Chapter Five
Xian held tight to the female in his arms as his entire existence was reformed with her in the very center. The moment he’d landed in front of her, he’d known exactly who she was to him.
She was the keeper of his heart, the other half of his soul.
The one female fate had chosen to be his.
He had often wondered if he would have a fated mate since he was only half D’Aire. It had been a wish he had barely allowed himself to acknowledge, but the reality of her was far more than he’d ever hoped for. Holding her in his arms was like a dream, and he never wanted it to end.
The kiss ignited a hunger inside himself that he never even knew he could feel. It was common for D’Aire to only feel sexual attraction to their mates, but he hadn’t been sure he’d fit in that category. Truthfully, he’d just figured he was asexual since he’d been oblivious to females and males of all races.
He’d blamed that mostly on his seeker ability. He’d loathed the very idea of touching anyone for an extended period since he would hear all of their thoughts, so being intimate with anyone hadn’t been an option.
But that hadn’t mattered to him.
Now, he realized that he had simply been waiting for his Dragon Warrior mate.
The moment she had touched him, he had braced himself for the onslaught of her thoughts and emotions. Instead of overwhelming him, it had been blissfully quiet.
Besides being gorgeous and seriously built, she was quite tall, although he still had an inch or two on her. She seemed petite compared to his much bulkier frame, though he knew it would be a mistake to consider her weak or delicate.
Discovering that he had such a powerful mate was certainly a surprise. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with a face and body even a goddess would envy. It was easy to see that she was a Dragon Warrior since she had glowing silver eyes. Her long hair was also a startling silver that looked like the strands were made of liquid metal. He’d never seen anyone with hair that particular shade before, but it looked absolutely gorgeous on her.
Her black leather pants and vest made her look like a warrior, and he was intrigued by the glowing lines of the tattoos on her arms. He’d noticed the knives strapped to her thighs but figured she didn’t need them since she had magic.
It had completely shocked him when she kissed him. Hell, he didn’t even know her name, but she belonged to him as much as he belonged to her. There was no right or wrong between them. No time limits or guidelines about what happened between them.
If she wanted to kiss him, he would always be willing.
Desire flared between them, igniting his need to claim her. His tongue slipped past her lips to stroke against hers, and he groaned at the taste of her. He wanted more. Wanted everything. She was addicting, and his hold on her tightened, pulling her tighter against him.
When her fangs scraped against his tongue, he shivered and tried doing the same to her using his own elongated canine teeth. He must have pressed a little too hard since he tasted a hint of blood. She nicked him in retaliation, but he didn’t mind one damn bit.
It only made the kiss hotter.
The loud crack of thunder cut through the sexual haze clouding his mind, and he mentally scolded himself for getting distracted. They weren’t safe where they were. He’d seen that clearly enough while he had been flying around searching for the kids and any other staff members he could find.
When he first caught a glimpse of her standing on the street surrounded by all of those tornados, he’d thought she was crazy. He had wanted to save her, but he hadn’t realized she was his until he’d landed and gotten closer to her.
It was difficult to describe just how life-changing that moment had been for him once he’d recognized her. It was like he’d been living his entire life fumbling through the dark before meeting her, then his entire world had exploded with color and light.
He wrapped his wings around them to protect them from the elements, then realized the rain and wind were no longer bothering him. A little concerned by the change, he broke the kiss and pulled back so he could make sure they weren’t in danger. The storm was still raging around them, but nothing was reaching them through the protection barrier that surrounded them like a magical bubble.
Relaxing a little, he stroked a gloved finger down her cheek, savoring that precious moment of quiet between them. He wanted to touch her, wanted to take off his gloves so he could feel her skin against his. He almost gave in to that urge but was distracted when she smiled at him.
His heart literally skipped a beat.
“Um, hi.” Fucking hell, he sounded like a brain-dead idiot. Staring at her beauty made him lose his ability to think straight. “My name is Xian Renn.”
“Greetings, mate. I am Jaya Tesera.”
When he retracted his wings, she cocked her head to the side. “Does that hurt when you do that? Put your wings away?”
“No.” When she seemed to wait for him to expound on that answer, he fought the urge to squirm. “It can be a little uncomfortable at first, but I’m used to it. Now, I barely notice it.”
“I wish I had wings in this form.” She pouted a little, then her expression brightened considerably. “Perhaps I can create a pair for myself. I will wait until I can observe the process through you once we complete our bond, then I will see if I can replicate a pair for myself so we can fly together in both forms.”
The mention of mating with her had lust careening through his system, but the idea of her creating a pair of wings for herself left him feeling a little lightheaded.
“Both forms?”
“Aye. Since you are used to flying, you should have no problem doing it in your dragon form.”
Stars, he had completely forgotten that being a Dragon Warrior’s mate meant he would be converted into one. “Right. My dragon.”
That was going to be an experience.
She smiled. “Shall we bond now?”
For a moment, he thought his brain had simply short-circuited.
Was she asking to have sex with him right now there in the middle of a storm? Fuck yeah, was his first thought, then he belatedly realized how selfish that would be. He couldn’t put his own desire before the safety of everyone else on the island.
And he would never risk his mate.
“I, ah…would love to. Really. But I sort of have a pressing issue to deal with right now. There are two kids on this island that are in danger—”
“You mean them?”
His gaze tracked over to where she was pointing her thumb, and his eyes narrowed when he saw the two teens huddled together under the overpass. “Yeah, them.”
He grabbed hold of her hand and stalked toward the boys. He glanced over at her when she gave his arm a playful swing and was a little startled by how relaxed she seemed. She looked like she was taking a stroll through the park instead of maneuvering between a dozen spinning cyclones in the dark.
Her nonchalance made sense once he realized that the protection bubble she’d created was still surrounding them as they moved. The magic thing was going to take some getting used to, but he had to admit it definitely came in handy. He was a fan of anything that could protect them.
Even as he thought that, the tornados dissipated and the flood of rain changed into a light drizzle. Still, they had to get the fuck out of that section of the island before some other natural disaster occurred.
“Do you think they are mates?” came a loud whisper.
“After that lip lock, they must be,” Eddie answered. “Stars, that guy is huge…and he totally looks pissed. Fuck, let’s get out of here.”
“We can’t,” Cosmo reminded. “She trapped us under here.”
“I protected you,” Jaya corrected as she removed the barrier.
Cosmo quickly nodded. “That’s what I meant.”
Xian huffed out a breath and pointed a finger at the teens. “You two. Do you know how much fucking trouble you’ve caused?”
“What do you mean?” Eddie asked, trying to sound innocent.
“You aren’t supposed to be here,” he snapped. “You snuck on the island using fake identification to rent a boat. Then, you broke through the protection barrier using an illegal device that could get you kicked out of the academy and even doing some time in the Mars penal colony.”
“It’s not our fault your security sucks,” Eddie countered.
“Why, you little—”
Jaya placed a hand on his arm to stop him from lunging at the boy. “You can punish them later.”
“Look, we know it was wrong to sneak onto the island,” Eddie conceded. “Cosmo and I were invited to Evo with our gaming team, but my parents followed us here and ruined everything. They’ve been driving me fucking crazy, so we thought we could escape here for the day.”
“This place is restricted for a reason,” Xian growled. “And now that the games are becoming real, it is even more dangerous. Just look at the freaking tornados! Do you realize what would have happened to you if Jaya hadn’t saved you? Two of our staff members almost died in an earthquake on the other side of this section, and more than a dozen NPCs were wiped out in a flash flood.”
Cosmo cringed. “We’re really sorry.”
“What is an NPC?” Jaya asked.
“It stands for non-player characters,” Xian explained. “They are characters in the games that aren’t controlled by the players, but now they are real. Sort of. They are more like puppets doing what they were programmed to do, and when they die, they sort of disintegrate.”
“Aye, I encountered several of those. They burst into dust like the zombies and alien insects.”
That made Xian stiffen. “The zombies and insects are real now, too?”
Both boys nodded, then Eddie explained, “We were playing in this section of the island when we got caught in a net. Then, the zombies surrounded us. Thankfully, Jaya saved us before we got eaten.”
Xian muttered a curse. “The zombies were able to cross over to this sector? That means the barriers between the sectors aren’t working anymore.” He turned and gripped her shoulders as he looked her over. “You’re okay? You weren’t hurt?”
She smiled. “I am unharmed.”
Eddie snorted. “The zombies didn’t get a chance to even get close to her before she destroyed them with her magic whip and fireballs. By the way, that was pretty frosty to watch.”
Jaya chuckled. “I am glad I could entertain you.”
Xian tried to relax. The thought of her being hurt had filled him with dread, but he had to remind himself that she was more than capable of handling whatever came at them.
Jaya used their new blood bond to assure him, “Do not worry. I am well, mate.”
He did a double take and gaped at her. He could hear her in his head, but it didn’t feel the same as when his seeker ability allowed him to hear people’s thoughts. It didn’t feel intrusive or like she was pushing her way in. It felt natural to hear her speaking to him this way.
Intimate.
“Aye, we formed a blood bond during our kiss when we shared blood. Was that not your intention?”
“I—honestly, no. I mean, I knew that we would bond at some point. I just didn’t realize that’s all it would take. Sorry, I was just a little startled,” he admitted.
“It is not a formal bonding,” she said. “We only exchanged enough to establish a blood bond between us. Forgive me, mate. I should have warned you.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m the one who bit you first, remember?”
“Why are you two just staring at each other like that?” Eddie asked. “It’s kind of creepy.”
“Dude, they’re mates. They are probably speaking to each other telepathically,” Cosmo explained.
“Whatever.” Eddie sighed heavily “So, you are here to take us back to my parents?”
“I was, but that will have to wait,” Xian said. “We’re stuck on the island right now. We can’t get out, and the people waiting for us right outside the protection shield can’t get in.”
Relief flooded through Jaya when she felt her sister reaching out to her. Closing her eyes, she focused on her bond with her sister, holding the bridge between them so it wouldn’t hurt Jecca’s head as much.
“Are you there?”
“ Aye, here I am!” Jaya said in response. “I have been very worried about you, Jecca. And that is not normal. Usually, I am the one doing things to cause you concern, not the other way around. Do not make this a habit.”
“Is something wrong?” Xian asked from beside her.
She nodded without opening her eyes. “I am just checking in with my twin, Jecca. She is trapped inside the sector near the damaged power cell.”
“Then you need to warn her that section is the superhero area. There are people with superpowers, fanatical government operatives, and killer robots in that section of the island.”
While Jaya thought that sounded like a lot of fun, concern flooded her when she realized whatever had caused Jecca’s injury had also made her lose her memory. Jecca couldn’t even remember her name or what she looked like, so she was in no condition to be fighting killer robots.
“Look in a mirror,” she told her sister. “I am your twin, Jaya. I look exactly like you, only with better hair.”
Jecca snorted. “I highly doubt that.”
She heard her sister thinking about how inconvenient her memory loss was, and she had to agree. It seemed completely preposterous that she had forgotten she had a twin, and Jaya couldn’t help but rub that in a little.
“I agree. I cannot believe you forgot about me. When I find whoever did this to you, I am going to skin them alive, then feed them to Roko and Aki. And after they are done feasting, I will turn the leftover carcass to bloody dust.”
“I do not know what happened,” Jecca admitted. “In order to figure that out, I need access to my memories. I believe my head injury must be causing my memory loss and a disruption of my magic.” She paused, then asked, “Who or what are Roko and Aki?”
Jaya groaned. “You forgot them, too? They are our argos. Or yours. You claim I have a difficult enough time keeping myself alive, so I am not to be trusted with the care of anything breathing without supervision.”
She waited a moment while her sister processed that, then continued her explanation. She tried to stick to the basics, not wanting to overwhelm Jecca with information.
“We are on a planetoid called Evo, and we have been exploring an island where a simulated city has been created as the base for an advanced game that is a mixture of virtual, holo, and reality. You started on the north end of the island, while I explored the south. We were supposed to meet up in the middle of the city, but something happened when one of the power cells that run this island exploded.”
“We are not on Earth right now?” Jecca asked.
“Nay, we are on an island in a city that has been created to look like it is from Earth in the early 21 st century. The damaged power cell is close to your location, and when it exploded, that section of the city was put into some sort of magical lockdown. That is why I cannot teleport directly to you. I am outside that barrier. The power cells were created with a blend of Dragon Warrior and Ilius magic. The damaged one is leaking and creating a powerful chain reaction with the other cells around the city. That leak is causing…magical complications.”
“That sounds very bad.”
“Eh, it might seem that way, but out of all the strange situations we have found ourselves in during all our years of traveling the universe, this does not even make the list of the top five most bizarre.”
Jecca laughed a little. “Seriously?”
“Umm, guys?” Cosmo said, sounding nervous. “I’m not sure, but I think I just saw something moving over there.”
Jaya opened her eyes and turned to see a horde of zombies shuffling down the street toward them. The zombies hadn’t caught sight of them yet since they were still several blocks away, but they would soon.
With her enhanced vision, she was probably the only one who could see exactly what was heading their way. She realized she was wrong when Xian gripped her hand again, squeezing hard.
“More zombies,” Xian said using their bond. “I know there were several staff members playing the game in that sector. That means there are a lot of zombies roaming around the island now.”
“I will take care of it,” she assured him.
Before he could argue, she let go of his hand and transported away.
Reaching out to her sister again through their bond, she said, “I could remind you of some incidents that would truly seem fantastical, but…well, we do not have time for that right now. Hellfire, hold on a moment. I have to go kill something.”
Jaya transported directly in front of the group of zombies and as soon as they saw her, they started running at her. Not bothering to use her magic whip this time, she just wiped out a large group of them with a massive fireball. As zombies came at her from the different cross streets, she created more fireballs to fling at them, turning them all to dust before they could get close to her.
Realizing her sister was talking to someone distracted her a little. She continued to destroy the zombies as she demanded, “Who are you talking to? Is someone bothering you?”
“It is someone who thinks you are a figment of my imagination.”
“Ha. Speaking of imaginary, the magic leaking out of the power cells is bringing the various holo images to life all over the island,” Jaya explained. “Right now, I am fighting a bunch of undead things that can continuously reanimate if not destroyed properly. The magical surge is also causing random quakes, tornados, and floods from the incessant rain, so we have been rescuing people as well as killing things.”
She paused to blast a new group of zombies that spilled out of an alleyway. Hellfire, how many of these things were roaming around the damn island?
“Since most of the people around here were also holo images, they are not actual sentient beings. They simply move around like puppets that have been programmed with designated tasks. The term they use for them is NPCs, which are non-player characters in a game that are not being controlled by a real person.”
“So, what happens to the holo people when they die?”
“They just sort of turn to dust and blink out of existence,” Jaya explained as she watched the zombies she destroyed do just that.
“But you cannot tell who is holo until they die?”
She considered that for a moment before answering. “Aye, unfortunately. It is taking precious time to sort out who is real and who is not worth saving. I learned that the hard way when dealing with the alien creatures that look like giant bugs earlier. They can spit an acid-like substance that burns a little, but I thought they were melting the holo people.”
She felt her sister’s dismay clearly through their bond.
“Actually, it is kind of awesome. I cannot wait to meet the creative minds that thought up this place. They must be quite brilliant.”
“I heard part of that,” Xian growled. “I was checking in to see if you needed help, but obviously, you don’t. You shouldn’t be thinking any other male is brilliant.”
“Apologies, mate.” Jaya chuckled as she switched back to speaking to her sister. “Xian took exception to that statement. He does not like me complimenting other males.”
“Xian? Who is he?”
“Xian Renn is a Krytos-D’Aire hybrid I ran into shortly before everything went to shit. He also happens to be my mate.”
Her mate.
Being able to say that filled Jaya with pure joy.
“I might have met mine as well,” Jecca said.
“What? Really? Who is he?” Jaya demanded excitedly.
“A human named Zack Keller. His friends called him ZK. I think he is my mate since I have felt a strong connection to him since the moment I first saw him. But I will not be able to confirm that until I get my magic sorted out.”
“Well, you need to get on that. Or better yet, get on him,” Jaya said slyly.
Jecca almost choked on a laugh. “What in all the worlds does that mean?”
“You need to jumpstart your magic somehow, and bonding with your mate seems like the perfect way to reset your powers,” Jaya explained. “We cannot delay much longer. While most of the beings on this island are animated holos, there are also a number of real people stuck here as well. There are also others waiting outside of the protection shield around the island ready to aid us, but they cannot get in, and it is causing some of them to panic.”
“So, we are essentially trapped here for the time being.”
“You will need to be careful since Xian told me the section of the city you are in is home to individuals with superpowers, fanatical government operatives, and killer robots.”
Jecca sighed. “I saw the robots myself a little while ago.”
“Confirm he is your mate and get your magic back,” Jaya ordered. “And stay safe until we can figure out how to break through the barrier and fix the damaged power cell.”
“I will be in contact again soon.”
“Have fun, sister.”
Once their connection ended, Jaya bit her lower lip and fretted. She was happy her sister had also found her mate, but she was still a little worried about the situation. Jecca might be the more sensible one, but Jaya had lived most of her life guarding and protecting her twin.
Not being able to do so now was difficult for her.
Since all the zombies were dusted, Jaya transported back to her mate’s side.
“What’s wrong?” Xian asked, reaching out to stroke a hand over her hair. “Are you hurt?”
“Nay.” She sighed. “My twin met her mate. He is a human named Zack Keller.”
“Seriously?” Xian chuckled and shook his head. “What are the odds?”
“You know him?”
“He’s a friend of mine. Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.”
“She better be,” she growled in warning, then she huffed out a breath. “I am just not used to being separated from her. I need to get through that barrier.”
“I’ll hand over the jammer I made,” Cosmo offered. “It got us through the protection barrier, but I swear, my device didn’t have anything to do with the explosion or the holos coming to life.”
“No, a creature eating one of the power cells did that,” Xian grudgingly explained.
“The creature did not eat it. The power cell is just damaged,” Jaya corrected. “I saw it myself. I attempted to reach it, but it is in the contained area. I am sure my sister will fix it once she is able. Is there somewhere safe we can put these two while we search for the others?”
“I told the others to head to the arcade in the next section of the city and wait there until we can get the barrier down,” Xian said. “It’s a big building that has a ton of games and a full kitchen with working food consoles.” He paused for a second, then added, “But it can get pretty loud in there. Can you secure the doors to make sure the zombies can’t get in?”
“Aye, I can do that. If you show me where the arcade is, I can transport us there.”
“Actually, it’s not too far from here. Right now, we’re close to the border of this sector, and the arcade is in the next one over. It’s on the pier near the big Ferris wheel.”
“I recall seeing that when I flew around the island.”
“You shifted into a dragon earlier?” Eddie exclaimed. “Damn, I can’t believe we missed seeing that. Can you—”
“No,” Xian growled.
Whatever the kid was asking for, the answer was definitely no.
Eddie rolled his eyes. “I don’t see why you have to drop us off at the arcade. Can’t we just go with you? I mean, you can, like, kill everything in your path with your pinky, so we should be safe.”
“No,” Xian repeated.
“Aw, come on, bro.”
These fucking kids, Xian thought with a mental snarl. “No, you are not coming with us. If we are going to be rescuing other people, then we can’t be worried about keeping you safe.”
“He is right. You should just stay at the arcade and wait for us,” Jaya said in a much friendly tone.
“But—”
“Or I can just put you to sleep until we are finished.”
Eddie swallowed hard. “We’ll wait for you in the arcade.”
She smiled brightly. “I thought that would be your answer.”