Chapter 62: Home Sweet Home

AXEL

~Your home is your sanctuary. Take care of this, and your life becomes all that you wish it to be.~

Once we arrived back at the castle, Pops wanted us all to meet in his office so he could get a rundown of what had happened.

Keir was still at large, and we needed to devise a plan on how exactly to defeat him before he went underground and we lost him completely.

We all sat around the large table. I couldn’t count how many times this table had been destroyed in a rage over things that happened in our family.

“Axel, welcome back, boy. How’re you feeling?”

Pops peered down the table at me. I sat up in my chair, having been lost in thought briefly.

“I’m feeling pretty good, Pops. Just tired, I guess. It’s been a long time since I had any decent rest. How long was I gone?”

“About two weeks, sweetie.” Mom reached across, clutching my hand. My heart raced.

~Two weeks?~

“Why didn’t you guys come sooner?” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat. “What took you guys so long?”

“We wanted to, Axel, we really did, but we didn’t know where you were, or if you were even alive, and Gia, well, she wasn’t doing so good…” Diego trailed off, looking down at the table.

Mom looked away in shame.

“We did a spell to find you that required blood magic. Thankfully it led us right to you, even though you had already escaped Keir’s hold.” Storm gazed at me.

~Fuck, I missed her. ~I leaned in close, resting my head on her shoulder, taking in her scent that I had missed for almost two weeks.

“So Axel, tell me, how did you escape?” Pops touched his fingertips together, waiting for me to speak.

“Oh, well, I had help, actually.”

Everyone’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but I continued.

“Well, first, I was chained to a ceiling, but I managed to get out of that—admittedly not as fast as I would have liked. Then Keir led me to a dungeon of some sort where I came face-to-face with…”

I paused, playing with the words on my tongue. Would they think I’d gone crazy?

“A three-headed dragon. Then I met Dad in death. And then, after a few days hiding behind a rock and falling on my ass a few times, I ~eventually ~befriended the dragon long enough not to be killed.

“So I set it free, and it flew us out of the dungeon, where I met you guys in the forest a few days later.” I looked around at everyone, their mouths just hanging open.

~Okay, yeah.~

~They definitely think I’ve gone mad.~

I waited patiently for them to regain themselves and digest what I had just said to them. I mean, I lived it, and I wasn’t even sure I believed what happened, to be honest.

“A dragon? Surely not?” Pops looked confused.

Grams sat back in her chair. “Well, witches and wolves exist. Is it really unreasonable that other supernatural creatures would?”

She had a point. It was wrong of us to assume we were the only supernatural creatures to walk the earth.

But yet it still seemed like a crazy idea that somewhere out there were dragons and other mythical creatures.

“Why would Keir have captured a dragon? Exactly what would he need with it? Especially one with three heads?” Diego asked.

Grams looked lost in thought. “It’s difficult to say, really, darling. Dragon blood can be used for a lot of things, not all of them good, but they are known to be extremely magical and rare creatures.

“It’s safe to say he’s had that dragon possibly since it was a hatchling.”

“That would explain why he became more powerful so quickly. He must’ve been harvesting from that dragon for a long time,” Storm whispered.

I clasped her hand, squeezing it gently.

“All right. Well, we will reconvene in the morning. I suggest Axel get some rest. He’s been through a lot and needs to recover,” Mom stated bluntly.

I couldn’t help but feel relieved. The tiredness was starting to rush over me, and I just desperately needed my bed.

Pops agreed, and we all broke off. I followed Storm to her room. Too tired to drive back to my parents’ house, I shut the door behind us and made my way to the bed.

Face-planting myself onto the soft sheets and plump mattress, I felt my entire body relax for the first time in weeks.

“Did you want to shower or anything?” Storm offered, gently sliding onto the bed beside me. I smiled at her, reaching out and pulling her close.

“You know, I probably should, because I’m pretty sure I smell really bad, but I’m just so tired right now.” I laughed.

She scrunched her nose up, mocking my smell. Two weeks without a shower. I must reek.

With a heavy sigh, I rolled off the bed and plodded my way to the bathroom. I stripped off my clothes and ran the water, waiting for it to warm up.

Storm appeared behind me, holding a fresh pair of underwear and some toiletries. She handed them to me silently and headed out of the bathroom.

My heart sank a little bit that she didn’t stay, but considering everything that had happened, I understood.

I stepped under the warm water, allowing it to wash the dirt and grime off my body, feeling my aching muscles relax slightly at the heat.

I scrubbed myself clean and stepped out, drying myself off. When I went back into the room, Storm was sitting up in the bed, waiting.

“Hey.” She smiled.

“Hey.” I smiled back, climbing in beside her.

She snuggled in close. I buried my nose in her hair, sniffing it.

“I missed you,” I whispered.

“I missed you too,” she whispered back.

We just lay there, not saying anything, just enjoying each other’s company as we drifted off to sleep. This was the first time we had ever shared a bed.

I hadn’t been able to mark her or form any kind of real relationship and connection before I got taken, so we would have to take things slow to build everything back up.

I couldn’t wait to grow old with her. I just needed to kill Keir first, make him pay for the shit he’d done.