Page 24 of Destined Paranormals: Volume One

“I wish I knew why they took us,” I said next.

“I wish I’d had the forethought to ask Feiedrich before I killed him. But with the way he seemed interested in my own omega father, I would believe he was looking to have dragon children for some reason. If he truly wished to get you all with child, he did not realize that by starving you, it would throw your heat cycles off. Of course, even if you’d gone into heat, you wouldn’t have caught because he wasn’t your fated mate,” Aleric said.

I cringed at the thought of laying with that creepy old man.

“Whatever it is about the shackles did not help either. I have them in my satchel, and if we ever come across a warlock, I plan on asking him about them and how they worked.”

“How are the others? I should be there with them, helping them in their grief.”

“They are settling down for the night. Perhaps we should do the same? I have a feeling that Wilhelm and Lukas are not going to be willing to wait until tomorrow evening to set out to be reunited with their family.”

I could see that about them. Wilhelm was often mistaken for an alpha, until you scented him. There was no mistaking the scent of an omega. Lukas, he had been so full of life before we were taken. The four of us had even talked about traveling to Munich to explore the possibilities of finding our mates. Now we would be going for a completely different reason.

But first, we would be stopping in Berlin to help Wilhelm and most likely Elias get settled there. It would be difficult to leave them behind, but my alpha wished to take me to his new home, and my dragon and I were both more than ready to leave the ugliness of our homeland behind.

“Konrad?”

I looked at Aleric and smiled. “Yes, sorry. We should retire.” I stood and let Aleric lead me back to the others. When he settled near me, I was surprised but welcomed the nearness of my alpha.

Chapter 9

Aleric

September 1768

There were things that other paranormals knew not to do to alpha dragons. One of them was to keep them from their mates. We were overly protective of our omega mates, and my dragon was becoming increasingly irritated. He was more than ready to claim Konrad. It was difficult reasoning with a dragon at times though, and I knew it was not the time to claim Konrad, even if that was what we both seemed to want.

We were finally in Munich after a week of traveling south, then locating Wilhelm’s uncle. It was a teary goodbye for Konrad and Elias, and I had offered several times for Elias to join us across the ocean, but he didn’t wish to join us. Not that I blamed him. He had a warm bed in the city, something I realized I did not miss. The city.

Well, actually, I missed my bed. Having Konrad in it with me would be an added bonus. After several goodbyes, we’d continued on and now were with Lukas in Munich. We were resting one more day before Konrad and I set off across the ocean. The home my parents had built was still weeks away, if not more. I had no doubt that my mate was strong, but he had been through a great deal, and the flight would be difficult for him. This I knew.

We were fortunate that the coven had welcomed us and allowed us to rest as long as we had. Lukas’s uncle was mated to a female vampire, which was why he was in the city. They lived in a coven, and although I knew I would struggle in such a place, it was a welcome place to rest, knowing my mate and I would be safe for the evening. He was just on the other side of the wall, something that irritated my dragon after having held our mate in our arms for a few nights.

The coven had been more than generous, and the master here had insisted on reaching out to the local warlock coven to ask about the shackles. The answer we had been given was frightening. The shackles had been cursed with black magic unlike any they had ever seen. When they had been placed on the wrist of a paranormal being, they fused themselves on, thus bonding their way into the soul of the wearer. This subdued their other half, leaving them unable to shift to escape. I was more than happy to let the warlocks have the shackles. They assured me they would look into them more, and they would let the others know the findings. Someone being able to do such things was news that needed to be spread. Others needed to be aware to watch out for such evilness.

We still had no real reason as to why, but knowing about the shackles was enough for now. I was almost certain the reason why was close to what Konrad and I had discussed, and it churned my stomach thinking about the warped mind of men like Feiedrich.

I rolled onto my side and wondered if it was too early to get up and collect my mate. We would not actually be taking to the skies until— I held my breath as my door slowly opened. Surely the others in the house realized that as a dragon alpha, I could not be crept up on.

I scented my mate and pushed up onto my elbow, letting the blanket fall to my waist.

“Aleric?”

“Come, Konrad.”

The door closed, and then seconds later, my mate was suddenly on top of me. I reached for him, telling myself it was to ensure he did not fall from the narrow bed.

“I want to go. I’m ready to start out now. If we leave before the sun is up, we can be high enough in the sky that we won’t be detected. Then we will be over the ocean, and it will not matter.”

I lay back, my mate sitting astride me. I had to tell myself that now was most definitely not the time to think the thoughts that suddenly were in my head. Even if the position was ideal, I needed to be patient just a bit longer. I ran my hand down my face, unsure of what exactly to do. On one hand, what Konrad said was true. We could easily be high enough in the sky to remain undetected by humans.

But arriving over the ocean at the wrong time could be dangerous. If we could not find the larger islands that we would need to land on to rest and hunt, we could be in trouble if we had to land in the ocean. Dragons didn’t exactly float easily.

This was my mate though, and although we had not yet claimed one another, I could not deny him anything. The sooner we took to the skies, the sooner we would be at our new home and start our lives together. I only had so much patience when it came to waiting to claim my mate, and it was almost to the breaking point.

“All right. Allow me to dress, and we will go see if the coven master is up yet. We cannot just steal out of here without showing proper gratitude.”

Konrad squeaked and fell forward, throwing his arms out on either side of my head. Even in the darkness of the room, I could see the happiness on his face. My dragon pushed to the surface, responding to our mate not only being so near but also that we had pleased him.