The Dragon's Mate, page 2
With the stealth of her panther, she watched and waited. Her nails lengthening as he and the others walked through the front of the rock wall. A sense of dread filled her for long seconds. How did they move through rock and take her with them? Magic, of course. If she had been in her human form, she’d have asked questions, maybe.
They walked further inside, darkness not a problem for these beings either. Good thing she was a nocturnal shifter.
A faint woodsy scent wafted in the air around her, masking the disgusting smell of the dead that seemed to be everywhere. The further they went, her chance at escape was becoming less and less. Asia saw a fork up ahead, making her heart pound as she contemplated her choices. One had a glimmer of light coming from it where she could hear murmurs that were barely audible. If she didn’t attempt to get away, her one chance would be gone. With a panther scream, she launched herself at the male who thought she would call him master, raking her claws across his face. Hitting the cave wall, and using it as a springboard, the flexible spine of her cat body allowed her to flip backward, and she raced back the way they’d come. Her cat was fast, faster than all the others in her Claw, a feat she was proud of. However, she came to a hard stop as electricity sizzled over her.
The yowl of pain couldn’t be controlled. Her body twitched, shifting to human, then cat, then human. Back and forth so many times she wasn’t sure what she was or wasn’t. What she did know was that she hurt from her head to her toes, or paws. Goddess, did she hurt.
When she woke, she found herself in a cage, lying on her side. The fear of inhaling and gagging due to the awful smell kept her from doing so, but then a hint of smoked wood hit her. She lifted her head to find herself staring into a pair of dark eyes. Her panther purred.
The male’s eyes narrowed, shifting his eyes to the left. She followed his gaze, noticing a couple beings watching them. Her panther began to twitch uncontrollably, pain racking her with thousands of volts of electricity. Her yowl of anguish came from deep within her soul. Hours went by, the jolts endless. After endless bouts of torture, she lay exhausted, her throat raw from screaming. The beings who’d given her the punishment had changed at some point, and still, the male in the other cage hadn’t moved or made a sound. She wondered if he was dead. Why hadn’t her torture affected him at all? If he’d been going through what she had, nothing would’ve kept her from trying to help him.
‘I cannot help you, Hirra,’ he rumbled within her mind.
She’d never had another being speak to her or her panther unless they were another panther. ‘Are you like me?’
Asia was sure she’d have sensed his cat like her own, but she’d been through a lot.
‘No, Hirra, I am not. Your panther is beautiful. It’s dangerous for us to speak like this. These beings are very powerful. More so because of my blood. I’m sorry, my Hirra, for I have failed you.’
His words didn’t make sense to her. How did he make the beings more powerful, and how could he have failed her when he hadn’t known her? She was so confused and hurting. Breathing hurt. She could smell her own urine where she’d obviously lost control of her bladder during the hours, or was it days of shock treatment they’d given her?
Looking down at her hands, seeing the pale skin covered in rusty red, she had no doubt she’d been bleeding at some point. It took too much effort to lift her head to assess the rest of her body, but that too was surely covered in blood and sweat instead of clothes. Goddess, she’d lost the ability to manifest what she wanted to wear. Wouldn’t Osamu love to see her now.
‘You’re beautiful.’
‘What’s your name?’ He may be lying through his teeth, but at least he wasn’t hurting her, physically at least.
The male stared at her without answering. Asia took a shuddering breath, closing her eyes. Why his refusal hurt she didn’t know. Goddess, she’d thought dying would’ve been better. She’d been sure the pain she’d endured had been bad. However, this male rejecting her had cut her on a level she didn’t understand.
‘How old are you?’ His smooth velvet voice whispered through her mind.
‘I’ll be eighteen in two days.’ She’d never see that birthday. Never find a mate of her own. There were so many things she’d never get to do thanks to her family’s treachery.
‘I’m older than time. Older than the mountain you came to see.’
He shocked her with his words. ‘How do you know?’
‘I am Jabari. I see inside your mind to your memories. I’m sorry for your loss, young one. I’ll do what I can to save you, for you don’t know what you’ve done for me. You and you alone have given me a moment in this Hell on Earth to treasure. When I tell you to run and not to look back, you run. You don’t think about anything but running. I need you to promise me you’ll do this. You’re to find a pack called the Iron Wolves. I know your first instinct is to say no, but they’re good. They’ll help you. I’ve heard whispers of them filter through the Watchers.’ Exhaustion beat at her from the big male across from her.
‘What are you going to do?’ She waited for him to answer, rolling his name around in her mind. It was beautiful, like he was.
A deep rumble came to her. His beast. She tried to figure out what he was but couldn’t put her finger on it. If he was sending her to wolves, maybe he was one too, only he didn’t smell like fur. Jabari didn’t communicate with her for a long time. Hours passed into days. Two days to be exact. She hated that she was spending her eighteenth birthday in a damp cave with evil beings whose main goal was to torture and... she couldn’t even think of what else they planned to do to her. Her body still sizzled and twitched from the electricity they’d used on her days before. Slowly, she felt her magic return shocking Asia as her maturing nature came upon her. She’d heard that happened to some panthers on their eighteenth day of birth, but she hadn’t put much stock into it. The first thing she did was conjure clothing. Big mistake, she realized as the Watchers turned in her direction. Their red eyes glowed with evil intent she loathed and wished she could pluck out with some sort of magic.
“Ah, our pet has regained some strength. I’ll alert the Master.”
Asia scooted to the back of the bars, inadvertently moving closer to Jabari’s side in her attempt to get as far away from the being stalking her. She’d never been prey until coming to America.
“Yes, pet, try to get away. You have nowhere to go. Do you think he can help?” He pointed at the cage with one long boney finger, tossing his head back. The laugh was grating.
It was then she noticed his teeth. They were brownish yellow and sharp looking. She’d seen similar looking ones on fish that could rip into other fish with one bite. Her brother had jokingly called a shark a chomper once. This being was a chomper on steroids.
“Are you scared, pet?” He stood outside the cage door, then squatted down, those red eyes staring in at her. “I can save you from this place. Would you like that?”
Before she could answer, he jerked his head toward the entrance, standing with ease. The other Watcher returning with a confused look. “Where did you go?”
The male slid back down the wall, his forehead wrinkling. “The Master said we are to alert him when she awakens and if she shows signs of recovery. I found myself in the tunnel, then I came back here when you weren’t with me. We aren’t to separate.”
“Obviously she has not done so. You leave our post again, I’ll tell Master you’re not worthy,” he growled.
“I will be better, Kenneth.”
Asia held her breath as the male named Kenneth squatted back down, placing his finger over his lips, like he was sharing a secret with her. Oh, Goddess, what the heck was happening?
‘He is a snake. They are vampires. This enclave is made up of a nest of them. There are evil and good vampires. These are the worst of the worst, which is why they smell like rotting flesh.’ Jabari’s voice whispered through her mind.
She wanted to weep in relief at hearing his voice. Vampires were real? ‘Why do they want me?’
‘My guess would be the Master wants to mate you,’ he growled.
‘I will die first,’ she swore.
‘You will live, and I will see you safe from here first. Can you lay down without drawing too much attention? If I can touch you, I will be able to regenerate enough to get you out of here.’ Jabari showed her his true form. His black dragon scales shimmering in the moonlight from years before.
‘You’re a dragon?’ She didn’t know they existed. Sure, she’d heard myths, but to know and see one, not to mention be close enough to feel a real live—Goddess, her biggest fantasies had included flying on the back of a magnificent dragon, slaying their enemies. Of course, she’d been a total bad ass, not a captive female.
‘YOU’RE EVERYTHING.’ To him she was more than any other being that had ever lived. For his kind, a truemate only happened to those who were blessed by their Goddess, and he didn’t think he’d ever find his one. Yet in the most unlikely place she appeared. He cursed Fate for their fickle ways, and he cursed himself for being too weak to save her. He’d die a thousand deaths if he could only protect the female who was his.
He couldn’t lie to the little female in the cell next to him. Asia, her name was Asia. She was his mate, but she was too young, too good, too everything for him. And she was too late to save him, but he could save her. Her little hand brushed his elbow. A barely-there touch giving him a zing of power. Oh, it was hardly enough to fuel his dragon, but Goddess, it was amazing—the touch of a mate. Fate was a fucking bitch. Giving and taking in one fell swoop. Well, it would be worth it if he could at least save Asia.
Jabari kept the touch light, opening his senses to any movement while his magic worked to replenish from the innocent female who was Asia. ‘Mate.’
His dragon wanted to claim her right then and there, damn the consequences. Jabari wanted to shake the beast who had been silent, almost non-existent for so long he truly had thought he was nothing but a shell. In any form, he only had to touch rich soil when he was injured to pull the nitrogen from the soil. The enclave poisoned the soil to such an extent he sensed nothing but rot beneath him, as well as around him. They’d held him in the same place with the collar and chains, keeping him locked in his human form for hundreds of years. The wounds from years of their feeding, lashing, and torture were no longer able to heal. He’d stopped caring what he looked like on the outside, until the tiny dark-haired female with big chocolate eyes burst into his prison. Jabari let his dragon float outside himself so he could see what she saw when she looked at him, knowing it was going to disgust him.
‘Sonofabitch,’ he husked, startled at the thin, almost skeletal version of himself.
‘I see you. My panther showed me. Look at me. I’m bruised, bloody, and filthy. Neither of us are at our best.’ Asia’s sweet voice soothed his ragged heart.
They lay in the cages without speaking forever, yet not long enough. He’d always been able to mark the shift from day to night within the enclave or hive. Because of him, the bloodsuckers had been able to live longer, but they’d still begun to rot. How they couldn’t recognize the disgusting vision they made was a puzzle to him. Yes, in order to live, they needed blood. Vampires had been around for a very long time, but they had laws and those who didn’t follow them found the punishment to be...a horror they couldn’t reverse. Draining humans until dry while feeding was against their laws. It was the way of the kind in the enclave. From what he’d gathered through the few lucid minds, was that the very thing that made them, eventually turned on them if they drank until the human died. Slowly they began to decay. With each kill the rot worsened. However, he didn’t think the vampires were aware of what was happening to them. Or they didn’t give a damn as their power appeared to strengthen as their humanity diminished. Like a drug addict chasing their next big fix, the bloodsuckers lived for the kill. He happened to be their huge fix on tap they kept locked up, while they surfaced to feed their addiction. They came to him to clean up. Fuckers.
The air stirred, bringing with it the smells from the surface. The Watchers would be changing shifts, taking the one named Kenneth out of the cave. He had been too interested in Asia, his comments about taking her away were too confident. While the other Watchers were usually silent and vigilant, that male was always too alert. His dragon gave a rumble in agreement.
“Sleep,” Kenneth ordered.
Asia’s body went limp. Jabari kept totally still as if he felt nothing. Heard nothing. Rage filled his entire being, fueling him, healing him. The power of a mate along with the need to protect was doing what nothing else could’ve. Goddess, he hoped he had the strength to get Asia out of the enclave.
The two males who’d been his keepers for weeks rushed out, angry snarls and curses he didn’t pay attention to following in their wake.
He’d been alive too long to fall for a ruse. So instead of moving, he held completely still and allowed his dragon to escape his body. It was risky, deadly to him if the vampires came back and attacked him. Hell, if they came back to feed, he’d be defenseless. Had he not had Asia strengthening him, he wouldn’t have been able to flow through the walls to see what was causing the vampires to freak out. What he saw stopped him cold. Dozens of vampires on their knees bowing down to a male who stood on a dais with two black panthers next to him. Their shiny coats gleaming in the flickering candle lights.
“My Enclave. I have found a way to reverse the atrocity within our kind. See these beautiful creatures?” he asked, petting the heads of each big cat.
“Virote, what do panthers have to do with our kind? They are food at best. We can’t even fuck them?”
The male who spoke was pulled forward by an invisible force, shocking Jabari. He’d known the vampires were powerful, but damn.
“Ah, you question my word? Such a shame really.” Without hesitation, the man on the dais, Virote, lifted his hand. Jabari didn’t see him do anything else, just lift his hand. The next instant, the other male was in two halves, split right down the middle.
“Now, anyone else have something to say?” Virote asked.
Silence filled the space. The clear leader took a step back, settling down on a chair of sorts. No, it was a throne made of...bones. Good Goddess, he was ruthless, and if he’d truly found a way to reverse the rot and still kill, he would be invincible. The two panthers settled on either side of his throne, shaking out their fur.
Jabari waited to see if the male was going to speak or explain but he had a feeling time was ticking for him and Asia.
CHAPTER THREE
Asia woke slowly, dread filling every fiber of her being. Jabari still touched her, but he didn’t appear to be alive. Goddess, had he—no she couldn’t allow the thought to enter her mind.
Like a rush of power, she sensed Jabari awaken. Her heart threatened to shatter her ribs as hard as it beat. She couldn’t help the instinctual flexing of her hand as she straightened her arm. The Watchers as Jabari had called them were gone for the moment. It didn’t matter if they came back and saw her sitting up touching him. Not when she’d woken to find what she thought was him lifeless.
“Why are you crying?” he asked out loud, his voice a deep timber.
She swiped at her cheeks with her free hand, unwilling to release him. “I thought you were...I can’t even say it. Goddess, I can’t go on like this. Please kill me,” she begged.
If she’d been smart, she might’ve been scared, but she wasn’t scared of Jabari. No, she was more afraid of being stuck in a cell alive while he faded away. She couldn’t survive if he didn’t.
“You can and you will, Hirra,” he murmured.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
He smiled. His teeth flashing white against his dark skin. “Kitten.”
“I like that. I wish I could’ve met you before.” Another tear fell from her, followed by another. Jabari reached between the bars, wiping them from her face. Her shock at his touch dried up her tears.
‘Are all panthers magical like you, Asia?’ he asked along their mental path.
‘What do you mean, magical?’
He showed her the two panthers next to Virote, power emanating from them. She didn’t recognize either one in their shifted forms. Of course, since she wasn’t actually seeing them herself, she could be wrong.
‘Claim our mate,’ his dragon trilled.
She felt heat flow through her at the words filling her mind. ‘Yes,’ her panther agreed with his dragon.
Jabari groaned, clearly fighting with his beast just as she was fighting with hers. ‘Jabari, I’d rather have you claim me than one of them.’
Through the bars, she watched his chest rise and fall for the first time. She’d broken his self-control. Whether that was a good thing or bad, she couldn’t say. Yet, if she could have her first time be with a male of worth instead of a vile monster, she wouldn’t regret it. Not ever.
‘Hirra, I would give my life to make love to you, to claim you for mine. This collar and these chains keep me inside here. The only times I’ve ever been moved is when the male in charge of this circus decided to change the enclave residency. That’s been two or three times in hundreds of years.’ Honesty and sadness filled his eyes. Dear Goddess, how had he survived captivity for so long without losing his mind?
‘I can come to you,’ she said out loud. Asia didn’t want to let go of his arm; it was the only thing that kept her anchored in the moment. No matter how hard it was, she made herself release him, reluctantly pulling her hand back through the bars.
She shifted slightly, allowing her panther senses to guide her. At the door to her cage, she gave a slight shake, falling out when the thing opened. Before she could think too hard on her next action, she moved to Jabari’s door. It too was unlocked. They had never expected him to be able to leave with the collar and chains holding him hostage. In the time she’d been locked in with him his color had improved. Heck, if she didn’t know better, she’d say his body had even filled out some.
