Dragon 4 Chapter 28 (Patreon)

I circled the barge warily as it drifted out in the ocean, trying to figure out a backup plan.

It was on my fifth pass they realized something was wrong and Polydora jumped into the air, gracefully shifting and taking flight. She barely even scraped the surface of the water before she’d gained control of her dragon form.

"My king, what is wrong? You aren't even protected by an illusion right now."

"I can't land on that, at least not gracefully." Staring down at the barge, I felt embarrassed. "My shifting isn't nearly as refined as the rest of yours." There was about a ninty percent chance I’d sink it if I tried.

"Then might I suggest you dive into the ocean?" Polydora gave me the obvious solution.

I wasn't afraid of water or swimming, but suddenly the idea of jumping into the middle of the ocean seemed terrifying.

"Okay. Yeah, I can do that." While I said the words, I didn’t quite believe them. I knew how to swim, but Frank just loved shark movies. I’d seen too many of them to find swimming in the ocean safe, even if I am a dragon.

It's just water, I told myself.

After taking a few breaths, I angled my wings down and dove below the cresting blue waves.

My dragon form hit the water, and I realized pretty quickly that I had not considered my new mass and different limbs before deciding I’d be able to swim.

I plunged beneath the surface, my large body quickly dragging me down.

My first instincts were to fly underwater, but the dynamics were different, and I sank deeper when I tried to raise my wings.

My claws raked the water, but they failed to find purchase. They were for ripping things apart, not catching water.

A fish swam past me, followed by an entire school of fish.

Another one caught my eye, bigger than the rest. It took me a moment to place it. It was a shark.

I tilted my head, studying it. It was tiny compared to my dragon form. I reached forward, swiping at the shark with my claw.

The poor thing wasn't expecting something to put up a fight. My claw caught its gills and tore them right off its flank.

I had a smug smile on my face as I continued to sink. It turns out I wasn’t afraid of sharks. This one was bleeding terribly and slowing down close to me, probably at the end of its life.

And, I had fantastic lung capacity. I didn't even feel strained as the surface drifted... further... away.

My anxiety went up a notch as I realized how much deeper I was getting.

I peered through the dark ocean, and in every direction, the water eventually obscured my vision. It was suddenly very intimidating.

The ocean was vast in a way that was unnerving. Figures flitted just out of my vision, and I watched as the head of another shark came into view, swimming quickly towards the trail of red blood.

Then another appeared, and another.

The blood had drawn them to a feeding frenzy.

I considered shifting into my human form and making a go for the surface, but I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of swimming through all those sharks.

Just when I was about to resign myself to shifting and risking it, a torpedo shot through the water.

Tensing up, I prepared for battle, but then a beautiful face became clearer in the churn of water.

"Husband, what are you doing?" Jadelyn cocked her head like a confused kitten.

"I don't know how to swim, as a dragon." I felt dumb saying it.

Jadelyn at least held back her laugh, though the smile danced on her lips. "Don't fret, husband. I have you. Shift and I'll bring us both to the surface."

A shark swam for Jadelyn. I was about to grab her and put her behind me when she whirled in the water. The scientist in me could not figure out the physics behind the way her body moved through the water without the slightest resistance.

She shot forward, punching the shark in the nose.

It squirmed, thrashed, and then swam away as fast as it could.

"Humph. Stupid shark." Jadelyn crossed her arms.

Okay, I was suitably impressed. "That works?" I asked, still in my dragon form.

"Yes, it does. I prefer not to hurt them unless I have to. I'm a siren in water; not much is going to tangle with me. Now, you need to shift so I can carry us to the surface. We can worry about dragon swimming lessons later." She tapped her lips. "I wonder if they make floaties for dragons." Her eyes sparkled with laughter.

I rolled my eyes. "Not funny." My bones crackled, and I shifted back into a naked human.

"Sort of funny, but maybe not the time for it." Jadelyn came up to me and kissed me, breathing air into my lungs. "This reminds me of our wedding." She started to get handsy, clearly in the mood.

As much as I loved sex, the sharks circling around us really killed the mood for me. "Let's get back to the boat."

Jadelyn pouted and glared at a shark, which decided to swiftly change directions. "Fine." She hooked her arm under mine.

Suddenly I was shooting through the water with her guidance.

We hit the surface fast enough to shoot out of the water and arc onto the barge.

Jadelyn landed smoothly; I stumbled and coughed. Never before had I been so happy to have solid metal under my feet.

"My king?" Trina knelt next to me. "Are you injured?"

"Only my ego." I grumbled and stood up, using my bracer to put on a pair of jeans. I had to do a few extra wiggles to get my wet body into them, but soon I was covered.

"Your ego?" Trina frowned.

Jadelyn accepted a towel from Scarlett, wrapping herself in it. She seemed extra happy with herself at the moment. "He has never swam before as a dragon."

All the honor guard suddenly had large 'O' mouths in understanding.

"I see. Many of our parents take us out to deserted islands to learn to swim." Polydora explained. "You haven't had that pleasure. We will have to do that with you at some point. Even though we are just your honor guard, it is our duty to help you in all aspects. It may prove to be a vital skill."

"Apparently, all I need is a siren." I laughed, feeling better now that I was out of the water and not presented with the seemingly endless depths. "You should have seen Jadelyn; she punched a shark in the nose."

Jadelyn cocked a brow at me. "What caused all that blood?"

I looked anywhere but at her eyes. "I batted a shark when I first hit the water."

She made an understanding and clearly judging hum. "Interesting. Well, the crew of sirens is swimming out. They will be here in a few minutes. Let's all get clothed and presentable. You wouldn't want to show your bodies off to other men in front of your king." Jadelyn reminded my honor guard.

When she said that, they all snapped to attention, grabbing clothes from one of the shipping crates.

I dried off and got a shirt on before the first sirens pulled themselves over the side of the barge. They were a crew of fifteen. They got to work quickly, getting the barge running and pushing through the waves towards the Dubai shores.

"Did a big bad dragon king have fun in the water?" Morgana came over to tease me.

"Funny. Let's make you several thousand pounds and drop you in the ocean to see how you swim."

I was feeling better and better about living in landlocked Philly.

Morgana held up her hands in surrender, realizing it was a sensitive topic. "So, we are heading back home. Are you going to keep working with me?"

I blinked. "Of course. What else would I do?"

"Well, you have all the gold from Tiamat's study, so you certainly don’t need the money. And I know you have other responsibilities."

I didn’t think I’d ever seen Morgana insecure. Part of me wanted to milk it, but seeing how vulnerable she looked, I couldn’t do that to her.

"Morgana, what makes you think I work with you for the gold? Well, don’t get me wrong, I still want more gold. But I do it because of the adventure. You’re a badass and I love you. Besides, if I don’t go, you are definitely going to get yourself into trouble.”

She chortled at that. “I’ve lived a long time, and trouble definitely seems to come with you. So I’m not sure about that logic.”

I scoffed. "Well, you’re stuck with me. So don’t even think about leaving me behind."

"Never." Morgana gave me a genuine smile.

I knew my status was changing, but I knew I wouldn’t be happy doing administrative work. I was happy to lead, but I also wanted to be in the action. And the action was best, with Morgana by my side.

For now, finding paranormals causing trouble in Philly as the Silverwing mercenary group sounded great.

We stood there quietly as the barge plowed through the waves. It didn’t take long before land became visible on the horizon.

Talking about investigating crimes again had me excited. I was ready for some lower-level problems I could solve more easily, or at least things that didn’t involve the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

Looking out over the water, I noticed red flashing lights cresting the waves as several boats seemed to converge on our barge.

"Jadelyn, what is that?" I called out, hoping that she knew the most about boats on the ocean.

"Cruisers. Looks like law enforcement." She shielded her eyes from the sun. "Don't worry, we can handle this."

Her confidence was inspiring, but I didn’t like the idea of law enforcement coming and disturbing us. Not to mention, I was certainly not in the mood for this. After Ikta escaping, I was itching for a win.

Scarlett turned to the cabin where the sirens were running the boat. "Slow down for them. We'll play nice."

"Do we ever not play nice?" I asked, hope rising in my voice. Thrashing them would be much easier.

"Sometimes." Scarlett shrugged. "I don't like this, though. This barge is going to cause questions."

"What do you mean?"

Jadelyn frowned. "How do you think we document shipping goods to a hidden dragon island?"

I paused, feeling like it was a trick question. "You don't?"

"We say we gave the goods to some place that makes sense, but never show up there. Then we come back to port, declaring there was a problem with the load and we lost some of it. As big as we are, we can normally get away with it on small scales." Jadelyn sighed, looking at the oncoming boats. "Which means we are technically in the wrong, but it is a risk we have when shipping to paranormal channels. Luckily, we do have lawyers to help."

The boats were getting close enough that I could make out what looked like standard uniforms on most of the people. They looked like they were local to Dubai, but there were also two people in suits. They seemed out of place, and that put me on edge.

The barge's engines cut off, and it slowed to a coast as the three cruisers pulled up alongside the barge. They started throwing ropes around the large cleats on the side of the barge.

Jadelyn strutted forward, full of confidence. "Excuse me, what's this about?"

"Jadelyn Scalewright." The man in a suit said as he stepped up to the edge of the boat and took off his sunglasses. "The princess herself. Isn't today my lucky day?" His smile was anything but friendly.

The woman in the suit looked uncomfortable, but she stayed with her partner. Apparently, he got to run point.

"I'm sorry, that didn't answer her question." I stepped up next to Jadelyn.

"Zach Pendragon, the gold king, king of dragons." The man laughed, like the names were a joke. "Your sudden entrance into this enterprise baffles me, but the ridiculous names surrounding you are interesting."

I blinked. The man before me was very much human. "Excuse me?"

Ignoring me, he laughed and pulled himself over onto the barge. "You are all criminals. We are so close to nailing your criminal empire." He stared at me like a man on a mission before his vision shifted to the others on the boat. "Scarlett Fox, of course you'd be here too. Ever the vigilant guard for the princess."

"Give me your warrant or get off our boat." Scarlett crossed her arms and interposed herself between the man and Jadelyn.

The man reached into his suit and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "You never showed up at your destination, yet you look a few crates lighter. We have a warrant to search your vessel."

Scarlett ripped the letter out of the man's hand and cursed. "Interpol." She said to Jadelyn.

"This is too perfect. We can catch the princess and her guard all in one. What were you shipping? Human trafficking? Drugs? There's always the occasional fishy shipping with you." He wagged a finger at Jadelyn. He seemed so sure he had caught her red-handed. But unless missing a large amount of meat was illegal, I didn’t see anything wrong here.

The Interpol agent clearly thought he had caught his white whale.

Unfortunately, I knew there were no drugs or human trafficking, but that didn’t seem to matter to him.

"Look, continue your witch hunt another day." I held out my hands. "There's nothing here for you."

The man snorted and waved his hands.

More men poured over the side of the other three boats, along with the female agent.

"Agent Watsin, this is Agent Till." The man said, hooking a thumb at the woman, who was carefully looking around at the crates but pointedly not touching. "Anything you want to tell us before we start cracking crates?"

"I have nothing further to say until I have my lawyer present." Jadelyn crossed her arms.

Agent Till pointed to a damaged crate. It had a large gouge in the metal. "What did that?"

"A dragon." I joked.

Neither of them were amused. Watsin snorted at me. "Fuck you. That damage violates article 1918, Section 85. That crate should have been taken out of operation."

Jadelyn rolled her eyes. "It was damaged on this trip. It will be replaced when we get to port. That is completely acceptable."

"The princess speaks! So, what am I going to find in these crates?" Watsin had a cocky grin plastered to his face.

I couldn’t wait for that smirk to be removed. I desperately wanted to be the one to do it, but for now, I knew I had to play nice.

"Electronics, furniture and food." Jadelyn answered swiftly. "If you leave my refrigerated crates open long, I'm going to sue you for damages."

He smiled like he'd gotten a golden kernel out of her. "Tear apart everything in the refrigerated crates. We'll find it soon."

His men fanned out, tearing into crates and heading deeper into the storage holds of the barge.

The sirens moved aside, allowing them to pass, but based on the way they were eyeing the men and the open waters around, they had some thoughts of their own about how to deal with this threat.

Watsin turned back to Jadelyn. "A lot of these are emtpy. You offloaded your goods outside of any designated port. That's smuggling."

"Lawyer." Jadelyn shrugged, staring him down.

Watsin grumbled, murmuring into a walky talky. “Report.”

“Nothing here sir.” Came back over the line, followed by a few more reports lacking anything incriminating.

I could see the frustration growing on Watsin’s face.

He walked over to a few crates, opening them on his own, finding one filled with champagne and wine.

He opened a bottle, sniffed it before pouring it out and moving to the next one.

“That’s a waste of a perfectly good vintage. I’ll send you the bill.” Jadelyn commented dryly.

Watsin ignored her, his head whipping about on the boat as he tried to find something incriminating.

Continued reports lacking anything substantial sounded out through the walky talky.

I crossed my arms, struggling to keep a smirk off my face.

Finishing with another crate, Watsin strode over to Jadelyn.

“I’ve still got you on charges of smuggling. I don’t know what you dumped or where, but I’m going to find out. When I take you, maybe you’ll get lost, like your cargo, somewhere nice and dark.” He threatened her, and I was getting itchy.

No one threatens my mates. A low growl built in my throat.

“Lawyer.” Jadelyn replied once again in a bored tone.

"Now, listen here, you little bitch." Watsin charged at her, trying to threaten her. And I lost my ability to stay cool. I grabbed Watsin by the shoulder and threw him away from Jadelyn.

"Zach." she hissed, grabbing my arm before I could do more.

“Hands up.” Till called out, her gun in her hand, and pointed at me.

"No." I growled. "Get the fuck off my boat."

"Your boat?" Watsin frowned.

"My boat." I repeated. "Jadelyn is mine. The boat is mine, and this ocean would be mine if I wanted it. You’ve clearly found nothing to back your warrant, and you’ve led to destruction of property. Take your men and leave my boat. You have two minutes."

Watsin grinned like a kid on his birthday. "Something is here; you are going down."

Agent Till grabbed his jacket and hauled him back, gun still pointed at me as she hissed at Watsin. "You’ve got nothing. And he really might kill you. Those are a killer’s eyes."

"But--"

Till seemed to overrule him. "Just shut up."

I growled and stepped forward, shifting my skin to scales under my clothes.

"Stay back or I'll shoot." She held her gun steady.

"You are the one in charge between the two of you." It was more of a statement than a question. "Then I'll give you a piece of advice. Things aren't always what they seem. If you dare to go after Jadelyn or anything that is mine, then I will rip your entire department up by the roots. Everyone in your office will die in the fire, and I will come visit you personally when everyone else is dead. I’ll remind you of this moment and the horrible mistake you made of touching what is mine."

I lost it. They had pushed me too far.

Her gun went off three times. All three hit me in a tight cluster in the chest. She wasn’t too bad of a shot, even if I was rather close.

The gold scales under my shirt blocked all three, but I shifted my scales away as the holes in my shirt showed off more of my chest.

I brushed off the bullets. They pinged against the barge like three loud peals of bells. The rest of the barge had fallen into sheer silence.

In that moment, before anyone else reacted, I stepped forward, ripping the gun out of her hand.

Agent Watsin tried to get his gun up, but I grabbed his arm and snapped it like a twig. I took the gun away from him as he howled in pain.

"Stupid." I scoffed.

"You assaulted a federal agent." Watsin screamed as he clutched his arm.

I turned to my honor guard, who looked ready to attack. "Remove everyone from the barge; we are leaving. If they intend to inflict harm, I care far more about you than any officers. We can kill everyone here and walk away easier than we can replace one of you."

“Scarlett, this time we are done playing nice.” I growled.

My kitsune only saluted me and hurried off to deal with the officers on the boat.

Agent Till's face was one part confusion, the other half disbelief. But she was the more reasonable one between the two of them.

"You don't understand, and you aren't meant to." I pretended like I was pulling from my pocket, but I pulled from my bracer. I handed her a business card for Morgana's business. "The Silverwing Mercenary group."

"What?" She blinked, looking down at the holes in my shirt. "I shot you."

"I tossed Watsin around a little. Let's call this one even and move on. You don't know what's happening, and that's perfectly okay. Just know there is nothing happening here that is unjust. There might be technical crime, but we aren't giving guns or drugs to warlords. We aren't secretly human trafficking. Things got to people who needed them but were unable to go through normal channels."

Till took the card and flipped it over. It just had Morgana's logo and my number on the back. "This you?"

"Yup. If things ever really don't make sense, or things spiral to a point that you do not know who to call, you can call me. But I only take gold as payment." I gave her a draconic grin.

She held up the card. "So, you just want me to believe that you can solve anything I would bring to you?"

I shrugged. "There is very little that can stop me if I want to go somewhere. I try to solve things peacefully or with as little damage as I can, though. You’d be surprised at the level of incidents I’ve solved.” I towered over her.

Till flipped the car several times in her fingers and looked at Watsin. "What do I do with him?" It seemed she was coming around, but she was still frowning at me. "You manhandled him and broke his arm."

"Get a new partner." I suggested. "He's going to get himself and whoever is his partner killed. Leave the Scalewrights alone. And if you need help..." I tapped the card in her hands. "You know my number."

"You don't even know anything about me. Why give this to me?"

"I have an eye for things. You have a level head. I think we could work together."

Till frowned. "I never said what agency I was with."

Interpol was a cooperative rather than an agency. She could be from any of dozens of three letter organizations across the globe.

"Doesn't matter. Now, your people are leaving my barge quietly. I suggest you get going and keep Watsin from tripping again, or breaking his other arm on the way to fill out your reports." I said, crossing my arms and waiting.

Till pocketed my card and turned to Watsin. "Come on. I'll tell you what to put in your report and then I'm going to ask for a transfer. Murders are easier."

"But he fucking broke my arm." Watsin pointed at me with his good hand.

"I think you got off easy." Till murmured as two of the men in Dubai uniforms helped Watsin back onto their boat and they headed off.

Scarlett scowled at me. "What the fuck was that?"

"A warning to them and their agency." I growled. "No one touches what is mine. But hey, maybe I can start getting my own network started rather than relying on everyone else."

"You are playing a dangerous game." Scarlett warned.

"I know, but Ikta wants to restore paranormals to new levels. Technology is making it harder and harder to hide. We are headed for a large shift in the era of the world." I turned to look at Scarlett. "I need to take some risks if I'm to get ahead of all of this, rather than just reacting every time I'm attacked and everyone is put at risk. I really just want some simple detective work, but I don’t think that’s going to happen."

She rolled her eyes before giving me a kiss on the cheek. Then she went to inspect the barge and make sure we didn’t have any stowaways.

I looked out over the water as we moved closer to land, letting out a few deep breaths. Things were changing. Tides were shifting, and I could feel that we were headed towards a precipice of something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it seemed like it was about time I worked on preparing for it.