Tia and John dove into the water and then shifted. Finley was speechless as the two, huge sand colored Dragons flew out of the water and then disappeared. Everyone else waited in the boat and it wasn’t long before Kaiden and Zoe appeared out of thin air in Dragon form. Zoe was the first to shift and she landed in the water with a huge splash.
“Hey Charles, John said you might have someone special aboard, besides Finley of course. Hello Finley it is so nice to see you safe and in one piece.” Zoe said as Kaiden climbed aboard the boat to stand next to her.
“Uh nice to meet you too, you do know your both naked right?” Finley stated and everyone laughed.
“Baby we shift naked and shift back naked. You will get used to seeing lots of people naked. Oh and we don’t age after we turn so no one is really old.” Emery laughed
“Holy, are you serious?” Finley asked in shock
“Very little fish, why do you think we look so young?” Kendal asked
“I just thought it was good genes. But damn you mean if we found my mate I can stay looking like this forever?”
“Yep, well you have to do the deed first and I am not sure I am ready for you to be having sex.” Emery confessed
“Oh, I have to do it to turn?” Finley asked a little embarrassed
“You did meet Tia right? She is sixteen forever so please take your time there really is no rush.” Zoe stated
Charles turned as the woman walked up to the deck and looked around in confusion. “So many of you” She stated
“Hello, are you all better, are you well, do you need anything?” Charles asked
“Yes I am well, thank you, but I need answers, why do I feel this way again? It has been twenty two years and he is dead, why do I feel the soul mate pull with you?”
“There is a lot that has happened and it is called a second chance. It is something that was found in a journal that explains it all. What is your name?” Charles asked
“Etana” she stated
“Etana will you accept me as your second soul mate? I have also lost my first soul mate and I didn’t think this would happen to me, but I will love you like no other. I will honor any wish you have and I will ask nothing in return except your love.” Charles stated
“It is safe here? The young one is safe? She swam away and I did not feel her anymore.” She asked
“It is safe here. The girl, Finley is right there and very healthy with her parents. Will you have me Etana?” Charles pleaded
“I am scared Charles. I watched my whole Sect murdered and then burned. I hid like a coward. I have vowed since that I will kill every one of them. I have only killed twelve now. That is not enough and I do not wish to sit back and watch anymore.” Etana announced
“We are not sitting by and watching we are training here and we are going to kill them all. I assure you I will fight by your side in this and you will not be alone anymore.” Charles vowed
“Etana, if you join us all we are a Family here and Family sticks together and fights together.” Kaiden said. Etana turned then, before she only had eyes for Charles. As she noticed the Pearls she dropped to her knees.
“Please forgive me King and Queen I did not notice you. Please forgive my rudeness.” Etana pleaded
Zoe got on her knees next to Etana and placed a hand on her shoulder. Etana flinched and Zoe removed her hand. “Etana we are a family here, you are no better than I and I am no better than you. Please stand we are equals here.” They both stood and Etana looked at them confused. “I did not ask to be a Queen that is just how I was born. Kaiden and I do not try to rule you and we will not. We try and involve everyone in our decisions and choices of the Family. We only have one rule here and that is to train and learn self defense. We are going to fight Aldrich and his children, but if any person does not want to fight we do not require it. Kaiden and I will be right there fighting with you.” Zoe explained
Etana thought for a while staring at Charles the whole time. Charles looked like a man with his heart on his sleeve and broken at the same time. Zoe never knew him when he had his mate, but she knew him as a father and he was a very loving man. He stared right back at Etana.
“I will accept you Charles and I will join this Family, but I will continue my hunt with or without any of you.” Etana stated and then Charles grabbed her in a hug and then kissed her deeply. She returned the kiss with just as much passion as Charles was giving her. Zoe did not want to interrupt, but she was starting to get a bit cold standing there naked.
“I am sorry, but there is something the land requires. You all have clothes and I do not and it is getting cold standing her naked.” Zoe said
“What does the land require?” Finley asked
“Fealty needs to be sworn to Kaiden and Zoe, King and Queen of this land.” Charles said
Etana nodded and dropped to a knee. Finley did the same as her parents whispered the words in her ear. They both spoke the words and then their eyes got big as they felt the pull of everyone else.
“Come let us introduce you to everyone. Breakfast is being served right now and I know I am hungry.” Kaiden said
Zoe shifted and flew off. Kaiden did the same a few moments later. Everyone else followed after they shifted and Finley rode on her father’s back. As they all landed in front of the house the others came out with robes. Breakfast was not complete as Kaiden had hoped, but that gave them time to show Finley her suite and she took a quick shower and changed clothes. Her parents did the same and Finley insisted that they stay in the room closest to hers. Charles led Etana to one of the empty room and bathed her. He set out some clothing while she was finishing up in the shower. Etana though had other plans when she came out of the bathroom. Charles and Etana arrived at the table as others were already well into their meal.
Chapter 13
Worry
Once Etana and Charles arrived at the table and made their plates everyone quieted down to eat. Some threw curious looks at Etana, but most just accepted it. Kaiden took this opportunity to shed light on everything that has happened in the past month.
“Everyone this is Etana and Finley, as you can all see Charles and Etana are second chance mates. Finley here knows what she is now, but does not know the full history, so if you all don’t mind I would like to go over the history. We can do our share and tell now or we can wait until dinner. It is up to you.” Kaiden looked around the table at the approving faces and continued. “I will start at the beginning, the beginning we found in a journal about a month ago now. In this journal we found out that a woman, actually a Dragon, created us with magic. She was only a Dragon and had to use her magic to shift into a human. Before she created us she lived for thousands of years when only Dragons lived. She explained that the Dragons of her time were all jealous of each other and constantly killed each other off. When one died the magic of that one went to the others.”
“When she realized that she was the last she moved to this mountain and watched the humans that resided here. She must have seen something that she liked and she approached them and gave them a gift of magic. She created a spell that created us. Now because she had come from a history of jealousy and violence she created fail safes within the spell. These fail safes were only to come out in the face of extinction. Now to jump to twenty four years ago a Blood Dragon named Aldrich had a mate. When his mate gave birth to Vivi over there something snapped in him and he killed his mate. He then went and killed his King and Queen and then the whole Sect. Over the last twenty four years he has located all Sects and destroyed them. He had captured Marcus and held him for twenty two years trying to convince him to turn his children.”
“We rescued Marcus and have brought him home. Since that time other survivors have made their way here and we have begun training. We have recently had an attack on us here, but it was from a missile that was attached to a chip, he had those chips implanted in his children. We got them out in time, but missed one. We lost a lot of our own in one shot and we are still healing
from that.”
“Now Finley, your mate is out there and we think we know his location. You see we are the last that have been born for each race. That means that it is up to us to restore the balance. We have heard that you are a little reluctant about all of this, so do you have any questions for any of us?” Kaiden asked
“Did any of you not want the soul mate thing?” Finley asked
“I did not want any man after the past that I had, but as soon as I felt Gabe and then saw him, everything clicked into place for me and I was immediately in love with him. You can deny it all you want, but as soon as you lay your eyes on his, it’s over.” Justine laughed
“So that’s it huh? The pull really just pulls you in and you lose yourself?” Finley snapped
“Not at all, I am still me and Gabe is still him. We still do the things we like and we find things that we like to do together. It is something that feels so right and I wouldn’t change any of it for anything.” Justine answered
“I don’t want to be a freak. I just want to be normal.” Finley whined
“Trust me Zoe and I grew up together and we both thought we were freaks. Then Kaiden shows up and tells us that we are completely normal. Here everyone is like you. You are no different from anyone here. You can be yourself here and have anything you want. Once we have Aldrich gone and his children gone we can go back out in the world. But I know that I don’t want to do that.” Justine explained and then she told Finley and Etana her past.
Zoe watched Finley’s face as everyone told their past. She knew Finley had grown up with a normal safe life, privileged in fact. Finley watched each face and with each emotion Finley felt, the weather would change outside. Once everyone shared their stories it was either Etana or Finley’s turn. Finley looked to Etana and stayed quiet. Etana took the hint and started to share her past.
“I was born and raised in the mountains range of Israel. My mate found me when I was twenty two and we spent fifty wonderful years together. I was in the mountains gathering the sheep when they came. All of a sudden I felt Raja disappear, he was my soul mate. I ran as fast as I could, but then I felt the others. For two years previous we had gotten letters of the killings, but my King was a stubborn one. He thought he was safe where we were and took no precautions. Life went on as it always did. Anyway, when I felt the strangers I hid. I ran far enough away that I could see them, but they could not feel me. As soon as I saw them leave I waited a little while and then ran to the village. I gathered all of Raja’s weapons and went back deep into the mountain. I spent ten years training myself to use his weapons and then three more getting my body where I thought it needed to be. You see I am a Fury and I should be a natural fighter, but my King knew I was good with animals and so that was my job. After I got my body where I wanted it I joined the Israeli Army. There I learned how to fight and shoot guns. After my time was up seven years ago I have been out hunting them down. They are getting harder and harder to find.” Etana finished and Charles wrapped her in a hug.
It didn’t appear that Finley was going to share anything so Zoe and Justine decided to show her around the house and grounds. They started at the top floors and made their way to Finley’s suite.
“Why is my apartment bare?” Finley asked
“Because this is your home, we left it blank for you to decorate anyway you want to. See I put books here on the table and you can order anything you want. This space is for you and your soul mate to decorate any way you want.” Zoe explained
“And what if he doesn’t like what I do?” Finley asked
“Finley he is made just for you. You and you only, if you wanted to decorate this suite all by yourself, trust me he will love it and feel at home here.” Zoe explained
“I’m scared. I have never had a boyfriend and I have never been interested in having one. I have always just focused on being normal and fitting in.” Finley admitted
“We know. We have done the same our whole lives. Only difference is you had money and people who loved you. Here you can be who you truly are without having to hold back and hide. Let Finley shine.” Justine laughed
“I think I can manage that, but what if his past is bad like your guys? I mean right now I really feel the spoilt brat and hate it. I worried about clothes and shoes, worried about being popular at school and being captain of the swim team. I wanted everyone to be jealous of me to envy me. Mainly because I didn’t want to be the freak, the one they laughed at.” Finley confessed
“It’s hard for both of us to compare with that Finley. We hated being in the lights and people looking at us. We always wanted to be unseen and just blend in. We knew that if they knew what we could do that they would watch us. So when we were alone that is when we let ourselves come out. Do you know what you really like to do? Do you know what the real Finley likes to do?” Zoe asked
“I love animals. I would love to ride a horse and have some. I would love goats and pigs. I would love to have a little farm.” Finley blushed
“We can do that, there is tons of land here, hundreds of miles that are protected within the border. Honestly I would love that too. Maybe we could have Paulo and Adam build some corrals. I know I would love to see how Ben reacts to them. He could be a big help to you Finley.” Justine said
“That is a great idea, but Finley on a farm they also use the animals for food. Would you mind that?” Justine asked
“I don’t think I would, but I would like some that were just for pets too. Apparently my parents have boat loads of money so that won’t be an issue.” Finley stated
“Honey we all have boat loads of money and well it really doesn’t matter at this point who buys them. I will speak with Kaiden and Paulo and have them set up an area and order some things before the animals. We might need to speak with everyone and see who has experience with animals and they could be what I have heard called the ranch hand, basically just someone who works with them all the time and cleans their barns.” Zoe explained
“Yeah I didn’t think about all of that. Not really sure I want to spend the day cleaning up poop.” Finley cringed and they all started to laugh.
After they were all done laughing they continued the tour of the house. Finley was amazed at all the things they had and how many people lived here. She was thinking that she might not ever get bored. She had a suite that she could escape to if she wanted to be alone and the times that she wanted to be around people she could. All the little kids and babies she had seen at breakfast were nowhere to be seen.
“Where are all the little ones that were at breakfast?” Finley wondered aloud
“Oh most are probably sleeping right now it is nap time, but during training Ada and Leon keep them in the playroom that is now somewhat of a daycare. We are headed that way now, I wanted to show you the map anyway.” Zoe explained
“What map?” Finley asked confused
“The other night when I played my guitar it spoke to Maggie. She started screaming for a map and so we got her one. We only had one of Europe, but that didn’t stop her. She marked different color dots on them and we knew right away that the dots were us. Jaco worked his magic and printed out enough to make a world map and now that one has lots of dots on it. Here we are.” Zoe explained
They entered the playroom and Finley saw all the sleeping toddlers and babies, but she was drawn to the map covering a large mirror. There were dots all over Ireland and then a blue one in Brazil. One green was in Afghanistan and another was in Africa. Then there were lots of colored dots all over, but what stood out to her were the half red ones.
“What are the half red ones?” Finley asked
“Those are his sons and this red one here in Alaska is him. This blue one down here in Brazil is your man. We believe that is him because he was one of the first to appear on the map. The night she made the original dots there was only a couple. Yours, your parents, the two green ones, this one and then the orange dot was close to you. She also marked this red one in Australia, but these three are
our priority to get now. They are the kids, the last of us.” Zoe stated
“He is all alone.” Finley whispered.
“He is and we need to go find him especially now that you are here. We need to make a plan” Zoe announced
Chapter 14
Search and Rescue Team
Zoe and Kaiden spoke after the girls had come down to the training area. They were planning a big barbeque again and some of the guys were currently bringing down the grills. Kaiden had told Charles and Sebastian that they wanted everyone to attend tonight. They had some plans to make and wanted everyone’s opinion. Tables were being set in a huge circle with the kids tables in the middle.
Zach had worked with Finley a little on helping her control the weather. Once she had looked inside of herself and came to terms with who she really was the control came easy to her. So for tonight she made sure that there were clear skies and the moon shone brightly through. Strings of lights had been put back up and the stereos were brought back out, but they were not playing yet. About four tables were lined up together and food was being placed on them.
There was an assortment of burger, steak, chicken and ribs. At least ten different salads were made and placed around the meat. There were also lots of bags of chips and even dessert was placed on the last table with the plates and utensils. Donny was standing near the tables keeping all the meat nice and hot. Once the last plate was brought to the table the lines formed as people started to make their plates. Kaiden and Zoe waited until everyone was done and then made theirs. Everyone was here, Kaiden and Zoe both enjoyed the moment.
As Kaiden looked around he noticed that most were done with most of their plates and so he stood.
“May I please have everyone’s attention?” All heads looked up to him. “Please continue to eat while I speak I just have a few things to go over with you all. Finley has made a request and I think that it is a very good one. How do you all feel about having farm animals?” The half-blood children immediately went wild and an older man stood. He was in his forties and Kaiden recognized him. “Niall good to see you here” Kaiden greeted.
Lost Ones (The Extinct Race Series Book 3) Page 8
