Second Chances (The Extinct Race Series) (15 page)

They landed in Dublin and walked until they felt a tiny pull.
It was behind them as they walked into the countryside. The pull moved past them swiftly and then disappeared. They all saw the truck though. They ran until they were just stopped by something they couldn’t see. They stood there for a while and then they felt Dragons. They pulled out their guns and opened fire. Just as quick as the pull was there it also was gone. They all thought they killed them.

They walked a little off the road and into the trees.
They made camp and were waiting to see if they felt more Dragons, before they called their father. Greg knew they had to be sure. They knew there was something strange at work here, but they were unsure of what it was.

They set up their tents and made a fire.
The evening was setting in and the cool air was blowing. About an hour later they had their dinner roasting on the fire and were waiting for it to be done. Greg felt a tiny pull so he looked around. When he saw nothing he let it go and turned the small rabbit over on the fire. A second later the fire exploded and caught them all on fire. As they ran screaming the earth opened up and swallowed them and all their belonging whole. They were never heard from again.

The other groups were everywhere.
None had felt any Dragons yet, some of the groups used their time away from Aldrich as a vacation. They partied and drank their days away. The guilt of killing their sister ate them up. But most of Aldrich’s sons were out for blood. They believed everything he told them. They believed they were superior to the other races. It was just a matter of time before it caught up to them.

Aldrich sat in his office.
Betrayed by his own kin and hurt. The voices in his head never stopped their banter. He knew it was all her fault. She worshipped that stupid King. She always ran when he needed her. Heal this and that, take this hurt out of this person and help with this birth. By the time that bitch got pregnant with his child, he knew things would change. But when she had a girl and not a boy, as his own hands told him it would be, it was too late. The voices had already told him what she was up to. They told him the things she did behind his back. They told him what he really needed to do. They told him he was the rightful King of the races. They told him everything. Now they told him to be patient, that his sons would not fail him. They told him the time was soon and he would be King. Patience was the key.

He sat a waited.
His phone was on and ready to receive calls. It was just a matter of time. He would wait a month before he rounded them all up again. He would then know who was loyal to him. After a month he would bring them all back and regroup. After a month, he should know that the others are dead and he is the King. After a month he would rule all.

Chapter 15

Puppies and Half-Bloods

Ben was very excited to wake up this morning. He knew the puppies were coming. He woke up before everyone and cleaned his room up. Ben quietly left the suite and went down stairs. The day before he had helped Mary and Mateo put the kennels up outside, so he went to go check those. There were dog houses in each kennel that were not there the day before. The wood looked like the same wood on the main house, so Ben guessed that some of the builders must have made them. Ben checked the sides, they wouldn’t budge when pushed on, and that was good. He then checked the gates made sure they would lock in place. The handle was high so he knew the dogs would not be able to open it. When he was positive it was perfect for the puppies he went inside.

Mary had placed four beds in the corner of the kitchen for the puppies.
It wasn’t far from the feeding area she made in the kitchen also. The kennels weren’t far from the back door in the kitchen, so if they got bad in here she could walk them right out. Ben made sure everything was in its place in the kitchen and moved to the living room area. They had placed the crates against the wall behind the couch. This is where the puppies would sleep at night, so they did not make a mess. Mary and Ben had agreed that these crates were meant to be a safe area. So if the puppies were bad, they go outside to a kennel. Ben had loved this idea, something told him that is what they needed, a safe spot and a spot they go when they were bad. Since the crates were meant to be their sleeping area they should not fear it.

When he made sure everything was in place he pulled out all the toys Mary had bought
, placing them all in a basket next to the crates. He knew they would all find a toy they loved and would allow them to take that toy in their crate. Mary had also gotten a huge playpen area that was placed off to the side of the crates, in the middle of the room. This area would be for the really young ones that Ben had picked out. They would have to stay in here until they caught on to going outside with the bigger pups. The hard part was going to be making sure they all got along.

Once B
en had all the garbage thrown away he took a seat at the breakfast bar. He made himself a mug of cocoa and waited. Mary walked in thirty minutes later startled to see Ben sitting there. She laughed and shook her head. She walked right over to him and sat down. “Is everything in order young Ben?” She asked, knowing he had checked everything already.

“Yes Ma’am.”
Ben said

“Well then you saved me some time this morning.
I set my alarm to wake up a little earlier than normal, so I could do those checks too, but I fully trust your judgment. So now that I have some extra time I think I will make something special this morning. Would you like to help me?” Mary asked him

“I would love to.
What are we making?” Ben asked

“How about some cinnamon rolls?
I haven’t made those yet.”

“Yummy, what do I need to do?”
Ben asked. Mary told him what to grab and from which cabinet. They soon were fully into making the dough kneading and rolling it out. The girls joined them about an hour later and were surprised to see little Ben helping out. They said nothing and just smiled at him they worked around the two and quickly had other things cooking.

The rest of the house slowly made their way to the table.
The air in the house today was determined and hopeful. Everyone took their seats as breakfast was brought out. Gabe’s eyes were huge when Mary placed the cinnamon rolls near him. He beamed, standing to hug her. Mary knew that her homemade cinnamon rolls were his favorite.

“Dad you have to have one of these.
Mary always made them when I would have a bad day. She made everything better with these. Trust me if you are having a bad day, these will brighten it up.” Gabe said placing one roll on his plate then handed the platter to his father.

“Thanks son, everything that woman has cooked so far
has brought a smile to my face. She is a wonderful cook. Honestly I am surprised you are not fat having grown up with her cooking.” Michael laughed

“Hey now watch what you say, if it wasn’t for the training we do
, you would have put on fifty pounds by now dear.” Rosa admonished

“Well I have been training and I put on ten pounds, so how does that work?”
Monica asked

“Oh love that is muscle not fat.”
Brad kissed her cheek as he snagged a cinnamon roll off the passing platter.

“Well I can definitely say none of us have eaten this well in twenty years, except maybe Gabe.”
Jaco said

They all laughed and ate.
Everyone ate pretty quickly because they all wanted to give the good news to everyone. As they finished they all took their plates to the kitchen, which was an oddity to the ladies who worked in the house. Kaiden and Zoe were the last in the kitchen.

“Ladies we are all headed down to the barracks, I don’t think anyone wants to wait anymore.
So can clean up wait until later? I would love for you all to join us.” Kaiden asked

The girls laughed and ran out the back door.
Everyone was already in their training clothes, so it was pretty much a race to the barracks. Kaiden and Zoe, along with Zach and Halina, stood atop a small hill. All the others were starting to gather around them. Kaiden waved to the houses so that all of the married couples also came out. The married couples were all half-bloods who chose not to turn, choosing to have a family with the ones they loved. They were not required to train with everyone else, as most had small children and babies at home. The older couples also did not have to train. But Kaiden wanted to give the news to everyone. Once he thought the crowd was large enough and he saw everyone there he began.

“Ladies and Gentlemen we have some news.
Yesterday we came upon a journal. In this journal is the story of the Dragon who made us what we are. Thousands of years ago, there is no real time frame, there were Dragons. They could not shift into humans like us, but they had magic. They apparently killed each other off and the last Dragon was Marsali. She settled in a cave that is at the top of the mountain, she watched a group of humans. She watched them and fell in love with them. She approached them one day and offered them the chance to turn into Dragons like her. You see when the Dragons were alive they all had magic, when one would die that magic went to all the others. When they all died the magic went to Marsali. So this group of humans took her offer. They are all of our ancestors. They are the reason we are all here today.” Kaiden explains

The crowd grew quiet in though
t and some faces looked confused.

“Now when she cast the spell to change them
, she also placed a border around this mountain and the land. The border will always be there, until the last one of us dies. There is a spell book that adds extra protection to the border. Last night the four of us cast a spell. The border is now more protective of us. No one that means harm to us, human or Dragon, can see beyond the border or feel. We could stand in front of them and they would not be able to see or feel us there. So patrols are safe. Now, in this journal Marsali listed some fail safes. These fail safes were put in place in case the races ever faced extinction. The journal was also spelled so it would only be found if we faced extinction.” Kaiden let that sink in for a minute.

Everyone knew this was a possibility and you could see it on their faces.
Some more than others looked grim with the news

“Now that we all know this fact, which isn’t a surprise really
, we will get to the good stuff now. The fail safes the first one is basically Zoe and Zach. They are direct descendants of Marsali and carry the last of her magic in them. We are unsure of how to use it yet, but we will work on that.” Kaiden assured them.

“The second fail safe is a second chance rule.
The best example of this is Marcus and Iraina. They are second chance soul mates. But there is a clause in this also. Since they have both had children with their first soul mate, they cannot have any more children. But if say Paulo here finds his second chance soul mate and she did not have children, as he did not with his first, then they could have children together.” Zoe says

Looks of shock and joy pass through the crowd.

“The third rule, well, when we were created they picked four couple of every race. None of them were related, so they knew that their children would always pair up and the blood lines would not mix. Well, there are only four of us left that can have children. Zoe and Zach are twins, so our children would be cousins. So they would never pair. So to continue the race, she made the third fail safe. All of us full-bloods left will give birth to random races. Zoe and I could have a Fury and Gabe and Justine could have a Pearl. This fail safe was made to ensure soul mates and no mixing of the blood lines.” Kaiden explains

Understanding passes through the crowd as the
y listen.

“Fail safe four is kind of a cool one.
Vivi, Christian, and Zach are perfect examples of this one. You see Vivi can hear lies, but the lies cause her extreme pain. Christian can feel the intent of another. His is different than that of a mate, because he feels everyone. The rest of us feel only the intent of our mate. If it is good he is fine, if they intend to harm anyone, it causes him great pain. Zach can feel your emotions. It speaks to him, so if you are just standing here one day worried about something and he comes to you and tells you the answer to your worry. That is his special ability and just to warn you he is blunt about it. So this fail safe was created to give the last of us special abilities that are not common with our race. The rest of us are sort of figuring out ours still.” Kaiden says

“Now the best fail safe.
Lucy please come up here.” Zoe giggles

Kaiden looks to Zoe with a smile on his face.
They had agreed Zoe would tell this one, but obviously she had other plans.

“
Lucy here and the girls working in the house were serving us all dinner as we were talking about these. Lucy and the other girls decided to be turned, because of this fail safe.” Gasps were heard all around. Everyone in the community knew why these girls did not want to turn. “So since Lucy was brave enough to make that decision, I thought I would let her tell you why she and the other girls made this decision.” Zoe says smiling at Lucy as she walks up to them and turns to the crowd.

Lucy looks for her mother’s face and locks onto it.
She takes a deep breath and begins. “Fail safe four is the best one because it was meant for us half-bloods. We always knew we would not have a soul mate, also if we turned we would not be able to have children. Fail safe four changes that.” Lucy’s eyes swell up in tears and they begin to stream down her face. “In the face of extinction, which we are now in, any half-blood that is turned will be able to have children. Those children will never be able to be turned, but they will have all of the traits of a full-blood. The only thing they won’t have is the ability to fly. But they will be as strong as a full-blood. They will have the pull of a full-blood, they will have the sight of a full-blood, and they will also have the hearing.” She is fully weeping at this point and so is most of the crowd. “We will also have a soul mate once we are turned.” Lucy sobs this last one as loud as she could.

There is a loud cry in the back of the crowd, then another.
The crowd all turn and parts to reveal two couples locked together on the ground. Zoe turns to Kaiden and smiles. “I knew it wouldn’t take long and they were probably just confused.”

“Yep
.” Kaiden grabs Zoe’s hand and pulls her towards the two couples. Once he gets within a good few feet, he hugs Zoe to him. “Were you four confused about the pull?”

“Oh, yes, so much.
We were constantly at each other’s sides. I mean, we know people fall in love with each other after being turned that it’s normal. But this, this is strong. Is this what you all feel? I mean, we didn’t really like each other growing up and now I can’t get enough of him.” The girl says. After looking into her eyes Zoe notices she is one of the few Fire’s that was turned.

“What is your name?”
Zoe asked

“Marina
and this is Liam.” She says

“I am so glad you found each other and yes, this is what it is like for us too.
It is the best feeling in the world, you feel complete once you have them.” Zoe tells her

Marina nods and falls back into tears
hugging Liam to her. The other couple never even looked up from one another.

In the distance a truck was pulling up.
Mary and Mateo walked over to the truck with Ben right behind them. The man in the truck took four crates down and had Mary sign some forms. He then climbed back in his truck and drove off. Mary and Mateo were talking while Ben stood off to the side. The crowd had started to go back to their homes and to the training room. Most were still outside stretching and getting warmed up. Mary opened the door to the first crate and the dog bounded out, running straight to Ben and sat down right at Ben’s feet. Mary looked confused, but she opened the next, the puppy inside also ran right to Ben’s feet. The puppies just sat there looking up at him.