Authors: Carmella Jones
Syrenth was happy to go to bed. He was tired as this had been a long and confusing day for him. So, he made sure the eggs were settled, nice and warm in their moss, then changed into his human form so he could snuggle into bed with his lover. He crawled under the blankets and nuzzled into Rasenth’s arms, resting his head on his lover’s chest as he closed his eyes.
“This feels so wonderful,” Syrenth cooed softly, just enjoying the warmth and love that he could feel emanating from Rasenth right now.
Rasenth gave Syrenth a kiss and played a little with Syrenth’s wild red hair. “It most certainly does. I have to ask you, though. What do you intend to do about your tribe, and your father?” Rasenth asked, as he wondered if Syrenth would ever try to make contact with Tazour again, or with the Inferno tribe. With the sad and solemn goodbye that Syrenth gave Tazour before departing, it did make Rasenth worry that his young lover wanted to go back to his father at some point after things had cooled down. The only problem with that was that Rasenth doubted Tazour would ever forgive either of them for their transgressions.
“I do want to see my father again. I can’t leave him completely alone there… I’ll give him some time and see if he comes round. I don’t want to abandon him completely,” Syrenth replied, as he felt too loyal to completely give up on his father. The man had always been there for him, and he betrayed him. Syrenth would probably try and write to him, ask a bird to send a letter, and try to be a good son again. He didn’t know if it would work, but he felt that he needed to try.
Rasenth wasn’t happy to hear that, and just frowned at Syrenth for saying that. He wanted Syrenth to stay away from his father, that way no more harm would come to them. The battle that he fought with Tazour was a hard won battle, after all, and though Rasenth didn’t believe he would lose in a rematch, the fight was still close enough that Rasenth didn’t want to jump back into it. “Just be careful, if you do decide to reconnect with your father. He was ready to kill our children without a second thought when we last spoke to him,” Rasenth replied.
“He was just upset. He thinks I have betrayed the tribe by being with you. I just want to give him time so he can see reason,” Syrenth said, as he really was a naive and hopeful young dragon. He tried to see the best in everything, and the world. He wanted there to be a nice happy ending, no worries about his father or about the clan. Granted, they were technically making their own clan now but Syrenth still felt guilty for leaving the old clan behind.
“I feel as though perhaps we should draw a line between someone who is upset, and someone who threatens to kill newborn hatchlings because their scales are the wrong color,” Rasenth said, just voicing his detest for Tazour. The man was irredeemable in Rasenth’s eyes, and he couldn’t believe that Syrenth still would attempt to reach out to him. Granted, Rasenth wouldn’t stand in Syrenth’s way if Syrenth really felt the need for maintaining contact with his father, but he was weary of the prospect.
“He could change his mind in a few weeks. And if they are Infernos he’d be happy to accept them. I know this isn’t ideal, but he’s still my father. I can’t just completely abandon him,” Syrenth replied, as he completely understood where Rasenth was coming from, but he didn’t want to lose his father either. He felt too young to be without a parent’s guidance, and he had always had his father looking out for him. It would just seem strange for him not to be there anymore.
“Just don’t be too hasty. I don’t want him near my children unless he will be able to behave himself,” Rasenth said. In his mind, he was thinking that if Tazour did pose a threat to his children, he would finish the dragon off no matter what Syrenth said, but he wouldn’t mention that now. All that would do is needlessly upset his lover, which wasn’t a goal that Rasenth had in mind.
“I’ll give him a few weeks, and I’ll fly down alone so he won’t be anywhere near the hatchlings. Everything will be fine. I promise,” Syrenth replied, and just held Rasenth close to try and convince him otherwise, and just give him a little moral support. He wanted his lover to believe everything was alright. Sure, Tazour hadn’t made that easy, but there was always going to be problems with their relationship. They could get through this though, as long as they worked together.
Rasenth wasn’t overjoyed to hear Syrenth’s insistence on visiting Tazour, but he didn’t say anything and just gave Syrenth a kiss on the forehead. “Let’s get some sleep now, love,” Rasenth replied, meaning to end the conversation there. He didn’t want to talk much about the whole thing with Tazour after all.
“Okay,” Syrenth said, and cuddled into Rasenth’s chest and closing his eyes. He could feel the coldness coming off of Rasenth, though. That was something that Syrenth hadn’t experienced since when he told Rasenth that he was going to be leaving. Syrenth was a bit concerned to say the least.
“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” Syrenth asked softly.
“No,” Rasenth replied coolly.
That no was clearly a yes, and Syrenth knew it. What he didn’t know is how to win Rasenth over to his position, and so he just held his lover closer. He wanted everything to work out. “I just don’t want to lose my dad. He’s been through a lot, but he’s always been there for me,” Syrenth said. “Not to mention, he lost my mother to an Ice dragon, and he probably just doesn’t want to lose me as well.”
“It’s quite a different matter for someone to be killed as to be in love with another,” Rasenth replied, feeling almost insulted that such a parallel was being drawn between himself and Syrenth’s relationship versus someone being cut down in a battle.
“I know it’s not the same, but he still feels like he’s losing me. I’m not with him anymore. I’m not even going to be a part of the tribe. In a sense, he really is losing his son,” Syrenth replied. “It just doesn’t feel right for me to abandon him, after everything he’s done for me.”
“Very well. I understand why you’re reticent to lose contact with him, but I want you to approach him with due caution. He may be your father, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t an enemy,” Rasenth replied.
“My father is not an enemy, Rasenth,” Syrenth replied indignantly, but when he saw Rasenth’s unfaltering expression, he knew that it was best not to have this argument. “Okay, okay. I will be careful, Rasenth.”
“That’s all I ask. Now, go to sleep, love,” Rasenth replied, giving Syrenth a gentle kiss before falling off into the land of dreams with his loved one.
Chapter 9
As the weeks past, the little eggs hatched healthy young dragons. There were two ice dragons and one fire dragon, and though their elements weren’t the same, all of them were as rambunctious and playful as could be. Rasenth could hardly keep up with them, but Syrenth proved himself to be as good of a playmate as he was a mother, which was to say very.
Still, as time dragged on, Rasenth noticed that more and more often Syrenth was writing on little scraps of paper and sending them off on whatever bird he could find to carry his message along south to the fjord that the Inferno clan resided. That made Rasenth a little uneasy, but he didn’t stop his mate from keeping up connections with his father.
Given these circumstances, it didn’t surprise Rasenth when Syrenth pulled him off to the side while their three little hatchlings were playing in the meadow near their nest to speak with them.
“Rasenth? You know that I’ve been sending my father letters, right?” Syrenth asked, lying his head down on Rasenth’s large taloned feet, just to be close to him, and hope that the physical intimacy would help to win his mate over a bit.
“Yes,” Rasenth replied. He knew full well what Syrenth was leading into, and he had to admit that he simply wasn’t terribly excited by it.
“Well, I think I’ve finally won him over, and I’m going to meet him in the sycamore grove,” Syrenth said, flinching a bit has he heard Rasenth’s unconscious growl of disapproval. Rasenth soon stopped the noise, though, and sighed.
“If that’s what you want to do, Sy,then that’s what you shall do,” Rasenth replied, but Syrenth wasn’t ignorant to the annoyed flicking of his mate’s tail, or to the distinct change in his breathing that always occurred when Rasenth was less than happy with the way that things were proceeding.
Syrenth just nuzzled into his mate and kept watch over the kids until they’d tuckered themselves out. Then he and Rasenth scooped them up and flew them back to the nest, Rasenth helping to get them all settled on their beds of soft sand and moss while Syrenth held the ones that weren’t yet being tucked in by their father.
Once they were settled in their downey beds, Rasenth turned to Syrenth. “Well, you can head out whenever you please,” he said.
“Will you be okay here watching them?” Syrenth asked.
“I think I can handle some sleeping hatchlings,” Rasenth replied, a bit annoyed at the question. That being said, Syrenth just took his leave and went to the sycamore grove. He was running a bit late, but his father was still waiting there. He still bore injuries from his battle with Rasenth, but nothing debilitating.
Syrenth didn’t know what to expect from his father, and so when he landed, he just lowered his head timidly without saying anything. His father couldn’t have surprised him more when he came over to him and wrapped his wings around Syrenth in a warm embrace.
“I’m so glad you came back to me,” Tazour said softly, keeping his son close. This was something Syrenth hadn’t been able to feel in quite some time--the warm embrace of a fire dragon. Rasenth’s hugs were nice, of course, but being hugged by his papa after such a long time of going without this comfort was just wonderful.
“I missed you, papa,” Syrenth said, resting his head against his father. “I was afraid you’d never want to see me again.since you said that I disgraced the family name,” Syrenth said.
“Perhaps I was a bit too hasty. I was just upset that you’d chosen an ice dragon as your mate, of all things. I have hated them ever since your mother’s passing,” Tazour replied. “I refuse to lose my son and my wife, though.”
Syrenth just relaxed and enjoyed his father’s presence for a while, and chatted with Tazour about news and gossip around the clan. Once Syrenth had learned what was going on in the tribe since he left, he decided to share some things with his father about the babies, and about Rasenth. Though Rasenth had been very reluctant to let Syrenth visit his father, in all other respects he was a wonderfully considerate and kind mate in every way, and Syrenth made sure to emphasize that to Tazour. Granted, his father wasn’t too impressed by anything Syrenth said, but before Syrenth left they decided to make these meetings a monthly occurrence so that they didn’t fall out of contact completely with one another.
Once Syrenth relayed that he would be meeting with his father on a monthly basis, Rasenth was less than impressed, but he didn’t stop his mate from making contact with his family. The only stipulation that Rasenth made, and that he was absolutely adamant about, was that under no circumstances was Tazour to come to their nest. If Syrenth wanted to meet Tazour, then he would have to do it in the fjord or at least close to there.
Nearly a year went by with Syrenth visiting his father every month before he finally managed to talk Rasenth into letting Tazour meet his grandchildren, and even that was with the utmost trepidation on Rasenth’s part. He had to relent, though, as Syrenth absolutely wouldn’t stop pestering him about it.
When the day did come for Tazour to meet the grandchildren, Rasenth was anxiously pacing the nest, making all of the children a bit weary. Their father, though not a particularly upbeat person, wasn’t normally so anxious either. So, by the time that Tazour did get there, the nest was a bit uneasy, and Rasenth was acting as a barrier between himself and the babies.
“Hello, Rasenth,” Tazour said, trying to sound friendly enough. The tension was clearly high coming from Rasenth, but Tazour figured that he would be able to reach out to his son’s mate.
Tazour’s confidence dropped a few pegs when he heard a low growl coming from Rasenth.
Still, he wasn’t going to let that keep him down, and so he waited where he was for Syrenth to usher the little ones over to him. He noted with a slight frown that unfortunately two of them were blue and white scaled little monsters, while only one of them had the red and black scales of a fire dragon.
Regardless of the fact that unfortunately two of his grandchildren were ice dragons, Tazour had come all this way to play with the little ones, and so he did. He couldn’t help but be surprised at how well the fire and ice dragons got along, though. They seemed to make no difference amongst each other whether one had red scales or blue scales. They played and fought and slept with one another all the same.
When Tazour finally went to take his leave, before he left the ground, he heard Rasenth and Syrenth both following him out.
“So, dad, what did you think of your grandchildren?” Syrenth asked.
“I think that they’re great. Full of life and happy little buggers,” Tazour replied. “I’d love to come see them again some time, in fact,” he added.
Rasenth was quiet for a moment, but he was starting to trust Tazour’s good intentions a bit more. “Well, I’m sure the little pups would like to have their grandfather in their lives,” he said, and let Tazour go.
Outlaw Seal Conti
nued…
Chapter 2: Kelly “Sunshine” Pearson
Bad boys had always been my weakness. I liked their rugged demeanor, their devil-may-care attitude, their proud arrogance and the smell of leather. From the first moment that I had first discovered how liberating the open road on the back of a Harley could be, I had started to hang out with bikers. The badder the better.
I had started off by just hanging around the clubs where I saw bikes lined up out front and got my first taste of the wild life that the guys inside them led. I learned the meaning behind the leather jackets, their patches and insignias, becoming a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge concerning the different clubs, which ones were allies and which ones were bitter enemies.
Needless to say, the wild parties, booze, drugs and sex had also had their appeal. I’d gone well beyond limits that I had previously held to in all of those areas, even taking part in my first gangbang in celebration of my twenty-first birthday.
I considered myself attractive, with red hair and pale, freckled skin. I had filled out well and looked fantastic in a pair of body-hugging leather pants. I had advanced rapidly up the ladder among what some called “biker groupies” and had become trusted among the leaders of a MC club that called themselves the Lost Disciples. One person in particular had taken a special interest in me, a man by the name of Viktor Svetleachni. Of course, since nobody could pronounce his name, they all called him Sabre. Sabre was a powerful and dangerous man, something that had both frightened and thrilled me in the beginning.
What I had discovered about Sabre, whom I dared to call Viktor, though nobody else would, was that there was a softer and gentler side to him once I had been allowed into his confidence. Whenever the group traveled, I was seated on the back of Sabre’s bike. To all of the members of the Lost Disciples, as well as anyone who was aware of who Viktor Svetleachni was, I was known as Sabre’s bitch. I had worn that label with pride for more than a year. Truthfully, Viktor had been my first extended relationship of any sort, even before I dropped out of high school.
It hadn’t been all bad being with Viktor. I lived a lifestyle that few people ever experience. I could have pretty much anything I wanted, go anywhere I wanted to go and do anything I desired. I was safe, I was provided for and I had seen nearly half of the United States from the back of a Harley before I’d turned 22.
But the freedom of the road and that lifestyle had its drawbacks. By the time I had turned 22, I’d also seen people raped, murdered, beaten nearly to death and barely escaped being blown to pieces in a meth lab explosion. Ninety-nine percent of the time, Sabre was gentle and harmless, but hidden in that other one percent of his nature was a violent streak that terrified me. It was when that violent streak turned toward me, and I awakened after being beaten unconscious on bathroom floor in Sabre’s house, that I decided I’d had enough.
I had escaped by calling a friend, who waited for me in her Matrix on the other side of the grove of elm trees outside the back door of Viktor’s house. I had silently sprinted from an open window in the early hours before dawn. From that point forward, I had spent most of my time looking over my shoulder, hiding out or avoiding any place where I might be recognized.
Destiny didn’t just rescue me, She also took me in to her apartment on the opposite side of town from Viktor’s house while I started to try to figure out how to live a normal life.
“Well?” Destiny asked. “What would you study?”
“God, Des,” I replied. “I don’t know, really. I’ve always sort of liked fixing people’s hair or nails. God knows I haven’t had a chance to do that in a while, though.”
“They have a program in cosmetology at Williams Community College,” Destiny told me. “I can take you there and you can find out what it takes to get started and what it costs. You’re probably going to have to get a job to pay for it, but you can wait tables in a restaurant or something…”
“Or at a strip club,” I laughed. Destiny wasn’t nearly as independent minded as I was, and it was always fun to toss in a joke like that to stir her up a bit.
“Jesus, Kelly, you’re so bad!” It was pretty much the same reaction that Destiny always had.
“Hey, I’ve heard it’s good money,” I laughed. It sounded crazy, but at age 22, I had never had a job before. I wouldn’t have had any problem with taking off my clothes for money, and the idea of rolling in cash quickly and living the lifestyle that I was used to was tempting. However, since I wanted to stay away from the outlaw side of things and avoid bumping into Sabre or anyone who might know him, it probably wasn’t a good job choice.
“You could put in applications at, like, Applebee’s, Red Lobster, Chili’s, you know the sort of places where families hang out instead of bikers.” I had told Destiny that I would have to steer clear of places where I might be recognized by someone who knew Viktor, because I was afraid of what he might do to me for running away.
Destiny and I had carried out my plan. I had gotten the information I needed from the Community College, discovered that I qualified for a partial scholarship that took care of a nice portion of my tuition and fees, and that I could start with the next class that was going to start in three more weeks if I could get all of my paperwork for financial aid and my first down payment of $173.38 in a week before the class started.
I went through the process of filling out several applications at upper-end, franchised restaurants and been told that they would need someone in a few weeks, but that they were fully staffed. A streak of luck finally hit after I threatened Destiny with applying at a strip club, but that luck came for probably the same reason that I would have been hired as a stripper.
“You are perfect for the job,” Louis, the manager of Le Paris told me. He had scanned my body from head to toe in sort of a creepy way, evidently liking what he saw, because he barely even glanced at my application.
As I was given a tour of the restaurant, it became very obvious that the place catered to a higher-end clientele. It also became obvious to me the reason that my “look” was perfect for the job. Though they were dressed in a much more sophisticated way than the girls at Hooters, it was obvious that Ed liked to see plenty of flesh pushing up out of the uniform tops and lots of long slender leg extending below the skirts.
“On weeknights, you’ll pull down close to $200 in tips and on Friday and Saturday night, you’ll double that,” Ed had told me at one point during the tour.
It was pretty much a no brainer for me. I took the job as a waitress at Le Paris, accepted the uniforms and received my training and first week’s schedule written on the back of Ed’s business card. With a sigh of relief, I was ready to start my new life.