The Little Star

Cracking the Foundation of Friendship

Drogon’s POV:

Pain was what greeted me after I slipped from the beautiful oasis I’d been sharing with my Little Star. My wrists and ankles felt like they were burning, which would be weird in and of itself seeing as dragons were not burned by fire. This only left one possible scenario; I was chained in silver. On top of the stinging at my wrists and ankles, my head was pounding and every muscle in my body seemed to be sore, including ones I hadn’t realized could hurt. In fact, everywhere was aching except for place. My lips were tingling, but instead of from pain, it was from the pleasure of my lips having been pressed to my Treasures.

As my eyelids cracked open, lightening cracked through my head, and with it the memory of how I got in this situation.

My Treasure’s brothers had me locked away in silver, and drugged, until they could determine if I had been the one to kidnap and imprison her. Not that I could blame them, I’d do the same thing if I felt someone was a threat to her. Better to be safe then sorry where our loved ones were concerned.

Still, each of the men who’d agreed to my being shackled and caged would receive a kiss from my fist when it met their cheek. It was only fair for the lack of trust in a man they’d claimed to see as family for the past three years. I may understand their decision, but that didn’t mean the lack of trust didn’t hurt.

“Who’s the new guy?” A ragged voice spoke up nearby, the sound grating on my already pounding mind.

“No clue, but he must be a heavy weight. Why else would they leave him in silver shackles when he’s already behind silver bars?” Another muttered, softer this time, a hint of trepidation in his words.

“Could be a form of punishment? Let him burn even though they know he can’t get away?” The first mused. His voice was seriously grating on my last nerve.

“Maybe.”

“If the two of you say another f*cking word, I swear to the heavens above, I will burn you to ash the moment this silver is removed.” I growled, knowing that if they continued their conversation the pounding in my head was going to intensify. The shuffling of feet on concrete told me that the two had scuffled away, to the back of their own cells.

Opening my eyes slowly, I waited for them to adjust to the bright light overhead. I’d always pictured dungeons as dark, but apparently Golden Crescent believed prisoners didn’t deserve the peace of the dark to rest. I was going to start tallying offenses up in my head, and each would be a lick I’d serve to the three stooges responsible for my time here.

The cell was small, and sparsely furnished, but surprisingly it did in fact have a few things. Such as a toilet and sink tucked into the corner, a half wall before them to give the prisoner a semblance of privacy. A small twin size bed, with a thin mattress and blanket sat in another corner. And that was it. Another pleasant observation, the place was incredibly clean for being a jail cell. Everything shone to perfection. The person who cleaned this place clearly took a lot of pride in their job.

Concrete walls made up three sides of the small room, the fourth wall being the silver bars. A hallway just beyond the bars was lined on both sides with cells. Bright florescent lights lined the hallway, giving the impression of not being underground. But I knew where I was, I’d been in this pack house enough times to know exactly where everything was, including the underground dungeons.

I’d apparently been dragged into the cell and simply dropped to the ground, because I woke up in the middle of my new cage. After climbing to my feet, rather clumsily thanks to the residual effects of the sedative used to knock me out, I walked towards the bed intending to be at least a little more comfortable while I waited for my Little Star to come rescue me. Funny turn of events when you thought about it. I’d been searching for her for three years while she lived in a cage, and instead of rescuing her, she’d freed herself, but oh how the tables had turned. Now I was the damsel in distress. As I got closer to the thin mattress, a glint in the concrete wall caught my eye. Veins of shiny material ran through the walls, like the roots of a tree. Leaning forward I raised a finger to test a theory, the stinging on my fingertip as enough to confirm that the metallic veins were in fact silver.

These cages were meant to hold in anything supernatural that had a weakness for silver. If one tried to make their way through the wall, they’d find it impossible to work around the veins of silver, burning their hands in the process.

“So, ready to confess yet?” The sound of Orion’s stern voice growling from outside the bars surprised me. Like any other supernatural being, my senses were heightened, I couldn’t even remember the last time someone had snuck up on me. Turning to face him, I kept my movements smooth and slow, not letting him see he’d rattled me. “Just tell us why you did it.”

Orion’s silvery blue eyes were hard, his lips set in a deep frown. His anger was showing through every line in his face, making him look years older then his twenty eight years. But there, mixed among the anger and barely suppressed rage, was betrayal. I understood that emotion, because I was feeling it as well. Betrayal that a man I’d grown to consider my brother thought I could do such a thing.

If being accused of k*dnapping her wasn’t enough, he believed I’d also starved her and shackled her often enough that despite getting her Lycan spirit back to aid her body in healing, she still bore the shadows of scars around her wrists and ankles. I knew that other species thought my own to be domineering and controlling, dominants in every aspect of our lives. Even willing to lock our women away from the world to protect them.

Centuries ago, this had been true, but it had been born of necessity. When a dragon lost his Treasure there was no stopping him from the rampage that would follow. The most famous story came from my Uncle Rupert. In a time when fated couplings were becoming rarer and rarer, and chosen mates were becoming the normal for our kind, Prince Rupert had found his Treasure, his fated mate. But she’d been a human princess whose family would never have approved of her marrying a dragon. One night, she climbed to the highest tower, and Rupert flew down to her, whisking her away to his father’s castle.

Of course, a human king would have been seen as weak if he’d dared to let such a thing go unpunished. He spread the word that his daughter had been stolen away by a winged beast and promised that the knight who brought her back would get her hand in marriage and inherit his crown when the time came. Hundreds of knights bore down on Prince Rupert’s home, but each was dispatched through the dragon’s fire. Until one day, an army came, a distraction to keep the dragon’s attention while one lone man snuck into the mountain castle. Rupert’s Treasure died that day, throwing herself from the castle's walls rather than be taken by the man who had her cornered.

The grief-stricken man and dragon proceeded to burn down every human town and city he came upon, unable to pull himself from the darkness once the light of his life had been snuffed. My father, along with countless warriors, were given the difficult job of hunting him down and sending him to the next life, where he could be with her again.

Despite what actually happened, the stories spread and grew a life of their own, the way these things often did. Dragons were seen as evil creatures who took virgin girls and locked them away in caves.

For Orion to accuse me of the very stereotypes my kind had fought so hard and for so long to overcome, it burned me far deeper than the silver ever would.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I will not confess to something I did not do.” I grumbled back, turning my back on him to make my way the last few feet to the bed. Sitting on the edge, I rested my elbows on my knees. The chains wrapped around them clanking softly, yet the sound echoing through the bare chamber. With a sigh I dropped my face into my hands.

“You expect me to believe that? From what? Just your word?” Orion sneered, the sound of footsteps telling me he’d began pacing. “Why exactly should I believe anything you say, Drogon?”

“Because of the last three years, Orion.” I whispered, refusing to lift my head and look at him, instead choosing to focus on keeping my breathing steady. My blood pressure was rising at the anger pulsating through my body, and I knew if I confronted him, I’d say things I couldn’t take back, and I still held on to the microscopic hope that once this was all worked out, we’d remain friends.

“The last three years?” He scoffed, and I knew he was going to add more accusations and sarcastic remarks, but the sound of approaching footsteps and a voice clearing stopped him.

“Enough Orion, we don’t know it was Drogon.” Vespian said, coming to stand beside Orion outside my silver bared cage. “In fact, I’m inclined to say that I fully believe he’s innocent.”

“From what evidence?” Orion demanded with disbelief.

“If you weren’t so full of rage, you’d see the truth yourself. I’m convinced William is at fault here, and I think Celeste will say the same once she’s had a chance to rest and her mind isn’t as muddled.” The Alpha argued calmly. “I think we should remove the chains.” He added softly.

“No, absolutely not.”

“Listen to reason Orion.” Vespian all but growled. “He’s already behind silver bars, there is no way out. That silver could scar him, and you’d feel awfully shitty when all of this is cleared up.”

The silence stretched between the two of them. Long enough that I almost looked up to see if I’d missed their exiting footsteps, but a single set of heavy foot falls heading back down the hall told me at least one of them had left in angry defeat, though which I wasn’t sure.

“Just ignore what he says during this time, Drogon.” Vespian sighed, a clicking sound following his words. Glancing up, I watched in faint surprise as he unlocked the cell door and walked in, how he’d touched the silver I didn’t know, after all he was as susceptible to it as I was. Vespian approached me, turning the keys in his hands till his fingers landed on the one he was looking for, and gestured for me to stand. “He’s not himself right now, and I think you more than anyone can understand why.”

The stinging sensation instantly stopped when the shackles dropped to the floor with a loud clang. Handing me the keys, Vespian waved a hand towards my ankle shackles, silently telling me to unlock them myself.

“Funny thing, I don’t remember them putting silver on my ankles.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood, as I sank back to the bed and reached down to remove the offensive metal from my skin.

“They added them before bringing you inside, despite my adamantly telling them they were unneeded seeing as how you were sedated already.”

“Let me guess, Orion ignored you?” Vespian nodded his head, confirming my suspicions. The sound of the silver chains on my ankles clanking to the floor filled the room for a moment. Freed from the shackles, I stood to face another man I’d considered one of my closest friends. “What has gotten into him anyways? He’s always been a bit of an *ss, but this is drastic even for him.”

“Honestly, I can only guess, he doesn’t exactly confide in many people, and the things he does share aren’t exactly his deepest thoughts and feelings. He’s always kept a piece of himself hidden from the world.” Pausing for a moment, Vespian took a deep breath before shaking his head and letting it out slowly. “Well, I guess he wasn’t always like this. But Gracie’s death really took its toll on him, it changed him in ways I can’t begin to describe. Plus, he carries a lot of guilt for Celeste’s disappearance I think.”

“That’s ridiculous, no one has ever blamed him.”

“No, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t blame himself. After all, Celeste was kidn*pped while her powers were being suppressed due to the war Orion brought to our doors. Or at least that’s the way I think he sees it, and nothing we say will convince him otherwise. So, to find out the person who took his sister and put her in such a state, is none other than one of the two men he’s been keeping most apprised of the search for her? He must feel like the biggest of fools.” Everything Vespian said made sense to me, because I knew that if I’d been in his shoes, I’d have feel the same way. “He’ll come around and see sense once things settle down a bit I think.”

“From your lips to your goddess’s ears.” I murmured, absently rubbing my wrists, they were beginning to itch as a result of my healing having kicked, new skin covering the raw and blistered areas. “How is Celeste?”

“She’s sleeping, has been since we got here.” Something about the way he spoke told me he wasn’t telling me everything.

“What aren’t you saying Vespian?” I demanded, concern growing in the bit of my stomach. “How long has she been sleeping?”

“Going on twenty-four hours.” He admitted, with a frown.

“I’ve been knocked out for an entire day?” I asked in shock, it hadn’t felt that long, though I guess lying on the concreate floor for such a long time explained why every muscle in my body had been sore upon waking.

“Yeah, you’d been given a sedative every few hours to keep you out.” And that explained the pounding headache I was only now beginning to get a little relief from.

“Let me guess, Orion’s orders?” I growled, balling my fists at my sides in anger.

“He thought you’d be easier to handle that way. But I got Luna to speak to him and she convinced him to stop injecting you. She’s with Celeste by the way. Luna and Gracie take turns sitting by her bed so that she has constant care and isn’t alone when she wakes up.” He assured me, knowing that if he were in my shoes, he’d want to know how his mate was being cared for in his absence.

“Thank you, for everything. For standing with me as you can, and for ensuring my Treasure is protected and safe while I can’t be by her side.”

“Of course. We’ll let you know when she awakes, though I think she’ll want to see you herself.” Bending down, Vespian scooped the silver chains up into his hands and to surprise, he didn’t wince in pain. At my confused expression he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “The longer the mate bond grows between myself and Luna, the more I take on Lycan abilities and characteristics.”

Well that answered why he could open the door to my prison as well.

Once he reached the door, Vespian turned to face me, an uncertain expression on his face. “I wish I could let you out, but even if I am Alpha here, Orion is still King. I can argue with him in private as only a brother-in-law can, but I can’t openly defy him. Not without causing doubts about his ability to lead. I hope you understand?”

“Don’t worry Vespian, I completely understand. Besides, I’m hoping my Little Star will awaken at any moment and straighten all of this out, once and for all.” With a nod and a small smile goodbye, Vespian left. Shutting the door behind him and disappearing down the hall.

Making my way back to the bed, I laid back and stretched out, getting as comfortable as I could on the thin mattress with my legs dangling off the end. Staring up at the ceiling I closed my eyes and fought my mind to calm enough to drift to sleep. Maybe I could see her in our dream world and convince her to come back to this reality.