Bad Timing-Magma

“Has anyone ever told you that you have bad timing, Maximus?” I shout.

Ignore him. Feel our mate. He is ready for us.

As we look at him, he rolls his eyes stepping away from the tree he was leaned against. “Trust me I didn’t want you to even know I was here. But the Alpha says he needs you in his office human. We got a problem” he says sharply.

“What could I do to help?” Igneous scoffs. As he speaks his eyes never leave mines. I can feel the way he wants me against pressing hard into my stomach.

“Come deal with your parents. There at the gate now with human authorities” he says as he moves toward us. He tosses a robe at me as he leaves the clearing. I turn my back so I can put on the robe. I change briskly and take his hand as we rush after Maximus with our needs long forgotten.

“What do you mean deal with my parents? How did they even know where to find me? Why are the authorities here?” he questions Maximus as we catch up firing questions at him.

“You will have to figure that out for yourself. Just remember that when you talk to them, they don’t know much about us. For her safety and ours, keep what you have learned here to yourself” he commands as he continues walking. He looks at me as I hold his gaze and I hate the worried look he has.

“I won’t say anything” He vows as we enter into the Alpha’s house. We enter a room where Xander sits at his desk. He rises and gestures for us to follow him as we exit through a back door.

“Say as less as possible human. We don’t know the trouble this situation will bring” he commands Igneous as he rushes forward.

We pass a few more houses and the command center. Igneous looks around eagerly taking in how much they have done with our little piece of the forest. We enter the trees, and my hand tightens on his now that I know we are leaving our part of the village. He hasn’t spoken to his parents since he’s have been here.

“Wait, when you sent out the report on my health did you send it to my parents too?” He question.

“No, we sent it to the smokejumper place where you are captain and told them to notify your next of kin. We had to verify your condition with x-rays as proof. No one has contacted us since then” he says as he gives an explanation.

We walk for a few more moments in silence when Igneous starts to see the others. He pauses as he stares at one of the people that we pass. I know as he looks It would appear to be one of the shortest people he’s ever seen with forest green hair. His hair is in spikes and despite his size he can probably tell that this is an adult.

“I’m Mark. What’s your name?” he says with a great big smile.

“Hi, My name is Ig…….” he starts to greet but I put a hand over mouth as I glare at the man.

“Stop playing with our guest. We have an agreement that you don’t mess with those in our village, and we won’t mess with you” I spit. The little green monstered jerk laughs as I walk away.

I grab Igneous’ hand and pull him away from the man as we walk. “I am going to explain this quickly as we walk because we have little time. Stay away from the others you meet in this forest. Don’t give any of them your name. If you see a stray horse don’t try to ride it or capture it, even if it has wings. If you hear beautiful singing and feel like you want to follow it, plug your ears. If you had of told that fairy your name he would have had complete control over you until he decided to give it back.” I warn him.

“What? Faries? What else are you hiding up here?” I ask curiously.

“I will explain later. Just know that it’s not us that wants to be hidden, the government hides us” I explain.

He tries to speak again but I hurriedly shush him when I know that the gate is just a few trees away. We round the last few trees and I see the gate. Inside the gate one of the guards stands watching the cruiser on the other side of it. As we come into view of those in the cruiser an officer steps out first along with an elderly man and women, and a man with a briefcase. The elderly couple steps forward immediately and begins to call to Igneous.

As he lets my hand go he runs up to the gate to talk with them. Maximus relieves his guard from the post as Xander and I hang back listening to the conversation.

“Oh Igneous we were so worried when we didn’t hear from you for a whole week. Your job called saying that you were injured and that somehow you had ended up in this place. We are so glad to see that you are safe.” His mother says. I take in her features and the worried lines on her face fade to ones of relief. She dust off her black formfitting dress as she tries to grab onto Igneous through the gate. His father in a navy-blue business suit steps close but does not embrace his son.

“Sorry mom. I get why you would be worried. I should have called” he responds grasping his mother’s sleeve on her dress. He dodges her other hand by embracing that sleeve also. It’s a smart maneuver because he wouldn’t be able to explain the pain her touch would bring.

“It’s no matter now son, Now that we can see you are in good health, you can come home with us until you can return to work” his father intrudes.

No one will take our mate. He belongs here with us!

“Oh, well I can’t go just yet. I still have things here that I need to do” Igneous responds.

“What do you mean son? You don’t belong here with THESE people. I mean look at you, you haven’t even got on a shirt. What possibly could you have to do here” his mother spits.

I grind my teeth together wanting to intervene. How dare they talk about us like that. They know nothing about us and yet they are so quick to judge. Suddenly I feel Xander’s hand on my arm. I swing my gaze to his and his eyebrows are raised.

I close my mouth quickly when I realize that I have been growling in the growing silence. I look back to Igneous to see that he now has a worried expression on his face. His parents stare in fear at me. I stand taller not wanting them to see how the conversation is effecting me.

“Son, you must come with us. I do not believe it is safe for you here?” his father pleads.

“You are going to have to trust me. I am safe here. I came here injured and after a week here I stand in perfect health. Just give me a few more days and I can tell you what I decide to do.” He pleads back.

This isn’t good. Something else is going on here.

As his parents stare at him in horrified silence, I wait impatiently to see what they will say. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and feel what my dragon is thinking. His parents exchange a look, and that bad feeling sinks all the way to the ground. They both lean away from the gate and suddenly all of the worry they wore previously disappears from their faces.

“Mr. Edwin, would you please join us for a moment?” His father calls without removing his gaze from his son. The middle-aged man with the briefcase steps froward from his position of leaning on the police cruiser. Without a word he puts his briefcase on the ground near Igneous father and opens it. He rises with a few papers in his hand and extends them to Igneous father who now holds out his hand.

“We really didn’t want to have to do this son but if you don’t leave with us now, then you leave us no choice.” When Igneous says nothing and stares at his father, I sigh with relief knowing he has made the decision to stay. “I’m disappointed in you son. No matter, in my hand is a sworn affidavit signed by the leader of this encampment by the name of……oh let’s see, Xander. It was acknowledged by the U.S. Government, and it states the laws for who is allowed on this property. Under this agreement it states that no one may be on this land save for someone who contains interspecies DNA, a relative of someone who contained interspecies DNA whether birthed or adoptive, or a spouse of someone with interspecies DNA.” He hands the document back to the middle-aged man behind him who has yet to say a word.

He steps closer to the gate and meets his son directly in the eyes for his last punchline. “In the event that someone does not fall underneath these guidelines, they may unwillingly or willingly be removed from the property by the closest human authorities. This is captain Adams of the police force for this county. So what will it be son” he completes.

I do not understand. What does this mean?

I ignore my beast not wanting her to scare these people more than I already have. I look to Xander to see if what he is saying is true. As I inhale I can smell nothing but sorry coming from him. Tears fill my eyes as I turn back to Igneous. I take a step forward ready to go to him. He holds up a hand in my direction and I pause. When he meets my gaze his lips are pursed, and he shakes his head. He looks up at the sky and I see his fist ball up as his skin turns red in anger.

“If you do this. I will never forgive either of you. You have no idea what the situation is here. I will ask you once more to trust me” Igneous whispers to his parents. “This decision could kill me.”

No, you must stop this. He cannot leave us. We cannot live without him. Let me out. I will keep him here. Let me out!

“Here, you go. Always with the dramatics. You will not die boy. Now come willingly before this officer has to remove you” he yells.

“Excuse me If you will allow the interruption. I believe that you may want to ask your son what his relationship with this woman here is before you forcibly remove him from the property” Maximus suddenly calls from the door of the security shack.

“I have no need to ask my son anything. He would never enter a relationship with one of you. Now come Igneous I have been in the presence of THESE people far too long” his mother says. She begins to walk toward the cruiser as the father steps aside to allow the Captain forward.

Bad woman. She is very bad. Look at her aura, there is hardly any silver in it. There is none at all in the mans.

“Actually, you may want to go ahead and have that conversation. If you do not you will be breaking your own governments law by removing a spouse of a person who has interspecies DNA. Isn’t that right Igneous?” Maximus says as if he is having an everyday conversation. Igneous whips his head in Maximus’ direction and when his back goes ramrod straight I wish that I could see his expression.

“Oh, I forgot about that amendment to the law. Even if you do take him, since he is a spouse of one of our residents, you may only hold him for seventy-two hours or until proof has been provided of the nuptials. Mr. Edwin, I’m sure you accidentally negated to give this part of the law. As well as the part that states until a decision is made the human in question must stay within a twenty-mile radius of our lands” Xander bellows stepping forward.

Yes, I understand. This will work.

My beast and I share a moment of elation that we won’t be losing Igneous after all. As long as he stays we may figure out the rest.

“I may have forgotten to mention that part yes. However I am well versed in these laws, and I noticed that you also skirted around an issue.

Until we receive proof he is to remain in the care of a law appointed official and may have no contact with the person of inter species DNA, sir.” The man straightens as he dips his hat at the captain.

He must stay. We need his heat. We will die without it.

“I know but we cannot reveal this to them. We do not know what they would do with the information” I whisper to my dragon. She beings pacing in my mind, and I watch as the captain steps forward and grabs Igneous by the arm.

A thick arm bands around my waist suddenly. I try to shake off Xander holding me in place. “Be calm, Magma. We will manage this. We cannot afford for you to make a scene. Think of Igneous. If you want him to come back, be who you are with him” he whispers in my ear. I can feel the tears leak onto my cheeks as I watch the officer lead Igneous away. He watches me as he goes with the saddest expression I have ever seen on his face.

No this cannot be. We need Igneous!!

“Stay warm Magma. We will see each other really soon. I promise!” he yells. He is shoved into the police cruiser, and I watch as they drive off quickly. Xander keeps his hold on me tight until I can no longer hear the vehicle anymore. When he finally lets me go, I fall to my knees and scream as loud as I can. My beast adds her voice to mine magnifying our voice to show the pain we feel.

When my voice has gone hoarse I sit on the ground afraid to open my eyes to this new reality.

A hand touches mine and I jerk them back in pain as my eyes flare open to meet worried expression of Maximus. “Sorry, I forgot not to touch your skin” he apologizes quickly. “We cannot stay here Magma. We must think of a plan until we can get proof to them” he says.

I rise onto shaky legs as I nod my agreement to him. We do need a plan. I’m afraid of what will happen if we don’t produce one. We haven’t been apart for long since that first day when we discovered the symptoms. What would happen if we spent an entire three days apart.

That will not happen. If it comes down to the health of us and our mate, we will take him and leave. It is the only way to ensure our survival.

I nod to my dragon letting her know that I am with her in her plan. I would have loved to give her a verbal agreement, but I know that this is something that Xander would not sanction.