Authors: Natalie Frost
“We have to be cautious,” the man said calmly.”
“By attacking an innocent, unarmed civilian?” Amias shot back at him.
“How were we supposed to know she wasn’t leading us into a trap?”
“She wasn’t!” Amias looked down at her apologetically, reaching up to brush a chunk of loose hair from her eyes. “She was coming to help me.” The men around them shifted their weight nervously, not sure what to make of the tender interaction between Amias and one of their enemies. Amias pushed himself up, leaving her sitting on the ground and turned to address them. “I know you all still doubt. You don’t believe me and you don’t trust her. But that’s not the issue right now,” he said firmly.
Gerrit walked over and placed a firm hand on Amias’ shoulder. The two of them stood almost equal in height, Gerrit only a few inches taller, but both had equally large, strong frames and muscular bodies. “We have to leave, Amias,” he said in a hushed but serious tone. “Now.”
Nicole sat, watching them. She was amazed that the confrontation had ended so quickly. One moment she was genuinely afraid for her life—the next she was once again filled with the sadness and heartache the impending separation from Amias brought her. Her thoughts were distracted, momentarily, when she saw the security camera hanging over the door turn to face where they were standing. “Amias,” she said quietly. He didn’t hear her. “Amias!” she yelled at the same time a loud siren rent the air.
The men around her turned about frantically, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Amias returned quickly to her side. “Now my people are coming,” she said to him, panic and fear heavy on her voice. “You have to run! You have to get out of here!” she tried to yell over the loud wailing screams of the alarm.
It was too late, though. Within a matter of seconds, a caravan of tanks and armored vehicles were visible in the distance. They were moving towards them quickly. “What do we do?” Amias asked, looking up at the men around him.
“We fight,” Gerrit answered bluntly.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Get back,” Amias ordered her, looking down at her with a sense of urgency in his eyes.
“What?” she asked, confused, scared, and incapable of moving.
All around them the men were changing, filling the air with smoke and heat. She didn’t turn to look at them, hovering above them in their dragon forms. She kept her eyes locked on Amias’. “You have to get back,” he said to her again, pulling her to her feet and nudging her towards the building.
“I’m scared,” she whispered to him.
“I know,” he said as he guided her to the covered entrance of the Gen-Lab off-site facility. “Me too,” he confessed. Once he was sure that she was tucked safely away he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before turning to run back to fight alongside his people.
Nicole watched as a cloud of smoke consumed him. The air filled with a pulsing heat, and in a flash, he changed to his dragon form. By the time he joined his fellow kind the opposing forces were already upon them. Compared to the dragon shifters’ massive size and tough armored bodies, the humans appeared small, weak, and fleshy, even wrapped in their protective gear and heavy uniforms.
Amias and his group took flight, filling the air and darting around with swift, quick movements. The ability with which they were able to move so agilely, despite their size and weight impressed Nicole but filled her with concern for her people at the same time.
She watched as one released a column of fire, knocking three men back at one time. Of the three, only one pushed himself back to his feet and scurried to take cover behind one of the tanks. Another dragon dove out of the air, grabbing onto two men at once and throwing them back, releasing a ball of fire that quickly consumed them.
One of the tanks came to life, spinning its large gun around and setting one of the dragons in its sights. With a loud bang, a metal projectile came flying out, hitting its target and sending him plummeting to the ground, landing with a loud thud that shook the ground.
The battle continued for what felt like hours, although it couldn’t have really been more than twenty minutes. The dragons dove down; releasing their flames, then once again darted up into the air, moving just out of the line of fire the guns and tanks were shooting at them.
When she saw one tank turn its gun in Amias’ direction, Nicole wanted to scream out. She wanted to warn him. He was distracted, trying to fight off a line of men with guns and riot shields who were also setting their sights on him. She pushed herself up just as the blast rang out. It was the only sound she heard before the loud crash that accompanied his fall.
When he hit the ground, his body shook. The impact must have startled him because he transformed quickly back into his human form. She watched as he tried to push himself up to his feet, but fell back to the ground. He stumbled backward, trying to distance himself from the fight.
She couldn’t remain still any longer. Against her better judgment, she rushed out onto the battlefield and fell to his side. “You have to get back!” he ordered her, his voice weak and laced with pain.
She ignored him, though. Wrapping her arms around him, she helped him to his feet, and they began to make their way back to where she was taking cover before. His weight leaning on her almost caused her to fall forward twice, but she forced herself to remain upright and continue placing one foot in front of the other. When they reached the entrance to the building, she let him slump to the ground while she reached for her keys, which were still in the lock.
Opening the door, she once again took hold of him and led him inside. They didn’t stop moving back until they turned a corner and took refuge in the long hallway, which led deeper into the high-security facility.
Collapsing onto the ground together, she wrapped her arms around him. He rested his head in her lap and let out a few deep, shaky breaths. She could see that he was losing blood, quickly, and knew that she needed to do something.
“I have to go back out there,” he said weakly.
“No,” she replied firmly. “You have to stay here. You’re hurt!”
“It doesn’t matter,” he coughed. “I have to help my people.”
“You can’t help them in this condition,” she countered, running her hands through his hair trying to ease his pain in any way possible.
He didn’t interject. He just looked up at her with his deep green eyes. As she sat there, stroking his hair, the sounds of the battle going on not far away, he let his eyes close slowly.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Once Amias had drifted off to sleep, Nicole slipped away, searching the rooms around them for some sort of medical kit. When she found what she was looking for, she hurried back to him. He was still lying on the ground, breathing heavily, the large gash in his side still producing unsettling amounts of blood.
When she poured an excessive amount of disinfectant liquid on his wound, his eyes shot open and he let out a gasp of pain. “Shh,” she said to him, reaching out and placing her hand on his face. “I’m sorry, but I need to sew this up.”
He laid his head back down on the ground and stared up at the ceiling above them. The sounds of the fight continued to echo through the building, causing her hands to shake with worry.
As she worked, they remained silent. It took some time, but with enough pressure and a number of stitches she was able to close up the wound and stop the bleeding. When she let out a shaky sigh of relief and leaned back against the cold concrete wall, Amias turned to face her. “It’s bad, Nicole,” he said to her quietly.
“Your wound?” she asked.
“No,” he replied firmly. “The fight. A lot of people are hurt, some dying—on both sides.”
“I should have listened to you sooner,” she choked, tears beginning to burn her eyes. “I should have listened to you when you first told me. I should have let you go then.”
“Don’t,” he said pushing himself up, gritting his teeth when the bolt of pain from his side ran through him. “Don’t blame yourself for this.”
“But I could have prevented it!” she exclaimed, no longer able to hold back the tears.
“I don’t blame you for anything,” he said reaching out and taking her hands in his.
“You tried to warm me…”
“And if you had listened to me, that first day I spoke to you about this, I wouldn’t have had the chance to spend all this time with you.”
She felt a flutter of emotion run through her. The way he looked at her—the way he spoke to her—it was real. It only served to momentarily quell her own anger with herself. “But at what cost?” she said remorsefully, once again letting the sounds of the battle raging on around them fill her senses. “All those lives. I could have stopped this.”
“Nicole,” he said scooting himself closer to her. “If I had wanted to escape, I could have. I did! Twice!” he added with a weak smile. He was right. He was able to break out of his holding cells on two separate occasions, both times to come to her rescue. “I asked you to help me because I trusted you. Not because I needed you to help me.” He released her hands and lifted his to her face, wiping away her tears. “If anyone is to blame for all of this, it’s me.” He sighed. “But there’s no point dwelling on that now.”
“You’re right,” she said nodding her head decisively. “We need to figure out what to do next.”
“There are more of my people,” he replied. “I can sense them. They’re not too far away. I have to go to them.”
She nodded her head, biting her bottom lip to try to keep from letting her hurt show. She knew it was inevitable. She knew he was going to have to leave her, but still, every time the realization washed over her, it left her feeling more and more empty and helpless.
“I don’t want to leave you, either,” he said to her softly, leaning in and kissing her. “But I don’t have another choice. There is no future for me or my people here on Earth.”
“I know,” she said pulling away from him and wiping her cheeks to dry them. “I just don’t know what I’ll do when you’re gone. You’ve changed my life—you’ve changed me. I don’t want to go back to who I was without you.”
“Maybe we don’t have to be separated,” he replied.
“What do you mean?”
“My people, they’re not like yours, Nicole. They’re accepting.”
She looked at him with a hint of disbelief. “I’ve already met your people,” she pointed out. “And they didn’t seem too accepting to me.”
“They were scared,” he pointed out. “I told you before when it comes to the well-being of one of our own we tend to be a little more defensive.” He once again took her hands in his and pulled her close to him. “But you can come with us, Nicole. They will accept you, warmly. They will welcome you and treat you as one of our own.”
She wanted to; more than anything in the world she wanted to go with him. But she still felt apprehensive. “I can’t,” she said finally. “I want to, Amias. I really do. But I don’t think I can. I’m not brave enough—I’m not strong enough to leave my home, my planet! My father, he would…”
“You would be far away from him. He couldn’t control you anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” she said as she leaned in and kissed him.
He released her hands and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. “Then I want to remember everything about you,” he said as he lifted her shirt over her head. He ran his hands over her body, sending shivers running up and down her spine.
She leaned forward, pressing her body to his. He laid back, keeping his hands wrapped around her waist, and pulling her on top of him. He kissed her passionately, and she let her hands slide up and down along his bare skin. Sitting up, her legs on either side of him, she pressed her hand to his chest and felt his heart beating strongly underneath it.
“I love you, Nicole,” he whispered up to her.
“I love you too, Amias,” she said before leaning into him again.
The sounds of the fight happening around them only spurred her to dive deeper into the moment. The feeling of being with him filled her completely, and as they let their bodies melt together, she felt a surge of longing blaze through her.
His strong body consumed hers, and as their moment of passion became more intense, she couldn’t help but dig her teeth into his neck, as he dug his nails into her back. The delicateness with which he moved the first time was gone. This time was a rush of pure desire—a desire to become one, a desire to hold on to what little time they had together. It was a moment of complete release as they let their emotions fill the room and overtake them both.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN