by Jan Dockter
Malcolm kissed her lovingly on her lips. He never wanted to be parted from her again. “Let’s make a promise when we’re mad or upset with each other that we’ll always make up the same day and that you’ll never again go all day without speaking to me no matter how mad you are.” Carrie promised she would never again spend one night upset with him.
Malcolm kissed her like a man dying of thirst. He was glad Aldain’s plan had worked; he couldn’t stay away another day.
As they stood there hugging each other, they heard a scream from upstairs. Aldain rushed down the stairs with Tori in his arms.
“Her water broke! We’re heading to the hospital.”
Malcolm ran so fast he was a blur as he brought the car around. Aldain got in the back, holding Tori as Carrie jumped in the front. As they sped toward the hospital, Tori started to moan and broke out in a sweat. “Please hurry. I can feel the baby coming!”
Malcolm floored the car and arrived at the hospital in minutes. Aldain had let the doctor know they were on their way and that Tori was in labor. They met the car with a stretcher ready and quickly wheeled Tori into the birthing room, Aldain following behind them.
Carrie and Malcolm waited in the waiting room. They had contacted Heather, Aldain’s mother, and Dimitra and Stavros, who had insisted upon being there for the birth. Malcolm’s parents also showed up. The waiting room was full when everyone arrived.
Aldain came out every so often to let them know Tori and the baby were fine—the baby was just taking her time making an entrance. Malcolm went to get everyone coffee; he had a feeling it was going to be a long night.
Carrie was just putting the cup to her lips when she heard total mayhem coming from the birthing room. She was assailed with emotions and thoughts. “Help, my baby, she is dying!” yelled Tori.
“Do something. Why aren’t you helping her?” came Aldain’s voice.
“We are losing her!” said the doctor.
And then a tiny voice reached out to Carrie. “Aunt Carrie, I need you!”
Carrie burst into the birthing room with everyone in the waiting room right behind her. She grabbed the baby, a beautiful tiny baby girl, her eyes closed and barely breathing.
Carrie screamed, “No, you will not die on us! We love you, and we need you! You must fight!”
Carrie concentrated on the energy in the room. The dragon shifters gave off a lot of energy. She pulled it all in, and as she massaged the baby’s chest, she released it into the baby, making sure to keep it coming and going at an even pace. This was a small baby, not a grown adult, so she had to be careful with the energy she was using.
As Carrie continued to work on the baby, she noticed her breathing getting stronger. The color was returning to her cheeks, but something else was happening, something odd. At times, you could see scales on the baby’s skin. Small purple scales on her arms, her face. They were coming and going.
Aldain looked over Carrie’s shoulders. If anyone could save his daughter, Carrie could. When he saw the scales on his daughter’s skin, he had a look of incredulity on his face.
Carrie continued to feed energy into the baby. After several minutes, she noticed the room was exceptionally quiet. She looked at everyone and noticed they were all on their knees, bowing while facing the corner of the room.
There, standing in the corner, was the most beautiful woman Carrie had ever seen. She was also glowing. Carrie knew right away it was the goddess Athena. She would have gone to her knees herself, but she was still working on the baby. The baby seemed much stronger, but Carrie wasn’t willing to stop yet. She had to be sure everything was going to be all right.
Athena heard Carrie’s thoughts. She looked at her and smiled, “Sweet Carrie, you continue what you are doing to the baby. You, as the last Chosen One, are the only one who can save her. While you are doing that, I am going to explain why certain things have happened the way they have. Some of you have already figured out. My sweet dragons, I have waited so very long for this day. As you know, Zeus found what I had done, keeping Paragon alive instead of letting him die. He locked the gene that would allow the female offspring to shift. They were supposed to be able to shift like the males. I had picked Chosen Ones hoping one would have the gift to unlock the shifting gene. Occasionally there were humans born with gifts that catalyst from dragon shifters. All of them were human females. For some reason, the abilities were the strongest in them.”
Athena shone like the sun.
“He knew eventually one would find a way to unlock that shifting gene. This was when he commanded the snakes of Medusa’s head to kill all the chosen ones. The snakes turned their eyes white. They didn’t want to turn people into stone or their secret of what they truly were would be unmasked. They turned into old hags. When each one arrived at a clan, she killed the Chosen One and put a memory spell on the clan. They had a vague memory of having a Chosen One, but it was more like a dream. Soon all the clans remembered were the Cailleaches—they thought the Chosen Ones were a myth. They never questioned how long they were there or why they never aged. No Cailleach had ever died. That was how powerful their memory spell was.”
Athena lifted her arms.
“If there was no one to become a Chosen One, the Cailleaches were comfortable continuing to play their parts. Carrie changed all that. There was finally another true Chosen One born, one who would have the power to unlock the locked shifting gene. That is also why I accepted Carrie at your mock ceremony. I had to accept her for her to be able to do what she was meant to do. I was forbidden to step in and warn you. I had done something forbidden so it was decreed by the fates that you had to try and find the answers on your own. Once you did, I would be allowed to help you. You came close enough that the fates have allowed me to tell you the rest of the story. The Cailleaches needed to kill her to keep Zeus’s order. That is why they were all at the ceremony. That is why they were going to kill her, but the Paragon Dragons killed them instead. I have never been prouder of all of you.”
Athena looked at Aldain on his knees.
“Your daughter, Aldain, is going to be the first female shifter. Once the gene has been broken, all the genes have been broken. After today, any female child born to a dragon shifter will also be able to shift. Carrie unlocking the gene means there is no need for another Chosen One. There are thousands of people out there with abilities who could help the dragon kind. Now is the time to let the world know you exist— to let them know you were created to be their protectors. That choice, of course, will be yours. I must go now. I doubt there will be a time when you will see me again. Know how proud I am of you. You have served me well, my children.”
Athena faded away.
Everyone stood and looked at the baby. The things Athena had told them explained so much. The baby slept soundly. Carrie gently put her in her mother’s arms. While she was still asleep, the doctor checked her the best he could. Her heart sounded strong, and her breathing was normal. He told Tori he would give her a thorough checkup when she was awake. He had seen what Carrie could do and didn’t feel the baby was in any danger
After the visitors left, the only people remaining were Aldain, Tori, and the baby. They were trying to decide what to call her. Tori looked at Aldain like she just had an epiphany.
“I have the perfect name for her. I want to call her Eve. It’s been said that was the name of the first human woman, and our daughter is going to be the first female shifter. I think the name fits. She even looks like an Eve.”
Aldain smiled. “I love it. Eve she shall be.”
Back at the manor, Carrie and Malcolm sat back on the couch, trying to relax after such a hectic day. Carrie could barely move—she felt so weak after working with all that energy. She kept dozing off. Malcolm smiled down at her as he stood up. He gently picked her up and put her in their bed. She never stirred. This wasn’t what he had in mind for the night of his homecoming, but it had certainly been an interesting one. He undressed and gathered his mate into his arms. They
had thousands of nights to spend together. Tonight, he would just hold her in his arms, knowing no jewel on earth was as precious as her.
The End of book 2
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Captured by The Dragon
K.T Stryker
© 2017
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© Copyright 2017 by Persia Publishing - All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER ONE
Astrid
The matron, Mrs. Park, stared at Astrid and Jane sternly. “We have very strict rules here in regards to our prisoners.”
Astrid nodded. She had learned all of this during training, but Mrs. Parks acted like the newest addition to the Hawthorn Facility didn’t know a thing. This was maybe due to the fact that Jane, the other new addition to the prison facility, seemed so nervous and unsure of herself.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Astrid. Mrs. Parks looked at her over the tops her glasses as if Astrid was a naughty child speaking out of turn.
“These prisoners are very dangerous. While their iron shackles bind their magic, they still retain the evil seductiveness of their voice and their gaze. And don’t”— and here she struck the top of her desk with a bamboo back scratcher, causing both Astrid and Jane to jump— “Don’t look directly into their eyes! This is why you’ll wear these whenever you tend to the dragons.”
She handed them what appeared to be pairs of glasses, which had special lenses that obscured dragons’ direct gazes. Astrid had handled pairs of glasses like these during her training. They had a blind spot in the middle that forced your eyes to look around its edges to see. Mrs. Parks handed them sets of earbuds, which blocked off sound, but also allowed communication with their partners and the technician in the security booth.
“Remember, look into the monitors above the cells. They’ll display what the dragons are saying to you. Do not take the ear buds off for any reason. They view humans as playthings, and will do anything to trick you. Since you are new, they will try all their games. But keep the upper hand! Remember your training. Now put on your glasses and earbuds. For this evening I will go with you, but after this you both will guard the dragons during the third shift. You should be grateful for this duty, as they are more active and restless during the day. Come along, now, it’s dinner time. Jane, if you will push that cart there. It has their food.”
“How many are here?” asked Jane with trepidation.
“Currently, three,” said Ms. Parks. “We had four. But we executed one this morning. Our new Prime Minister has no patience with these unrepentant abominations.”
Jane sighed with relief, which, in Astrid’s eyes, marked the young woman as a coward. One did not sign up to work with dragons if you did not have the backbone to face them. But it was the cool pride in Mrs. Parks’ voice at the Prime Minister’s actions that shocked Astrid. Sure, housing and feeding for their extraordinary long lives was a hot political issue. But Parliament had decreed that no dragon would face death at the hands of humans, that is, until the newly elected Prime Minister pushed for the “just punishment” of the crimes of dragons, many of whom were convicted of murder.
“Which one was executed?” asked Astrid breathlessly.
Mrs. Parks eyed her with suspicion. “You aren’t one of those dragon lovers are you?” she asked coldly.
“No, no,” denied Astrid. “It’s just in school I studied all the cases.”
“All the cases?” said Mrs. Parks with an arched eyebrow.
“I majored in exopsychology, with a minor in draconology.”
“Oh?” said Mrs. Parks with obvious disapproval, as if Astrid’s particular choice of university degree was an affliction.
“Well, when I started there was that big kerfuffle about possible alien contact, remember? And there was a big push to train exoscientists and that got me a full scholarship. Only that whole thing turned out to be a big fat dud, so I minored in the one non-human sentient species we have on the planet. Otherwise, I would have lost my funding.”
“Oh, right then,” said Mrs. Parks grudgingly.
“And as you know, there aren’t many jobs for someone with my qualifications.” Astrid said this last a bit of hauteur in her voice, but Mrs. Parks was seriously annoying her. If the government thought her studies were worthy enough to fund the four years she took to get her degree, then a prison matron had no business questioning it.
Mrs. Parks snorted. “Well, I’m so glad you deigned to join our ranks, Ms. Davis,” she said scornfully. “We don’t always get someone with your, er… qualifications. I do hope you don’t find it beneath your education to work with dragons.”
Actually, Astrid was thrilled. Since she was a little girl and her grandmother had told her stories about dragons, she was fascinated with them. And her love for the tales grew beyond what her grandmother told her. Astrid loved any story, real or myth, about them. It was sad that they were so often painted as demons or murderers. To Astrid these last stories seemed concocted, the product of human fear, despite there being few instances of dragon criminals.
“No, of course not,” said Astrid. “I’m happy to take any work that fulfills my obligation to the government for funding my education.”
“Uh, huh,” said Mrs. Parks with a doubtful tone. “Well, the executed shifter was the one who used the name Austin Drake.”
“Oh,” said Astrid. Sick disappointment filled her. Austin, before he was ar
rested, had a distinguished military career. He did, that was, until a records match found another Austin Drake who served in the First World War. That was soon after the Reveal, when a prominent London newspaper reported the news that dragons lived among humans. Any piece of evidence that pointed suspicion that a person was a dragon resulted in witch hunt. Austin’s crime was treason, which carried a death sentence until Parliament stayed all of them. But now that had changed. And a beautiful golden dragon was no more.
Astrid felt her eyes mist and she reached under her goggles to quickly wipe away the evidence of her treasonous heart. It was not politically correct to have an appreciation for the only other sentient species that shared the Earth with humans.
“Something wrong, Ms. Davis?” asked Mrs. Parks.
“Dry eye. Forgot my drops this morning.”
“Unfortunate. Take care that you don’t forget critical job duties. That could cost all of us.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Astrid dutifully.
“But the one you should especially watch out for is Templeton Rawlins.”
“Oh, he’s the one that murdered Prime Minister Pearce,” piped up Jane. “I read about that in history class.”
“Yes, that’s right,” said Mrs. Park. “He’s been here for twenty-four years, and a nasty bit he is. He’s caused at least three guards to quit in fright. One had a heart attack shortly after he quit his employ.” The matron leaned in and spoke with a conspiratorial tone. “We suspect Rawlins used magic on him for that, but since we didn’t find any breaks in his ironwork, he must have had a confederate do it for him. In any case, the Prime Minister decided he is too dangerous to keep, and the execution order will be coming any day.”
