The Little Star

Framed and Chained

As I dove for the crash site a flash of white through the trees caught my attention. Running through the forest, at breakneck speed, was a large white wolf whose fur appeared to glow with an almost silver under coat in the morning sun.

Celeste.

Changing course, I flew after her, keeping my distance as Askook lifted his head into the wind. Her scent was there, mouth wateringly addictive. Askook pushed ahead, pulling past her as she raced across the forest floor, meaning to cut her off as he moved to land in a clearing ahead.

As we landed, she walked out of the forests edge, tall and proud. I’d never seen a more beautiful wolf. Her fur was pure white like a fresh blanket of snow in winter, with traces of silver laced through giving it a shine like the stars I compared her to. Except a diamond patch of black fur on her forehead, one point starting between her eyes and going up to her ears. Those velvety blue eyes I was so used to seeing when I looked upon my mate were now white and glowing.

“She is perfection, our Treasure.” Askook spoke softly, his voice filled with reverence as he gazed at our beautiful gift from the heavens. I had to agree with him, she was the most gorgeous creature I’d ever laid eyes on, and to know her human form was just as captivating made me feel like he luckiest man in the world.

“Why is she growling at us? Does she not recognize us are her mate?” My dragon’s curious statement had me looking closer at Celeste, and oddly enough, he was right. She didn’t look happy to see us, she looked ready to kill.

“Perhaps you should let me take over.” I murmured, as Askook dug his talons into the soft earth, unsure what to do next. Dragons never backed down; it wasn’t in our nature. Yet, she was our Treasure, we were to guard her above all else.

“If she attacks your human body will be vulnerable, compared to my scales, which stand a much better fate against those fangs and claws.”

“I don’t think she’ll attack.” Though if I were honest with myself, I wasn’t so sure about that. Those glowing white eyes were zeroed in on me and the saliva dripping from her fangs told me those deadly pearly whites weren’t just for looks.

“And if you are wrong? If she is under some kind of spell, then she’ll be full of guilt and remorse if she hurts you when she finally comes out from under the outside influence.”

“I don’t care, she clearly doesn’t recognize us now. And we can’t talk to her unless I’m in human form.” I should have just marked her the moment I found her. When I had her pressed up against the wall of her sister’s home, her scent surrounding me. If I had marked her right then, I would be able to mind-link her right now. I’d be able to get through to her. But I hadn’t. I had respected her decisions. I’d kept my distance when she asked.

“I don’t like it.” Askook grumbled, eyeing Celeste as she watched us closely, calculating what we were up to, why we hadn’t attacked yet.

“You don’t have to, it’s my choice. Now shift.”

“Fine, but we send a flare up for the others first. Fire in the air, incase we can’t get through to her.”

“Agreed. Do it now, then shift.” Askook didn’t need to be told twice. Snout to the sky he breathed fire into the morning wind, a straight column of bright orange and yellows, crackling in the air. What we didn’t anticipate was Celeste seeing this as an act of aggression and attacking.

Cold pierced through one of our wings, bringing Askook’s head down with a snap as he growled in pain, freezing ice snaked its way up the appendage. Swinging around he locked his sights on Celeste as she raced around behind us aiming for the second wing. She was attempting to block our way of escape, flight. Before she could open her mouth and attack our second wing, I forced the shift. Black smoke pouring from Askook’s scales and surrounding our body, obscuring us as I shrank down to my own skin.

As the smoke cleared, I turned in place, keeping my movements slow, trying to tell her with my body language that I wasn’t a threat. Her eyes were the first thing I spotted through the black smoke, the white glowing as she stepped through the smog and inched closer. She was even larger than I guesstimated, easily on eye level with me. Lips pulled back over her teeth, she was snarling, warning me to stay back.

“Celeste, It’s me, Drogon.” Keeping my voice low, I hoped to help settle her anger. Or at least keep her from attacking me before reinforcements could arrive… if they were coming. There was no guarantee that the flare had caught anyone’s attention.

She growled again, stomping one impressively large paw into the grass at our feet, her claws raking across the ground. She should have recognized me, she should have felt the mate bound.

“Celeste, please. It’s me. You are my Treasure. My heart.” My words seemed to have struck something in her because the snarl subsided. She didn’t take her eyes off of me, instead watching me closely, like she was having an internal monologue. Unsure what to make of me. “Celeste, I would never hurt you, my love. You can trust me.”

Her gaze narrowed slightly as she looked me over, her eyes raking my body up and down as if she knew me, but couldn’t place from where.

“You are safe now.” Lifting one hand, I slowly extended it to her, hoping shed come close enough for me to touch her. She might not recognize me right now for whatever reason, but the mate bound would make her feel the sparks. It had to. Slowly she took a step forward, then another, until she was sniffing my hand warily. My scent must have affected her because her pupils grew and she leaned in inch by inch, so close I could feel the electricity sizzle on my fingertips, anxious to touch our other half. “I found you, my Little Star.”

In an instance her demeanor changed, going from docile and willing to trust to raging and growling. Without warning she pounced, her teeth digging into my shoulder, as she threw me to the ground. Pain sliced through my body. Every instinct told me to throw her off, to protect my life at all costs. But I couldn’t risk harming her. I’d lay there and let her tear me to pieces before risking the chance of harming a hair on her.

Luckily, the choice was taken from me as a white blur slammed into her, throwing Celeste from my body. She landed on her feet and skidded to a stop a short distance away. Whipping her head around, she didn’t look for who attacked her, instead her eyes centered right on me once more. Growling, she pushed forward, intent on attacking me once more, but the same wolf who’d thrown her off, jumped between us.

I’d never seen a wolf as large as she was, despite having met Lycans in the past, but the one she faced stood just a bit taller. Other than height they looked exactly the same. White fur laced with silver, glowing white eyes, even the same diamond shaped patch on their heads. Orion, her brother. Guess the flare had worked.

As the two Lycans faced off, two more wolves ran into the clearing, one midnight black and the other a sandy color. Both shifted, untying basketball shorts from their ankles to slip on, an extra pair thrown my way.

“What happened to you?” Vespian asked, eyeing the bleeding lacerations on my chest and back.

“Lovers quarrel.” I muttered, wringing a chuckle from Vespian and Leo, despite the gravity of the situation.

“What did you do to piss her off?” Leo asked as we all watched the face-off between the two Lycans. Neither were attacking, but the growling and snarling were echoing through the other wise quiet forest.

“Nothing. She doesn’t recognize me. I almost had her calmed down, and then something set her off and she attacked me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. She should recognize you as her mate even if she doesn’t remember your face.” Vespian muttered, shaking his head in confusion at the situation. Nothing about this made sense, but I was determined to get to the bottom of things.

“Why hasn’t she backed down?” Leo asked, eyebrows pulled together in concern.

“Orion says that she can’t hear him, or she’s openly ignoring him. He’s tried to mind-link and she won’t respond.” Vespian answered, glancing at me before quickly looking away. Orion had told him something else, something he’d been told not to tell me. They were still suspicious of me. And how could I blame them with how she was acting towards me.

“What do we do? We can’t just let her keep attacking us, and we can’t allow her to run. She could hurt herself.” I didn’t like the way she was squaring up with her brother.

“Orion said he’s going to shift, to try and communicate.” Vespian muttered, clearly not approving of the decision, but knowing it wasn’t his call to make. “If she keeps attacking then I’m going to order the men who followed us to take her down with tranquilizers.”

“You can’t do that!” I growled at him, turning on the werewolf Alpha as fear for my Treasure coursed through me. “We don’t know what they did to her, we don’t know if there are any residual drugs in her system that could have a negative effect when mixed with the tranquilizer.”

“I’m not sure we have any choice man.” Leo replied softly, placing a hand on my shoulder in comfort, but I shook it off.

Orion’s massive wolf, Odin, began to shrink, until my future brother in law was standing before Celeste’s wolf with his hands raised in peace.

“Celeste, it’s me, Orion. I’m your brother. We shared a womb.” She watched him cautiously, but the snarling stopped, and her hears, which had been pushed back against her head perked up, listening intently. “That’s it! Remember me? Rye-rye? You’re my best friend, Celeste, I need you to come back to us.”

That was all it took. Tears filled her wide, glowing white eyes as her body shrunk and morphed down into Celeste’s human form. She looked just as I remembered, and yet, so different. Those same sparkling velvety blue eyes, plump pink lips and high cheek bones, all framed by her silvery blonde hair. Though her hair was longer, and her body was so much thinner. She was covered in blood, though I could see no wounds, means her Lycan sprit had healed her. But just the knowledge that someone had made her bleed made my blood boil.

“Orion.” Celeste whispered before she crumbled to her knees, sobs wracking her pale body. Orion was beside her before she’d fully hit the ground, a blanket I hadn’t seen him with moments ago in his hands as he wrapped it around her body. “I didn’t know if I’d see you again.” She whispered, each word emphasized with a sob, every single one was a nail in my heart.

“I’m here, Celeste. We’re here.” Looking up at us, the three of us took tentative steps forward.

I wanted to race to her side, pull her to my chest and swear to never let anything happen to her again, but the way she’d reacted me told me something was wrong. As much as I wanted her in my arms, I knew her comfort needed to come first.

Those velvet eyes looked up, glancing over Leo and Vespian in recognition and even happiness, but when she looked at me those happy emotions melted away, leaving only ice.

“I don’t want him here.” She stated, words as cold as the icy gaze she was glaring me down with. Those same words sent pain through my soul. She didn’t want me. I’d searched for her for years, never giving up, and she didn’t want me.

“Why Celeste? He’s your mate.” Orion probed gently, but I could hear the growing anger in his voice. His suspicions were back.

“Exactly, and the people at that place said my mate was the one to have me locked away.”

The atmosphere in the clearing changed instantly. Vespian and Leo moving away from me as they kept me in their sights. Orion moved to his feet, his sister in his arms as his silvery blue eyes glared at me. In his mind, all of his suspicions had just been confirmed. I was the enemy.

“Before we do anything stupid, remember what that guy in the suit said.” Leo spoke up, breaking the tension just a hair. “He said that he thought her mate was a vampire.”

“So? What if he told them he was a vampire to protect himself? Throw all the blame on William so he comes away unscathed.” Orion accused, refusing to take his narrowed gaze from me, which I met, refusing to back down. I’d done nothing to be ashamed of, other than letting my Treasure be taken in the first place.

“He called me his star.” Celeste whispered, but the statement was enough to turn every head her way.

“Drogon has always called you his star.” Vespian answered.

“The man who picked me up off the floor of the compound, after I’d been shot. He called me his star.”

Every eye turned towards me, but my mind was centered in on her having been shot. What else had she endured? What all had they done to her?

“It wasn’t me.” I croaked, emotions flooding my system as image after image of Celeste being hurt filled my mind. “I was with all of you when we entered the compound.”

“You were flying in a dark sky. We weren’t keeping an eye on you. You could have flown ahead, removed her and then came back to get her.” Orion stated, anger rising in his eyes as they began to softly glow. “Your timing was too perfect. Showing up just as we were leaving to get her, right after we’d gotten word of where she was. I trusted you. I kept you informed of every search we sent out.”

“I didn’t do this!” I growled, looking at Vespian and Leo for help talking sense into Orion, but I could see it in their eyes, their suspicion. And damn if Orion wasn’t right. The timing was too f*****g convenient.

“Then you’ll have no issue being locked up until we know for sure.” Orion said, his eyes drifting behind me. Following his gaze, I found two Lycans walking towards me with silver chains in their hands. Shackles for my wrists. The silver would act as a dampener for my powers, making me weak and easily dealt with.

“Celeste, I didn’t do this. I would never hurt you, you’re my Treasure, my mate.” I called to her softly, hoping she’d see reason.

“If history has told me anything, it’s that if there is any one in this world I can’t trust, it’s my mate.” Those words tore what was left of my heart to pieces.

But I knew what I had to do to start earning her trust… Even if everything in my nature roared against it.

Holding my wrists out, I held my Treasures gaze as the Lycans stopped on either side of me, ready to place the shackles. “I’d change that history if I could travel through time, but sense I can’t, I’ll earn your trust, my Little Star. No matter how long it takes.”

Celeste’s eyes brimmed with tears, and when I refused to look away, she broke contact by turning into her brothers, the blanket cover her face. The moment the silver touched my skin it began to burn, but I refused to flinch, I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Not that I had to endure it long, seconds after they were secured a pinch in my neck told me someone had injected me with something. Before I could blink my vision was blurring, soon I was falling into darkness.