Chapter 8 #3
“That is up to you. Wilhelm and Lukas have asked for assistance in getting to their extended families in Munich and Berlin. I have told them I am more than willing to take them there and help get them settled. Wilhelm has insisted Elias stays with him. I guess his family has plenty of space.”
I smiled at the thought. They most likely did though.
I had met them a few times when they visited our village, always happy to see the family.
Wilhelm had several cousins that were both older and younger.
It would be difficult to leave my friends behind, especially Elias.
They were the last of my thunder, but I had to remember that fate worked for a reason.
I had been gifted Aleric when I needed him most. I could have just as easily perished in the same way my family had.
I only hoped that fate would be equally kind to my friends and we would find their mates along the way.
They needed their mates as much as I did.
“I will miss them,” I whispered.
“Who?”
“My family. And my friends. It was my understanding you wanted to return to your new home across the ocean. My family is forever gone from here. But my friends will be staying behind because they need to. They have somewhere to go. I’m sure I have distant cousins out there somewhere, but I’ve never met them and wouldn’t know where to look. ”
Aleric got up, only to kneel in front of me. When he reached for my hands, I let him pull mine to his mouth. When his lips gently pressed against my fingers, I looked at my handsome alpha.
“It pleases me that you would leave here to go with me.”
“There is absolutely nothing for me here, Aleric. Not that I wasn’t going to go with you anyway. I had hoped to possibly convince my parents to join us, except the twins could not yet shift, and the flight would be too cold for them, as you’ve mentioned.”
I squeezed Aleric’s hand, completely in turmoil.
“I will make you a wonderful mate, Konrad. I can provide. I will protect you from monsters such as those that have forced such an injustice upon you, your friends, and families.”
I tugged my hand from his grasp and placed it on his cheek.
“I know you can and will, Aleric. You have already proven your capabilities over the past week. You’ve provided for and protected the four of us after you rescued us without so much as a thought for your own safety.
” He had. More than. He did not need to extend his protection to the others, yet he stepped up, rescued the four of us, and helped us all regain our strength.
Never once did he complain about having to hunt for us when we couldn’t.
He watched over us when we bathed in the river and had been nothing but honorable to all of us.
“Then we will prepare for the flight. It is long, and I worry already about you. It is not that I feel you incapable, but you are just regaining your strength.”
I sighed. “I know. I will do you proud. I am strong. We were taken in late winter and not given much food. It seemed as if as time went on, we were given less and less. But I grow stronger every day. I can do it.”
“I have no doubts that you can. We will continue to see to your needs and replenish your strength.”
“I wish I knew why they took us,” I said next.
“I wish I’d had the forethought to ask Feiedrich before I killed him.
But with the way he seemed interested in my own omega father, I would believe he was looking to have dragon children for some reason.
If he truly wished to get you all with child, he did not realize that by starving you, it would throw your heat cycles off.
Of course, even if you’d gone into heat, you wouldn’t have caught because he wasn’t your fated mate,” Aleric said.
I cringed at the thought of laying with that creepy old man.
“Whatever it is about the shackles did not help either. I have them in my satchel, and if we ever come across a warlock, I plan on asking him about them and how they worked.”
“How are the others? I should be there with them, helping them in their grief.”
“They are settling down for the night. Perhaps we should do the same? I have a feeling that Wilhelm and Lukas are not going to be willing to wait until tomorrow evening to set out to be reunited with their family.”
I could see that about them. Wilhelm was often mistaken for an alpha, until you scented him.
There was no mistaking the scent of an omega.
Lukas, he had been so full of life before we were taken.
The four of us had even talked about traveling to Munich to explore the possibilities of finding our mates.
Now we would be going for a completely different reason.
But first, we would be stopping in Berlin to help Wilhelm and most likely Elias get settled there. It would be difficult to leave them behind, but my alpha wished to take me to his new home, and my dragon and I were both more than ready to leave the ugliness of our homeland behind.
“Konrad?”
I looked at Aleric and smiled. “Yes, sorry. We should retire.” I stood and let Aleric lead me back to the others. When he settled near me, I was surprised but welcomed the nearness of my alpha.