The Dragon King and His Human Mate

17. Teaming Up

| Harry |

With my black cape on, I walked passed people.

Not people actually, witches and wizards.

Villagers of the kingdom of witches.

Looking at them like this, they didn't look that different from us. From my people. Except the use of some little spells, they looked almost as innocent as us.

Not what I expected them to be. Not the villains I thought they were.

But who was I lying to? It wasn't their fault for the wrongdoings of their tyrant king. Just as it wasn't my people's fault for the incompetence of their royals, who even after more than a century, didn't know how to protect them.

Hell I couldn't even protect my sister, how would I ever be able to protect my whole kingdom?

They took her from me right in front of my eyes and I did absolutely nothing to stop it. I watched her leave with two wizards to be sent to an island, to be eaten or burned alive by a mad dragon.

And I did nothing about it.

There would be no single day the guilt wouldn't eat me inside for not being able to protect my sister.

And the only thing she wished was for me to find a way to protect our little Sophie when the time would come.

That I would do. Even if I had to give my life for it, at least I'd protect one of my sisters.

But if there was a small possibility for Ana to be alive right now, there was nothing in this world that could stop me from finding her and bringing her back. And deep down, I wanted to believe she was.

Ana was a fighter. Maybe she hadn't given up yet.

I spotted Felipe in the corner of this old, dirty bar we had agreed to meet in. With a cape on and a glass of liquor in his hand, he didn't look that much of a wizard prince.

Who could have thought, me teaming up with Felipe? Yet here I was, laying my every hope in him to find out at least what had happened to my sister. I deserved to know at least this.

"Felipe." I sat down opposite him and he handed me a glass, which I emptied in an instant. It did help a little to ease up the rage inside me. He didn't look in a better condition himself.

"Harry," he answered. This time there was no irony in his voice. We were past that point now. "I'm glad you made it."

I nodded. "I'd say the same thing about you too. I can't even think about your grandfather finding out you've sneaked out to meet me. He'll probably consider it some sort of treason."

He sighed. "Yeah but it doesn't matter. Anything for Ana."

I smiled weakly. All this time I had misjudged this man. He did love my sister. But it didn't change the fact she didn't love him back. Not that it mattered right now. She was probably dead, anyway. 

"Fill me in."

He lowered his head and spoke his words almost ashamed.

Words got stuck on my throat as I heard him saying the truth behind the human girls deaths. It was his grandfather all along. He killed them before they'd even reach the island.

The dragon king was never to blame.

If I had an urge to kill that ugly old king before, it had now increased a million times more. I wanted to rip his heart out of his chest.

"You knew?" I choked out. "And you let her go anyway?" In an instant I got up from my chair, furiously grabbed him from his collar and made an attempt to connect my fist with his face with as much strength as I could master but the broken look in his face stopped me midway. He didn't even consider protecting himself, or hitting me back.

He felt just as guilty as I did.

"One of my guards I sent with her was on my command." He shrugged and took another big sip. "But he never came back. Nor did the other guard under my grandfather's command."

"Maybe Ana killed them both?" Hope sipped into my body.

"C'mon man, two wizards?"

I ran my hand through my red hair furiously. He was right, no human was capable of surviving two wizards. Even if that human was Ana.

"I have no idea what might've happened," he admitted. "It's too strange. It doesn't make sense. Even Ethan doesn't know anything. But it was him who made possible for Ana to be chosen that day." I nodded as I clenched my jaw. Yeah, I had thought about that. "There are things we don't know yet, Harry. For a reason or another, Ethan has teamed up with the dragon queen— hell, the mother of the dragon king," he corrected himself.

I took my time to think about every possibility, however Felipe was right. There were too many things we didn't know. Too many missing pieces of the equation we couldn't figure out ourselves.

"Maybe Ana has made it to the island." I couldn't help but keep hoping for a miracle. "Maybe the dragon hasn't hurt her and she's alive still." However, he looked tensed at that thought. As if he couldn't even imagine the dragon king and Ana near each other. Then another thought hit me. "Maybe she's his mate!"

Felipe hitting the wooden table that separated us with the palm of his hand drew some attention at us. "That's not possible!" He shouted.

"Damn it Felipe, lower your voice. We're supposed to not blow our cover." 

However he looked like he could punch someone. "It isn't possible, they would've been here by now," he pointed out, bitterly. "Or... at his kingdom. But what I mean is... alive."

He did have a point though. If Ana would be his mate, she would've come back to us right now. Not that I wished on her to be the mate of a man who had killed his true one. But anything that would bring her back alive was still appreciated.

"Do you think she's... dead?" I couldn't even bring myself to ask that question out loud.

Felipe hesitated. "I don't wanna believe that. Ana... Ana can't be dead. She just can't."

We kept talking about several other things, the main one being the dragon island's location. No one knew but king Ethan. And maybe queen Freya.

As Felipe was telling me, every wizard guard kept ending up dead just after some days they had supposedly accompanied the human girls to the island, every two years. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out he killed them himself to cover up the traces.

But why he was going through all this trouble for, we still didn't know.

And we would probably never find out.

However I was too distracted by a blonde girl openly flirting with me only with her beautiful blue eyes to keep staying focused at what Felipe kept talking about. It felt like something pulled me to her. No matter how important the conversation was, I kept losing track of it because of her.

She was pretty.

"Harry." Felipe snapped me out of the spell she had put me through. Not literally, but it was kind of the same thing. I was too lost on her already. "Is it the blonde witch?" He asked after realizing where I had been staring at for the past hour. "She's pretty, I get it, but we have more important things to deal with." For this, he was right. However, it didn't seem like my eyes could obey him and stop looking at her anytime soon.

Not that she stopped looking at me.

"Gentlemen, these are from the lady there," the server told us, pointing at the blonde witch with a tray of drinks in his hand.

I smirked as she winked at me playfully.

"Wow," Felipe chuckled. "Here I am, caught in the middle. Go man, take your shot."

I walked towards her and sat down on the chair opposite hers. She looked even prettier from up close.

"You finally took the courage." She played with the drink in her hand. "I'm Rebecca."

"Harry." I smiled. It was no use showing my true identity to a stranger. Even to a stranger you feel an unfamiliar pull to.

We kept talking casually for a few minutes, before Felipe's voice interrupted us.

"It's getting late." He warned me.

"Oh are you always this boring?" She pouted. "We were just having a lovely conversation. Join us."

"I don't think—"

"I heard you two talking about some sorts of coordinates. I can help you if you want." I exchanged some questioning looks with Felipe. "You know you weren't doing a great job with keeping your voice low."

Felipe sat down on another chair. "I'm a wizard myself. Don't you think I haven't tried a million times tracking down the coordinates myself? It's no use."

Rebecca smile confidentially. "Maybe because you're not the best at tracking spells. My grandmother was. And I have her books and diaries."

Well I had no idea about spells or any kind of these sort but every help was appreciated. Especially from her.

"Why would you choose to help us?" Felipe asked, suspicious.

It took her a few seconds to answer, and she looked at me while she did. "Because who wouldn't want to help their mate?"

~*~*~*~

We were at Rebecca's small house, waiting for her to find every belonging of her dead grandmother.

I looked around. Of course it was nothing like my castle, but it was still warm.

Or because it was Rebecca's that made me feel that way. I wasn't all about mates or anything like that, considering I was a human, but the pull I had to her couldn't be explained otherwise but me being her mate. I mean, I had never wanted to pin a girl I had known for only two hours on a wall and f**k her all night long. And then have her in my arms for the rest of my life.

She walked towards me and I fought my urge to kiss her lips. Even Felipe noticed, but what could I do about it?

Using a map, some of their blood and some other weird witch things, they both started casting some spells in their language. I expected for the blood to slip to where the island was in the map, however it wasn't working.

Even after a few hours of them trying over and over again, it wasn't working.

"It's black magic that stops any witch from finding the coordinates," she sighed. "It looks like the one that doesn't want the coordinates to the island to be found is a really powerful witch or wizard."

"Told you." Felipe shrugged.

"Doesn't meant we will stop trying. Soon we'll find a lead." I loved how positive she was.

"It's getting dark, I can't stay for longer," Felipe said. "What about you? You can't travel back to your kingdom at night alone, it's dangerous."

"He can stay here." Rebecca smiled brightly. "Don't worry, I live alone. My dad died... recently." The smile faded immediately.

Felipe soon left to his castle and I was left alone with Rebecca. Which wasn't such a good idea.

"I'm sorry, about your dad. I know how you feel."

She tried smiling. "He was the only family I had left. So no maybe you don't." I felt even worse but it looked like she couldn't stand the other looked at her in a pitiful way. "Do you know it was princess the last chosen girl to the island you are searching for?" She asked, changing the subject. "Ah of course you do, you're a human."

I looked away but couldn't help the pain that showed on my face. "I do know."

She observed my face features. "Was she... your girlfriend? That's why you're searching for her?" It looked like only the idea hurt her.

I grinned this time. "Nope... she's my sister," I admitted.

Her eyes widened in shock. "You're the human prince?!" She jumped from her seat. "Oh god I flirted with the human prince all along. Oh god I'm so sorry, your highness." She bowed down to me and I couldn't help but chuckle. She was too cute for my heart to handle.

I got up from the armchair and made some steps towards her taking her chin between my fingers and covering her lips with mine. "I'm just Harry for you, Rebecca. Your mate."