Her Heart or His Desire

About Time Sleeping Beauty

(Minka P.O.V.)

"Well, it's about time little miss sleeping beauty. You, little one, were starting to worry everyone here," the woman lurking in the corner said.

I shot straight up in a panic only to be forced back down, "Calm down, Minka. The rude woman in the corner is Genevieve. She's an old friend and here to help train you," my mother said, giving the woman she called Genevieve a sideways glare.

"Who are you calling old? I like to think of myself as well seasoned in life."

"What are you, a steak?" Deianira asked, smirking.

I couldn't help but laugh. Everyone here obviously knew the other well enough to poke fun at each other. I relaxed and smiled, "So what kind of training is she supposed to be giving me? I'm already training in the classes for the elite fighters," I asked with a yawn, sleep still fogging my brain.

"Before we answer any of your questions, I think it's only fair if you answer some of ours. You were doing a lot talking in that slumber of yours. So spill it, who were you dreaming about?" Genevieve eagerly asked.

"Astra was with me. She said I was in my subconscious which was why I was able to be with her. For being asleep, there wasn't a whole lot happening. We both felt something calling to us in the distance. It was different from the dreams I would usually have. This didn't feel dangerous, at least not in the sense that it wanted to hurt us."

"I'm assuming you finally found it? The thing that was calling to you?" Deianira asked.

"Yes," memories flashed as I recalled it's enormity, "Although I've never seen one in real life, I'm pretty sure it was a dragon and if I believe what it said before it blew a cold mist in my face, it's coming here, to me."

The room erupted with disbelief and a million questions that I didn't have the answers for so I buried my head beneath the mountain of pillows and covers till the noise level finally subsided.

When I peeked my head out of the covers Deianira was the first to calmly talk to me, "It's no secret that most species of the dragon population are extinct while others are beginning to border endangered. Unfortunately, we have no numbers with the Global Council to determine whether our efforts to help negate the impact the humans have had on the supernatural world is actually helping, at least in regards with the dragons since, as a species, they are very private."

"So you're saying dragons are real then? And I most likely dreamed of one?"

"Yes dragons are very real and no, I don't think you dreamed up one, I think you are psychically linked with one and now he is on his way here."

"When grandma and grandpa would tell us about their love story they said that they would meet in their dream state. They called it dream walking and said it was like mind linking and astral projection melded into one. They made it sound like it was the most common thing in the world and considering Grandma Sadie was the only one that had ever been able to do either of those things was ironic," my mother said thinking back to her childhood.

I loved hearing about my great grandmother. The powers she had possessed had never been replicated in any of her children and grandchildren so when I was born already exhibiting some affinity for power Grandma Amelia had taken it as a sign of bad things to come.

My head shot up, suddenly realizing something my mother just said, "Mom? Does this mean this dragon is possibly my mate?"

(Deianira P.O.V.)

The thought hadn't crossed my mind till Minka had said it and once the thought was said out loud everyone's jaw seemed to have visibly dropped all at once.

"It's honestly something I didn't even think about..." Alpha Anya said. She paled slightly and you could almost hear her breathing quicken at the thought of a dragon living on the premises let alone being mated to her daughter, "I think this whole thing needs to be researched," she said throwing her hands up into the air, "The dragon, the presence in your dreams and how to keep all this from going sideways."

"Not even I have seen or heard from a dragon in centuries," someone said behind a grey and blue puff of smoke.

"Nikolai, don't you know how to knock?" Genevieve asked, glaring at her six foot three brother.

"What's the point of being able to shimmer everywhere if I have to knock?" he snorted.

"It's a sign of respect, for starters," Anya growled, "And secondly, you shimmered into my daughters room uninvited."

He held up his hands in mock surrender and rolled his eyes. Wearing a pair of worn blue jeans, a basic black tee and black leather jacket you'd think he was a part of a 1950's biker gang. What you wouldn't think however is that his outfit cost more than most people cared to spend on a single outfit. Nikolai loved all things expensive which was why his expertise was in dangerous and rare species that no one else could kill or capture.

"Won't happen again," he said, smirking at Anya, "Anyways, I doubt you'll find much out there about dragons. Most of what's known about them is myth or buried with the fool that got too close to one. Why do you need to know about dragons anyways?"

"If you had shown up at the door like you were supposed to instead of barging in, maybe we would have filled you in on everything," Genevieve said with a toothy grin, "Instead you get to wonder about what we want or don't want with a dragon."

"If you two are done?" Anya asked, "There is a meeting I need to travel for and it just so happens to be where the Global Council has our newly finished library," she said with a smile.

"The library is done?" Minka asked excitedly, "Can I come?"

"No. As the next Alpha in line you will be temporarily running the pack with Vahn's help."

"But I should be the one doing the research since I know what it looks like shouldn't I?"

"Aside from Alpha duties you have a lot of other things going on here. Dylan and his sister are here to help you hone your magic and Nikolai and Genevieve are here to train you in the physical aspect of things," I said, trying to bring her attention back to what was currently more important.

"What Deianira is trying to say is that we are here to teach you the best way to kill some of the biggest baddest beasts ever known. When it comes to stuff like this," Nikolai said, looking me dead in the eyes and more serious than I had ever seen, "Never sugar coat it. If you've brought me here then you either want to kill a dragon or you don't know what is after you and you need to learn how to kill it all."

Anya and I looked at the ground a little ashamed that we couldn't come outright and say that we were training Minka to kill. This was a possible life or death situation depending on what the man in Minka's dreams wanted and if we couldn't even be honest with ourselves then the outcome of things didn't look promising. Denial was a powerful weakness that, when exploited, could be detrimental to everyone's life, especially Minka's.

"So the vampires are going to teach me how to kill while the witches teach me how to control my magic enough so I don't blow up the pack house and Vahn is going to teach me how not to run the pack into the ground?"

"Like we said, you have a full schedule."

Minka glared at the room and pouted a bit. The library that the Global Council had built was located in Cairo, hidden and protected by a tribe of sphinx. They only communicated with the Council through a magical version of zoom so seeing one in person was a rarity that even Anya hadn't had the pleasure of having, "Fine, but before I do anything I need to shower and eat. I feel stale and like I haven't eaten in forever," she said, holding her stomach as it let out a loud rumble.

Her room cleared out as the pack doctor looked her over and unhooked her from the IV line she was on. Since Minka had been out cold for a week she had been hooked to an IV to keep her hydrated and artificially fed so while the doc did his thing a large plate of food was brought up to her to quell the loud roar her stomach continued to bellow out. In between large bites of food, Minka described in detail what her dragon looked like.

"Sounds like a silver dragon, but that's not possible," Genevieve said walking in and having a seat.

"Why not?"

"They went extinct long before I became known as the Reaper and that was far longer than I'll ever admit to. From what I remember, it was a pretty big hoard back in the day. It was said that they were one of the Noble Elder bloodlines."

"What's that mean? They were royalty or something?"

"Kinda. They were descendants of some of the first dragons created and because of that they were some of the more powerful dragons around so when they were suddenly wiped out it was a pretty big deal, especially since it had happened during a negotiated time of peace."

From the corner of my eye I saw Minka visibly shiver, "Do you know who attacked them? If it wiped out an entire hoard of dragons that were supposed to have been pretty powerful it would have been pretty powerful itself wouldn't it?"

"Yeah..."

"Grandma said when I was born there was a release of power... What if... what if whatever had killed these silver dragons is also after me? What if that's the reason why I saw one while I was in my subconscious, maybe it's all connected and it was trying to warn me."

Genevieve and Anya looked at me with visible concern. If this new theory was even remotely plausible then we needed to find out who or what killed the silver dragons all those centuries ago.

"It looks like I have my work cut out for me in Cairo," Anya said with a nervous laugh.

Things were starting to piece together, I just hoped we would get the final pieces together before it became too late.