The Crown Hackura Prince and His Dragon Princess

Not Wasting Time Pt. 1

Kingsley jolted hearing her name. I was in the present now and I’d woken up Hastein. He listened and it felt like everything was ok in his arms. Kayda purred, “It so is. Everything is perfect here.” I wondered if he knew his eyes blazed the longer I talked. Kayda purred, “He’s so handsome. Also, I hope you’ve noticed that he’s murderously angry when his eyes are golden, which I plan to encourage. He’ll let me have my roasting cave.” Jesus Christ. She was still on about that cave? She chimed in, “I never got off it and I think we both know it will be a reality.”

I was moderately worried she was right. She sang, “I ammmmmmm.” Ugh! At least she was distracting me because I was confused by that memory. They loved me. I could see it in their eyes. What changed? When did they stop loving me? And why did that hurt so much? I needed to get going on my leads in Missouri but his arms were so warm.

I easily found my emails and the one I needed from Melanie. Kayda chuckled, “I think our inbox gives mate anxiety.” Probably. It definitely gave Melanie anxiety. She needed an inbox and zero and all read. I nearly laughed because Melanie had me set up with one of the Vampires in the Resistance and noted my night contact was Moses. Because of course it was. It would be good to see him again. He was Charles' child, and he and I got along.

We’d been in bed so much we were going to miss our window for Trevor. Kayda screeched angrily. I reasoned, “We can obviously come back.” She grumbled, “I want to scare that horrible specimen. I want to eat and regurgitate him for hours.” I replied, “Not until we tell our mate what we are. That’s not a good way for him to find out.” She shot back, “Or is it the best and most impressive way?” No. Absolutely not. She bartered, “Then let me suck mate’s dick.” Easy enough.

I let her come out to play. We both were shocked he wanted to see us shift. Kayda had just been talking shifting for him but voiced her fears she’d scare him. I linked her, “Kayda.” She whispered, “I don’t know what his reaction would be or what happens in Dragon form. We talked to some of those people on that list and their other form reacts to their mate. We don’t know what we do if anything.” She was right and that was annoying us both.

Kayda screeched, “HE SAID HE WOULD FIND PEOPLE FOR ME TO EAT! I AM GETTING MY ROASTING CAVE.” Oh for the love of god. I reasoned, “Kayda, you don’t know if you can have a cave.” She replied, “You’re right. I should probably also have a roasting PRISON! And a stage. I must have a stage with a non-flammable platform so others know when they upset me I have OPTIONS of where to kill them. Ohhhh and I can’t forget my roasting chair in court. I think ours will be the most popular one.” Not for a good reason.

Kayda screeched, “DID HE JUST PROPOSE?” Since he said my last name was Cambridge I was thinking he quasi proposed. I’d have to ask Melanie if there was a pre-proposal. Kayda purred, “Say yes. By the way, the theme is ROASTING!” I retorted, “The theme of our WEDDING is not ROASTING!” She bartered, “Fire then.” I groaned, “Fire is an element, not a theme.” She snorted, “I bet our pet could make it a theme.” Oh my god.

She chided, “Are you trying to talk our mate OUT of marrying us? Are you insane?” I replied, “He’s a HACKURA! They don’t marry for decades.” She asked, “And?” Well, I was not mentally prepared for him to tell me to plan the theme and practically propose. She snorted, “Get on board with our fire-y wedding.” Fire-y was better than roasting. God, I was compromising about wedding themes with my Dragon. What in the alternate reality was this?!

He really was perfect. He was also kind, caring, and understanding. Kayda purred, “We have a last name.” I’d had fake ones, but Cambridge was real. It was tangible and he gave me something that I’d been desperate for. Kingsley was my name and identity but I never knew the other piece of it. Now, I finally have a surname. It was a silly thing. Kayda snorted, “No, it’s not. In the supernatural world surnames are important. We’ve had fake names, but nothing that meant anything. Plus, the name Cambridge strikes fear in everyone. Which will be good because we could give it right before we ROAST people!” And we were back to roasting.

Kayda asked, “Did we ever leave roasting? OHHH our wedding could have a fire pit for us to ROAST people.” I blew out a breath, “I cannot express properly how our wedding is NOT about roasting.” She grumbled, “A little about it.” I was going to look into fire themed weddings to appease her. It would probably appeal to me too, but it was about Hastein too.

We got lost in each other until it was time to go. Kayda purred, “Screw Missouri and screw evil compelling Vampires. Leave them to their games. Our pet will find them without us. Except I needed to do this. She groaned, “Ugh, fine. I’m adding an additional Roasting area or object for this though.” Of course she was.

Kayda snorted, “Well, I guess we can’t read his file in his presence.” That was true. I was floored that they wanted Melanie to go to school here. Kayda worried, “That offer could kill our pet. They cannot do that.” I replied, “It wouldn’t. I think it would make her happy.” She hummed, “Well, her Xander must be present. Along with us because she’ll do that talking without taking a breath thing. You know I’m the one who can make her stop that.” I wanted to smile because she loved to brag about that.”

She added, “I also don’t have to kiss her to get her to stop either. That’s obviously cheating.” I nearly laughed out loud and got moving. I took Hastein to the building Melanie owned that I was staying in. Kayda purred, “DAMMMNNNNNNN this is nice!” The windows also had the ability to enclose me in complete darkness. I was shocked Hastein didn’t just open the portal and send me on my way. Kayda was purring happily and I had to admit I really liked that.

He wanted to track me on the phone. Kayda said, “AWWWWWWW.” Yeah, we already were trackable by Melanie so this didn’t matter much to us. Plus, I really was bad with taking my phone places. I’d try harder since this clearly put him at ease to do. We were going to get laid until someone knocked.

Kayda grunted, “Roast them. How dare they!” Oh my good lord. She continued, “They could be my first cave victim. NO! They are a platform victim because everyone should know what interrupting s*x with our mate gets them.” Well, at least she had a plan. I tapped Hastein’s shoulder so he’d fade back. I could tell he was surprised I knew that, but then again he would probably be shocked by what I knew about them.

I walked over and the security system identified the person waiting. It was another secretary for a different Vampire. ILYX added a note that Melanie was watching this woman. Kayda chimed in, “Which means I get to ROAST her when the time comes.” Well, if she was bad that was fine by me.

Kayda screeched, “KEEP UP?! We could fly CIRCLES around this peasant.” I snorted, “Peasant?!” She replied, “Obviously.” I asked, “Why?” She replied, “Uhh we were a Princess and now we are Queen. She’s a peasant and she should bow before me.” This was going to be fun. Now, everyone would be a peasant to her. Great. Awesome.

I quickly got ready, noting Melanie had this place stalked with our contacts. Kayda purred when Hastein pulled us into his arms. She said, “Forget the annoying peasant and let him worship us as the Queen are we in bed. I never got to suck his d**k and your promised.” I said, “We will be with him for a lifetime. You have plenty of time to suck his steak tasting dick.” Now, she was practically salivated.

She grumbled, “I’m hungry. If we are leaving, let me eat the peasant outside.” Oh my god! I shut that down, “No. We have to determine if she’s bad first.” Kayda grumbled, “Determine if she’s bad. SHE STOPPED US FROM HAVING s*x! She’s obviously the worst of the worst. She’s a c**k blocker.” Being here was going to be fun, I could tell.

He gave me the concealers and I actually had forgotten. Kayda screeched, “Don’t you dare hide our mark!” I replied, “It’s safer this way.” She warned, “I will be eating SO MANY PEASANTS for this.” I agreed, “Fine.” She added, “Plus, you have to agree to my roasting cave.” I snorted, “Sorry but that request came too late on the negotiation segment of our day. You already got me to agree to eating people.” She huffed at me.

I left the room at a dead run knowing I wouldn’t leave if I didn’t. The woman outside rolled her eyes. Kayda said, “Kill her.” I reasoned, “Rolling her eyes is not a good reason to kill her.” Kayda scoffed, “I am a QUEEN. One does NOT roll their eyes at Queen’s unless they are our friend. SHE IS NOT OUR FRIEND! ROAST HER!” I hung my head and she asked, “Do you have a car to follow me in?” Did I have a car? This woman was adorable.

Kayda argued, “Disrespectful is what she is. Our pet will have a horde of cars here.” I grinned, “Of course I do. Are we going for basic or flashy?” She nodded her approval. When you worked for Vampires you had to have different levels of things or they gave them to you. It was a status thing for them. She answered, “Flashy.” Kayda purred, “She earned a BRIEF reprieve from me wanting to kill her for that answer.”

I knew my Dragon well enough to know she still wanted to kill her, but we both loved flashy cars. She waved to her corvette. I nodded and walked back into the garage and shut the door before I turned on the lights. Kayda purred, “Our pet is the best.” She really was. I had so many choices for cars.

Moses and my employer would love the Ferrari Batmobile though. I’d pick that one for today. I got in and opened the door and drove out. Kayda cackled, “LOOK AT HER STUPEFIED FACE!” Yeah, that was definitely worth it. I followed her to the office.

We got out and she asked, “Did Mr. Troy get you that car?” I answered, “Nope.” Troy was another one of Charles’ made children. She glared at me which had Kayda saying, “Reprieve over. Let me eat her.” I walked into the building. She pointed at my desk, “There’s your stuff. Hope you can keep up.” She walked off.

Another girl gasped, “Harriah, you have to show her the ropes.” She turned, “She gets it or she doesn’t.” I grinned, “I would think you’d want me to get it since you’ll do the job if I get fired.” Not that Troy would ever fire me. She glared at me, warning, “You’d better hack it.” Then she left.

The girl stood, “I’m so sorry about her. My name’s Josey and I was coming to get you in an hour.” Kayda screeched, “DEATH TO HARRIAH!” I said, “Harriah came to get me.” She frowned, “Well, Mr. Moses assigned me. They won’t be happy Harriah got you. Mr. Troy hates working with her.” I laughed, “I’m surprised she’s not been drained then.” Troy was pretty death to all who annoyed him.

She snorted, “He travels a lot. Mr. Moses is in charge of the day to day things, but Harriah isn’t Mr. Tory’s assistant.” I asked, “Then why would she be doing my job?” She laughed, “She’s not.” Kayda grunted, “So she’s a lying cockblocking b***h. ROAST HER!” I shrugged, “That’s why she came to get me.” Josey tapped her chin, “Hmmm, I’ll look into that. Just know, she’ll say you’re sleeping with the Vampire you’re working for.” I laughed, “No Vampire would have me working the hours I am if I was sleeping with them.”

She agreed, “Yeah, I know. She’s the only one sleeping with her Vampire. The dolt thinks they are exclusive. As if a vampire spends midnight to dawn alone.” That was naive. I asked, “Is she a pet?” She snorted, “God, no. She’s a secretary that gets fed and f****d. She’d be a horrible pet. There is not a submissive bone in that chicks body. She thinks she’ll be a bonded or some shit.”

Kayda snorted, “More like dead because she’s ANNOYING!” I surmised, “So, she wants to be turned.” Josey clicked her tongue, “You’re smart. Yes, she does.” A bonded child was intense and nothing someone would give her if they weren’t mates. How did she not know that? I asked, “How long has she worked here?” She answered, “Five years.” Yeah, no she was just dumb then.

I spotted her neck then said, “Congratulations by the way.” She beamed, “Thanks! My mate is amazing. It makes it crazier that Harriah says I’m sleeping with Moses because she knows I’m not his bonded mate.” I laughed, “She thinks a Vampire would let you work for an unbonded Vampire without that Vampire being very and so outwardly gay?” Moses was very out of the closet gay. He did not care who was watching him and loved sucking d**k. Kayda purred, “We have that in common with him.” We did.

She snorted, “Right?” I asked, “Who is your bonded?” She grinned, “You’ll meet him.” I hoped it wasn’t anyone bad because humans did NOT do well if their bonded Vampires was killed. She logged me into the system and gave me everything. I was on the phone arranging Troy’s travel and safe passage. He was actually on his way here. It looked like he planned to stay for a bit. Which meant I was scheduling a lot of meetings.

After a few hours Josey came to get me. She winked, “Break time. I got us some snacks.” She took me to a private office. I asked, “What’s this?” She grinned, “We get this perk working for Mr. Moses and Mr. Troy. No one else does and they are jealous. So, Karlee, what's your story?” I answered, “I like to jump around in things and jobs. I haven’t found the right fit yet, but I do well for myself.” She nodded, “Fair enough. Got a man in your life?”

I grinned, “I do.” Kayda snorted, “He practically proposed and you told him to slow down.” I rolled my eyes at her. She’d been sleeping while I worked because it was mundane and boring. She asked, “So, what does he think of this job? A lot of girls or guys get asked to quit.” I snorted, “He’d never do that.” I knew that was true.

She grinned, “Sounds like you got a good one.” I agreed, “I do. He kind of proposed.” She squealed, “That’s so exciting!” I admitted, “It is.” Kayda snorted, “Yes, so get to our roasting themed wedding rolling.” I sighed at her.

Josey asked, “So, what’s with the guarded look on your face? Is it me?” I jolted, “I’m not really sure this is work appropriate.” She snorted, “I’m nosey by nature and I’m good at reading people. You love the man you’re talking about, but you’re holding back. Here is my unsolicited advice you can take or reject.” She handed me a cupcake.

Kayda said, “I will hear her out if that cupcake is good. Only because mate calls us cupcake and in my mind he got us the cupcake.” I took a bite. Kayda said, “Fine. Hear her out, but if she says something clique and stupid I reserve the right to want to roast her.” Naturally. Josey took a big drink of coffee. Maybe that’s how she stayed up with her Vampire.

She set the mug down. She said, “I wasted time with my man and he did with me too. He always knew I was his mate, of course. I know you’re not human like me, but when we met I kept him at arm's length. He let me and kept living his Vampire lifestyle, which did not bother me but did. I didn’t tell him that and kept playing the games human’s do in relationships. I thought I was doing the right thing by denying him asking me to be his girlfriend because of the invisible timeline in my head. He wanted it all too fast and it hurt him. Especially since he was trying to use human terms even.” Then she was his mate.

She snorted, “His old ass didn’t talk to me about it either. They are supposed to be older and wiser but that’s just not true. They don’t handle rejection well.” I conceded, “Supernaturals in general do not.” Kayda snorted, “We did NOT reject mate.” We didn’t.

Josey sighed, “Well, when he told me what he was honestly I was thrilled. I didn’t want him to know that, but I did ask him to feed on me so I would know what it was like.” Ok? I wasn’t hearing what the wasting time was other than dicking around with dating.

She said, “It was life changing.” He was her mate, so that made sense. She waved, “I told him I needed to digest it all, but my inner reader was leaping for joy this was real life. I didn’t talk to him for three days which had him in an understandable panic. Then I got in an accident. I was in the hospital in a coma with a bleed on my brain and undergoing surgery.” I blinked, asking, “What?” Kayda snorted, “Did he punish her by not healing her? Because that’s a d**k move.” It was.

She nodded, “Yeah, but I didn’t have him on my emergency sheet or anything so no one called him. He was hurt and thought I couldn't handle the fact he was a Vampire. When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything for months, which I’m told was normal. We literally ran into each other while I walked the street trying to remember my life. I have insomnia so I tend to wander.” That’s how she stayed up then.”

She waved, “He felt horrible when he realized I had no memory. He blamed himself for not looking harder for me, but that was silly because he wouldn't have found me. I was listed as Jane doe.”

Kayda said, “I don’t know because H would look for us. He wouldn’t stop until he found us.” Right, but a Supernatural thinking a human ran from them after sharing their secret was probably very hurtful and concerning. He had to look out for human authorities and Vampires because you can’t expose the Supernatural. Two supernatural’s in a relationship played by different rules than a human and supernatural did.

She waved, “It sounds like he didn’t look for me, but he did. I’m pretty sure he killed the Private Investigator he hired.” Kayda snorted, “He totally did. I would’ve roasted and eaten that fucker so fast.” Josey shrugged, “Anyway, he took me back to my apartment that I still had because he’d been paying for it. It just didn’t feel like home so I asked to go to his place.”

She chuckled, “We built a life and slowly, day by day, through the VERY expensive therapy he paid for my memories began to come back. I wanted to lie to him but I realized the silly mistakes I made throughout our relationship. It seemed stupid to lose out on what we had. I told him everything and all my thoughts during our relationship. He teased me that at least I had an excuse because I was human. He was just hurt and didn’t tell me which he also felt stupid for. He still pays rent on that silly old apartment so if he pisses me off I have a place to go.”

She waved, “My point is, what if I never ran into him again? I don’t know if my memories would’ve come back. I was two states away when I got in that accident.” Kayda snorted, “That was a vital piece of information she did not tell in the story.” It did make more sense why he didn’t find her. He probably thought she cut and ran from him. Josey snorted, “I wasn’t even driving my car.” Kayda grumbled, “More important pieces to the story. I thought her Vampire was stupid. She is not a storyteller at all.” Those were pretty pertinent details.

Josey chuckled, “I just decided I was tired of the name Jane and decided to drive until I felt the need to stop. It happened to be at night when I passed through and we found each other again.”

She squeezed my hand, “Don’t waste time needlessly like I did. At the end of the day, nothing in this life is guaranteed.” I asked, “What about your family?” She replied, “All I had was my Gran and she died when I was in high school. Frederico is my family and I nearly threw the love we had away for human timelines and my ideas of how things should go. He nearly lost the love of his life because he was too proud to say how he was hurt by my actions. Then he thought I ran from him and his nature, when really I just got in an accident. The driver who hit me died mysteriously after I found Federico again .”

I snorted, “Dear god woman, don’t tell you actually believe that.” Kayda said “Seriously. I’ll worry that she still has a brain injury if she does. She literally WORKS for a Vampire. She HAS to know that her mate killed the driver.”

Josey laughed, “No, it turned out it was another Vampire. He’s very finally dead because my mate didn’t care for the silver coffin punishment for a week he got for nearly killing me. Anyway, the point is don’t waste what you have. Trust me, it’s not worth losing.” I nodded to her and we got back to work.

The second dusk hit Josey’s Vampire showed up. I sent her a chat through our work space.

Me: Federico Garcia Lorca IS YOUR MATE AND BONDED?! A LITERAL POET COULD NOT EXPRESS HIS FEELINGS?!

Josey: LOL He’ll love that you recognized him.

Me: I might like poetry.

Josey: He gave me all the poems he wrote while we were together once we found each other again. I told him he should’ve given them to me the first time around. You live and you learn. Mr. Moses can’t make it in tonight, so we are both off. You obviously know Mr. Troy is traveling tonight.

Me: See you tomorrow.

I clocked out and got back into my bat mobile. I’d drive it tomorrow and hope Moses can see it. I went back to my place. I parked and ordered, “ILYX, pull our files on Hastein Cambridge.” He replied, “Of course, K.” Kayda cackled, “That’s funny now that we’ve met our pet’s Xander.” It would be funnier the first time he heard it.

I asked her, “What do you think about what Josey said?” She snorted, “We do not have human concepts let alone in our relationship.” No, but I’d been holding myself back. She urged, “Then meet his family. We can hope none are roastable.” Jesus. I snorted, “No roasting his family.” She hummed, “If they are bad, I will roast them. No one can hurt him and I will not ask for permission. I will simply roast them.” I rubbed my face and went through ILYX’s notes on Hastein.

Kayda laughed, “Look next to mate, our pet already updated it.” Yes she had. Kayda screeched, “SOMEONE HURT HIM ON A MISSION AND THEY HAVE NOT BEEN FOUND!” I replied, “We will find them and you can roast and eat them.” Kayda grumbled, “Good.” I ordered, “ILYX, run Melanie’s program and find the person mentioned in the file from Hastein’s mission when he was twenty that hurt him.” ILYX replied, “Running Lovebug’s program.” Dear lord.

Kayda chuckled, “It’s cute.” It really was. I skimmed the rest and looked at pictures of him on the files. If only I’d been on any of those missions or looked at the damn file. Kayda purred, “We’d have sought him out for sure. Look at those muscles! They even come across in blurry pictures. They did.