Chapter 3: Chapter Two

-Sixteen Weeks Later-

My original group was still together. While Jax was to stay in for a couple of tours, I was set to ring the bell in a couple of days. Niamh had gotten easier to control, but instead of being uncontrolled, she had become stupidly insistent. Jax could hardly stand to be around me when Fox was around because Niamh sent the most graphic images to me she could that turned me on and Jax could smell it. He couldn’t wait for me to leave while at the same time not wanting me to go.

I was supposed to ring the bell right after failing to complete the last underwater combat scenario. Daniel was doing the test because I still didn’t trust myself to do this test against a human.

Jax and I were out on our very early morning run when he brought up my departure again, “So you’re going to let yourself nearly drown, then just pack it up and go home right after?”

“Look you don’t get it because you don’t know what type of dragon I am, but this will be the ultimate test. If I pass and don’t lose out to Niamh then I’m done here. I have other things to be doing.”

“So you’ve said. What kind of dragon are you? I haven’t heard of dragons going through this training before,” he had been pushing for me to tell him more about Niamh since I told him the reason.

“You know I can’t tell you. It’s sacred and only shared between dragons and their mates if they aren’t dragons.”

He let out a sigh of frustration but thankfully let it go. “What are you going to do about Fox? You’ll be reported AWOL.”

“The report will be taken down soon after it’s posted, and I’ll probably never see him again so it doesn’t matter that he only knows me by a fake name,” I flinched as the words left my mouth and Niamh cried out in my head.

Jax gave me a sorrow filled look, “Sorry I asked Little Duck.”

Normally alone like this I would growl at his nickname for me, but now it just sent another sharp pain through my heart. We ran the rest of our route in silence. It was still too early for anyone to be up when we got back, so we headed back to our respective bunks and waited for our wake up call. Shifters didn’t have to sleep as much as humans, so we could run on two or so hours of sleep a night.

The days passed quickly, and soon enough my last day was here. Daniel had gone over my ground rules: keep the physicality to a minimum and no using my powers. Another reason I was going in against Daniel was Niamh would recognize him even if he seemed like he was trying to kill us. If I said there was a reason, she would listen and let me stay in control.

There had been six into the pool so far, two had left. Fox and Randall had gone in and made it out as fine as one can. Niamh almost came unglued during Fox’s but I managed to keep her in check. Jax was in the pool now, and he quickly passed the test. “Drake.”

“Good luck, Little Duck,” Jax said as we passed each other.

I entered the pool and Daniel was on me in an instant. We grappled and finally I gave Daniel the upper hand, allowing him to pin me in a way I was forced to submit. My lungs filled with water before Daniel could pull me out of the pool and set me on my side. I coughed up all the water in my lungs, using my powers to purge it all.

“You good?” Daniel asked softly.

I nodded, “I’m done.”

He feigned shock as if it’s the first time hearing it. “You sure? You can go another round if you want to try again.”

“Yep. I’m done,” he helped me to my feet.

“Good luck,” he said with a curt nod.

I walked over to Jax, Randall, and Fox, “I guess ducks don’t float.”

“Jax you’re a fucking dick, and I’m not going to miss you one bit.”

He busted out laughing and grabbed me in a bear hug, “See you around Little Duck.”

“In your dreams pup,” I whispered into his chest and I felt him smile on my head. “See you, Randall,” I said, grabbing him in a hug as well.

“Miss having you around, Drake,” he said as he released me, and handed me off to Fox.

Niamh cooed when we hugged, and electricity ran through my body causing me to stiffen a little, “Hope to see you around, Amaya.”

“You too, Fox,” I said, stepping away just as Daniel’s voice came into my head.

“Get out of here, now, before I call you out, or make you run through it again.”

“I’ve got a bell to ring. Bye guys,” I said to my small group as I started walking toward the bell. I hit it and walked to the bunks where I had already packed my things.

Daniel arranged for Josie to pick me up at the gate. I was surprised to find her waiting on me because she was usually late, “Goddess, Amaya are you a sight for sore eyes. Fuck, it’s been dull around the complex without you,” she wrapped me in a hug, “Any requests before we head home?”

“Yeah, I need to shift. I haven’t in over sixteen weeks. Niamh’s itching to get out,” we got into the car and hit the road.

“Daniel said you met your mate?” Josie looked over at me. I flinched but nodded in confirmation, “Okay, we’ll go pretty far from here.”

We drove for a few hours until we were well off the beaten path. We stashed the car, got out, and stripped. Josie shifted first into her small copper fire dragon. She shook her head and huffed at me, telling me to hurry up and shift. I smiled and started my shift. Niamh was a pure white storm dragon, which was only slightly different from a lightning dragon. The temperament was the same, volatile, but where a lightning dragon could only bend and/or breathe lightning, a storm dragon could bend and/or breathe lightning, water, and wind. I could also bend and breathe ice because my mother was an ice dragon. Niamh was huge compared to other dragons, and Josie’s dragon, Aliz, was small compared to others, tiny compared to Niamh.

“Ready?” Josie mind linked.

“Let’s go,” I sent back before spreading my large wings and taking flight. I bent the clouds around us to shield us from onlookers.

“Amaya, no,” I started to ask her what she was talking about until I realized where I was, heading straight back to Fox. Niamh cried out, and a storm began around us.