The Lost King of Dragons

Chapter 3

I woke to find Ember still fast asleep. I could see she was still deep in its grasp. This allowed me the opportunity to surveil the apartment and the area surrounding it.

By the looks of the sun, it was early morning. I had to check a burner phone I had, because I was very confused. By its information, we had been asleep for nearly 24 hours. It was much needed. Now we are figuring out where we are going to go next.

As I sat and thought at the small kitchen table, Ember came walking out to me.

“Morning Mr. Grouchy,” she joked.

“I am not.”

“You should notify your face.” She laughs.

At that moment, I could hear her stomach grumble. And like magic, a knock came at the door.

I went to one side of the door and Ember went to the other. Preparing for a fight.

“Who is it?” I asked calmly.

“Sir, I am here with food for you and your young one. May I enter?”

Cautiously, I undid my security alarm and carefully opened the door. If it were to swing open, Ember would be protected by the door. I opened the door enough to accept the tray. She bows and walks off.

I secured the door and took the food to the table. As she knew the procedure, Ember allowed me to take a small sampling of each food item and we waited 15 minutes to ensure no adverse reactions would happen.

Good news, we weren’t poisoned.

Both of us sat and ate our meal. It was warm and welcoming to our empty bellies. The food was something I had never tasted. I hadn’t had a meal like this since I was a kid and my mother cooked for me.

Within a few moments of finishing, there was another knock at the door. Again, we followed through with the procedure. This time the girl had brought us a dessert. It was some triple chocolate concoction. As per last time, I sampled and made sure they didn’t try this time. After we passed the test, we were able to enjoy it.

All of the food weighed us down and we were soon back in bed and sleeping.

I couldn’t figure out why we were so tired. It was quite annoying, but we had to be at our greatest strength to keep going.

I woke to find the same sun greeting me as it rose from the horizon. This time around, I woke Ember up so we could start preparing to leave.

We exited our rooms with our belongings and headed towards the common room. As we made our way down, we came across the Luna.

“Good morning my dears. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, thank you for your hospitality,” I replied.

“Oh hush, I am always here to help. Now who is the beautiful soul here?” She asked, referring to Ember.

“Luna, my name is Ember. I also offer my appreciation for your hospitality.”

“Oh, look at you two being so formal. I am but another being. Nothing worthy of such praise. We try to help all who come through our borders.” She looks over and sees we are carrying our belongings. “Oh, are you leaving so soon?”

“Yes, we must be off. We do not want to be a burden,” I responded.

“Oh, never! However, prior to your departure, my mate would like a word with you. Nothing serious. It’s just common practice with us.” She moved to motion towards a door on the other side of the room. “He is in there. I imagine he has already heard us and is expecting you.”

We nodded our heads, made a half bow, and headed to the alpha’s office. I knock gently and wait for an invitation to enter. It is given and we enter.

The office is quite beautiful. There were many windows in it and a wall full of books. My heart ached as I remembered the books we owned when my parents were alive.

“Good morning, sir. I hope your sleep was satisfactory?” I nodded. “Good. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Alpha Damascus and I imagine you have already met my wife, Luna Asta. Our son is running around here and his name is Axon. What are your names?”

I was hesitant to give him our names since I didn’t know who knew about Ember. Considering I knew nothing of her, it would be more than I knew for sure. Alpha Damascus saw my hesitation and spoke.

“Sir, I can promise you we are a peaceful people and offer no harm. Quite the opposite.”

Ember placed her hand on my arm and I looked at her. She nodded her head. I trusted her judgement.

“I am Dante and this is Ember. Are you aware of our species?” The alpha nodded.

“Yes, I am aware that you are both dragons, but we open our home to dragons. Your history is full of hardship. We would like to offer you sanctuary. I have seen the toll hiding takes. Your species was not meant to hide. We work with a witch who cloaks our area so humans have no knowledge of us or those who take up residence here. All they see is a desolate waste land. The human contraptions to track dragons also do not work here.”

I could feel the excitement radiating off of Ember. Great. This was going to be a fight.

“Here you are free to roam and engrain yourself into the pack if you so choose. At this moment, we have one permanent dragon resident. She is quite successful within our ranks. Your daughter could participate in our training to strengthen herself. If you so choose.”

We all sat in silence for a moment as I thought about it. Being here would give me the opportunity to figure out who those men were and who Ember is.

“I shall agree to stay, but I must ask one more thing of you.” Alpha Damascus nodded for me to go on. “I need access to resources to figure out who is after us.”

“I can have my beta help you. Whatever assistance we can offer. I will have my son show you around the pack if you would like to return your belongings to your apartment.”

We stood half bowed and left. Our stuff was returned to our room and then we met a young-looking wolf in the front room.

“Good morning, I am Axon. I understand you met my parents earlier. It is my pleasure to show you around.”

I saw him eyeing Ember and that was not going to be tolerated.

“First off, we will appreciate the tour, but if you even look at her sideways, I will remove your eyes.”

Axon seemed taken back. Ember just giggled. She was used to my antics at that point. Without further problems, he showed us around the pack. As we came up the rear of the pack house about a block down, Axon took us to meet the other Dragon in their pack.

He knocked and announced himself. Quickly, he gave a short excerpt about the woman before she answered the door.

The woman who answered the door was absolutely stunning. Her hair was long and thick. She was easily 5’5”. She was slim, but proportionally curvy. Her lips were full and her eyes were bright against her dark skin. She was intoxicating.

I slapped myself real quickly, hoping she wouldn’t notice. I offered her my hand to introduce us. Her voice was melodious. We were invited in for a quick snack. There we talked more.

The woman’s name is Vatra. It is as beautiful and unique as she is. She was talking shop with Ember. As I had taught her, Ember was sure to be careful with what information she was sharing. They talked for quite a while. I watched them. It was nice to see Ember interacting with another female. Sadly, in her life she hasn’t made much.

When it came to the fun conversations about birds, bees, periods, and heat, I got to have those conversations. To say I botched them is probably an understatement.

“You’re awfully quiet over there,” Vatra was addressing me.

“Oh, he is always brooding in the corner,” Ember pipped up.

“I do not. I am trying to determine how long we are going to be here. The Alpha has allowed us to use his resources, so hopefully, we can figure out who is after us.” I was careful not to mention what they were looking for specifically.

“Yes, the Alpha of this pack is very gracious and kind. He took me in when I wasn’t the easiest being to deal with. However, he has treated me as though I am just another wolf. He even went as far as to allow me the opportunity to be on their highest clearance security team. The people in this pack are kind and wonderful. After so many years of running, I thought they surely were frauds, but it’s been many years now and they haven’t changed at all.”

“Well, thank you for that information. I believe we must go though. If I recall, we can fly here. Ember would most definitely like to stretch her wings.” I was trying to be gentle, but being in this house was making me uncomfortable. I needed to get out and spread my own wings.

“Oh what a lovely idea. You can see where the spell boundary is so just make sure you stay within it.” She gently warned.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Ember said as she stood to leave.

“Oh, none of these formalities. Please just call me Vatra.”

“Well, thank you Vatra, it has been a pleasure,” Ember responded.

We all exited the house and headed to the open field off to the west of the pack house. Axon was telling us it would be best to shift here as there would be enough room.

Dragons are not small creatures. It’s part of the reason we had to learn how to shift.

Getting to the clearing Ember shifted. Her dragon fit her age. It was on the smaller side. She was about 12 feet tall. Her scales were a shimmering black. Her eyes would glow when she was in her dragon form.

I then shifted. My dragon towered over her. The last time I measured I was a little over a hundred years old and I was standing at 38 feet tall. Dragons finish crowing by the time they are 50. Our human counterparts usually age at the same rate as a normal human. With the exception, of course, that at about 25 we stop aging.

I thought to myself as I walked over to Ember, “Maybe that’s why humans are obsessed”.

Ember took a little bit to get off the ground, but I had no problems. My wings felt free and nothing could stop us.

We flew around for several hours before landing and going to enjoy a light lunch that had been prepared for us.

It was a different girl who served us today, but it was nice to see she got to sit at the table and eat with everyone. I have heard from many packs, that that is unacceptable.

We discussed Ember attending training courses and what research I would be looking for. I hated being dishonest with her, but I know her. If she found out someone was out looking for her specifically, well she would come unglued in a very messy and bad way.

The rest of the day was as unusual as the beginning of the day.

Little moments here and there with some of the pack set my hair on edge. One of them so much as threw herself at me trying to get me to claim her.

As I went through my thoughts throughout the day, Vatra kept coming back to my mind. I was day dreaming about her when I had to pull myself out. She won’t settle down. Therefore, there is no need to terrorize myself with my own thoughts. And Ember had to continue to be my top priority until she was an adult and could take care of herself.

Sleep welcomed me this time, but had a dream instore for me.