The Dragons' Mates

New Territories

New Territories

Jace POV

The alliance pact is signed, and we were even able to have a councilman sign and seal them. It’s interesting what Milton said about the council being corrupt. I am glad that Maximus will be on the council. Maybe between him and Milton the council can get turned around, or at least corrupt members removed. MJ thanks everyone and the other leaders leave. “Let’s go see our new home,” MJ says.

“First, why don’t we go to my territory? We can put our things at the pack house and I can inform my pack of what is going on,” I say to everyone still present. They nod and we head out of the hall and to the exit doors. Once outside Devon turns to me, “The pack is going to freak out. We both found our mates that are dragons, and the dragons are moving in next door to us. This is amazing. Hey, we should see what they do when a dragon suddenly flies over and lands on the territory. I bet some of them wet themselves.” I laugh, “Yes, they might. It is definitely not something that we have trained for.” I start thinking. “This could be a good way to see how the pack warriors handle themselves when we are not present,” I say. “Hey Mina, would you want to introduce yourself to the pack with a bang?” I ask. She smiles at me with that mischievous glint in her eye. “You do not know what you just unleashed,” Maximus says to me.

“How far away is your territory,” Mina asks me. “OUR territory is only a couple hours by car,” I say to her. “Let’s drive most of the way and right before we can shift and fly the rest of the way to the pack,” I say. They all nod and get in the cars.

The Drive is uneventful and passes quickly. We are about 15 minutes out side of the Black Diamond Pack when we pull over and get out. “OK, dad and mom, drive these two cars back. We are going to fly in. We will wait until you text me that you are there. You may have to give a no kill order,” I say. They laugh and drive away. About 15 minutes later my dad texts me that they are there and my third is asking where we are and what happened. Many warriors are outside doing the training. “Perfect, let’s go,” I say. All of the dragons shift to their normal sizes. Devon, Dylan and I get on our mates. ‘This is so weird riding on our mates,’ Devon links. ‘Yes, yes, it is. But Sapphire seems to enjoy it,’ I reply. ‘grip with your thighs and hold on,’ Sapphire links me. I do as she says. She flaps her wings and we are up in the air. The feeling of flying is amazing. “This is so cool!” I say. She snorts. I give her directions to the pack house. It’s definitely different seeing the territory from up here.

I look down as we cross our border. I can see some of the border patrol staring up. They look shocked, but I can’t tell from this high up. I look towards the pack house as the attack siren goes off. Members are scurrying trying to get to safe rooms and warriors are standing at the ready. ‘I’m impressed. They are doing exactly what they should,’ I link Devon. We get closer and I see my dad run out to the front of the warriors. He yells for them to stand down. “Let’s land in the front yard of the pack house in front of the warriors near my dad,” I tell them. We descend and come to a smooth landing. Sapphire and Cara’s Dragon still have their wings blocking the view of us from the pack. From what I can see the warriors are still at the ready but look very nervous. They should be. We have never seen dragons before. ‘Let me down my love,’ I tell Sapphire. She lowers her wings to reveal me. There are gasps from the warriors.

Devon, Dylan, and I get off and stand in front of the Dragons, facing my warriors. “Warriors, I am proud of you. You followed protocol and stood tall against what you thought was an attack, even though you have never come across. We are not under attack. These are our allies. Turn off the alarms and inform the citizens that we are safe, and they can come out,” I say. The sirens are shut off and the other members come out. Everyone is in the front yard of the pack house now. “I’m sure that you are all curious as to what is gong on. I would like to introduce our newest allies and neighbors, the Dragons,” I say and gesture towards the Dragons. There are murmurs. “Attention, I have more to say,” I yell out in my alpha tone. They all stop talking at look at me. “I have also found my mate and your Luna,” I say. They all cheer out. I boom out in my alpha tone, “I present to you, your Luna, Princess Mina Redheart of the Dragons!” Mina shifts back and comes to stand by my side. I smile down at her and place my arm around her shoulders pulling her into me.

Mina POV

Jace directs me to his territory. We fly across the border and I see men and women staring up at us in shock. They can only see the Dragons. I can hear a siren going off. ‘They are well prepared. I bet that siren is to warn the pack members to get to safety and to alert the warriors to prepare for battle,’ Sapphire says. Jace tells us to land in front of the pack house. We descend and the warriors look nervous, but they do not stand down. Even after we land, the warriors do not back away, they stand tall. I fold my wings down to reveal Jace. I lower myself so he can slide off. He stands in front of me and says that he is proud of them. ‘We are too. They didn’t back down even though they didn’t know how to fight us. They were willing to die in order to protect this pack,’ Sapphire says. ‘I agree. We will train with them and they will be prepared for anything,’ I respond and close the link. I listen as he announces the alliance with the dragons. They murmur about dragons and how can we be neighbors. Jace gets their attention back and announces he found his mate. They break out in cheers. He introduces me using my formal title. I shift back and go stand next to him. He smiles at me and places his arm around me.

“Hello everyone. It is nice to meet you all. I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you more. I am sure with our new alliances we will be even stronger, and no one will stand against us. The Dragons have much to offer, and I know that we will get you trained in how to fight against a dragon if the need should arise,” I say confidently to them. There are shouts of joy. I feel a tug on my shirt. I look down and there is an adorable little girl staring up at me with big brown eyes. I bend down to her level, “What is your name little one?” “I’m Sarah. You are so pretty Luna!” she squeals and the runs away. I watch her run back to, who I assume, is her mother. The mother looks at me and mouths Sorry. I smile at her.

MJ POV

I watch Jace introduces Mina to his pack. They seemed to be happy that Jace found his mate. I hope that the dragons are just as happy and will be accepting of Gem. After the introduction I tap Mina on the shoulder and link her, ‘We need to fly over the territory.’ She nods. “Jace, we need to look over the territory,” she says. With that we walk far enough away so we can shift. There are gasps and a few people saying how cool that was. I chuckle in my mind. I see Jace, Devon, and Dylan climb back on their mates. I bend down so Gem can climb up on me. I flap my wings and we take off.

Jace directs us to the border of his territory and our new one. As we cross over Ember links, ‘We shouldn’t have to set up to much border control at this or Dylan’s pack’s borders. What could be useful is putting some barracks near these borders that anyone patrolling the borders can sleep in and or meet in. It would be for Dragons and Wolves.’ I nod. We continue flying and the terrain gets more mountainous. I look around and I see excellent ledges that house can be built on. I see flat area that we can turn into fields for food growth. I see a stream flowing down the mountain that turns into a spring. This place is perfect for us. ‘There are some wolves and bears running around down there,’ Blade links me. I look down and see several wolves and bears. ‘Gem says that those are rouges. We would need to do a sweep of the area and eliminate them,’ Blade says.

‘MJ, let’s head to the top of the tallest mountain. We can see everything and talk about what needs to be done,’ my dad links me. I link the others telling them the plan and we head to the top of the mountain. Once there, we shift and survey the area. “Here’s an idea,” I start, “This territory is massive. There are two mountains here. Each has a stream and spring. We could split the horde. We will be close enough together that it will not be to much of an issue. What do you think Blade?” “I think that is a good idea. We could set up watchtowers at the top of each mountain. That way, we can alert our allies if we see something coming. If you look out, we can see over several territories,” Blade responds. “What do you think Jace and Dylan?” I ask. “A watchtower would be good. It will also deter enemies because they will have a harder time with surprise attacks,” Dylan responds. “Agreed. I had a thought. While the construction is going on, Dylan and I could house your people so you could bring everyone now instead of having people come now and then the rest later,” Jace says. “That’s a good idea. OK. Let’s head back and Dad, you and I need to call Toby and discuss moving of the horde and how to go about it,” I say. Everyone nods, we shift and head back to Jace’s territory.

Maximus POV

After exploring the territory, I am happy with the quick purchase. It is strategically located to support our allies. We can split the horde, which would be good. Hopefully our numbers go up with more room to grow. We head back to Jace’s territory to call Toby and discuss the next move.

We land, shift and go into the house. Jace leads MJ, Callan, Blade, Steele and I to a conference room so we can talk privately. “Do you mind if Dylan and I stay? We would like to offer our assistance in any capacity that we can,” Jace asks. “I am fine with that. You are both family now and may offer some good insights into our discussion,” I respond and dial Toby, “Hey cousin. How was the territory?” “It was great. It has the potential to split the horde,” I reply. “Hmmm. It’s funny you should mention that. After the announcement went out, some families approached me saying that they wanted to stay here,” Toby says. I frown. I understand not wanting to leave a place that we have been the last 300 years, but the horde needs to move. Jace clears his throat, “May I make a suggestion?” I nod.

He goes to the map on the wall, “You said that the current location on the horde is here, about a four-hour flight in dragon form, correct?” “Yes,” I nod. “Some of the alliances that were made today have territories between here and there. If you were to leave some of the horde there and then move the rest here, essentially splitting the horde into three instead of two, you would still have allies that are nearby to assist if needed. The only issue would be appointing someone to be Alpha of the current territory as it seems MJ wants to be here,” he says. My jaw drops. I am looking at the map. He is right. We have allies that are spread out. Not just touching our borders. There is actually an allied wolf pack that almost borders the current dragon lands. I hear a throat clear, “Max, I would be willing to stay here to train an Alpha. I do have someone in mind,” Toby says. “Who,” I ask. “Titan, Colton’s son,” he responds. MJ speaks up, “He would be an excellent choice. He is a strong warrior, he comes from an Alpha bloodline and has worked with Blade, Steele and I on several occasions. I think if he is willing, we should talk to him. We will need to amend the alliance pact to include the three hordes instead of the horde as a whole.” Everyone agrees. “OK. Toby, get a list of people that are wanting to stay. People that are on the fence need to come out here to look at the territory, that may help them make up their minds. We have to try to get the majority out here though. Do that tomorrow so tomorrow night we can coordinate getting people out here. We have to get some of the Earth dragons out here to start shaping the land and foundations for homes and other buildings,” I say.

“Will do. On another note. Who was the one came up with this idea?” Toby says. “That was Alpha Jace. He is Mina’s mate,” I respond. “Oh, I am so coming out there to mee this man,” he says. MJ asks, “Has Steele or Ember talked to you yet?” Steele pales and sucks in his breath, that would be a no. “No! What has happened? Are they OK? Where are they,” Toby starts rapidly asking. “Um, hi Dad. Umm, Ember and I were going to call you…” Steele starts but is cut off by Toby. “Are you OK? Is Ember OK? What Happened?” “Dad, Dad, we are both fine. More than fine actually. We both met our mates,” Steele says. There is silence on the other end of the line. “Why was I not informed sooner? When did this happen,” Toby asks. “We met them at the gathering. We should have called you yesterday after we met them. A lot was going on and well, sorry,” Steele apologizes. “Toby, why don’t you contact Colton and get him to take over for a couple of days. He can get the list of people wanting to stay and you can fly out here to meet your children’s mates. Personally, I like Stacey and Dylan,” I suggest. Dylan sends me a relieved smile and mouths thank you. I nod at him. “I just linked Colton. He is on his way. I will give him the instructions and be leaving within the next 30 minutes,” he says. “I just sent you our location, I’m sure Dylan is looking forward to meeting you, aren’t you son?” I say and look over to Dylan with a smile. He has a look of shock. I just laugh. A powerful Alpha is afraid of meeting his mate’s father. “Dylan,” Toby says. “Yes sir.” He responds. “You had better take care of my Ember. I will be determining if you are worthy of her when I get there. I will see you in five hours,” Toby says and hangs up.

Jace bursts out laughing. “You should have seen your face Dylan.” “Yeah, well, I’m sure you would be in a similar position if your mate’s father wasn’t here to meet you right after their meeting,” Dylan quips back. “He’s right Jace. I would be doing exactly what Toby is doing. Our princesses are a treasure,” I say. “Don’t worry Dylan. Everything will be fine.”