Dragon 3 Chapter 21 (Patreon)

“Fuck. We are chasing our tails.” Scarlett slapped the steering wheel as we came up empty again.

Now that they knew I could track the dragon, he was being moved constantly. They were either keeping him in a car and driving around the city non-stop, or they were only staying in one place for fifteen minutes at a time.

Every time I tried to track him by triangulating my senses again, he was gone by the time we got there. And that was when we were lucky. Sometimes my second attempt to locate him indicated an area in an entirely different direction than the first.

“It’s okay.” Yev sat in the back of the car, ready to call in the Highaen support if we needed it.

The longer we went without tracking him, the more Yev’s mother’s words sank in. I might have missed our best shot by not calling in reinforcements.

I ground my teeth in frustration.

“It’s not okay. You didn’t see the other dragon.” I said.

“What was wrong?” Yev asked.

I realized I hadn’t gone into much details about the other dragon when I had been annoyed at her mother.

Getting quieter, I tried to tell Yev about what I’d seen. “He has been enslaved by them. They’ve cut his eyes out, and his body is covered in magically carved scars that seem to make him have to obey commands. Across his wrists, he has a pair of manacles that also seem magically powered. He tried to fight back against their orders, but whatever they’ve done to him seems to make him bend to their command.”

Yev shuddered in the back seat. “I can’t imagine that.”

“Yeah.” I let out a sad sigh, just remembering him. The loss of freedom was painful enough, but I just couldn’t imagine the horror he’d experienced. “Seeing it for the first time made me pause, and that hesitation let them get away. I could tell he tried to resist. He even looked at me, despite not being able to see me. I felt… a sense of hope from him at my presence.”

“Dangerous?” she asked.

“Incredibly. I don’t have any dragons to compare him to, but if we compare ourselves, we are like little candles before the sun.” That dragon had been old, ancient even. I could only wonder at how much power was behind those hollow eyes.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be hunting down this incredibly powerful dragon, then?” Yev hedged, being uncharacteristically skittish for a dragon. Then again, she was being hunted.

Scarlett was already piloting us back to Jadelyn’s anyway. “We are going home for the day. It’s getting late, and a worn out dragon isn’t going to be of much use tomorrow if I let him search all night. We need our sleep in case they spring their ambush tomorrow. They may even move it up, given today’s events.”

“You think it’ll happen?” Yev asked.

I nodded. Morgana had been discussing it with us earlier, before we separated into two cars. Now that they knew they were discovered, they would want to make a move before we had more time to regroup.

I looked back at her. “Their time tables have sped up, but how much we have yet to see. I don’t imagine they’ll want to keep moving the dragon, so I’d guess one of the next two trips to the magic range, we will see an attack.”

“Makes sense.” Yev nodded to herself. “We’ll just have to be ready. Can you swing by the Highaen complex and drop me off?”

“Sure. We are five minutes out.” Scarlett said, already changing directions. “Stay safe, Yev. I’d hate for my mate to lose his first dragon friend. It is kind of cute that he has someone he can relate to.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to know another dragon.” Yev agreed. “Sorry for being so aggro with you at first.”

Shrugging, I turned to face her before I spoke. “I think it comes with being a dragon. No harm, no foul. Just be prepared one day for me to be bigger than you and return the favor.”

“My dragon won’t go down easy.” The smirk on her face in challenge made me smile.

I had a real friend, one that understood what it meant to be a dragon.

“So, what are your hobbies, Yev?” Scarlett asked.

At first I thought it was just idle conversation, but there was an unusual aggression in her tone.

“Magic. You’ve seen me at the blasting range, but I do some constructive magic as well. Mostly art sort of stuff with it.” Yev went along with her.

“Uh huh.” Scarlett sounded unimpressed. “What about your home? We haven’t been there, but is it tidy?”

Okay, that was going into an oddly personal angle.

“I guess…” Yev squirmed in the backseat, but for some reason kept answering Scarlett. “Clean enough that I can tidy up before a guest comes over, no problem.”

“You don’t clean regularly?” Scarlett pressed.

“No?” It came out of Yev like a question as she sat confused.

That’s when I realized what Scarlett was doing. It took everything I had not to facepalm right then and there.

She was interviewing Yev, as my first mate.

I thought there might be a little something between us, but maybe that was just me dreaming, having met the first other dragon ever.

Yeah, I was probably just clinging onto it a little because she was the first I’d met.

Soon Yev would know other dragons, though. The Bronze King would give his announcement, and I expected she’d be invited off to Dubai. Once I became known, the same thing would happen.

I wasn’t sure what would await us in Dubai, but I had a feeling the Bronze King was interested in making sure dragonkind continued. And that meant there would be some matchmaking involved.

“What kind of guys have you dated before? Do you have a type?” Scarlett asked, and Yev blushed a deep red.

“Taller than me, and I like them strong. There’s something comforting about a guy who could pick you up and carry you if need be.” Yev surprised me by answering.

Scarlett continued. “Probably hard to find someone stronger than a dragon.”

At this point, I tuned them out. Letting Scarlett do her thing until she dropped Yev off at the Highaen estate.

“Scarlett, you are imagining things. We are just friends.” I reassured her.

“Uh, huh.” She didn’t sound convinced, but dropped it, staring out the window at the Highaen estate that was all green and gold.

Seeing the Highaen colors again, paired everywhere in their decor, made me wonder what the Highaen family would do if they knew I was a gold dragon.

It was odd. Their colors were green and gold, and that was Yev and my dragon colors.

“You didn’t have to probe. I told you I’d slow down after Kelly.” Once Yev was gone, I addressed Scarlett.

“First Mate duties. I wasn’t probing you. I was testing her.” Scarlett kept her eyes on the road. “You are going to have to have a dragon wife, or maybe even multiple, before this is all done. I’m going to push and test every female dragon you meet to see which one is right.”

I nodded, realizing I had asked her to form an opinion. It made sense she’d have her own way of feeling them out.

“Then how did she do?” I asked.

“So-so.” Scarlett wobbled her hand. “She’s got a good background. Highaen counts for something, but she’s not really romantically available, as I can see it. Though that might be because she’s more focused on being hunted right now. That and I’m not convinced she isn’t messy. But you seem to be her type.” She tapped her lips in thought before shrugging it off.

Being hunted did seem like a good reason to not get too romantically involved. As for everything else, I would not concern myself with it. Romance came first. “Well, for now, we are just friends. If it becomes more, there’s time.”

“Hah. Maybe. I have a feeling that once the Bronze King gets involved, it’s going to get a bit more complicated.” She chuckled.

I grunted in response. I hated the unknown of what the Bronze King would do. “We’ll take those problems on as they come. We can’t worry too much about him or we’ll paralyze ourselves with inaction. Right now, I want to deal with the other dragon. I have a feeling he’s a critical part of their plan.”

“How so?” Scarlett asked.

“He’s big, Scar. Crazy big and powerful. I can feel it. You don’t bring an indispensable weapon like that into the city unless you are going to use it.”

My words made both of us go quiet in thought for the rest of the drive until her tires finally came to a halt. Looking up, I realized we were back. I’d been so deep in my thoughts I hadn’t noticed.

“Come on. Let’s see if we can perk you back up.” Scarlett bounded out of the car and came around to my side, hooking her arm in mine as I exited and made my way into the home.

As we entered, Jadelyn was already walking up to us, opening her arms as she wrapped me in a hug.

When we separated, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen, where she’d started dinner. The oven was still going, but it smelled amazing.

“No luck?” Morgana asked, looking up from her spot on a couch, surrounded by her weapons.

“They keep moving him.”

She nodded, as if it was what she had expected. “They are professionals. After we found them once, they are going to overreact and be paranoid. We got too close.”

Giving Scarlett a kiss, I pulled her down on the couch to cuddle as we all talked. “So that means it is going to happen soon.”

“I’d bet on it.” Morgana grabbed the glass of blood on the side table and took a sip. “The question is, what did we learn today?” I laughed to myself as her voice took on her teacher's tone.

“They have a dragon, a very powerful one, enslaved.” I stated the obvious. “Are they just using it to out other dragons?”

Kelly joined the conversation, pulling an ottoman up and sitting in front of me, grabbing one of my legs and kneading my tired calves. “That might be one use, but if that were the case, it would be put back away wherever they keep it.”

“The celestial plane.” Morgana said quickly. “What you described makes me think that he’s been subjected to archangels. If he’s as strong as you say, then that’s who would have had to hold him down and enchant him like that. They’d need several for a dragon like that. I doubt there are multiple of them out of the celestial plane at one time.”

I paused, trying to think through what she’d said. “If he’s so powerful, why don’t they just use him to allow an archangel through to our world?”

“I bet they have in the past, and will continue to use him to help anchor the celestial plane.” Morgana paused before continuing.

“Think about Devin. The archangel of love had to come to our plane, consummate with the old Nashner, and bear a child in our world. I’d bet they had been using the dragon for years to allow an archangel to play in our world, which brings another question. If he’s worth enough to keep an archangel from joining this battle, what is it they have planned for him that makes them keep him here?” Morgana laid her thoughts out.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. “He’s part of their plan to kidnap Yev.” Kelly was distracting me, working magic on my legs. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Something like this is a great way to warm up a superior wolf. I learned it from watching others as a kid. But that’s not the point. What is this old dragon for?” She pulled me back on topic.

“We don’t know what color he is.” Jadelyn tried to help from the kitchen. “That would make a big difference.”

“Two things come to mind.” I said. “One, you bring a dragon this big to snatch a smaller dragon, overpower them, and pull them away. Two, you bring him as a distraction and a giant meat wall.”

“Why not both?” Scarlett said. “You send a team in and try to separate Yev from a crowd, and then you have a massive dragon to pin her and extract her.”

“Hell, if they get her alive, they could do what they did to him to her.” Kelly stated. I’d considered it before, but not with the celestial plane angle.

They could chain her up in heaven and carve her up until she was obedient, maybe even fatten her up so she could help anchor the celestial plane for another archangel to come down.

I cringed, suddenly antsy. I stood up, pacing the room.

“We can’t let that happen.” I declared. “Under no circumstances do the angels get to do anything like that to another dragon. So help me, I’ll tear every last one of them apart piece by piece if I see that happen to another.”

My stomach churned at the thought. They presented themselves as holy and pure, but there was nothing pure in their actions.

Anything that could stomach what they had done to that dragon was nothing less than a vile being that should be wiped from the face of the earth.

A hand pressed into my chest, pulling me from my anger. “Calm down.” Scarlett said, getting in my face.

I took a deep breath, but it wasn’t very deep. I tried again, gritting my teeth. “Sorry. It just makes me so angry seeing what they did to that dragon.”

“Almost happy I didn’t see it.” Jadelyn bumped the oven closed with her hip as she carried a casserole dish with two oven mitts over to the table. “But let us forget that for now. It’s time for family dinner.”

She walked the casserole over to the table, where there was already a tossed salad waiting and several bottles of wine ready for us.

I prowled into the kitchen, catching Jadelyn as soon as she put the hot dish down and grabbed her, kissing her neck. “Thank you.”

“You are very welcome. But if you don’t let me go, we’re going to have to serve it using our hands.” She batted me away with a smile.

Feeling like I needed to love on my women before the potential chaos from battle, I pulled out the chair next to mine. “Kelly, come sit here.”

When she sat, I pushed the chair in, leaning over her and kissing the side of her face. “You did wonderful today, my wolf.”

“Thank you, Alpha.” She blushed, turning to me and stealing a kiss.

Morgana sat down next to Kelly with a big smirk, immediately claiming one of the bottles on the table and placing it directly in front of her.

I pulled out the chair on my other side for Scarlett. “A special thanks today to Scarlett, who helped me dial in my instincts and track down the other dragon. Cheers.” I poured everyone a glass, and we raised it in a small toast before taking sips.

“It was a good day. Felt like we made progress instead of just waiting.” Jadelyn sat opposite of me. “That feels good.”

“Indeed. Cheers to that.” I took another sip of wine. “Now, what do we have here?”

Kelly grabbed the hot lid with her bare hands and lifted it off, only to flood the room with a lovely aroma of chicken and cheese.

“Baked cheddar stuffed chicken. It isn’t fancy, but it is very tasty.” Jadelyn explained.

It looked like the chicken breasts were soaking in some cream-based sauce. “It looks amazing.”

“I’m making muffins after, for dessert.” Scarlett said happily.

Remembering how much the little minx loved muffins, I was surprised I hadn’t been eating them every day. Then again, she had a love/hate relationship with them and what they did to her waist.

“I look forward to more of your muffins. You need to make them more often.” Then I turned to Kelly. “What is your favorite?”

“Bacon.” She blurted. “Anything bacon. The wolf in me loves it.”

Jadelyn had a slight frown on her face, looking at her dish. I knew she was thinking that she could have added bacon. I rubbed my foot along her leg, breaking her from her thoughts.

Her eyes connected with mine, and her face lit up in a small smile.

“Not just a wolf thing. Everybody loves bacon.” I said, leaning forward to spear two chicken breasts and placing them on my plate before digging in.

The dinner table quieted down as we ate, with an occasional mumbled thank you to Jadelyn as we stuffed ourselves with her food.

“I’d like to talk about what we are going to do as a family once my secret is out.” I pushed away from the table as Scarlett was starting to make muffins. “With the new dragon and everything is happening… I… I think I’m going to let myself stop hiding.” I declared.

The girls were quiet for a moment, soaking in what I had just said.

We had all known it would be a problem, but one for the vague future. I’d now put the issue of my secret getting out into the very real, very near future in a way that made us all face it.

“Well, the first thing I’m going to do is rub my dad’s face in it.” Jadelyn tried to lighten the mood. “Ah, we should let my mother in on it. She’ll want to see my father’s reaction.”

“Not sure if there will be that much control over how quickly it spreads.” I scratched the back of my head. “My plan was to hold it in until we fought with the templars. But I know some camera is going to get me shifting, and then it is just a matter of time.”

“Don’t forget the pack of furballs that know the truth. Your secret might already be out.” Morgana gave Kelly a languid stare.

Kelly was up in arms. “Hey! My pack can hold a secret. I think…”

We all knew that with two hundred wolves knowing, it was only a matter of time. But we might beat them to it.

“It doesn’t matter. I can’t hold on to this secret and protect Yev. So, I wanted to make sure you were all ready for it; it affects you too.” I looked around.

Jadelyn rolled her eyes. “I get to brag now. There aren’t any downsides for me.”

“You aren’t worried about what it’ll do for your security?” I frowned. She seemed completely okay with it. I thought the increased attention and possibly a need for more security would bother Jadelyn.

She gave me a flat stare. “Those are already huge concerns for me. At least now, everyone will know that if they fuck with me, they get a big angry dragon coming for them.” She turned to Scarlett. “Actually, can I get lighter security once it is known?”

“No.” Scarlett didn’t even look up from the mixing bowl. “But it won’t matter; your guard will be the same as always. But we may extend guards and training to him as well.”

“Yay!” Jadelyn clapped. “You can join me for evacuation drills. They are the best.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

“But a necessity.” Scarlett butted in, pointing her dough-covered spoon at Jadelyn with a frown before she went back to mixing. “At least having a dragon around should scare away plenty of people.”

Morgana cleared her throat. “Not to mention, having other mates that might have reputations.”

“I completely agree. Having the world’s first female alpha will be a great boon.” Kelly and Morgana locked eyes, and tension spiked between the two of them.

“Maybe one day.” Morgana threw back.

Holding a hand up to forestall any conflict between the two of them, I quickly put it to rest. “Both of you will add a wonderful threat to anyone who tries to touch one of my mates.”

“Or you.” Kelly added. “Someone touches any of you, and my entire pack is on the hunt.”

“With that, we can agree.” Morgana said. “I’ll be right there, with every connection I can pull, standing with you if someone touches any of our family.”

Jadelyn gestured wildly at the two of them while looking at Scarlett. “See, who is going to hassle me now?”

“People are idiots, even if they are soon to be dead idiots.” Scarlett replied, clearly not willing to budge.

Jadelyn sighed, going quiet.

I watched them all, smiling to myself. My women all supported my decision, and they were ready for what was to come. I’d need them in the coming days, and I’d do everything in my power to protect them.

AN - A little down time to see the girls interact a little more and build up for what's to come.