Dragons of Cinderhollow Bundle

by Hawke Oakley

  “Yes, sweetie, she’s a dragon, too! Just like you!” Gabriel said excitedly.

  “Silber,” Noah added.

  Dante grinned. “Yep, a silver dragon and a black panther - just like her dads!”

  I looked at Raja, whose expression shone with excitement and joy and shock all in one. He quickly picked up his daughter and nuzzled her. “I’m so proud of you, Charlotte Kali! Look at how talented you are already! Of course you are, you’re my daughter after all.”

  I kissed Charlotte’s forehead. “I’m proud of you, too. You’re not even a year old and you’re already doing a better job of hybrid shifting than I ever did.”

  Charlotte gazed up at us with her beautiful violet eyes, which were a shade lighter than mine. Her black hair matched the black of her panther paws, which she batted playfully up at Raja’s cheek. I could practically hear Raja purring with happiness.

  “Just make sure to keep those claws sheathed, okay?” he mumbled.

  She let out a mewling noise.

  Meanwhile, Noah had stumbled over to Raja’s leg and was tugging on his jeans. “Chalotte pway.”

  Raja smiled and placed Charlotte carefully on the floor. Immediately she and Noah squared off, giggling without a care in the world. Noah shifted into his black wolf form with ease and yipped at her. Frowning, Charlotte sat back on her bum and watched him. Then, with as much intense concentration as she could muster, she focused her energy and grunted with effort. A moment later, the human baby girl sitting on the floor was replaced by a black panther cub.

  “Holy shit!” Dante cried.

  “Wow, Raja, she looks just like you!” Lorenzo said with a huge smile.

  “No,” I said, grinning, “she’s much cuter.”

  Charlotte let out a tiny, scratchy yowl as she pounced on Noah, who yelped as they bowled over. They playfully batted one another with their fat paws.

  Gabriel sighed as he watched the scene and ran a hand over his slightly swollen belly. “Soon there’s gonna be three of these gremlins running around.”

  “I give up babysitting at this point,” Dante muttered with a grin. “I think we should just hand them all over to Ryu, since he’s apparently baby crazy now.”

  “Good idea,” Lorenzo agreed. “And you know, judging by his reaction after Raja’s delivery, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the next one of our friend group to have a baby…”

  * * *

  Kali’s eyes glistened with bittersweet tears. She couldn’t stop hugging Raja and Charlotte, alternating between the two of them. Eka and Koto, who had already gotten all their hugs out, waited patiently for her to finish - which was never going to happen.

  “Mom, I think everyone else wants to go already,” Raja mumbled to Kali.

  “Oh, hush,” she muttered. “I won’t see you again for months. Just let me have this now.”

  Raja sighed quietly but said nothing, stroking his mother’s back gently.

  In the end, Raja decided to stay in Cinderhollow. But since both of us wanted Charlotte to grow up with Raja’s culture and his side of the family as well, we arranged a schedule: we would live in Cinderhollow for eight months of the year, and spend the other four with Pardus clan. It was a happy compromise.

  “I’m going to miss this face,” Kali said. She sighed as she nuzzled Charlotte again, who mewled and pushed her fingers into her grandmother’s face.

  Eka chuckled. “I hope she doesn’t turn out to be as much trouble as you did, Raja.”

  “Please,” Koto said, grinning, “she’s probably gonna be even more trouble. Lorenzo, I hope you’re prepared for two panthers running your life.”

  “Oh, I’m more than ready,” I said cheekily.

  Eka and Kali gave Raja their final goodbye kiss, then Koto engaged Raja in a rough but affectionate hug. When the goodbyes were finally finished, Ryu and Dante shifted into their dragon forms to make the journey to the airport. Raja, Charlotte and I waved goodbye and watched as the two dragons - one western, and one eastern - took to the skies.

  Raja sniffled.

  “Are you crying?” I asked gently. Tears lined his eyes. I reached over and wiped them carefully.

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “I wasn’t before, but now that they’re gone…”

  I put my arm around his shoulder, holding him close. “It’s okay. It’s normal to miss your family, especially when you say goodbye for a while. We’ll see them again soon.”

  “I know,” he said, sighing. He wiped his face and pulled himself together. “It’s kinda funny how all I wanted was to get away from them and now I miss them.”

  We watched the brilliant sunset-orange sky for a few minutes longer, then headed inside. Charlotte was fast asleep from her earlier play date with Noah, which was always a relief for us as new parents. Raja placed her carefully in her crib, then slipped into bed with me.

  Wordlessly, we came together. Ever since our mutual claiming bite, our bodies and spirits were constantly drawn together as if magnetized. Even if we sat in silence, the mere presence of our fated mate was enough to put our souls at peaceful ease.

  Raja gently bumped his forehead against mine. His golden eyes glinted in the darkness like fire fragments. Black and gold, silver and purple. Curled together, we were two parts of the same whole.

  We began this journey as two complete strangers, each wishing for something opposite. Now I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

  “You know, you’ve really grown,” I said softly.

  Raja’s eyes flashed. “How so?”

  “When we met, you were… How do I say this without offending you?”

  He quirked a brow and said, “Pretentious? Naive?”

  “Let’s say innocent about the world,” I offered with a smile. “Not only that, but you were also a bit reckless.”

  “You’re going somewhere with this, right?”

  I laughed. “Yes. When I met you, you acted like a boy, even though you were an adult. Now, you really seem like a young man.”

  He lifted his chin proudly. “Well, after having a child, I sure hope so.” When he spoke again, his tone was softer. “But yeah, I do feel like a different person. I wouldn’t do half the stuff I did back then.” He paused, then said, “And I know I made a lot of mistakes, but meeting you wasn’t one of them.”

  I smiled. “Definitely not. It was the best thing to ever happen to me.”

  “Me, too.” He kissed me, soft and tender. “I love you, Lorenzo. Thank you for giving me my freedom.”

  I kissed him back but I shook my head. “You earned your freedom on your own, Raja. Be proud of yourself.”

  “I am proud of myself, dummy. But you were the one who helped me work things out. So shut up and accept my gratitude.”

  He kissed me aggressively and I couldn't help but laugh into the kiss. “Sorry. I accept it.”

  “Good. Now shut up again and kiss me.”

  “Of course, my love.”

  The End

  The Dragon’s Doorstep Baby

  1

  Scar

  The blaring of my mid-afternoon alarm shocked me from my nightmare-riddled sleep and forced me to face another shitty day.

  Growling, I ripped the blanket off and crawled out of bed to prepare for work. I’d been counting off the days until my only day off during the week—Sunday—and unfortunately, today was Friday, the busiest day of the week. More customers meant more money, but it also meant more drunk alphas stinking of alcohol and asking, “Hey, Scar, ain’t you got a mate yet?”

  To which my usual answer was, “Fuck off.”

  To which they’d respond, “Ah, whatever, pass me another ‘un.”

  And so on.

  Even though the people asking were usually regulars, it still wasn’t any of their business who I was or wasn’t fucking. And if they took a single look at me while sober, they’d realize that no alpha in his right mind would ever want to sleep with me anyway. What kind of alpha, primed and fertile and ready to start a family, would want
to sleep with a thirty-five year old omega covered in scars and missing an arm and a leg?

  Nobody.

  And that was never going to change.

  After getting dressed and slipping on my prosthetics, I left my run-down apartment for the bar. It wasn’t much, but it was the only thing getting me out of bed these days.

  Sad, I know.

  As usual, everyone on the street avoided even looking at me. Walking anywhere in public when you’re covered in scars and injuries is a struggle. Most of the time I preferred it that way, since when people did look at me, it was only to stare with curiosity or pity—neither of which I wanted.

  People at the bar weren’t as bad. Being the bar’s owner granted me some kind of respect at least. Either that or the customers were too drunk to care what I looked like, which was fine by me. But the protective bubble I got at work all but disappeared the moment I stepped back onto the streets of Cinderhollow, where I became the local grouchy, un-mated omega once more.

  Seeing as I couldn’t go back in time and stop myself from being abducted and mutilated by humans, there was nothing I could do about my appearance, so everyone else was just going to have to live with the way I looked. Tough luck.

  Still, I could have lived without every single person within five feet of me acting like I was contagious. Don’t worry, folks, you can’t catch being ugly!

  My bar, the Drunken Dragon, was built into the side of the mountain before I even arrived in Cinderhollow. It was an old dragon’s cavern hundreds of years ago, and then turned into rental space when the dragon moved on. Nobody knew what to do with such a strange space, so the rent was dirt cheap. All I did was clean it up, toss a couple of tables and chairs in there, and I had myself a bar. Thankfully, it lived up to its name and soon it was filled with regular customers—mostly dragons—looking for a casual place to grab a drink.

  Opening a bar in a dragon tribe turned out to be great for business, since apparently dragons take a lot of alcohol to get drunk. Who knew?

  Most flying customers just landed on the wooden dock in front of the bar, but for the rest of us, we had to walk.

  And for me, with my missing leg and janky prosthetic, the journey back and forth from work was a ton of damn effort.

  The time straddled the point between late afternoon and early evening now. People milled about in the streets, going to restaurants, or home, or stores, or maybe even my bar. It was probably my least favorite time of day, since more people in public meant more staring and gasps of horror. I grit my teeth and tried to ignore the bustling noise and crowds.

  Just as I stepped in front of a jewelry store, the door flew open and a group of women charged out, all holding bags in one hand and their child’s hand in the other and talking excitedly. They were too distracted to notice me until one of them bumped into my shoulder.

  Not wanting to snap at a lady, I held my tongue - but quickly wished I didn’t.

  As soon as the woman realized she ran into someone, she began to say “sorry”—but as soon as she saw me, she let out a gasp and frightened yelp. She shuddered, as if she touched something slimy by accident, and clutched her bag tightly to her chest as a makeshift barrier between her and I. Without another word, she backed up towards the rest of her friends and they all murmured and whispered away like a bunch of terrified mice.

  Not even a sorry. But after living like this for so long, I knew better than to expect one at this point.

  Now in a foul mood, I scowled and trudged down the street. Who did she think she was, anyway, a fucking princess? Sorry that I breathed your damn air and contaminated your skin.

  I decided to take a sideroad to avoid running into anyone else since I was now thoroughly pissed off. But a loud, child-like sniffling made me stop in my tracks. I searched for the source of the noise and noticed a shape huddled beside the dumpster underneath a tattered awning. I approached cautiously and said, “Hello?”

  The shape turned out to be a child, whose forehead rested on his knees as he continued to cry quietly.

  “Hey, kid, are you lost?” I kneeled to be on eye level with him, which took a lot of effort given my old prosthetic, but tried to keep my distance at the same time so I didn’t scare him. “Where are your parents?”

  The young boy raised his head from his knees to reply, but once he saw me, his eyes widened with fear and a whimper left his throat.

  Pangs of misery and agony cut me. I couldn’t even help a lost child without scaring him even more. Why couldn’t I just look normal?

  “Hey, don’t be scared,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady despite my sadness. “I’m gonna help you find your parent, okay?”

  He stared at me for a minute. Then the boy’s lower lip trembled and then he cried out, “Mommy!”

  A voice echoed from down the alley. “Michael?”

  I recognized the voice. The woman who’d run into me earlier and didn’t apologize bolted down towards us.

  “Mommy!” Michael said, getting to his feet.

  “You get away from him!” the woman screamed at me.

  Shocked, I didn’t know what to say. I backed up in a daze as the woman swarmed her child, clutching both him and her jewelry bag close while glaring at me.

  “What kind of freak are you, bothering kids in alleys? I should report you!” she yelled.

  “What?” I cried. “I didn’t do anything to him! I was just asking—”

  “Mommy, I’m scared, I wanna go home,” Michael moaned.

  “I know, honey,” his mother said, patting his head while shooting me another nasty glance. “Let’s get away from this scary man.”

  She herded Michael up the alley towards the main street before shouting back at me, “And don’t you dare follow us!”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t,” I muttered to myself as they disappeared from sight.

  I stood there alone in the alley for a long time, not knowing what to do. Outrage and hopelessness burned in my blood. I was only trying to help. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.

  But I already knew at this point that life wasn’t fair.

  I shut my eyes and sighed deeply, collected myself as much as possible, and continued towards the bar. When I finally arrived, I was already fatigued physically and emotionally, and the night had only just begun.

  2

  Ryu

  I drummed my fingers against the counter, waiting. There was no shortage of people walking around outside, and with the amount of dragons and other magically-aligned shifters in Cinderhollow, I knew for a fact there was no shortage of magic-users who could brush up on their skills.

  Nonetheless, it was still a slow day at Ryu’s Magic School.

  I sighed and slid deeper into my leather chair. I could only perform so many magic tricks alone before it got boring. Making intricate ice sculptures with my water magic was pretty fun, but it always left a big puddle of water on the floor to clean up after, so I stopped doing that a while ago.

  My eyes roamed to the little bonsai tree on the counter that Gabriel helped grow with his earth magic all those months ago. I smiled at the bittersweet memory. Gabriel, an omega wolf, was the mate of my good friend Dante, another dragon shifter like me. But I’d barely seen Gabriel since the birth of their first child, Noah, and they had both been crazy busy since the birth of their second, a daughter named Noelle.

  Since Gabriel stopped coming, things had been quiet around my magic school. Not that I blamed him or anything. Being pregnant and giving birth to two young kids in such a short amount of time wasn’t a walk in the park. Not that I knew anything about that. I was an alpha with no omega mate of my own, so I’d never experienced that sort of thing firsthand.

  That train of thought made me even more depressed. Here I was, alone in my school, with no customers, no one to train in magic, and no family. I usually wasn’t one to mope, but with nothing better to do, I rested my forehead on the counter and allowed myself to slump into those bad feelings.

  The bell rang.
>
  I shot up, heart racing with excitement.

  A man I didn’t recognize stood at the door with a curious expression. But it was more weird curious than interested curious. Still, I couldn’t complain—a student was a student.

  I leapt over the counter and exclaimed, “Hello! Welcome to Ryu’s Magic School, where—”

  “Hey, man, do you know this area? I think I’m lost,” the man said.

  My enthusiasm quickly died. Not wanting to be rude, I replied to his question anyway. “Um, yeah, I’m pretty familiar with it.”

  “Alright, cool. Me and some buddies are getting shitfaced after work. Do you know a place called the Drunken Dragon?” he asked.

  I perked up at the name. That was the name of Scar’s bar, where I’d taken Gabriel once to speak with the man himself. Long story short, both of them were escapees from their old pack, Stoneheart. But although Gabriel wanted to go back and help his old pack, Scar wanted nothing to do with the place that nearly got him killed - and I couldn’t blame him. I hadn’t seen Scar since I let him know what occured with Gabriel’s whole magic quest to save the place. Truthfully, he didn’t seem to care either way, but at least he knew the whole story now.

  “Yeah, I know the place.” I gave the man directions to the Drunken Dragon.

  “Thanks, man.”

  Before he could leave, I tried to squeeze a return favor out of him. “Hey, if you ever need someplace to hone your magic skills, you know the place!”

  “Huh?” The man looked totally confused.

  Did he not read the sign before he came in?

  “Er, this is a magic school,” I explained.

  The man blinked. “Okay.” Then he left.

  Anger was not a useful emotion, or one I experienced often, but I was pretty annoyed after that.

  But then I got to thinking about Scar. What had he been up to all this time? I wouldn’t exactly call myself a regular, but I did like to grab a drink at his place and chat once in a while. We weren’t close by any means—I don’t know if he would even consider us friends—but I got the feeling he could use someone to talk to sometimes. He had no mate, and I didn’t know if he wanted one.