Difficulties-Xander

"I have to explain some more things to you before I can answer that. I do just hope that by the end of this conversation that you will want to stay" I tell her honestly. More than anything I want her to choose to stay. I have waited too long for her to just let her go.

She is ours. If we must, we will keep her here.

"I don't want a mate who doesn't want to be here. I refuse to take that from her. If she is to stay then it has to be willingly. We will just have to do the work to convince her" I state to him. As I push him to the back of my mind a sudden idea hits me.

"Why don't we take this conversation outside. I'm sure that you could use some fresh air right about now. I know that I could" I say as I rise from the chair. A smile breaks across her face at the thought and my heart swells knowing that I am the one to caused it. I walk to the door of the room and watch as she rises from the bed. She finally releases Julia's hand even though she still watches Maximus and I closely. I don't want to trick myself but I am hoping that she is starting to become more comfortable. I want her to like it here.

Our mate will learn to love it here.

Walking out of the clinic I can't help but to check back every few seconds to make sure she is still there. When we walk outside she lifts her head to the sky and closes her eyes as the afternoon soon shines on her face. I feel my face break into a smile at the joy I see written there. Julia smiles at her too while Maximus stands off to the side stoic as usual.

Well this was a lot less dramatic than I was hoping for. I'm out of here

He says through the mind link before he disappears. I chuckle at his stupid antics and almost feel like an ass since I do. I was still staring at her when the sound left my mouth causing her eyes to fly open. Her arms fold across her chest and she looks almost ashamed of what she just did. Before I can apologize she turns a glare in my direction.

"Excuse me if I happen to enjoy this small freedom. Where I came from consisted of four walls and a room half the size of your clinic room. Should I also add that I shared that room with another person" she says eyeing me angrily. Julia turns a glare in my direction also.

Say something and do it quick before they attack. You don't want to be on the other end of the anger that we see.

"I wasn't laughing at you. Honest. My beta said something and I just happened to be looking at you when he disappeared. I wouldn't laugh at you ever. In fact I like the way you looked when you felt the sun" I say spewing the words out of my mouth before I can stop them. As I look away at all the things I just admitted out loud I feel my cheeks as they redden.

Nice word vomit there alpha. Why don't we tell her we love her already while we are at it.

"You are not helping" I say as I shove him to the back of my mind. Clearing my throat I gesture for her to follow me as I head to the destination that I had in mind. As I turn to lead the way I can't say that I minded to much about the color which also stained her cheeks.

Her pace comes up to match mine and I continue where I left off with our story as she looks around. "A few months ago, we got the truth about how we came to be. A female dragon here, Magma, was told about our creation and what our purpose was. What she found out gave all of us hope for the future. It gave us a chance not to live our existence to never know love." I say as I look at her. She is watching me closely as I tell her about us. I can see that she is listening to every word.

"All dragons were born of the same women, our mother Io. She was cursed by a witch whose son she had fallen in love with. Somehow our mother, in her anger ended up killing her son. When she went to tell the witch that she carried the child of her son, Magma, it didn't end well. She was so distraught and in pain from the loss of her son that she cursed our mother. She cursed her to become the monster that she saw her as. To never know love and to never know her children. For one thousand years she gave birth each year. When she gave birth she was in her other form which she couldn't communicate with. We still don't know what happened in her death" I say saddened at the story.

I pause as we reach my favorite meadow. Needing to find a way to wash away the pain from the story I pick one of my favorite flowers and lift it to my nose. The scent of the flower soothes me and the haze from my mind clears. I open my eyes to find her staring at me with a smirk on her face. Clearing my throat I drop the flower like it's a hot poker and take a look around the meadow.

I see out of the corner of my eyes as she wanders further in to explore more. She runs her hand along the top of the flowers as she sniffs the air. Her scent is so close to the flowers in this meadow that I can barely tell them apart. I inhale long and deep as I try. What I find causes a low hum to leave my chest. Her scent is nearly identical to the forest only warmer. The heat from her scent causes my eyes to change as it starts to have an effect on my body.

I feel parts of myself come alive in a way that I have never felt. I watch as she bends over to pull a flower from the meadow of the forest floor. The fabric of her jump suit tightens over her skinny pert ass and I feel my member harden under the robe. If I found her scent intoxicating the true form of her sends my body wild.

Stop or I won't be able to control the heat. If we kiss her before I have control then I won't stop until I have mated her.

My dragons warning is fierce and I shake my head trying to clear the thoughts from my head before they turn into images. When I finally have myself under control I try to remember what part of the story I was at. Before I can continue a hand tapping me on the back causes me to turn. I had forgotten that Julia was still with us. She gives me a smirk and I know that she can tell that I had forgotten.

"I really hope that you are going to be honest about everything with her. She needs to know what she is to you sooner rather than later. She seems like such a sweet girl despite her situation" she says whispering so that my mate doesn't hear us.

She is already causing our people to care for her. I would take her warning serious if we want to give the rest of our people the chance.

"I will tell her all of it. I promise" I tell the human Julia.

"Good, cause you are going to have to do it on your own. I still have volunteer work at the clinic to do and I don't want to see how awkward this conversation is going to get" she says it with a wave and then turns to exit the forest. When she reaches the edge my mate finally looks up and Julia waves at her too with a smile.

As Tika looks back at me, the calm she received from my meadow disappears. I now face the same woman who was tense on the hospital bed. "She still had a few things to do at the clinic. I am sure you will be seeing her later" I tell her trying to calm her. I look around the meadow for a clear patch of grass. I gesture to her as I head towards it. When I take a seat, I wait for her to do the same. She approaches the patch of grass and goes to sit as far from me as she can.

"Right, I was telling you about our mother. So, the curse was so that she would never know love. The love from another or that of her children. The witch Kawa didn't know however that when she was casting the curse it would also go to the children. When she took the power from her brothers and sisters to make the curse, they each created a species of their own also. That's why we are all here now" I state.

"When Kawa discovered that we were all under the same curse, even her grandchild she sought a way to fix it. She decided that in order to make us for a curse she cast in anger that we would each be given a soul mate. Someone who would be everything to us. They were to love us, compliment us, and accept them fully. They would even accept our beast as they are" I say watching her carefully.

She looks puzzled by the knowledge that I just shared with her. I can tell that she has not made the connections, however. I am hoping that by the end of this tale she will be able to. "Since we have found this knowledge, two of the dragons in this clan have found their mates. Their human mates. Since we are all connected no shifter is paired with another. We all have human mates out there in the world that we have to find. They will be the only person we can be with and the only one that we can have children with." I finish.

She is not going to take it well when she finds out. Be prepared to stay calm.

"Wait, how are you supposed to do that when you said that you guys can't leave this land because of the government" she ask with her eyebrows furrowed in thought. At this point I decide that its best for me to keep quiet as she connects the dots. I can watch the thoughts as they fly across her face. I hate to do it to her like this but she needs to know. When she finally realizes her gaze flies to mine and she rushes to stand. I stay in my seated position as I watch her get angry.

"I WILL NOT BE A BREEDER FOR ONE OF YOU. IF THAT IS WHY I WAS BROUGHT HERE THEN I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE STAYED IN THAT PRISON AND SOLD MY BODY LIKE THE REST OF THEM" she explodes.

I have no chance of stopping the roar that leaves my throat at the words that leave her mouth. How dare someone try to touch what belongs to me. No one will touch her as long as I have breath in my body. She is mine and only mine.

"There is a lot more to it than becoming a breeder as you put it. Over my dead body would I allow any person on this earth to touch you against your will!" I yell back at her. The voice that leaves my chest is more beast than man even though my dragon hasn't pushed forward. Instead of coming to the forefront of my mind I feel as he chooses to stand beside on this.

"You can try to wrap those words up in a pretty package all you want mister. I have no interest in becoming a breeder for one of you. I didn't spend four years in hell just to enter a new one. You can take your offer and shove it where the sun doesn't shine" she taunts.

I can feel that I am well and truly pissed at what she is saying. She didn't even bother asking any questions about the offer or the process. She just out right refused me even if she doesn't know it's me she belongs to.

"Well, as much as I would like to accept the offer of shoving the idea up my posterior love. The fact remains that I can't do that because you are my mate and the only one that I will ever get" I growl at her.

Apparently what I said goes off like a nuclear bomb as the silents rains between us. Her mouth gapes open and shut like a fish as she stares at me trying to find something to say. Before she can find her words I decide that I have had enough disappointment for one day. "I get that it will take you a while to come accustomed to the idea of being with someone like me. I get that this is all a big change and that you have to get over the fact that you were lied to. What I don't get however, is how you could so easily refuse someone offering you love when you don't even know them" I state as my frustration clears.

The look of shock that crosses her face is almost comical but for some reason I can't seem to stop. "Did you ever stop to think that I didn't know who my mate would be either? Ever consider that maybe I might not have wanted who was chosen for me? Before you made those assumptions about me and my people, did you ever stop to think about how this has been for all of us?" I question her.

Maximus, you are needed in my meadow.

I start to walk away before she can answer. I was so happy to look at her. I was so happy to find her and she just rejected me and threw it all away. My strides eat up the space between the edge of the meadow and our spot quickly. As I reach the edge Maximus appears, without a shirt might I had and I growl at him.

"Hey, you interrupted my time just as I got started. You should be happy I even answered your call. But don't worry, I told Em she could take it out on you. You know how her hormones are" he says with a cocky smirk.

If I cannot have our mate, then we need to go. We need to get her scent out of our noses.

"Return her back to her quarters. She can decide if she wants to stay in the clinic or in the cabin with the other assigned humans. I will be out of contact for the rest of the day" I tell him as I exit the clearing. Hearing her footsteps I turn to see her walking toward us with her head down. Sensing my stare she raises her eyes to look at me. I run my gaze across all of her memorizing the mate that I may never get to know. Sure that I have the image of her to come back to I turn and walk away from the only hope for the future I have.