Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Alexa made little ice chairs for the four of them as they waited for Ken and Shiva to return. They were telling Bella about the dragon kingdom and what to expect there, and that right now, there was the big dragon party going on.
“Sounds like there are a lot of people there,” Bella whispered.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be safe there.” Brian smiled at her, his hazel eyes gentle.
“You’ll be staying in the castle with us. There is no safer place. You’ll be right under the dragon deity’s watchful eye.” Alexa watched the girl nod her head.
Bella’s gaze lifted to Mikah. He was fairly quiet, and his arms seemed tense. She bit her inner lip and frowned. “Are you okay? It’s my aura, isn’t it? I’m sorry if it’s bothering you.”
Mikah looked up at her in shock before a wide grin spread over his lips. “Your aura isn’t bothering me.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m just working on calming my beast down. After Alexa was taken …”
Bella stood up, keeping her gray eyes fixed on his. She walked up to him and continued to stare into his blue eyes. “Is it agitated?”
Mikah swallowed as the young lady invaded his personal space. He could feel her breath hitting his skin. “Umm … yeah,” he muttered as he kept his eyes on hers.
Bella reached out with her small hands and cupped his cheeks. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink from being so close to a man. An attractive man at that.
Mikah tensed at first, but then a warm, soothing sensation rushed through him. He felt his whole body relax, and he sank deeper into his icy seat. It was like he was just given a sedative, and his beast was calm now. He looked up at her as she dropped her hands from his cheeks and stepped away.
“Better?” Bella asked shyly as she returned to her seat.
“That’s incredible. Yes, I feel completely calm now. Thank you.” Mikah sighed with relief from not having to control the tension building inside him.
“Let me know and I can help you with that again.” Bella smiled faintly as she settled back into her seat.
“I have tension too.” Brian grinned as he pointed to his forehead.
“You do?” Bella asked innocently and began to stand up, but Alexa's hand shot out and stopped her.
“He’s fine. He just thinks you’re cute.” Alexa giggled as she watched Bella turn a dark crimson shade.
“Okay, that is just too adorable.” Brian’s lips curled up as he stared at the blushing beauty.
Alexa glanced between the two men who were looking at Bella differently than she’d seen them look at her before.
Brian had yet to find his mate, and Mikah claimed he didn’t want a mate.
But they seemed captivated with Bella. She was a very beautiful young woman.
She had an air of elegance about her but also needed protection.
Maybe it was the vulnerable side of her that made their beasts interested?
Maybe they were both curious and fascinated with the unique dragon, but she had never seen either man look at someone like that before.
Alexa watched as Bella covered her face, trying to hide her rosy cheeks. This was when Mikah chuckled and a soft smile spread across his lips. Mikah sat in his chair, relaxed. His arms weren’t tense and he had a gentle look in his eyes. It was a rare moment to see him so relaxed.
Alexa stood up to look around. There were a couple of darkened openings and she was curious about where she was.
“Alexa,” Mikah suddenly said, standing up from his seat.
Alexa turned to look at him. His serene look was gone, and he was back in protection mode. He really needed to have more time when he wasn’t constantly worrying about her.
“I’m just going to walk around. Sit down and relax. We’re in Shiva’s domain. It is safe, right?” Alexa looked over at Bella, who nodded her head.
“She is very safe,” Bella said sweetly.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll get anxious with you out of my sight.” Mikah went to take a step toward her but Alexa's eyes widened with an idea.
“Oh let’s try something. I’ll walk away, and let’s see if Bella is able to keep you calm.” Alexa could see the disapproving look on his face.
“Why? What’s the point of that?” Mikah didn’t like to play these types of games.
Alexa clicked her tongue. “Because I want to know. I’m curious.”
Brian chuckled and stood up. “I’ll go with her, Mikah. Humor her before we have a temper tantrum on our hands.”
Alexa grinned and shrugged. “I’m not opposed to it to get my way.” She took a couple of steps away and froze. High-pitched screaming pierced her ears. She looked back at the others, who didn’t seem to hear it. Then everything shifted and the air changed.
Alexa looked around her. There were children running down a dirt street, laughing and chasing each other.
She could see people buying produce from stands, and there were people playing music.
It looked to be some sort of celebration that everyone was enjoying.
Her gaze traveled beyond the buildings that were surrounded by a tall, rusted steel wall.
There was a blurry aura around the colossal walls that she assumed was a fortified barrier of sorts.
The village bore the scars of an older tragedy, the kind of ruin she knew from the apocalyptic movies she’d watched.
The buildings had been patched rather than rebuilt, new metal bolted over burn-scarred stone, gardens planted in the shells of collapsed homes.
She tried to place this moment on the timeline and couldn’t.
But no one around her seemed to notice the damage anymore.
They lived in it the way people live with an old wound, which meant they’d been rebuilding for a long time.
Years and years from now. Centuries … maybe longer.
Whatever catastrophe had come before, the world was still climbing out of it.
The laughter changed to shrill screams that cut straight through her.
The barrier’s blur stuttered out, the wall burst open, and creatures unlike anything she’d ever seen poured into the village.
They were mountainous, grotesque things, and they did not slow, did not choose, did not stop.
They ripped people apart as they ran. Blood sprayed across the stalls where music had been playing a breath ago, and the celebration turned to chaos.
Several villagers rushed to meet the beasts, and swords manifested in their hands out of nothing, just like Raine’s.
It made no difference. The enemy kept coming through the breach, and their numbers swelled past anything the defenders could hold.
A young woman went flying and struck her head on a steel pipe, crumpling where she landed.
As she lay there unconscious, a familiar shape leapt over her body and planted itself between her and the monsters.
It was a lycan. For a second, she thought it was Aedan, and something in her lurched, but the longer she stared, the more certain she became. The build was larger. The coloring was close but not the same. This was not her cousin.
“Get her out of here!” a man with a sword yelled as the creatures closed over him.
The lycan clamped its jaws gently into the back of the woman’s shirt while another villager rushed in to heave her across its shoulders.
It held still just long enough for her to be secured, then fled, tearing away with the woman on its back.
Behind it, what was left of the defense collapsed, and the monsters overran the streets.
Through the haze and the ruin, a single red eye glowed, its body lost in the debris.
It was not searching the battlefield. It was fixed on her.
That should have been impossible. This was a vision, and visions did not look back.
Yet the eye held her, and a slow, deliberate malice pressed into her chest, as if the thing behind the dust wanted her to know she’d been seen.
Alexa had never felt true fear before. In that instant, her body simply stopped obeying her.
Her heartbeat filled her ears, so loud it drowned out everything else, and the fear grew until it had a life of its own, devouring her the same way the beasts were devouring the village.
She couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away.
The color drained from her face as her gaze swept the carnage.
The children from moments ago were being dragged away by the beasts.
Adults lay dead, their dark blood staining the ground.
This wasn’t a battle between warriors. This was a slaughter.
These were people who had simply been living their lives, and they were massacred or taken.
Her gaze pulled back to one of the men defending the village just as a sword slid through him from behind.
“How could you betray us like this?” the man choked out, gurgling on his own blood. The sword he clutched flickered, its light dying with him.
“Alexa!” Mikah growled. It was as if she was in a trance, unresponsive. He looked into her eyes as tears pooled in them. He felt her body tighten, and she began to tremble. She was afraid. “Lex,” Mikah whispered. He wrapped her in his arms and leaned his head on hers. “You’re okay, Lex.”
“What happened to her?” Ken yelled as he made quick strides over to her.
He grabbed onto her shoulder as Mikah growled at him menacingly.
Ken narrowed his eyes at Mikah and reached out with his other hand to grip the bear's shoulder.
“Mikah … be careful.” He took a deep breath to steady his own emotions, their eyes clashing in an unspoken battle.
Bella grabbed onto Mikah, and Ken watched as the feral look diminished.
Mikah released his grip and slowly nodded his head, allowing Ken to take Alexa into his arms.
Her body was trembling, her tears still pooling. He looked over her and glanced back at Mikah. He’d never seen something like this before.
“She’s having a premonition. It’s the first one she’s had.
” Mikah shook his head and gripped Bella’s hand to control his emotions.
“She’s scared. I’ve never …” Mikah’s voice cracked, and he couldn’t finish talking.
He’d never seen her this afraid before, and it broke him.
Thank goodness for Bella’s calming energy. It was the only thing keeping him sane.
“Lex, can you hear me? I’m right here. You’re safe and in my arms.” Ken cooed and kissed the tears that fell from her eyes.
The red eye came closer as he made his way toward the dying man. Alexa could almost see the man’s face as his sinister laugh filled the air. Her heart was breaking for the man who was dying on the ground.
“It’s time for a new order.” The cruel man with the red eye grinned down at the fading man. Alexa watched as he bent over and reached out to grip the dying man’s neck, squeezing it.
SNAP
Alexa gasped and panted heavily as her sight came back into focus. Her shoulders heaved as tears streamed down her face.
“Lex, baby, I’m here. You’re okay.”
No. She wasn’t okay. What she had just witnessed …
She shook her head as she struggled to breathe.
The flashbacks of the premonition flickered through her mind.
The eyes of the lifeless children, the defenseless people that were brutally ripped apart, and the sinister red eye of the man behind it all.
Was this the inevitable future? Could they not prevent this from happening?
“I’m okay.” Alexa wiped her eyes and stepped away from Ken.
She didn’t want to cry. She could handle this on her own.
She wasn’t a crybaby. She wasn’t a weak, sobbing little girl.
She needed to get ahold of herself. She took a few steps away from everyone as she tried to stop the uncontrollable shaking.
Alexa felt Ken’s heat behind her. He gently spun her back around to face him, his green eyes meeting hers as his hand slid around her back.
She tried to control her emotions and reel them back in, but she couldn’t.
The emotional vision was traumatizing. She leaned her head into Ken’s chest as a soft sob escaped from her throat.
Her fingers curled into his shirt as his strong, protective arms held her tight, pulling her the rest of the way in.
Alexa was given a premonition, yet she had no idea how to fix it or how far into the future it would take place. Premonitions sucked. Why give her a vision like that? How was she supposed to change that future? Or was this the future Selene was working on behind the scenes?
Selene saw premonitions like this all the time.
Terrifying futures that she was constantly trying to stop from happening.
Plus, her visions were much more vivid and in-depth.
Alexa had a newfound respect for the Moon Goddess because of this.
She couldn’t imagine the burden of having this weight on her shoulders all the time.
Alexa had only had one premonition. But what it had done to her just now … it must be harder on Selene. Selene has the power to stop these futures but couldn’t because of the repercussions. Instead, she manipulated the events and people in order to try to change the future.
There wasn’t anything Alexa could do about this future, but maybe that wasn’t the point.
With this knowledge, she understood Selene better now.
The fact that strong mates were being pulled together wasn’t just a coincidence.
These mate bonds were being strategically created.
And maybe this was the future Selene was desperately working on behind the scenes.