Dragon 3 Chapter 26 (Patreon)

“Just deliver it to this address.” Kelly eagerly showed one of Scarlett’s men Hestia’s address.

I still felt a little boneless, but I knew I’d have to rouse myself soon to go meet with the Highaen family.

They had told Jadelyn they’d be ready at ten, which apparently meant ‘be there at ten’.

“Uh… what is it?” The guard in a black suit looked at the mason jars filled with… well… dragon semen.

“Precious alchemical ingredients.” Kelly answered, avoiding telling him exactly what it was. Though they all knew I was a dragon.

He nodded, but glanced at me with a look of pure terror. I suddenly felt that new, more exaggerated rumors of dragon sexual stamina were going to circle the Scalewright home.

As our eyes met, I knew he had a good idea what was in the jars, but the quantity was clearly boggling his mind.

“Got it.” He said, shaking it off and taking the jars. He tucked them into a box before hurrying out.

“They all know.” Scarlett said as soon as he left the room. “And the crowd at the front seems to have put it together as well.”

I winced and pulled the tablet off the table. Scarlett had shown me the security cameras earlier this morning.

I cringed; seeing that the crowd had gotten even worse.

A crowd of several hundred, maybe even spanning to a thousand, was gathered outside Jadelyn’s home. Many had signs of some sort in their hands.

The guard we just sent out was in a black SUV and to have a mob of other men part the crowd just so he could get out. And even then, people threw themselves at the SUV to see if I was inside.

Picketters jostled signs of ‘Free the Dragon’ outside the house.

“You’d think you chained me up in the basement.” I said, putting the tablet down. I really didn’t want to deal with the crazies at that moment.

“How are we getting out of here?” Kelly asked, a bounce in her step and a stupid grin on her face. I knew she was excited that the cure for her pack was within reach.

“Fly.” I said simply. I figured the backyard should provide enough room for me to shift.

“Oh. I get to ride a dragon to a formal meeting?” Jadelyn grinned. “Sounds like a dream.”

Scarlett raised her hand to get my attention. “Do we have straps or seats for her?”

“Uh… no?” I hadn’t thought about a saddle, and the idea of strapping something like that to me made me want to throw a fit. “Not planning to wear a saddle, either. You all did fine last night.”

“Bareback it is.” Jadelyn nodded in agreement. “Those horns of his work pretty well.”

“There’s a little flat spot where his neck meets his shoulders that I’d recommend.” Kelly suggested. “It has a pretty good wind break, too.”

I glanced at the clock. We needed to get going, or we’d be late. “Okay, let's move; who’s holding my spatial artifact?” I got off the couch and started stripping, putting my clothes in the little bra pad.

“Morgana, you should really make him something that works a little better than this.” Jadelyn plucked the spatial artifact out of my hand once I was done with it.

“What about those manacles that the silver was wearing?” Kelly asked.

“You want me to wear manacles?” I growled, suddenly upset at the thought.

Kelly waved her hands in front of her in an attempt to stop my anger from rising further. “No, but they resized with him when he shifted.”

“What happened to them?” I realized they had disappeared while I’d been eating him.

“Blueberry took them.” Kelly whispered.

Morgana bit her lip in thought as she followed me out the back door. “It might be doable. I’d have to look at them more closely. But we might be able to make a bracelet, ring or something simple for him.”

“You figure out what’ll work, and I’ll make sure you have everything you need for it.” Jadelyn flopped the little bra pad in her hand. “It would go a long way for our beloved to not have to keep track of this thing.”

I agreed. I wanted something that stayed with me when I shifted, but was small enough to keep out of the way. That would be fantastic, and I loved my mates more for thinking of it.

“Please do that. But for now, it’s time to take the dragon express ladies.” Stepping clear of the house, I let my dragon rise within me and shifted.

Bones crackled, and I expanded rapidly, golden scales popping out of my skin. My vision began to change as well, as did my other senses.

I smiled as I looked down, enjoying my new size.

Dipping my head, I let the girls clamber on before launching myself from Jadelyn’s backyard.

In just moments, I was soaring over the crowd that had gathered around her home.

They were all shouting and looking up. Phones and professional cameras alike were snapping upwards. There was a cacophony of sounds as devices clicked to take photo after photo.

In a very real way, I felt violated. The utter lack of privacy was disconcerting. But I also acknowledged that I couldn’t go back. I could only move forward.

And as a dragon, I could move forward very quickly.

It didn’t take long before the crowd was far behind us. I soared over the city, toward the base of the tree and the Highaen estate.

As we got closer, I spotted the home and circled high above, trying to figure out the best place to land.

But I got a guide pretty quickly. A green dragon rose from the Highaen courtyard. Yev circled below me and landed back down in a large garden below.

Taking her signal, I tucked my wings, gliding down to as smooth of a landing as I could manage with my mates all piled on my back.

I thought I did pretty well, coming to a solid, but small thump when I landed.

Yev was waiting there. She’d shifted and put on a gold and green dress that had been laid over a planter. “I’ll lead you in…” She paused. “A word of warning; my mother is not in a good mood.”

Shifting back, I accepted the spatial artifact from Jadelyn and pulled out my clothes, getting dressed in jeans and a shirt.

I didn’t feel the need to dress up when I was doing them a favor.

“She has every right to be in a bad mood with her daughter gone. But I’m not about to be a punching bag for her.” I warned Yev.

The grimace on her face said she couldn’t promise anything. She turned and led us inside the Highaen estate.

As I’d expected, everything was gold and green, focusing heavily on nature in the decor. Even though quite a bit was painted gold, it didn’t seem like they’d overdone anything with real gold.

Most of it was brass or painted to look gold. My dragon senses would have told me otherwise.

Overall, besides the intense color scheme, their house was relatively simple.

“Nice home.” I commented.

“Too big, if you ask me.” Yev turned down a hallway. “But there are a lot of elves in the clan. Only about twenty percent of them live here; many live throughout the city.”

She pushed through an ornate set of double doors, and we entered a large vaulted room. It felt like someone had converted an audience chamber into an office space.

Looking around, I realized that might be exactly what had happened.

Cubicles lined the lower level of the large space.

And three steps separated them from the private offices, where I could see one very familiar and unhappy mother elf.

Her head snapped up as the doors opened and she stood, gesturing for us to follow her. Not even waiting to see if we followed, she strode into one of the side meeting rooms.

“Anything I should know before I dive into the belly of the beast?” I asked Yev.

“Nothing in particular, but I hope you have a plan for my sister.”

We all piled in after her mother, who was already seated. Her laptop was closed on the table, her arms crossed over it.

Another elven man joined us, taking the seat on her right. He was different from their father, who I’d seen before.

“This is Marco. He’s our chief of security and able to offer our more militant resources.” She said by way of explanation before once again folding her hands and staring me down, clearly wanting me to speak.

“You have a beautiful home.” I was no Jadelyn, but I tried to start with something pleasant. As Jadelyn giggled to my side, I determined that I hadn’t been very successful.

And based on the hard, stony stare from Yev’s mother, it hadn’t charmed her very well either.

Morgana cleared her throat. “We know where one of their bases is located, and it makes the most sense for them to bring her there, given some of the details we know about it. Do you have a map?”

“Yes, one second.” Marco put a tablet on the table and opened up the map. “Here, mark it on this.”

Morgana swiped on the tablet, dropping a pin in the town of Galtz. “Here. It’s a large compound masquerading as a community drive organization. Angel’s Salvation.”

He took the tablet back, looking over the general area. “That’s where they took Tyrande. Are you sure?”

“Positive.” I said. “That was where we ran an operation recently and where they had planned the attack on Sentarshaden out of. Your daughter is there.”

“Why not go after them last night if you knew where they were going?” Her mother glowered at me.

“We weren’t going to catch up to that wing of angels. I’d much rather we regroup and make a concerted push for her. This isn’t going to be some cake walk.”

There was a slow nod, and she surprised me. “Then how many dragons are you sending?”

“Um…” I was confused. As far as I was aware, I had two dragons max that were possible, myself and Yev.

“I saw the broadcast with the Bronze King. He basically handed you the authority over dragons. So, how many dragons can we expect?” The look of impatience on her face made me want to forcefully remove it.

“None.” I growled. “There are no reinforcements from the dragons.”

She slammed her hands on the table. “Then why have I been—”

“We’re done.” I interrupted her and stood. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to listen to me. She had been waiting this whole time, expecting me to come in this morning and tell her I was calling in the Bronze King and a dozen ancient dragons to get her daughter back.

And I’d just shot that down. In her eyes, I had wasted her time.

Tyrande’s mother jerked her head back like she’d been slapped. “Excuse me?” She motioned slightly towards Marco.

I had an inkling that she was ready to use force, so I reminded her. “It would be a poor decision for this to devolve further. I will take my leave, and I don’t recommend putting anything in my path. There’s no reason for me to take out your defenses that could be put to better use protecting you or going after your daughter.”

“You were hired to protect my daughters!” She sputtered, a brief flicker of panic showing on her face.

I turned, exiting without looking back.

As we strode off the premises, Jadelyn gave me a worried look. “So, it worked?”

“Perfectly.” Morgana whispered, quiet enough that the elves nearby wouldn’t hear. “They have the location. We can almost guarantee that the Highaen will send an army at them.”

“Plan 1 is in motion, then. Now, we just have to do our part.” I looked between them. “I hadn’t expected it to be so easy to have that discussion devolve.” The plan had been for me to storm out, but I hadn’t expected Yev’s mother to give me such clear attitude. I couldn’t believe she thought I’d raise a dragon army the second I heard the Bronze King’s announcement.

Kelly bounced along beside me. “Yeah, she was a queen bitch.”

Jadelyn gave her a droll expression. “Maybe wait until we aren’t in a Highaen territory to say that.”

I looked around, noting all the elves in the nearby area.

As we left, Yev caught up to us, breathing hard from running. “Zach. I’m so sorry about my mother.” She grabbed my arm. “But please help. They have my sister.”

I wanted to tell her everything would be okay. But this plan hinged on the leak in the Highaen team thinking we wouldn’t be there.

“Yev, I’m sorry. There is too much weight on my shoulders for me to go into a battle with the church right now.”

The hurt and betrayal on her face stung.

The beast thumped inside of me, demanding I comfort the female dragon.

But I was not a slave to my instincts. I was helping her with the moves I was making, I just couldn’t make that clear to her at the moment.

“I hate you.” Yev declared. “When we need you most, you run away. You aren’t worth your scales, you coward.”

Jadelyn whirled on Yev. “Take that back or you’ve crossed the Scalewrights. You have no idea what he’s doing and going through right now.”

Yev’s face remained hard. A stubborn clench of her jaw indicated the threat of upsetting the Scalewrights wouldn’t overpower her love and devotion to her sister.

I thought her loyalty was endearing, and I hoped when all was said and done, she could forgive me.

Turning, we left the way we came, but my mood was quickly going down. Upsetting Yev, lying to her mother. I didn’t like it at all. But it had to be done.

“Hear me out.” Kelly got my attention as we stepped into the garden. “Maybe we don’t help.”

I shook my head. “It’s what is right. And even if I didn’t want to help save her, the ramifications of the church stealing the tree from Sentarshaden would be catastrophic. Maybe even a problem for me and the dragons down the line.”

Turning to Morgana, I posed a question. “How many archangels could the tree help them bring through?”

“At least three.” She said, looking up at the tree as big as a mountain. “Maybe all seven.”

“If the dragons do really go to war with the church, that’s not something we can allow.” I said. “Either way, we continue. Hop on.”

I took off my clothes and handed them to Jadelyn before I shifted and flew off with my mates in tow.

This time, we didn’t head back to Jadelyn’s home. Instead, I flew us directly for the train to get us back to Lucerne.

I was aware of the eyes on us the whole way. I would normally use the clouds as cover, but I knew we wouldn’t be in the air for long. So instead, I just ignored all the shouts from below.

As we landed, I quickly shifted and moved to get on the train with my wives.

Reporters lined the outside of our train car, but it was more a nuisance than anything. My identity was out at that point. There was no reason to hide.

“How does it feel?” Jadelyn asked, and I could hear the concern in her voice.

“Heavy.” I replied, not sure what else to say.

“That’s a good way to describe it.” Jadelyn agreed. “It gets easier.”

***

“Eh.” The pilot hesitated. “I’m not sure how I feel about this.” He looked at Jadelyn. “What you’re proposing is only an emergency procedure.”

“This is an emergency.” Jadelyn stated, daring him to question her.

We were on the tarmac in Lucerne, talking to the pilot at the bottom of the steps to her private jet.

He looked back at the rest of us, his eyes rested on me with a hint of awe.

I ignored the look, pretending we didn’t both know that he knew.

“I guess. We can do it. Have you taken care of the mid-flight charter reroute?”

Scarlett nodded. “My father is taking care of it. Two hours into the flight, your charter will update in all the systems. You can then turn around and land in Vienna. And you need to be ready at any time to return immediately. Delays could be deadly.” She made eye contact, making sure he understood what she was saying.

“We’ll keep the engines warm.” The pilot promised, before sighing. “This seems overly complex. But so be it. I’m just the pilot.”

He knew something was up, but luckily, he didn’t ask too many questions. He seemed to figure not knowing was probably better for him.

“Thank you.” Jadelyn grabbed his hand. “This is very important.”

“You pay me enough. I’ll just keep flying the jet where you tell me.” He seemed to have made peace with the plan and shrugged it off. “Let’s get going.”

We all went up the gangway and piled into the plane.

“What was that about?” The copilot asked as the pilot joined him in the cockpit.

“Doesn’t matter. We have a gold dragon on board; we fly where we are told to.” He settled into his seat, and the door closed behind us as my mates and I entered the main cabin.

“This is exciting.” Jadelyn smiled, clapping her hands. “It’s all coming together.”

“I can’t believe you are agreeing for her to come with us.” I told Scarlett.

“The safest place is with the gold dragon.” Jadelyn mimed Detective Fox.

I wasn’t sure that was true in this case, but I had a feeling that line was going to get used a lot as Jadelyn tried to escape out from under the thumb of her security.

“I have to come with you all for this plan to work. Better we keep her close than have her ride this plane alone to Vienna. Without one of us, she’s at risk. And without me, you can’t do your plan and stay safe. This is what’s best for our family.” Scarlett eyed Jadelyn while Jadelyn gave her most angelic face.

The jet’s engines whirled up, and we all got to a seat for takeoff.

Jadelyn bobbed her head eagerly in agreement. “See! I get to go on the mission.”

I squinted at her, but she gave me a pleading look that melted right through my resistances. “Fine. But you stay on my back until Scarlett has her part, then you stay hidden with her.”

“Do you think the Highaen force is going to react this quickly, though?” I asked Morgana.

“Absolutely.” Morgana was quick to answer, holding up her phone. She had texts from Hestia, who had kept watch on the city. Highaen was moving out in force. Semi trucks full of troops had clogged the road less than five minutes after we left.

“They really are going to war.” Kelly said, looking at the texts.

“If it puts their tree at risk, then they have a damn good reason.” Scarlett replied. “If the celestial plane gets ahold of Sentarshaden, the Highaen clan will be lost, along with millions of paranormals. And it has meaning beyond just the city. This was a stronghold against the celestial forces. Watching it fall could seriously demoralize any resistance. This isn’t just a fight for a rich daughter, this is a fight for millions of lives and potentially the spark that starts another war.”

The plane climbed high into the sky, circling as it gained more altitude before cruising.

“By the way, when we aren’t flying into battle, I’d like to join the mile high club.” Kelly said with a smile. “Blueberry can join too.”

Morgana was texting with Hestia, but paused to look up and roll her eyes. “Do not call me that, Furball.”

I jumped in. “I think that will have to wait for later.” Best that the two of them don’t start going at it. I gave Kelly a look that told her she needed to focus.

“Let’s go over the plan one more time.” As the plane settled in at the higher altitude, I unbuckled my seat belt and pulled out our resources, once again talking through the details of the plan.

AN- Doing something different than normal. When it comes to final battles there is a saying among writers. 'The chances of the character's plan working is inversely proportional to how much of the plan the reader knows.'

Normally, I let you know the plan and then have it fall to pieces. This time you don't get to know the plan and *gasp* it might actually work... for the most part.