Chapter Nine
Xian woke slowly feeling more relaxed than he’d ever been before. He wanted to stay there cuddled up with Jaya for a few hundred years, but the reality of their situation intruded into that fantasy.
The sound of the flowing water feature in the center of the maze had lulled him to sleep. But now, the rushing water was growing louder until it sounded like a massive waterfall. The volume continued to increase until his head pounded with pain.
“Relax, mate. You just need to modify your hearing so it does not sound so loud.”
That made his eyes fly open.
Some of his panic eased the moment he saw Jaya staring back at him. She reached out and stroked his face, and he turned his head to kiss the center of her palm. That made her smile, and seeing her happy made his own mood lighten. Damn, he really was totally and completely enamored with his little mate.
Distracted by her beauty, it took him several heartbeats to realize that he no longer heard the sound of rushing water.
“I adjusted the volume of your hearing for you since it was causing you pain.”
Feeling slightly disoriented, he sat up. Before they had left the dream, she had reminded him what would happen now that he’d gone through the conversion. As a result of completing the mating bond with her, he was no longer the Krytos-D’Aire hybrid he’d always been.
He was now a Dragon Warrior.
Xian thought he’d been prepared for it, but there were obviously some things he still needed to learn. His vision was sharper, his hearing more acute, but those weren’t the only changes. His bronzed skin now had a soft glow to it like hers did, and he could connect with her through their new bond without any effort at all.
When he caught her staring at him, he sighed.
“My eyes are glowing, right?” When she nodded, he sighed again. “How freaky do they look?”
“They are not freaky. I think they are beautiful.”
She sat up and lifted a hand, creating a mirror in front of him that allowed him to see his own reflection. While his mate might think his eyes were beautiful, he wasn’t sure he could agree. One eye glowed a brilliant blue while the other was a blazing red with a swirling black ring.
“I like them,” she insisted. “I think your eyes are unique and truly special. But if you do not, you can always change it. Like I do my hair color.”
“Silver is not your real hair color?”
She shook her head. “I like to change it up every so often. It was purple before the silver. And it was red before that.”
“That’s something to consider.”
Strangely, knowing he had the option to change it made him feel less self-conscious about his weird eyes. The moment he glanced away from the mirror, it disappeared. Shaking his head, he realized that he was going to need a lot longer to get used to the whole magic thing.
As he glanced around, he saw it was still dark out so they couldn’t have slept long.
“We were asleep for a few hours,” she told him. “I thought the conversion would take longer, but you handled it quite well. My sister’s mate is taking a lot longer, but that is due to his injuries.”
He frowned. “Did the robots attack them?”
“Nay. He has old injuries that are taking a while to heal. According to Jecca, his leg is being repaired and so is his skull.”
Xian’s mouth dropped open in shock. Zack Keller had lost his leg and part of his skull during his last mission as a Strike Force Team member. Even after countless surgeries and months of rehab, Zack was still recovering from what had happened to him. But now, all of that was being magically reversed. That had to be a total head trip for him.
“Is your sister feeling better?”
“Aye, she is. But right now she is with her mate in their own dream world while he recovers. They will fix the damaged power cell when they awaken.”
Since she was still gloriously naked, Xian’s blood heated as she got out of bed and stood up, stretching her arms over her head. He wanted to toss her back on the bed and make love to her until the sun rose, then he wanted to do it all over again. As if hearing his thoughts, she glanced at him over her shoulder and sent him a seductive smile.
“While I would love to join you back in bed, we have our own tasks to deal with.” She used her magic to dress herself in a black leather vest and matching pants. “It was nice to take a break from all of the zombie killing, but we should check on our trap.”
“You’re right.”
He sighed as he rose to his feet and was startled when he suddenly found himself wearing an outfit similar to hers. When he shot her a questioning glance, she grinned.
“I did not want to be tempted. Although, you look utterly delicious in that as well.”
That made him laugh.
Somehow, she always seemed to have him at a disadvantage. He didn’t mind, though. He would happily defer to her in all things magical.
“Are we transporting back?”
“Actually, I thought we could fly.”
“Are you missing your new wings already?” he asked with a grin. He released his own wings, and his eyes went wide with shock. “Holy shit! They’re black!”
“Oh, pretty!” She hurried to him and stroked her hands over his wings. “They feel the same.”
“Actually, they do feel a little different,” he said as he fluttered them. “They seem lighter, and there was no discomfort at all when I released them. But I have no idea why they changed color.”
“I do not know either, but I think this suits you much better.”
Since he wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a compliment, he didn’t know how to respond to that. However, as he stared at his dark wings he decided that he agreed with her. The black wings really did suit him better.
“Stars,” he groaned. “People are going to start calling me the devil now.”
She giggled. “Does that really bother you?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Actually, no. It doesn’t. But with one red eye and black wings, some people are going to be freaked out when they see me. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tries to drive a stake through my heart.”
Her expression turned fierce. “I dare them to try,” she growled. “I would eviscerate them and set fire to their remains.”
Okay, now that was terrifying.
And hot.
Yeah, that was pretty fucking hot since it was on his behalf. He was a big, strong male who most people feared, but knowing his beautiful mate would savagely defend him made his heart flutter.
Who knew murderous devotion would be such a turn on?
Fucking hell, he felt his cheeks flush with pleasure. He cleared his throat and said, “So, are we flying?”
“We are, but not with our wings. Since we did it your way already in the dream world, I thought you would like to try it my way this time.”
“Your way? As dragons?”
“Why not?”
The thought of that thrilled him to his core. They’d talked about it in the dream world, and he had looked at a few of her memories of shifting and flying. Not only for practice and getting used to being in her mind, but also to compare flying with wings to flying as a dragon.
But he didn’t think he would be trying it so soon.
Grinning at her, he nodded. “Let’s do it.” He paused, then admitted, “I have no idea where to begin.”
“Remember, your dragon spirit is a part of you. It is the very essence of who and what you are now.”
“Right. I am the dragon. The dragon is me,” he muttered.
She snorted out a laugh and tapped her fingertips against his chest. “Feel the magic within you. Use it to call forth your dragon spirit and embrace the change.”
That was a whole lot easier said than done.
Xian was trying to do that, but he was still having a hard time tapping into the well of magic inside of him. He tried to compare it to when he shifted into his Krytos beast form or when he released his wings. Those things were so ingrained in him that he didn’t even really need to think about it to make it happen. Becoming a dragon should essentially be the same.
As soon as he thought of that, he felt the change begin.
Already having that basic understanding about shifting made things much easier. His dragon spirit wasn’t a separate being, just like his wings weren’t. They were simply a part of him. At first, it felt like the same sort of intense pressure he felt whenever he used the transporters to travel to the different gaming sites. That pressure kept squeezing him until he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“Relax, mate. Your dragon spirit cannot harm you.”
The moment Jaya’s words registered in his confused brain, the pressure lifted. Instead of fighting it, he embraced it. Suddenly, a bomb of pure white light exploded inside of him. It took over everything, completely consuming him until he was filled with that light.
Then, time seemed to stop.
That blinding white light was soaking into him, merging with him until he was filled with ancient power. It was a magic so old it seemed to come from the very beginning of all things. His mind was flooded with the knowledge of the ages, giving him access to everything at once. The onslaught of information should have been overwhelming, but he welcomed it.
With that knowledge came a new identity.
He was now Dragon Warrior Xian Renn, true mate to Jaya Tesera and guardian of all.
As Jaya watched her mate shift for the first time, her heart swelled with pride. He was a natural, taking to the transformation with an ease that was to be envied. When the shift was complete, she wasn’t surprised to see Xian’s dragon form was pure black. When they called forth their dragon spirit, the dragon became the color that most accurately represented the individual.
Since his wings had turned black it made sense for his dragon to be black as well.
His massive dragon head swiveled so he was staring right at her with one glowing blue eye and one red. Walking up to him, she ran her hands over his dark scales.
“Are you ready to fly, mate?”
“I feel like I weigh more than a cargo freighter. Are you sure I can get this big body off the ground?”
She laughed. “Easily. Watch and learn.”
Stepping away from him, she ran across the rooftop and shifted into her dragon form with little effort. The scales of her dragon were several shades ranging from a pale gray to black. As she flapped her wings and soared into the sky, she made sure their bond was open so she could share exactly what she was doing with her mate.
A few seconds later, he launched himself into the air and joined her. She felt his joy through their bond and sent back her own.
“This is amazing! It’s so much easier than I thought it would be.”
“I am pleased you think so.” Jaya playfully flew over him, then dipped below him. “ We should fly toward the pier.”
“Lead the way, mate.”
The two dragons soared through the sky toward the coast. When they got closer to the pier, what Jaya saw confused her.
The trap was working. That was evident enough by the number of zombies falling into the fire trenches. But at the rate they were being destroyed, there should have been only a few left on the island by now.
That wasn’t the case.
From the massive horde of zombies shuffling down the streets toward the pier, it almost looked like they hadn’t destroyed any of them.
“Why are there so many?” he asked, just as confused as she was. “It’s clearly working. I thought they would all be destroyed by now. Where the fuck are they coming from?”
“You would know better than I.”
“The zombie game is one of the sections I haven’t played yet.”
“We must find the source,” she declared. “It is the only way to stop them.”
But that wasn’t the only problem they had.
A large splinter group of zombies had made it into the amusement park and were now gathering around the arcade. Eddie, Cosmo, and two older males in uniforms were firing their blasters at the mass below from the third-floor balcony. Fortunately, the protection barrier she had placed around the building was keeping the humans safe and preventing any of the zombies from getting close to the structure.
The bad thing was the crowd of zombies was growing since they were being replaced faster than they were being destroyed.
That put the entire pier at risk.
“The kids probably wanted to watch what was happening from the balcony and somehow drew the attention of some of the zombies. Look over there. Those dead fuckers figured out how to scale the walls of that building. They are leaping across the trench.”
She saw that not all of them were making that leap over the wide gap, but enough had made it across to cause a problem.
“We need to stop them before they end up destroying the entire pier.”
“Can you handle that while I follow the crowd of zombies back to the source?”
She knew he would be more comfortable with her handling the situation at the pier since he didn’t want to end up hurting the humans by mistake. Since he was still learning how to use his magic, it made sense.
“Aye, I can do that. Stay connected and let me know if you need help.”
“I will.”
Jaya watched as he flew in the opposite direction, but she forced herself to turn away and get to work. As she flew over the horde of zombies, she opened her mouth and breathed a stream of fire at them that instantly turned them to ash. She released a scorching stream at the zombies attempting to climb the buildings before heading directly to the arcade.
As soon as they saw her, Eddie and Cosmo started jumping up and down and waving at her. She couldn’t hear their excited words over the blaring music, but she understood the sentiment. In order to entertain them, she flew in a circle around the arcade and breathed fire at all of the zombies gathered there.
All four of the humans clapped and cheered as she executed a spin while she rose higher in the air. Then, she went to work destroying the rest of the zombies on the pier, trying not to burn anything else in her path.
She was breathing out a stream of fire down the main street when Xian reached out to her through their bond.
“I found something. It’s a machine that makes zombies as fast as we destroy them. It is hidden inside a cargo container that is in the shipping yard, but I can hear it running.”
That didn’t sound good. “Can you destroy it?”
“Yeah, but should I really breathe fire at it? I mean, it has to be hooked up to the system, right? I don’t want to accidentally cause another power surge or something if I blow it up.”
“That is a very good point. Can you wait for me to come to you? You can just start getting rid of the zombies in that area.”
“I can do that.”
Xian breathed a stream of fire at the zombies crowded together in the shipping yard. He didn’t want to bother his mate while she was doing her thing, but he really didn’t want to cause a whole new crisis by blowing something up. He wished the damn zombie replicator machine or whatever it was would just disappear.
That would make things a whole lot easier.
Even as he thought that, the cargo container with the zombie replicator machine inside it vanished into thin air leaving an empty space in the center of the shipping yard.
Fucking hell, had he done that?
“What happened?” Jaya demanded. “Why are you panicking?”
“I don’t know. The cargo container holding the zombie replicator machine just disappeared. I was fucking frustrated and just wanted it gone. Then, it was. Gone.”
“Ah.”
“What does that mean?” he demanded. “Tell me I did not fuck up my first magical mission.”
“You did well. Really,” she insisted. “You wanted the zombie machine gone, and it is.”
“But? That sounded like there’s a but included in that.”
She hesitated briefly. “But you might have sent the machine somewhere else on the planetoid, so we should probably ask people to keep an eye out for it.”
That made him groan. “I magically sent a killer zombie replicating machine somewhere else on the planetoid?”
“Probably.”
“Fucking hell, I’m never going to live this down. That’s it. We have to leave Evo and go hide somewhere across the galaxy.”
She chuckled. “Do not worry, mate. We will find it, and all will be well. But leaving Evo is not a bad idea. Jecca and I discussed taking you and Zack back to meet our parents. I was going to discuss that with you later, but now seems like a good time.”
“I do want to meet your parents, but we can’t leave until we find this machine.”
“That is a deal. Coming up on your left.”
The tip of his wing glided over her dragon body as she flew up next to him. She turned her head so he could see her glowing silver eyes gleaming back at him. He felt better the moment he saw her. He’d made a mistake, but he would correct it.
“We. We will correct it,” she amended. “You are no longer alone, and you never will be with me by your side.”
Hearing that made his heart soar. And as he flew through the sky with Jaya by his side, he knew that he had finally found exactly where he was meant to be.