Chapter Five

Chapter Five

“They’ll reach the borders by noon tomorrow if they keep on this same course.”

Jazdon studied the map Vargla had spread out on the thick oak table of the king’s meeting room. The breeze blew in from the ocean but was mitigated by the steel blinds fashioned to keep the savage wind and sea at bay but allowed the light. Standing at the head of the table was his father, wearing clothes similar to his own black pants and white shirt. Only draped around Reykur’s shoulders was the Robe of the Ancients, with gold and silver stitched through the pure white silk.

One of Vargla’s fingers planted firmly on the map with a thunk, bringing his attention back to it.

“That’s the cliffs a mile from the castle,” Vargla added.

“Unless they veer off course,” Jazdon murmured.

“There’s always a chance, but I doubt it,” Vargla responded.

“I want them stopped before they even get close,” the king clipped the words out in a dark guttural voice.

It had taken months for the truce to break, but it appeared the Greenland Parsmitt were on their way to doing just that.

“We’ve been at odds with the Parsmitt since the beginning of time, why attack us now?” Vargla said.

Jazdon had to wonder the same thing. There were three dragon clans—the Parsmitt, the Greengile and of course, their own Isatolia. Both Parsmitt and Isatolia got along well with the Greengile, or the breeder clan, but they hated each other by long-standing tradition. So long they’d mostly forgotten why or how it all started. Still things had been calm enough lately. Why after all this time had they chosen this day of all days to attack?

“It could just be a raid or an attempt to make us nervous. Otherwise, I have no idea. The only difference between this day and all the previous is the appearance of Finn,” Jazdon growled.

“May I?” Meridous spoke up from where she sat.

“Of course,” the king said.

“Finn could be the answer to our prayers,” she said.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jazdon frowned and then swallowed his next words when his father held up his hand.

“Let her finish,” the king said.

Meridous flashed him a worried look but swallowed and continued. “Our numbers have been dwindling with only a handful of live births over the past decade, and I have a theory that the reason is the lack of new blood.”

“What about Merlon? He brought new blood,” the king replied.

“True, but Merlon joined us over a century ago and he hasn’t procreated with any Greengile,” Meridous murmured. “I believe that Finn may be the answer.”

“That’s preposterous!” Jazdon cut in and wouldn’t be stopped no matter how high his father raised his hand. “There’s no signs of inbreeding with the Greengile nor with us.”

“I know that, but without the introduction of new seed into our bloodline, our numbers have continued to decline.” Her chin tipped up in the face of his disbelief. “I believe that the human may be the key to that.” Her finger lifted and pointed to the map. “And I believe that the Parsmitt may be of the same mind.”

A blip on the screens drew their attention. “Look, they’re veering off before they reach our territory,” King Reykur said. “What’s going on? Why are they doing this now?”

“I think they may be reacting to the fact we have the human here,” Meridous answered.

“If that’s true, we need to find out how the fuck they even know Finn is even here!” Jazdon frowned, gnashing his teeth.

“That’s a question that needs further examination,” the king said and with a sigh he resumed his seat at the head of his table, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“You think that maybe the Greengile let it slip?” Vargla said.

“They could have telepathed to their kin, but the Greengile who reside with the Parsmitt clan would have had to have been closer to us to do it,” Jazdon said.

“You think the Parsmitt sent a Greengile sentry to spy on us?” Vargla said.

“Maybe?” Jazdon waved his hand at the blipping screen. “The Greengile would have only needed to get close enough to read each other’s thoughts. But I don’t know if I even see that happening and us not knowing about it. Most of the Greengile are timid as hell.” And while he and his clan would fuck up a Parsmitt, they would never attack a Greengile dragon so it could be entirely possible that Vargla was onto something.

“What about this Finn? Could he be here for another reason?” Meridous asked.

He wanted to snap at her. It wasn’t Finn.

Was it?

Shit.

He had no idea if Finn was sent here under false pretenses. Had the foxes been a fluke and Finn had really been trying to infiltrate their realm?

“Keep a close eye on the situation,” King Reykur said, breaking into his thoughts. “And if they try this again, send out some men to show them how big a mistake it is to try and intimidate us. Meet any act of aggression with an even stronger show of our own. Make sure they know who they’re dealing with.”

Jazdon gazed at the monitor, he couldn’t picture Finn being deceitful.

No matter though, evil or good, he would get to the bottom of why the beautiful man was here.

***

Walking out of the meeting room, Jazdon headed toward the training area.

Shoving open the door, the sound of raised voices caught his attention, but it was the sight of one of his men punching Finn that almost had Jazdon shifting.

His dragon flew into a rage, and he roared. Flat out fucking roared while still in human form and it sent his men scrambling.  In a blur, he crossed the room with ungodly speed and grabbed the perpetrator by the back of the neck. With one arm, he tossed the fucker across the room. A loud crack sounded when the shifter hit the wall.

Jazdon didn’t bother looking to see what damage his toss may have caused, but instead he scooped Finn’s crumpled body up and against his chest.

“What the fuck is going on?” He growled, tightening his arms around Finn.

One of his lieutenants stepped forward and locked her eyes with his before quickly lowering them in the face of his rage.

“I’m sorry, my liege,” she murmured. “We had no idea who he was, and he attacked us first.”

“He’s human. How much of an attack could it have been, damn it?”

They all shifted their feet, looking guilty.

“I want a full report from you in my office in one hour,” he growled.

The culprit in the corner lay crumpled on the ground, groaning.

Turning with Finn in his arms, he swept from the training area and quickly made his way to the living quarters and into Finn’s room. Placing the young man on the bed, he brushed the hair from his face.

At that moment, he couldn’t imagine Finn being deceitful.

When those blue eyes fluttered open, he expected fear. What he got was a pissed off human.

“What the fuck!” Finn said and went to sit up, but Jazdon placed a hand on the man’s shoulder to keep him flat.

“Go slowly, you’ve taken quite a hit.”

When Finn stopped struggling, Jazdon sank to the edge of the bed. Finn’s nearness swam through his senses and his dragon purred. It sounded more like a low rumble.

Finn curled on his side toward him, and Jazdon reached out to finger his blond hair.

“What’s that noise?” Finn squinted at him.

“Nothing.” He glanced away.

“Okay… so…you’re dragons.”

Jazdon clenched his teeth. Of all the places for Finn to wander into, it had to be the training room where the dragons were free to drop their invisibility shield.

“You hit your head,” he growled.

Finn glared. “No, my jaw was hit, but I don’t think I was hallucinating. And there were fucking dragons. I saw them.” He frowned. “Or did you people drug me?”

“No one has drugged you,” Jazdon snapped.

“I don’t believe you. I saw fucking dragons!”

“Why do you smell so fucking good?” he growled, ignoring Finn’s statement and cupping the back of Finn’s neck. He slowly drew the delicious man upward. The move tipped Finn’s head back and his face up. Lips parted and Finn’s breath rushed out.

“What?” Finn suddenly sounded dazed and confused.

Jazdon didn’t give a fuck if Finn was a traitor. He’d lock him up so he couldn’t cause harm to anyone and keep him all to himself. His dragon’s purr increased to a satisfied rumble at that thought. No, he couldn’t do that. Neither he nor his clan treated humans like that.

Jazdon wasn’t sure why he did it, but he abruptly needed… no, he suddenly craved a taste.

Crushing his mouth down, he took Finn’s lips in a devouring kiss, nipping at his bottom lip until the human opened for him further.

He stroked his tongue inside, tasting Finn and drinking of him deeply.