Dragon 3 Chapter 16 (Patreon)

I glanced around between the women, not quite sure what to do.

Technically, I had magic, but besides the innate forms of my dragon breath, shifting and flight, I hadn’t used any real magic.

Scarlett saw my indecision and came to my aid. “He was a lost one until recently. He’s never used his magic this way.” She reminded them of my recent lost one status.

“What?” Tyrande shouted. “That’s a crime! We need to get him to use his first spell then today.”

Scarlett was going to jump in again, but I started walking forward onto the platform. I was in a place built for testing magic, with some amazing magic users. I wasn’t going to get a better shot to learn. And it might become needed as we went up against the Templars.

“Okay, tell me how this all works.” I said to the group.

“It’s mostly about intent.” Morgana started quickly, shifting into her instruction mode. “Words are powerful channels for intent, but you can move beyond words, eventually. For now, let’s start with the simple ‘Envokus’ to throw raw elements. The stronger emotion you channel into the intent, the more powerful the spell.”

“The type of emotion makes a difference, too. If you are angry while healing, it will hurt like a bitch.” Jadelyn winced from some memory.

“I want to see someone else first.” I stepped back.

“Fine, I’ll go again.” Yev stepped up to the platform and tapped in a code that put a large tank at the bottom of the blasting pit. “Don’t worry about mimicking what I say. Dragons have different voice boxes.”

Everyone’s eyes were on her, and I shifted my eyes to get a better view.

Her throat lit up with magic as she shifted just that part of her to allow her to use dragon magic.

She said ‘Envokus’ but there was a guttural hum below the words that made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle.

From Yev’s hand launched a massive green fireball that hit the tank. It exploded in a deafening boom. The room filled with a green haze that she banished with a deep breath.

“Way to intimidate him.” Tyrande rolled her eyes at her sister.

I looked at the readout of the blast, and I realized that she was holding back. It wasn’t near as big a blast as the one when we had entered. This one had only registered twelve thousand, nearly half of the first blast.

“Go on. I want to see this.” Kelly sat back, popping chips into her mouth as she lounged in the table area.

“Just do your best.” Jadelyn encouraged, her smile so wide it pressed her eyes partially closed. She was ready to brag about me.

I took a moment to process what I had seen Yev do and what I needed to mimic. All in it seemed simple enough. I was glad I’d been able to talk in my dragon form. Otherwise, copying her would have been impossible. I would have just growled my words.

But I had to admit I was nervous to try it for the first time in front of all of them. I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

I stepped up to the tablet and keyed in a repeat of the last order.

The tank appeared again, and I stepped up to the platform.

Before I made a move, a hand fell on my shoulder.

I looked over, and Morgana was standing beside me. She gave me the same look she had when we were in her training space, and it brought me back to those moments.

This was simply an exercise, and I could do it.

I raised my hand, pointing it at the tank, shifting just my throat. “Envokus.” It came out like a proper dragon.

A bright light formed on my hand and fizzled out.

“You have to put some emotion behind it.” Jadelyn encouraged me.

I cursed, but prepared to try again, falling deeper into the exercise. I dug around for emotions, and I realized one of my deepest fears was something happening to my mates.

Protectiveness rose up in me and shifted, turning into the cold rage I would feel if anybody ever tried to harm them.

I turned those feelings towards the tank, picturing it posing a threat to my women. My instincts honed in on it, focused on destroying the tank.

My emotions blossomed in my chest, and I spoke again. “Envokus.”

Blue and red light erupted from my hand; a swirling ball of frost and fire shot at the tank.

It hit, and there was a momentary pause. It was like the entire world froze for a second as I waited to see what would happen.

The swirling sphere penetrated the tank, absorbing into its center. For the briefest moment, I thought I’d done something wrong, and the spell had dissipated.

But then the tank expanded. It vaporized from the inside out in an explosion that rocked the blasting chamber.

The explosion was too big, and I realized I was about to be thrown by the blast. Quickly, I braced myself by holding onto the input pad, barely keeping myself from flying off the platform.

I heard the girls’ screams behind me, but I could tell they were yells of surprise, not pain.

When the blinding light cleared, I looked back to confirm they were all unharmed. I noticed a faint shield glowing around their sitting area, along with the cracks in the concrete blasting chamber.

Most of the girls were looking at me in awe, but Yev looked pissed as hell.

She rose out of her seat and charged me, her skin turning an emerald green. She expanded, taking on her dragon form.

I did the only thing I could to react and counter. I shifted as well.

Her fat green ass hit me going full steam just as I finished shifting, and the two of us rolled into the blasting pit.

I wrapped myself around her and latched my jaws on her neck in a move of dominance.

But Yev didn’t give in, sinking her claws into my side, holding on tight as she twisted her head around to sink her teeth into the back of my neck in return.

We were in a twisty, knotty grid lock of dragons.

“What the fuck are you doing, Yev?” Tyrande rushed the platform.

She said something, but it came out garbled by my neck.

“Zach. Don’t kill her.” Jadelyn instructed.

“She’ll be better off dead than what I’ll do to her if she seriously harms Zach.” Morgana had her swords out.

Tyrande looked at the drow vampire with more than a little concern. “Yev, cut it out. Talk to us.”

I felt her brace for a moment before her jaw unlocked, releasing my neck. I was very aware, though, that her claws were still in my side.

She looked over at her sister. “He’s a fucking dragon.”

“Yes, Yev. That’s pretty clear. Apparently, he’s a gold dragon.” Tyrande stated the obvious. “I’m fairly certain that means he’s even rare among dragons.”

I was trying to listen to the conversation, but my beast was raging inside of me. It wanted to take down the other dragon. And I could see that Yev was fighting the same struggle.

“Uh…” Kelly raised her hand. “Is this some sort of dragon mating ritual? Because you’d be cutting me in line.” Of all things, that was what diffused the situation.

“No.” Yev practically threw herself off of me, and I rolled to my feet, growling as fire built up in my chest.

“Then what the fuck is wrong?” Tyrande threw an empty bottle that bounced comically off of Yev’s snout.

Yev paused. “I… I don’t know. I just… lost it.”

Shifting back into a naked human, I padded up the sloped wall of the blasting chamber. “Now that we are past that initial moment, I think we talk about this like rational people.” I got to the platform and found my shredded jeans. Sighing, I fished my spatial artifact out of my pocket.

“Is that—” Yev looked at the bra padding in my hand.

“My spatial artifact.” I interrupted her and stuck my hand inside of it, pulling out a new pair of boxers and jeans. They’d already seen me naked, so I didn’t worry about it as I got dressed on the platform.

“Are you going to shift back?” I asked Yev, who hadn’t moved from when I walked away.

“Yeah.” She sounded confused, but she shifted back.

Morgana pulled out a loose hospital gown for Yev and tossed it down into the pit.

“Well, that was a surprise.” Tyrande tried to clear the air. “Jadelyn, you nabbed yourself a gold dragon. Holy shit.” She held her hand up for a high five from my mate.

Jadelyn blushed at the compliment, but gave her the high five. “It was the other way around.”

With a pair of jeans on, I scooped up Jadelyn and carried her back over to the couch. I put her down, placing myself between her and Yev. My dragon was still not sure if Yev was a threat.

“Touchy.” Tyrande commented.

“When a dragon comes at you, it tends to do that.” I was still feeling a little prickly. “You need to explain yourself.” I turned on Yev, more than a little annoyed.

She crawled out of the blasting range in her hospital gown. “I realized what you were when you cast the spell with your throat shifted. Then I just… lost it.”

“I get it was all quite sudden, but I’m afraid this is quite sensitive, so it would be helpful if you could provide more about why you attacked him.” Jadelyn pressed.

Tyrande seemed to pick up on what Jadelyn was saying, nudging her sister as she whispered. “You attacked Jadelyn’s husband for what he is.”

“My husband, who had already agreed to protect you from others who wanted to hunt you for being a dragon.” Jadelyn added salt to the wound.

Yev looked like she wanted to bury herself in the sand, but she also perked up at the last sentence, locking eyes with me. “I get now why you’d be willing to help me without knowing me.”

“Yes, I want to protect dragons. But I also feel responsible for your predicament. For you shifting in the first place.”

“What?” Yev looked confused. “Your dragon is nothing like what made me shift at the parade.”

I froze, processing what she had just said. “But my dragon was acting up. I thought…”

“No.” Yev shook her head. “I might have just gotten territorial on you, but now that I am looking, I can sense what you are.” Her eyes became slitted dragon eyes as she stared at me. “You are nothing like what hit me during the parade.”

I frowned. I was glad that I hadn’t been the one to out her, but if it wasn’t mean, that meant there was a third dragon in the city.

And not only that, it had forced Yev to shift.

Then I realized my dragon must have been responding to whatever it had done to Yev.

“Still feel like jumping me?” I asked.

“No. I’m fine now. Our brief scuffle seems to have put it at ease. That, and it seems to recognize you as an ally now.”

“Great.” Jadelyn clapped her hands. “So now that this is in the open, how about you ask her about the other thing?”

I knew what Jadelyn was getting at.

“Other thing?” Tyrande pushed.

“He wants to practice fighting in the air. And get answers to about a million dragon questions. He hasn’t met another dragon until now.” Jadelyn practically pushed me at Yev.

Yev nodded in understanding. “Like what?”

I had almost too many questions. They jockeyed to come out first and smashed a gridlock in the front of my mind.

As a result, the one that came out first might not have been my best first question.

“Do you know any other dragons?”

“Not anymore.” She said. The wilted expression on her face told me that she’d lost someone close to her. I could only assume her mother or father.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

She waved it away. “It was years ago, and I’m happy with the Highaen family. My mother was a high elf and a friend of the family.”

“We took her in after her parents died.” Tyrande added. “Her father was hunted. That’s part of why the current situation is so stressful for her.”

“Understandable.” Jadelyn scooted over me, giving Yev a hug.

Tyrande seemed relieved that Jadelyn had forgiven Yev.

She might not have the firepower of my other mates, but being able to intimidate the rulers of a city with her displeasure was Jadelyn’s own super power.

“We can help you fly. Up in Sentarshaden, we have a preserve for several powerful creatures. There’s a layer of the tree that you can fly freely within; Yev uses it.” Tyrande offered.

“That would be nice.” It had only been a day since I last flew, but I was itching to spread my wings again.

“It sucks being grounded all the time, doesn’t it?” Yev asked.

I nodded enthusiastically, glad someone understood. “Like an itch you can’t scratch.” I agreed.

There was another question I needed to ask. “I’ve been growing rapidly lately. And sometimes, I’m hungry for… uh… paranormals.”

“That’s normal.” Yev’s answer relieved me. “We need to eat a ton, and things that use mana are more nourishing. According to my dad, dragons used to fight and eat each other pretty often.”

My face must have looked horrified. “Isn’t that cannibalism?”

She shrugged. “Wild beasts don’t mind eating an enemy. It’s nature. Apparently, the best thing for us to grow are other dragons.”

Even though I had eaten that one dead dragon bone, I couldn’t imagine eating a freshly dead dragon. Even if the bone had progressed my power considerably.

For a moment, my more primal side surged forward and eyed Yev, realizing how much power I could likely get, but I quickly shoved it back down. That wasn’t how I planned to get my power.

“That makes sense. Dragons are potent in their own right; it’s part of why we are hunted. We can probably boost each other, too.”

“It’s part of why there are so few dragons.” Yev said. “They kept their own numbers under control even back before humans took over everything. Otherwise, dragons would rule the world right now.”

Some of the history of dragons that I learned from the magi at the convention was making a little more sense now if the dragons of old were trying to eat each other.

They taught humans magic to fight and weaken each other. Ate each other for power.

“So, did you want to eat him to grow stronger?” Jadelyn asked.

“Oh no. He’s a whelp. I was surprised and territorial.” Yev held her hands up in surrender. “I won’t try that again.”

I tried not to growl at being called a whelp. She clearly did not recognize the magnitude of that blast I made.

“Good. I’d hate to have to go to war with the Highaen family.” Morgana let that little threat linger out there in case there were any second thoughts.

I realized she was just then putting her knives away. She’d been seriously ready to carve up a dragon. It was her own way of showing love.

“Maybe we should call it a day. This was quite a bit of excitement, and we need to get moving to the next item on the schedule. We’ll be back here in two days. We can let the two dragons practice their magic a little then.” Tyrande suggested. Her eyes shifted to the damaged blasting chamber. “Maybe we also try not to go overboard. Control is part of magic.”

“That blast was pretty intense. I wonder if we worried the front desk.” Scarlett added.

While they were saying that, I glanced over at the display to see just how much power I had packed into that spell. Thirty thousand.

A smile crept over my face.

Whelp my ass.

“You girls leave first; we’ll follow after.” I figured it might help to shoot a few more fireballs. They nodded and headed out.

Jadelyn sagged on the couch after they exited. “That was scary.”

“I had it under control.” I tried to reassure her.

“Watching her get her jaws around your neck, I thought my heart was going to give out.” Jadelyn shook her head.

“We wouldn’t have let that happen.” Scarlett moved to her other side and put a hand on her shoulder.

Jadelyn nodded weakly, but she really did look tired, and I didn’t like that one bit.

The frustration inside of me was boiling, so I stepped up to the platform to use it.

I aimed my hand down range in the blasting chamber.

There weren’t any targets setup, but I just wanted some rough practice. So I let the emotion flow out of me. The frustration I was feeling at seeing Jadelyn worried blossomed.

“Envokus. Envokus. Envokus.” I shot three large burning red fireballs down range.

They each exploded. They were far less impressive than the dual elemental fire balls I’d thrown earlier, but they still packed a punch. I figured they could likely take out a tank.

I sagged after releasing them.

Casting the spells had tapped that emotion and wore me out enough that the emotion had lost its edge.

“Careful.” Kelly was at my side, grabbing me as I became wobbly on my feet. “You can’t just pump out spells endlessly.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I just wanted to try.” Kelly helped me over to the couch, where after just a moment of sitting down, I was feeling better. Still, I had touched upon my limits.

“Mana is a core part of the spells we use, but drawing on them rapidly like that is both draining on your mana and body.” Jadelyn informed me.

“That, and you basically just turned it up to eleven and started pumping out everything.” Morgana watched me, knowing exactly what had riled me up. “You need to be careful of your emotions. They may fuel spells, but they can also cause you to wear yourself out when you need your strength. It takes control to master magic.”

I nodded, cementing that advice. It was good to have my partner back.

“For now. Let’s get out of here.” Jadelyn stood up and braced her shoulders in a show of strength.

We all got up and headed out, but Kelly stopped just short of the door. She pulled me to the side as the other three let the door close behind them.

“Zach, why am I here?”

“What do you mean?” I frowned at her sudden question. “You’re here with us. You came to Sentarshaden to learn about fertility.”

She shook out her brown hair. “No. I came to Sentarshaden to chase you. But…” She looked at the door. The other three had just gone through. “Look, I’m a badass chick, and I can hold my own against male werewolves. But your women, they are a whole different level. They can take on the Highaen family like it’s just a casual day. Morgana does it by being terrifying and Jadelyn does it more subtly, but still. I’m nowhere near them. Scarlett is thankfully a bit more normal, but she was your first. She’ll always hold your heart a little differently.”

I started to tell her how wonderful she was, but she held up a hand to stop me.

“I’m not trying to have you build up my confidence. I’m great. But I’m also not looking to get attached to a man who is going to put me on the back burner to a bunch of other women. I want to be an equal in this family or nothing.” Her voice cracked a little at the end of her statement.

“You’re the world’s only female alpha. You have heart and protectiveness in spades. You’re a badass shifter, and you’re mine.” I growled the last bit.

I could see Kelly softening, but as she looked up at me, she said, “I’m still just a werewolf. I’m no dragon shifter, and this is the big leagues.”

Then it hit me. I realized what had brought up the discussion, shaking my head as I grabbed her and pulled her into my chest. She was comparing herself to my women and then to Yev.

“Mine.” was all I growled as I kissed the top of her head.

The beast made himself known long enough to demand we push her up against a wall and claim her, but I held it back. I needed her to believe in us without that.

“You need to stop doubting yourself. This is like a pack. Everyone is going to support each other to balance out everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. It will take time to find your place among the rest of the girls, but you have a place.”

Kelly chewed her lip. “Normally, the alpha just tells us what our roles are.”

“You were the head bitch before you were the alpha. I thought you did a great job of covering for Chad and keeping him in line. Think you can do that for our family?”

“Keep you in line?”

I paused, not loving the idea of it immediately. But as I got stronger, I’d likely need it. Power tended to turn people into assholes.

Someone to help me keep perspective would be useful.

“Something like that. I trust you to be a strong second, keeping me balanced and helping me see all perspectives.” I tried to encourage her.

“I can do that.” She bobbed her head. “Thank you Alpha.”

I still cringed a bit at the term, but it helped her create a structure she was comfortable in, so I just held her a moment longer before we headed out after the others.