Finding the Dragon (Dásreach Council Book 1) (44 page)

Al waited for him to continue explaining what had happened to her, but he just sat and watched her and Kai from the dark blue chair. When he just kept tapping his chin and Al couldn’t stand it anymore, she spoke up.

“Um, Shaman, sir, what about mates? You said they were the same in some respects. How is it different for mates?”

The Shaman chuckled. “You can just call me Shaman, young one.”

Al blushed. She felt like she was in the principal’s office along with Kai. “Okay, Shaman, how about mates?”

“Youth is full of impatience.” The Shaman chuckled again. “But, yes, for mates it is different in that the spirit guardian has already chosen.”

“Chosen? When? I’m not Dásreach and from my understanding no women are, so how do spirit guardians choose?” Al demanded. Her frustration built.

“The Great Spirit does not share all with me, young one. There are some things that for us, just are. Mates are destined.” He soothed.

“Gah! Why is this mystical stuff always in riddles and unknowns?” Al stood and began pacing.

She was feeling her frustration build again. All of these half answers messed with her head. Her life was totally out of her control. She felt like screaming and wanted to destroy something, anything, just as long as she could make something feel the way she did. Her life felt like it was scattered to the four winds and she was left sitting on a high cliff, waiting to either fall off the cliff or the winds to blow back her way and return the life she had lost. She reached into her jeans pockets and searched for her cell, she needed to chat with the Book Worms. She needed their advice.
Damn it! Where is my phone?
That is when she remembered, she didn’t have her phone, it had been left behind in New Orleans.

“Damn it, Kai. I want my phone.” She turned to voice her demand directly at the man, who immediately jumped up and rushed to her.

“Alvena, calm, lass.”

“Kai Darrow, don’t you
calm
me. I want my phone!” Her voice rose with each word she uttered.

“Lass, Damon and Gabriel have gone to New Orleans to gather your belongings. They are going to bring them here.” His hand rubbed up and down her arm.

Why was she so angry? Al was confused at why she was acting this way towards Kai. He was being so calm and willing to help and she felt like chomping his head off. As she stood fuming, the Shaman came to her side and rested his hand on her arm. A sense of calm washed over her.

“Shh, young one, it will be alright. We will help you.” The Shaman said quietly at her side.

She looked at the Shaman and then Kai. “I’m sorry. I keep thinking about how out of control everything is and then I get really angry.”

“Oh, lass. I am the one who is sorry.” Kai looked at the Shaman. “How can I help her? She can’t continue on like this?”

Al went to sit back on the couch and saw a room in chaos. Papers from the desk that sat in a corner of the room where blown everywhere and pictures where either laying broken on the floor or barely hung to the walls. She turned to look again at Kai and the Shaman. They appeared to have been through a wind tunnel, the Shaman stood pulling his hand through his now tangled hair. Kai’s shirt appeared a bit twisted and his short hair stuck up all over his head.
What the hell?

“Um, Kai? What happened in here?” She knew the answer, but still hoped he would tell her otherwise.

“That would be
you
thinking a cyclone inside the room was a good idea.” He grinned weakly. Her funny man was always trying to make her laugh, always trying to make her feel better.

She walked to Kai and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry.”

Kai led them back to the couch and snuggled Al into his side. She went willingly and was glad for the calming contact.

“Well, that was interesting.” The Shaman chuckled as he sat back down in the chair.

“How can I help her?” Kai asked again.

Al was starting to get used to the Shaman’s slow and thoughtful way of responding. He was always watching. She would bet he missed nothing.

“I think, now is the time to discuss the second reason you are here.” He finally said.

Kai tensed at her side and she looked up to see him glancing fretfully at her. What would make him so nervous? It always worried Al when Kai got nervous. He was always so confident and ready for anything, that when he showed her this insecurity it made her want to cradle him in her arms. It was moments like this that she understood how Kai must have felt about so many of the things in his life. From all appearances, you would think he was blessed, what with being selected to be leader and provided with so many educational opportunities. But, from the moment Kai had been selected, his life had ceased to be his own. Everything he did was for someone else. His life was as scattered and out of control as her own.

“Lass?” Kai had turned to her and waited for her attention.

When she looked at him, he started to continue speaking, but then stopped and knelt in front of her. He held her hands and she could feel his own trembling, so she clasped them tightly back and smiled at him.

“Lass, things have been crazy and I would have preferred all of this to have happened differently, but… finding you has been the answer to prayers, the completion of a dream. We have gotten to know each other, against all odds, but I know there is so much more for us to learn about each other and I look forward to the adventure. I pray for it.” He took a deep breath and Al held her own. “Alvena, I want you for my mate more than I’ve ever wanted anything, but the decision must be yours. Don’t feel like you have to mate with me because of your spirit guardian. We will figure that out, with or without you agreeing to be my mate. But, lass, I love you. I want to spend my life with you. My life is you. Will you be my mate?”

“Kai, I…”

“No, lass, think about it. Please. Look at me, see me. I am not those from your past, look at my actions and judge them for themselves.” His deep blue eyes pleaded with her. “Just know, I will always be here for you Alvena, I want us to be a team. I think we can balance each other.”

Balance. “You are the balance. Accept.”
The words from her dream echoed in her mind as she looked at this amazing man. Each moment since she had first seen him had brought her insights into the man he really was. In the past she had made mistakes, but the mistakes weren’t all her own. She hadn’t chosen poorly, those that used and abused her friendship had chosen poorly. The dragon spirit inside of her had made her stronger. It had made her strong enough to accept herself. And, in accepting herself, she could accept this man.

Each moment, each action had her falling just a little bit in love with him. It wouldn’t be easy. They still had so much to learn about each other, but what relationship was ever easy? Was anything worth having ever easy? No, and it shouldn’t be. The struggles made them stronger, made the successes sweeter.

“Three hundred years is a long time, Kai. Are you sure you want to spend it shackled to me?”

“Alvena, three thousand wouldn’t be long enough to be at your side. No shackles required.” Love shown from his eyes.

She could also see his dragon spirit guardian lurking behind the man. In accepting Kai, she accepted the Dásreach and she accepted Kai’s spirit guardian and her own.

“Oh, there are shackles, because I’m never letting you go, big guy. You will be shackled in my arms.”

“Alvena,” he whispered, “what are you saying?”

“Yes, Kai, I will be your mate. I will stand by your side and help you with the commitments that you have made. I will love you until the day I die and beyond.”

Kai’s lips crashed against her own. She felt tears falling from her eyes. Pure happiness vibrated from within her. She clung to her mate, her dragon, her Kai. He took her lips with a passion born of long held hope and love. His arms circled around her and held her tight. In this man’s arms, in his kiss, she could see a future that she had never imagined. She was his and he was hers.

“I love you, Alvena.” The words brushed against her lips.

“I love you, Kai.” She breathed back.

From behind them, she heard the Shaman walking across the papers that still lay scattered around the room.

“Well, young ones, are you ready to speak your oaths and be mated? Are you ready, to get your Warrior Mark, Alvena?” He asked as he waited by the door.

“Funny how I went to New Orleans to find a bit of fun and ended up finding a dragon.” She grinned up at Kai as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. “I’m ready.”

From the meek follower, to someone secure in herself. Al was ready to find so much more with her dragon.

Chapter 31

Al stood in a white stone room, alone, waiting for the Shaman and Kai to return with the equipment and ink for her tattoo, her Warrior Mark. She glanced at the meager furnishings, a stone altar against a wall of windows that looked out on forest and mountains, a cushioned cot, a three-legged stool, and a small wooden table. It had felt odd to sit down on either the cot or the stool, so she found herself pacing, her insides going crazy.

She was not only getting ready for her first ever tattoo, but to essentially get married. Kai had answered her questions as they had walked the short distance to the temple in which she stood. He had assured her that when he gave his oath to be her mate that it would be forever. Dásreach did not have divorce in their culture. She laughed as she remembered his adamant words that even if the Dásreach did, he would not, he wanted Al for the rest of his life and for him that wouldn’t be long enough. It wouldn’t be long enough for her either.

Married. Sigh.
She didn’t regret not having a wedding, she didn’t regret not having her family here, but she did regret that the Book Worms were not with her. They would all have something to say, she could hear them now. Nat would ask her if she was sure, Rogue would ask her when the party was going to happen, Amelia would start dibsing Kai’s friends, Ariana would have some lewd innuendos to say about Kai’s ass – or other parts – and the other girls would be full of hugs, congratulations, and would ask for every detail of the story. She smiled. They were here with her, even if it was only in spirit.

However, Al was determined that once they figured out what was going on with the attacks and got Nat and Rogue both safely to Tiranam Dásig, Al would see about getting all of the Book Worms to Colorado for a celebration. She would find some way to afford plane fare for all of them. The girls in Europe would love to finally come to the United States. Her mind was so full of dreams of having the Book Worms all together, that she didn’t hear Kai come up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Are you ready, lass?” His breath whispered against her ear with his words.

She nodded her head and snuggled back into him. She loved the way it felt to be wrapped up in Kai – warm, safe, loved.

“Any last worries or questions?”

“No, Kai. I’m ready.” She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “I love you and I’m ready to take what I want.”

“What’s that, lass? What do you want?”

“You.” She reached up and pulled him down as she went up on tip-toe, her lips brushed lightly against his. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight to his chest.

“Alvena.” He growled. “You make me want things, things that will have to wait. The Shaman is coming.” She could feel the evidence of what he wanted against her stomach as the Shaman stepped into the room.

“No, not coming, already here.” He began setting out items on the small table.

Kai pulled her gaze away from the table with his fingers caressing her cheek.

“Alvena, once we say the oath and become bonded as mates, you will lay on your stomach on the cot. It makes it easier for you to relax. I will sit at the head and hold your hands. The Shaman will position your arm and begin tattooing. This is not fast like a tattoo gun, it will take time. As he tattoos the Shaman will hum, just concentrate on the sound and on my hands on your own, it will help you relax into the trance.”

Al’s nerves were beginning to cause second thoughts, she started to step back. She had never been a fan of needles. She glanced out the windows at the beauty of nature and the warmth she was beginning to realize was her spirit guardian flared. She had not only found Kai and his dragon, she had found her own, and she had to go meet her.

“We are ready.” The Shaman called to them from the altar. Kai positioned Alvena to his left and they stood in front of the Shaman at the altar.

“Now, young one, I know this is very different for you, but all you need to do is repeat after me.”

“Okay.” She said as Kai clasped her right hand with his left and gave it a squeeze.

The Shaman gripped their clasped hands in his own. Al turned to Kai and their gazes locked over their joined hands, as the Shaman began.

“The Great Spirit sees all and knows all, and in its wisdom it has given you each other. Repeat after me…”

Before you, I was only half, unbalanced.

With you, I am whole and in harmony.

I give this oath, to bind us in love and duty.

My life for you and the greater good,