by Lacey Denair
“I’m afraid at times it goes with the job. No one comes to mind, but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong, either, my love,” Frederico said, rubbing his chin, thinking.
“You called me your love. Why? All we do is argue. I just thought you wanted me because I’m your mate and you’re stuck with me. You have to admit, we don’t have a lot in common, Frederico.” Kelley looked under his lashes and grinned at his mate.
“May I tell you a secret, little one? I adore our fights. I haven’t had so much fun in centuries. Everyone I deal with is afraid to fight back, so it makes for an extremely boring life. You make me feel alive again!”
Kelley started laughing. “Yeah, I like ’em, too. I can’t wait to have make-up sex.” Kelley had that grin again.
“What is make-up sex?” the king inquired.
“You are so kidding, right? You’ve never had make-up sex? I was right. You are living in the Stone Age! Don’t worry, king, baby. He patted his mate. I’ll straighten you out.” Kelley blushed. Just then he turned toward the cave opening then looked back at Frederico, putting his hand up, then put his index finger to his mouth. “Shhhh.”
He got up, grabbed his scope, and slid over to the cave entrance on his stomach. He watched for quite some time as six men moved around looking for something, probably the king. They talked among themselves, swearing and laughing. They were having a good time!
Moving quietly, he went back over to the king. Kelley whispered, “We got company. Your friends with the big gun, I’d say. At least they don’t seem to know too much about other shifters’ senses. Or at least mine. I read somewhere that as a rule, dragons don’t have real good senses. Is that right?”
“Yes, as a rule we don’t need senses other than acute eyesight in the air and strong talons for grasping our prey,” Frederico said softly.
“Mmm…That must be why they’re so noisy. They don’t think you can hear them,” Kelley said. “Stay here in the bag. I’m going to zip it up. It will keep your scent in one place. I’ll be right back.”
“What? Wait…No, you most definitely will not go out there. You could get hurt. You said there are six dragons. There is only one of you, Kelley. I refuse to let you go outside. Besides, I don’t hear anything,” the king said quietly but forcefully.
“Exactly. Stay here,” Kelley said as he zipped up the bed. I’ll be right back.” He bent over, kissing the king. As Frederico sputtered in disbelief, Kelley disappeared down the rope.
Thankfully, it was sundown. That and sunrise were the hardest times of day for shifters to see. Kelley quietly slid down the rope, put it back in its hiding place, and started his recon. He caught the scent of dragons. Six, no other shifters. Good, this was going to be fun. He had already left a few surprises here and there. Now that he knew where the enemy position was, he started adding to it. One of the techniques his dads were great at was making traps look like accidents. Kelley also learned well while in the Middle East. Between what he learned at home, on his tours, and from having knowledge of different shifter anatomy, these guys had a problem they weren’t aware of. Yet, sometimes being small was a good thing.
Dragons were big, strong, fierce, fire-breathing creatures. They were the King Kong of the shifter world. They had dense body masses and were heavy even in human form. Their eyesight rivaled that of the peregrine falcon in the air, but all their other senses were lousy and they tended to be just a bit arrogant. That was their Achilles heel. Everything Kelley did that night would be thought of as mishaps by the big dragons, but in actuality they were different forms of dead falls. He would use their own weight against them. A person, even a shifter as strong as a dragon, didn’t travel well on broken ankles, legs, and ribs. He kind of felt sorry for the guys. Sort of. They had no business messing with his dragon, though.
By the time Kelley finished, he had completed what he considered a fair layout. He had laid out enough small deadfall traps to cause the big guys problems, but not enough to look like a perimeter. However, he would know when someone got close. That was for sure. He went back to Frederico and waited for help to arrive. Kelley didn’t think the king’s people would take all that long to find him.
Over the course of the following forty-eight hours, he heard screams, hollers, cussing, yelling, and other assorted responses when someone had an “accident” while on their merry way.
When unexpected weather set in, Kelley made sure that he and Frederico cuddled in the sleeping bag, nice and warm, knowing the men outside were miserable. He had watched the men, and between the sprained ankles and one broken rib, the men were not laughing anymore.
Kelley kept a vigilant watch over his beloved mate. He kept an even closer watch on the men trying to harm him.
Chapter Nine
“What do you mean they’re not back yet? The king left in dragon form on mate retrieval,” Mason yelled at his men.
It had been entirely too long for the king and consort not to be home. Due to problems with closing out all the king consort’s business and weather conditions, the royal guard had been delayed by two days getting back to Saibina by jet.
Mason called every four hours to be kept updated on the king and his mate. One did not let His Majesty romp through the countryside unescorted. It wasn’t done!
“I want them found. Now! I don’t care if you have to dredge the Atlantic Ocean! Make it happen.” With that, he slammed his phone down. Mason’s next call was one he did not want to make. It may cost me my life, he thought.
He dialed the number, waiting while it rang. “Yes?” Saber sounded sleepy and a little confused.
“Why are you calling me, Mason?” Silence on the other end of the phone told Saber what he didn’t want to know. “Oh Gods!” Saber’s mind suddenly cleared as the truth fell into place for him. “Something has happened to my father! Tell me now!”
The king’s bodyguard had never heard Saber sound frightened before. He took a deep breath then relayed the events leading up to the king’s disappearance. When he was finished, he waited for the explosion that didn’t come. What did happen was much worse.
“Mason, I want you to listen to me very closely, as I’m only going to say this once. Do you understand?” Saber said a little too calmly.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I want a call every hour on the hour keeping me abreast of every detail. I do not care how small or insignificant you think it may be. The king would not simply disappear. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I am on my way. I expect an escort here in one hour and the fastest jet you can find. I don’t care if it’s the space shuttle. I need to get there as quickly as possible. I expect to be in Saibina and in charge before we hang up from this conversation.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“And Mason?” Saber stopped, taking a deep breath. “I am hereby ordering you to contact the entire high council to relay this message. As your heir apparent, I hereby give notice, I am making ‘the call.’” Saber’s voice was tight, controlled, extremely quiet, and terrifying.
“Yes, Your Grace. I’ll see to it. I’m sorry, Your Grace. He’s like a father to me, too,” Mason said sadly.
Saber could hear the tears in Mason’s voice.
“Find him for me, Mason.” With that, Saber hung up.
“Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” Mason kept repeating as he dialed his phone.
“Yes, sir.”
“Royce, we have a problem. Wake up the council.”
“Which ones, sir? It is the middle of the night.”
“All of them!”
Saber, Ty, and the twins were ushered aboard the empty commercial 777 jetliner that would be flying them and their escort to Saibina, as it was the fastest way home. Once on board, the prince instructed everyone he was not to be interrupted until he gave permission. Saber sat down, cleared his mind, and prayed to the Gods it wasn’t too late.
At exactly 2:16 a.m. Greenwich time, every dragon on the planet was “cal
led” by their prince to find their king. Dragons had the ability to hear “the call” in time of great need. It had only one purpose and had not been used in over three thousand years. It was a well-guarded secret that few even remembered, and only those in direct line to the throne knew the existence of. The moment the call went out by Saber, every dragon on earth heard it at the same time. When they received it, they knew what it was and how to act on it if they chose to. They had no choice, however, but to hear it. It was genetically ingrained into their very fiber as much as the ability to fly. To ignore it was blasphemy.
It didn’t matter what the dragons were doing. If they were asleep, it woke them up. If they were lying in a dragon hospital up to their teeth in broken bones, they immediately healed. If a female was in the middle of childbirth, the babes were delivered within the next ten seconds, and the mother healed. If the dragon was in the midst of their first shift, it completed instantly.
Only the heir apparent, the next male or female in direct line to the throne, could mentally place “the call.” No one not instated to it or disinherited from it could call out simultaneously to the half million mature creatures.
Dragons could sometimes speak telepathically to their own mates. Otherwise, Frederico’s guard would have known of their king’s dilemma sooner. The problem with technology was that even dragons had become spoiled by it.
Frederico opened his eyes, hearing a hushed buzzing sound in his mind, and he knew. His beloved people were coming for him. Saber, the son he loved more than his own life, loved him equally.
“Oh, shit!”
“Son of a bitch!”
“Oh, huge stinkin’ monkey balls!”
Kelley heard several screams all at once somewhere in the distance. He thought someone had met with an accident. Oops, sorry, my bad, he thought to himself and smiled.
“What is it, king, baby? Why are you smiling?” Kelley asked when he looked over at Frederico.
“My people. They are searching for me, for us. I heard Saber call out for his dragons to find their king.”
“How many are we talking about here? ’Cause there’s six of them out there right now trying to kill you.”
“Those sent to kill me were not aware of who I am until now. They will not try to hurt us any further. The penalty for doing so is too terrifying for words. As far as how many are now looking for us? All of them.”
“I don’t understand, baby. All the dragons in Saibina? It’ll still take them awhile to get here.” Kelley looked confused.
“When I say all of them, I meant exactly that. All of the dragons on earth. At last count, there were a little over half million mature ones.”
Kelley laughed. “Okay, I get it now. You’re just messin’ with me. It’s all right. We are under a little stress here. You go ahead and have some fun if it’ll help.”
“You are not grasping what I am saying, my beloved. I am not being amusing but utterly serious, Kelley. The ability to call out to our kind, to find their monarch, can only done by my heir, the male or female who is in direct line for the throne. Saber loves us so much he just used that ability.” The king looked solemn. “Only he has that power. A mental call, if you will. A buzzing sound we all hear. It is genetically encoded into us to hear it and respond by looking for our king. At this moment in time, that would be me. Once I am safely back in Saibina, a call is sent once again, advising my dragons of my safe return.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you? I gotta tell you, that’s freaky!”
“Yes, it is. It hasn’t been used in over three thousand years. The last time a monarch vanished. My people tend to get distressed when their king goes missing. It’s not really about who I am that is important, but what I represent to them. For that matter, what you as my consort represent. We as a species are exceedingly possessive of our treasures. To my people, I belong to them. I am their national treasure.”
“Okay, listen up. I’m going to slide down and take a look-see. Check these guys out and see if they got this call thingy you’re talking about, or if they still want to do you harm. You stay here. Stay in the bag, and don’t move around any more than you have to on that leg. I’ll be back in a few ticks, and I’ll even take my bow with me, just in case.”
“I didn’t see a weapon. I will not have you running about outside. You will stay in here with me where you’re safe. You can feed me some more of that delightful fish.”
Kelley smiled then went to his pack, slid the fish out he had in plastic bags, and gave it to the king. Also a fresh bag of water. “Here, baby. You eat, and I’ll be right back. I have to go get some more fish anyway. You big guys sure pack the food away.” Kelley bent and kissed the king’s head then turned and was gone out the cave entrance while the king had a fit of temper because he was not obeyed.
“It’s like talking to a wall. Why doesn’t he comply? I say no, and he does it anyway,” Frederico grumbled then smiled. “Well at least he’s not boring.”
Kelley watched the men’s camp. As the hopelessly outmatched would-be assassins moved around the camp, he could hear them talking.
“George, what are we gonna do? We have to get out of here, man. No one told me we were trying to kill the king,” one of the men said nervously.
“When the other dragons find us, we’ll be in deep shit. I say we bail right now. Besides, if I step in one more of those freakin’ holes, my ankles will never recover. Look, you guys do what you want, but I’m gone,” one of the men said disgustedly.
The man’s brother called out to him. “Craig, wait up, man. I’m with you. There is no way I want my wings ripped in half. Thank you anyway. Let’s go.” The two men shifted and flew off into the sky.
A dark-haired man answering to the name Dan sat and seemed to think things over. “I think they’re right. Count me out.” Shifting, he was also gone.
“What’s with those pansies? Hey, they are not keeping their share of the money. Screw ’em,” George, the leader, said quietly. George was really going to rethink this through. Maybe it was smart to leave.
“You can have my share. I’m keeping my wings,” another man said as he started stripping so he could shift. Once he was in dragon form, he grabbed his clothes and took off.
“Just you and me left, George.” Aaron turned and looked at him. “What’d you think?”
“What say you and I split the money we already have and leave? I don’t trust the people that paid us anymore. Now that we know who we were sent to kill, what’s gonna keep them from killing us?” George stood, getting ready to leave.
“Geez, I hadn’t thought of that. I’m gone,” Aaron said as he paled. “You comin’, too?”
“Yeah, let me get our stuff and we’ll go. Damn shame. I was looking forward to buying myself that black Audi and gettin’ some human ass,” George complained. “Let’s go.” The two men bundled their belongings, shifted, grabbed the bundles, and flew away.
Chapter Ten
Kelley watched as a few hours later, dragons started to appear on the horizon.
He was fascinated as, over the next six hours, well over a thousand dragons flew in, including Kate and Jaclynn. The huge animals would land, scent the air, and start looking as they knew they were in the right area. Kelley heard voices as they called out to their king. He knew the dragons were wondering why he did not answer. If someone had indeed harmed their king, there would be hell to pay. Nothing was worse than an enraged dragon, unless it was thousands of them. They checked out the would-be assassins’ campsite, picking up evidence here and there, then searched the surrounding area until they located the cave and their king. When Kelley spotted Jaclynn, he knew these were the good guys, so he called out to them.
When the king’s rescuers had begun arriving, Kelley knew it was time for him to leave and go home.
“King, baby, wake up. I’m gonna take off now and go home. The cavalry is here to take care of you and make sure you get home,” Kelley said softly.
“No, I forbid it. You are com
ing home to Saibina where we belong. You are my mate and consort. I will not contemplate otherwise. Don’t argue with me on this point, Kelley. I need you, and whether you want to admit it or not, you need me. We have bonded. You know what that entails. I fully expect you to be in my bed and standing by my side every day for the rest of your life.”
“Look. Don’t get me wrong here, okay? I like you. A lot, but I can’t hang with that whole consort thing and you ordering me around. The only thing we have between us is great sex.” When the king frowned at Kelley and started to interrupt, Kelley put his hand up and then continued. “You know that’s true.” Frederico closed his mouth and just stared at Kelley with a hurt expression.
“We have absolutely nothing in common. I don’t want you to end up hating me because I embarrass you all the time. I will, too. You know that. You feel obligated to me because I’m your mate and you have no choice. But I do. If I stay, you’ll resent me, and I’ll feel stifled.” With that, Kelley picked up his pack, went to Frederico, bent down, and kissed the king. “You take care of yourself. We may not get along, but I do care about you.” Kelley slid down the rope, taking his pack with him. He tried to leave, but people kept stopping him to talk.
The dragons attended to their king, as he had been gone seventy-two hours and hadn’t had enough time to heal or walk on his left leg yet. As it had been broken in his dragon form, it would take a little longer to heal. It was decided that Kate, being a small dragon, would be assigned the task of getting Frederico out of the cave. Being the largest dragon, the king was simply too big to shift in the cave, and his right wing was still weak, so Kate shifted and had talon guards placed on her front legs so she wouldn’t cut the king by accident with her razor-sharp claws. She flew up to the cave, gently took the king in her covered front legs, and brought him back down to earth.
