Chandler
Sure enough, Reve fussed for most of the night. I spent the day exhausted, with Rask taking care of the baby as much as he was able. I was hopeful to still go out with Elara for dinner. We were planning to go to the mainland for a couple of ours and go to a nice restaurant while Florian and Rask watched the kids. It was supposed to be our first night out without the babies. We discussed it over breakfast, trying to solidify our plans.
By the time the afternoon rolled around, however, I was dead on my feet. Reluctantly, I called Elara to cancel. It turned out she had already made reservations, so I suggested she bring Florian along and have a date night. Nevis already had plenty of doting uncles who would be able to look after him. If it went well, I was tempted to try the same thing with Rask one of these days.
I felt much better after an afternoon nap and headed down to the dock to at least see Elara off. Nevis was down for his own afternoon nap and typically slept a solid three hours. It was long enough for a leisurely dinner on the mainland, with time to spare before the baby woke up.
As Florian and Elara motored off across the water toward the mainland, I turned and trudged back up the path, away from the dock. I decided to take the long way back and get a bit of a chance to enjoy nature. I loved my mate and my baby, more than life itself, but it was nice to have a little bit of solitude once in a while. I kind of felt like all I did was nurse, eat, and sleep. And if I was lucky I could count mating among those activities.
It was a beautiful, cool day. There was hardly any wind and the leaves were the pinnacle of New England foliage, bright red and orange. I wondered idly if I could get a decent picture of Reve against the foliage at night. With his brilliant blue scales, the contrast against the leaves would be incredible.
I was lost in my thoughts when a sudden sense of pain shot through me, bringing me to my knees. My back felt as though it was on fire. For a moment it was so horrific I couldn't tell that the pain was not my own. As soon as I realized it was Rask, I forced myself to my feet and broke into a run. I've never been much of a runner, and I certainly hadn't done any since the baby was born, but I raced to the house faster than I had ever run in my life.
There was a hole in my senses now. An absence. I couldn't sense Rask. It was the sort of thing I only felt when he was sleeping or, one would imagine, unconscious. I could only pray it wasn't anything more. I threw the door open and took in the awful sight.
Rask was sprawled out on the floor, with a knife in his back.
“Rask!” The scream of horror tore from my throat and I threw myself across the room to his side. I dropped to the floor next to him, desperately seeking some sign of life. He was alive! The knife hadn’t hit anything vital!
I pulled it out slowly and put pressure on the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood. Wetness began to soak my knee through my jeans, and I looked down in terror, expecting to see a pool of blood. Instead, it was a clear liquid. It was then that the scent of gasoline hit my nose. I was kneeling in a puddle of gas!
I looked around and saw signs of the liquid everywhere. The fabric of the couch and the drapes was dark with wet spots, and the floor had puddles all over. Someone had come into my home, stabbed my mate, and splashed gasoline all over the place. Did they intend to burn down the house? If so, why hadn’t they done it yet?
Reve!
Fear, like nothing I had ever known, for my child coursed through me. That was the only reason whoever was responsible for this hadn’t started the fire yet. I flew to my feet, ready to rush upstairs. I was going to kill someone!
And then, I caught sight of someone on the stairs. For a moment I couldn't even tell who it was. I was too distracted by the sight of my son in his arms. As soon as it became clear that Reve was alive and innocently sleeping, I turned my gaze the offender’s face.
“Tarren!” I roared.
“Chandler! What the hell are you doing here?” He sounded indignant, as if he had the right to be upset by the turn of events.
“What have you done?” I screamed at him.
He shook his head. “You were supposed to be on the mainland with Elara!”
I cursed; I had seen him watching us during breakfast, going over our plan, but thought nothing of it. There have been no more attempts on Rask's life since the falling tree We had both started to think that maybe it was just a terrible combination of coincidence and paranoia. Without any reason to suspect foul play, Tarren’s apparent interest in our conversation had gone unquestioned.
“I canceled,” I snarled.
He had the audacity to disagree with me. “I saw you,” he argued. “I saw you and Elara leaving just a few minutes ago!”
“That was Florian!” My fists clenched, as I shook with rage. “Give me my son!”
He actually looked somewhat sorry. “You weren’t supposed to be here. I didn't intend for you to die too.”
“Nobody has to die, Tarren. Please, don't do this!” I pleaded. I knew that he could kill my child long before I reached him.
Rask groaned and stirred. “What…” He caught sight of Tarren and his eyes widened in horror. “No!” he cried, struggling to stagger to his feet. I steadied him, as Tarren slowly edged down the stairs.
“If either of you comes near me, I will kill him,” he threatened.
“What is happening?” Rask said. “Why are you doing this?”
“I can't allow an alpha dragon to live,” Tarren said solemnly. “Dragons are too dangerous, too much of a risk to our secrecy.”
“Only an alpha? You’d murder my true mate and leave me to live with the grief?” I demanded, realizing his plan. “You were going to wait until I was gone?! Kill Rask, take our baby, and then burn down our house to make it look like an accident? How would you explain having our son… unless you were going to kill him too.”
Rask roared in rage at the suggestion.
“Alphas can turn omegas,” Tarren said, if it was obvious. “With betas, like you and Elara, there was no need to worry. However with just two of you, it was stressful. A couple of accidents and…”
I realized then that we were close enough to sunset if I could just keep him talking…
“So, you want dragons,” I began, hoping that Rask would realize the necessity of drawing this out. But you don't want too many dragons?”
“Your ability to erase memories is essential to us. But we only need a few dragons for that.”
“And what about my son?”
“I would have left him safely outside the house. By the time the flames were discovered it would be too late to save Rask, but your son would be found unharmed. It would be a miracle and no one would question it. They would assume that Rask brought him outside and went back in for some reason.”
“But he's an alpha and so is Nevis.”
“Children, just children. When they grow up, they’ll each turn an omega and sire a child. And then I'll kill them too. And all that will be left is a handful of dragons that can't make more dragons, but can still continue to protect shifterkind. It will be a pity to lose an additional omega, but maybe Elara will give birth to a beta female and will get one to replace you. Before I kill her mate too.”
“You'd kill every dragon capable of siring another, but leave those who can't alive for your own agenda?” Rask demanded.
“It's what needs to be done. Parliament has forgotten that,” Tarren sneered.
I thought of something. Something horrible. I wracked my brain, trying to remember. Had he been there back then? Yes. Yes, I was quite sure he had.
“It was you,” I said darkly. “You orchestrated the attack in the cavern. The one that killed the last alpha female.”
“They were only supposed to kill the alpha female,” he snarled. “The fools got bloodthirsty and killed everyone they could get their hands on. It was lucky that the two of you survived it all.”
“You tried to complete the genocide of our entire race!”
“I told you, I don’t want to kill every dragon. I just want to keep your numbers small and manageable. And I can't do that with a bunch of alphas running around. And now, if you'll excuse me...” He made his way down the stairs and gotten between us and the door. He flicked a lighter to life and held it to the curtains. Rask and I watched in horror as the gasoline-soaked fabric burst into flame. Tarren backed away and slammed the door.
I raced after him and frantically yanked on the doorknob, but he had done something to block it. The door wouldn't budge.
“I'll kill you,” Rask roared after him, throwing himself against the door. He staggered back with a cry of pain, grasping his shoulder where the knife had gone in.
Tarren knew what he was doing with the gas. The flames spread quickly, encircling the room and making escape impossible. He just hadn’t counted on two dragons nor the fact I’d keep him talking until sunset. I could feel it instinctively as it sank lower in the sky.
Rask took me into his arms, pushing me down as the room filled with smoke.
“As soon as we can change, do it!” he said into my ear.
I nodded. “Just in case, I love you!”
“I love you too!”
The moments before sunset seemed to last forever. The smoke stung my eyes and tore my throat. I felt the heat from the flames searing me as they licked closer. And then I felt it, sunset. Freedom.
“Now!” we cried hoarsely together.
Even a single dragon was too large for our living room, but it didn’t matter now. As soon as I felt my scales replace my skin, I surged into the flames, protected from the fire. I smashed through the window, glass harmlessly plinking off my scales as I went. A splintering crash came from Rask’s chosen exit. My inner dragon surfaced and started to panic. Luck was with me, the animal spotted Reve, still peacefully asleep on the grass. It focused on him and willingly ceded control to our human side.
‘Reve is here, he’s okay!’ I called.
Rask took a moment to answer, probably fighting his inner dragon. ‘Take care of him!’
I swung my head in his direction and watched him hurl himself off the ground, plunging into the sky. He circled overhead for a moment, a dark shadow in the dim light of dusk. Then, he dove, and I knew he had found Tarren. An awful, yelping howl echoed through the air. Then silence.
I turned back into a human and scooped up Reve, cradling him against me as I fought back tears of relief. He snuggled against me, nuzzling me in his sleep. A whoosh of air heralded my mate’s return. He landed near us, took several steps forward, then collapsed.