“Beast!” I called upon my own dragon.
“Ryder,” he hissed at me.
“Merge with me so that from this day forward we may claim each other and together accomplish our predestined fate,” I said loudly. The words had just come to me and I wasn’t even sure from where.
“As you command halfling although I won’t be commanded like a lowly house lizard,” he hissed again and I laughed suddenly.
“You a house lizard? And here I thought you were magnificent but now I’m not so sure beast,” I said and I could hear him chuckle.
“You’ll suit me fine halfling,” he said sounding amused. He came out of the shadows and I held my breath in awe. He circled me and sniffed me tentatively as I folded my arms across my chest. He roared slightly and then merged himself into and onto me.
I felt the burning sensation and I swear if I could strip off my own skin I would. I screamed out in pain as the tattoo of his likeness formed on my skin, burning and etching itself deep inside me. I felt like I would lose my mind as the pain started to ebb slowly and then vanish.
“My name is Abeloth,” he said in my mind.
“Welcome Abeloth, I hope that I’ll be a worthy host,” I said.
“I like your attitude halfling, I think I’ll stay,” he said and I smiled.
Chase looked at me grinning widely as he eyed the dragon on my back. It was a shade darker than Lucas’s dragon and if the lighting was dim he looked almost black. I felt my eyes change colour and Chase’s mouth opened to say something.
“Brantley,” Abeloth hissed and I saw his eyes glow yellow.
“Brother,” he said and they bowed their heads at each other.
I felt Abeloth return control to me and I could feel it, the power, the stronger senses and I felt physically bigger. The power that ran through my veins was almost addictive and I knew that Chase was feeling it too.
We stepped through the fire back into the room where Lucas and Rev and the Elders waited for us. Chase walked out first and I saw the pride in Lucas’s eyes as Chase turned around to let them look at his dragon. The Elders were murmuring to themselves and I could see that they were slightly shocked.
“What is your beast’s name?” Elder Cliff asked Chase.
“Brantley,” he answered.
“Magnificent,” Elder Victor said.
Abeloth stirred within me and I knew he was urging me to show him off for some reason. To me he was magnificent and a perfect fit and I stepped through the fire having given Chase his moment of glory as first born.
“Turn around,” Elder Michael said and I complied.
“This is unheard of!” Elder Victor said with shock in his voice.
I turned to face them again and I saw that same pride in Lucas’s eyes. I felt indestructible and I knew that Abeloth was also a warrior dragon. He was fierce and gave me the impression that he wouldn’t take anyone’s shit.
“I am Abeloth,” he said as he took control and my eyes glowed yellow.
“This can’t be right,” Elder Cliff said and they all looked at each other. Abeloth separated from me and roared in a low voice as he glared at them.
“I am the dragon Elders, you do not presume to think that Typhon made a mistake. This is my halfling and we have bonded already. I will stay with him until he takes his last breath and you Elders will learn to know your place,” he said in a dangerous voice.
“Our apologies Abeloth, we did not mean that Typhon was mistaken, we just find it odd that the second born would get the stronger dragon,” Elder Michael said.
“What?” Chase asked.
“The darker the shade, the stronger the beast,” Elder Victor said.
“Do not question Typhon’s decision, this bond is for life,” Abeloth said and merged with me once again.
“As with the merging of your dragon Sire Lucas, these two gray dragons are immensely powerful and yet their names would suggest that they are warriors as well, Brantley means fire and Abeloth means the creator of chaos,” Elder Michael said as they noted our dragons down in the books.
“Thank you Elders,” Lucas said and I watched Chase’s face.
He wasn’t upset that his beast was lighter than mine in fact he seemed proud of me just like I was proud of him. I had been worried about not getting a violet dragon but never did I think I would get a gray one. Lucas had told us how the previous Elders had been mystified about his beast because gray dragons were so rare.
“You okay?” I asked Chase as he wiped his forehead.
“I don’t feel very well,” he said and Rev went to stand next to him and placed his arm over his shoulder.
“It’s normal, come on, we need to get you guys home,” Rev said.
“Good luck and we are interested to see the journey these two brothers take,” Elder Victor said.
Lucas and Rev helped us back to the car as the same ailment started affecting me as well. I could feel my eyelids growing heavy as we stumbled into the back of the car and I closed my eyes a few seconds after Chase did.
I woke up to bright sunlight making me squint my eyes and I checked my watch. It was two pm already and I groaned as I turned onto my stomach. My phone rang again and I realized that it was the phone that had woken me up in the first place.
Abeloth felt more comfortable in my head and he yawned as he lay on his back and lazily flicked his tail. I got up and turned my body sideways and looked at myself in the mirror. He was beautiful and on my back he had his teeth bared and he looked dangerous.
“Morning Abeloth,” I said and he yawned again.
“Afternoon halfling, I hope you don’t sleep this late every day,” he said and stretched his wings.
“Not usually no,” I said to him.
“Good, go grab me some meat, I’m hungry,” he said and I could feel it.
“Sorry Abeloth, I’m a vegetarian,” I said to him.
“What?” he roared in my head, “are you fucking for real?”
“Whoa language buddy,” I said to him.
“My apologies halfling, are you fucking for real moron?” he asked me and I laughed.
“I’m just kidding,” I said to him.
“Imbecile, I almost had a heart attack,” he said glaring at me.
“Yeah I can see we’re going to have lots of fun together,” I said and he gave me a grin.
“Meat, now,” he said and flopped down on his side again.
I checked my phone and saw that Tia had called me fifteen times since last night and had left me over fifty text messages.
It was her birthday tomorrow and we would know for sure if we would stay together or not. I didn’t call her back immediately and took a shower instead as I thought about what it would mean if we weren’t bonded to each other.
“Stop worrying halfling, there are plenty of young girls in the sea,” he said.
“True but I love her,” I said to him.
“Whipped,” he said and I laughed as I got out of the shower and got dressed. I still felt tired and I knew that we wouldn’t be going anywhere today. I picked my phone up and finally called Tia back.
“Where the hell have you been?” she almost yelled at me as she answered the phone.
“Asleep,” I said to her.
“This whole time?” she asked me.
“Yes, it takes more than ten hours for your dragon to fully merge and settle Tia, you know this,” I said to her.
“Sorry I was just worried because I couldn’t reach you, what if you had bonded with someone else,” she said sounding like she was hyperventilating.
“Then I’d make you my chosen mate, but I was really asleep until now,” I said to her.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too, I should get downstairs and eat and then I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” I said to her.
“You’re not coming over today?” she asked me sounding disappointed.
“Not today, I’m not feeling quite myself yet,” I said to her.
“What colour dragon did you get?” she asked her voice suddenly nervous.
“Guess,” I said.
“A violet one,” she said with a laugh.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” I said.
“Oh shit did you get an indigo one?” she asked me sounding almost disappointed.
“My dragon is dark gray,” I said to her and she squealed so loudly that I had to move the phone away from my ear.
“That’s awesome Ryder!” she yelled.
“Okay calm down, I’ll talk to you later,” I said and she laughed as we said our goodbyes.
I threw my phone down on my bed and walked out of my room just as Chase exited his bedroom as well. I could see that he had also just showered and we both wore sweat pants and t-shirts. He was barefoot where I had socks on.
“Shit I could hear her yelling all the way in my room,” Chase said and I grinned at him.
“She’s just happy for me,” I said to him.
“Maybe she’ll show you tomorrow how happy she is,” he said with a wink.
“You’re disgusting,” I said and stopped walking.
“Oh please little brother, I know you’ve sampled those goods and I want to tell you a little secret,” he said as he threw his arm around my shoulder.
“What?” I asked him.
“Don’t let her be your first and last, trust me, a girl’s a girl but they’re all different,” he said and laughed at the expression on my face.
“I hope your bonded half is as experienced as you are,” I said to him.
“That would actually save me the time of teaching her what I like,” he said and I laughed.
“You’re such a slut,” I said to him as he looked proud.
For the rest of the Sunday we celebrated with our family and lazed around in the living room watching movies and napping in between. That night at dinner I felt more like myself and Martha had outdone herself making our favourites to celebrate us getting our dragons.“My boys are all grown up now,” our mother said as she looked at us.“In more ways than one,” Lucas said and Chase started laughing out loud.“What do you mean in more ways than one?” Rylee asked him.“Oh my gosh! Are you two banging girls?” Emily asked loudly and Rev almost choked and Hannah looked at her in horror.“Banging girls? Emily!” Hannah said as Rev just shook his head.“I think I hear my phone ringing in my office,” Lucas said as my mother glared at him.“Not so fast wise guy, is that true, are you two sexually active?” Rylee asked us and I didn’t know where to hide my face.“Mom seriously, do you want to discuss this at the dinner table?” Chase asked her.“That means yes Aunt Rylee,” Emily said as I pretended
Chase had to swallow his pride and he presented a clean bill of health to Melissa two weeks later on her birthday. She looked at the results of the blood test and then smiled as she kissed him. He had humiliated himself but in the end it paid off as Melissa finally accepted him.We had two months of school left and then we would also attend the Illinois Dragonkin Ball to present our bonded halves to the Elders for acceptance of that bond. Our parents would attend as well to witness the forming of the bond and after that night we’d be seen as an official couple within the lair.I had been looking at a promise ring for Tia, a promise that I wanted to make to her on our bonding night, that she’d always be the only one for me. Rylee was helping me with it and she was just as excited as I was. She didn’t know Tia personally but she was happy for me.Lucas didn’t say much since he had messed up his own bonding with our mother a few times but in the end he pulled his head out of his ass, as
There were ten more successful bondings that took place before it was our turn and I extended my arm again for Tia as we waited to be announced.“And now for our final couple, Tia Malone and Ryder Grey,” Elder Cliff said and applause broke out. Chase and Melissa were now seated close together at our table and I swear Chase was clapping the loudest.We made our way onto the stage and Tia beamed as everyone looked at us. I felt slightly nervous and Abeloth was restless to be let out but I couldn’t do it yet. He had to be patient until we eventually got home before he could separate from me.“Do you Tia Malone accept Ryder Grey as your bonded half? Do you vow to remain faithful to him and to your bond? Do you accept the placing of his mark on your neck tonight?” Elder Michael asked her.“I, Tia, accept you Ryder as my bonded half and I vow to remain honest and faithful and I accept your mark on my neck,” Tia said.
I still wasn’t ready to go home but I knew that I had to so I drove behind Chase since he stayed at the Lake house while I showered and got dressed. Abeloth was snorting in my head that we didn’t need a babysitter or an escort home.“Shit is going to hit the fan,” Abeloth said.“I get that feeling too,” I said to him.“Guess we’ll know soon enough,” he mused as we entered lower Aurora and headed to the house.I wasn’t looking forward to this. Lucas had a quick temper and when he was pissed off like I knew he was then you were in for the ride of your life. I had embarrassed him and the lair. As a Sire’s son I was one of the lead examples and the only one to reject my bonded half.“Good luck brother,” Chase said as we climbed out of our cars.“Did he send you to the lake house to look for me?” I asked him.“No, I figured that one out all by m
I spent the next six months in Chicago and underwent rigorous training under Wentworth and his men. The groups were small and once you failed your mind was wiped by a witch and you went back to your old life. I felt at home even though I was the youngest by three years and I quickly became close friends with the other guys I was training with.Most of them had green or blue dragons and one or two had a violet one. There were no yellow dragons in our unit and these were the best of the best. Training started at five am and we stopped at ten pm every day. It was hard and brutal and we even underwent torture training where we were tortured.If I had been a boy when I walked into that building I was definitely a man after those first six months. We were taught how to fight with weapons, without weapons, with your dragon and without your dragon. There were vampires and wolves training with us and we would go head to head with each other.We were taught how to read people and situations, ho
I spent the rest of that Sunday shopping and settling in. I had gone for a jog since I was still in the training routine and I couldn’t just sit idly at home and do nothing. I had cleaned the house, jogged, washed the truck, gone shopping and packed everything away and I had already checked in.I felt better after talking to Chase and slightly worried that Lucas was looking for me so I drove to another store and bought a new cellphone. I drove to the forest behind the school and sat in the truck and called him.“This is Lucas,” he answered.“Hi Dad,” I said.“Ryder, are you okay?” he asked me.“I’m fine,” I answered him.“Where are you?” he asked me.“It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing, stop looking for me,” I said.“I’ll never stop looking for you, you’re my son,” he said.“I’m working, taking responsibility, standing on my own two feet, you should be proud instead of trying to treat me like a little kid,” I said to him.“You have responsibilities at home,” he said to me.
It took another two weeks for Coach to organize the fight and he wanted me to be first up. I had started spending time with the other ten guys at school. They weren’t professional fighters but the fear of juvie kept them fighting even when most of them didn’t want to.The fights usually consisted of them being beaten up by adults which was hardly fair and I could see some of them were sick of it. They got paid just enough to keep them wanting more but not enough to stop or say anything.“It’s basically a blood sport where people bet on how fast our asses will be kicked in that ring,” Michael said as we sat at one of the outside tables.“Grown ass men, ex boxers, fighters or just plain crazy guys looking to vent kicking our asses all over the place, no fear of being arrested and they pay to hit us,” Denver remarked.“That’s bullshit actually,” I said as they looked at me.“There&rsquo
Felix and I spent the next nine months on the road searching for those rogue packs and eliminating them after getting the information that we needed to move on to the next one. We would call Wentworth to send in a cleaning crew after we were done and we had specific orders not to leave anyone alive.I hadn’t spoken to my father again after that one phone call and it had already been three months since the last time I phoned Chase. I couldn’t call him now as we were on the road heading to the location of a vampire coven.Felix was driving as I checked my two guns and strapped my other weapons to my legs and arms. I had started adding tattoos to my arms, one for every ten kills and I had almost completed my second sleeve. Felix had laughed as I sat in the tattoo parlor and then to my shock he sat for one too and our arms looked almost identical.We had become best friends over the last nine months and we had declared ourselves brothers of other species. We had vowed to always have each