Chapter 5 Freyja
1852 Words
Freyja
I couldn’t sleep last night for some reason. Gwen and Brenton stayed up late while they talked and planned their trip for next week. I was happy Brenton would keep her company while I was in conferences all day with Elle. Since Everett is Chief now, he won’t be able to travel with her as much, if at all. This trip was going to be Gwen’s first time traveling with us.
“What you doing awake, Tall Fry?” Gwen rolled over and asked.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I said. “Figured I’d look over some of this stuff Becky sent us. Did you decide on a color for your dress?”
“Yes, we decided to do that same color dress,” she yawned. “We just have to decide on the style.”
“I’m sorry I’m haven’t been wedding planning,” I sighed, looking down at notes scribbled all over the samples in Gwen’s neat shorthand. “It seems I’m getting called to more emergencies that don’t seem to be emergencies.”
“What was the issue in Australia?” Gwen asked and sat up in bed.
“One tribe accused the other of kidnapping a tribe member, but there was no evidence,” I sighed. “Then the other tribe accused the first tribe of the same thing with the same evidence.”
“What do you think happened?” she said.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Nobody was lying when I spoke with them. They all truly believe the other tribe is at fault when it could be that the two may have left together.”
“Like Romeo and Juliet,” she sighed, and I had to chuckle. My girl was a hopeless romantic.
“I hope it's something like that,” I replied. “There seems to be a growing increase in missing dragons, though. The past month we have received about thirty missing dragon reports.”
“How do you even track something like that?” Gwen gasped.
“The tribe is supposed to contact their local council and report the missing,” I explained. “The council then compiles a list and shares it with the rest of the councils.”
“But there could be many reasons why dragons go missing from their tribe,” she said. “Usually, they just up and leave, go rogue, or find a better tribe to belong.”
“It’s not a perfect system,” I said with a shrug.
The black phone beside me on the desk began to ring, and I held in a groan. The council gave me a phone to stay connected to all dragon councils around the world. If there were anything that needed my attention, they would call that phone. I sighed as I picked it up to see that London was calling.
“Hello?” I said.
“Is this Freyja?” Asked a brisk voice of a woman with a southern accent.
“Yes,” I answered
“My name is Elder Miriam,” the voice said. “I'm calling because I have a concern about my grandson and his tribe in England.”
“What seems to be the trouble?” I asked.
“Gregory, my great-grandson, is the chief of Fire Eater,” Miriam said. “His mate, Megan, went missing a few days ago. He went out to look for her, and I just received word that he hasn’t returned and seems to be missing. Something is going on, Freyja. I know it.”
“I've been getting reports of missing dragons a lot,” I said and felt a tingle go up and down my spine. “I think you are right, elder. I will go to Fire Eater; if the Chief is missing, who is in charge?”
“Ask for Paul,” the elder replied. “He is acting as Chief for now.”
“Okay, I’m on my way,” I said.
Gwen let out a long groan after I hung up. I know she was frustrated because I had already been gone for a week and only home for two nights. I wish I could bring her, but it's safer for both of us if she stays behind for now. I didn’t want her in harm's way, but it did put a dampener on our time together.
“How long will you be gone this time?” she asked, trying not to sound disappointed.
“Not sure,” I said. “More dragons are missing, and these two are Chiefs of the Fire Eater tribe. I don’t think they’d just up and leave.”
“When do you have to leave?” she said with a pout.
“Soon,” I said and sat on the bed with her. “I'm sorry, Gwenny. I’ll try to make it quick as possible, but if for some reason I’m not back in time for Greece, I want you to go and have fun with Brenton.”
“But I want to be there with you,” Gwen sighed.
“You'll be there for ten days; I’m sure it won’t take me that long so I’ll meet you there,” I said. “Like an international rendezvous.”
I kissed her as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me down on top of her. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I deepened the kiss, making her moan against my lips. I slid my hands up and down her long legs, feeling their silky smoothness.
“Before I go, I’ll need a sweet candy kiss,” I murmured between kissing her skin as I slid down her body and delved into the blissful heaven that is between my mate's legs.
*************
When I got into the plane and sat with my eyes closed. It was a short flight, at least, because it felt weird to fly through the air in a tin tube. I chuckled at the thought of being almost twice the size of this winged contraption. It wasn’t safe to fly long distances as a dragon right now, so there has been a ban on long-distance flights.
The human world has had strange sightings. There have been reports from airplane passengers of seeing giant scaled creatures appearing through the clouds. There were rumors this creature was connected to several airplanes crashing all over the world. That’s what was so strange. Survivors of the crashes had the same story of seeing a scaled creature in every incident, the ones that were lucky enough to have survivors. It was just like the missing dragons; all vanished without a trace.
I didn’t open my eyes until I felt the plane descend into London. Once I get off, I have to rent a car and drive another two hours north to Fire Eater’s territory. I was a little nervous about that part as I had only been driving for a few months. Here I was, the strongest dragon in the world to protect the billions of people on this planet, and I was scared to drive a car.
I grabbed my duffle from the overhead and headed off the plane. I ensured I had all of the identification that the council helped me get: an ID, passport, birth certificate, social security number, and national insurance number. As I stopped in the middle of the baggage claim, I tried to find the rental place I was supposed to use.
“Excuse me?” a young man wearing a dark blazer, white shirt, khaki pants, and a chauffeur hat said as he approached me. “Are you Freyja Abernathy?”
“Who wants to know?” I asked, looking him over.
“Paul sent me to pick you up from the airport,” he said. “My name is Joshua.”
I didn’t see any black smoke when he spoke; he was truthful. I looked him over and noticed the wing of a dragon peeking out of his shirt. He’s a dragon or at least has a dragon mate. I gave the man a nod.
“Nice to meet you, Joshua,” I said and shook his hand. “Thanks for the ride.”
“No trouble at all,” he said with a smile and held his hand out to me. I shook it again gently, and he looked at me strangely. “May I take your bag, miss?”
“Oh!” I said and felt my face blush as I handed over my duffle bag. “Sorry about that.”
“It's no problem,” he chuckled. “Please, follow me.”
Joshua turned and headed out of the baggage claim area, and I followed him through the airport. He must know this place like the back of his hand. He led me outside, where there were cars lined up at the curb. I saw a beautiful black sports car that I had seen in some of Elias’s car magazines sitting there, and Joshua walked right up to it. He popped the trunk and laid my duffle bag gently inside before closing it then hurrying to the passenger door to open it for me.
“Nice car,” I said, and his grin widened. “What kind is it?”
“Thanks, it’s an Aston Martin V12!” he said. “Well, it’s not mine, it’s Greg’s, but Paul wanted to make sure the protector gets the best of everything.”
“Well, I appreciate that, but please, there’s no need to do anything special,” I said as I sat down and all but melted into the leather seat.
“It’s the least we can do,” Joshua said. “We are lost without Greg and Megan.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.
“Three days ago, our Chieftainess disappeared,” Joshua said as he pulled away from the airport. “She was last seen in the gardens, so we thought maybe she had gone into the woods that surrounded them. We searched the whole area four times. Greg was going crazy because he couldn’t link her or feel her. The only way he knew she was alive was because he hadn’t felt the bond sever. So Greg went off into the woods with his second, Michael. Neither has been seen or heard from since they left.”
“Was anything out of the ordinary before Megan went missing?” I asked.
“Not that I recall,” he said.
“Who was the last to see her?” I asked.
“Greg, I think,” he answered after some thought. “Megan always went to the gardens in the afternoon while Greg went training or had meetings.”
“So it was a routine for her?” I said.
“You could say that, yes,” he said. “Are you thinking someone was stalking Megan?”
“It's hard to say right now,” I said. “I'll need to investigate further when we get there.”
- Writer
