The Dragon Queens Forbidden Mate

“Emberlyn! Emberlyn! Stay with me! Don’t you dare close your eyes! Dammnit Emberlyn, you have to stay awake.” A man yelled. I'm trying. It's so hard. It's the last thing I hear before loud sirens begin to drown out all other noises. Darkness takes over all of my senses. The world goes black and all noise suddenly ceases and I fall into the void… "Emberlyn?...." I heard a strangely familiar voice echo around me. It's a woman... but who? "Hello? Who are you? What happened to me?" I called out to her. "You have to go back and wake up Emberlyn. You arent supposed to awaken yet. We will meet soon." Her voice echoed. She sounded almost ethereal. My name is Emberlyn Evans. I'm short, only 5'4" and thin. Not so much that I look sick, but enough to be cute. I have long dark brown hair that almost reaches my waist and soft light blue eyes. I have a naturally darker olive skin tone because my paternal grandma was one hundred percent native American and I am a quarter native. This is the story of how my life changed in ways I never imagined it could. Earlier that day: “Pappa, I promise I’ll be safe. I make this walk every day,” I stated over the phone. Assuring my overprotective dad, who recently gained custody, that I'll be okay. He pauses before letting out a long loud sigh, almost in defeat. “Of course you will, Emberlyn. I just have to make sure. You know this is all new territory for me. We're still figuring this out together. I’ll see you when you get home peanut. I love you.” Ah, the childhood nickname, Peanut. Gods, I hated that name. “I’ll see you in a bit, dad. I love you too.” I said, hanging up the phone. My mom recently decided to pack up her bags and leave the country. No mention of where she was going or what she'd be doing. She just dropped me off at my dad's with all of the paperwork signing full custody of me over to him. She didn’t even wait for him to come out before speeding off. I’m currently on the way to Le Petit Dejeuner, the cafe I work part time at after school. I’m 17 years old and halfway through my senior year. I decided to get a job at the beginning of the year to kill time. Turns out it's actually a lot of fun and I met some amazing people. Prime example of an amazing person, Antonio. He’s one of my favorite coworkers and a great friend. He is 5'9" and a little heavier set. His hair is brightly colored blue and short. When I first started, he showed me the ropes. When Matt, my boyfriend of three years, decided to cheat on me with my best friend Amy Turner, the cheer captain and now my biggest bully, he supported the whole rollercoaster of emotions that came with it. He trusted me enough to have me be the first person he came out to. I kind of already knew, so it wasn't a big shocker. He never looked at a woman with any interest and I would always catch him checking out a cute guy that came in. He quickly became my best friend and part of my support system. “Hey Toni. Who's on today? Wanna know who I'm closing with so I can prep.” I called out from the back room while hanging my bag and putting on my apron and hat. I used one of his nicknames. I call him Tone or Toni and he calls me Em, Ember, and Lyn. “Cindi’s the closer tonight. Should be a relaxed day. It's been slow and Cin’s is good at her job.” He calls back. I liked Cindi. She knew how to get things done and had fun doing it. A few moments later, the door bell jingled. Signaling we have a customer. I walked around to the front to find none other than the school outcast, Callum Rhodes, standing at the counter. He wasn't weird like the normal outcast. He was very reserved and private. Always kept to himself. From what I understand, he didn't have any friends and was a complete mystery. Antonio and I would always take turns attempting to find out anything about him. If I'm being completely honest, he was an attractive guy. The closed-off, mysterious vibes made him that much more intriguing. “Hey Callum. What can I do for you today?” I asked him using my best customer service voice, trying to come off as nice. “The usual. I'll be at my normal table in the corner,” he said. Straight to the point as always. “Ugh” I groaned, walking back to the kitchen. “He's so ‘to the point’ it's infuriating and interesting at the same time. I wish I could read minds. Something is going on in there and I want to know.” I complained to my best friend. “Chill Lyn. You'll figure it out eventually. Give it time. He is a tough nut to crack, but you'll get there. I believe in you.” He's trying to calm me down and encourage me at the same time. Stupid best friends, always knowing what works. “You’re right Tone, I’m overthinking this. Why should I even care what's going on inside that head of his? Even if he's incredibly hot it's not worth the stress.” He definitely knew what to say. Although I really want to know, it's really not worth stressing over. But the thing is, I’m going to stress anyway. That's just how I am. Once I have my mind set on a goal, I don't give up easily. “Gah, crap you know I can't drop this Tone. This is going to eat at me. I have to crack him.” I was determined to figure him out. “I know Em. It's pointless trying to dissuade you from anything. You’re like a dog with a bone.” He laughed, causing me to start giggling with him. His laugh was absolutely contagious. “There's that smile. Use that and be genuine, then maybe he’ll open up.” “You’re right, I always use my customer service face when I talk to him. It would be easier if I actually knew him.” “Yo! Where's my food!” Callum yelled out. s**t, his food. I got so caught up talking to Toni I completely forgot. “Coming!” I called out. “Sorry Tone, I gotta get this. Be back in a sec. Wish me luck!” I laughed to him, walking out with a raspberry mocha and raspberry danish. “You must really enjoy raspberries.” “And what makes you say that?” He says. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crushing. He had to be at least 6’2” with short black hair and piercing blue eyes that I could have sworn had flecks of gold in them, but I might be imagining things. Just looking at him, you can tell he's got a muscular build. There's no way he doesn’t work out. He's also devilishly handsome. “You come in and have the same thing every day. You come and sit in this corner typing away on your laptop sipping only your raspberry mocha and slowly eating the danish. So, either I make a killer mocha and danish or you love raspberries.” And I sound like a borderline stalker, great. Why do I have to sabotage myself? “Hm, you seem observant.” Maybe it didn’t sound so stalkerish. “The mochas here are the best in town. Used to be crap. They must have changed the recipe or something,” he said nonchalantly. “Yeah, something like that.” The massive smile was very evident on my face. The change he was talking about was definitely me starting here. It took me two months to master the mocha and even our manager noticed that there was a change to the customer base and the top 10 drink boards. “Well, I'll let you get to typing. If you need a refill just wave me down or call out.” I winked at him. I couldn't wait to tell Toni what just happened. I rushed back to the back room. Toni had to know that I finally got something out of him instead of just hums and nods. “Holy s**t Tone! I actually got some kind of reaction other than ‘hm’ or ‘uh huh’. An actual conversation. That was genuinely terrifying!” I gushed in absolute shock. “No way! You got actual words out of tall, dark, and mysterious?” We heard a voice from the doorway leading to the counter. “Hey Cin. Yeah, he actually spoke to me. Insane, right?” I filled her in on the whole encounter. Still not believing that it actually happened. “I can’t believe it. There's no way. He doesn't talk. LIke ever.” She said rolling her eyes and walking out to the counter to start her preclose routine. She was always the easiest to work with. She got straight to business as soon as she walked in every day. The rest of the shift was relatively uneventful. Aside from some of the cheer girls coming in after practice and Callum getting visibly annoyed with one of the captains. She couldn’t take a hint. He wasn't interested in whatever she was offering. I had to battle with myself, deciding whether or not I should go rescue him. Eventually, I was even getting fed up with her constantly invading his space and decided to walk over to "offer a refill". "Hey Callum, would you like a refill? On the house for one of our favorite customers." I made a point to completely ignore the cheerleaders and only focus on him. "Umm, yeah sure." He said almost cautiously. Unsure what I'm doing. "His cup is almost completely full. He doesn't need another cup, so why don't you get back to work!" One of the girls shouted at me. I know EXACTLY who that is. The cheating b***h! I'm about to turn around and start something but Callum stops me. "Hey, come on, she's not worth losing your job." "You're right. Shes not. Let's go get you that refill. I'm sure your coffee is cold by now." I gave the backstabber one last glance and saw her glaring at me with so much hatred it could kill. He grabbed his things and walked with me back to the counter and set his computer back up while I go get him a new drink. We have a small seating area at the counter with outlets, so people can work or relax. "Here's your new coffee. I'm sorry for just walking up like that but you looked uncomfortable and we were getting a little worried. Also, thank you. Her and I have history and if you hadn't stopped me I might have done something I'd regret." I started walking away when he stopped me. "I know you have history. I may be an outcast, but I'm observant. When something catches my eye, I pay attention. I saw you that day. You looked so defeated and I just wanted to be there, but I didn't know how. Thank you for rescuing me from those girls." I didn't know what to say, so I just muttered a quick "Youre welcome" and hurried to the back again. I filled Tony and Cin in on what happened and almost cried. The rest of my shift was uneventful and flew by quickly.