Chapter Six
Malcolm left directly after their discussion. He needed to get back and start thinking how he was going to tell Carrie that she might be something a dragon shifting clan hadn’t seen in hundreds of years!
When he arrived, the sun was just starting to set. It was a beautiful sunset. The sky was awash in pink and orange.
Carrie saw him walking toward the door from the garden and ran to hug him. “Oh, Malcolm, I missed you so.” She bent his head down to give him a kiss.
Malcolm’s body reacted at once to hers. He kissed her deeply, wanting to make love to her all night. But he knew they had some things to discuss, so he reluctantly pulled away.
“Ah, lass, you have no idea how it fills my heart to have you meet me with such sweet lips. Let’s take a walk to our special place and talk.” Carrie knew something was weighing heavily on his mind. She placed her hand in his as they walked to the place they first made love.
Malcolm sat down under their shady tree, pulling Carrie between his legs so her head was laying against his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair.
“Carrie, you know I love you with everything I am. You know from the bond we have that we are mates. Would you do me the honor of going through the mating ritual with me? I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy and keep you safe.”
Carrie turned around and cupped her hand over Malcolm’s chin. “Oh, Malcolm, nothing would make me happier or prouder than to become your mate.”
Malcolm could feel the love emanating from Carrie. It was like a warm blanket that enveloped him. “I love you so much, Carrie Demarko. You have made me a happy man and my dragon a happy dragon.”
The kiss they shared was bittersweet to Malcolm. He knew there was more to tell her, and he was terrified she would run away if everything was too much for her.
He drew in a breath before he started. “Carrie, love, I have more I have to tell you. Please hear me out before making a decision.”
Carrie looked into his worried face. “I promise. Just tell me!”
Malcolm wrapped his arms around her, needing to feel her near him. “As I told you earlier, we were made by the goddess Athena, but she also made sure we had a woman we called the Chosen One. For whatever reason, they were always female and always human. We didn’t know why, and we never questioned it. The Chosen One lived among us and always mated a dragon shifter. The Chosen Ones could see things before they happened, like you do. If there was danger heading our way, she would always warn us who the enemies were and where they were coming from. If one of us became ill, she knew why and how to heal that individual. Clans had them for hundreds of years.”
Malcolm touched Carrie’s face.
“When humans decided to turn against us, the Chosen One warned if we didn’t leave, we would go to war with them and we would have to kill them to protect ourselves. Athena made us to protect the humans, to keep them safe. The idea of killing them wasn’t something any of us were willing to do, so we dispersed throughout the land. There are dragon clans worldwide. When we left, there was only a handful in each group. As each clan grew, a lot of shifters took humans as mates. You would think that the gene pool would become less dragon and more human, but the dragon gene is strong.”
Carrie listened carefully.
“The first mate of the first Paragon Dragon was a human woman,” Malcolm said. :The dragon gene was strong in their children. The males could shift, but the females never could. Each clan had a Chosen One. For some reason, over time, they disappeared. What has taken their place is a person called a Cailleach. She is comparable to an oracle. She doesn’t live among us. She lives alone. She doesn’t come to us with warnings—we must go to her and ask her a question before she gives an answer. It’s been so long since a clan had a Chosen One that the younger dragons believe them to be a myth.”
Malcolm paused.
“When you told me you started dreaming of dragons after you met me and Aldain and saw my dragon, it makes me believe that you are a Chosen One,” he said. “All your abilities point toward helping a dragon clan. I can’t explain why now, after all this time, that they might be coming back. If they are, you will be the first one in hundreds of years to return. If you truly are one, and you agree to be our clan’s Chosen One, then you’ll go through a ceremony. I want you to know, whether you want that responsibility or not, I still want you to go through the mating ritual with me. I love you.” Malcolm took a deep breath before continuing. “I also think the woman calling you was our Cailleach. I don’t know why she would do such a thing, but right now Aldain is looking into it. If it was our Cailleach, we may have to take you to her so you can let us know. I promise you, I will keep you safe, but we can’t have someone that dangerous to us here.”
Carrie was shocked to think she might be a Chosen One. She wasn’t sure if it was a responsibility she wanted or could even handle. “I don’t know, Malcolm. That sounds like some serious responsibility. I would have to know more about what a Chosen One does before I could make any kind of a decision like that. My first instinct is to say no. I can’t stand the thought that I might put someone in danger by telling them the wrong thing. I don’t think I want to be responsible for someone’s life that way.”
Malcolm hugged her close. At least she was still with him. She didn’t run like he thought she might. “I’d never want you to do something you feel so strongly about, but I just want to point something out. If your grandmother would have listened to your warning, she wouldn’t have been shot. You weren’t wrong, love. You were right. It was the person you warned—who ignored it—who was wrong. Aldain has a tome about Chosen Ones at his home. He is going to read it. I invited him and Tori over to our gathering on Saturday so we could learn more. This is all new to us too.”
Carrie squealed with delight when she heard that Tori was coming. She had so much to tell her friend. “I can hardly wait. Saturday can’t come fast enough. If you’re good with it, Malcolm, can we just forget about all this Chosen One stuff until then? Can we just concentrate on us and the gathering?”
Malcolm laid her on the ground as he started raining kisses down her neck. “We can forget whatever you want until then.”