was a pretty warm state, even in the middle of winter, but Al had always liked fireplaces. She could sit and watch the flames for hours – much like Kai. He was like a flame with a burning point so high that he could burn everything; the reds, blues, greens, and purples of the flame flickering, showing her a new facet of the man who consumed every thought from the moment she had sat beside him on that plane.

  What was love? How did you know if what you felt was the real thing? Al had had a few relationships. They were mellow, nowhere near the combustion of her and Kai’s connection. They hadn’t lasted. There had always been something missing. Was the thing she was missing the other part of her soul? Was she missing Kai? Did any of that even matter or should she just accept what Kai was offering? Should she just enjoy his body for as long as she could hold on to him before her hands burned from the contact?

  Al’s mind drifted back and forth between thoughts of love, lust, Kai, and the dragon. She drifted to sleep with the memory of the wind whipping around her face as the strong and brave dragon carried her away from danger.

  *

  Al drifted in a dream realm of darkness and flashes of light. She was terrified. Her heart was beating so hard that she thought she would either have a heart attack or her heart would burst from her chest and be trampled underfoot. She looked left and right.

  “Kai? Nat? Rogue?” She yelled out into the darkness. As she turned, she realized that she stood in a spotlight. The glaring light strobing and causing her eyes to hurt as she tried to focus beyond it. Al could hear sirens and yells in the distance. She started to walk toward the noises, but a shadow blocked out the spotlight. She looked up but saw nothing. However, when her eyes went back to the ground, a shadow hovered all around her, as if something large leaned over her. She followed the outline and noticed what appeared to be outspread wings and a long spiky tail. “Kai?” She called out to the shadow.

  Flashes of light and then a beam of light was shining in her eyes. Large shadows of men coming towards her behind the light. She searched for a place to hide. Rushing down a long alley, she saw a turn ahead. A shadow flashed against the opposite wall. A dragon with wings spread wide.

  “Kai!” She yelled as she ran to follow him. Why was he leaving her behind?

  At the point that she reached a split in the alley, she saw the emerald and bronze tail of the dragon flip up as if motioning her to follow.

  Al stopped. The dragon wasn’t Kai. Kai was green and blue. She heard boots pounding on the pavement, lights were flashing around her. Al looked down the split that lead to the dragon and the split that lead away from the dragon and those chasing her. Which way should she go? As she debated and the lights and men came even closer, she heard a female voice in her mind.

  This way, Alvena. I will help you be strong.

  She took one step towards the direction
of the dragon, knowing the voice was that of the bronze and emerald dragon. She hesitated only a moment before she heard the men shout out behind her.

  “There she is!”

  At the yell, large man shaped shadows stretched across the pavement at her feet. Without thought she turned and ran after the dragon.

  “Where are you?” She screamed as she ran. Her foot caught on something and she began to fall. Hands grabbed at her. Al fought them. Kai had taught her self-defense. I can escape this she thought as she was pulled against a hard chest. Remembering the lessons, she threw her elbow up and back, lunging all of her weight behind it. The arms holding her fell away and she ran. She had done it!

  Time seemed to pass at a strange pace. She could not tell if it was hours or minutes. Eventually she saw a fuzzy outline in front of her, as she approached she saw an old Indian, he reminded her of the pictures of the medicine men or chiefs of a tribe she had looked at when she had researched her ancestry. He wore soft leather pants. Beads and feathers hung from leather straps on his arms and his neck. A single bright white feather hung from his long gray hair. He was sitting cross legged, what her mom had always called “Indian style” in front of a small fire. He motioned for her to sit across from him on the other side of the fire. A multi-colored horse blanket lay on the ground, so Al sat.