Aris: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Stratham Dragons Book 1)

by Sarah J. Stone

  It was enough for Google, and she put in the details that she could, looking for a ‘Miss Victory 1992.’ It turned up a thousand different things, but none of them were relevant.

  She suddenly felt a surge of magic and sat up straight. Her heart started pounding, and she closed her eyes, trying to focus.

  Cole, she identified at last. Cole was here.

  Cole was like a little brother to her – mischievous but sweet. His human wife, Ariel realized, probably needed to be here this week. She had lost track of the days through this whole adventure. Enya would have no idea about what was happening. In addition, Ariel knew that Enya had no other choice. Being married to a dragon was pretty much the only way that she could survive. Ariel running downstairs and telling Enya everything about her history would only result in the girl being ridden with guilt.

  Still, she didn't want to stay away. This may be the last time that she ever saw Cole, and she wanted to at least lay eyes on him.

  She grabbed her purse out of habit and took the stairs one floor down. She had planned to linger in the stairway, to see if they were out in the hall.

  Cole's voice echoed as soon as she opened the door.

  "The friggin Bloor Street vortex was closed," Cole said. "Closed! Do you know how long it's been since a vortex was closed? God forbid I need to get Enya somewhere fast. That is the closest one to a hospital."

  Ariel put her hand over her mouth, leaning against the wall. She hadn't thought of that, even when she was looking up and staring at the bright hospital lights as she had waited for the rest of the shields to arrive.

  There was a low mummer of voices, and she strained to hear what was being said. It was harder when they were speaking dragon lore, her brain worked over time.

  "Of course he's getting better," Cole said, his voice angry. "His magic is so supressed here. He could get over anything if he has enough time. But you look like road kill. You need to get back."

  "I will," Alexander said, and she could hear the hoareness in her voice. "When he is mentally ready to take the throne."

  "Where is she?" Cole asked, and she was tempted to burst through the door.

  But then her phone buzzed. She dug it out of her purse, turning on the screen.

  We can close another two vortexes at dawn. The sun and the moon align, said the text. Will you meet us?

  Her hands trembled as she answered it.

  Yes, she said, drifting away from the door. She cast one last gaze into the hallway, looking at Cole. She wished she could give him a hug and say goodbye to him. But if she did that, it would re-establish contact, and it would be difficult all over again. How long before all of them are closed?

  Not long, her father said. This city has the most. There are only one or two on other continents. That is perhaps why you keep landing back here.

  The dragons need to get out safely, she texted back. They should have the option to leave peacefully.

  Promise me you won't contract the dragons, he texted back. You must stay away, or they will posion your mind again. You must make a clean break.

  He had been saying this in some form, and she didn't want to lie. She was done lying. Done hiding from people. Done pretneding.

  I won't, she texted back. She listened one last time to their voices and then closed the door behind her.

  But then her phone beeped, and she had to switch screens.

  Ariel? said Enya's text. It confirmed that she was back. What's going on?

  Ariel bit her lip. She promised that she wouldn't talk to the dragons. But Enya was not a dragon, even if she was dragon princess.

  Enya, you have to get out of here, Ariel texted back, trying not to cry. You have to get them all to leave.

  What? Enya replied right away. Why?

  Just trust me, Ariel said. One last time.

  Are you upstairs? Hold on. I'm coming.

  No. Ariel knew this was it. She had her purse. She didn't need anything else. Goodbye, Enya.

  She didn't go back to her room. She thumped down the stairs, half panting from the exertion. She couldn't see her; she couldn't say goodbye.

  Father? she texted. Come and get me. Let's do this now.

  No more goodbyes. No more lies. No more deception. She was ready to close them all.

  CHAPTER 14

  She stopped dancing, stopped turning up for work, and stopped thinking about anything but closing the vortexes. She didn't care that she was put on probation and then eventually fired. Every time they closed a vortex, she learned more about her family – more about the history that she had missed. It was chaotic and sort of like being on tour with her dance team. But instead of performers, she was on tour with carapaces who were making the world safe from dragons. They had such a rigorous schedule that she didn't have much time to think or talk. She listened to the stories, she nodded, and she tried to come to terms with the person she was becoming.

  She only missed Alexander when she woke up in the morning and reached for him. She spent so many months out of the year without him, and yet, now she longed for him at her side.

  She hadn't realized how much he made up her identity and her confidence. Knowing that she secretly had a husband on the side who was king and could bring her a life of luxury whenever she asked for it was something that fueled her daily. She held her head high. She didn't have to listen to what anyone said about her. She didn't care if the cliques giggled by themselves, and she didn't care if the boys paid attention to someone else. She was free to do what she wanted, knowing there was always someone who cared for her.

  She had been acting like a wife despite fighting against it.

  It was one lonely morning before dawn when the thoughts got the best of her. She sat up in her bed, reaching for her phone. She wanted a distraction – anything to show her mind another path.

  While scrolling through her recent searches, she found her mother's name. She had never finished that search to find more about her mother online. The carapaces had told her endless stories, but stories weren't as good as the digital trail she might be able to find. Maybe her mother would have an interview – a video somewhere – where she could hear her voice.

  Ariel researched both names, but nothing came up. Frustrated, she pulled the pictures from her suitcase and put her phone over the pageant one. She wasn't very good at a Google image search, but it might be a better shot than what she was doing. There were so many Marina Campbells and Marina Reginas; she needed a better answer.

  Eventually after playing around with it, she found copies of the image that matched the picture.

  Except, it wasn't her mother's face on the image. There was someone else who won Miss Victory in 1992, with the exact same dress, sash, and background.

  Ariel froze, feeling chills go down her spine. This couldn't be right.

  She found another picture, the one with tap shoes, and Google image searched that as well. It was the same thing. An image that almost matched, except for the face. They had doctored them.

  She didn't move for a solid moment, her mind whirling. Why would they have doctored them? Why would they have lied to her?

  Eventually, her fingers spoke for her. She found herself texting Cole, praying that he was still on Earth. Cole had always been her ally, even when he was detained for war crimes in the kingdom. She had never judged him or his actions. She now prayed that he wouldn't judge her as well.

  Have you gone back?

  She waited for what felt like an eternity. The fact that there was no answer as the minutes ticked by made her hope that maybe, just maybe, they had gone back. Maybe this nightmare was over, and she could move on with her life. They knew she was closing vortexes; they wouldn't linger.

  Call me, came the simple response.

  She knew that she shouldn't. She knew she was risking it all if she did – her future with the carapaces, her family. Except for the fact that she didn't know what was real right now.

  He answered on the first ring.

  “Where are yo
u?” he asked, urgency in his voice.

  “Does it matter?” she said, curling her legs up underneath her. “You know we're closing the vortexes. Why are you lingering?”

  “Ariel, where are you?” he said, urgently. “Are you still in the city?”

  “No,” she said. “We moved a lot. We're closing the vortexes in some strange ass order. First Berlin, and then Hong Kong, and then we went to–”

  “Dublin,” he replied.

  “How did you know?” she asked.

  “Didn't you know?” he asked. “You're tracking us.”

  “What?” she replied. “No, there's an order that we're supposed to do it in. A mystic order, they said.”

  “The only order that you're doing it in is getting a mass of carapaces as close to Alexander as possible,” Cole answered. “You're killing him, and he won't leave until Peter can take command.”

  “Killing him?” she choked. She hadn't expected that answer.

  “Alexander has been with you for so long, you've slowly been depleting him of power. A normal carapace wouldn't be able to do that, but you are special. And the combination of you and your carapace family – if that's what they want to call themselves – it will kill him. He's stubborn. He won't leave without Peter's mind intact. We keep moving, but you keep tracking us.”

  “No,” she said. “I didn't know.”

  Cole was silent on the other end.

  “What else didn't you know, Ariel? You're my sister, you've been my sister before he even married you. I knew from the minute I saw you that you were special. And now you're going to kill my brother.”

  She put a hand to her mouth, tears falling down her face.

  “Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you stop us?”

  “For any one of us to get that close to a ring of carapaces is dangerous. I wouldn't risk losing my power for the sake of Enya. Peter is king, and Alexander is his regent. We can't get near enough to you, or they will take us out. I had no idea if your phone was being monitored.”

  “I've never heard you afraid before, Cole,” her voice trembled. “Tell me you aren't afraid.”

  “Everyone is afraid of something,” he answered.

  “They gave me pictures,” she said. “But the pictures don't match the story. The pictures don't match the name. I don't know what to do or what to believe anymore.”

  “So, come back to us,” Cole said, softly. “We're in the Grand Hotel in the center of town. I'll text you the room number.”

  “I don't know what is real anymore,” she was surprised to find herself blubbering like a child. “Cole, I can't.”

  “They won't cast you out for seeing your husband one last time,” Cole said. “Because either you come and save his life, and their opinion does not matter, or you come to say goodbye to him. If you can't get the carapaces out of the city so we can take the vortex, we will be trapped here.”

  “But we aren't even done closing the–”

  “They are lying to you, Ariel,” Cole said. “You are done. There is one more in this city, and then we will be trapped here forever.”

  “Cole,” she hollowed, losing control. “I can't lose everything again.”

  “You won't,” he promised her. “But you should come soon.”

  Tears flooded her vision as he hung up. Her head pounded with tears she needed to shed, her body wracked with sobs.

  There had to be an explanation for why the pictures were faked. Was Cole telling the truth, or was he luring her in? Was her father trying to save her from a more horrible truth? Was he even her father? What was happening?

  She sat on the bed for an hour, unable to breathe for her tears. She wanted to be held, to lay her head on a shoulder and be protected.

  Only one person had ever made her feel safe, and that was Alexander.

  If this was her last chance to see him, she couldn't waste it. She couldn't let him die knowing they were at odds. They had been so different their whole relationship, but they had never meant to hurt each other.

  Finding her way to the Grand Hotel wasn't hard. It was the tallest hotel, gleaming in the center of the city. Its golden color reminded her of a dragon's eyes, glinting in the sunlight.

  She looked like a mess in the elevator mirror, her eyes red and her hair pulled every which way. Her posture was slumped, her body tired. She felt like she was walking underwater, as if every movement was difficult.

  Cole opened the door, wrapping his arms around her.

  “Hello, darling,” he said, as if she wasn't responsible for the mass destruction and chaos in their lives.

  “Hi, Cole,” she said, softly. “Just take me to him.”

  “No song and dance required,” Cole said, pulling on her arm.

  Nothing prepared her for the sight of Alexander on the bed. He had lost at least twenty pounds and now resembled a skeleton. His eyes were closed, his face covered in a thin layer of sweat. His hands were gripped in pain, and his chest was barely moving.

  Enya was at his bedside, a cold cloth on his head. Peter stood by the window and looked like he wanted to bite her when she walked in the room. Cole held his arm out as if to calm Peter.

  “She's waving a white flag, brother. She gets to see her husband one last time. After all, family is everything.”

  “She is not–”

  “She is his wife and your queen,” Cole's eyes bore into his brother. “And so it shall be, as the old ways dictate.”

  Ariel's heart almost broke at Cole's words. Even now, they were loyal to their family. And she was family now, just as she had been family for years.

  She squeezed Alexander's hand and his eyes opened. They were yellow, but it wasn't the healthy dragon yellow. She knew that he was dying.

  “I'm sorry,” she said. “I'm sorry. I don't know what to believe.”

  “My darling,” he managed. “You have no reason to be sorry. You were loyal to your family.”

  “I don't even know if they are my family,” she said. “I don't know what is real. My mother wasn't a dancer, or a pageant queen.”

  Alexander's brow furrowed at that. He coughed, but struggled up onto his elbows, resisting his brother's help.

  “No,” he said. “Your mother was a nurse.”

  Ariel froze. “A nurse?” she said.

  “Yes.” Alexander looked at Cole who found the voice to continue.

  “Your mother was a first responder, tending to the injuries of the Regina carapaces who attempted to close a vortex when we were transporting. Your father was in the mess, just outside the apartment that they lived in. She ran out. Her death wasn’t intentional, but Alexander did kill her, if that's what you're after.”

  “It was an accident?” Ariel asked, in shock.

  “As much as an accident as defending yourself can be,” Cole said. “The Regina carapaces did not want peace. They were murdering dragons who came to Earth. We retaliated, and because we are dragons, it turned into a slaughter. Our father thought they were better off dead. He ordered us to continue the slaughter, and we did. It was war, Ariel. There was no attempt at negotiation.”

  “That's not what they told me,” Ariel said, looking back to her dying husband.

  “They knew they were killing Alexander,” Cole said. “That's why they kept wanting to meet in your hotel room. In the beginning they wanted to concentrate their energy onto him.”

  “How do I know this is real?” she asked, her hands shaking.

  “Here,” Cole said, handing over his phone.

  ‘Marina Campball only victim of fiery explosion,’ said the article.

  She had been spelling the name wrong in her searches. And there, on the front of the article, was the face she had come to know so well.

  Other news articles showed the same thing: various wordings of the same story with different pictures of the same woman.

  “It's almost sundown,” Cole said. “I don't know if they can close that vortex without you. But if they can, we will be trapped here forever.”

&
nbsp; Ariel looked between them and the phone again and again. But within moments, she knew what was right. Her mother had saved lives. She wasn't a dancer; she wasn't a pageant queen, but she had a good heart. And Ariel was going to make her proud.

  “You won't be,” she said, rising up. “I never wanted to be queen, but I am their queen. They cannot deny it any more than you can. Pack your things. We're all going home tonight.”

  CHAPTER 15

  She chose to use every bit of her acting training to approach the vortex site. Her heart was pounding, but she was trying to keep her poker face. Cole had made it clear to her that they needed to get back home, away from the carapaces and soon. She didn't want to know what the consequences of waiting too long were.

  “Are you ready, Ariel?” Alvin appeared ahead of the rest of the pack. “We are excited to close this one. This is a big one.”

  “It's also the last one,” Ariel said, and Alvin froze. “Which you neglected to tell me. You didn't tell me that you were trapping them.”

  Alvin went pale.

  “You said that they would know,” she continued. “When would they know? When it was too late?”

  Alvin said nothing, and she pulled out the photographs.

  “This isn't my mother,” she said.

  “That is your mother. Do you not see her face? It's–”

  “That is her face,” Ariel said. “This is not her body or her job. I'm not an idiot, Alvin. It started with the touring community theater, which is not a thing. “

  “I can explain,” Alvin said.

  “My husband explained to me already,” Ariel said, “that she was a nurse, and that she was killed in an accident. Google confirms this, which is the same thing I used for an image search. You lied to me.”

  “We had to,” he said at last. “We had very little time to close the vortexes, and your brother-in-law was moving fast in his murders. We needed you to understand and relate.”

  “My brother-in-law has been in a hazy hell for the past few years,” she replied. “And I'm sure that you would be, too, given what he's been through. You wanted to kill them. They wanted to kill you. I’m sick of it.”