“Great. Please say it’s good news,” Hunter said as he motioned for her to take a seat at the table.
“Slayer is like a dark fairy. Endymion is the originator of the fairies. He is the Lord of the Earth. What he cast out of himself was the equivalent of a malicious, dark fairy. But think of him like a strong fairy. If there was an evil fairy king, that would be the Slayer. We need to contact Reiya, but we’re thinking you and Reiya, as the fairy princess and prince, should be able to hold him at bay with your fairy powers.” Ciana shrugged. They didn’t know for sure, but this was their best guess.
“I’ll send a messenger fairy out to get word to Reiya and see if she can come here so we can discuss everything. In either case,it looks like this is still going to be a gamble.” Hunter sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“Jester is still reading some of the remaining tablets. No one has ever fought against the Slayer before because Endymion kept him in check, but it seems highly likely.” Ciana reached out and grabbed an apple off the table. “Jin still sleeping?”
“Yeah, we had an interesting day yesterday. I’ll let Freja tell you about it. I’m going to go and get that message sent out.” Hunter stood, bending over and kissing Freja on the forehead before straightening up. “I’ll be right back, love.”
By mid-afternoon, the dragons were descending upon Black Ice Pack territory. Reiya hopped off the back of a blue dragon while Brody and Chelsie hopped off a red dragon. There were also two other dragons there that were shifting into their human selves.
Hunter walked over to the group with Freja at his side.
“Hunter, I’d like you to meet my mate, Lila.” Xander wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her close. “And this is her brother Dex, the King of the North.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Hunter said with a small nod. He then turned to look at Reiya. “Ciana brought back some news from the vampires. Have you guys been able to uncover anything?”
“Grandpa Sage said that he’s the dark to our light. But a single candle can pierce the darkness. He thinks we need to outshine him in a sense. But he’s still studying,” Reiya said.
“Where’s Chase at?” Brody said as he looked around.
“He’s in the house with Jin. We had … well, we had a bit of an incident yesterday. Jin got taken by demons and ended up with the demon Harley, who is the son of an original demon. It turnsout they’re having a baby girl and she’s Harley’s mate. It’s a lot to process.” Hunter sighed, shaking his head.
“Oh, geez. Chelsie and I will go on in and see them, if that’s alright.”
“Send Ciana out, will you? So she can explain what they found in the vampire kingdom.”
Brody nodded at Hunter, and he and Chelsie walked away.
“Is Jin okay?” Reiya asked with a frown.
“Jin ate all of Harley’s imported chocolate, so she’s good.” Freja giggled. “Actually, besides being tired, I think she handled this better than all of us.”
“Do they want us to take care of the demon?” Levi asked as he met with the silver eyes in front of him.
Hunter smiled in appreciation. “No, Harley was actually pretty nice about everything. He just asked to be a part of their daughter’s life and for her to be allowed to make up her own mind about him. He said he will abide by her wishes. He has also offered to stay with Jin during the demon war to make sure she stays safe.”
Freja turned back to see Ciana walking out toward them. She looked up when she was only a few feet away and stopped abruptly, her eyes locking onto something. Freja turned her head to look back at the other dragon, who was also staring at her.
At first, a sweet aroma hit his nose. Dex was trying to pay attention to what Hunter was saying, but he couldn’t concentrate. And then he saw her. Her black, silky hair flowed behind her and over her caramel skin. The moment he saw her sweet, brown eyes, he heard the word.Mate.This girl was his second-chance mate. It was almost unheard of for dragons, and yet here she was. He kept his eyes locked onto hers as he studied her every movement. The last time he met his mate, she’drejected him. There was that small fear that this girl would do the same.
Xander looked over at Levi. “Looks like we may need you to bless another mating ceremony.” He smirked as he looked at the two dragons, waiting for one of them to make a move.
Ciana took a few small steps forward, her eyes never leaving Dex’s. Her mind was screaming at her that this was her mate, but she was a bit afraid. She didn’t know who this person was. She looked over at Freja nervously but was immediately comforted when she saw her reassuring smile. The man started walking toward her until he stood right in front of her.
“My name is Dex. I’m the King of the North.”
“Ciana,” she whispered as she held his gaze. She watched a small smile spread over his lips. He reached his hand out. She looked at his open hand and slowly slid hers into it, feeling the warm tingles ripple over her skin the moment they touched.
“This is our luck dragon, Dex. And it looks like she’s really your lucky dragon.” Xander chuckled and squeezed Lila into his side.
Dex smiled and continued to lose himself in her deep, pooling brown eyes. “Ciana, will you accept me?” He watched her slowly nod her head and his lips curved into a wide smile. “I’ve finally found my queen.” He lifted her hand to his lips and gently pressed them against her skin.
“Well, umm, how about we move inside so they can have a moment?” Reiya said, winking at her brother.
“Yeah, I can relay to you what I was told when we’re inside.” Hunter chuckled, and the group slowly moved away, leaving the two dragons standing there. They were still lost in each other’s gaze and probably never even noticed them leaving.
Hunter and Freja walked over to the couch, and the others gathered in the living room around them.
