Chapter 96

Anila’s POV

“What do you mean you know the dragon king?” Harley asked all their eyes on me completely now.

My cheeks flushed.

“He’s kind of my fifth mate…” I admitted, biting my lower lip and anticipating some lash-back. But they all just stared at me with their mouths hanging open.

“Your 5(th) mate is the dragon king?” Damien asked, finally finding his mate. “Are you sure about that?”

I nodded.

“Yes,” I told him. “I’m sure about it just as sure as I am that the four of you are my mates.”

Damien shuffled awkwardly in his shoes and glanced at the ground. Zach and Harley exchanged a look before looking at Xaden who appeared frozen in place as he stared at me.

“And you’ve spoken to him?” Xaden asked, his voice coming out softly.

I nodded again.

“Yes,” I answered. Then I looked at Zach, meeting his eyes. “That baby dragon that I found. Jaxon came to retrieve her. That’s why she went missing.”

He nodded in understanding.

“What baby dragon?” Xaden asked, looking between Zach and me.

“It’s a long story,” I admitted. “But I met Jaxon and he said that he can help.”

“I doubt it’s that easy,” Damien said, shaking his head. “What’s the catch?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and stared at my feet.

“Anila…” Xaden urged, also wondering what the catch was.

I sighed and met his eyes.

“I have to leave with him tonight.”

“Leave where?” Zach asked.

“Probably to the underground city,” Harley said, his brows furrowed together.

“It’s called Dragon Valley,” Damien said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“He wants you to go to Dragon Valley?” Xaden asked. “Why?”

“He won’t tell me until we get there,” I told them. “So, I’m not entirely sure.”

“You aren’t actually going ot go, right?” Zach asked, folding his arms across his chest.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I have to or Xaden will die,” I reminded him, my voice coming out harsher than I meant it to.

“We can find another way,” Zach said through his teeth; I could feel his anger and it was making me angry in return.

“If you know of another way, I’d love to hear it, Zach,” I barked. “As far as I’m concerned, this is an easy way to get help without risking your lives.”

“At what cost?!” Zach hissed. “Your body??”

“That’s not fair,” I said, tears welling in my eyes. “I’m not having sex with him, I’m saving Xaden.”

“What do you think he wants with you, Anila? Obviously, he wants you to have sex with him.”

“Enough!” Xaden said, stopping between Zach and me. “If Anila says she’s not going there to have sex with him, then I believe her.”

“Of course, you would,” Zach muttered. “What else could he want with her?”

Xaden turned to me; his eyes filled with compassion.

“Do you trust this guy?” Xaden asked.

I nodded my head without hesitation.

“Yeah, I do and if he says that he’s going to help you, then I believe him. But I need to do something for him first. I’ll do anything to save you, Xade,” I told him, putting my hand on his arm. “I don’t think Jaxon wants to hurt me.”

Xaden nodded and ran his fingers down the side of my face.

“Then, I trust you to make this decision for yourself,” he told me softly.

“Are you fucking serious?!” Zach hissed. “We can’t let her do this!”

“You can’t ‘let me’?” I asked, my brows furrowed together angrily. You aren’t the boss of me, Zach. None of you are. I’m my own person and I can make my own decisions.”

“None of us doubt that, Anila. We aren’t trying to tell you what to do,” Harley said, being the voice of reason, which I appreciated, but I was still angry and filled with so many different emotions. “But you can’t blame us for being a little concerned about this.”

“If this is the only way to save Xaden then I’m going to do it,” I said, folding my arms across my chest in defiance.

Xaden wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him.

“I appreciate how much you care about me,” he whispered against me. “But if this puts you in danger…”

“He’s not going to hurt me,” I assured him, peeking up at him through my lashes. “I know he won’t. I need you guys to trust me.”

“Of course we trust you,” Xaden said. “I love you.”

“I Love you too,” I said without hesitation and not caring that the others were watching us. They already knew I was in love with Xaden; this wasn’t new information. “I just want you to be okay again. I can’t have you die…I don’t think I could survive that.”

Xaden ran his thumb across my cheek and that’s when I realized I was crying. He kissed the tears on my cheeks and then kissed my forehead.

“This is all nice and all but how long are you going to be gone?” Damien asked. “What about school? We still need to train for the challenges which are only a couple of months away. That’s hardly enough time.”

“And I doubt the underground city has computers,” Harley said, scratching the top of his head. “How are you going to do your schoolwork?”

I hadn’t thought about that; I didn’t want to fail out of school and let down Principal Rapport.

“I’ll find a way to get to a computer,” I told them, but I knew I sounded uncertain. “I’ll figure it out.”

“I’ll speak with Principal Rapport and see if we can come up with something,” Damien assured me. “I’ll also come up with a lesson plan for your magic training and I’ll find a way to get it to you.”

I smiled at him.

“Thanks, Damien.”

He nodded, but he still looked awkward.

I turned back to Zach who still looked pissed.

“I know you aren’t happy about this,” I began to say gently.

“You bet your ass I’m not happy about this,” he said through his teeth.

“But I need you to support me here, Zach,” I said, eyeing him carefully. “This is important. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was the best thing to do. I can't lose him, and I don’t want to put any of you at risk. Losing any of you isn’t something I could bear…”

He didn’t say anything, but he sighed, running his fingers through his dark locks of hair.

“If you’re sure about this, then I support you,” Harley said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “But if we figure out a cure before Jaxon can help him, then we are pulling you out of there.”

“And if he hurts you in any way, I’ll kill him myself,” Zach hissed.

I smiled at them and then I nodded.

“Thank you, guys,” I said to them.

“So, when do you leave?” Xaden asked.

I took a deep breath.

“Sundown tonight.”

…..

I’m not sure how long I had been asleep, but I woke up just as the sun started to set in the evening. I lifted my head off Xaden’s chest and wiped the drool off the side of my face just as Harley and Zach burst into the door, scaring me.

“So, it’s true then. You’re leaving,” Harley asked, his eyes wild. I knew they had both just woken up as well and weren’t sure what was real and what was a dream.

I stood to my feet and nodded.

“Yeah,” I told them. “It was all true. I’m going with Jaxon to see what it is he wants before he saves Xaden’s life.”

“This is a stupid decision,” Zach muttered, folding his arms across his chest.

“But you’ll still support me, right?” I asked, my eyes pleading.

“It’s the least you can do since you forced your mark on her,” Harley scowled. “Which we didn’t even tell Xaden about.”

My cheeks flushed.

“I didn’t want to cause him unnecessary stress,” I admitted. “Do you think he noticed?”

“He definitely noticed,” Harley said. “Probably didn’t want to bring it up in a dream sequence though. I’m sure he will once he wakes up.”

Zach blanched.

I nodded.

“When he wakes up,” I said, indicating that he was going to wake up.

Harley nodded in agreement.

“Where are you meeting him?” Zach asked.

“At the pack borders,” I answered.

“We will walk with you there,” Zach said, leaving no room for arguments.

I nodded, not wanting to argue anyway. I was hoping they would accompany me to meet with Jaxon.

“Okay,” I agreed.

We sat for a little while longer as I said my goodbyes to Xaden. I stood and pressed my lips against his, despite his sleeping form.

“I love you,” I whispered to him.

Then, we left the clinic, walking in silence through the forest grounds knowing that Jaxon wanted to remain in the forest, so he wasn’t spotted. The closer I got, the more nervous I felt. We remained silent and when we got to the borders, Jaxon wasn’t there.

“Maybe he changed his mind,” Zach muttered.

Something told me that wasn’t the case though.

We remained for several minutes, pacing back and forth and then I heard the shuffling of some leaves. I whipped around to see a dark shadow emerge from the distance, and through that shadow, I saw Jaxon staring at me.