by Celeste Raye
Before he realized what he was doing after the wedding, he had shifted into his true form and took off into the air. People around him thought that he was celebrating the union of his brother and his new mate, but that was not it at all. He actually had to get away, and after a few moments, he took off from all of the other dragons around him.
Everything looked a little better from the sky. All of the tiny houses were just like little toys down below him and all of the people inside were little specks. They weren't complicated like all of the people that he knew in his life. It felt like nothing ever went the way it was supposed to go.
When he was finally physically tired, he slowed down and stopped. He had flown a long way, and now he had no idea where he was. He didn't want to know, and before he could think more of it, he switched back into his human form and walked out of the woods. He was in search of something, though Trent had no idea what it was.
Trent found a bar and started to drink. That was something that he was good at. Everything was too complicated, but drinking wasn't. The muddled brain was something that he was getting used to and rather enjoying. For a few moments, he stopped thinking about Sienna and his brother and the wedding.
A blonde human named Diane came to sit next to him, but he wasn't interested. He tried to make that known, but she was the type of woman that was too pretty to ever get the point. She had most likely never been told no before and she got upset with him.
Not too long after she got up huffy, she came back with two men that looked to want to cause conflict.
“This is the guy I was telling you about.”
Apparently, she had told two of her brothers’ friends, that Trent had tried to make an unwanted pass at her. That he had grabbed her. This, of course, was not true, but they didn't know it, and they looked like two guys that weren't really too worried about if it was true or not. They were looking to fight, and even though Trent was a little drunk, so was he.
Everything that was going on really didn't matter to him. He would never see any of those people again, so when one of them got too close, he just hit him in the face as hard as he could.
The second one had snuck around back when he was working on the first and jumped on his back.
Trent wasn't worried about it, but his instinct was kicking in far more than it should have. He should have toned it down and just punched them a few times and walked away, but something came over him. Trent saw red, and it was the screams behind him that finally stopped his actions. The man underneath him was no longer a man, or at least not one that was recognizable.
He stood up suddenly and looked around the bar. All eyes were on Trent, and he cursed himself. He wasn't too drunk to understand what he had just done.
Before something else could happen or another person came towards him, which was rather unlikely, Trent took off. He went running towards the woods, shifted once in them, and took off towards the sky.
This time his brain was sharper than it should have been, and the smell of blood was all over him. Trent did not know in what way he’d left the man that was in the bar. He really didn't care, but it was going to matter in the long run. One of the main roles of being a shifter was to never bring attention to yourself. Not in the human world.
It was almost morning before he got back to the Dynasty Club and of course, Frank was there to greet him when he came through the door.
“It looks like you've had a rough night.”
“I have. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”
“Do you mean with your brother and the wedding party?”
Trent just kind of shrugged like he wasn't sure what he meant, but that was exactly what he was looking to find out. He wanted to know if something else of significance would happen. In his mind, Sienna would call the whole thing off, and Darius would be left in the lurch.
Their first night couldn't have happened. How could it, when she was his?
“Yeah, I guess.”
“No, not that I know of. Were you expecting something to happen?”
Trent said that he wasn't, but he had been hoping. That part he did not say out loud. It didn't matter anyway. She was now married and most likely consummated the marriage with his brother. That wasn't something that he was not going to be able to ever forget. He had brought it on himself, of course. It was all his fault. That he could feel as clear as day.
“Did you get into a bit of a tussle?”
Frank had noticed the blood. It was actually everywhere.
“Something like that.”
“Anything local that I should know about?”
“No, it was somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. I don't think anybody has to worry about it coming back on us here.”
Frank was rather surprised by how far away Trent had gone and made a comment about it.
“You must have left early last night to get that far away. Must have been going like the devil himself was after you.”
“Sometimes it's good to go fast and hard and long. It’s the only way to clear your mind.”
“And did it work?”
Trent finally looked at Frank. Really looked at him, and he could tell that the old man had something on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to say. Most likely, he was respectfully not saying it.
“Did what work?”
“Did running all night and beating the hell out of a human help you to get over the fact that you want the woman that your brother just married?”
Trent wanted to deny it all, but there was really no point in it. Frank knew exactly how he felt, and unfortunately, none of it had been enough. He felt like he could have flown around the world and he still would have been thinking about her the whole time. He was going to think about Sienna until the day he died.
That was something that would make most other people happy, even if the situation was not ideal. True love and connection were hard to find. But in his situation, Trent knew that no matter how he felt about her, thought about her, it was a kind of torture more than love. In the end, she was Darius’ wife, and that was final.
“No, Frank, it didn’t work.”
Frank sighed and slapped him on the back. “One day, you will see that everything happens for a reason.”
Trent agreed because that was the polite thing to do.
“I know you think this is the ramblings of an old man, Trent, but trust me. Fate isn’t done with the two of you just yet.”
“She better be. It’s over between us.”
Frank just nodded, knowing not to argue. He could already tell the changes in Sienna when she had come back. The changes in Trent had been more pronounced.
Frank always knew somehow.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Father, are you sure that you want me to go already?”
“We cannot wait any longer. You need to bring some of the new troops from Sienna’s family. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to keep what we have. We can’t lose any ground or it will be harder to get it back later. They take an inch, that will embolden them even more. I want to smack them down so that they never try this nonsense again.”
Darius wasn’t ready to leave America, but he knew that he wasn’t going to have a choice.
“I will get Sienna ready and we can leave later today.”
“No, we will be leaving right now, and you will have to leave the new wife here. She can’t even shift.”
Darius didn’t want to leave her, but he knew that he must. Responsibility to the family, pack, and his father never seemed to end.
“Of course, let me just tell her goodbye. It’s only been a day. I thought I would have longer before we went back.”
“I know that this is sudden and not in the plan, but we must hold our ground.”
Darius nodded and then left to find Sienna. She was a sunbeam in his life, and the more he tried to figure it all out in his head, the harder it was to imagine. He had found someone perfect for him and he never wanted to let her go. It was too hard
to even think about.
Sienna was still in bed when he got back upstairs, and he couldn't help but to crawl in next to her.
“You weren’t gone very long, Darius.”
“Can you blame me? I mean, look at you. There is nowhere else I'd rather be.”
“You do know what to say.”
“And you're avoiding my compliments.”
“They’re just hard to hear. You talk about me and to me like I am perfect. Darius, I am far from perfect.”
From where Darius was standing, he certainly thought she was exactly that. He had never met anybody like Sienna in his life and he was hopeful that he would never have to live another day without her. But for now, he had to leave for a little while, and it crushed him.
What was worse was that he had to tell her. Something had happened between them the night before, something magical, and Darius was in love. He had been so cynical when it all started. He figured that he would keep up with Amber and the wife would just be the wife. But Darius wanted it to be something else. She was special, and it was hard to tell her that he had to go.
“What’s going on, Darius? You have concern on your face.”
“The fact of the matter is that I have to leave.”
Sienna was shocked, and she asked him why he was going.
“I need to go back home and take care of some things. My father and I are leaving in a few minutes and I wanted to tell you goodbye before I left. I don’t want to go, but it is something that must be done.”
“Wait. You're leaving in a few minutes? Where are you going?”
“There is some fighting going on close to our borders, and we want to make sure that the McClellans stay on their side. They want to take our land, and that is part of the reason that we got married: we need more troops, and we're going to take about fifty over with us.”
“So, you're going home?”
“Yes.”
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“I'm not really sure.”
Sienna put her lower lip out a little bit like she was pouting.
“Are you sure that I can't come with you? It seems weird that we would leave each other so soon after getting married.”
Sienna tried to convince him that the last thing he wanted to do was leave her. He wanted to continue on the honeymoon the way it was going, but he knew that he had to do what was needed of him. His father had set all of it up for his benefit, and he would never have met Sienna if it weren't for him. he told her as much.
“I will be back as soon as I can. If not, I will have my brother and a few other people take you home for me. And then as soon as the fighting is over, I will be back to you.”
“Fighting?”
Darius took her look the wrong way and thought that she was worried.
“Don't worry about anything, Sienna. Nothing is going to happen to me. We have been fighting the McClellans for at least two hundred years now. Sometimes they just have to be beaten back, to be reminded who they are and who the hell we are. You know?”
“I just worry about you being gone. I will miss you. We haven’t had any time together. I thought that we’d at least have more than a night.”
“I know, Sienna. I am not happy about it either. This will all be over soon, and you can rest assured that I will do everything in my power to get us home as soon as I possibly can.”
“Just come back as soon as you can. I will be waiting for you when you're done. I hope that we are back together soon.”
It was everything that Darius wanted to hear, and he was thankful that he had come to tell her goodbye. If it would have been Amber, he would have sent a messenger. Amber was always too emotional, and he preferred to avoid it, but he was glad that he had told Sienna. He was glad that he was able to kiss her and touch her and for a moment, pretend like nothing was going to change.
Darius pulled back, and Sienna had a look of sadness in her eyes, and again, he completely misconstrued it. He thought that it was because of him and he kissed her again, promising her that they would see each other as quickly as they possibly could.
“I know we will. It is just you talk about it like I'm never going to see you again. The way you were holding me.”
Darius pulled back and told her that it wasn't that way at all. “I just wanted to say goodbye, that's all. There's nothing to worry about.”
After he said his goodbyes to Sienna, he grabbed a couple of things out of his room and went to find his father. Ronald already had several reinforcements behind them, and it was shaping up to be a very quick affair. Darius couldn't believe that in less than a full day from the wedding, they were already suiting up to go to war.
Now he was leaving his wife behind, and it just felt wrong in so many ways.
“Don't worry about it, son. You will see her again in no time. Trust me when I tell you that life is long, and you will soon get sick of your wife.”
Darius just nodded his head in agreement, but he couldn't imagine ever being sick of Sienna. It seemed almost laughably impossible.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Trent wasn't even asked if he wanted to go back home or not. He was not one for fighting and certainly not with the McClellans. He had dated one of the sisters a long time ago and Trent generally did not like to take the violent approach if it was possible to do it any other way. His brother and his father were looking for blood, and he wasn’t all that bothered by the idea that they needed it.
“Well, that is good, Frank. At least now I won't have to worry about them anymore.”
“I just wanted to let you know that they were gone. I thought that it might be good news for you.”
“Why is that good news for me?”
“You don't listen very well, Trent.”
“Oh.”
“I said that your father and brother left. I didn’t say that they took his lovely wife with him, did I?”
“What are you saying, Frank?”
“I thought I was pretty clear, Trent. Have you already had too much to drink today?”
It was still early in the morning, and Trent had not started yet. He was already feeling a little lighter with the idea that his brother and his father were gone.
Somehow, the idea that all of them were gone was making him feel a little bit better, but now Frank had thrown a wrench into his plans. How was he supposed to forget about Sienna and move on with life when she was still there? He couldn't help but feel hope. And then he saw Frank's face, and he knew that he needed to rein it back in.
“No, I have not had too much to drink. I just can't believe that she is still here. Why didn't they take her with them?”
Frank shrugged and told Trent that he wasn't sure why.
“They didn't tell me that. They told me I was to let you know that they would be back in a little while. I figured that you would know more than I did.”
“All I know is that we are at war with a nearby dragon pack back home. We have been for a long time, and they are encroaching on our land. Father thinks that we need to push them back now that we are stronger. It was the whole reason for that sham of a wedding.”
“That was no sham, Trent. That was the real deal, and you know it. They are attached for life now.”
“I know, Frank. Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because of the look in your eyes, Trent. You look like a man that needs some answers, and I think that a little bit of time with her might help you. You never know. You might start to understand things.”
Trent didn’t think that he was having any problem understanding anything. The big problem was that he was torn in two directions, and one way it was the wrong way. It was also the way that he wanted to take the most.
“You know what I want to happen, Frank.”
“Yes, I do, and I'm not going to judge you either way. I just thought that you should know.”
Trent thanked him, but he didn't make a move one way or another. He had to decide how to handle it, and considering how
badly he had handled these types of decisions in the past, Trent wasn’t feeling like it was going to turn out very well. He couldn't stand there all day, though, could he?
Finally, he did the only thing that he could do. He went to find Sienna. They had not spoken since he had brought her back to her family, and that was one of his biggest regrets. He shouldn’t have brought her back to her father, but not just that: he shouldn't have let her go without at least telling her how he truly felt. He had said a lot of things in the end to make sure that she married Darius. And she had.
So then why did he feel so horrible about it?
He did not find her in her room like he was hoping. She was known to be found walking around the Dynasty Club and Trent was almost pushed to go find Frank again. Frank seemed to know everything. But he didn't want to go to Frank. He was causing him a lot of trouble, and he figured that it might be best if he stayed away from him until he got his mind right.
Instead, he started to walk the grounds around the Dynasty Club. He was hoping that he would find her there and then they would finally have the discussion that they needed to have. He would be able to tell her how he truly felt inside and...
Trent didn’t know what he wanted to happen next. While he knew how he wanted to take Sienna away, he also knew that it was impossible. Everything with Sienna was impossible. Maybe he was only going to have those few moments of stolen time with her, and that was going to have to be enough.
He saw her strawberry blonde hair before he actually saw her, and he touched her lightly on the shoulder, saying her name when he walked up to her.
She visibly jerked from his voice and the touch on the shoulder. He felt a little guilty because he certainly didn't want to do that. He wanted her to be relaxed for the conversation that they were about to have.
“God, Trent. You scared me. I didn't know you were there. Actually, I haven't seen you since the wedding.”
“Yes, it's been busy.”
Both of them fell into silence for a moment, and neither one knew what to say. Trent had been running all of the scenarios and conversations in his head, but he was not ready for this one. He was not ready for the one where she was face to face with him and he was trying to figure out where they stood. Or more aptly, where he stood.
