Healed by Fire (2 page)

I thought I’d seen it all, but I never would
have imagined that the Prince of the Werewolves would be bowing and
apologizing to me. He straightened, and in doing so spied the charm
sitting at the base of my throat. Before I could react, he grabbed
it and growled. I gasped in shock as his eyes changed to golden
wolf’s eyes and a blanket of some invisible force surrounded my
body. I’d felt power being used on me before, but it had never been
so much and as strong as his. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.
I was dying and he wasn’t even touching me.

Spots began to cover my vision as he fought
to break the spell Selene had placed on the charm, and his power
continued to suffocate me. A spark of lightning burst from the
charm to his hand, making him yell out in pain and drop the charm.
His power disappeared and I was able to breathe once again. I fell
to the ground on my hands and knees, gasping and coughing for
breath.  

“Selene,” he growled softly.

I looked up at him and could suddenly see
the ghost outline of his wolf’s face around his human face. Only
werewolves could see the image, when a fellow wolf was close to
changing. Against all warnings in my brain, I stood up, reached
out, and touched the muzzle of the ghost wolf. “Black. You’re a
black wolf.”

He spoke so softly I barely heard him, even
with my enhanced werewolf hearing, “Yes.”

I ran my hand along the ears of the ghost
wolf and swore I saw him shiver. “I…I’ve had dreams about a black
wolf, but I was told there was only one pure black wolf in
existence.”

His wolf side was close to taking over and
his words were short and clipped as though he was having trouble
forming them, “Only one black wolf. Only me.”

“Are there any white wolves?” I asked. I
knew I shouldn’t be asking him, but I had to know.

“Only one,” he said. I looked up into his
eyes and saw the smile I thought I’d heard in his voice. “Only
you.”

Before I could jump back, he grabbed my
wrist. I gasped in shock as he covered me in his power again. It
felt like I was drowning in a sea of fire, making it impossible for
me to breathe. The spell Selene had placed around me broke, the
talisman around my neck shattered, and the world went black.

~~~

I woke up slowly and realized I was in my
wolf form. I opened my eyes and found myself looking into another
pair of amber wolf eyes. I scurried back away from him and he
whined softly.
It’s alright. I won’t harm you.

My wolf whimpered and took control from me,
running forward and rubbing our head against his chest. He licked
my face gently and whined happily.

I regained control and pulled away. It had
been years since I’d had problems with control of my wolf side. I
wrestled with my wolf for one full minute until I finally regained
control and changed to human form. I gasped from the quick changes
and curled into a ball as the sharp tingling pains wore off.

His fur rippled like water and then he
crouched before me as a man. “Are you alright?”

I backed away from him, covering my body as
well as I could. “What did you do?” The desire to touch him was
burning my fingertips. My lips burned with a memory of kissing his.
“How do I know you?”

He held his hand out to me and I backed away
until my back hit the wall. He dropped his hand and I could see the
pain in his eyes.

“There is much to tell you. You and I are
mates…”

I stared at him in utter disbelief, but my
wolf side acknowledged him as our mate. How could he be my mate if
I had never met him before? I shook my head. “No. You can’t be my
mate.” I picked up my shredded pants and shirt and ran around him.
He called after me, but I ignored his calls. I stumbled into my
clothes as I ran out the door and then yelled as loud as I could,
“Draco-blu!”

I heard the flapping of large wings and then
the generated wind pressed down on me, flattening me to the ground.
The alpha crouched down, walking slowly towards me, but I knew he
wouldn’t make it to me before Draco-Blu did.

Draco-Blu descended and I admired his beauty
as he landed over me. He was the largest dragon I’d ever seen with
the top of my head barely touching his underbelly. His build
reminded me of a horse, four large, muscular legs which carried a
sleek, but powerful body. Draco is the title given to the king of
the dragons. Blu is the only blue dragon to be given the title in
the history of the dragons. I asked him if there was a difference
in power by their colors, but he simply answered that blue dragons
are very rare. He is one of my friends and I have the special
privilege of simply calling him Blu. His blue scales shimmered in
the sun and the white talons resting on either side of me reflected
my face.

“Oh shit,” said the alpha werewolf who had
stopped advancing and now stood in front of Blu.

Blu roared, but the alpha held his ground.
“Ares of the Werewolves! I challenge you…”

“Sorry, Draco, but I cannot accept. Chandra,
we will see each other again. Soon,” the alpha said before turning
and disappearing around the corner of a nearby building.

Blu snorted a puff of smoke. “Well, that was
interesting. Are you alright, Hatchling?”

I shuddered as I stood up. I grabbed onto
his head and he lifted it up, setting me down just in front of his
shoulders, at the base of his neck. “I don’t know, Blu. I don’t
know what happened. I think I might know him from before. He…he
knew I was part wolf. He said we were mates.”

“You need to speak to Selene and we need to
visit the Council,” he said. I swallowed nervously at the thought
of visiting the dragon council. They were powerful and would know
how to help me, but they scared me more than a horde of vampires
overcome by bloodlust. I gripped Draco’s scales, which were
textured enough for me to hang onto yet not overly rough and
painful after long rides.

He flapped his wings and zoomed up into the
sky. I wished I could spread my wings and fly beside him instead of
on his back, but if I did that and a vampire or a vampire ally saw
me they would try to capture me or just kill me. Mixed bloods were
not welcome in the New Preternatural World.

“It’s a good thing that I escorted you today
and stayed just on the outskirts of the town while you shopped,”
said Blu as he glided across the winds.

I sighed sadly. “Yes, I suppose it is,
although I do not like having to be protected to go out.” I lifted
my arms out to my sides, enjoying the feel of the wind on my
body.

The concrete jungle that had once been the
human world was gone, destroyed by the preternaturals to allow a
more organic landscape to emerge.

We flew over various small towns and
villages, children waving to Blu excitedly while the adults cowered
in the doorways. Blu’s massive shadow covered two buildings at
once, scaring a coop full of chickens and a stable of horses at the
same time.

“Are there any other errands you need to run
or are we heading straight back to the coven?” he asked as he
tilted sideways, making a large circle over a crystal blue lake
below.

I looked longingly at the lake, wishing to
go for a swim. I knew I should head straight back to the coven to
report to Selene, but I was shaky and needed to do something
relaxing. “I guess we could stop for a short swim,” I said
finally.

Blu roared happily and dove straight down
towards the lake, folding his wings in tight against his body. As
he plummeted towards the lake, I wrapped my arms around his neck so
I wouldn’t separate from him. The impact from slamming into the
water almost dislodged me from Blu’s back, but I managed to hang
on. I fought the urge to gasp at the shock of the cold water
surrounding me and released my hold, kicking my legs quickly to the
surface. Blu spun around under the water, heading back towards me
and shoved his nose under my feet, pushing me up and through the
surface of the water. I flew up into the air thirty feet and then
dove back down, barely making a splash as I reentered the
water.

Blu swam in lazy circles, slicing through it
with his tail. I splashed Blu’s nose with a small wave of water,
inviting play. Blu skimmed his tail across the water, sending a
wave to cover me, which sent me back down below the surface.

Blu laughed hysterically, shooting fire from
his nose in his delight. He was one of my best friends because he
could go from being the fierce leader of the dragons to the
silliest being on the planet and playing childish games with
me.

We played until the sun stood in the center
of the sky and both Blu and my stomachs’ growled loudly.

As we flew in the air towards the coven I
closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the sun drying me. “Thank
you,” I whispered. He seemed to always know what I needed.

He hummed happily. “You are welcome,
Hatchling. Now, let’s get you home.”

We flew the last ten miles in silence,
enjoying the other’s quiet, but pleasurable company and the moment
of contentment. The coven came into view and I admired my home.

The coven was a large fortress with thirty
foot walls surrounding the one thousand acres property. The walls
were really only there to keep out the local wildlife and for the
perimeter spell, which alerted Selene to intruders. The main
building was fifty feet high and had several hundred rooms, not
including the kitchen and common areas. There were three smaller
buildings, the larger of which was used for teaching the younger
witches. The building to the left of that was the lab which was
used for experimenting with new spells. The third building was a
mystery to me Selene had told me only that it was used for the
witches’ committee hearings. There was also a small stable area
where we bred cows for Blu and the other dragons who visited to
eat.

Two gardens took up three acres total on
either side of the main building and a forest of twenty acres stood
in the back corner of their property. The witches hardly ever used
the forest, but I used it frequently.

Blu dropped down into the courtyard of the
coven and roared a welcoming to the witches. Several witches were
outside and they bowed respectfully to him. A teenage witch walked
to the stable area to catch one of the cows for him. I slipped down
his side and leg and smiled at the witches who were outside. I
turned to Blu and bowed. “Thank you, Blu.”

He flicked his forked tongue out across my
cheek. “You are welcome, Hatchling. I will return with a summons
once I’ve spoken to the Council. I will have Fira visit you in my
absence.”

Blu gulped down the cow the teenager brought
out and then burped a stream of flame into the air happily.

He dropped his head down and I hugged his
nose, laying a kiss on the tip of it. “Be safe and may the wind
speed your flight.”

He lifted one of his large front claws and
brushed a scale off to land on the ground. “Take this. You may need
the magic stored within it.”

I picked up the scale and felt the power
radiating from it. “This is a very precious gift. I will cherish
it.”

He rubbed his nose gently against my body
once and then took to the sky. He roared a goodbye and then
disappeared from my sight. I clutched the scale to my chest and
raced to my room as the pain I’d been hiding intensified.

My heart hurt and the physical pain of the
absence of the alpha was like a hot iron stabbing me in the
stomach. I dashed inside the main building and up the three flights
of stairs to my room in the west wing. Thankfully, I made it to my
room unnoticed and unquestioned. I softly shut my bedroom door and
sighed in relief.

“Who broke my spell?” Selene asked from
behind me.

I growled and spun around, ready to attack.
It took a moment for me to realize it was Selene and calm myself.
“Sorry. Sorry,” I apologized as I lowered my eyes and stepped back
from her.

Selene was average height and build for a
woman, but the incredible amount of power she possessed made her
seem bigger and more intimidating. She had black hair that looked
like it was streaked with blue in the sun and the deepest brown
eyes I had ever seen.

She stood up from my bed where she had been
sitting and placed her hand on my face. I closed my eyes as she
closed hers and then she chanted magic words, which weaved a spell
to replay the days events in our heads for her to see.

Selene removed her hand and gasped as the
last image of Blu diving into the lake finished. “No. No it cannot
be true,” she said in disbelief as she stepped back from me.

I fell onto my bed, tired from the changes
and the magic which had been used against me. “What is it? Who is
he to me? Is he really my mate?”

She shook her head, refusing to answer and
then hurried from my room, closing the door behind her. The pain
was intensifying so I closed my eyes and let myself sleep in an
effort to try to heal myself.

* * *

“Chandra. Chandra, wake up! You’re going to
miss story time!” a young female yelled at me from beside the
bed.

I opened one eye and looked at the seven
year old girl standing with her hands on her hips beside me. She
was small for her age, but what she lacked in height she made up
for in attitude.

Once I had been rehabilitated Selene decided
that helping children find their powers would help calm the anger
and despair that she insisted surrounded me. So I taught the
younger witches and the young girl in front of me, Juliana, was one
of my favorite students.

I showered and dressed quickly so as not to
keep the impatient child waiting too long. When done, Juliana
grabbed my hand and dragged me down the stairs to one of the common
rooms already filled with witches. This room was carpeted with soft
blue shag ideal for lounging on. Many of the older witches smiled
and bowed respectfully to me. I returned the salute and then sat
down among the young children who crowded closer as I situated
myself on the floor.