Chapter 12 Solace #2
The owner moves quickly, directing them to a table as she brings water over to them. The room has gone quiet, everyone watching the new arrivals with morbid curiosity.
"What happened?" someone finally asks.
The warrior with the injured arm laughs bitterly. "We found the dragons. Or rather, they found us."
"You survived an encounter with a dragon?" One of the researchers stands, his expression full of glee. "You must tell us everything. What did it look like? How did you escape?"
"We didn't fight it," the warrior admits, shame in his voice. "We were scouting the lower mountain passes, looking for systems that might lead to their lair. One of them flew overhead, close enough that we could feel the wind from its wings. We hid behind some rocks and prayed it wouldn't see us."
"Did it attack?"
"No. It circled once, twice, then flew off toward the higher peaks. But the heat coming off it was intense. That's what scorched our armor. We weren't even close to it, and it felt like standing next to a forge. The wounds are from those nasty Shadowland creatures."
The room erupts in questions, everyone talking over each other. The warriors look overwhelmed, clearly not prepared for the attention. The owner eventually shoos everyone back to their own tables, giving the injured men some space.
I watch the exchange with interest. The warriors saw a dragon and lived to tell about it. That alone is noteworthy. But what strikes me most is that the dragon didn't attack. It simply flew past, close enough to be noticed but not close enough to engage.
"They're not mindless killers," Kaia murmurs, echoing my thoughts. "If they were, those men would be dead."
"Unless the dragon simply wasn't hungry," I counter, though I don't really believe it.
The pattern is becoming clearer. The dragons attack those who attack them.
They defend their territory. But they don't seem to go out of their way to kill every human who ventures into the Shadowlands. I also don’t believe they have a lair. That seems too… easy.
We finish our meal before returning to our room. The noise from downstairs continues late into the night, but eventually it fades as people drift off to their own beds. Kaia strips down to that thin dress of hers again, melting against me the moment I slide in beside her.
"Are you feeling all right?" I ask, pressing my hand to her forehead. "You're burning up again."
"I'm fine," she says, though her voice is drowsy. "Just tired. It's been a long day."
I'm not convinced, but I don't push. Instead, I hold her as she drifts off to sleep, her breathing evening out into the steady rhythm of unconsciousness.
I expect to stay awake for a while, my mind too busy processing everything we learned today.
But exhaustion catches up with me faster than anticipated, and soon I'm falling into sleep as well.
Everything goes black before throwing me into an entirely different space. It can’t be anything other than a dream but it feels so… vivid.
I find myself standing in a massive hall, grander than anything I've ever seen. The ceiling soars overhead, supported by columns carved from stone that seem to glow. Tapestries hang on the walls, depicting dragons in flight, their scales rendered in golds and reds and oranges that shimmer as if alive. The floor beneath my bare feet is polished marble, engraved with intricate patterns of precious metals. But that’s not what truly catches my attention.
It’s the bed at the center of the hall, an enormous structure piled high with cushions, draped in silks that match the colors in the tapestries.
It's decadent and sensual, a bed meant for pleasure rather than mere rest.
And sprawled across it is Kaia.
She's naked, her brown skin glowing in the golden light that seems to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. Her curls are spread across the pillows like a dark halo, her eyes half-lidded, hazy with desire, and she's touching herself with lazy, exploratory strokes that make my mouth go dry.
"Sol," she breathes, her voice echoing strangely in the vast space. "I need you. Please."
I should know this is a dream. I should be able to recognize the impossibility of this place and this situation. But it feels real. The cool air on my skin feels real. The sound of Kaia's breathing feels real. The ache of want that throbs through my body feels devastatingly real.
I move toward the bed, drawn by magic running through this place. As I get closer, voices whisper against my ears seeming to come from the very walls, speaking words I can't quite make out but vibrate through my bones.
"Do you hear them?" Kaia asks, her hand stilling. "They're calling to us. Calling us home."
"This isn't home," I manage to say, though my voice sounds uncertain even to my own ears. "This is a dream."
"Is it?" She sits up, the silks pooling around her waist. "It feels more real than anything else. Come here, Sol. Touch me. Let me feel you."
I reach the edge of the bed, my magic flaring without warning. Blue light flickers around me, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. My wolf is close to the surface, closer than it should be, as if something's pulling it from me.
"You feel it too, don't you?" Kaia asks, relief in her voice. "This magic. It's different from before. Stronger."
"It's like the magic is trying to fuse with ours," I say, finally understanding what I'm feeling. This isn't just a dream. The same colors from a few days ago wind with our magic, tangling and flowing together as if all four were supposed to exist as one.
Kaia reaches for me, pulling me onto the bed. I go willingly, covering her body with mine, capturing her lips in a hungry, desperate kiss. She tastes like honey and spice, like something I've never tasted before but recognize on some instinctual level.
"I need you," she gasps against my mouth. "I need you inside me. Please, Sol."
I slide my hand between her legs, finding her soaking wet and ready for me. When I push two fingers inside her, she cries out, her back arching off the bed. I work her over, knowing exactly how she likes to be touched. My thumb finds her clit, circling in counterpoint to the thrust of my fingers.
"More," she begs, her hips bucking against my hand. "I need more. I think my heat is approaching. I need an Alpha. Why now? Why is this happening now?" Tears gather in her eyes before she scrunches them shut, holding onto me as I pleasure her.
I was sure her heat would reach us sooner than now but it makes sense. It would explain the warmth, the increased sensitivity, the desperate need I can feel radiating from her. But the timing is strange. She should have had more time before her suppressants wear off completely.
Unless the magic is accelerating it. Unless whatever's changing us is also affecting her biological cycles.
I don't have time to think it through because at that moment, I catch a scent that makes my wolf surge forward. It's an Alpha scent, wrapping around us like a physical presence. But it's not just one Alpha. There are two distinct scents, both calling to something deep in my consciousness.
"Do you smell that?" I ask, my voice coming out rough.
"Yes," Kaia moans, her body trembling beneath me. "It smells like power. Like safety. Like home."
The scents are doing something to me, making me want more, making my body react in ways I've never experienced before.
I'm a Beta. I shouldn't respond this strongly to Alpha pheromones.
But these aren't ordinary Alpha scents. They carry magic, woven so deeply into them that I can't separate one from the other.
I add a third finger, stretching Kaia as she cries out. Her magic flares, gold mixing with my blue, creating patterns in the air above us that mirror the ones inlaid in the marble floor.
"Sol, I'm going to—" She doesn't finish the sentence before the orgasm hits her, Kaia clenching around my fingers, her whole body going taut as pleasure crashes through her. I work her through it, gentling my touch as she comes down from her high.
When she finally opens her eyes, they're different. The brown has taken on a golden sheen, glowing faintly in the strange place.
"What's happening to us?" she whispers.
"I don't know, baby," I admit, lying down beside her, pulling her into my arms. "But whatever it is, I’ve got you."
The Alpha scents are still there, still caressing us with invisible hands.
They feel warm, welcoming, and nothing at all like the predatory aggression I've been taught to associate with Alphas.
These scents speak of protection, of passion, and of a home I didn't know I was missing.
I have a suspicion of just who these scents belong to but I refuse to read into it.
Not yet. Not until we actually make it through the impasses of those mountains.
I close my eyes, letting out a heavy breath before opening them again to find ourselves back in the small room we bought for the evening. Reality crashes back even as Kaia snores against my chest, my magic and my touch once again soothing my Omega.
Everything we've known about dragons and the other creatures that live beyond Valoria's walls might be wrong.
We've been told they're monsters, mindless beasts that exist only to destroy and hoard.
But the dream, if it was truly a dream, showed me something different.
It showed me a place of beauty and power, ruled by beings who are as intelligent and complex as any wolf shifter.
If that indeed is where the dragons reside.
Because those scents in the dream didn't smell anything like a wolf or any other shifter I've ever met. They were something else entirely. There was a warmth to them, an invitation rather than a threat.
Maybe we've been preparing for the wrong thing entirely. Maybe the true danger isn't what awaits us in the mountains but what we've already left behind in Valoria, in a king so consumed by greed that he sends his own people to die for a treasure that might not even exist.
Kaia stirs behind me, turning to find her sitting up in bed, my beautiful Omega looking at me with a haunted look in her eyes. "You were there," she says. It's not a question. "In the dream. The palace. You were really there with me."
"I was."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know. But Kaia, I think we're getting close to whatever has been calling you. And I don't think it's what we expected at all."
She curls up tighter against my chest. "Those scents in the dream were from an Alpha but they weren’t wolves."
"Dragons," I say quietly, finally voicing the idea that’s been running through my head. No one has ever mentioned that the dragons could shift but it would make sense on how they’ve hidden themselves for so long.
"I think we were in a dragon's palace. And I think those Alpha scents belong to the dragons who live there. "
"But that means—" She stops, the implications catching up to her.
"It means they have culture, society, and magic that can reach across distances and pull us into shared dreams. It means everything your father has told the Valorian people about dragons is either lies or ignorance."
Kaia is quiet for a long moment. Then she lets out a bitter laugh. "Of course. Of course, it would be lies. He wants their power, their magic. He can't have that if people see them as intelligent beings deserving of respect rather than monsters to be destroyed."
"What do you want to do?" I ask, running my fingers through the edges of her hair. "We could turn back now. Return to Valoria, tell your father what we've learned. It would be safer than continuing forward."
She looks at me like I've lost my mind. "Turn back? Sol, we're so close. Can't you feel it? Whatever is calling to me, it's just ahead. We've come too far to stop now."
"Even knowing that we might be walking into a dragon's space?"
"Especially knowing that." She reaches up, taking my face in her petite hands.
"Those scents in the dream, they didn't feel threatening.
They felt welcoming. And my magic responded to them, recognized something in them.
I think I'm meant to meet these dragons, Sol.
I think that's what this whole journey has been leading toward. "
I study her face, looking for any sign of doubt or fear. But all I see is determination and a strange kind of peace.
"Then we continue forward," I tell her. "But we do it carefully. We don't know what awaits us in those mountains, and I won't risk your life based on a dream alone, no matter how real it felt."
"Agreed." She squeezes my hands. "But it was real. I can still feel your fingers inside of me, Sol.” A devious smile spreads across her lips but I quickly shut that down.
“Later, princess. We both need our rest if we’re going to finish our journey tomorrow.” She throws me an adorable pout, tilting her head up for a kiss. I gladly give it to her. “Sleep, Kaia. Tomorrow, maybe we’ll have answers.