Page 8 of Destined Paranormals: Volume One

When I woke in the morning, it was to a pounding in my head from lack of sleep and food the day before. The fire had once again burned out, and I cleaned up the area and set it up for the next time I visited. After removing the clothing and storing it in the trunk with the blankets, I walked to the mouth of the cave and called for my dragon.

He pushed out, and after I moved closer to the edge of the cave to where I could feel the spray of the water as it fell in front of me, I simply jumped into the water. When I opened my wings, I caught wind, and with two flaps, I was flying in the gorge with the river not too far below me.

It didn’t take long for me to fly to the top, landing where I’d left my clothing tucked into a small satchel and hung on a tree the previous day. I quickly dressed and then headed for the cottage I shared with my fathers.

I could smell the smoke from the fire before I could see it, and when the plume of white to gray came into view, I could also scent baking bread. Da had been up for a while, it seemed, and he’d already put bread in the fire to bake. Father and I had done everything we could to give Da everything he wanted, but it wasn’t as if we didn’t benefit from our work.

When I opened the door, I knocked my boots on the side of the frame, knocking off the snow that had stuck to the soles.

“Aleric, welcome back. Did you have a good evening?” Da asked. He was standing at the table he used to prepare food. It was separate from the one we ate on because Da had wanted one that was taller, and he wouldn’t have to bend over nearly as much to knead bread or dice vegetables.

“It was interesting. I spent a lot of time flying, thinking about things,” I told Da.

I noticed Father sitting at the table with a mug in front of him. I would love nothing more than a cup of coffee. Father and I had found a merchant in one of the towns farther east of here that sold it, and although it was more often me who went and traded the furs we’d started trading for goods, every so often, Father would join me, and he’d find things that Da would say he wanted.

It had been a bit comical trying to get the number of goods we’d traded for one especially lucrative visit out of the populated area. Once we’d been able to ensure that we weren’t followed and had made it to our landing place, I left Father with the trunks while I returned the rented horse and wagon to the livery. I walked back to where Father was and found the trunks now secured and in the nets that we’d flown over the sea carrying.

When Father and I had finally returned to our cottage on the top of the mountain and Da had seen all of the goods that we’d brought, I’d had to leave for a few days because they couldn’t seem to keep their clothing on.

It wasn’t that I minded sex. It was as natural as us shifting into our dragons, actually. But I simply did not wish to see my fathers knotted together in the kitchen while Da had been working on preparing a meal.

That was too much for me, and I’d spent several days away. When I finally returned, it wasn’t discussed, nor were my whereabouts during that time.

“Aleric? Did you hear me?” Da asked.

I shook my head a few times, then focused on my omega father. “I apologize, Da. I was thinking again. What was it you said or asked?”

Da chuckled. “I asked if you would like something to eat?”

I nodded, but when Da started to prepare me a plate, I crossed to him and placed a hand on his arm. “I would love something, but I can get it. Why don’t you join Father and relax? The bread smells amazing from outside, so I know you’ve been busy this morning already.”

It wasn’t that Da did all of the cooking in our house. Father and I both shared those responsibilities with him, just as we all washed the linens and clothing and took turns making soap as well as candles. Father and I did most of the hunting, while Da did the foraging for berries and other foods the forest provided for us.

We’d used tools to turn the soil, and every summer, we had a small area where we grew vegetables that we stored in a small underground cellar. It wasn’t overly large, which, hindsight being what it was, was a mistake. We were three dragons, and we ate a lot.

Da joined Father, and when they linked their hands together and stared at one another, I could tell from the look on Da’s face that they were communicating through their bond. It was beautiful yet painful. My dragon stirred, and obviously, Father felt him because he looked back at me, his own dragon pushing to the surface.

“It’s all right. I was thinking again. I do apologize. My dragon has become a bit irritable for lack of a better word.”

That seemed to have both of their complete attention. “Is there something amiss?” Father asked.

I shook my head. “No. Perhaps he’s simply restless and it’s time I spend a few weeks away. There’s a chance I could find what he’s searching for while out this time,” I said, still not sure what I’d been dreaming about was even a reality. But what if it was?

“We had agreed that you would go later, once the weather changed and the snow was gone,” Father reminded me.

I sighed internally. Outwardly, I clenched my jaw and nodded to Father before I turned and went about fixing food for myself. I knew I would be thinking a little more clearly once I had a good meal in me and my dragon and I could focus on something other than my rumbling stomach. It was never a good idea to try and discuss things with Father first thing in the morning. We were both too stubborn to do so without becoming cranky. In the end, I fixed my meal and took it to the table and ate without saying a word while my fathers sat there and talked silently about their plans for the upcoming summer trip to the town to trade pelts for merchandise. So very engaging.

Chapter 4

Konrad

June 1768

Iwas cold. My head was pounding, and I was of a mind that the ache in my stomach wouldn’t ever go away. I’d long ago given up trying to figure out why I was here. I was shackled to the wall, as I’d been since I’d first woken up here. I’d tried many times to call for my dragon, but it was no use. It was as if he was forced to sleep, that he, too, was somehow chained up.

The only things that were really constant were the small amount of food they tossed at me daily and the strange man that came into the room and stared at me. He was unnerving. He never said a word, just stood at the doorway and stared at me for several long minutes.

We hadn’t yet been able to figure out what language they were all speaking, but we knew it wasn’t our native language. We heard that as well, but it was always the same nonsense. Someone would come in to throw a bit of food at us each day, but beyond that, we were left chained to the walls.