Chapter 90

Jaxon’s POV

A mate?

What kind of fucked up, twisted universe did I just fall into. I wasn’t supposed to have a mate, at least not a trusted mate. Mates made a king weak when they needed to be strong. I needed to be the strongest I could be for my dragons and for my people. They have suffered at the hands of so many before me and I made a vow to them that I would do everything in my power to keep them safe.

I first saw Anila when she was speaking with another man in the forest. I had been searching for days for the baby dragon that had hatched recently. It wasn’t where I had left it and I was growing impatient with my search. I was about to tear up the entire forest and the nearby school until I found it, but Anila brought the little creature back.

My inner dragon was immediately drawn to her and wanted to claim her as our on the spot. I shook him off though, not wanting to get into something so ridiculous with the beast. There was no way I was losing control of myself in this forest. A forest that I wasn’t even allowed to be in. This was supposed to be a quick mission. Nobody was supposed to find that egg and that dragon was supposed to remain in the tree until I could go and get it.

The only reason it was in the tree was because it needed the surrounding earth, and the sunlight in order to hatch. Imagine my surprise when I returned, and it was gone.

I sat back and watched this oddly beautiful girl speaking to this man and I felt a surge of jealousy in my gut. I recognized this girl from my dreams, which was the strangest part of all of all of this.

I had observed her in my dreams on plenty of occasions. I was glued to the ground though, unable to emerge from the shadows that the dream kept me hidden behind. I recognized the other man as well. He was one of the four that pleased and teased her right in front of me. I don’t remember feeling any type of jealousy towards any of them though. I was the observer; I was fascinated by what I was witnessing.

I couldn’t even touch myself which was infuriating.

I blinked a few times, trying to get my mind straight as I watched her put the baby dragon in the tree. She looked so sorrowful and upset that she had to leave the dragon behind. The dragon looked content with her, which was even stranger because she wasn’t one of my dragon masters. I knew all of the dragon master’s around the world and Anila wasn’t one of them.

As soon as she was gone, I stepped out of the clearing and went to the dragon. She seemed pleased to see me, despite never meeting me before. She could probably sense that I wasn’t a danger to her.

I wrapped her in my arms and made sure nobody was looking as I made my way through the forest. I stepped into town, trying to avoid the eye contact of most who walked by. It’s not like they knew for certain that I was the Dragon King, but I knew most could see my aura and knew that worked closely with dragons.

I kept the baby dragon tucked in my coat so nobody could see it. I received some dirty looks, but I paid them no attention.

I stepped around the church and into the backdoor that led into the basement. I walked down the dark steps and around the corner, brushing through the spiderwebs.

There was an elevator on the far side of the wall, hidden behind a bookshelf. I tilted down a few books on the shelf in a specific sequence until the bookshelf parted to reveal the elevator. I typed the code into the keypad and the doors of the elevator parted, allowing me to step inside.

I let the baby drink out of my coat and peeked down at it, a small smile forming on my lips.

“You are safe now, little one,” I told her in a calm tone, running my fingers down the length of her back. “You no longer need to worry.”

The doors of the elevator shut, and we started to move downward.

We built an entire city under the ground for these dragons and for the dragon masters. Of course, it’s not the perfect solution, but it keeps my people safe and that’s all I could really ask for.

“Your majesty, you’ve turned,” one of my assistants, Angelica, said, bowing her head as I walked through the foyer of my manor. “Was your mission successful?”

I turned to show her the dragon in my hands, and she gasped with glee, clapping her hands together as the baby dragon chirped with excitement.

It wasn’t easy to create real houses and homes under the ground, but with dragon magic and sorcerers who also happened to be dragon masters, it was doable, and they did a very nice job.

I stepped out of my manor, peering around at all the beautifully built buildings we had created. The city was lit by candlelight, which we felt fitting for dragons. The ceiling was high enough for the dragons to expand and fly and the city itself went on for miles.

It was a work in progress, but I was proud of it.

Dragons were kept in huge cages, which resembled barns, much like cattle, when we weren’t allowing them to fly around. They weren’t allowed to fly free without their masters. We did that for their safety more than ours. We trusted the dragons; they didn’t want to hurt anybody, and I wouldn’t treat them as criminals over something they had no control over.

I shuddered at the memory of how they were forced to do unspeakable things at the hands of the former Dragon King.

I walked across the farm, the area where we kept the dragons, and we also grew underground crops, enchanted to grow without sunlight.

I paused in front of a specific cage and motioned for the dragon keeper on duty to open the cage.

She looked at the baby dragon in my hands and her smile grew large as she unlatched the cage, allowing me access.

I stepped into the cage and peeked up at the large purple and blue dragon that sat in the back corner, resting after a long day of flying around with her master, who happened to be one of the councilmen I had appointed recently.

I appointed councilmen to help keep things orderly in the underground city, Dragon Valley.

“Sapphire,” I greeted the dragon, lowering my head in respect to the gorgeous beast. “I have your daughter.”

Sapphire’s head lifted and her gorgeous blue eyes widened at the sight of the baby dragon, chirping happily in my hands.

I knew the large beast was depressed when we found her baby missing. But now that I had found her, things should be restored.

Sapphire flew to her feet, whipping her entire body around and coming toward me in a quick motion. I had grown used to the antics of dragons and I felt no fear toward the creature. Even when it croaked and growled, lowering her head until she was only inches from it.

Her eyes flickered to the baby dragon, and I saw the love and excitement in them as she nuzzled the baby dragon with her nose.

I allowed the baby dragon to go with her mother and patted Sapphire's head, a smile tugging at my lips.

“What will you name her?” I asked, keeping my hand on Sapphire's head as I spoke. Dragons don’t speak to me with words, but they put images and thoughts into my mind which was just as good as speaking to me. They can even put words into my head instead of images. After a brief pause, a word flashed through my head. “Ember,” I read the word out loud. “It’s a beautiful name, Sapphire.”

I patted her one last time before saying goodbye to the baby dragon and leaving the cage.

“Your majesty!” I heard from a distance. I turned my body around to see one of the councilmen, Emmet, rushing toward me. “Welcome back, sir. We are glad that you have returned. Has there been word on the war on the surface?”

I shook my head, feeling exhausted. I had been working alongside the Alpha King for days and I was beyond tired.

“Our suspicions were correct, Emmet,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. “He has the Dragon stone.”

There were gasps all around and I realized there was a small audience listening to our every word.

“He could control our dragons…” Emmet whispered, taking a step back as reality came crashing down around us.

“He swore that he won’t if I continue to do as he says,” I assured them. “However, he was able to turn himself into a dragon and he caused a lot of damage. I need to return to the surface soon and try to fix some of the stuff he had destroyed.”

“We are going to be blamed for this…” one of the farm workers said, fear in her voice.

“We are blamed for everything,” another complained. “What are we going to do.”

“It isn’t for you to worry about. Let me handle things. I assured you protection since I took over and I’m keeping my word,” I told them all firmly.

“And if you can’t?” Someone asked. “Then what?”

“Do you doubt me?!” I asked, my eyes blazing and my dragon feeling furious as I whipped around to face them. They all gasped and stepped back.

“No, your majesty,” most murmured.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that we’ve been through so much already….”

“Did you think more about what we spoke about in the last meeting?” Emmet asked, using his calm voice to try and keep me calm and my dragon under control.

I nearly spit fire at the very thought of his suggestion, but I also knew they were right.

“If you took a queen and produced an heir, we would be protected even after your passing,” Emmet said.

“That’s not going to help us right now,” a woman said, folding her arms across her chest.

“Right now, we need to figure out how to get that Dragon stone back,” Emmet agreed. “Our dragons won’t be free until we have it safely in our possession. But once we have it, we need to ensure its safety. We don’t want it to fall back into the wrong hands. If the king dies, anyone could be appointed next, and we could have a terrible situation on our hands. We need to ensure that the next king understands the importance of the stone and keeps it safe no matter what. Someone we can train from the ground up. Someone we can trust.”

“An heir,” someone else agreed. “We are sick of having to open ourselves up and trust king after king. None of them proved worthy until you. We had been through hell and back. Please, Your Majesty, produce a child for us to train.”

I ran my fingers through my hair again, aggravated by this conversation.

“I know that you think taking a queen would make you weak, but that just isn’t true,” Emmet continued. “A king is only as strong as his queen. You are 32 years old. It’s time for you to find a queen.”