After leaving the mountain that Zephyr threw me off of, I followed her for awhile, then, her lament stopped. I tried searching for her, but I couldn’t find her.
I went back to searching for Ancalagon and finding the laboratory dragons. I’ve been searching everywhere, in constant contact with Avani and Cedric and none of us has a clue where they’ve taken him.
In a group meeting, Kenna, Tana and Cedric's daughter, mentions that we might be looking in the wrong place and it makes sense. Ancalagon isn’t where we expect him to be, so we need to switch where and how we are looking for him.
I head back to the city, back to the penthouse. As soon as I walk inside, I smell her scent of freshly fallen snow. Zephyr has been here. I follow her scent to my room, seeing that some of my clothes are missing. Then I follow it to Tana’s room, seeing that several more of Tana’s clothes are missing and some of Kenna’s shoes.
I make note of the sizes that she’s taken from their rooms before going to shower off the wilderness and stress of constantly searching for my mate, her son, and the laboratory-created dragons. It’s what I do, but usually, I’m not so emotionally invested. And I’ve been putting off my work which I somehow need to make time for.
When I get out of the shower, I order clothing for Zephyr. If she’s coming here, there’s a reason, even if it’s only a place for her to regroup and get her bearings. But, it makes me wonder if there’s a reason she’s chosen to come to the city. She’s less like Tana who actually worked in the city for five years, and more like Avani who can’t stand the city and would rather live in the forest. I have a glimmer of hope that the reason is me.
After ordering Zephyr clothing and shoes, I go to the kitchen, finding the refrigerator empty. Instead, I order delivery and then call Avani.
“Ishir, do you have news?”
“No, I was hoping you did.”
“Nothing. How is this possible Ishir? I’m going crazy trying to find my son! I met with Zephyr and she hasn’t found any leads either.”
“Where did you meet with Zephyr?” I ask him, trying to piece together her timeframe of where she’s been and when.
“A couple of days ago. She was out in the forest. Why?” he asks me.
“Just curious,” I say, deciding not to tell him that she’s been here at the penthouse. I want to know why she’s here first before I say anything.
“Are there any other facilities that I can search?” Avani asks.
“I thought you were heading home for a few days,” I say to him.
“Yeah, I need to, but if there’s another one….”
“I need to look again, see which ones are left. I’ll meet you in a few days, we can search them together. I have some things I need to check on here anyway. I’ll call you and let you know where and when to meet.”
“Sounds good.”
“And Avani? Get some sleep, you sound exhausted,” I tell him, knowing I need to take my own advice. We’re all running ourselves ragged trying to find Ancalagon.
The next day, I go through my requests, happy that it’s not full of missing shifters like it has been in the recent past when they were building the arenas.
However, there is one shifter and I move it to the top of the list. As a rule, shifters don’t go ‘missing’. If they’re missing, it usually means something happened to them, like a hunter got to them or maybe the kid who took Ancalagon is starting to collect shifters as well.
This shifter is an owl shifter, so the person is most likely intelligent and a predator, but not an apex predator. It’s possible that he was actually shot by a real hunter not a supernatural hunter, but I’ll search for him anyway.
Zephyr’s clothing arrives and I leave it out for her, with a note telling her to take anything of mine that she wants and if she needs anything else to let me know. I tell her I’ll be gone for awhile searching for Ancalagon, so if she needs a place to stay, she’s welcome to stay in my room.
I’ve been around dragons for years, and I’ve seen Tana and now Avani with their mates. Even before they were claimed, the pull to their mates was strong. I’m hoping that Zephyr will use this place as a central point for her searches, and that being around my scent will help soothe her. Tana rarely comes here anymore, preferring to stay at home with her family unless she is out helping to search for Ancalagon.
As I pass her clothing on the table, I decide to scent it. Maybe that will make her feel more comfortable. I know it will make me feel more comfortable knowing that my mate smells like me when she’s out in the city.
I go through the list of laboratories that are left on the list that the scientist gave me. We’ve almost exhausted the list and we need to think of different ways to find Ancalagon.
I call Avani again.
“Meet me tomorrow,” I tell him and give him the coordinates. “I’ll be there mid-morning. And Avani, these are the last of them. After this, we need to come up with a new plan.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ll talk to you about it when we get together,” he says.
I decide to truly scent the new clothing I bought for my mate, so I put the clothing into my bed and after rolling around on all of them, I sleep with them. The next morning, I fold them up and put them back on the table with the note before locking up and heading out to meet Avani.
Once I’m out of the city, I shift, lifting my nose in the air. I’m almost positive I catch Zephyr’s scent, but it’s gone almost as quickly as it came. I take off, knowing I need to meet up with Avani.
As I’m running, I think about the owl shifter, thinking about where I can begin my search for a nocturnal predator. The forest is the natural option, so while we’re out here hunting for Ancalagon, I’m going to see if I can find this owl shifter, Owen. Owen the owl. I do a mental eye roll on that one.
I’m nearly to the meeting spot when I hear the whoosh of dragon wings above me. I look up just in time to see Avani’s green scales glinting in the sun before he flies over me and lands, shifting gracefully.
I race up to him and shift, nodding at him.
“Avani, how are Merethyl, Gaia and your unborn son?” I ask him.
“Better than I am. They’re good. I feel like my daughter is growing up and I’m missing it,” he says and I hear the regret in his voice.
“You are, so let’s find Ancalagon and get everyone back home where they belong,” I say to him.
We check out the first laboratory, it’s empty but there are still some documents left behind. I find a working computer, uploading the documents to myself to review later before stepping out. Avani does his dragon thing calling to the earth and the underground laboratory implodes and collapses in on itself. He uses his element and covers it up, so the humans with their drones and satellites won’t come looking to see what this strange looking area in the middle of nowhere is.
“Where’s the next one?” he asks.
I tell him and he grimaces.
“You know I can’t carry you without Mere’s permission,” he tells me.
I know this. Once a dragon is claimed, they give their free will to their riders, even if those riders don’t want it. Both Cedric and Merethyl have told Tana and Avani that they don’t want them giving up their free will, but it’s the way of the dragon. When they finally submit to being claimed, they give themselves up completely to their riders. In the recent past, that hasn’t been a bad thing because their riders were also their mates. However, historically, there have been times where it was terrible, fraught with problems and causing chaos in the world, leading to the many human stories of dragons and dragonslayers.
“I know, it’s no problem. You’ll beat me there, but you can look around and make sure the place is empty while I catch up,” I tell him.
“See you in a bit,” he says, leaping up into the air and shifting.
I leap forward, shifting into my tiger form and racing to the next coordinates. It’s a couple of hours later and I’m almost there when I hear Avani calling me.
“Ishir!”
I turn, following his scent when I smell the other, lighter scent near him. The scent of blood, an owl shifter’s blood, lingering in the air.
I race up to him, seeing him crouching on the ground.
I shift and come up behind him. He turns looking at me over his shoulder.
“What do you make of this?” he asks me.
When I can finally see, I’m surprised at what I’m looking at. The owl shifter is there, in his human form lying on the ground, his head separated from his body.
“I think we just found Owen the owl,” I say to Avani.
Three months later I’m in the kitchen of my new home, my daughter in a swing out of the way but where I can still see her and my newborn son in a bassinet in the next room. Having two children four months apart has been a challenge, especially when you add on that our house was being built and the surprise that we have planned for today. It’s a big one and I’m so nervous that I feel sick. ‘Easy Zephyr. Everything will be fine, you’ll see,’ my mate coos at me through our mind link. I tap into his mind and realize that somehow my mate snuck in, and my daughter is now strapped against his chest while he’s outside setting up the fire pit for the dragons. We decided to cover up our surprise with an ‘open house’, inviting everyone so all of our friends could be here ot witness the event today. “I can’t believe you had another baby before I had mine,” Merethyl says coming in with Terra, their little girl, another dragon. “Tiger and dragon gestations are similar so I’m only pregnant 3 mo
One month later “Take a look at this, Ish,” Cedric says to me. He and I have been hunting the hybrids that we know are out here, but so far, they are adept at evading us. However, they leave their trail of devastation behind them. “They’re getting more violent,” I say to him. “Yes, I’m starting to be able to distinguish between the two groups. The first group of hybrids seems to kill to eat and they clean up everything but the blood. This group…” “They’re starting to enjoy the kill,” I finish for him. “And they’re upping their game. It’s as if they are practicing, almost like they are planning on attacking something larger, or stronger,” he says looking at me meaningfully. “If they come for our dragons, they will meet their match, and their end,” I say. “If they come anywhere near my children or my pack, I’ll destroy them. I was willing to help them before and maybe we can still help the other group, but this one? I’m not sure they want our help.” “This is the group that had a
When we couldn’t find Sunshine, we went back for Oliver, only to find that he’d been killed and eaten. “Hybrids,” Ishir had confirmed when we landed and saw the blood everywhere, more blood than when we’d left behind. Through our combined senses, I could smell them. “Should we go after them?” I ask him. I stay in my dragon form in case I need to quickly attack or defend, as Ishir is kneeling on the ground near the blood. “Zeph, this is violent. There's a lot of blood here. I mean, you and I are used to violence, we’re animals, but this is something else, this is vicious. I don’t want you near this,” he tells me, standing. “Ishir, I’m a dragon. I can handle vicious.” “You’re my dragon, Zephyr and you’re the mother of my kitten. You may be a strong and powerful dragon, but you have a soft heart. Let me protect you from this. I’ll get Cedric and we’ll go searching for them. You’ve suffered enough violence at Oliver’s hand. I’ll take it from here,” he says, stroking my snout as he ta
I lay here, strapped to the bed, like I have been for what seems like forever. It’s been a long time, two weeks, if my calculations are right, which is questionable since there are no windows in this room. But if I’m right, it’s been two weeks since my father was here. I’m not sure which is worse, the pain or the hunger. It only felt like a couple days after he left, that the man who gives me the injections left too and he hasn’t been back. I was okay for awhile because I had the IV fluids dripping into my body, but that dried up over a week ago. I’ve relieved myself multiple times and now everything in here smells terrible, the area between my legs feels raw and I'm worried it's getting infected, which it probably is. I hear the pitiful sound of the creature in the other room. He sounds so much like Ancalagon. I have no idea if it’s him or not, but I hope not. Once again, we’re trapped underground. “Cal, if you can hear me, I’m here. I know, I’m hungry too. I’m sure my father will
I hadn’t expected them to be back so soon. They’ve never returned so quickly after finding one of my laboratories. In fact, the last time, they burned it down, releasing all my subjects. This time, my subjects had escaped on their own. I had been watching from my personal laboratory since my lead scientist told me that the shifts were imminent. He wasn’t wrong, but what we didn’t expect was that they would grow to sizes that burst through their cages. They had become wild, killing the scientists before helping the others escape. The dragon and the tiger wouldn’t have known that some of the humans that had been laying on the ground, had become snacks for the vicious creatures, as they fed on their way toward freedom. Once again, I’ve been thwarted because my scientists don’t seem to know what they are doing. Thank goodness my “daughter” and her future mate are both still under my control. Eliane has been responding well to the treatments, almost as well as the dragon. I’m hoping tha
The voices in my head have started screaming again, only this time, they are telling me to do something, anything to help the children that this monster is killing. I’m stronger now, so I shut my mind off from Ishir. He is helping that boy, helping Everett and Kaylani try to save him, and while he does that, I go to Cyrene. I know what I have to do even if it kills me. I pick her up, kissing her and smelling her sweet, exotic scent, a mix of mine and Ishir's. “Zephyr?” Nova’s quiet voice asks from the doorway. I take one more deep breath of my daughter’s scent, then put her back in her crib before turning to Nova. She’s breathing heavily and there are tears in her eyes. “What’s going on?” “I have to go end this Nova. I can’t let Oliver and his men hurt you or any of these children any more. It will never stop while he’s alive.” Her lips quiver and she rushes to me, wrapping her arms around me. “Please come back to me. You’re the only family I have, Zephyr, you and Ishir. I love