HIS ROYAL LOVE CHILD (Book Two of the LOVE CHILD series)

Chapter One "NICHOLAI"

Above Francisco Lachowski as Nicholai.

Nicholai P.O.V…………………

I woke up with a gasp and covered in sweat. The night air blowing through the open windows causing the sweat on my overheated body to cool rapidly. I shivered as my  body quickly became covered in goosebumps. But I wasn't cold, the sense of extreme fear was still with me from the nightmare that I had woken up from.

I threw off the twisted heavy blankets and walked over to the open window. I braced my hands on the windowsill and inhaled deeply the fresh night air. I had to get out of here. The need to roam and feel free, to get away from the walls of the room that felt as if they were closing in and suffocating me washed through me. Without a second thought I climbed upon on the windowsill and dived off.

As I fell, I shifted into my Blue and Red dragon. Yes, I am a dragon shifter, the youngest son of Phillipe Rimados, the DRAGON LORD. My name, Nicholai Rimados. I was a rare dragon amongst my people. Even though my dominat colours are Red and Blue, my scales also had mixed in literally all the colours of the rainbow. So technically I'm a Rainbow Dragon. A dragon so rare and powerful, that when I first shifted and my father realized what I was, he immediately declared war on the other Dragon Lords.

He used is tyranny and his control over me and the power that he wielded through me to wage a long and bloody war. In the end he won, because with me under his thumb, the others stood no chance.

As I flew through the night sky, I allowed the feel of the wind on my wings and the fresh scent of the air to calm me. The need to be ouside and free, wasn't mine. That had been beaten out of me a long time ago by my father. The need, belonged to the one who's nightmares I have been experiencing for almost ten years. My True Mate.

I could feel him calming down and I know it's because of me and my dragon. We have shared this link since I was a child and the closer I get to my eighteenth birthday the stronger it got. Now at odd times I find myself looking through his eyes into a world and time that I knew nothing about. A world and time that I thought I would never get to experience, because my father would kill me first before he would ever allow me to leave. But I have every intention of leaving.

I flew to my favourite spot at the top of the mountains. I had no fear of being seen. I lived in a world were the sight of a dragon was an everyday occurrence and the people not just knew about us, but depended on us for there protection. It's just too bad that my father is the one that we all needed to be protected from.

As I landed, I laid down and folded my wings around myself, I rested my massive head on my paws and just stared up at the moon. Here in the dark and quiet of the night, with only the company of the moon I felt at peace and so did he. I could sense it. I could also sense that whatever internal battle he was struggling with, he would lose unless I could find away to get to him. He needed me.

Tomorrow is the night of the full moon. But most importantly, it's also my birthday and my father plans to announce my hand in marriage to the daugher of the second, most powerful and influential Dragon Lord in the land. It was purely a political move on the part of my father. He cared nothing for me.

He didn't care anything for my own happiness. He didn't care that my true mate was out there waiting for me, needing me. As a matter of fact he was completely disgusted when I told him that my true mate was a man. I sighed as I recalled his punishment for me that day I so foolishly revealed to him that I knew who my true mate was already.

In my world a man being with another man was not merely frowned upon, it was a reason to be put to death. What he did to me that day was something no father should ever do to their own child. He whipped me to within an inch of my life. Shredding my back, leaving it a raw bloody mess. My mother and my brothers, along with everyone else within the dragon keep just stood by and watched. No one made a move to stop him or protested. That was the day that I made up my mind to leave and go find my mate.

I had only allowed myself to be controlled by my father, because of my mother and brothers and our people. My father knew that my love for them all was all that he needed to use to control me. Ever since I first shifted he started threatening me, he would always describe quite graphically the things he would do to my mother and brothers if I ever left or defied him in anyway. But seeing them all, just standing there while he ripped me apart with the whip finally opened my eyes to the truth.

These people cared nothing about me. Instead they feared and hated me. I could see it in their eyes as I was being punished by my father. A sick satisfaction at seeing me being humiliated and brought to my knees in pain. I no longer had a reason to stay. My father didn't realize it, but his actions broke the chains that he had been using to control me, to prevent me from leaving.

But I have every intention of finding a way to get to my mate. My one and only chance will be tomorrow night when the moon is at it's fullest and at the highest point in the sky, I plan to use the pull and power of the moon, combined with my own powers to help me time jump. I have never done it before. But others have and they still do occassionally. Always coming back with tales of the wonders of the modern world.

When I jump, I have no intention of coming back. My mate needed me and I am going to find him.