This odd form of my mate staggers as he gets to his feet and looks at me. The look he gives holds no pure intentions. I smile in glee at the revelation that I just had. My dragon asked me to take a chance and to trust that I could do this. To trust that I could handle whatever this is. I was terrified of what I would find when I came in here. For the first time in however long I have been here, I am not afraid.
"You are going to pay for that you little bitch" He growls. He cracks his neck and I see as his wound starts to heal right before my eyes. I widen my stance as I stare at me unbothered.
"I have a price to pay. I am just not too sure that you are going to like it" I say in warning as I wait for him to attack. I know that I need him to attack. No matter what this time though I need to keep my hands free. I truly hope that I can do this without having to endure his foul taste again.
"I am going to enjoy everything that I take from you. Especially the life of the bastard child in your belly" He growls. His words are what I don't expect. I feel pain as he refers to our child as a bastard. I quickly shake out of the pain and I get pissed. This will be the last time that anyone threatens my baby. We are going to make sure of this.
"All your talk to build up your strength is cute. I got you down once. I can get you down again. Now stope being a pussy and get rid of the words" I say with my alpha command.
The taunt does its job and I watch as he gets utterly enraged. He charges at me and I wait patiently for him to get close. As soon as he does I drop to the ground and swipe out with my foot. He doesn't expect the mood and pulls me down to the ground as he falls. His newly blackened gaze falls to my breast as they dangle in his face.
He licks his lips salaciously and fails to hide his grin. With him firmly distracted I draw my hand up to his chest quickly. Cara finally seeing exactly what my plan is fills our body with our power. The connection that we form between us as a bridge is so strong that it takes my breath away for a moment. For the first time I hear the thoughts of my beast and I am elated that we are in agreement.
We draw our hand back together and shove it into under his rib cage. Before he even realizes what is happening we have a fist wrapped around his heart. This finally gains his full attention and his eyes leave my breast. The look on his face is murderous and I smile as I squeeze his non beating flesh. He stills completely beneath me.
"You once gave me your heart, but today I am going to take it. The man that you reside in didn't have one to speak of. You chose to trick me about my mate and show me how he could be with no heart. I was supposed to fear the darkness you bring. To see the man that I love and feel nothing but pain. To know that in his darkness moments that he is capable of hurting me. You failed" I say right to his handsome face.
With my finally word I crush his heart in my hand and watch as the black light with the red tint leaves his disturbing eyes. Tears fill my eyes as his body slumps beneath me and goes pale. I use my pain as I cry out to the universe. Making me go through all of this isn't fair. I scream so loud and long that my lungs hurt.
I can feel as my power swirls through my chest and I feel when it leaves me in a rushing torrent. I am forced to blink my eyes open slowly as the air quiets around me. It doesn't feel as stifling as it once did and I feel like I can breathe. The weight of him is gone beneath me. As I hold my hand up to the light I have to shield my eyes. My skin looks unblemished as if I had never drove it into the inky blackness of his chest cavity.
As I finally get accustomed to my new surroundings new sounds start to fill my ears. A female is screaming at the top of her lungs and I can hear scuffling. When my head turns in the direction that the sounds are coming from I frown. I have no idea what I missed but all I can see is the blur of Maximus and Anthony as they come to blows. Avery is on the other side of the room and appears to be rising to her feet as she screams for them to stop.
"I don't want to fight you man. This needs to stop" Anthony says as he holds up his hands to Maximus. However, it's like his words don't reach Maximus. I can see his dragon eyes forward and I am startled by the change in them. They have gone from their beautiful iridescent blue to a black. Against the whites of his eyes they look creepy. He punches Anthony across the face and I watch as the blow moves him and he falls.
"You are the reason that we will have no alpha. You should have thought about stopping before you even started. You hurt my family and now you have to pay" Maximus says. I wouldn't say that it is his voice, however. This would have to be the voice of his dragon as it speaks.
"Uh, you know what to do here Cara?"
Nope. Tell them to stop I guess
She says it so nonchalantly that I immediately wonder why I never thought of it. As I waited for her reply the men continue to charge. From the look of Anthony's face I would say that he has been trying not to fight back for a while. There are some definite bruises sprouting up on his rich alabaster skin. Maximus however looks unfazed and as if he just entered the fight. The only thing that gives him away is the amount of sweat he carries and the fact that he has removed his robe.
He faces Anthony in just a pair of pants as Anthony finds his strength. By the look on his face it seems that he has had enough talking. He disappears and flashes in front of my beta quickly. He throws a hard right hook and I watch as Maximus takes the blow only to have another landed soon after.
Anthony flashes away and then back again to shove him to his ass. "If I wanted to end you I could so easily. I have more control of my powers than you do" he taunts him as he folds his arms.
"Oh yeah. I am going to make you eat those words. Come on pretty boy. Why don't you show me exactly the damage you can do with those tiny hands of yours" he grits out through his teeth.
His reply must have the desired effect because his facial expression goes blank. I watch as Anthony narrows his gaze on Maximus and I know this needs to stop now. I push myself to my feet and let my voice flow through the air with Cara.
"STOP FIGHTING NOW!!" I command them.
The command is like a wave as I watch it travel in the air. It causes the two men to go rigid as Avery's gaze swings to me. She bows her head just as her gaze meets mine. She has every right to feel guilty as she still should. I could have died doing what I did. She won't be getting on my good side anytime soon. Maximus doesn't hesitate, however. He rushes over to me quickly and lifts me into his arms. I chuckle in shock at the gesture.
"Thank you Kawa. I did want to give up my life to become alpha. Just the thought of having to deal with anyone pissed me off severely" He says in one breath really fast.
"So, you decided to beat up our guest instead?" I ask him with a chuckle. He scratches his head guiltily as he throws them a narrowed eyed look.
"Well, they are to blame for this mess. I couldn't even contact you when you made that stupid decision to jump into the black pit. It looks like you are all in one piece though" he says as he looks at me once more.
Suddenly I remember that I was naked and quickly jump away from him with a yelp. He looks at me like I'm crazy as I try to cover myself. Its only after tugging the fabric that covers my skin that I realize that my robe is actually intact.
"You good there?" he ask curiously.
"Yes, I thought I ......never mind" I say as I pat myself to make sure everything is covered. I look around the room. Avery fusses over Anthony and his wounds while he pushes her away. Once she stops they look at us again while we look at them. Before any of us can speak I feel something behind me.
When I turn its to see a glowing black orb as it floats in the air. My feet automatically move toward it when I see it but a hand on my arm stops me. I turn to see Maximus looking at me with worry again.
"Don't worry. I won't be disappearing this time" I assure him. He holds my gaze for a moment longer. Eventually he decides to trust me and lets me walk toward the fear. I walk around it in a circle while I look at it. the darkness no longer brings me a sick feeling. If anything it feels like a small comforting presence. I decide that I am going to be using this as a teaching opportunity.
"You see Avery. Your problem is, is that you fear the darkness" I tell her as I grab the sphere. It stays solid as it touches my hands. I move it around like a ball as I smile at it. "I don't fear the darkness because I know what it can bring" I say as I toss the ball into the air. it floats back down slowly as it comes back to my hands. I look over and meet her gaze as she stares at me with awe. "It is a part of me because I have survived it."
My power flows through my chest as I call it forward. The orb itself starts to quake in my hands as it feels it. The tips of my fingers turn black as I start to absorb it and it starts to shrink. When it is just the size of a pea, I hold it up to her. She blinks slowly as she looks at it. "Even though you barely touched it. You still let its violent tendencies take hold. You wanted to use it to destroy innocent life so you could keep your own. Influences suck, don't they?" I ask her as I dissolve the last of it by rubbing my hands together around it.
A gasp fills the air from her and I watch as she falls to her knees. Anthony crouches to help her as she places a hand over her heart. He throws a glare at me and I shrug while Maximus looks on with pride.
"Now there is none in you. I hope you don't allow it to take hold of you again" I warn her as I turn away. Facing Maximus I hold out an arm to him. He walks over and takes it gladly. "Take us home please" I ask. With that we both disappear and go into the ether. Scenery passes by us so fast and then we are back in the hospital room. I release his arm and I walk over to my mate.
My hands go up to touch his face automatically. I can see the color returning to his cheeks. The lightest tingles touch my skin and I smile at them. He is coming back to me. I watch on as I wait for him to open his eyes. When I feel like I have been waiting for too long I look at Maximus. It seems that he is starting to lose hope that it worked too.
As we wait longer Avery and Anthony join us in the room. She rushes over to her mate too. I watch the way she touches him. I understand why she did what she did but at the moment I am still angry.
"Quickly Anthony, help me move him to another room" She says as she moves out of his way. Anthony leans over to grab him and makes to exit the room. Maximus steps in front of them fast with a growl. He is right to do so. We need to know what they are up to.
"And just why do you need to move him" he questions him.
"Because I have to recharge him. I would prefer not to have an audience to do it" Avery states as she steps forward.
"Recharge?" I ask aloud. Her gaze meets mine and for the first time I watch the little woman blush.
"Yeah. You use the path where you reached out to him before. He needs to feel loved when he comes back. He will be lost. He needs to feel loved as many times as you can take it. The more the better" she says as she whispers the last part.
I frown at her as she says it when I don't get her meaning. When it hits me a blush also stains my cheeks. Right. Loved. "Go ahead and let them pass Maximus. I think it's time that you check in on your other duties too" I say as I am unable to meet his gaze.
"I can't just leave you here unprotected. Either of you" He states as he tries to be stubborn. Knowing that there is no other way that he will understand I decide to use one of my abilities as alpha.
"Hey Emily" I call through the mind link
"Yes, Alpha" she replies
"I uh. I need you to explain something to your mate so I can get him to leave me alone with mine" I state slowly.
"Okay. What's that?" she ask curiously.
"Well, you see. I have to recharge Xander. Since we are both love dragons there is only one way to do that" I offer as I try to get her to understand.
"Okay so give him a kiss. Maximus can stand guard" she says
Shit. "No uh that's not all. There us has to be a whole lot more...." The guffaw of her laughter is not what I expected.
The laughter is cut off abruptly and I no longer feel the connection to her. When I look up I can see that Maximus' eyes are misted over. When he comes back to his face grimaces and he is quickly going to the door. "See you" he says and it bangs shut behind him. I laugh at his reaction as I look at my mate. He would have laughed at that too.
With the room quiet and all distractions gone. I close my eyes and focus again. This time I feel as I am pulled toward him. When I blink my eyes open the scenery of the space has changed. It looks as if we are in the same meadow back home. This place has been a comfort to me since the first moment that I saw it. As I look around the space I finally spot him. He sits on the boulder as he stares off into the distance. With a deep breath I start to walk toward him. it's time to bring my Alpha home.