Claimed by the Alpha Daddy (Stonybrooke Shifters)

by Leela Ash

  “Uh, you don’t happen to live in a freaky underground tunnel, do you?” Cain asked, backing away from Clayton’s outstretched fingers. Clayton withdrew his hand as if he had been burnt.

  “You’re right,” he said. He looked profoundly disappointed. “That’s not Kalden.”

  “Even if it was, he’d have aged by now,” the man to Clayton’s left said gently.

  “How do you know about the tunnels?” the man on the right said gruffly. He was instantly on the alert.

  “I was just there. Some woman brought me in and fed me. She was crazy man; I swear to – “

  Suddenly, a blade was pressed hard into Cain’s neck and the man on the right was in his face. He had frizzy red hair and intense dark eyes.

  “You tell anybody about us and we will make you live to regret it; do you understand me?”

  Cain raised his hands in the air.

  “Whoa man, I just think you guys need to get that girl some kind of mental help. Why the hell are you living underground anyway?”

  “Just keep our secret,” Clayton said, coming forward and pushing the blade away from Cain’s neck. He put his hand firmly on Cain’s shoulder. They locked eyes, and for some reason, he wasn’t sure whether it was the grief or the kindness in the other man’s eyes, maybe it was both, but Cain felt nothing but warmth for the man.

  “All right,” Cain said. Clayton held his gaze a few moments longer before turning to the men behind him.

  “Let’s move.”

  The men lingered, glancing nervously at each other.

  “But don’t you think he’ll…”

  “He is no enemy of ours,” Clayton said.

  His word was steel, and the men followed him into the trees.

  Cain watched them go, his head spinning. Could anything happen to make his night any weirder?

  He quickly decided not to stick around to find out, and hurried through the forest, more anxious than he had ever been to return to the hustle and bustle of the city where he had been raised.

  ***

  Kyna lay on her bed, disgruntled and angry at herself for the way she had handled the situation with Cain. How could she have been so reckless? She had always known, through both experience and wisdom, that people rejected hard truths, especially those that were unfamiliar. Why had she practically bashed him over the head with it?

  “Are you all right, Kyna?” Krista asked, poking her head into the room. “You weren’t there to greet the men when they came back from the hunt.”

  “I’m all right,” Kyna said glumly.

  Krista was quiet for a moment.

  “The men met Cain,” she said finally.

  “How?” Kyna asked, sitting up quickly.

  “They ran into each other in the forest as he was leaving.”

  “I see…”

  “Kyna…” Krista seemed to have something on her mind but was reluctant to say it.

  “Yes, Krista?”

  “Are you absolutely sure he won’t give us away?”

  “I promise,” Kyna said, her amber colored eyes flashing with conviction. Krista seemed reassured.

  “That’s what Clayton said too. You two I trust more than anyone in the world, but the rest of the clan is nervous. I hope that everything you say will come to pass, but until it does, I think it’s best we keep your revelation quiet for the time being.”

  “I understand.”

  Krista smiled. “I’m just worried that with the way things have been, getting their hopes up only to… It could just end up being cruel.”

  “I know,” Kyna said. “I don’t plan on saying anything. Apparently, what I said to Cain was the wrong thing anyway. I just hope I can get through to him somehow.”

  “If it’s fate, you will,” Krista assured her with a kind smile.

  She left Kyna alone. The conversation picked her spirits up some, so she decided to dress and go out to look at the comforting lights of Kaldernon. She didn’t want to doubt her vision. Her heart had locked on Cain, and she had the familiar feeling of prophecy as he approached.

  She returned to the spot where she had first seen him and lay in the grass, staring at the sky.

  “Kaldernon,” she said softly. “What do I do now?”

  She didn’t really expect an answer, and was soon tugged into a peaceful slumber.

  Chapter Five

  In her dream, Cain was standing in front of a bright blue building. The windows reached to the sky. He looked more handsome than she had ever seen anyone look before. He was looking into the distance, at a peak in the forest not too far from where the Kersh clan’s settlement was. He turned his stormy blue-green eyes onto her and smiled radiantly, a gesture that electrified every inch of her.

  When she woke up, the lights of Kaldernon were shimmering oddly. Kyna peered up at them, confused. Why did they look so different? The hue was more orange than usual, and the lights seemed to be pulsing.

  Suddenly, she knew, it was a message. The world above seemed to be organizing, working together to convey a message through the gap between worlds.

  “What are you trying to say?” Kyna demanded, scrambling to her feet. She didn’t want to miss the chance to understand what the people of Kaldernon were trying to convey, but it didn’t make sense. There was no rhyme or reason to the way the lights were flashing. She squinted, concentrating hard on decoding the message.

  “Kyna!”

  A heavy hand on her shoulder broke her concentration and she gasped out loud, whipping around to see who had distracted her.

  “Archer, what are you doing?”

  Archer, son of the leader of the Kersh clan, was behind her. He was about ten years old, and had the same brooding dark looks as his father Clayton. But his eyes favored those of his Loni mother’s.

  “What are you doing out here?” Archer asked, looking up at the sky skeptically. His eyes widened when he saw the pulsing lights of Kaldernon. “What’s going on?”

  He seemed suddenly scared, and his round eyes looked to Kyna for guidance. She was already well-known around the clan for her insight and prophetic dreams, and if anybody could give Archer his answers, he seemed to know it was Kyna.

  “I think that the people of Kaldernon are trying to send us a message.”

  “Really? Cool!” Archer bounced beside her, barely able to contain his excitement. “What are they saying, Kyna?”

  She looked back to the sky and sighed.

  “I’m not sure, buddy.”

  “Whatever it is, I bet it’s super important!” Archer said. “I’d better go tell my dad right away!”

  “Yeah, you do that,” Kyna said as Archer turned on his heel and headed back to the settlement. “I’ll just wait here…”

  Within a matter of minutes, Kyna became surrounded by the most important members of the Kersh clan’s council. Clayton had apparently kept the situation quiet and must have instructed Archer to do the same.

  “What do you make of all this, Kyna?” he asked, making his way through the crowd. He stopped beside her and looked up at Kaldernon with a deep frown. “Do you think they are all right? Is it war?”

  The thought hadn’t entered Kyna’s mind in the least, but it sent a jolt of panic through her. Still, she knew from years of experience to only speak the truth of her first impressions. Fear was a poison that got in the way of true progress.

  “I didn’t get that impression,” she said, though she was now afraid of the worst. “I think I had a vision, and when I woke up, Kaldernon looked different.”

  “Strange,” Clayton said, fingering his chin. “What was your vision.”

  A beautiful man.

  “The man I brought before. Cain. I think he’s involved in all of this somehow, but I can’t figure out what to do…”

  “Cain?” Clayton asked, suddenly intrigued. “What do you know about him?”

  “Not much…just that he’s important. I got the impression that he is going to help to liberate and help us return to Kaldernon.”

&
nbsp; Clayton put his arm around Kyna and led her away from the bulk of the group as they stared at the strange lights of Kaldernon.

  “A long time ago, I knew a man who looked just like Cain,” Clayton confided. “He was a mentor and close friend after my father had been killed.”

  “Cain? But that’s impossible…”

  “No, not Cain. His name was Kalden. He was a friend of my father’s who disappeared around thirty years ago. It happened when I was about Archer’s age. His disappearance has haunted me for years. I thought for sure he had been captured by the Guardians and killed, but when we raided their headquarters and found the records after Richard was killed, it said he had escaped almost immediately and taken a woman with him.”

  “A woman?”

  “Yes. A purebred Dragon Shifter woman.”

  “Where did they go?” Kyna asked.

  Clayton was equally mystified. “I guess they chose to run far from here. I can only imagine that once they stopped running, perhaps they gave birth to Cain…”

  “He mentioned that he was found in the forest near here,” Kyna said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

  “Maybe they felt the coast was clear and were hoping to return back to the Kersh clan to raise their son properly. With his people,” Clayton said sadly. “Where did they end up?”

  “I don’t know, but Cain has no ties to his parents. He was adopted not far from here. I think he feels abandoned.”

  “I see,” Clayton sighed. “The elders of the clan, including myself, I suppose, all thought they had seen the second coming of Kalden. They look so much alike. He was one of the few pure-blooded dragon shifters in the clan. My father and his had that in common.”

  Clayton seemed overcome with emotion and Kyna touched his shoulder comfortingly.

  “Thank you,” he said, clearing his throat. “Anyway, if he has something to do with finding our way back to Kaldernon, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “No?”

  “As the purest Loni oracle, I’m sure you understand how our genetics play a strong role in unlocking our hidden potentials. If he is a pure dragon shifter, he is one of the last. And perhaps he holds the key in unlocking whatever mystery surrounds the lights of Kaldernon. Find him and bring him back here. That’s an order.”

  He said it kindly, but Clayton’s eyes were serious. Kyna nodded, understanding what she was meant to do. She would bring Cain back to the Kersh clan.

  Their future depended on it.

  Chapter Six

  It felt good to get back to work. Cain grunted as he lifted a support beam single handedly. Normally, the construction crew required several men to move them, but Cain had always been strong. He had impressed the supervisor so much that there was a rumor he was up for promotion.

  Cain smirked. He wouldn’t accept a pay raise even if they offered it. He was comfortable just where he was. There was no point in making the men he worked with even more resentful of how capable he was. He liked to make friends where he worked and had to spent his time, not enemies. Besides, it wasn’t any special skill he had worked hard to be rewarded for. He had just always been this way. It didn’t seem fair.

  “Cain!” Joe called, waving his cell phone in the air. “Phone call!”

  “What?”

  Cain lowered the beam in confusion. Why would anybody be calling him at work? Was it his mother? Was there some kind of emergency?

  He dropped his load on the ground with a loud clanging and hurried to Joe.

  “Thanks,” he said, taking the phone and holding a tight, nervous breath. “Hello?”

  There was a brief silence, and then a beautiful, familiar voice reached his ears. “Cain?”

  “Who is this?” Cain frowned, trying to place where he had heard the voice before.

  “It’s Kyna.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Cain was so startled that he nearly threw the phone away from himself. If it had been his own, he might have, but Joe was watching him like a hawk. “How did you get this number?”

  “…phone book.”

  “Yeah right.”

  “Can we talk?”

  “I’m at work!”

  “It’s important. After work?”

  “I really don’t know…” Cain frowned. He hadn’t told anybody about the strange incident in the woods. Not that anybody would have believed him anyway. In fact, he had almost been able to convince himself that it had all just been some kind of ridiculous dream that he’d had after eating some bad deer meat or something. It was jarring to have Kyna’s voice in his ear so unexpectedly.

  “I understand that this seems strange,” she said.

  “You don’t understand anything!” he exclaimed. Joe, who was standing a few feet away from Cain, raised his eyebrow. Cain lowered his voice and growled into the phone. “I’d appreciate it if you’d leave me alone.”

  “…I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  There was a click and he was cut off from Kyna’s voice. Cain stared at the phone in his hand, somehow feeling even more despaired that she had hung up than he was that she had called in the first place. He couldn’t get himself tangled up with someone crazy, even if she was beautiful and kind. He knew who he was, and that’s all there was to it.

  He handed the phone to Joe, who knew better than to ask, and stomped back to work. Who did she think she was, anyway? Interrupting a man during a hard day’s work? He didn’t need that.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had allowed her his time. What kind of stuff would she spew out of her mouth next? But behind his anger was pure intrigue. He had really liked her at first. He’d never seen a more beautiful, enchanting woman. But the construction site wasn’t the kind of place for that kind of thinking.

  He finished out the work day, his chest tight with apprehension. It was hard enough not to know who your parents were or why you were abandoned. If he got himself sucked into whatever twisted game she was playing, he would just end up getting himself hurt.

  ***

  Kyna sighed, winding through the corridors to return Krista’s phone. Had she really thought that would work? She’d divined the phone number, thinking it would be the answer. Why was she disappointed that it didn’t work when it was clearly a stupid idea to call from the start?

  After speaking with Cain, it sounded really unlikely that she would be able to get any help from him. How was she supposed to lure him back to Clayton? It wasn’t something to blow off when the leader of the clan asked you to do something. But Cain, the stubborn man that he was, wanted nothing to do with any of them. She couldn’t blame him but it was still really frustrating.

  “Didn’t go well?” Krista asked, offering her a sad smile. Kyna shook her head.

  “I’ll figure something out,” she said.

  She refused to believe that it was hopeless. Kaldernon had called on her to send her message, and she knew there was nothing she could do once fate had her in its grip.

  She could feel Krista’s eyes on her as she left the room. If he wouldn’t talk to her on the phone, she would just have to go and find him for herself. Nobody bothered her as she packed her things in a small satchel, and nobody asked questions when she left the safety of the underground burrows. She would just follow the same intuition that had told her how important Cain was and hope it would be good enough.

  The cool air of the forest rushed at her when she stepped outside. It was both comforting and intimidating. She had never ventured far without the other Lonis. But if she went with anybody else, she was sure that her mission would fail. It was too sensitive to risk.

  Kyna closed her eyes, centering herself. She would follow her feet instead of the other way around. That’s how they had been able to find the Kersh clan. It would have to be the same way that she found the man who was to liberate them and bring them back to Kaldernon.

  Chapter Seven

  Cain tossed and turned that night. Usually, he had no problem falling asleep right away, but for some reason h
e couldn’t seem to be able to. The phone call from Kyna had left him shaken up all day. He had even dropped a beam, nearly breaking another guy’s foot as he tried to continue on with his day like nothing had happened. The guy was fine, but it had left Cain pretty shaken up, and Joe started asking questions.

  What if Kyna had been telling the truth? It was a possibility he hadn’t entertained yet, and just the thought of it made him recoil. It was impossible. Insane, even. But what else would explain the strange underground caverns he had seen, and the ethereal woman who shimmered like the bizarre lights he had seen in the sky? What was that place? Had anybody else ever seen it?

  Finally, Cain gave in to the reality that it would be impossible to sleep and walked to the kitchen. He sat at the table, sipping milk and staring out the window of his condo. He had worked hard to make his way in the city, regardless of the fact that a simple country life would have been preferable, but he enjoyed the anonymity of the hustle and bustle. But what would happen the next time he went for a hunt? Would he find another woman to feed him miserable lies?

  Suddenly, Cain felt furious. He had gone out for the hunt, but came back without any meat to put in his freezer. He had been depending on that to get him by for the next few weeks. Money was about to be tight. Construction was seasonal work, and winter was just a couple of months away. Somehow, he had let those insane people distract him from his cause.

  Cain stood as if compelled by a force other than his own and pulled his jacket and boots on. He was going to go out and get the meat he needed, and he wasn’t going to let anything or anybody distract him from it.

  ***

  Kyna had been walking for hours without stopping to rest. Once she found the little stream, she began following it. It felt nice to drink when she felt thirsty. She sighed, thinking about Cain. He hadn’t been far from her thoughts since they’d met.

  Kyna had seen the city where Cain lived briefly when the small Loni tribe was heading toward the Kersh clan’s settlement. It was a huge, terrifying and intimidating place. How was she going to be able to navigate it to find him there?