The Red Diamond Dragon

Is it Selfish?

Johnathan

I finished the afternoon training session with my good friend Xander. The group of children we were working with was truly gifted. A few years ago, my daughter in law who is a powerful seer and our head warrior’s young daughter, Ella, who is a powerful earth elemental wolf, were kidnapped. We learned it was our own Wolf Council that had taken them and was holding them hostage. We then discovered they had been taking gifted pack members for years under the disguise of rogue attacks. The entire situation led to dismantling our council and building a new one from the ground up. Xander and I had worked hard to complete the investigations and the process of building a new council that included different shifters and ways to safeguard this from happening again.

The joke was that we were supposed to be retired and are now busier than ever. I had been the beta of our pack, and Xander had been our Alpha. He was a fair and kind alpha; his son Matthew is a good Alpha to our pack as well. My son Nikolai is the Beta now, and we love watching those boys lead our pack. I am a Bear/Gold Dragon hybrid who is a bear shifter. Alpha Xander was open-minded when we met and saw the value in being inclusive to his pack. We forged a great friendship along the way. We both lost mates in the pack wars. It was a hard blow dealt when we learned it was our own council who had caused those deaths. My mind wandered back to my beautiful mate. She had been a Bear/Wolf hybrid and a wolf shifter. We didn’t have long together but had two amazing boys. My oldest boy had been killed prior to taking over as Beta, so the responsibility fell to my youngest son. I think the only way I survived her death was knowing I had to take care of the boys, Xander and I leaned heavily on each other during that time keeping our boys growing strong and taking care of the pack. Although my life is full of love and laughter with my youngest son Nikolai having found his mate Zyanna three years ago and my two adorable twin grandsons, Dravin and David, I missed the presence of a mate. I know my chances of finding a second chance mate were slim to none being a hybrid, but some days, I still held out hope.

After saying our goodbyes, I headed home. It was a rare afternoon where there was nothing left to do, and I could relax. The full moon ball was coming, and the packs would start arriving tomorrow. The first two days were meetings and training with the third night being for the ball. Maybe I could volunteer to watch the twins tomorrow night to at least avoid one dinner. I doubted that would be allowed besides Xander said if he must suffer through these, then so do I. I hated the pack meetings but as the Top War General it was still my job to be present for at least some of the meetings, being a retired pack Beta gave me less responsibility now but still some, nonetheless. The second day, I only had to attend the morning training. It is usually interesting to see which packs are serious about learning more and the alliance they seek. What better way to weed people out than a 5:00am. training session with two war generals and a retired Alpha.

Being a hybrid made me naturally large in stature towering over most wolves at 7ft plus tall, my broad barrel chest and thick arms were enough reason for the fear I could generate in battle not just my knowledge. There was a reason I was a war general; we had two in our pack, my good friend Jack was one has well, he had some dragon mixed in his background which made training together fun for us. Jack was also my son’s father-in-law, so that made things entertaining for us all around being grandpas together. Life was coming full circle, it seemed.

I enjoyed a quiet evening at home, reading for a while, a favorite pastime of mine. I was old, much older than most assumed, but being part Dragon gave me an extremely long life. I have lived a short 185 years of that so far. My main origins came from Scotland, but we traveled a lot growing up, and my mother never stayed in one place too long. She lived the life of a traveling Gypsy taking me with her learning the ways of the road. I think that is what drew me to the wolf pack, a sense of belonging, structure, and consistency. I didn’t really know my dad having rarely saw him, so I don’t know a lot about my dragon heritage, but it never really seemed to matter much overall, recently my son has been asking me about it wanting to have some family history to pass onto his boys. I figured at some point I would travel back and see what I could learn. I had a half-brother Joshua, who was a green full dragon shifter. I figured he would have more information than I did. He was a nomad traveling a lot though so I would have to ask him to make it a point to meet me but that was a problem for another day for now my goal was to get through the next several days avoiding all the crazy women. Xander and I both had trouble with women being way too pushy. Most were ladder climbers wanting the status of being an Alpha or War Generals mate while others were curious enough to want se.x with one or sometimes both of us. I knocked back the glass of bourbon I had been drinking. Just thinking about it was already too much. I preferred the quiet, peaceful life with a woman snuggled up in my arms each night. Maybe I was being selfish to want that again when I had already had a perfect mate. Was it selfish to want more? I didn’t know only the moon goddess and mother spirit knew for sure.

I checked over my clothing for the next few days, and everything was in order. Business casual for the day, tailored suit for the evening, business casual for the following two days, and another tailored suit for the ball. My friend Natalia was a famous dress designer, although she made it a point to tailor my clothing and suits for me, which I greatly appreciated. It’s not like I could just walk into any store to find clothing. She keeps telling me that one day, she will make my mate a dress fit for a queen. I truly pray that day will come. I also have a safe full of beautifully cut stones to make into jewelry someday for a mate. Dragons tended to love shiny treasures, and to some extent, I was no different. Not as extreme as our friend Ronan, who was a full green dragon, I think that man bordered on hoarding. I need to remember to ask him about Gold Dragon History, he would know and is probably older than any of us could guess, the man is secretive about a few things his age being one of them.

I had several large stone fireplaces in my home, which I loved not for the heat since shifters did not get cold very easily, but I loved to watch the fire. I started a fire in the master bedroom fireplace and took a seat on the overstuffed love seat. Watching the flames dance was mesmerizing, I could feel the heat soak into my body rejuvenating my dragon side. I felt heat build in my body and watched as scales flickered up and down my forearms. It didn’t happen often but seemed to be happening more lately. I had some dragon characteristics, but my dominant ones were bear, I could fully shift into a bear, which was fun for packing my grandsons around the mountains. They loved Bear rides. I smiled to myself, knowing how full of love my life was, and I was grateful for it.

I had a good life and should not be focusing on the things I did not have. I redirected my thoughts to my adorable grandbabies and was excited for the one or ones on the way. My bet was for twins again, but girls like their mom. Our pack dearly loved to place good-natured bets, and the games were just beginning with who would end up mated at this ball. Xander and I were usually on the winning side, but Ronan had a special knack for it as well.

I finally went to bed, knowing sleep was needed to get through the following days.