Lost Ones (The Extinct Race Series Book 3) Read online

  “Well that is good to know, although I would love to hug a lion like that one guy on the internet.” Finley laughed

  “Yeah I hope they stay away. I don’t feel like hugging lions or anything that could eat me.” Justine told Finley

  “Agreed!” Kendal stated, looking right at Finley.

  Once they were done eating and showered they opened the hatch and loaded the cart with supplies again. Kaiden woke Kevin as the last of the supplies was loaded. They waited while he took a shower and got dressed. Kevin grabbed his sandwich and locked up the jet. He stuffed his water in a side pocket of his cargo pants and they began to walk. Kaiden held a map and they had held it over the original map to get a proper placement of the dot. After the dot was copied they blew up a map of Algeria and then copied the dot again.

  Kevin had gotten them as close as he could to the dot, but he was still hours out. The small airport that they landed at also had no rental jeeps or anything so they were going to have to rough it and walk.

  Kevin had landed in the southern region of Algeria, but mostly in the middle, which was sand. Lots and lots of sand, but it was the most hidden airport Kevin was able to find. The dot was located in the northern most region of the southern mountains and off to the east a bit. They had landed to the west. Kevin estimated that it was about a five hour hike.

  They walked for three hours and stopped for a while to drink some water. It wasn’t as hot as they expected, but the sand was getting in everyone’s mouth and nose making thirst a priority. Some also had an energy bar with their water. They sat and talked for about thirty minutes before getting back to walking. An hour later they felt a slight Pull.

  They followed the Pull for another hour as it got stronger and stronger. As they walked the terrain got more and more rocky, with cliffs looming over them. The team became quiet as they walked over the rocks looking for a sign.

  The sign came when they passed through a rock formation and came face to face with an arrow. There was a man standing there with an arrow pointed right at John’s face, since he was the one in the lead.

  “Dude, point that down or I will take it from you!” John growled out.

  “Who are you?” the man asked.

  “Get that shit off my man and we will talk!” Tia snapped. The man made no move to lower the arrow and Tia was losing her patience. Before anyone could do anything Tia ran forward and plucked the arrow out of the bow and then stood at John’s side a heartbeat later.

  “Holy Hell Babe! I think you just found your ability!” John said excited.

  “What are you talking about?” Tia snapped

  “Uh babe you were at the back of the line, you told him to lower the arrow again, I blinked and now you are at my side. I never saw you move.” John laughed

  “Cool!” she smiled and then looked back to the man. “How old are you?”

  “Twenty, I think” the man replied

  “Do you know what we are?” Kaiden asked

  “Have no damn clue, but there is a funny feeling that pulled me to you.”

  “May we sit at talk to you? We are not here to hurt you. Actually we are here to ask you to come with us.” Zoe said

  “My cave is close, you may follow me. You will have to carry that cart though.” He led them up the rocks a bit and the mouth to his cave was hidden. It was not a large cave, but it fit them all with a little room left over. There was a straw bed to one side of the cave and a pile of clothing on the other side. There was nothing else of significance in the cave. Nothing that said this man lived here permanently. They all took a seat on the floor and faced the man.

  “My name is Kaiden and well I would like to ask you a couple questions first. What is your name?”

  “Quinn, I am twenty and have lived in this desert my whole life.”

  “Quinn, it is nice to meet you. I am going to tell you something that might make you think I am crazy, but it’s true. But before I tell you what that is, I need to tell you a story.” Kaiden went on and told him about Aldrich, but left out the Dragon part. “Do you see our eyes, the different color flecks in them?”

  “Yes I do. I know that I have similar and that they are green. I don’t look in a mirror much, but I know. I also know I can run very fast and see far away. I know I am different. I am assuming you are as different as me?” Quinn asked.

  “We are.” Zoe smiled

  “Can you tell if someone is sick too?” Quinn asked

  “Uh no, I play the guitar and my songs speak to people and tell them the answer to my questions. Tia here, well we just found out she has like super speed. Oliver we just met, like you and he goes invisible. Finley controls the weather. At home there are more who do special things.” Zoe replied

  “Why are you guys like in pairs? Obviously you and Kaiden are together.” Quinn asked

  “Good question. First I will tell you that we are a special race made from magic. The one who made us was the Original. She made a choice and picked a group of people to change with a spell. She made the spell from everything that she did not have in her life. So the spell was made out of love. In this spell she made sure that all of us would have a soul mate. That there was one person that was made just for us, we know where your soul mate is and we are going to get her as soon as we are done.” Kaiden replied

  “Wow, so what are we?” Quinn asked

  “Dragons” John announced

  “Sweet, but well, I am sort of scared. I mean I have always lived here. I don’t have anything to offer a woman. You are the first people I have spoken to in about fifteen years. A family found me as a baby and I ran away when I was five. Since then I have been here.”

  “I was living in the jungle in Brazil for the last seven years. I can see now that I was actually lucky to have my parents for the first twelve years. Finley has told me about Ireland and the home there. Since we are the last born, we have a suite in the house. I have always known what I was, but well I thought I was cursed because of my parents. I know that is not true now. So don’t worry about what you can give her man, just give her yourself. Apparently everything they could ever want is already at the house.” Oliver told Quinn

  “I think I can do that. I know living everyday in this cave sucks and I only eat what I can kill. So when do we leave?”

  “Well we walked for about five hours to get to you. How dangerous is it to walk back now?” Kaiden asked

  “The bigger animals keep clear of me so I am assuming they will leave you alone too. But could maybe we eat first? I haven’t had meat for a week and the smell of what you brought is making my stomach cramp.” Quinn asked

  “Of course” Kaiden responded as he reached into the cart and pulled out the food and water.

  Chapter 21

  Losing Sucks

  For three days Aldrich sat in his office and felt the loss of his sons. The call-ins that he required his sons to make everyday started to become fewer. He also felt them die. When Aldrich sent the men out, he had twenty teams of three men each. Out of the sixty men he sent out he felt twenty of them die.

  He decided then it was time to call the boys home and call in reinforcements, human reinforcements. There was only one way his sons could die, well more than one but twenty dying within one week meant that there were survivors and they were fighting back. Or the ones that saved Marcus were hunting them. Either way in Aldrich’s mind if it was a fight they wanted he was going to give it to them.

  “Sam! Get in here!” Aldrich yelled out to the incompetent son that he put in Deirdra’s position.

  The boy came running in and then tripped over his feet as he came through the door falling on his face. He looked up into his father’s eyes. “Yes sir?”

  “Call the boys home and bring me the silver phone. Leave me be until the boys return.”

  “Yes sir!” Sam got up and ran back out the door. He grabbed the silver phone and ran back into the office. He handed him the phone and then went back out to make the calls.

  Sam dialed the f
arthest team first and got no answer. He managed to get the other teams on the line and called them home. Most of them gave him trouble and didn’t want to come back so Sam had to tell them what was happening.

  In the office Aldrich dialed his secret number. “How long will it take you and your team to get to Germany and ready?” He waited for a response “Alright I will meet you there in two weeks. I have other men to call now.” He listened to the other man on the line. “Oh did you really think you were the only one? Nope I will have three other teams meet us there in two weeks. I will send you the coordinates. I and my sons will be there.” Aldrich hung up the phone and then made two more calls.

  In two weeks time he would be in his home land with his sons and the meanest, vilest men in the world at his beck and call. In his travels he had come across a couple mercenary teams and told them he might need to call on them one day. He also gave them a retainer to make sure that they would show up when he called.

  One team was the best at concealment, the other at weapons, and the last was great at both. Aldrich was going to get his Pearl, willingly or not, he was going to get one or kill all of them.

  Now he had plans to make and wait for his sons to come home. In two weeks he would get his revenge, but first he was going to send some of his sons to that pesky lawyer’s office.

  Aldrich had someone keeping tabs on the home that Marcus owned and it had a new owner for a while, who had sold the home. When Aldrich had found out he sent three of his sons to go visit this man, but they were never heard from again after they visited him. There would be no talking this time until the lawyer was brought back to him. After he got the information he wanted the lawyer will be dead.

  Aldrich was positive that no one would stop him in his quest to become King. As he thought this over he went to his hidden closet and pulled out his book. It was a leather bound black book that his father had found when he was maybe twelve years old. The book talked to him. It told him how powerful Blood Dragons were and how they were meant to be the ones ruling the kingdom of Dragons.

  His mate had found his secret book once. When Aldrich tried to share it with her she had refused and turned her back on him. A week later she told him she was pregnant. The book had told him it would be a boy. When the baby was born and it was a girl, Aldrich knew they book wasn’t wrong, it was his mate. She paid the ultimate price for that mistake.

  After he had his moment with his book he summoned one of his new women. He had caught her while she was out on a hike. She was a young pretty thing and she already had his child growing inside her belly. She was also a screamer and tried to fight him, but Aldrich loved that.

  When he was done with her he went out his secret door. The fresh are cleared his mind and drew the blood lust out of him. The woman had caused him to have to heal himself and he made her pay for that. But the son that was growing inside of her he needed and so he did not kill her like he wanted to.

  Ada was horrified when she realized what the teams were going out to do, she was there when they had decided to make the teams, but she hadn’t fully understood it. Now that she was sitting in the playroom among all the kids it hit her hard. There were all her blood and the ones they were going to kill were also her blood. Ada had gone to Leon about it, but he understood what Kaiden and Zoe were doing. He tried to convince her of that fact too.

  Ada stayed to herself for three days, she didn’t let Leon touch her and she barley spoke to him. She felt responsible for all this death and it hung heavy on her shoulders. She wandered the house like a ghost while others slept. She held the babies close and showed them extra love.

  Iraina found Ada on the third day and took her out to the mound of flowers and ash.

  “Ada this is not your doing. It is not your fault that he hunts us and tries to capture a Pearl. There is nothing you can do to stop him.” Iraina pleaded

  “But it is my fault. I left him alone with that man.” Ada began to cry

  “You have heard our pasts but let me remind you. I was an arrogant Queen. I was nothing like Zoe and my mate surely was nothing like Kaiden. I can understand now why you were a wanderer. I look back now at my Sect and shudder and what I have done. We sat in our thrones and commanded the rest. We were rich and had everything we wanted. My mate, though I loved him dearly, was not a good man either. He made other Dragons do thing like make half-bloods with humans, by force or willingly, he didn’t care he just wanted the numbers. When I became pregnant he got angry when we learned it was a girl. Just like Aldrich did, but my mate only sent me away. He made Gosha stay and made Alexi go with me. But he had told Alexi in private that I was to live if something went wrong. Halina did not matter to him.” Iraina had never shared this story and it killed her even more to share it now. Alexi and Gosha knew the truth, but they all changed.

  “That is horrible.” Ada grumbled

  “Yes it is. We have told everyone that Alexi saved me, but it was not the truth. She also had to leave her baby behind with Gosha to come with me. I went into labor as soon as the attack happened. We were far enough away that we couldn’t feel them, but close enough that I still felt my Sect. So I knew when it happened and I felt the first death. But in my months away Alexi and my relationship grew and it changed me. I saw her as a person then as I never did before. What Kaiden and Zoe have chosen to do by making a hunting party is the right choice Ada. I know they are your blood, but you have not met them and they are evil men. Think about the babies, do you want him to come here and take them or worse, kill them?” Iraina asked

  “NO! That would be too much for me to bear. I love those kids.” Ada admitted

  “Good that is the right feeling to have. Your brother is not your brother anymore. Evil has found him and I do not know if we could save him. Think about the babies and love them. If you continue this way, you are letting Aldrich win. Be the brave sister that wanted to go back, but knew you couldn’t. Love your mate and stop defending the little boy who is no longer a little boy, but is now the man who responsible for this mound we are sitting on.”

  “I am sorry for how I have acted, truly it is not me. I love I don’t fight and all I have done here is fight. I need to make amends with Vivi too. She is right and I am wrong. Thank you for sharing the truth with me and I am glad you are a changed woman. I quite like you now and don’t think I would have if I met you then.” Ada admitted

  “Ha! I wouldn’t like me either. These kids we have here, they are the best of us and all we can do is help to guide them in the right way. They have all had rough and horrible childhoods. We do not want that for our grandchildren.”

  The ladies hugged and Iraina went to find Marcus. She felt she needed to confess to him too. Ada went back into the house and ran to Leon’s arms. When she was done she apologized and found the closest baby to scoop up and love on.

  Chapter 22

  Getting the Girl

  After they ate they loaded the cart back up and headed out of the cave. Quinn had nothing that he wanted to bring, but the clothes on his back. They made the five hour hike back to the jet just as the sun dipped below and night blossomed.

  Once back on the jet Kevin informed them that the flight to their next stop was going to take seven to eight hours so sleep was going to be a necessity again. Only this time Kevin decided to let them all sleep and he was going to stay on the jet at the next stop. Afghanistan was not a safe place and leaving the jet unattended was not a wise decision. There was a lot of fighting going on in Afghanistan so the team was going to have to be extra careful.

  Like with Oliver, Kaiden showed Quinn the shower and gave him a change of clothing. Kaiden also showed Quinn how to use a razor, as Quinn had quite a beard going on. When he came out of the bathroom the girls all gasped at him.

  “Wow you are hot!” Tia blurted

  “Hey?” John snapped

  “Oh baby you are hotter, but I mean come on he had a beard coving up half his face. Look at him now.”

  “He does clean up very nice.” J
ustine winked at Quinn because his face was beat red with embarrassment.

  “You think my soul mate will approve?” Quinn asked

  “Oh honey I think she will come running. The Pull you feel to us, well it will be ten times stronger with her.” Emery told him

  “Really, it’s that strong?”

  “Oh yes it is and it’s pretty hard to deny too. Just ask Oliver, he tried to deny Finley at first, then she went off on him for it and then he sealed his fate by kissing her.” Emery laughed

  “Why the hell would you fight it man? Look at her she is drop dead gorgeous!” Quinn looked at him in total confusion.

  “Man, like I told you I thought I was really cursed until today. I mean she is the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on and I didn’t want to taint that. I thought maybe she would be better if I wasn’t really involved. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do too. Although I like the reaction she had. Fights are going to be great with her.” Oliver laughed and kissed Finley hard on the mouth.

  “So can someone tell me everything?” Quinn asked

  “Actually we would like to wait to get your girl. She might not know anything like yourself and well we would say it all at once, and then have you guys swear your fealty.” Kaiden answered

  “Why do we need to do that?” Oliver asked

  “Our home and land is protected by a magical border. No one can get within the border unless fealty is sworn to Zoe and me at the same time. If a human, who is not trusted by us they will get confused when they come in contact with the border, but they can see beyond. Basically they can drive right through the land but the border won’t let them stay within. If a human who means us harm in anyway comes around the border they will see inside but won’t be able to cross it. Another Dragon, they won’t see anything at all and it will make them turn around. We have taken measures to insure any survivors coming to us don’t get to close.” Kaiden replied