Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 88

The Northern Territories Canada 1 Week Ago.

Elizabeth

I knew this shit would be cold, but god damn this is fucking brutal. I needed to get about another 100 feet and I would be where I needed to be. I had mapped this out as much as possible, but I hoped I wasn't so off as to fuck myself over.

I had, and still am, willing to die out here, frozen to death, rather than allow those bastards to touch me. I planned and hoped for something else, but that's how far I'd go.

My fathers, who I had honestly stopped seeing as my dads in any way the day I turned 13. I had seen their faces. They had honestly believed there wasn't a damn thing wrong with using your children as a bargaining tool.

When Brand told me about Mom, I wanted to hurt them, but then I'd be like them. I know mom can't leave, and it's the bracelet yes, but it's all of us kids too. She'd never leave us.

I finally got to the spot I wanted to be, so I dropped my pack, went to my knees, and started digging. My fingers still felt the cold, even through these specially insulated gloves. I pressed on though.

One other thing that I had discovered, and no one knew this. I had my dragon, oh I hadn't shifted yet, but she was there with me. I pulled her up close, and with her strength helping me, we dug much faster and got better results.

I actually had a space I could crawl in and sit fairly quickly all things considered. It was just a little pocket, but being out of the wind, and the packed snow reflecting my body heat back, helped.

I kept scooping out more and more snow. I would rest for a few moments, and start again. My dragon's strength and resilience made a huge difference. I tried to convey to her my love and appreciation. I got warm rumbles back.

Being able to communicate with animals the way I can, I think is what helped me to connect with her, even before mating. We're taught that Royal Dragon Females can't shift or connect to their dragons until after mating, so maybe they're full of shit, and all of us could do this if we tried. Who knows, but I found her.

Eventually, I have a fully dug-out snow cave. I had made it a priority to find any survival manuals I could and memorize them. Digging through our fathers’ things we had found a copy of the agreement. The three of us girls had learned which families we would be given to. So I knew my fate was here in the cold snowy wilderness.

Desi and Mari also started making plans about getting away from these fucked up men who thought nothing of buying and selling women. I could only pray right now that my sisters, the other two parts of my soul, were okay. If I focused too much on that, I lost my shit.

So I was just concentrating on what was right in front of me. I took my pack and dug out the collapsible ski pole I had. I extended it and pushed it up through the snow above me. I made sure there was fresh air coming in, but not enough to negate the warming effects of the snow cave.

I pulled out my thermal blankets, laid one on the ground, and used the other to wrap around me. Then I pulled out my battery-powered lantern, and alarm clock.

I knew I needed sleep, but I didn't want to risk my air hole getting clogged up, so I set the alarm for 2 hours so I could wake up and make sure air was flowing. Then I wrapped a bottle of snow in my drinking bottle in a hand warmer, and a shirt, and put it back in my pack.

I was exhausted so I fell asleep fairly quickly once I was relatively warm. I had woken every couple of hours to hit the ski pole and make sure I could feel the fresh cold air flowing. I drank my water and ate a protein bar. I made a type of latrine on the far side of the cave for when I needed it.

The place where I had thought would be good was below a ridge. It had enough snow to make the cave, but blocked some of the wind, so it cut down on the drifting snow on top of me.

So, now I had to let the weather clear up some and then I'd head out. There were several small villages out here, they weren't close, but I had a map, which I pulled out to study again.

Suddenly I heard what was unmistakably a gunshot, and probably a larger gun, not a handgun. I waited but didn't hear another shot. However, I did hear what sounded like an animal in pain and crunching snow.

Without thought I hurried out of my cave, knowing an animal needed me. I was not expecting to see a huge polar bear, lying on its side, with red staining its fur.

I looked at him and my cave, fuck, this would be tight, but I think with my ability, I don't have to worry about him killing me. I can’t honestly say that about whoever fired that gun.

I pull my dragon close, as I need all of her strength to help me. “If you can hear me and help, I will try to hide you in my snow cave, big guy. It's gonna be a tight fit. He was aware enough to pull himself up and hobble, and I supported him.

I pulled the entrance snow away so he could scoot, and I pushed him inside. With him in here, there was barely room for me to scrunch into a pocket of space. I tried to be careful working around him, and out the front of the cave to hide any evidence of us being here, so I basically buried us in the cave.

I carefully climbed partially over, and partially around him. I kept whispering sorry to him over and over, if I heard any possible sound of me causing him pain. I opened up the vent hole and pulled in the pole. So the cave was dark except for the small amount of light filtering in from the vent in the ceiling.

I suddenly heard voices, and muffled curses. They were trying to find him. I patted his hind quarters and tried to reassure him. He was very calm actually. I got my gun from the pack just in case.

Suddenly I felt power tingle my bones, and I watched in amazement, as my polar bear changed into a very naked man.

“Well, fuck, I certainly didn't expect that.”