by Juniper Hart
Asher rubbed a hand down his face, letting out a small groan. For six months, he had been totally enveloped in his own world and his own problems, and now he was going to be suddenly launched into perhaps the largest dilemma of their known history? In no shape or form did Asher feel prepared to take this on—but it wasn’t like he had a choice. As soon as those words had left his father’s lips, his path was written for him. “Overwhelmed” didn’t begin to describe how Asher was feeling.
It was then that a hand clasped his shoulder. Peering up from between his fingers, he saw his older brother Sebastian’s kind face staring down at him. Sebastian had always been a gentle giant. Despite his immense size, being the largest of the Tallant men, he was more of a thinker than a doer. For hundreds of years, he had left the fighting to the others and found solace in literature and proverbs. There were times that Sebastian appeared to have even more wisdom than their grandfather.
In Carlyle and Osric’s eyes, however, this made Bash a disappointment. They wanted him to be a fierce warrior, to act before he thought, to be as wild as they had been and remained to be. It was probably why he, too, had been chosen for the task. In some weird, deceptive way, Carlyle was trying to get his sons to prove their status.
“I think this will be good, for the both of us,” Bash inserted calmly, as if he could read Asher’s thoughts.
“You both need to get out of your funks,” Theo agreed, standing from his chair.
“There’s nothing wrong with either of them,” Eden debated her brother, standing also and crossing her arms. Asher couldn’t help but smile; not at the fact that Eden was attempting to stand up for them, but more at the fact that she couldn’t seem to resist an opportunity to argue. Despite looking just like their mother, she took after their father more than she would ever admit. Her hazel eyes flickered to Asher and Sebastian, her gaze softening a bit. “However, I do think it’d be good for you. Get you back into a… normal routine.”
What was normal about going on a crazed hunt for a woman they weren’t even sure existed? Asher knew what she meant by it, though. Out of mourning. Directly following Olive’s disappearance, his siblings had rallied around him, trying to help him make sense of it all so that he didn’t go completely out of his mind. Eden’s leading theory was that Olive wasn’t his one true mate, but something close to it. What had her exact words been?
A trial run. A beta. Something so close to the real thing that it looked, felt, and even smelled like the real thing, but simply wasn’t. Dragons all had soulmates, which could be dragon or mortal and could come at any point in their eternal life spans. When you met that mate, as cliché as it sounded, you just knew. It was instantaneous, powerful, and undeniable. Asher had felt that with Olive.
He had recently graduated from a college that he had at most symbolically “attended” for his law degree, and on a whim, due to sheer boredom, he had gone to one of the alumni events that mingled with the attendees.
He had felt Olive’s presence the moment she entered the building. However, not noticing her quite yet, he had written it off as the couple of beers he had consumed getting to him a little too much. Then, when he spotted her from across the room, and their eyes met for the first time, the sensation came back to him tenfold. The way her cheeks flushed and her eyes rounded, Asher knew she felt it, too, but didn’t understand. There was absolutely no denying, in his mind, that she was his “one”.
When she disappeared, it was as if his heart had been ripped right out of his chest. The sheer panic he felt, worrying something horrendous had happened to her, whether from mortal hands or witches seeking some form of sick, twisted revenge still. When a mate died, it was quite literally like half of the dragon died as well. They could feel the pain of death but didn’t know the sweet release of mortality, forever bound to Earth until one day they could join their loved ones in whatever afterlife awaited them. Asher hadn’t felt this when Olive disappeared, and that was what caused Eden to believe she wasn’t Asher’s true mate. Just something strikingly close to it, or his mind had tricked him into believing she was when she wasn’t at all.
After weeks of searching for Olive, Asher came to the realization that either Eden was right, or Olive had purposefully run away and didn’t want to be found. Why would he chase after someone who didn’t want to be found? It was only when that fact hit him that he accepted defeat and ceased his search. Ever since, he had been in a state of mourning. Their lives had so rapidly become intertwined upon meeting that every little thing reminded him of her and the memory they shared.
Tears were stinging his eyes again, and he could feel his siblings staring at him. Forcing himself to clear his throat, Asher nodded. “Yeah, yeah. It’ll be, uh, it’ll be good.”
“We have work to do,” Sebastian sighed, finally getting up. The four of them moved to the door and made their way to the elevator.
On the way down to the lobby, Asher gave himself a mental pep talk. Everyone was right: this would serve as the perfect distraction. There was no doubt that himself and his brother would be living and breathing the case of finding the mystery woman. That would leave no room for thoughts of Olive and her creamy skin, infectious smile, or intoxicating voice. It would work him out of his mopey routine and into a fresh mindset. It would be hard at first, but he told himself to give the task his all, let it consume him alive if that was what needed to happen. Find that woman and make his father proud.
As Bash and Asher stepped onto the sidewalk outside of the building, Asher was just about to ask his brother how they were supposed to get started on this mission with as little information as they had, when a car pulled up right beside them. A tall man with mousy blonde hair emerged, and Asher instantly placed the face. It was Collin, a scout. There didn’t need to be an exchange of words, just a simple nod from Collin to gesture for them to get in the back. Once inside the car, Collin looked into the rearview mirror at the Tallant men.
“I understand that the king assigned you two to the task and wanted you to assemble a squad of men to assist in the matter. While the final call is, of course, up to the two of you, I have put together a list of men I believe would be best suited, as well as trusted, for this.”
As soon as he finished talking, both Asher’s and Sebastian’s phones vibrated. Taking his out, Asher had a text from an unsaved number, with a list of names and contact information on each of them; he assumed Bash had an identical one. He didn’t even know where to begin with weeding through the list to select however many they should get. Collin seemed more than knowledgeable in strategy execution and would probably be their best resource throughout the entire thing.
“How many people do you think we will need for this?” Asher asked, perhaps a little too submissively for someone of his nobility.
“With myself, Carter, and you two, I would suggest two or three more. No more than that, though.”
Asher nodded and looked to Sebastian, who simply nodded and peered down at the message on his phone. “I’ll start weeding through them.”
Inwardly Asher let out a sigh of relief, glad that Bash was willing to take on that task alone. Asher stared out the window, watching the city move by in a blur as he pondered what needed to be done. “Where was this woman located?” he called to Collin.
“About six hours away by car, towards the coast.”
Asher contemplated. If they had to travel that far, it would make more sense for them to meet all together before leaving. If they flew, it would potentially cut that time in half, giving them a better chance of catching the woman before she completely disappeared again.
“Once you select the men, have them meet us at the family estate by sundown. We’ll leave from there,” he mentioned to his brother without turning in his direction.
“Good thinking.”
Already, Asher was finding himself lost in thought of the task at hand, trying to figure out what each of their steps would be. For the first time in six months, there was a solid hour where Olive didn’t ent
er Asher’s mind.
Just as instructed, the group of five men met at the estate at nightfall. Gathering next to the lake, they all double checked their bags to make sure they had what they needed: cash, phones, enough clothes to last a week, etc.
Asher and Bash exchanged looks, as if to decide who was going to give the instructions. They had been struggling to conform to the leadership roles; Eden and Theo had always been the authoritative two of the siblings. Collin was being more than helpful in lending a hand in that, though, making sure to steer them in the right direction every step of the way. Any advice he gave them was told out of view of the others, or in whispers. They had to be the ones to lead and give orders, or word would get back to their father.
Once they were good to go, one by one, the men stepped away and morphed into their large dragon forms. Sebastian led the pack. In a single leap, his sturdy human form blurred away and was replaced by a body twelve feet in length, with an even greater wingspan, and muted violet scales. Asher followed suit, jogging to the side before jumping into the air. In a split second, he felt his secondary bones slip from their pockets, elongating his body, and his wings packed as tightly as airbags deployed from thin scars on his back. His armored golden scales protruded from his porcelain skin, and talons shot out, capturing his duffle bag before it plunged toward the Earth.
His eyes closed in ecstasy. Somehow, he always forgot how freeing it was to take to the air, to let his true form out. The tightness and cramping they felt in their human bodies were so consistent that the feelings were easy to push from their minds after a while. Then, when they finally did take to their dragon form, it was like stretching after being stuffed inside a suitcase for hours. When was the last time he had morphed? Searching for Olive.
His eyes opened then, looking down to the lake as it glistened in the moonlight. This wasn’t a time to think of her. No time ever would be again. To get away from such toxic thoughts, Asher focused on his senses, on the way the air felt against his scales, on the smell of the crisp night air. As they flew higher and higher, vanishing into the blackness of the night sky, he had a strange sensation come over him: the feeling that he was in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. Asher was meant to go on this mission—somewhere in his bones, he knew if only that.
4
After just three restless hours of sleep, Asher and the others took to scouring the town. It was strange for Asher. In his earliest years of life, he had traveled a great deal. He knew the entire landscape of Europe and parts of the Middle East like the back of his hand.
After the Revolutionary War, he and his family had come to the New World, and he had explored it just as much. However, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the entire family settled down and staked their claim in the land, making themselves an empire all their own. So, the last time Asher had really gone traveling, there had been dirt roads, if any at all, and small wooden houses with accompanying farms. All there was to see were the magnificent landscapes. Now, each tiny town had an identity of their own, a culture laced into every little detail. The way they talked, the layout of their streets, what they named their little shops… It was truly fascinating.
He took note of all the quirky little characteristics of the town as they wandered through. Some part of him wished he had a camera, wanting to capture the intriguing details, but he had to remind himself he wasn’t there for pleasure. This was business.
They walked down the main strip of town, searching the faces of every person. It was a peculiar mission: they were searching for a needle in a haystack, but a needle that had an overwhelming and alarming scent to it. It didn’t quite make sense and was hard to piece together, but that was what they were dealing with.
Asher’s mind reeled, trying to guess what the woman would look like, but they had absolutely no information to go off. She could be blonde, brunette, redhead, black, white, Hispanic, Asian… It was anyone’s guess. How far along in the pregnancy would she be? If the scouts were as diligent as their father liked to proclaim, she couldn’t be that far into it—so they couldn’t even try to spot pregnant women out of crowds. That could be pointless. If they couldn’t find this woman, what would their next step be? Interrogating dragons who had affairs with humans? That would be a damn laundry list that never ended.
Do not get overwhelmed, Asher scorned himself. He was already an easily distracted guy, especially by his own thoughts and emotions. He was going to have to force himself to stay as focused as possible. Breathing in and out, Asher tried to get a whiff of anything. What would she even smell like? It had been so long since this situation had last happened that it was hard for him to pinpoint in his memory what it was. He had supposed, just as it had happened to the scouts, that he would know when he smelled it. All he smelled right then, however, was the horrendous mix of motor oil from a nearby garage and the sickly-sweet aroma of a local donut shop.
After canvassing several blocks by himself, he spotted Sebastian across the intersection. Abiding by the laws of the roads, he took the crosswalks, despite the locals’ own neglect of the rules. Jogging over to his brother, he gave a look that asked if he’d had any luck. Bash gave a firm head shake.
“Carter didn’t have any luck picking up on her scent while we were gone, so she could literally be anywhere in the county,” his brother sighed and ran a hand through his thick wavy hair. “It’s a small town surrounded by even smaller communities. It’s possible she’s not living in this town.”
As soon as Bash stated that hypothesis, something deep in Asher’s being told him that was correct. The woman wasn’t local, and if anything, she was just blowing through or there to visit.
“I think you’re right about that.” Asher frowned, scanning around the streets as if a sign for what to do next would be hanging with the street markers. He didn’t want to have to keep turning to his brother and Collin for directions on what to do. He needed to make some of the calls himself. “We’re too concentrated. We need to take on a couple more guys and go two by two to the surrounding towns. The rural areas would take too much time, and besides, if there’s nothing to do out there, then she has to come to local towns to work or get groceries.”
“Makes sense.” Bash nodded and clasped his brother’s shoulder. “Good thinkin’.” Sebastian pulled out his cell phone and gave Collin a ring, explaining the new plan. Once the call ended, he glanced at Asher. “Collin and Carter have this area. Let’s go ahead to the next city.”
Finding their way to Bash’s rental car, they were once again on the road. As they headed out, Asher found himself not feeling so overwhelmed by the task anymore. A gut feeling was trying to tell him that they would find her, even if it took time.
As he slouched in the passenger seat, he let his mind wander to what would happen when they found the woman. A half-millennium idle would be lifted from their people. They would be able to prosper yet again and start on their path of destiny. Their father had often spoken with a twinkle in his eye of plans to get furthermore intermingled in the human world. To not only survive in it, but to have a say as well, in hopes to hold public offices and make decisions that would ensure their people’s safety for years to come. It was a tricky scenario, seeing as how they didn’t age. But, with being able to have children, they could cycle people out regularly and keep up the guise.
That is, if they could figure out how on Earth this woman had managed to get pregnant with a dragon child. It didn’t make sense. The only thing that Asher could even gather was that the curse had some sort of expiration date. Perhaps the witch had cursed them for exactly five hundred years. Wouldn’t there be an eruption of pregnancies if that were the case, though, not just one isolated case that was causing such a hunt? No matter what it was, something wasn’t adding up, and yet the answer seemed so near. Just how he felt about the woman.
After an hour car ride, they came to a stop in a public parking lot. Stepping out into the morning air, Asher gasped. It was as if a draft passed through
him, carrying something faint but telling. He looked all around, trying to find the cause. Why had that felt so familiar yet so exotic? Or was it a smell, and it had been so brief that he hadn’t had the time to fully process it?
“She’s been here,” he whispered, sure of what he was saying.
5
Working had left the two women utterly put out. The couple Olive had babysat for, instead of being gone five hours, were gone twelve. Not a word had been mentioned about how much the little girl would fight bedtime. Olive ended up chasing the child around the house the entire time, until the little one finally tuckered herself out and passed out in the floor. Olive had sat on the stairs and cried for a solid hour before the parents finally returned home. She had wanted to curse them out, but when they handed over three hundred dollars for her troubles, Olive just wiped her face and left. It had been a long, long time since Olive had slept as hard as she did that night, thankfully keeping her disturbing dreams at bay.
Esme, too, had a long night, bartending until nearly daybreak. The two of them slept until noon and decided to blow off any plans they had for the day. With extra cash in their pockets and the hellish nights they had endured, they deserved to treat themselves. Heading directly to the nearest supermarket, they purchased all the necessities for a picnic, basket and all. The hardest part of the trip was picking out a swimsuit for Olive. Tears were involved, but eventually, they found her one that she was comfortable with and that didn’t make her so self-conscious.
Once on the beach, they finally relaxed. Toes in the sand, nothing but the sound of waves and seagulls. Olive happily demolished the fresh cut veggies and fruit while Esme indulged in mimosas she disguised in water bottles. They lounged under an umbrella on a large beach towel, occasionally dozing off to the hypnotic sound of the waves. At one point, Olive was barely awake. The only thing keeping her from easing back into a peaceful slumber was the little one kicking around in her stomach. She absent-mindedly ran a hand back and forth, trying to calm him. Him. Esme’s suggestions were even slipping into her subconscious.
