I just love Kenna. She's amazing!
When Everett prepares to leave the room, I go to Zephyr, kissing her temple as she wraps her arms around Nova. ‘Are you okay?’ I ask in the mind link. ‘Yes. Are you leaving?’ she asks me. ‘I want to go with Doc. I want to hear what he thinks about Nova away from where she might overhear,’ I tell her. ‘You’ll let me know?’ she asks. ‘Are you getting attached, my little dragon?’ I ask her. ‘Would that be a bad thing?’ ‘No, but I think being here, among her peers, is better than her being with us out hunting Oliver and the scientists and looking for more like her. This is a better life for her. You know that Kaylani and Everett will take good care of her.’ I can tell she knows I’m right, but as she look down at Nova in her lap, I hear her thoughts, wondering if I might be interested in living out here. She looks up at me with her big, blue eyes, and i know there will never be a time in my life where I'll be able to say no to this woman. Not when she looks at me like that. I'm doo
“What about her health, Doc,” I ask, needing to know if there is anything we can actually do for this girl. He takes a last look at Nova's DNA, probably trying to figure out how he’s going to fix this mess, before turning back and coming over to the massive amount of equipment he has. He takes some more blood and puts it into new tubes and then into something that begins spinning fast. Then he starts pulling up information with numbers and letters that start scrolling in rapid succession on the screen that he’s looking at. “Flash it up on the big screen, Everett,” Kaylani says, and with a push of a button, what Doc is looking at is on display for Kaylani and I to see. “Dehydration, malnourishment, low red blood count, high white blood count,” Kaylani sighs as she reads the information that is scrolling on the screen. “None of that sounds good,” I say. “No, she’s either too low or too high in nearly every point of her blood work,” Everett confirms. “What can we do?” I ask. “Trea
I close my eyes, holding Nova while she sleeps in my arms. When I felt Ishir’s concern, I tuned into his mind, so, I’m aware of the problems with Nova. When they walk into the room and I see the things that Everett has brought in, and the voices in my head start to wake up. It’s been so long since I heard them that I’m quickly becoming overwhelmed. That is, until Ishir makes his presence known in my mind. He helps me get my breathing back under control, helps me gain control of the voices in my head. I look back down at Nova. I hadn’t intended to stay with her, to let Ishir leave without me again, but I know I’m needed here. “You stay. Help her and the others. I haven’t met them yet, but they will also need help,” he says. “You’re not leaving now?” I ask panicked. “No. I’m not leaving for another day at least. I want to see what’s going on with Nova and then the others. I need to know what I’m dealing with before I go back out there,” he says to me. I watch as Everett begins addi
As much as I hate leaving Zephyr, I’m glad that she’ll be here, safe. Having Nova here will give her a reason to stay and Kaylani will make sure that she’s looked after. I don’t know how far I can go and keep a presence in her mind, but if I lose the connection, I have my phone and will call. I’m hoping we won’t be gone too long. I don’t expect Zephyr to be pregnant long and she’s already starting to show. After Avani practically sucks Merethyl’s face off in front of me, he shifts and I climb up his wing, waving at Merethyl. Ancalagon and the lab dragons lift off with us and follow us for a while. “Where are we going?” Kenzo, the earth dragon asks. “Somewhere you can’t go, Ken. Not until you are able to shift anyway,” Avani tells him. “We can go part of the way, dad. We just can’t go into the city with you,” Ancalagon says. “I was hoping you’d stay and look after your mother, Cal,” I tell him. “She’s getting stronger, Ishir. She won’t want me hovering over her any more than she
I can’t believe Naida knew Sunshine, or Eliane. That might be her real name, but she’ll always be my Sunshine. I’m hoping that I can get more information from Naida, but I know that Everett will need to look her over. I just hope my mom and Aunt Kaylani can help calm her enough to let him. After hearing about Nova, I’m worried about this girl. She’s older than Nova, and has been a captive for longer, so her shift is closer. When I stretch out my wings, Naida looks at me. “You want me to get on your back?” “Yes.” “Won’t it hurt you?” she asks, and Dad snorts. “I’m a very large, very strong dragon. You won’t hurt me.” “Okay, umm…” she slowly walks to my wingtip and gently steps up, looking at me to make sure she’s not hurting me. “Well, don’t stand there, that hurts!” I say. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” she says, racing up my wing. When she’s at the top of my back, I turn my head around and look at her. “Just kidding. I couldn’t even feel you standing there.” “What?” she asks, o
I know the other dragons are upset to have these dragons and hybrids that were created from their DNA and I am too, to an extent. However, unlike the others, I don’t seem to be able to have children, so without the Chief and Oliver, the water dragons would have gone extinct after I died. Now, my genetics will continue after I'm gone. Everett has done some tests on me, but he doesn’t know enough about dragons yet and really has only done tests on Tana and Zephyr while they were pregnant. Kenna is still a juvenile human so we’re not sure if there is anything in her bloodwork that can tell us something or if the differences in our blood are because her element is fire, because she’s a hybrid, or if he really did find the point where we can see a dragon’s ability to reproduce. So, for me, every one of these children, even the hybrids that carry the water dragon trait, is a precious treasure. Of course, I love and care about all of the dragons and hybrids that we’ve been able to find, but
While Kaylani goes to get Everett, I sit with Nova and try to help calm Naida. I can feel her fear and trepidation at allowing Everett to take her blood. “Naida, you said you have been in the laboratory for four years, but what about before that? You must have been pretty young, maybe you have parents looking for you?” I ask. “No, the tiger, Ishir, asked the same thing. My father is in prison for killing my mother. I ran away and then was caught by the people that put me into the laboratory.” “Tell me about that. How did they capture you? Did they snatch you off the streets, or did they lure you into a place where you felt you’d be taken care of before they began hurting you?” I ask her. She looks at me a moment and it looks like she’s remembering back to that time. “They lured me, I guess. I remember being hungry, so hungry, and they offered me food.” Her eyes go unfocused as she goes back to that time. “I think the food must have been drugged. I remember eating fast, I was so h
We’ve been hunting for the hybrids for over a month now, but Naida is the only one that we’ve found. We have, however, found some of the scientists who worked in the laboratory. I made sure they suffered for what they did to Ancalagon and the others. I talk to Zephyr every night, so I know that she’s hurting for Nova and Naida and that she’s also been awakened in the middle of the night by Ajax and Kano’s screams. So, I take my time hurting them, making them suffer as those they hurt, and now my mate, suffer as well. The first couple of scientists died too quickly. I forget how fragile humans can be. But now, I think I’ve found the perfect balance of giving pain but keeping them alive. Thankfully, Avani and I are on the same page. Since Merethyl is also at the ranch, she’s having similar issues to Zephyr, trying to help the young girls feel safe and working with the boys to accept our help. “I can’t believe none of the scientists know where Oliver is,” Avani says as we fly over the