Clayton was able to catch Krista before she hit the ground. He lifted her up in his strong arms and knew that he had to get her out of the flames. It had been a dangerous and risky move to blow fire at the attackers, but he didn’t care how many of them he killed. He felt a little bad about destroying her home, but, he thought glumly, it would have been even better to kill all of them rather than allow Krista to become captured by such evil men. He knew that it wasn’t the greatest solution, but if he had to make the choice, killing her would be more merciful than allowing her to become one of their experiments.
Fortunately, he had gotten there just in time. She had seen him, and now, if he didn’t get her out of there, she would die. He transformed back into his dragon form and launched himself out the window, gripping Krista tightly in his claws. He couldn’t let her escape or become more vulnerable to the attacks of the Guardians.
As he flew through the sky and Kaldernon became visible, he let himself relax a little and allowed his mind to wander back to the way Krista had stared at his body. The unmistakable hunger in her eyes had deeply aroused him, and he clutched her warm body to himself tightly, hoping that she was going to be okay.
Everybody was excited and confused when Clayton reappeared from the sky with Krista in his clutches. He lowered her down gently, handing her off to some of the other shifters that he trusted. She was still passed out, and they decided that it would be best to take her immediately to the medics. Clayton collapsed onto the ground, sighing as he shifted back into his human form. It had been very emotionally taxing to encounter the Guardians again. All he could think about once the panic was over were his terrible memories of that night that he lost his father.
Eventually, he went back into the underground tunnels and crawled up on his bed. He needed to sleep, and it. It had been far too long since he had slept well. But he was still so excited and full of adrenaline from the encounter with the Guardians that all he could do was toss and turn and worry about whether or not Krista was going to be all right. She had mostly fainted out of shock, he was sure of this, but it was still dangerous for her to have any type of smoke inhalation. And being in the underground meant that the air quality might not be as good.
With that thought, he forced himself to stand up and head out to where the medics had taken Krista. He expected to find her still asleep, and was surprised when he realized that she was wide awake and very alert. All of the shifters around her were smiling patiently and nodding as she asked impossible questions to them. One of the medics grinned and pushed Clayton toward her.
“She has been asking for you,” he said, seeming grateful for a chance to escape from Krista’s intense questioning.
Clayton suddenly felt nervous. He had never expected to be alone in a room with Krista before. But soon, everybody was backing away and leaving them alone together. Krista was staring at him, her eyes an intense shade of blue. True to Loni fashion, her eyes seemed to change with her mood. Her expression was serious, if not brazen, and she let her eyes roam him once again, taking him in with his cloak on and obviously deciding that she liked him the other way better. He had to grin; she was exactly how he had pictured she would be.
“So what in the hell is going on exactly?” she asked him, wasting no time. She excited herself and began to cough, and Clayton frowned. He poured a glass of water for her and brought it to her bedside, sitting down heavily on a stool beside her bed.
“I don’t know how much of this you would believe, or even how much of it you would like to hear.”
“Oh trust me,” Krista said with a gleam in her eye, “I want to hear everything.”
Clayton squirmed for a moment as he tried to figure out where to begin. He always thought that it would be easy to explain to her what had happened and how important she was to their clan, but now that he was being put to the test, the words seemed to fail him.
“Okay, then why don’t you let me start,” Krista said, fingering her chin. “Why is it that I recognize you? Why have you been following me? And why are those guys trying to kill me?”
“I don’t think they’re trying to kill you,” Clayton said. “But if they did catch you, I think that you would quickly be wishing for death. What they would do to you is far worse than killing you.”
“What do you mean? And who are you, anyway?”
“My name is Clayton, and I know that your name is Krista. Now, those people know your name, too. And I don’t think that is a good thing.”
“Well, obviously not, if that means that they can find me wherever I go,” Krista said with a frown.
“Yes, they probably could now. But you’re a lot safer here with us than you are in your own apartment.”
“Oh my gosh, my apartment…All of my things. They’re probably all burnt to a crisp by now,” Krista said, laying her head back into her pillow heavily. “Do you know how hard it is to find the perfect wardrobe? You guys really owe me for that.”
“I’m sorry,” Clayton said, trying to hide his smile. “I may have acted a little rashly, but I wasn’t sure how else to protect you.”
“Well, I guess it’s better than being stuck with those guys. They are pretty cruel,” Krista said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Clayton said, his face growing hard. The change in his mood was obvious, and Krista looked up, her face bright with intrigue.
“I take it you don’t like them very much either,” Krista said with a tight smile.
“They killed my father,” Clayton said, brooding toward the doorway.
“Then what makes you think they don’t want to kill me?” Krista said, her face suddenly worried again.
“Because you are useful to them,” Clayton told her. “And actually, you are useful to us as well. But this is going to be very difficult for you to understand and for me to explain.”
“Whenever something is hard for me, I’ll just start at the beginning,” Krista said, “and plow my way through.”
“Well, in the beginning of my tale, there was Kaldernon,” Clayton said thoughtfully. “That’s where we came from. Everybody in my clan. And your ancestors as well.”
“My ancestors? All of my ancestors died on a boat, everything else from then on has been just sheer luck that my bloodline was able to last this long.”
“Well, I know something about your bloodline that you don’t, and that is, where the source of this anguish originated. I can show it to you if you’d like. But it’s a very special place that most people can’t see. However, I know that you have probably realized that you have greater senses than most other people by now. And your gift for song.”
Krista looked up at him sharply. She didn’t think she liked the fact that he knew about her singing.
“I’m nothing special,” she said edgily.
“I beg to differ,” Clayton said. Krista raised her eyebrow at him but said nothing. He was a very attractive man, and it felt nice to be complimented. But it could also just be crazy talk and flattery to keep her from guessing what was really going on. Which was what exactly? She still had no clue.