Chapter 8 #2
My heart hurt for my thunder. But I needed to know who had not made it out.
Were my parents among them? What about my brothers?
They were only just eleven years and could not even shift yet.
They were hellions at times, but they were young still and full of energy.
Their spark couldn’t have been cut so short. It was unfair.
I ran toward the village, taking flight quickly. I heard a bellow behind me, telling me my mate was not happy with my choice, but I needed to know.
There were several other calls behind me, but that only served to cause me to flap my wings harder and faster, taking me to the village in moments. The stench was overbearing here, and I did not even need to look to know that Aleric was trying to save us grief by his words.
I called out a painful, soul-baring cry for my thunder. Why had they been murdered for no reason? What had they done to whoever had done this?
My heartache too much to bear, I tucked my wings to my sides and simply fell from the sky. Only a loud shriek had my head popping up. Aleric. My mate was not pleased. I opened my wings at the last moment and flew up, my talons grazing the top of a house on the edge of town.
I flew some distance away and landed in the open field where we used to grow our vegetables.
Aleric landed next to me, quickly pushing his larger body to mine, rubbing his head and neck against me.
I tried desperately to respond, but I simply did not have it in me at the moment to return the gesture in kind.
Instead, I cried out once more, getting three replies from the others.
They were nearby, and when they landed behind me, Aleric rubbed his head against my neck and cheek.
I huffed, looking at my mate. I rubbed my nose against his, and that seemed to be what he was looking for.
Aleric took a step away, then another, and then he was gone.
My friends gathered around me, and we stood there and watched as Aleric flew above the village, his dragon’s fire raining down on the tops of the rows of houses.
Many would say what he was doing was cruel, but for us, it was a way of life.
Aleric was offering those in our thunder a proper burial, one that would allow their spirit to move on after the ordeal they had endured.
They say that fated mates never lost one another, that when they passed, they would one day find one another again.
I hoped that was true. The children were young and innocent and did not deserve such a fate.
I ached for them and the suffering they must have gone through.
“How bad was it, Konrad?” Wilhelm asked, but I could not answer in this form except to shake my head from side to side.
Once the village was taken care of, we took to the skies again, heading back to the river where we’d spent the past week recovering. When the familiar bank came into sight, we followed Aleric down, landing in the open field. We shifted together, then quietly dressed in the only clothing we had.
I left the others near the fire that Aleric had started again, walking to the river to think. I found the log we had sat on often over the past several days. What now? I was what most would call lucky in this situation. I had my mate. My friends though, everything had been taken from them.
I heard footsteps behind me, knowing they belonged to Aleric. When his scent reached me, I smiled sadly. I truly had nothing to offer him now. He joined me on the fallen tree, sitting closer than he had in the past week.
“It is okay to grieve. Expected, even.”
“The twins were only eleven years old. Who could be so cruel?”
“I do not know, my mate. We can stay here and search, asking others for information. You said you all were taken in the night.”
“Yes. I’d argued with my fathers and had gone to Elias’s for the evening.
Sometime after we’d gone to bed, I remember hearing a noise that woke me.
But when I listened, there was nothing. Seconds later, suddenly there was this heavy pressure on my body.
I called for my dragon, but they placed something over my face, and it seemed to push my dragon deeper inside.
Next thing I knew, I woke up and was shackled to a wall.
” I looked over at Aleric. “It does not make sense. If they were after dragons, then why only take the four of us? Why not the rest of the village?”
Aleric shook his head. “I have not a clue. It is possible they knew enough to recognize the four of you as omegas. Elias said you were the only ones in the village that hadn’t found mates and were of age.”
I started to deny it but stopped. It was true. There didn’t seem to be many omegas in our village of late. The children that were born seemed to all be alphas lately.
“Did they…what? Expect to…” I shuddered at the thought of where my mind went.
“It is possible. Some believe it works that way. It could be they planned on waiting until you went into heat and then tried to get you with a child.” Aleric’s jaw clenched as he stared out at the water rushing by.
“One never knows what goes through humans’ minds when they find out about us.
Feiedrich I knew of because he seemed to have an obsession with my omega father.
We would see him in our village on and off, always near Da and staring at him.
I’d even scented him close to our house the day we left several decades ago. ”
I wanted to be ill. I wasn’t exactly experienced, but I wasn’t a virgin. I’d not spent a heat with anyone and always spent those alone in the bedroom by myself. But the few experiences I had were consensual.
“What now?” I asked.