Amaya's Storm (Book One)

When I woke up my muscles were stiff and my head was killing me. Taking in my surroundings, I saw I was back in my room at the Jackson’s house. I finally found what I was looking for, water. When I reached for it though my torso grabbed at me causing me to cry out quietly in pain, so I just bent the water to me. My small bits of movement alerted a she-wolf that was sitting near the bed, "You’re awake, good."

"Ho-" I tried to say but my throat was still dry despite the water, "How long have I been out?"

"A day and a half. I’m Laura Fleming, the Pack healer," she pulled back the blanket that was covering me and began undressing my wounds. "You’ve healed nicely. You will probably scar slightly. Take it easy the next couple of days, no running, fighting, or shifting, but you don’t need to lie in bed the whole time." I looked down at the puckering wounds and gave her a nod, "good. I’ll let everyone know you’re awake."

"No," she gave me a confused look, "Let me get dressed and I’ll come down with you."

She helped me out of bed, I sucked in a sharp breath in pain, "Are you sure you don’t want to stay in bed? Everyone would be fine coming up to see you."

"I’m fine," I said through gritted teeth. She pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. I slowly put on an oversized sweater and a pair of sweats. I was quickly exhausted by the amount of energy that went into doing just that small task. I steeled myself against the urge to crawl back into bed before Laura and I headed downstairs.

I had missed Daniel and Josie’s scents in my room, but by the time I hit the bottom of the stairs, their scents overwhelmed me. Daniel was the first to see me, probably scenting me, he looked over from his conversation with Charlie and Aaron, who I was surprised to still see here. He crossed the room and wrapped me in a hug, "How do you feel?"

"Sore and hungry," on cue my stomach growled causing us both to chuckle.

"Don’t worry Mom and Luca are making dinner. It should be ready soon," Jax said from somewhere in the room.

Dragons enjoyed contact especially from loved ones and if there had been something wrong with them. "All right stop hogging her. It’s my turn to hug her. I don’t care if she’s your daughter, she’s my best friend, now hand her over," Daniel growled low, "Ooo I’m so scared. Now hand her over."

I chuckled at their exchange and decided for Josie’s sake to pull myself out of the hug with Daniel, "Goddess Jos, seriously?"

She pulled me into a hug, "What? He’s fine, he knows how this goes. There are rules."

"Hugging rules? Really?"

"Yup," I didn’t realize how tense she was until I felt her relax completely in my grasp. I tightened my hug a little bit more and we stood there for a few beats until she finally started to pull away from me. "Please don’t do that again."

"What? Get attacked by a power mad misogynist? Because I can’t promise that."

She hit me gently on the shoulder, "No faint and then don’t wake up for almost two days."

"I will do my best," I said.

Jax came up to us and wrapped me in a hug, "Oh sure don’t worry about the conversation we were having," Josie said to him.

"I won’t. It seemed finished anyway," he said, shrugging his shoulders. I stifled a giggle into Jax’s chest.

"Well you’re wrong it wasn’t," Josie scoffed.

I pushed out of Jax’s chest, "You’re both pretty," I said with a smile and a pat to both of their cheeks. They both scoffed but didn’t say anything else as I pushed past them.

King Aaron stood and bowed his head, "Your Majesty, I must apologize for James Scott’s actions. He is currently being held in my cells and will be tried for his crimes. His clan is being investigated to see what other crimes he might have committed."

"And who’s in charge of his clan currently?"

"My oldest sister and her mate. There will be a mental contest of control and once the candidates have been narrowed down the clan will vote. She has a good head on her shoulders and could easily lead the kingdom if she wanted. I’m hoping they choose to keep her in charge."

I nodded, "And Conner? What becomes of him? What if he passes and the clan decides to keep him as their next leader? I’m sure they’ve been significantly scarred by the Scott family, and that they have supporters within the clan as well."

"Connor and his mother have not been allowed to stay in the clan. They were moved to mine, and Connor will not be allowed to be in the running for leader of the clan. He lost that right when his father attacked you. He’s just as bad as his father when it comes to respecting those around him."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Daniel said, moving over to our conversation, "Why doesn’t Connor come to Virginia with us? We’ll train him, teach him discipline, and teach him to respect those around him."

"I’m not training him," Josie and I said at the same time.

"You’ll both train him, along with Alanza," Daniel said to Josie and me.

"Oh he’s going to love that. Not just three girls training him but they aren’t even all dragons. Great. Yeah he’s going to be super receptive," I said sarcastically before walking to the kitchen.

Jo wrapped me in a hug when I walked in, "I’m glad you’re okay sweetie."

"Thanks Jo. Do you guys need any help in here?" I asked.

"Nope. Have a seat with Feray, we’re almost done," Luca said.

I did as he said and sat down with his mate at the bar, "How are you feeling?"

"Sore and somehow still very tired," I said.

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it, "You’re healing well though?"

"Laura says I am. I should be completely healed in the next couple of days."

Feray nodded, "Good. You should be healed by the time our other guest gets here."

"So who is this mystery guest? Other than you guys mentioning they’re human you guys have kept them pretty under wraps."

"It’s just someone Jax knows and is in business with," she added that last part almost as an afterthought.

I nodded. I was curious about the human they had visiting but not curious enough to continue asking questions. Jo had Feray and I set the table. We got everything put on the table and got settled at the table.

As everyone had their own conversations around us, King Aaron, who was seated on my left, leaned in, "You aren’t mated."

"Neither are you," I pointed out, before going back to my plate of food.

"Have you just not found him yet?"

"Bit uncouth of you to ask. To answer your question though, yes I’ve met my mate. We haven’t mated yet because he doesn’t know I’m his mate," I said, getting increasingly bored with this conversation.

"How could he not know?"

"He’s human," I continued to eat as Aaron’s silverware clattered to his plate.

"He-he’s human. How?"

"Well I would venture to say he was born that way," I said, giving him a sardonic look, "I met him at the same time I met Jax when I was training."

"Have you decided what you’re going to do?"

"No. For now I have other things to worry about, like training an unwilling former heir."

"Well should you find yourself without a mate," I growled low, not liking where he was going with this, "I would be happy to throw my hat in the ring. If you’re looking for someone."

"I’m not," I barely gritted out, "I will either have my mate or I will have no one at all." I scooted my chair back from the table. "Jo, Luca, dinner was lovely but I’m still very tired. I’m going to go back to my room, excuse me."

I stood a bit too quickly, momentarily forgetting about my injuries, and nearly doubled over in pain. Lucky for me Jax was seated on my right, he quickly grabbed me, "You good Little Duck?"

"Fine pup," I said quietly through gritted teeth.

"Yeah sure you’ve got me fooled," he said as he picked me up, bridal style, "Let’s get you back to bed."

"Alexander Jackson! Put me down right now," I demanded, unable to really struggle because of the pain in my torso.

"Oooo the full name. If only you knew my middle name, then you might actually have some effect on me. Until then Little Duck you are stuck being carried."

I hmphed into his chest like a child, but he carried me back up to my room and settled me into bed. "Okay you’ve tucked me in. You can go now."

"Come on Little Duck don’t be like that. You need to rest up and get well. I have a lot planned in the next few days. Plus we’re supposed to have the feast tomorrow night," he said, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Speaking of which, who’s the human you have coming? What business could you have with a human?"

"We do business all the time with humans. It’s just more of that, except this one is coming to stay for several days while we talk over some new contracts and stuff." He kept his answer as vague as possible, which irritated me and made me wonder if he would be stupid enough to actually invite Fox here in an effort to force the mate bond.

Finally he left me alone so I could fall asleep. When I woke up again it was early the next morning. I felt marginally better than when I went to sleep. I found getting out of bed much easier than yesterday, and I quickly took care of my business before heading downstairs. "Little Duck. What are you doing out of bed? Mom was getting ready to bring you something for breakfast," Jax said as I entered the dining room.

"I’m fine Jax. Well better than yesterday," I shrugged, "Besides I need to get up and walk around if I’m going to make it to the feast tonight."

"Whatever. Get back upstairs, or I’ll carry you back up," he said, coming for me.

I put my hands up in surrender, "Fine. Fine. I’ll go back up, Jesus."

"Thank you," Jax said with an exasperated sigh.

Soon after I settled back into bed, Jo brought up a tray of food for me, "How are you feeling today sweetie?"

"Better than yesterday, but still not fully recovered," I winced as I adjusted in bed, "Where are Daniel and Josie? I don’t feel them in the house anymore."

"Daniel went with Aaron to help with the trial of Scott and Josie decided to head back with Conner before our other guest arrived. She said she would get started on training with Alanza, was it?" I nodded, "Alanza, and you could step in and take over when you got home."

"Did Daniel say if he was going to call when the trial was over?" I asked, munching on some of the bacon.

She nodded, "He said he would call as soon as it was over."

"I wish I could be there," I said almost to myself.