Chapter 13

Bailey

With Freya flying me and Rayna riding her horse, we managed to get to the Sooner Mall in less than half an hour. We might have reached it faster, but we had to stop at the interstate where the Taugud territory ended. Rayna left her horse in a safe place, and Freya shifted to human form before we walked across the bridge into Thamaran-Kandoran territory.

The mall sat directly beyond that. Except for one former department store, the rest of the place was only one level. It was a smaller complex designed to serve the local area.

We suspected the attackers were waiting for the supply drop-off to detonate the bombs. They had to be stationed nearby—perhaps across the street in one of the neighborhood houses—and watching closely. If we behaved normally, I didn’t think they’d react to the arrival of three females. We couldn’t risk letting them know we were on to them yet.

Walking toward the mall, we encountered two of the four guards protecting the entrances—a man and a woman, both in cargo pants and black T-shirts with pistols strapped to their legs.They blocked our path.

“Bailey,” the woman said, nodding at me. “We weren’t expecting you…or your friends.”

I’d only met the guards as part of a tour of the storage facilities a few weeks ago with Aidan, but most people in town recognized me from my slayer activities and being mated to the local pendragon. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember either of their names.

“We’ve got a problem,” I replied, keeping my facial expression neutral in case anyone watched nearby.

The woman frowned. “What’s that?”

I couldn’t blame their caution, considering the strategic importance of the place.

Freya leaned closer to me. “We need to check them before we say anything else.”

I agreed.

“Safety first,” I ordered and lifted my top to expose my stomach.

Honestly, I sometimes considered asking Aidan to make me a camrium sports bra so I wouldn’t have to flash people anymore. It didn’t matter that slayers couldn’t get infected. There was always a chance that information was wrong or had changed. Also, it would leave the most vulnerable part of me exposed to bullets and blades.

Everyone else followed suit until we were sure no one was infected.

After she tucked her shirt back in place, she gestured at me. “Now, what’s the problem?”

“Please stay calm and do not react because we can’t risk tipping anyone off.” I waited for the guards to nod. “We have credible intelligence that bombs have been planted and will be set off this evening.”

Both guards stiffened, but they relaxed a fraction after I gave them a warning look.

Freya whispered in an urgent tone. “We must begin searching immediately.”

“We don’t have much time,” I explained more gently.

“Go ahead,” the male guard answered this time. “But we have to stay here until we’re relieved of duty.”

Of course, that was their priority until they received other orders.

“I prefer you did. We’ll let you know if we find anything or if it’s time to run.”

They nodded, appearing less than pleased at the news.

I turned my attention to Rayna. “Can you check the guards at the other entrance and, if they’re good, begin searching that side of the mall? Freya and I will start here. Let us know if you find anything.”

“No problem,” the other slayer said, quickly moving down the dim corridor.

The shops had been raided of anything valuable years ago, and most had been left in a state of disrepair. There wasn’t electricity to power anything on this side of the border yet, but we’d brought flashlights to assist us. Freya and I began our sweep with the nearest stores, each taking opposite ends. She had a great nose, but until she knew the specific scent, she couldn’t single a bomb out from anything else. This place didn’t have that new product smell anymore that I missed.

Instead, the still air was filled with a mixture of death, decay, urine, and numerous other odors I didn’t want to think about.The mall had been a dangerous place to visit in those early months after the dragons arrived.

We found several storage areas for the war with food and weapons supplies. None of those contained materials for fertilizer bombs. Clearing each space as fast as possible, we reached the central part of the mall where the different corridors intersected. Rayna was a couple of shops down from finishing her side. I was about to suggest going over to help her when Freya stiffened.

“There is a suspicious scent coming from over there,” she said, pointing at a store I knew used to sell lotions, body washes, and candles.

It had been boarded up after all the exterior windows were broken out soon after dragons arrived. For a while, a group of teenagers had chosen to use it as their hideout before it became too dangerous due to roving gangs claiming the whole place. Would the fragrance of the merchandise continue to linger after all this time, triggering her, or was it something else?

“Good or bad smell?” I asked.

“Bad—very bad.”

Hopefully, eucalyptus wasn’t a trigger for dragons. I still had so much to learn.

I nodded. “Let’s check it out.”

We pried open the main door that hung off-center, scraping it across the tile. It was inky black inside. I pointed my flashlight and ran the beam across the room, spotting stacks of crates that shouldn’t have been there. This place wasn’t designated to store supplies because it didn’t have easy access to our chosen loading points, and the space wasn’t ample enough to use.

I wrinkled my nose as I took a step into the room. “You’re right. The scent is terrible.”

We worked our way through the room, and Rayna joined us. I began examining the crates while Freya sniffed at various ones. Caution kept me from opening them, but the shifter commented that they had strange chemical scents within them. The other slayer walked toward the old sales counter and moved behind it.

“Over here,” she said.

We joined her and found a large metal box on the floor. It was about two feet by two feet with wires coming out. Under the counter, we spotted stacks of C4 where the wires were attached. The plan came together in my head that the initial explosion would trigger the other elements in the crates. While it would be destructive, it probably wouldn’t finish the entire mall since it sprawled out too far, and we didn’t keep all our supplies in one place for that reason.

I shook my head. “This isn’t the only one.”

“Should we keep searching or destroy this one now?” she asked, then pulled a watch from her pocket to glance at it. “We have just over an hour.”

My mind raced. “They might notice if they lose signal on this one, which could make them activate any others prematurely. This isn’t exactly our area of expertise.”

“You mean they didn’t teach bomb disposal at Dragon Slayer School?” Rayna teased.

“Oddly, no.”

Pretty much all I knew about explosives was from movies I’d watched long ago, and those weren’t exceptionally reliable. It was best not to take any chances.

Freya’s brows knitted. “I know the scent now, and I can find any others much faster.”

“The trouble is that we’re gonna need you to burn this box with one burst of flame and nothing else in the room.” Without the triggering device, everything else could wait for someone who knew what they were doing. I knew from watching dragons disintegrate missiles that their fire destroyed objects fast without resulting in explosions. “If there are more, you can’t be in the other places simultaneously, and we could give away what we’re doing.”

She nodded. “I will call for assistance from the nearest Taugud guards.”

“They’ll need to shift and appear human. Tell them to act casually as they approach,” I warned.

It was risky calling for reinforcements, but I didn’t see a way around it.

We left Rayna to keep an eye on the store while we let the human security guards know there would be a couple more arrivals soon. They stood right inside the entrance doors, appearing anxious.

We’d barely finished giving them an update when we spotted two males walking across the parking lot. They strolled casually while talking and laughing as if they didn’t have a care in the world. I noted they kept their heads down enough no one could spot their yellow eyes from a distance.

“That’s more casual than I expected from shifters,” I said, thinking I usually didn’t see that sort of behavior aside from when they’d been consuming alcoholic beverages. Their kind tended to behave stiffly in public. For that matter, most people could spot a shifter by their bearing and stride alone.

“Those two are best friends. They interact with humans often and have learned to adapt,” Freya explained.

I cocked my head. “Is that why you were quick to ask them for help?”

“Yes. Eliam and Titan are also Ruari's and my friends. We like them and often have them over for food and drink. They are the best shifters to invite if you wish to have an amusing evening with none of the judging others might do.”

“But are they intelligent and good fighters?” I asked. It’s great they could blend in well, yet I had to trust them to help with explosives. Humor would only get them so far.

She narrowed her eyes at me as if I’d insulted her. “There is a reason they are stationed at this important border section. Few in the Taugud could claim to be better than them, and they are very trustworthy.”

“Okay, got it.”

I still had so much to learn about Aidan’s clan. Guilt filled me that I didn’t know the approaching shifters, though their faces looked familiar as they moved closer. I wished I had more time to familiarize myself with everyone, but I had little time between my slayer duties and war prep. That would change if we survived the Kandoran invasion.

The two heavily muscled males approached, almost shoulder to shoulder. Freya kindly explained who was who as they continued to behave jovially. Titan had short black hair, and Eliam had medium-length brown hair. They were almost the same height, with the latter being maybe an inch shorter.

Both wore dark camrium clothing with sleeveless tops. Our human guards kept their backs against the wall to provide the men plenty of room to pass through the entrance. We exchanged greetings and explained the situation.

“Think you two can help us?”

They both grinned, and Eliam wagged a finger at me. “If you took the time to get to know us, you wouldn’t have to ask.”

“I promise when things aren’t so crazy, I’ll definitely do that.”

He nodded. “Good.”

We returned to the bomb location so the males could learn the scent. After that, Titan paired with Rayna, Eliam stayed with me, and Freya went on her own to search the rest of the mall. We double-checked our sector just to be sure there weren’t any more explosives nearby, but it didn’t take long. It wasn’t a large mall.

An agonizing ten more minutes passed before Rayna relayed that Freya had discovered another bomb inside a trampoline park, hiding within one of the large block pits. It had all the same components as the first one we’d found.

Since the place was attached to the mall but only had an outside entrance, we didn’t use it for war storage. Like most entry points, the exterior had been completely sealed for security purposes. It was only because she found a flimsily covered hole in the wall from a connecting store that she even checked it out.

Five more minutes passed before Eliam’s brows drew together. “Your slayer friend has just informed me that she and Titan found the third bomb. It was in the last place they had left to search, and he believes it is a clothing store with the name Penny in it.”

“Oh, you mean JCPenney.”

“Yes.” He nodded. “Interesting name.”

“Is the bomb designed the same as the other ones?” I asked.

Somehow, Rayna could communicate with shifters, whether in dragon or human form, both ways. At least that gave us a way to synchronize.

Eliam gazed at the ground for a minute as he silently communicated with the slayer. “Yes, she says it’s the same.”

“Alright, we need to destroy the boxes with the wires, but your flames can’t touch anything else. Once you convey that, have Rayna start a countdown, so we can destroy all three simultaneously.”

He grinned. “No problem.”

The male shifter hovered over the box, knitting his brow in concentration. I had to assume the countdown had begun. After inhaling deeply, he blew his flames. They came out at the right size and trajectory to destroy the device. It was there one moment and gone a second later. Only a slight scorch mark on the floor gave away that it ever existed.

“Now we have to figure out how they snuck all this stuff in here and find the rest of the group,” I said.

Eliam appeared thoughtful. “I like humans, but these have gone too far. When you find them, I have no problem incinerating them if you wish.”

I laughed. “We’ll see.”

Returning my attention to the remaining bomb-making materials, I mulled them over. “I think I have some ideas for this stuff, but I’ll have to run it by a few people first. In the meantime, we’ll need more security on the mall until we can relocate everything to one of our alternative storage points.”

If the human group infected with dark magic knew about our supply point, we had to assume the Kandoran did as well. Our leadership needed to have everything moved and done in a manner the spies wouldn’t notice. That part wouldn’t be up to me, but tracking down and dismantling the rebel group would be. It’d help prevent our activities from getting noticed in the first place.

“That’s a good plan,” Eliam said, nodding. “We will contact our toriq and get more guards here, but if you need us, we’re happy to help. You and your friend are not so bad for slayers.”

“Uh, thanks?”

He grinned. “It means I’m glad you’re on our side.”

“Me, too. Think you can track the trigger guys?” I asked.

He was silent for a moment before shaking his head. “Their scent is masked with all this…” Eliam wrinkled his nose. “…fertilizer, but we can check the area to see if anyone is lurking.”

“We gotta try,” I said, sighing.

We hurried outside and spent the next hour searching. Eventually, we found a house with recent human scents and trigger devices. The rebels were nowhere nearby, but at least the shifters could identify them now if we crossed their path again.