What do you think? Of Cal's future and of Amne's claim?
Well, I wasn’t expecting that we’d have our first mate bond sealed with our hybrids and laboratory created dragons so quickly, but most of the dragons are coming of age now. Since they shift into adults, we’ll most likely have quite of few of these in the near future. Because I hadn’t claimed Kaylani like the other dragons, I’d been horrified at the strength of will and power it took to do it. It makes me rethink Kaylani’s idea of wanting to have public claimings. What if Amne had killed Kano. I’m not sure I could have forgiven Cedric or even Kaylani for holding me back. The dragons trumpet as Amne submits, blowing her fire on Kano. They lift into the air and begin to fly away. They don’t like seeing one of their own claimed. However, the group of dragons that are claimed, namely Kaylani and Tana, and even Zephyr who came back after hearing all the noise around us, stand by and wait to see the kind of rider that Kano will be. I have no such hesitation. Kano is my son. I may have onl
The next morning, we plan to talk to Cal about his DNA, but before we have a chance to do that, another one of the dragons shifts. Because these first shifts are so painful for the dragons, we all go outside to be with them. This time, it’s Kenzo, one of our earth dragons. He, Ajax, and Ancalagon have become close friends. So, I’m not surprised to see Ajax on one side of Kenzo and Ancalagon on the other. Ancalagon is crooning encouragement while Ajax is telling him to breathe through the pain. When he’s done, he’s barely conscious. Ajax picks him up before Everett can get to him, nodding at Everett to lead the way to the hospital. Since Everett will be busy and he’s our medical expert, I know that the conversation with Ancalagon will have to wait. As I turn back to the main house to continue working on the new curriculum for our students, I notice that Amne and Kano are standing close together, Kano’s arm around Amne, having watched Kenzo shift. That isn’t unusual. What does surpri
“Is this going to become the norm around here?” I ask everyone standing around us. “We have a large group of dragons that are coming of age, we have several hybrids that are of age or older, so yes, I think this is going to become a common practice,” Zephyr says. “I’ve started working on the dragon claiming and riders’ curricula. I need to meet with Tana, Avani, and Zephyr about the claiming curriculum, making sure we aren’t giving anything away. I need to meet with Cedric and Merethyl about claiming elves and Lycans, and you, Cedric, Merethyl, and Ishir need to review and finish developing the rider’s curriculum,” Kaylani says. “You’ve been busy,” I say, pulling her to my side. “I was hoping we could all get together to speak to Ancalagon, but he’s taken off with the other dragons. Any idea when he’ll be back?” “I’d say a couple of hours, so perhaps we should plan to speak to him first thing in the morning. Afterward, and depending on how that goes, we can work on the two curricul
I’m a couple of steps behind Everett as we race out of the main house. Ancalagon’s roar for help can’t mean anything good. In his nearly five years, I’ve only heard him cry for help one other time, the time he thought he burned Eliane alive. When I see Ancalagon, I stop short. I have no idea what could have caused the damage to his body that he’s sustained. And it isn’t just him, the other dragons are all injured as well. I’m not sure if it’s the doctor in Everett or if he’s just become accustomed to crisis after crisis at our school, but unlike me, he doesn’t stop. He races up to Ancalagon, quickly doing triage to see how badly he’s injured. “ANCALAGON!” Avani roars, his scales rippling along his skin as he rushes up. “Who did this to you? Who did this to all of you?” he asks, looking around. Fenian comes rushing up, Tesha right behind him. “Doc Everett, how can I help?” he asks. It’s what I should be asking and I shake the fear and concern off, stepping up to one of the other dr
Sometimes, I forget that the dragons don’t need me to heal as much as they need my knowledge of helping the hybrids. I was mentally ready to start stitching Ancalagon, then put burn cream on the dragons with blisters but by the time I’d gotten around to all of them, they were healed. “You can heal too, you know?” Kaylani says, sidling up to me. “I know, it’s just not the same,” I say, watching Avani and Cal fly off to search for, and hopefully find, Eliane and Cal’s brother. “No, Everett,” she says, stepping in front of me. “I mean that you can pull on my element to heal, just like Cedric does with fire, like Ishir does with air.” “I don’t know how, Kaylani,” I tell her. “I know, that’s why I’m going to give you a crash course now. It will be easier to try on me. You can use your strength on the other dragons, but Avani is gone and there’s no way Cedric or Ishir will allow their mates to injure themselves to teach you. I grab her arms, shaking her slightly. “I’m not willing to al
I jolt waking from a terrible dream. I was fighting with dragons, lots of them. One of them was Cal. They were attacking my little white friend. I had to give him a name, so I named him Snow, since that’s what he looks like. It’s kind of girlie, but he doesn’t seem to mind. I look around quickly, trying to see if he’s near me. Once again, we’re up at the top of a mountain. Snow is wrapped around me. My quick movements disturbing his sleep. “Are you okay? I had a horrible dream that something bad happened to you,” I tell him. He nuzzles his face closer to me, pressing his snout into my chest and doing what sounds an awful lot like a purr. I lay my head on his snout, wrapping my arms around his face. I stay like that, just letting my relief at seeing him alive take the fear of the dream away. When my stomach growls loudly, I pull back. “I need food, Snow. Did you eat? Is that why I smell blood?” I ask him. His forked tongue snakes out slowly, licking my hand. I look down and realize
“Kaylani, can I talk to you?” Tesha asks, as she knocks on my door. “Hey Tesha, come in,” I say, getting up from my desk and coming around to hug her. She looks like she needs a hug. “Do you want me to close the door?” She nods. I close the door and then lead her to a couch where we can sit together. “What’s on your mind, Tesha?” She looks everywhere but at me, before focusing on my stomach. When her eyes finally meet mine, I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong. “I’m pregnant. I mean, I think I’m pregnant. I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant,” she huffs, then looks at me. “I’m pregnant and I don’t know what to do.” “What happened to the condoms?” “They burned off. Every time we used them they burned off. Then Fenian started pulling out but sometimes…” she scrubs her hands over her face. “I had no idea how strong the mate bond is. How good it would feel to be with him. In that moment, I don’t want him to pull out any more than he does, and now…” “Have you been to see Everett? Just to con
I watch as the dragons work together to calm Ancalagon. His anger is something to behold and it never occurred to me that as the manipulator of four elements, he could, quite literally, destroy the earth. As I watch, it makes me even more concerned that his DNA is breaking down where his mate bond should be. If his brother intends to fight him over his mate, would he really kill him? What would that do to Avani and Zephyr? Zephyr’s mental state isn’t as steady as the others, although Ishir keeps her mind from breaking. How would something like this affect her? How would it affect Ancalagon? And how would it affect Eliane? When Merethyl and Zephyr finally calm him enough, I walk up to him and put my hands against him, wanting to heal him with my element. It’s the first time that I’m attempting to do this with such massive injuries, and I know Zephyr is also pushing her element into him to heal him, but as soon as I open myself to my element, I can feel Ancalagon’s power and the heat o