Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 149

Ria

I jumped up and got in front of Drago’s body, and his dragon looked at me, “Do not go over there and try to act like an asshole. They are mates, he isn’t hurting her, he isn’t throwing her down on the ground and ripping her clothes off, yes, she’s young, okay, well we’ll work with it, but do not go over there and hurt your daughter by hurting him.” 

I heard a soft growl and he blinked but he didn’t move. So, I turned and walked close to where they were. I saw the boy’s group of friends watching, and one had a cell phone to his ear. When he saw me looking he gave me one of those chin nods, and I just smiled a little at that. People had no idea how old I really was, it was always funny when they saw me as an 18-year-old myself. 

As I got closer his animal honed in on me, assessing if I was a threat to her or him. When he realized my relationship to her he immediately calmed down, and I got a trilling purr thing from him, and I nodded. Collette turned to me and I saw her dragon was still very much out, and she was looking at me softly. It was like, look, Mom, look what I found, isn’t he cute, can I keep him? I had to grin at that passing through my head. 

“Ah, okay, guys, how about we sit down and discuss what’s happening. I’m not sure if you are aware but she’s 17, so she’s got just a bit longer till she’s an adult. We haven’t been around many non-dragon shifters, and we’re trying to change that, but I am not familiar with what your species would be, and sorry if that term offends or anything. So, this is my daughter, Collette, she’s a dragon shifter, and those are all her dads over there. I understand you are mates, and I don’t want to separate you or anything, we just need to figure out what to do from here.” He nodded at me, and then the 3 of us found another table to all sit at, but I made sure they were next to each other. This was kind of awkward I had to admit.

The guy’s friends came over, “We have called his father, he will be here in a few moments. She is young, yes?” He had a strong accent and I was thinking these were locals, as he sounded Greek.

“Yes, 17, she turns 18 in 5 months, so not long.” He nodded and turned to speak to the other boys rapidly in what I thought was Greek.

It wasn’t long until a rather anxious man came and looked around. He went to the group of boys and they spoke to him. He then turned to look at me, then at his son and my daughter. Then he walked over to me and held out his hand, and I smiled and shook it. He seemed to relax once he knew I was not angry. I felt David come up and he spoke to the man in Greek, way to go, Dad, then shook his hand. 

We were now all sitting down, her dads at the next table watching over them like hawks and I just shook my head. They had eyes only for each other, but were only holding hands, and occasionally touching a cheek, but absolutely nothing else was happening. 

“Phoenix often finds our mates young, so not so unusual, but Dragons are rare here, so not so sure about that?” His father told me.

“Yes, Dragons are a bit rare, but they are too separate for their own good, and we are trying to change that with all of our children. She is 17, but will be 18 in 5 months. I have only ever met 1 other phoenix shifter just recently in Canada, she’s mated to my aunt, but I haven’t gotten to speak to her much about anything" He nodded.

“You are not local so what are your plans for staying or leaving?” I looked at my mates.

“Well, we have been planning on leaving here soon, but we most definitely will come back. I’m not sure how they will do being away from each other. There is much happening that you probably don’t know, and we are trying to take care of very bad men, and I feel that is very important.” He looked confused and I looked to my dad.

He smiled, then he went through a whole big long speech in Greek to the whole group of them. There were lots of sounds, lots of shocked faces, some angry looks, some back and forth talk with lots of hand gestures, and then the father looked at me. 

“They go with you when you fight them, these bad men. Phoenix shifters help to hand out justice before, it is part of our legacy in the whole world. So, this is very good. He was meant to find her now, so that he and these others could help. This is a very good thing. They are very strong, and very good fighters.” He was smiling and puffing out his chest. I was just staring wide-eyed and then looking from my mates to my dad.

Dad smiled, "Yes, I am aware of the history of Phoenixes with Ishohalie being mated to Pyre. So, yes, I was aware of their history. It’s different from what the Royal Dragon bullshit was all about. No person gave them this task. This is passed down in the lore and heritage of the Phoenix that their creator actually tasked them with this, not a person.” 

I nodded, “Ah, okay, that is very different. How old are the boys?”

“They are all 19 and 20, the boy here, Alexios, is 19, and he’s an only child. His mother was killed in an accident so it is only he and his father, Manolis. These other boys are from their town of shifters, not all of them are Phoenix, but 3 of them are, the other 2 are Wyverns, which I haven’t ever met before. So, as his son will not be able to be away from Collette, the answer is to take at least him with us, but the others have all volunteered to help, and I think it would be excellent, as this is exactly what we’ve been trying to do, break down the walls. He will not touch her, other than like what is happening right now, until she is a full adult and tells him yes to being his mate. As phoenix shifters often find their mates young, this is a common thing in their culture.”

I just looked at my mates, and they had all different emotions flitting across their faces, so then I turned back to dad, and his father. I needed to give them my decision, because this one was going to be mine.