Alpha Island: The Dragon's Mate

Chapter 2

DARREN

“And what was that about?” Griffin snorted after Skylar went away, her shiny ginger hair blown by the wind. I followed her with my eyes until she was out of my view completely.

 “Hello,” my chosen brother stretched the words, trying to attract my attention, “Earth to Darren. What is going on with you?!”

  “Nothing,” I brushed him off since that other guy was still around. I wanted to kill him just a little bit for talking to my mate and trying to touch her. And even turned to give him a warning when I noticed that he was already busy glueing some piece of paper to the wall. I took one from his hand without permission and saw a familiar face.

  It was one of the missing students, the reason why I got here in the first place. One of the last ones to disappear off the island. Her photo along with others was in the file given to me by the council when they explained to me what was going on at the Alpha University.

  “Did you know her?” I asked the annoying guy and he looked at me, unimpressed.

  “Arianna was my girlfriend,” he said dryly and continued his work.

  “Were you the last one to see her?” I asked and he narrowed his eyes at me.

  “What kind of a question is that from someone who is here less than five seconds?” the “boyfriend” snorted, looking me up and down, but then sighed and said, “No, I wasn’t. Her best friend was.”

  He then turned away and moved on to the next wall.

  And I probably needed to question him more… But. My thoughts were back to her again. Skylar. Sky… My mate.

  “Ok, something is off with you and you need to tell me more,” Griffin insisted, crossing his hands on his chest.

  “I just found my mate,” I informed him and his mouth opened in shock, while a smug smile spread over mine.

  “What? How? When?” he started to blabber and then I saw some kind of understanding on his face, “Is that why you ran after that girl? What was her name…”

  “Skylar,” I loved the sound of her name on my tongue, “My Sky...”

  “Ancient dragon gods! I’d be damned!” Griffin whistled, “Who could have thought, right?!”

  “I know,” I grinned. Usually, for a dragon, it was hard to find his or her mate. We lived incredibly long and sometimes one had to wait centuries for their mate to even be born. Yet I was 22 and already found her. Skylar… 

  “Wait,” Griffin’s face changed, “But what about…”

  “Call them urgently and say that we don’t need that contract anymore,” I understood what he meant at once.

  I did not want a mate. Not now at least. I did not expect her and as a result -  I had other plans. The plans which had to be cancelled now.

  Griffin made a quick call, while I registered and got my papers with the welcome pack. My things were already in my room and all I wanted now was to find out where Sky was. The dragon inside needed to know that she was safe and sound. And that no prick dared to look at her, talk with her, think of her…

   Luckily, Griffin always understood me well, so when he offered a trip to the girls’ dorms to check on some mermaid and asked me to be his wingman, I was happy to oblige. While we were there I could at least sense which room she was in. Maybe even accidentally bump into her.

  As we walked down the corridors, I was happy to realise that we were closer and closer to where Skylar was at. 

  “By the way,” my friend remembered suddenly, “In about an hour I asked this girl who saw the last missing person to meet us at the library. I thought you would like to be done with all that fast…”

  “That’s fine,” I chuckled, “I will stay here longer than planned but we still don’t need to drag that case. Let’s deal with it asap so I can pay more attention to my mate before I take her home with me.”

  “By the way, Loki and Shawna are already here too,” Griffin said and I rolled my eyes. The two useless beings – the prince of warlocks and the princess of fairies. Why did their clans even bother sending them here?

  “Fascinating,” I scoffed.

  “So, I take it as we don’t invite them for the questioning?”

  “Is there a point? Shawna would not be bothered with anything and Loki will turn everything into a joke. It will be so much faster and easier without them,” I pointed out.

  “Should I invite Dylan the Lycan Prince at least?” Griffin smirked, knowing the answer very well.

  “I’ll call that pup when I want to play fetch,” I snorted and stopped at the door behind which I could clearly sense Skylar’s shiny aura. It was warm, fiery and golden… And all I wanted was to be next to her forever.

  It was actually funny how quickly I fell for the mate bond. I always knew that it was hard to resist but had no idea that she would be everything I thought about in less than an hour after I met her.

  “She is here,” I smiled and Griffin let out a laugh.

  “Then it’s your lucky day, my man. Because this is where Deidra the siren lives,” he winked at me, “And I just gave you a perfect excuse to hang out with your mate while I continue to charm the mermaid! She likes me, so it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy!”

  He knocked on the door and I sucked in my breath. It was a long time since I was this nervous to meet a girl.

  Skylar opened the door and… frowned looking at the two of us. She frowned? What the hell?!

  “What a coincidence!” Griffin smirked, shining his pearly whites, “Two beautiful ladies living in the same room!”

  I wanted to smack the back of his head. Some wingman he was with those cheesy lines!

  “And you are?” Skylar raised her brow, absolutely unimpressed. And it bugged me.

  “We…just met,” my friend lost his confidence in less than three seconds and I heard the siren girl behind my mate’s back giggle.

  “I don’t remember,” Sky sneered and closed the door before our noses.

  Ouch.

  What was that?

  Griffin and I looked at each other in shock. Getting girls was NEVER a problem for any of us. So, what was up with that?

  He prepared to knock again but I stopped him. There was absolutely no way I was humiliating myself in front of my mate like that. Although I had to admit that the desire to shift, grab her and take her somewhere far from here, somewhere without that stupid barrier so that she could feel everything and just fell into my arms already was overwhelming.

  “What the…”, Griffin was still frozen by the door, when I grabbed him and practically dragged him away. 

  “We need to regroup,” I said, “And let’s deal with this library thing first.”

But at the end of the hall, someone bumped into me and I felt a floral fairy aura lingering around.

  “Oh, my!” a petite girl with brown hair and green eyes was staring at me, “I am so clumsy!”

  She licked her lips and brushed her hands over my torso seductively. What was next? She would trip on her own feet and fall into my arms? 

  “I am Blair,” she smiled, fluttering her eyelashes, “And you are…”

  “And he is Darren the dragon!” I heard Skylar’s voice and practically jumped on my feet, away from that clingy fairy. My mate and her roommate passed over us and she gave me a furious glare with a raised fiery brow.

  “I-it’s not,” I opened my mouth to explain to her that I had nothing to do with all that only to realize how stupid it would sound with that other girl still attached to me.

  “Of course, it’s not!” she snorted and sped up as far away from me as possible.

  The fairy was telling me something but I did not listen, concentrating on my mate and what she said. It was a fiasco, of course. 

But. She was jealous.

  A stupid smile spread over my face. She knew me for five seconds and she was jealous already. And, god, did I like it a lot!

  “So, how about it?” the girl next to me asked and I remembered that she was there.

  “Erm, sorry,” I muttered, “I need to go.”

I could sense Sky's light scent as I walked down the corridors, enjoying it. But then she turned in the opposite direction of where I had to go. And I felt a bit sad that for today it was over…

  At the library, a girl with short black hair was already waiting for us. Griffin told her that I was looking for an assistant here at school and the pay was good. So, she was genuinely interested to talk to us. And when I asked her a few questions about her missing friend, she got slightly sad but remained calm.

  Unfortunately, there was absolutely no useful information. They talked with Arianna after classes in front of many witnesses and then they went different ways. I didn’t sense lies coming out from her and dragons were good at mental magic. Yet I couldn’t completely write her off the list of suspects either. It was more complicated than that.

  However, for today I was done.

  I relaxed in my chair when the sweet scent hit my nostrils again. 

  I started to look around but only saw a glimpse of her ginger hair somewhere behind the shelves.

  “What’s up?” Griffin asked, tearing himself from his phone.

  “Sky is here!” I gave him a wide smile to which he still wasn’t used and the grimace on his face told me that.

  “Then wait here!” he offered, “I’ll get her to come and join us…”

  “No!” I almost growled at him, “You’ve already done enough. I will talk to her myself.”

   I was walking towards her, grabbing random books off the shelves to look like I had been busy here when we “accidentally” met somewhere between the rows of shelves.

  “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled but then our eyes locked and her cheeks flushed, yet she pretended to be indifferent at once, “It’s you. Again.”