Second Chances (The Extinct Race Series) (27 page)

“So our land
is protected by a magical border. I have added additions to the main home and that is where we all live. There are suites that are basically luxury apartments, which are meant for the youngest of us and there is one for each race. It is meant for them and their families. From what we knew there was usually only one race per Sect. So that is how my mother and father made the house. Right now we are all sharing our suites with our families. I have rooms on the main floor for the single Dragons and mated ones. I am also having several houses built in the surrounding areas for the mated ones, to give them some peace and independence. I will not run this Sect as a dictator. We are all equal and will live as a family. Our only rule really is that you train with us and learn how to fight back.”

“I think we can do that.
I really am tired of running, tired of living in fear. I would love to stay in one place and once again be with people that are all the same. I miss Sect life and flying. My Dragon is restless to fly.” Cara says

“When is the last time you shifted and flew?”
Carmine asks concerned

“I always try to make sure a forest is near the home I choose.
It is also why I find a place so far from where Donny is working. His shows are always at night and he is gone for a couple hours at a time. When he goes to work I go to the forest and shift, but I haven’t flown since before he was born. I sort of just stand there until she allows me to shift back. She understands protecting Donny, but she yearns to fly again.” Cara says

“We will fly as one as soon as we are within the border.
There is one thing I need you to do before you are allowed in the border though, Cara and Donny.” Kaiden says

“What is that?”
Cara asks

“You will have to swear fealty to Zoe and me.
It is the only way inside the border. The land has always been in my family and well that makes it mine and Zoe is my mate so it is hers too. Trust me when I say we don’t really like this, especially Zoe. But it is the magic of the border that demands it.” Kaiden says

“That is fine, we will swear fealty.
Let’s just get his mate first, that way he can say it with her and she will not feel alone.” Cara says looking to Donny

“Thank you Mom.
I don’t want to deny her any more than I already have.” Donny says. He hangs his head and the rest of the flight is in silence. Some take the time to catch a quick nap before they land. The morning they have had was very eventful.

Chapter
28

Alexandria

Alexandria was adopted when she was only a few days old.
She has grown up in England since then. She had a very happy life until she turned thirteen and her parents divorced. She stayed with her mother thinking that it was the best way. Her mother had a good job and was always home at night. Where her father traveled a lot and was never really home. When she was fifteen her mother remarried, her new step father was very sweet and loving the first year of their marriage. Now he is the monster of her reality.

When she was fourteen her step
father started drinking when he lost his job, he had worked there for over twenty years. That is when the monster in him came to the surface and he started using his fists instead of words. That is also the time that Alexandria started calling herself Alex and fled within her shell. Her friends started to disappear when the bruises started to appear, she has no friends anymore and stays to herself. She finds solace and peace with her music and her iPod is the one precious thing in her life. Her mother doesn’t help either, she either gets the fists too or she works to stay away.

When Alexandria was sixteen she was coming out of a tattoo shop.
She got a Dragon on her back, it was a Dragon with a mix of red and orange and had flames coming out of its mouth. This was her protector and she loved it, she also knew her step father hated tattoos. Alex had several other tattoos and smaller dragons here and there on her body. She was somewhat obsessed with dragons. When she exited the building she was confronted by five men. All of them had guns and dark glasses over their eyes. They told her they were sent to kill her and found her from the pull. She was confused at this, but there was something of a pull feeling wafting from these men. Either way she was scared out of her mind and pushed them as hard as she could. Once she was free she ran as fast as she could make her legs go. To her surprise it was pretty fast. Soon after, she could not see the men that pursued her anymore.

Once
she lost sight of the men she rounded a corner into a busy shopping area. There were a lot of people and she tried to get lost in the crowd. A gun was fired and most of the people around her hit the floor. Something they said about the pull coming from her made her realize they felt her, as she felt them. She ducked into a store and hid behind the rack, concentrating very hard she tried to turn off the feeling she felt from them. She dared to peak over the rack she was hiding behind and the men ran right past the store window even though she could still feel them.

After that day she knew she was different.
She was faster than the kids at school and stronger than the boys. But the one person she could never stand up to was her step-father. He still beat her on a weekly basis and she sported the bruises to prove it. Alex learned to get clothing that covered her from neck to toe as much as possible. On good weeks she would wear short sleeves and show off her tattoos, but she also always sported a collection of bracelets. She hit a low once and tried to take her own life, it didn’t work out to well, as the wound seemed to heal as she cut.

When Alex was seventeen the circus came to town
, they had a new attraction than they had a few years ago. It was a fire breather show, or so the flyer said. This fell in line with her Dragon obsession so she had to go. She had started working at a coffee shop a few months earlier. The shop had an open mic night some evenings and she was able to get some of the things off her chest there through poetry. She went to the circus on opening night and that pull feeling was there, but stronger. She immediately blocked it she was not going to let anything ruin her night. When she blocked the pull feeling she could still feel them, but they seemed not to feel her.

As she sat and watched the show she knew the feeling was coming from the guy
performing. Never in her life did she want a man, especially since her step father came into the picture. But the feeling coming off this Donny guy that was doing the show was different. She wanted this man, she wanted to be in his arms and for him to love her and protect her. She lost her concentration and stopped blocking once she realized this. The Donny guy doing the show almost dropped his ring of fire when her block fell. She knew then that he felt her too.

She kept the block down all night hoping he would come to her.
She was too afraid to go to him. She stayed in the tent until the show was over then afterwards she moved towards the opening of the tent. She noticed that he was lingering as well. He would move closer and closer to her as the night went on, but then he seemed to notice what he was doing and would then leave. Alex went to the show every night that week, trying to build up the nerve to go to him herself. Every night they seemed to do the same song and dance with each other. He never looked right at her during the week he just sort of drifted towards her and then would leave. The night of the last show, as she got ready to leave her step father burst through her bedroom door.

Her step father was drunk and yelling at her.
Calling her all kinds of names and mad at her for something she didn’t even know she did. “You stupid bitch.” He seethed as he rained punches down on her face. That night she went to the show in her own pair of sunglasses, Donny always wore a pair too. She was trying to hide the black eye that her step father blessed her with that night. As she arrived she also felt another, this one was strong like Donny, but different in a way.

The show was even better than the rest of the week and during his performance she decided this was going to be the night she approached him.
Alex had already decided this before the beating she got that night. She knew this man was going to be the one to take her away from her step-father and save her life. She wasn’t sure she would survive much longer if Donny didn’t take her away. As the show ended she took her normal spot near the entrance. The normal group of guys he talked to were already standing in their spot. She waited an hour before she started to think something was wrong. Alex started to move towards the back of the building, as she got near she felt that pull feeling weakening. He left her and she never got her chance to talk to him. She didn’t even know if he ever saw her.

Six months have passed since the circus, it has come back only once and he was not there.
She went every night that week and he never showed. She knew he still performed, because she saw the videos on the internet. Her step-father had only gotten worse in the last six months and she has had two broken arms and a leg since then. She still works at the coffee shop and turned eighteen a few months ago. She still lives at home though and gets beat more frequently than not. The coffee shop does not pay enough for her to get her own place. She has tried to get other jobs, but they always turn her away because of the bruises.

Alex has also had to put her block up more and more as she has felt the pull feeling a lot more recently.
Three men came into the coffee shop a week ago and they had the pull feeling. It wasn’t strong, but they still had it. They also didn’t have sunglasses on and she saw their eyes for the first time. She always knew the reddish and orange flecks were in her eyes so when she saw the red flecks in theirs it shocked her. She just happened to have gotten another black eye the night before, so she was wearing sunglasses to cover her eyes.

This morning while she was getting ready for work her step father came into her room.
He was pissed off at something and she smelled the alcohol on him. He didn’t say anything as he came towards her, he just walked up to her and smacked her across the face. Alex immediately placed a hand over her cheek and readied herself for another. When it didn’t come she looked up at him.

“You need to get out of my fucking house you little bitch.”
He said to her

“This is my mother’s house
, not yours.” She snapped back and him. He socked her in the stomach for that one. Alex crumpled to the floor in pain and out of breath. She never really stood up to him, but today she had had enough of him. She was tired of being his punching bag.

“Your mother married me and that makes this my house.
Now that you are eighteen, you need to get the fuck out. I am tired of you and your bull shit. You don’t do anything to help out and your mother left it to me to get you out.” He seethed

“Mom wouldn’t kick me out.
I am all she has that is good in this house since you came here.” Alex wheezed out. The next thing she knew his booted foot was hurling towards her face. As it connected she heard the snap and her nose it then began to gush blood.

“Shit stay here for all I care.
I will beat the life out of you if you stay.” He said as he laughed and picked her up then threw her across the room. He walked towards her laughing and picked her back up landing another punch to her already broken face. She saw stars after the punch and her vision started to go black. As she was passing out she felt the pull feeling. It was very strong and she knew they were close. She could do nothing to block them as her step-father picked her back up, all she felt was her body lifting up. A loud crash sounded in her ears and she thought it was her body making contact with the dresser or something. Then she felt strong arms holding her and then she was placed on the ground. She passed out as soon as her head made contact with the ground.

When the plane landed Donny jumped out of his seat and was ready to go.
It was ten in the morning here in England and he wanted to find her fast and get her to safety. As soon as he stepped out of the plane her felt the pull.

“She is still alive
, I feel her.” Donny said excited

“Alright we need to take this slow.
There might be half-bloods here too so we all need to keep our heads clear and be ready for anything.” Kaiden said. “And Donny we don’t feel her yet, she is your soul mate so the pull for you will be stronger than for us. So lead the way my man.”

Donny stood for a moment and looked confused.
“What do you mean lead the way? How do I know which way to go?”

“Don’t think son
. Just close your eyes and feel. The pull will guide you to her.” Cara told him

Donny looked at his mom and smiled.
He closed his eyes and turned around. His eyes remained closed for a few minutes and then he started walking. He opened his eyes and every one followed him. They walked for about ten miles until Donny stopped in front of a small house. The pull was strong and they all knew she was inside. The house was on the small side and there weren’t really any neighbors around. It was an expensive looking two story home. As they all stood outside they hear a loud crash within the home.

Donny bolted
up the stairs and kicked the door in, the group of them were right on his heels. They all ran up the stairs and found Donny with fire in his hand. An older man stood in front of him with a girl above his head. He looked ready to throw her across the room. She was already bleeding and pretty beat up. Colby was the first to react. He ran at the man and punched him in the face. As the man fell to his knees Colby caught the girl and handed her over to Donny.

“Don’t kill him.
We don’t need the death of a human on our hands no matter how bad he is.” Zoe said. “Go ahead and beat the snot out of him for what he did and has been doing to this poor girl. Then when you are done I will make him forget she ever lived here.” Zoe said

“She is passed out what do I do?”
Donny cried. Tears were streaming down his face as he took in the girl in his arms.

“Let me in.”
Vivi said. Vivi gently moved in between Donny and the girl. Vivi placed her hands on the girl’s arms. Christian came to her other side and placed one hand on her head and the other on her chest. Donny looked at them with fear and hope in his eyes. “We are Blood Dragons we can heal with our hands or kill. Right now we need to heal her.” Vivi said. Donny watch with fascination as her shattered nose started to take shape again and the cuts on her face closed. All the bruising was disappearing and her skin started to look healthy and normal.

Cara had
gone to the bathroom and gathered some wet towels. “Here Donny clean the blood from her as they heal her, you don’t want the poor girl to wake up all bloody.”

“Thanks mom.”
He smiled a weak smile as he took the towels and started to clean her off.