The Dragons' Mates

The Meeting

The Meeting

Jace POV

I take Mina’s hand in mine and we exit the library to go to the meeting hall. Devon has his mate Cara, and Dylan has his mate Ember. We walk down the stairs and come upon Gem and MJ. They look at us as we descend the stairs. MJ and Gem are both smiling at us. I can’t help but smile. I feel like I have found the best treasure there is, my mate. We reach the bottom and MJ laughs a little at Mina. Mina punches him in the arm, “What’s so funny?” “Nothing, you look happy sis, but dad is going to have a mild heart attack when he finds out, as well as Beta Callan, and cousin Toby.” He says looking at Mina and then Cara and Ember. The girls exchange looks but not of worry, they have a glint of mischief in their eyes. I link Devon, ‘do you see the look in their eyes,’ ‘Yes, our mates are going to be trouble makers, it will be fun to watch, as long as it is not directed towards us,’ Devon responds. I nod in agreement.

As a group, we make our way to the meeting hall. We pass by Anna and her two minions that the council was trying to force on Devon, Dylan, and myself. They glare at our mates and our mates just walk past them with their heads held high. ‘Our mate is strong, as well as her friends. They didn’t even bat an eye at the three sluttyteers,’ I link Devon. He nods. We get to the double doors and the door men open them for us. Dylan and I are in front with our mates at our side, Devon is behind me with Cara, and MJ is behind Dylan with Gem.

The hall becomes silent as we enter. I see a man stand up from one of the middle tables and he walks towards us. I watch him as he gets closer and then I realize that this must be Mina and MJ’s father. MJ looks just like him, Mina must look like her mother, I think. The man gets closer and stops in front of me. He is not quite as tall as I am, maybe 6’4”, but he is built. I can tell he is not someone to cross. He looks at me and then at Mina. I can see that him and her are mind linking. He then looks at me again with a huge smile. He extends his arm in a warriors’ greeting. I clasp his arm with mine. “I am so thankful that my Mina has found her mate. I am Dragon King Maximus, but you can call me Maximus or Max,” he says to me. ‘This was not the greeting I was expecting. I wonder if MJ or Mina said something to him so he didn’t give us the third degree,’ Storm says to me. ‘I agree, but I can see that he wants to talk to us, just not here where there are others to listen in. He is also saying that he approves of us. I also think he heard something about our situation because he seems to be talking loud enough for everyone to hear,’ I respond to Xavier. He nods in agreement and I reply to the king, “I am Jace Black, Alpha of the Black Diamond pack. I am pleased to meet you and hope that we can speak about forming an alliance, especially as MJ and my sister Gem are mated as well.”

He nods to me, “Come sit at my table please, there is plenty of room. It seems that people think I am going to eat them if they get too close,” He laughs out and leads us to the table he got up from. I notice that my father is sitting there, he must have introduced himself because of Gem, he is looking at me with pride. I nod to him as another man stands up and greets us but eyes Devon and Cara. He comes up to Devon and extends his arm in the same greeting Max did to me, Devon grasps his arm, “I am Callan Darkwing, Beta of the dragons and Cara and Blade’s father,” the man named Callan says. “I am Devon Woods, Beta of the Black Diamond pack. I am pleased to meet you sir and honored to be mated to your daughter,” Devon replies. Callan nods his head seeming to be satisfied. ‘So, we are mated to Mina, the dragon princess, Devon is mated to Cara, daughter of the dragon king’s beta, and Gem is mated to MJ the future dragon king. I bet that Dylan’s Ember is strong as well. The Moon Goddess has something up her sleeve,’ Xavier says thoughtfully. ‘Yes, Callan said he was Blade’s father as well. That was the guy that came to get us. I wonder if he will be mated to someone in one of our packs,’ I respond. This is very interesting. I pull a chair out for Mina so she can sit. After I push her in, I look over to the council table, they are all glaring at us, I just smirk at them. Their scowls seem to get deeper. I sit down next to Mina and on my other side is Devon. I lean over to him and see Dylan lean in as well, “It seems the council is dissatisfied with the situation.” They both nod back to me with a smirk and straighten up.

Maximus POV

I was walking with Callan towards the meeting hall when I am approached by a man with black hair and blue eyes. I can tell he is a wolf. He extends his hand to me and introduces himself as Robert Black, former alpha of the Black Diamond pack. I shake his hand. “It is nice to meet you. I must admit, you are the only one that has really greeted us, most just stare and talk. I am Dragon King Maximus, but please, call me Max and this is my beta Callan.” “Yes, most are afraid of the unknown but I am not. I like to uncover what is unknown,” He responds. ‘I like this man. He is strong and commanding. He could be a good ally to us,’ my dragon Bolt says. Callan, Robert and I head into the meeting hall and find and empty table and take our seats. “So, I believe that we are going to be in-laws,” Robert says. I look over to him and smile, “Ah, you must be MJ’s mate’s father. I am glad that she comes from a strong family that is unafraid. We have been living in hiding for too long as a result of my father’s fear.

As a result, I value straightforwardness, and coming up with solutions. If your daughter has the same tenacity that you have shown me so far, she will make a fine queen. I know that our people will be thrilled to have a queen again.” “Hmm, I don’t mean to pry, but you just said your people will be happy to have a queen again …’ Robert starts, but I stop him, I know where he is going, “Yes, my mate passed giving birth to my daughter Mina, Mina looks just like her.” I get lost in the memory of my mate for a moment. “I am sorry for your loss Max,” he responds. “Thank you, I do miss her, but I have my children and am gaining a daughter-in-law so my life is full,” I tell him. “So, you said that you are the former alpha, I assume that you have a son that has taken over with his mate.” I ask. “Yes, my son Jace has taken over as is customary when the oldest turns the age of 21. Unfortunately, Jace has not found his mate yet. He’s 24 and the council is trying to make him take a chosen mate. They have even threatened to remove him as alpha if he does not. They just don’t seem to respect what the Moon Goddess has planned,” he responds.

I share a look with Callan. “Well, I would like to speak with your son and you about forming an alliance, since your daughter is mated to my son, I can’t imagine that MJ would have a problem with it. He won’t want his mate to be unhappy about her brother being removed from the alpha position for not finding his mate. That is just ridiculous,” I say. “Hmmm, I’m sure that Jace would be interested. I know that I am but, as I am no longer the alpha, I cannot speak for him on this matter. I wanted to speak more with your son anyways in order to get to know him some more. I think we should have a family get together and maybe we can bring this matter to Jace then,” he states. “I like that idea, we should propose that to our children when they arrive,” I nod in agreement.

We continue to get to know each other. The three of us have a lot in common with strategy and how we run things. We are laughing at a joke that Robert told when the doors open and the hall goes quiet. I look over and immediately stand up. I see my son holding Gem’s hand, but my daughter is holding the hand of someone that I do not know. ‘He looks like Robert, he must be Jace, but why is he holding Mina’s hand,’ Bolt says to me. ‘I agree and plan to find out,’ I say and close the link. I walk up to them and look at him and then my daughter. She links me, ‘Daddy, this is my mate Jace. He is an alpha and has been very sweet to me in the time that we have known each other,’ ‘OK, sweety, I just wanted to make sure that you were OK and that he was not just trying to “score” with you. As long as you are happy, I am happy,’ I link back. I turn my attention to Jace and extend my arm, ‘let’s see if this whelp knows how to do a warrior hand shake,’ I say to Bolt. He snorts in agreement. To my surprise, he grasps my forearm firmly. I smile and say, “I am so thankful that my Mina has found her mate. Dragon King Maximus Redheart, but you can call me Maximus or Max.” He nods and responds, “I am Jace Black, Alpha of the Black Diamond pack. I am pleased to meet you and hope that we can speak about forming an alliance, especially as MJ and my sister Gem are mated as well.” I nod at him, “Come sit at my table please, there is plenty of room. It seems that people think I am going to eat them if they get too close,” I laugh and glance around at the people watching us. Some of them shift nervously, obviously affected by what I said.

We get to the table and other introductions are made. Callan is surprised about Cara, but is happy that she is mated to Jace’s beta so her and Mina will stay together. MJ pulls out the chair next to Robert and helps Gem into her chair and pushes it in and then takes the seat between her and I. I look over to my other side and see that Jace has pulled out the chair on my other side and is helping Mina into it. He then takes the seat next to her and his Beta.

The meeting starts, the head councilman stands and brings us to order, “The first item on our agenda is the welcoming of King Maximus and the dragons. King Maximus, will you please introduce yourselves and tell us why you have been gone for so long and why you are now wanting to come out into the open.” ‘Of course, they want to start with us. We are the talk of the gathering so they want to get it out of way,’ I link Callan, ‘Yes, they are also curious if we are what we say we are, the only way to convince them will be for one of us to shift, so who should it be?’ he replies. I do not respond; I just stand and introduce myself to the crowd. “I am Maximus Redheart, King of the dragons. Yes, we are dragons. We have been in hiding for 300 years due to our kind being hunted out of fear or for power. Dragons possess many abilities, but are also very strong and fast. We can fly, breathe fire, and some like my daughter can shoot spikes from their tails. Those are just a few of the abilities that dragons possess. Each dragon is different just as each of the different species are different. We have different colors and sizes. Some are faster than others and some are stronger. The royals usually have a combination of the abilities. Anyways, my son, daughter, beta Callan and I have been discussing our past and where we want to go for the future and decided that it was time to come out of hiding and to forge alliances and try to mend past hostilities. We are not bad people as a whole, there are bad dragons just as there are bad in every species. We just want to be a part of the world again and not live-in isolation. I will yield the floor to my son and heir to the throne now.” I sit and pat my son on the shoulder giving him encouragement.

MJ POV

After my father finishes speaking and yields the floor to me, I stand and introduce myself, “I am Maximus Redheart Junior. I am the next in line for the dragon throne. I will ascend the throne on my 25th birthday that is in six months. As my father has stated, we are here to forge alliances and mend the past. We want to move forward and to do that we must come out of hiding. If any wish to speak with us about alliances or simply for curiosity’s sake, we will be happy to do so. Any alliance discussions will include my father and myself as I will being taking the throne soon. I would also like to introduce to you my newly found mate, many of you may know her, Mina Black of the Black Diamond pack. My father and I would like to offer an invitation to the Black Diamond pack to discuss alliances with us as our families will be joining together.” I glance over at Jace as I say the last part and sit down.

Jace POV

I was not at all surprised when MJ announced that he would like to discuss an alliance. He must know something about my situation with the council. I stand, “thank you Prince Maximus Junior, on behalf of the Black Diamond pack as their alpha, I will be honored to discuss an alliance with the dragons. On a personal note, many of you of you know that I have been searching for my mate for the last six years. Well, I would like to announce that I and my beta have found our mates. Allow me to introduce Mina Redheart, dragon princess and daughter of King Maximus. Our families are indeed being joined. Beta Devon, would you like to introduce your mate?” I sit as Devon stands, “Yes I would, may I present Cara Darkwing, daughter of Callan Darkwing, beta to the Dragon King Maximus.” He smiles as he kisses the top of her head and sits down. I am able to see the council from where I am sitting and they look pissed.

The meeting hall burst into a mixture of applause and chatter. Many people are shouting out questions, so much to the point that no one question can be made out. The head councilman stands and bangs his hammer to try to regain order. Eventually everyone quiets down. “Well, that was all unexpected. I know that every one is anxious to speak with the dragons, but we do have other matters to attend to. So, with that, let’s begin.” The councilman states and sits back down.

The rest of the meeting goes by in a blur. We discussed the usual rouge attacks and any fighting that is going on between either packs or between species. During the meeting, Dylan leans towards Max and Callan to introduce himself. “King Maximus, I am Dylan Blackfur, alpha of the Blackfur pack. I am mated with Ember. I would also like to discuss an alliance with the dragons as Ember will become my Luna, I only want her happiness and the safety of her people.”

Maximus POV

As the meeting drones on, there is a point where a faction of fairies are arguing with a coven of witches. ‘They really need to discuss this in private with the council to mediate, it is taking up time and has nothing to do with everyone else,' I link Callan. He nods in agreement. The young man that escorted Ember in leans towards us, during the fairy/witch squabble, and introduces himself as Alpha Blackfur and Ember’s mate. ‘Toby is going to be pissed that he wasn’t here to meet his little girl’s mate,’ links Callan. I nod to him. Dylan says he wants to talk about an alliance as well because he wants to make sure that Ember’s people are safe and that she is happy. Good, I like that. I shake his hand across the table and look to MJ, he nods to me in agreement. “We will discuss when we can have the alliance talk after this meeting, also, welcome to the family. Ember’s father is my cousin and my third. He will be eager to meet you,” I tell him. Minor panic crosses his face but he reigns it in quickly. ‘Good, he should be a little worried. Toby is going to grill him but be happy that Dylan wants to make Ember happy,’ Callan links me. ‘Yes, I also have a feeling that Dylan and Jace may be allies as well. They seem to know each other and are comfortable around each other,’ I link back and then try to pay attention to what is going on.

The meeting finally comes to an end, four hours after it started. “I am starving, do the meetings usually last that long,” I ask Jace and Robert. They both nod and Robert says, “Unfortunately, the council does not step in and mediate like they should so things take far to long that does not involve the mass majority.” “Yes, well now that we are out of the meeting, lets get some lunch and find somewhere to talk a little bit,” I say.