19. Bexley Blackforge

Chapter 19

Bexley Blackforge

Two weeks later…

"Bexley, wait up!" A familiar voice had me turning as I offered Silvia a bright smile. I knew my mates were waiting for me up ahead, which is why I'd left the meeting so quickly to begin with, but I couldn't help but wait for my new friend. One of them, I should say…I was making a lot of new friends lately.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, holding my folder against my chest.

The Silvershade estate was particularly busy today. Women streamed from the ballroom, having just sat through a two-hour meeting informing them of the logistics of moving forward. To say the territory was going through a change was an understatement, and today was one more big step towards that.

Linan had many secrets, one of which was the number of women and children he'd kept prisoner, separated from their loved ones. After the meeting we had, I was hoping everyone would feel more at ease with all of their options, whether they wanted to stay in the city or move into clan territory.

I wanted whatever they were most comfortable with. Unfortunately, with the war and the way they'd been locked up at the mercy of Clanguard's soldiers…well, I wouldn't blame them for wanting to be as far away as possible.

"I just wanted to say you did amazing in there. The girls and I were so impressed," she chirped. I gave her a big smile, happy that she thought so.

I had been nervous about presenting housing options to all the women, but the temporary solution we'd come up with while waiting on the permanent structures to be built seemed to be a big hit. I may have stolen inspiration from the structure of our dorms back home, but no one had to know.

"That's great to hear," I admitted.

"Do you want to come grab lunch with us?"

Silvia was one of the few dragons I'd met following the war. Many had returned to the clan lands as if nothing had happened, but some of the younger generation had stuck around to help. Including Silvia and her two sisters and three cousins.

Compared to many of the other shifters I'd met, dragons seemed to function a bit differently and I found I liked it. Instead of acting like many of the powerful predators in DIA, most dragons just existed in a state of nonchalance. When I asked my mates about it, they pointed out that there was no need to act aggressively when you were already at the top.

Unless you were protecting your mate from other males—they had made sure to add that part in.

"I wish I could," I said as we stepped into the foyer, my eyes darting to the door. "But we're going to look at the estate. Maybe next time?"

"Totally! Have fun!" She gave me a squeeze and darted off, giving a quick wave to my mates but otherwise saying nothing. Somehow, they even intimidated other dragons.

"Meeting go good, mo chuisle ?" Breaker asked.

"Very," I said, waving my folder. "Although now that the excitement from the meeting is going away, I'm kind of tired," I admitted. I giggled as Gage scooped me up, Jagger grabbing the door. Maybe we could stop in the kitchen and get a peppermint coffee. There was a bit more of a chill to the air than usual, so that sounded wonderful.

"Well, get excited—they finally broke land. We're stopping there first."

"Really?!" I asked, feeling almost giddy.

"Come on." Jagger urged me into the car, and I bounced a little bit in the seat.

The day I killed Linan Clanguard, something had changed within me. I became stronger. I was still my cupcake-, sparkle-loving self…but there was more power within me, a confidence and determination that hadn't existed before. I'd killed to protect the people of this territory—and I would do it again.

I'd never considered myself a leader before, but I found myself slipping into the role a lot recently in our time away from DIA. After all, we couldn't just go back right after a war…I mean, to say there was a lot to do was an understatement.

"I can't believe they broke land already," I said as Breaker and Gage took seats up front, Jagger handing me a tablet with a map of the plans.

When the Flash clan estate was destroyed in the war, along with some villages throughout the territory, we took the opportunity to look at the four clan lands as a whole, assessing how we could improve the setup given our situation. It had of course led to a much larger discussion about power within the territory, but considering our alliance with the other shifter groups, that too had been fairly easy to figure out.

Trabea would never be the same. In some ways it would resemble the old territory, many of the older buildings staying in service, but the clans were pulling their borders farther back from the city so that the land was more evenly split. The central and northern parts of the territory would be for the dragon clans, and in the center a new estate would be built for our family. Our parents would still live in their homes, but their estates would now serve as a border for the other section of the territory.

The city, which was now all neutral territory, was expanding into villages for families who didn't want to live in the urban center but also didn't want to live under storm dragon rule. It was hopefully going to allow for a better distribution of power. We couldn't get rid of all shifter hierarchy—like alphas or clan leaders—but I didn't think it was the best idea to upset the system too much anyway. As an interim measure, we'd suggested the idea of having more councils in place, with members elected by the people.

I wasn't sure if it would go anywhere, but my hope was that it would prevent another Linan Clanguard situation from happening. Although I had no doubt that Fletcher, Rachel, Thomas, Carol, and even Olivia would ensure that. They had their own changes to the pack they were insisting upon.

"The repairs to the old Flash clan estate are going faster than anticipated," Breaker explained, "so they were able to start on ours."

"I still feel so bad about that," I murmured. It was the one thing Aurora and Dyer had asked—that it not be destroyed! And then I had destroyed it. Luckily, they hadn't been too upset, ultimately accepting that it had been the price of ridding the land of its would be dictator. They'd also agreed that since my parents were now serving in advisory positions, they could live at the estate once more and help guide it forward under their leadership.

I think Aurora and Dyer wanted a break. Aurora had been embarrassed about everything that had gone down with her ‘lover,' so she'd been rather quiet on that front with the exception of apologizing a million times over. Either way, my parents were more than happy to help. Every ounce of energy they'd lost in Linan's prison was back, and they were doing everything they could to restore the damage he'd wrought.

"I'm surprised the rogue land shifters wanted to stay and not go to the city, especially since the neutral territory is so open now," Gage said. I nodded, having been surprised by that myself, but maybe they'd decided that living under my parents wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

"Hopefully they won't mind us being within reach," I said as we sped down a long road between the Silvershades' Flicker clan lands and the Bronzehearts' Blitz clan lands. "I know that the alliance in the city would welcome them with open arms."

Between the dragon clans and the alliance of groups within the city, the territory now had two systems of government, essentially. Two systems that would allow for the flexibility for Trabea to grow into a more modern society instead of being frozen in the past.

I mean, already the Clanguard pack had changed so much, essentially overnight when Fletcher had replaced his father. He'd opened his pack lands to non-wolves, and almost everyone else within the city had done the same. We'd always accepted non-dragons, but now that the other groups were following suit, the territory as a whole was wide open. Thomas, deciding to not return to DIA, had even taken it upon himself to set into motion the building of two smaller academies for shifters who decided that formal schooling wasn't for them.

I could tell Rachel had been thrilled about not going back to DIA, and more so that both of her mates were now okay with staying together instead of being split apart by their futures. It probably helped that I was nearly positive their family was going to be growing soon…I mean, I had no proof of that— yet! But recently she'd said a few things that seemed to be hinting toward that.

"What are you thinking about?" Jagger asked, tucking a gold strand of hair behind my ear.

"Nothing," I teased as we pulled up to a work site, the open expanse of land to all sides making me look around with excitement. I slipped out of the car, excited to see the construction crew digging to prepare a place for the foundation of our soon-to-be house…well, castle, if we were being honest.

"Can I see the tablet?" I asked Jagger, the three of them talking to one of the crew. He handed it to me, and I opened the plans and the rendering that we'd worked up.

Five stories in height and over twenty-thousand square feet, our new estate—the one I planned to hopefully marry my mates in and eventually raise our family in—would be absolutely gigantic. At the same time, I'd tried to make it as ‘us' as possible. It would be luxurious but comfortable. Livable, approachable, but still have plenty of sparkles. It would have a two-floor walk-in closet, but also a garden for growing vegetables. I'd spent at least five nights straight working on it with the architect, and while there were a million things still left to pick out, I could easily see us living in it forever.

One of my favorite parts was the open balconies that would allow us space to easily shift, especially when it came time to teach our children. That had been a suggestion from my mom, and now we had three of them!

"There she is!" A cheery voice greeted me as I flashed a smile to the woman running this entire show, her hard hat and athletic outfit the complete opposite to how she normally dressed. "You excited?"

"Am I excited for you to build the storm dragon clan leaders of Trabea their dream house?" I teased Lauren. " Understatement. I'm really glad that Marilyn introduced us. This is going to be amazing."

"I just hope we can capture exactly what you want. Which reminds me, I meant to ask—how many kids bedrooms? I have guest suites planned, but do you have a range you want to stick between?"

My cheeks flushed, but I looked back towards my mates, deciding that I would just freakin' ask them. "Hey! Quick question—" All three of them immediately looked over, the effect of having all their attention at once still disorienting. You'd think that at this point I'd be used to it. "How many kids bedrooms?"

"Ten. Better safe than sorry," Breaker answered, then went straight back to looking at the blueprints.

"Maybe a few more…I mean, unless you don't want that, little treasure," Jagger said, my eyebrows only going higher.

"I have no idea!" I said, deciding to tease them. "That's why I asked. Figured you guys would be able to answer the hard part."

Gage appeared in front of me and examined my face with curiosity. "How many do you think is the right number?"

Nibbling my lip, I looked back at Lauren. "Let's do ten."

"I had twelve, so that's perfect—we can have an extra ‘living' space on the third floor," she said, making a note on her phone. "Now, will I be able to reach you if I have questions once you go back to campus?"

"We'll all be keeping phones on us now," I said. "With everything going on, Estrid allowed the exception. " I'd honestly been surprised she even wanted us back to begin with. I'd been worried her perception of us would be tainted, considering we were the reason for a literal war—but she didn't blink twice. If she had any opinions about it, she was good at masking them.

"Perfect, I'll call you soon!" Lauren said, turning to stride towards a trailer nearby. My gaze moved across the land, and I let out a sound of contentment.

"It's going to be beautiful," I told Gage.

"It's going to be home," he agreed. "Well, once it's done. Until then…"

"School," I murmured, feeling a thrill of excitement at the concept of going back. Honestly, it wasn't something I had expected to feel.

"You guys don't mind going back, do you?" I asked him sincerely. "I know you'd probably rather be here. There are just so many things I need to learn about my own abilities—things other than being able to destroy a several hundred year old estate with pure lightning. You know?"

Gage chuckled. "Yes, I know, cupcake. Trust me, we're perfectly happy going back for the year, and if you want to continue past that?—"

"Probably not," I admitted. "But maybe… Four years sounds like a lot, so let's see how we feel this summer?"

He nodded and tugged me against him, dipping his head to brush his lips against my own. "Besides," he mused, "you may be busy next summer."

With that, he walked back to the others. What the heck did that mean? I was completely perplexed, but I didn't bother devoting energy to the question. I knew he would explain himself eventually, and I was too happy basking in thoughts of our future here. There was a lot of hard work ahead of us, but it'd be worth it.

And until then? It was time to go back to Dark Imaginarium Academy.