Finding the Dragon (Dásreach Council Book 1) (26 page)

Regardless of the past and her fears, the truth remained that Al wanted that man, that dragon, more even than books. Everything about him fired all of her cylinders. There were times during the self-defense exercises that she had almost turned into his arms and kissed him, so she couldn’t blame him for what he had done or for misinterpreting her signals. Because, truth be told, he had read her signals exactly as they were being flashed at him.

With a sigh, Al walked out into the living space of the cabin. She might as well practice what Kai had taught her. She took the stance he had put her in to start and moved through each movement he had shown her. Pretending to have an attacker coming at her was difficult, but she at least wanted her body familiar with the movements. After a bit of time had passed with no Kai, she began to think about all of the information he had given her. She knew that it wouldn’t make her Jet Li or Chuck Norris, but she hoped to at least be able to free herself so she could run away as Kai had told her. Al wasn’t the type to just sit and do nothing, she normally spent time on her computer or reading when she was home, which kept her mind busy. Stranded in this old cabin in the middle of nowhere was giving her way too much time to think.

Bored with the self-defense she decided to move the furniture back while she waited. There was nothing else to do and she wasn’t comfortable walking outside on her own. So, she spent a short amount of time moving everything back to its original spot. Once that was done, Kai wasn’t back yet, not that she expected him to be back already. Even with his speed, she figured it would take him a bit of time to return. Besides, Kai may decide not to return. The look on his face right before he went out the door was pure, passionate fury.

Sigh.
Al figured she probably should be frightened of Kai. Especially after his response to her pulling away from him before anything more happened, but somehow she knew deep down, that he would never hurt her. She knew she was safe with him. It wasn’t rational, but sometimes things just couldn’t be explained. Al had learned early on in life that there were times you just had to go with your gut. None of that had ever helped her shyness. Yet, she had not felt shy around Kai, not once since she met him. She had felt flustered. She had felt lust. She had felt safe. She had even felt friendship and laughter while with the man. But, not once had she felt debilitatingly shy like she usually felt around handsome men.

Wandering from area to area in the small cabin, Al looked into the rooms she had not yet seen and turned on all of the lights in the large open living area. Realizing how bright the light might seem to someone who came anywhere near the house and not wanting them to question the fact about her being there, she also pulled all of the curtains tightly shut. It didn’t take her long. The place was extremely small and contained nothing that showed who might have lived here, but it was obvious that no one had been in the house for a very long time. An old newspaper she had found in the kitchen had a date several years old.

Standing in front of the cold fireplace, she twiddled her thumbs and looked around. There had to be something else to do. Being a technical writer, Al was used to writing instructions based on what other people told her, so maybe she should write down what Kai had told her. That way she could make sure to remember it later. Yes, she could do that. She walked down the hallway to the office in the very back of the cabin. Sitting down at the desk she began to open and close drawers. She gathered all of the pens and some paper together and began testing the pens. When she had tested them all, with most being dried out, she took the few that worked back to the front sitting room. Sitting on the edge of the couch, Al pulled the coffee table to her and began scribbling down self-defense instructions and tips that Kai had given her. By the time she scratched out the last few words and drawings, the last of her pens had run dry. She sat back on the couch and tipped her head back, closing her eyes, she wished for a pillow and a blanket.

Still feeling like she had too much time on her hands, her mind refusing to calm down and relax, she looked up the stairs that led to the loft area.
Why not?
Heading up the stairs she was able to see a lot more with the lights shining from below. Once at the top of the steps, she found a small bedroom with a dresser and a queen sized bed. She looked through the drawers, but found nothing but some sheets and a few blankets in a cedar chest at the foot of the bed. Figuring she would eventually need them, she pulled an old, but beautiful handmade quilt and the sheets out of the chest. Al looked at the bed. She shivered.
Yeah, I don’t think so.
She grabbed the quilt, sheets, and a pillow that had been left on the bed and headed back downstairs. There was no way that after what happened she wanted Kai to find her in a bed when he finally decided to return. If he returned.

Once again downstairs, she laid out the bed linens on the couch and then sat down. It still appeared to be daylight outside, and without her cell phone she had no idea of the time or how much had passed since Kai had left. She was at loose ends. Nothing to do and nowhere to go. If only she had a book to read, then she could escape to another world and not think of what was going on between her and Kai. Or, if she had had her cell phone, she might be able to access her Facebook account and talk to the other Book Worms. It had been over a day since her last communication on the group’s page and she was sure the other girls were getting worried about them. It was likely that Nat and Rogue, like her, had left all of their belongings in their rooms, which included their purses, wallets, and cell phones.

Al lay back on the couch, her head on the pillow. It had a slight musty smell, but there was nothing she could do about it and she really didn’t care. Her mind was in turmoil over a man she had known for a handful of days. A man who had made her laugh. A man who always seemed to ask her what she wanted without pushing his desires on her. A man who listened to her. A man who protected her. Kai might have a dragon residing under his skin, but when it came to how he treated her, he was all gentleman. She sighed as she stared at the unlit wood in the fireplace across from the couch. Louisiana was a pretty warm state, even in the middle of winter, but Al had always liked fireplaces. She could sit and watch the flames for hours – much like Kai. He was like a flame with a burning point so high that he could burn everything; the reds, blues, greens, and purples of the flame flickering, showing her a new facet of the man who consumed every thought from the moment she had sat beside him on that plane.

What was love? How did you know if what you felt was the real thing? Al had had a few relationships. They were mellow, nowhere near the combustion of her and Kai’s connection. They hadn’t lasted. There had always been something missing. Was the thing she was missing the other part of her soul? Was she missing Kai? Did any of that even matter or should she just accept what Kai was offering? Should she just enjoy his body for as long as she could hold on to him before her hands burned from the contact?

Al’s mind drifted back and forth between thoughts of love, lust, Kai, and the dragon. She drifted to sleep with the memory of the wind whipping around her face as the strong and brave dragon carried her away from danger.

*

Al drifted in a dream realm of darkness and flashes of light. She was terrified. Her heart was beating so hard that she thought she would either have a heart attack or her heart would burst from her chest and be trampled underfoot. She looked left and right.

“
Kai? Nat? Rogue?
” She yelled out into the darkness. As she turned, she realized that she stood in a spotlight. The glaring light strobing and causing her eyes to hurt as she tried to focus beyond it. Al could hear sirens and yells in the distance. She started to walk toward the noises, but a shadow blocked out the spotlight. She looked up but saw nothing. However, when her eyes went back to the ground, a shadow hovered all around her, as if something large leaned over her. She followed the outline and noticed what appeared to be outspread wings and a long spiky tail. “
Kai?
” She called out to the shadow.

Flashes of light and then a beam of light was shining in her eyes. Large shadows of men coming towards her behind the light. She searched for a place to hide. Rushing down a long alley, she saw a turn ahead. A shadow flashed against the opposite wall. A dragon with wings spread wide.

“
Kai!
” She yelled as she ran to follow him. Why was he leaving her behind?

At the point that she reached a split in the alley, she saw the emerald and bronze tail of the dragon flip up as if motioning her to follow.

Al stopped. The dragon wasn’t Kai. Kai was green and blue. She heard boots pounding on the pavement, lights were flashing around her. Al looked down the split that lead to the dragon and the split that lead away from the dragon and those chasing her. Which way should she go? As she debated and the lights and men came even closer, she heard a female voice in her mind.

This way, Alvena. I will help you be strong.

She took one step towards the direction of the dragon, knowing the voice was that of the bronze and emerald dragon. She hesitated only a moment before she heard the men shout out behind her.

“There she is!”

At the yell, large man shaped shadows stretched across the pavement at her feet. Without thought she turned and ran after the dragon.

“
Where are you?
” She screamed as she ran. Her foot caught on something and she began to fall. Hands grabbed at her. Al fought them. Kai had taught her self-defense.
I can
escape this
she thought as she was pulled against a hard chest. Remembering the lessons, she threw her elbow up and back, lunging all of her weight behind it. The arms holding her fell away and she ran. She had done it!

Time seemed to pass at a strange pace. She could not tell if it was hours or minutes. Eventually she saw a fuzzy outline in front of her, as she approached she saw an old Indian, he reminded her of the pictures of the medicine men or chiefs of a tribe she had looked at when she had researched her ancestry. He wore soft leather pants. Beads and feathers hung from leather straps on his arms and his neck. A single bright white feather hung from his long gray hair. He was sitting cross legged, what her mom had always called “Indian style” in front of a small fire. He motioned for her to sit across from him on the other side of the fire. A multi-colored horse blanket lay on the ground, so Al sat.

She was curious as to what this man wanted. She felt that his presence was something to be revered. Something to be joyous about. So, she sat respectfully quiet and waited, even if her curiosity was going crazy as a jumping bean in her mind.

A movement pulled her eyes to a large, completely white eagle that perched on a low hanging branch just behind the man. She had never seen anything like it. The feathers seemed to gleam with an iridescence and appeared as soft as Al’s favorite cashmere sweater.

They sat quietly for an indefinite amount of time. When the man pulled out a pipe and began to smoke a voice seemed to vibrate from every direction. It was deep and comforting.

“
Alvena Irene Anderson.”
It caressed her ears and mind. “
You are the balance. Accept.”

“
Accept what?
” She asked in confusion. In response she heard the flapping of a large bird’s wings. She looked up in time to be blasted with white feathers and dust.

“
Trust in the dragons, they will guide you and protect you.
”

Arms came from behind Al and started dragging her back. She frantically looked around and saw a huge man with a scarred face and dressed all in black dragging her towards the opening of a dark alley. Al kicked and screamed. She saw the shadow of a dragon against the wall.

“
Kai!
” If he could only hear her, she knew he would protect her. He was the one. He was her dragon.

A fist backhanded her and she fell to her knees. She was jerked up and pushed towards the alley. Al swung out her arms reaching for anything that would stop her forward momentum.

“
Kai!”
She screamed again.

***

Kai had run to the city of Grosse Tete. There wasn’t much to the place, but he had found a gas station that was also a small general store. He bought a cheap duffel bag and filled it with bread, lunch meat, cheese, chips, candy bars, a box of donuts, and several bottles of water. It wasn’t worthy of a candlelit dinner, but at least Alvena would be able to eat and drink. On a whim, Kai had also grabbed a deck of cards and a surprise for Alvena. If she needed candy and flowers, a courtship, he would do his best to give it to her.

On the way out of town he passed a pub that looked like it had seen better days. It was out away from the town at a crossroads and looked a bit rough, but Kai almost stopped. A glass of courage sounded like a good idea. He wasn’t looking forward to talking with his mate after the scene he had made. But, he felt an urgency to get back to her. It had already been a few hours since he had left her at the cabin. With no idea of how the mercenaries had found her in New Orleans, he was nervous about leaving her alone for too long.

So, he pushed himself to the limit of his resources while partially shifted. He was lucky that he had the ability to partially shift, because his large dragon body would be unable to run through the trees without knocking them down. The partial shift allowed him to connect with his spirit guide and use his speed and enhanced senses. In today’s world of electronics and Internet, it was important for him to hide his full dragon. His brothers were lucky that they could shift into their full animal with little fear of being seen. It was a lot easier to explain away a strange wolf or grizzly. A circus was going through town or someone had a pet that had escaped. But, there was no explaining a several ton mythical lizard.