The Crown Hackura Prince and His Dragon Princess

Observing Pt. 2

If we’d had it the whole time what would there be to get used to? It would just be her life force. I linked my dad again, “You know, sometimes I wonder if her bond isn’t so bright and knocks us on our ass sometimes because she’s pure of heart and we are supposed to help her. Yet we can’t because we don’t know half of what she f*****g feels.”

He replied, “I could ask Aiden but he probably wouldn’t know.” My gaze again found Melanie and Alexander. I’d bet she could tell us more. Maybe Freya knew. I’d have to talk to her. It felt Kinglsey was ready to jump into the arena. I glanced back, not understanding why. I missed something. Then I realized from the bond it was about Melanie. I shot Gabe a look and he shrugged.

We all ended up cheering which I felt shocked my Aunt to her core before she shut us out again. This time I understood because she went for the kill. Good. I could not listen to this i***t. I’d have killed him much faster because he bored me. She was a Fairy who hated to be bored so I was impressed she kept him alive at all.

I portaled us out and finally ripped the outfit that had been taunting me off. When we managed to stop, I linked my dad, “Is the hunt for Kayda set up?” He answered, “Yes, and we have boats stationed around the island to make sure they don’t get by us.” I asked, “You’ve been on a boat this whole time?” He snorted, “No. Guards are. I’ll let you know when they are relieved.”

It wouldn’t take more than a minute so I portaled us to the islands. Chester saw me and got out a walkie talkie. I was sure he was releasing the prisoners for the hunt. He made a face then portaled away. He wasn’t going the easy route to find out what my mate was, but that wasn’t surprising. We enjoyed the challenge.

My dad linked, “Boats are now filled with the family that knows what she is.” I spurned her into action. She took off and began to fly. I portaled near where I knew the prisoners would’ve been kept. I watched as Kayda practically laughed at them.

Arvid called from behind me, “It’s still amazing to see a Dragon. I think I’ll be in awe every time.” I concurred, “I will be too. If she lets you ride on her it’s the most liberating and amazing rush.” He replied, “I wonder if there are real Dragons and Dragon shifters in their realm.” I jolted, “What now?” He shrugged, “There are real wolves and werewolves.” I snorted, “That’s some shit.” He winked, “Maybe I can get myself a real pet Dragon.” I threw my head back and laughed as Kayda lit one prisoner on fire.

The others ran in opposite directions in a panic. Arvid and I laughed and followed them. I watched as she let one get into the ocean. Arvid nudged me, “This will be good.” Wren shouted, “GO KAYDA!” I snorted, “Why am I not surprised the Hellion Triplets are on the island?” Wren shouted, “Dad let us throw mangos at your prisoners.”

Arvid asked, “And why is Lincoln upset he didn’t get to go mob on their asses?” I groaned, ‘“Fuck.” I called him. He answered pouting, “Are we even friends? I researched for you and you took them away for some hunt.” I replied, “Get with Chester and take two prisoners that we are done questioning and do all your mob things.”

He squealed, “I TAKE BACK ALL THE MEAN THINGS I SAID ABOUT YOU WHEN YOU COULD NOT HEAR ME ABOUT TAKING MY HUMAN MOB KILLINGS FROM ME!” He hung up and I rolled my eyes.

Arvid said, “He is pretty funny.” I agreed, “He is. He’s also a very loyal friend.” We laughed when Kayda ate the guy in the ocean then sprayed Angelique with water. I whispered, “She’s playing.” He agreed, “Yeah.” I snorted, “She hasn’t been able to play. She’s never been able to be free. They took this from her and I f*****g hate them for it.”

He replied, “I can’t say I don’t feel the same way.” He put a hand on my back and squeezed. Kayda flew around and I knew when she found her prey because she felt so proud of herself. Arvid told me, “Doing this for her was great. Eventually, you’ll have to announce her and what she is to our people.” I replied, “That’s on her timeline. I will say she’ll have to tell our family first.” He laughed, “Yeah, that’s best for everyone.”

We got into a routine. I went out the same day Alexander and Melanie got back from their honeymoon. I knew I was being followed so I went to a secluded area because I knew who it was. I turned, “Benny.” He greeted, “Cousin.” I asked, “Have you met Aunt Haley?” He replied, “I actually wanted to say congratulations on finding your mate. What is she? The family seems curious and the ones who knew didn’t find out when I thought they would. Cousin Titus was absolutely gob smacked.”

I replied, “Meet Aunt Haley and I’ll tell you.” He inclined his head and faded back. I cursed, “Come the f**k on! You have to go meet her!” Based on the bond, I couldn’t tell if he would. I shouted, “You will f**k us all if you don’t. Just think about it.” He sent that he would. Good. At least there was that.

I portaled home and felt odd things from Alexander. I linked Uncle Eric, “The f**k is going on?” He replied, “Melanie doesn’t like Cheyenne and that’s putting it mildly.” I snorted, “Oh good. Is Alexander’s friend who wants desperately to be more to him dead then?” She was kind of a b***h so I really couldn't fault Melanie there.

He replied, “Uh no but her back is broken.” I asked, “Are you serious?” He answered, “Uh huh.” I portaled to Uncle Gunner’s office. He was crying, he was laughing so hard. Aunt Calista snorted, “I would’ve killed her ass.” I asked, “What happened?” They showed me. Melanie had some good moves.

I agreed, “She’s lucky she’s not dead. That will be because Alexander saw her as a friend. I’m impressed Melanie stopped Freya from killing her. She also goaded the hell out of her. Lithan, go get my mate.” My dad asked, “Why?” I replied, “Because I want her here and something tells me that she knows how damn much Melanie doesn’t like this woman.”

Uncle Gunner answered, “A lot. I mean, in her spot you wouldn’t like the person who got closest to Alexander. It was obvious Cheynne liked him.” I reasoned, “But he didn’t notice nor did he like her as more than a friend.” Aunt Calista snorted, “And in Melanie’s shoes if this were your mate.” I muttered, “I’d blood eagle the bastard.” Everyone laughed.

Kinglsey showed up and was visibly distraught she missed this meeting. The bond told me she felt it was highly unfair. I sent Gabe a warning down the bond when Kingsley mentioned her. He sent back that I was too late. He also sending a warning that his mate was incoming. She did in fact look like she’d cried over missing this meeting.

I linked Uncle Gunner, “Good thinking on showing them.” He snorted, “With as much as Melanie talks, I can imagine how much they heard about this girl. It seems fair they see the show down.” I replied, “My mate feels like that’s the bare minimum she deserves.” He laughed back down the link.

Uncle Gunner linked, “So, there are so many different ways to kill this woman that your mate just pulled up. Some are the EXACT ways your dad has killed goblins for coming after your mom. There’s one in here Veronica did for Titus. One from Harper for me, oh and here’s you for your brother. Alexander has also killed people this way.”

I snorted, “Are they all ways we’d kill people?” He answered, “No. Some are clearly her own ways and her mind is creative to say the least.” That was kind of funny. Kayda was ready to go kill Cheyenne. Uncle Harper linked, “You should calm her down, she’s steaming.”

I quickly did, but I could tell Kayda was plotting to kill Cheynne still. I took her to the gym and that seemed to do the trick. My dad linked, “She’s got moves and her temperament matches our quite a bit.” That was true. At least we were similar in how to calm down. I probably should’ve had her take me for a flying session. I would try that next time too.

The day of Melanie’s party rolled around and I checked my watch. Chester faded in, “They are coming.” I asked, “Where the hell are they?” He replied, “Lithan texted Ithios that they had a hiccup but everyone was ok and they were coming.” I glared at him. He shrugged, “I had nothing to do with it.” I snorted, “I know that.”

Chester faded back when a portal opened. Kingsley shot by me covered in blood. I glared at Lithan, “What happened?” He said, “The extraction was more difficult than they planned for.” I ground out, “They planned for it to be difficult which is why you were there.” He replied, “Which is why she has blood on her. I killed three people.” I asked, “Did she get hit?” He gave me a look, “You know I wouldn’t let that happen.” I nodded and he left.

Kingsley came out ready to go. We portaled in and I nearly took a step back. I linked Uncle Eric, “So, they were serious about her having a drunk alter ego.” He snorted, “Uh huh. Dylan made it his goal for her to appear.” He did always accomplish his goals.

Kingsley really didn’t feel like we were prepared. What were they going to do? Take over the world? At least I could follow the drunk version of my cousin’s mate better than if she was sober.” I was relieved that even drunk she didn’t say anything about my mate.

I linked Uncle Eric, “What would make Alexander’s eye twitch?” He replied, “Honestly, that’s a long list.” My eyes widened when he brought up Lux. I glanced over in his direction and he ducked down. Smart man, though Alexander could scent him easily. Melanie had her own way of making it worse somehow while guiding the anger away from Lux.

Alexander’s fury was simmering. Kingsley tried to fix it, but Melanie didn’t get it. I was actually shocked Max and Theo pulled the slime prank. I thought it was Angela. She winked at me and Max and Theo bowed. I linked my dad, “They’ve been pulling s**t and letting Angela take the blame all these years.” He hummed, “That does seem to be the case.” I gasped, “You knew!” He laughed, “I did.” Damn it! I missed it.

Uncle Eric linked, “She hacked our feeds. Awesome.” I asked, “Did you really just figure that out?” He snorted, “I was kind of hoping if she had she’d seen her family.” Yeah, that was some type of interference that was on a level of insanity that she’d checked in and never seen Jason. It wasn’t like he never came around.

I linked Uncle Eric, “Oh no. He asked the wrong question. They look too happy.” Then my mate challenged me. I just didn’t know what the challenge was. Surely, it couldn’t start if I didn’t get that piece of information.

I linked my dad, “Kingsley is entirely too confident that we are going to lose.” He replied, “I’d say that they don’t know how we do things, but they do. Maybe they are going to win.” I snorted, “Umm what? We don’t lose.” He reasoned, “Maybe losing the battle is better than the war, son. Figure out how they do things today and then we have a better way of tracking them later.”

He was right but I didn’t want to lose. Kingsley shot me a wink before she followed Melanie out. Dylan was watching his watch. He was making a come on motion with his hand. I linked Uncle Eric, “How screwed are we?” He snorted, “I feel like we are going to think we’ve caught them multiple times before we don’t catch them at all.” Well, she sounded resigned to the probability we lost.

Dylan shouted, “And go! The game is afoot! Chase the birthday girl and her friends.” He took off outside. With me, my dad, and Brenton behind him. I teased, “I didn’t see you here, little brother. Where is Caius?” He chuckled, “I might have left him tied up to put some facetime into the party. How was I to know a game would develop?”

I told him, “You’re going to get it.” He grinned, “I know. Isn’t it great?” I threw my head back and laughed. I watched Alexander just miss Paige and Addison through a holoport. Elise couldn't get through, which meant none of us could.

Corbin called to Alexander, “If Melanie had created that I bet you could get through, but that’s a holoport which a Witch did. One that wasn’t sure if she liked you at the time.” I think the Witch liked him just fine, but she would’ve been cautious where Melanie was concerned.

Tristan yelled, “You little tree hopper! Get down here!” I heard Melanie cackle like a drunken loon followed by trees rustling. Tristan cursed, “Son of a bitch.” I called Jocelyn. She answered, “Hey, H.” I said, “Get my Guard and Kingsley’s here to play this game.” She asked, “What game?” I answered, “Tracking down my cousin’s drunk mate and my mate.” She laughed, “I’m so coming.” I didn’t care so long as we had more bodies here.

Kingsley was with Melanie and I knew I looked like a damn chicken with my head cut off running around after them. I called Uncle Gunner. He said, “I am like ten feet from you.” I ordered, “Track K’s phone.” He replied, “It’s moving around and not with her based on when I just saw her.

Dylan squealed, “There are holoports all over the territory!” Melanie yelled, “SUCKERS!” EJ groaned, “She came through the holoport we were just at.” I linked my Uncle Eric, “How THE HELL did they get so many goddamn holoports in your area?!” He replied, “That’s an excellent question that I would like the answer too.” I wanted answers now.

Dylan declared, “I love it. I realize I’m also chasing my own tail here but to see the Conners family also chasing their tails makes us little people happy.” Uncle Eric yelled, “Of course it does!”

Dylan cooed, “Don’t think I don’t notice the CPCNA also trying to catch his mate and failing.” For god’s sake. Elise asked, “CPCNA?” Dylan explained, “Crown Prince Creepy Ninja Assassin. Oh look, all my creepy ninja assassins are running around trying to catch them.” Blade said, “Not all.”

I linked my dad, “Let me guess, you have him analyzing them.” He replied, “Yes, I do.” If anyone was going to track down Kingsley it would be him.” Even with the bond she was in and out of so many damn places so fast it was ridiculous.

I yelled, “Blade! Help me catch your future Queen.” Blade laughed, “Not say out loud. Now fairy like wolf Duchess knows.” God damn it. My dad linked, “You could’ve linked him.” I replied, “Well, that’s new to me.” He snorted, “We are getting our asses handed to us.” They were like goddamn squirrels. How did wolves get into the mindset to act like a f*****g squirrel.

I groaned, “Oh come on! Alexander, why is your mate so smart?” I linked my dad, “Are you going to help at all?” He snorted, “I was trying. Now, I’ve stopped playing and I’m observing. They use some of our tactics, but they have combined wolves with holoports. It’s an interesting way of doing things.”

I replied, “What f*****g wolf or Hackura jumps around trees like that?!” He snorted, “Actually none that I know of. Her wolf cannot like that.” Kingsley could jump around things, maybe this was Kayda’s influence. She didn’t have her memories so maybe she acted like a damn squirrel.

After several hours of chasing them around I caught Mason, but I was pretty sure he took pity on us. I told him, “I don’t like pity victories.” He chuckled, “I know that about the Hackura, but I wanted to talk to you.” I asked, “Oh?” He nodded, “You’ve made K happy.”

I replied, “I will always make her happy.” He told me, “She resisted having a family, but Mel set her mind on it. I’m sure you know how that goes. I may not know her as well, but Hendrick and I came to see them all as our kids. Thank you for making her happy. She really needed it.” I inclined my head to him.

I asked, “So, unless someone else gives themselves up we are dead in the water.” He snorted, “If you wanted Melanie to give up her game you should’ve had her Xander take his shirt off.” I heard a snort to my left. I commented, “Dad.” He waved, “I can’t believe we didn’t think of that.” Mason chuckled, “Neither can I. I was certain the funny wolf would have suggested it.”

He probably didn’t want the game to end. Mason shrugged, “Drunk Melanie is easily distracted by a shirtless Xander. If you had him conjure a weight bench she would definitely stop to watch him.” I snorted, “So, the only way to win is if she’s drunk?”

He replied, “If you think you don’t like losing then you’ve never come against Melanie. She hates losing more than anyone I’ve ever met. Kingsley is a close second. They take failure personally. I’m sure you caught onto some of the game here, but you won’t have been the only one taking notes. Melanie will have too. Plus, she has the place wired. She can watch it back sober.” I groaned, “Awesome.” He laughed and clapped me on the back.

I gave up and felt that made Kingsley laugh in the bond. I watched them and saw what got Melanie. Alexander sat down with his eyes closed. I could tell he wasn’t giving up, but I saw her and her attention instantly went to him. Damn. He was the key to winning the whole time.

She literally jumped on him. Melanie tapped his shoulder and said, “Hi.” You’ve got to be kidding me. I linked Uncle Eric, “She did say the only way you’d ever find her was if she crawled into your lap and said hi. I guess she meant that literally.” He replied, “Yay. That will make everyone so happy.”

Melanie snickered, “I told you guys you wouldn’t us unless we crawled into your lap and said hi.” I linked my dad, “I totally just said that to Uncle Eric. I’m on her wavelength.” He hummed, “Good. Then next time we can win.” I wasn’t so sure about that, but eventually we would.

Kingsley jumped on my back from above. I put my hands around her arms and kissed her cheek. I told her, “You guys are good.” She laughed, “I know. We practiced. A lot. Sometimes in the middle of the night for no goddamn reason.” I replied, “We do that.” She snorted, “I know. You guys suck for that.” I threw my head back and laughed.

Alexander lovingly told Melanie, “So you did say that.” Dylan yelled, “Hell yes she did!” He kissed her and I felt some of my brother's surprise. It was probably going to surprise us for a while. He’d been waiting for her so long that it was a bit odd to see this side of him.

Jason McAlister yelled, “Come on! I don’t want to see that.” Melanie pulled away and said, “Then go home, Jase.” I snorted. Kingsley warned, “I would not try to separate Drunk Melanie from her Xander.” Paige snorted, “She came out swinging when we woke her up and she was dreaming about him. So, K’s right.”

Alexander pulled back from Melanie. Kingsley told me, “We should follow them inside. Drunk Melanie always has presents she forgets that she has for people. Then she remembers and hands them out.” I snorted, “I can’t wait. Especially if it’s that damn watch.”

She threw her head back and laughed. She admitted, “I have actually seen yours.” My jaw dropped. She tapped her chin, “I almost stole it to track down and give it to you. I liked your name.” I grunted, “I wish you had.” She admitted, “Me too.”

Once we got inside Aunt Haley chastised the partial Fairies, “I feel the need to point out none of you tried to pop to them.” Alexander looked like he’d been slapped. Melanie snickered, “We still would’ve gotten away. The Hackura were portalling to Kingsley’s phone.” Not that it helped.

Alexander asked, “Did Kingsley not have her phone?” He damn well knew she didn’t or I’d have had her. Melanie winked, “We were passing it around.” He snorted, “Of course you were.” Melanie asked, “Why didn’t you pop to us?”

EJ explained, “We are used to not being able to pop to you. Especially you.” Melanie shrugged, “You could’ve now.” Elise laughed. Sadly, that was a reaction that had been trained out of them, but we could set up some practices in our realm. We’d get it back to their natural inclination.

Dad asked, “How much did you all practice that?” Melanie said, “Oh…a lot we’ve spent hours practicing. I usually make everyone try to run from me. I’m a lot better at catching people than you guys.” For the love of god.

Alexander tickled her sides while she squealed with laughter. Dylan said, “How fun. Back to my questions, which you are just answering.” Melanie pointed out, “That’s what people usually do when one asks a question.” Cayden snorted, “Not you.” He took the words out of my mouth.

Melanie frowned, “That was different! I thought you guys would go away if I answered your questions.” Cayden sighed, “That wouldn’t have happened.” Melanie said, “Well, obviously I know that now.” If only she’d have known it then.

Dylan asked, “How did you start your super secret fun getting away from our resident creepy ninja assassins who are an oh so competitive group?” Melanie laughed, “I bet they’d be able to catch some of us now. The ones who didn’t join the game watched us, and the ones playing were learning strategies.” God damn it. Mason was right.

I complained, “You are too smart.” Melanie replied, “I don’t know how one could be too smart….that’s not a thing that…” It was a thing and it was hers. I simply said, “Cousin.” and sent him the need to do his thing. He quickly kissed Melanie. Dylan snorted, “He enjoys that too much.” Alexander boasted, “I really do.” Dylan said, “Annnnnddd back to my question.”