by Sadie Jacks
“You are mine, Mate. My flames play on your skin. You will be mine forever.”
“You have to share.” She lifted her arm, my Kiss still swirling on her skin.
I jerked back in shock. I worried for my Mate’s mind. Perhaps the Kiss damaged her on the inside where I couldn’t see it.
“You’re a fucking jackass. Let me out, you cave dweller.”
I was watching my Mate, so I knew she wasn’t talking to me this time. I looked to the men, now numbering four, who stood around her. Way too close. The one with the red hair had his hands in her flowing black locks as the three remaining had their hands on her bare skin.
I reared back. Taking a deep breath as the shock of their audacity swept through me, I felt the cave wall shatter under another boulder.
“You really are an asshole, Ten. Don’t get me started on the other shit you pulled when we were in the spirit realm with her. You hurt her.”
“How dare you enter my mind, mongrel. Be gone.” I tried to shoo him away. He crossed his arms, smiled at me with a calm, peaceful smile I wanted to wipe from his face with a flash of fire.
“I own the body you’re going to turn back into if you want to be with Kiema. You need to learn to play nice, or I’ll bottle you up and you’ll never get free again.”
He didn’t look like he was lying, none of the bodily markers were there. I’d dealt with enough humans in my lifetime to be able to smell lies. He looked undisturbed and inflexible.
“My Mate will have a dragon form of her own. I am going to unlock it.” This human might be calm and tenacious, but he was clearly an idiot.
“The magic of your time is gone. She has no other form than what you currently see.” He nodded at my Mate. “If you try to unlock her dragon form, you could kill her. You saw what I did in her inner spirit.”
“She is simply missing pieces of her magic. If we can find them, I can restore them to her soul, and she will be able to take whatever form she desires. Since she is my True Mate, she will choose dragon. Then we will have no need of you or your humans. We will rule the skies and the earth of this realm.”
“You know how to heal my magic?” my Mate asked, pulling me from the obnoxious human in my mind.
“How did you know that?”
The human in my mind laughed. “Because you’ve been talking out loud, Ten. They do have ears.”
I bristled at the calm man, but answered my Mate. “Yes, I can heal your magic. I believe your Saint is in my mind.”
“Can I talk to him?” she asked.
“You can talk to me. He will hear you.” I wasn’t giving the reins to this buffoon. He could damage my dragon form without even trying. He didn’t seem big enough to handle this body.
“I can hear you, Ten,” Saint said.
“I don’t care, Saint.” My mind was beginning to hurt with all of the nonsense going on.
“What millennia is this?” I asked.
“This is the year 2030. When were you last alive?” my Mate asked.
“No. That can’t be right. You are surely mistaken.”
“She’s not lying, Ten,” Saint said softly.
“Tenny? When are you from? Are you originally from Azica?”
“Azica? What godsforsaken name is that? I’m from Earth, almost ten thousand years ago.”
All of the humans gaped at me. Even Saint lost his composure.
“The fuck?”
“How did you get to Azica, Tennotith?” The blond man asked me.
“I don’t know, now do I? I went to my Sleep on Earth. If your years are correct, almost eight thousand years ago. Now I wake up on a different world, in a different time.” I shook my head. They had to be wrong. These humans were more idiotic than those in my time, on my world.
A glimmer of color near the roofline caught my eye. I drew in a huge breath, shot a stream of fire to the metal roof. Once the hole was big enough to see through, I stilled.
“What time of day is it?” I asked.
“Late afternoon,” someone answered.
“Do you have the standard twenty-four hour day?”
“Well, it takes us twenty-seven hours for us to revolve around our suns,” a man answered.
“Gods blood! You have more than one sun?” I made the hole in the building bigger. There it was. More like Earth’s single sun in size, color, and shape, but a second sun was there, nonetheless.
“What color do you call your sky?”
“Blue?” Another male voice answered. I didn’t bother looking to see who was talking. I just knew it wasn’t my Mate.
“I have never seen that color of blue in my long life.”
“Tenny? Can I please talk to Saint?” my Mate asked.
I nodded. I lowered back to the ground. In my mind, I stepped aside. “You and I will need to work some things out, Saint. I do not belong in this world. I can barely feel a glimmer of magic. Dragons are magical beings. We cannot survive without it.”
He nodded at me, took center stage. As I watched, the shape of our eyes changed, altering how and what we could see. I shook my head.
I truly didn’t belong here.
Chapter 15 – Saint
“Hey, honey,” I said.
“Saint? Is it really you?” She laughed, the sound a little shaky. “Of course, it’s you. You have your eyes again. Are you okay?” She reached out, laid a hand on my snout.
“I’m okay. I don’t know about Ten, but he and I will work that part out together.”
“If he can heal her magic, we will need both of you,” Atlas said. He looked a little pale under his laboratory tan.
“We can talk about it later. Where’re Ransom and Asher?”
“Talking with Claude and Charlotte,” Taryk answered.
I nodded. Well, I tried. My head was resting on the ground. “I see.”
I turned to Lukas. “So, I’m guessing you took your hands off her at some point, yes? After I got sucked in?”
The man looked like he was trying not to cry. He nodded.
“Well, when I’m back in my human form, remind me to punch you the fuck out,” I said calmly. I took another breath. This time my voice was hard. “Ten and I hurt her on the spirit plane, you fucking asshole. Hurt her,” I growled the last two words. I could feel the literal fire burning in the back of my throat, aching to be let loose.
I breathed through the desire. If I roasted him now, Kiema would be mad. We wouldn’t have a way to nullify any magic, and we might need him for information down the road.
Lukas nodded again.
“He was actually holding both of your magic back.” My brother looked at the other man. “He’s a bit traumatized,” Taryk offered.
“I don’t care. He gets thrashed as soon as I’m human again.”
Taryk shrugged, nodded in agreement. “Seems fair to me.”
“Saint, I need a full work up on you,” Atlas said.
“Sure, Atlas. You can give it a shot while I’m in this form. I’m not sure how it will work though.”
“You need to bring the equipment here, Atlas. He can’t go outside looking like this,” Taryk warned.
Dr. Atlas lifted his nose into the air. “I’m not an imbecile, Taryk.” He spun on his heel and walked off.
“Saint, man. You’ve got Asher’s beat to pieces. He’s going to be so pissed,” Xander said, a smile on his face.
“The fuck, bro?” Asher said from behind me. “What the fuck is going on in here? Who’s the beastie?”
“Saint,” Xander, Taryk, and Kiema said in unison.
The sound of running footsteps stopped as Asher slid to a stop in front of me. “Saint, you fucking scrotebag. Just had to go and one up me, bro? What the shit?” He looked like he was about to stomp his foot on the ground and have a temper tantrum.
“I’m just better than you, Ash. We’ve all known this for a while now.”
Kiema laughed, her eyes wide. She hid it behind her hand when Asher shot her a hurt look.
“I’m still
number one in your heart, right, Ki-Ki?” he asked, a hand over his heart.
She nodded, giggles still erupting from behind her hand. “Of course you are, Asher.”
Asher perked back up. “I mean, a dragon? What the fuck is that good for? He can’t go out in public. Now, a bear? I can go where-the-fuck-ever I want, sleazy breezy.”
Kiema’s hand dropped, her face going lax. “You’re a bear? How did I not know that? You shifted?” She ran over to the loud mouthed twin, threw her arms around him. Wrapped her legs around his waist. “Asher, I’m so happy for you.”
A pinch at the corner of Asher’s mouth had her pulling back, stepping away. “What’s wrong?” She took another step back, her hands folded at her waist. I recognized the distance she was reaching for.
“Why do I still feel burning when you touch me? I should be able to touch you, just like Ransom.” The muscles in Asher’s neck tightened until they stood out in relief against his throat. “Where the fuck is Atlas? I should be able to touch her.” He turned his head from side to side.
“He went to get his med bag. He’ll be back in a few, Ash,” Xander answered.
Asher nodded tightly, crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’m so sorry, Asher. Maybe I didn’t heal you right? This is all my fault.” Kiema was still backing away. She was almost to the far side of my head at this point.
“It’s no one’s fault, honey. We’ll get it figured out.”
“Her magic has ascended. Only those who have magic with the same frequency will be able to touch her,” Ten said in my mind.
“Fuck.” I shared the message.
“How the fuck do you know that, Saint?” Asher asked, his hands clenched into fists as he got right up into my face.
“Ten told me.” I explained who Ten was before I could get interrupted again.
“He can’t know that for sure. Not if he’s from Earth. And as old as dirt.”
“Scorch him,” Ten demanded.
“I’m not doing that, Ten. Shut up so I can listen.”
“He shouldn’t be so insolent. I’m a being of pure magic. From the smell of him, he is barely magical at all. On Earth, he would have been sacrificed for his magic. It would have been given to a coven leader to be gifted to a Chosen One. His paltry magic does not earn him a right to speak to me, to you, this way.”
“How can you tell how much magic he has?”
“By smell. I just said this. You are not listening at all, to either conversation. We must work on this ability to multitask, you and me. I will not be paired with an idiot. I refuse.”
“Right, you’re so great and powerful that you were stolen from Earth and shoved into a body with almost no magic of its own. Yes, we cower before your greatness, Ten.”
“You have plenty of magic, Saint. Your body would not have been able to house me if you had as little magic as your bear friend.”
I mulled that over. Huh.
“How do we get Kiema’s magic into her?”
“Do you know where it is?”
“I think so.” If those bloody spheres had been her magic, then they should still be at the cabin.
“Get them, bring them to me, and I will reattach them to her soul through an old custom.”
“SAINT.”
My name sounded from every single direction.
“Tell that small man with the dirty white hair to stop touching our Mate. He should not be able to do that.” Ten inhaled deeply, causing our chest to expand.
“Stop that.” I pushed him back into the corner. “That’s fucking weird.”
“He has much magic, too. But his fights within him. He is not normal. Nor is his magic.”
“Is something wrong with him? Is he going to be okay?” I wrapped my hands around Ten’s spirit, shook him a bit.
“He is fine, will remain so. His magic is dark though. If he is not strong enough, it could damage his mind.”
“Saint, if you don’t answer me, I’m going to have Lukas touch you,” Ransom threatened.
“I’m here. I’m here.” I focused back on the physical world around me. Fighting with the other spirit inside my brain was a little too weird for me anyway.
Chapter 16 – Ransom
I wrapped my arms around Kiema. For the first time in almost two weeks I felt my insides unclench. Even my animals were calm. She was safe in my arms.
One problem down, one huge ass dragon to go.
“Are you going to change back?” I asked Saint.
He shook his mammoth head. “I’m not sure how to do that. And Ten is being a bit of bitch. He says that until you unhand his Mate, he’s not helping us do anything.”
A low snarl rose up my throat.
Kiema rubbed her hand over my abs. “It’s fine, Ransom. Think of Tenny as a foreign exchange student. He’s ancient and from Earth. He’s not really up on today’s norms. Especially this group’s.” She chuckled the last bit, a twinkle in her eyes as she looked up at me.
“How does Earth have dragons?”
Saint launched into the history of Ten. The long, boring history.
Just as my eyes were glazing over, Saint’s eyes went from their familiar brown to an eerie yellow golden green with vertical slits.
“Human, if you do not give me and Saint the respect we deserve, I will scorch you into eternity. Your ancestors will suffer my wrath. Your descendants will cease to exist. I suffer you touching my True Mate because of your brotherhood with Saint. Do not think it extends any farther than that.”
Saint’s eyes bled back to dark brown and round pupils. “Sorry. A bit of the old guard is Ten.”
I snorted. “A bit. What was he saying about magic on Azica?”
“There’s hardly any here. Which might be why so little of the population has it.”
I turned to Lukas. “Kiema told us about a Montague. What does this guy want?”
Lukas shrugged. “All I know is he’s trying to amass an enormous amount of magical power. What he intends to do with it, I have no idea.”
“And we have to restore Kiema’s magic or she could die?” I asked Asher.
He nodded. “That’s what Captain Silent said.”
“Who?” Kiema asked.
“Mute with too much hardware in his face.”
“Hellion was here?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Remember, honey? I asked you about him before you sucked me into your spiritual plane.”
She shook her head at him, her long hair sliding over my arm. “I don’t remember that at all. And, for the last time, Saint, you pulled me to your spiritual plane. I’ve never experienced a spiritual plane like that before. That was all you.”
I bit my teeth together until I felt a zip of pain go up through my jaw into my head. Saint had been able to talk and interact with her in that realm. I wanted to kill him, I was so fucking jealous.
The dragon that currently housed Saint shook his head again, his whiskers sliding over the concrete floor. Lines appeared in the dust looking like small snakes had slithered by recently.
“Back to Hellion,” I said.
Kiema sighed. “Matilda, the lady who was in charge of my kidnapping, said he didn’t have any magic whatsoever. Which is a load of complete and utter shit. That man was seething with it. I’m just unfamiliar with it; I’ve never brushed up against a power like that.”
“We need to start working on your magics, sister,” Lukas said.
I bared my teeth at him. “You haven’t earned the right to train her in anything.”
Kiema pressed a kiss into my shoulder as she rubbed her hand over my abs again in a gentle circle.
“Ten could probably help quite a bit. If he’s as old as he says he is, he’d be quite knowledgeable about magic.”
“Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Ten could translate The Lost Ones for us?” Kiema said. She sounded like she was joking.
I stilled, looked up into Saint’s familiar eyes. “Could he?”
“I’ll ask.”
; Saint’s eyes clouded over slightly.
The door slammed, pulling all of our attention.
“I’ve got the kit,” Atlas said as he jogged over to where we were all huddled together. “I’ll get everything set up. Asher, I still need to get fresh samples from you.”
Saint snorted lightly and his eyes cleared. They also turned into a different color and pupil dimension.
“Tennotith,” I said.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I would be willing to look at this manuscript you have procured. It could contain information about how I ended up here in addition to why there is so little magic on this world.”
“Can you and Saint…” Kiema pushed her cupped palms together in odd ways, “merge or something? I don’t know that you’ll be able to read the text in dragon form. It’s very small, and you are very big.”
If the vertical slits could have reshaped themselves into tiny hearts that filled his eye, I imagine that’s what they would have done. “Yes, there is a spell that can merge our two essences. We will decide between ourselves who will be the dominant party. Once this merging has been completed, our dragon form will be only a thought away. As is your form, Kiema. You have merely to accept your magic in whole.”
The dragon’s pupils regained their rounded shape of Saint. “Sorry, Kiema. He wasn’t supposed to share that last part yet. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. I didn’t want to add any extra grief or stress to you.”
Atlas stepped up between Saint’s snout and Kiema and me before she could even open her mouth to reply. “Saint, I’m ready to do the specimen retrieval on your dragon. Are you prepared?”
“I’ll let you talk to Ten. He’s going to know most of the answers to any of the questions you have.”
Ten and his elongated pupils took main stage again.
I, for one, can’t wait for the pompous bastard to be absorbed by Saint.
“Saint tells me you wish to study this form. What do you require, Learned One?”
Asher groaned. “Great, someone else to faun over the man. He’s only a doctor. He can’t take apart an engine or make cool inventions. Hell, I could hand out bandages.”
