Chapter 4 #2
Were my fathers upset with me? Did they miss me?
I thought about the twins and wondered what they’d been told.
They were old enough to notice things. They were eleven and would be shifting soon, sometime within the next year or two.
They were already old enough to notice things and had inquisitive minds and often asked questions I deflected to Dad or Father.
It might have been wrong of me, but at times like those, seeing Dad’s face turn deep red and Father’s a mix of emotions—mostly anger toward me for not coming up with a plausible story—I took those moments as small victories in exchange for having to deal with my fathers.
I know it seemed as if I didn’t get along with them or even like them.
That wasn’t the case. I loved my family.
I just no longer wished to actually live with them.
I wanted the freedom to be able to go flying with my friends.
I wished to have privacy and be able to take a long soak in the tub if I so felt like it.
I understood the latter was a luxury that many didn’t have.
It didn’t mean I couldn’t be upset when I, a seventy-four-year-old dragon shifter, was told I could spend no more than ten minutes in the tub.
It often wasn’t worth it at that point. I would become frustrated and leave to my father shouting for me and my dad trying to diffuse the situation.
Dad understood. He’d been in the same situation seventy-five years ago when he and Father had first scented one another. The only difference was that Dad’s father was a wolf, and his carrier was obviously a dragon.
I’d personally never met either of them as they lived a distance away. We’d heard stories of them, but I’d never been to the pack, and now there was no point. They had passed some years ago.
It was odd when one found themselves chained to a stone wall in a castle. You had nothing but your thoughts for company for the most part, and sometimes those thoughts led to dark places.
I’d come to the realization that we were most likely never going to get out of there.
The only way we would escape was when we were no more.
It was obvious they were poisoning us. It was terrifying that my dragon had been repressed to such levels that I didn’t know if he would ever return. Or why he’d not been able to detect it.
I turned my head from side to side, hoping to wake up a bit more and alleviate the pounding in my head some. It seemed to work, and after a few minutes, I heard my name quietly being spoken. When I heard it again, this time a bit louder, I realized it was Wilhelm.
“Wilhelm?” I said as loudly as I could. My tongue was still thick and dry, and I wasn’t able to talk much more than a whisper, but he seemed to hear me.
“Konrad? Thank the fates.”
“Wilhelm? Where did Lukas go?”
“He’s here. He’s on the other side of the room. He’s still out. I think I’m the first to wake up. I’m not sure about Elias. I don’t know if he was moved too or not.”
“Is Lukas all right?” I asked. He said he was still sleeping, but was he breathing?
“Seems to be. He’s still out though. I’m not sure how long he’ll be asleep. I should have known there was something going on when they gave me so much food,” Wilhelm said.
I nodded in agreement, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yeah. I was too hungry though.” I fought back tears. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep them from falling, but it was no use. I felt them trailing down my cheeks and gave in and let them fall.
“You all right?” Wilhelm asked.
I thought about it for a moment. I really wasn’t, but I knew that if we all voiced being anything other than positive, we could all pick up on it and start to give up hope.
But honestly, I’d already given up. We weren’t going to get out of here alive, and I was to the point that I’d rather just not be than have to continue on as we were.
We weren’t made to be separated from our dragon half.
They were just as big of a part of us as our human side was.
Even before we could shift, our animal halves were there with us, guiding us.
“Konrad?”
I sighed. “I’m tired, Wilhelm. So tired. My head hurts, my throat is dry, and I’m so tired of being chained to a wall. Other than that, I’m as good as can be expected.”
I hoped that wasn’t too negative. I didn’t want to upset him and cause him to fall into the same dark place that I felt myself spiraling into.
“I understand,” Wilhelm said. I heard a faint noise from the room he and Lukas were in but couldn’t tell what it was. I kept quiet, the sound of my own heartbeat thumping loudly in my ears. “Why can’t we pull these chains from the wall? What is causing us to lose our strength?” Wilhelm growled out.
I now knew that the noise was most likely Wilhelm trying to pull the chains. I had done the same thing many times. I’d simply given up. I knew that since I could not feel my dragon, the strength to free myself wouldn’t be there.
“I’m not sure, Wil. I’m tired of it though. I miss my dragon.”
“Me too,” Wilhelm said.
I was feeling tired, the effects of whatever they’d given us still pulling at me.
“I’m tired, Wil. I just want to sleep.” I couldn’t help but start laughing as I looked around the immediate area where I was. “Flat. I want to lie flat on the hard floor. Is that too much to ask for?”
I heard laughter from the other side of the wall.
“No. I used to think I wanted to bathe. At this point, I would take being able to lie flat over that. Or standing upright completely.”
That sounded nice too. Now that he’d mentioned it, I wanted a bath.
I thought back to the night we’d been taken.
I’d had a bath in our tub and had been in it when I heard the return of the alphas.
I’d been both relieved yet a bit disappointed.
I had realized that now. I’d had nothing but time to think since being here, and the return of the alphas meant that the small bits of freedom that I and other omegas had experienced while they were gone would be taken from us.
I understood they thought they needed to protect, but I’d also come to the realization that they were doing more harm than good. Their ways were the old ways, and it had caused many issues with growing our thunder. If we couldn’t search for our mates, how were we supposed to continue on?
There were a few of the much older ones that were most likely the biggest issue, and the younger alphas, my father being one of them, wouldn’t go against them. Sometimes change was scary, and it just took too much effort for some to make those changes.
“You still there, Konrad?”
“Yeah, Wil. I am. Just thinking.”
“Too much time to think. I don’t like some of my thoughts.”
The tears started falling again. I closed my eyes tightly against them.
“Yeah, I understand that,” I said quietly. I really understood that. It hurt that Wil was obviously much the same as I was and he was struggling. Then again, how could we not be?