Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Having spent the past few days investigating the perimeter of their territory, Jazdon was glad to have a few hours for Finn. Somehow, both the Greenland and Icelandic Greengile clans knew of Finn’s existence.

Reaching Finn’s suite of rooms, Jazdon waited until Merlon left before he approached the door. Turning the knob, he stepped inside and glanced around for that bright head of hair. Finn stood at the window gazing out.

“Finn.” The man must have been in deep thought,

because he spun in surprise when Jazdon spoke his name.

Then a hot glare followed.

“Do you have questions for me?” Jazdon said.

“I did, days ago.”

The anger in Finn’s voice made his stomach churn. “I wanted Merlon to speak with you first. I believed it would be better coming from someone who has been through ….”

“Oh, cut the shit.” Finn scowled with fists clenched, and Jazdon’s words dried up. “I can’t leave here. That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? And if I stay, you’ll change me into a dragon.”

“Is that what Merlon said?”

“Merlon said fuck all, except to spout some nonsense about dragons being real, and he was over a hundred years old and counting. Then he said some dragon named Vargla turned him into one and then Merlon fucked right off, saying he had a class or whatever.”

Jazdon stared at him, trying to figure out how to respond.

Finn waved a hand at Jazdon’s crotch, and the dragon glanced down at himself before looking up with a slight frown.

Finn huffed with a smirk.

“Are you making some point there?” Jazdon said slowly.

“Um yeah? I’ve felt the size of your dick.”

“And?”

Jazdon pressed his lips flat to keep any signs of humor hidden, but Finn must have sensed something because he planted both hands on his hips. “Does that come with the deal?”

His cock? Clearing his throat, Jazdon shook his head. “No?”

“Why not!”

“Is that a deal breaker?” Jazdon asked, unable to keep the amusement from his voice.

“Well, yeah. If I’m going to be changed like Merlon,” Finn said waving his hands about. “Then I want all the goods.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, but in reality, it didn’t work that way. “Do you want to get out of this room?”

Finn’s spine snapped straight, and bright hair fell into his blue eyes before it was shoved away with a shake of his head. “Hell yes.”

“Promise me something,” he murmured, stepping closer until Finn had to tip his head back and gaze up onto his eyes.

“What?” Came the breathy response.

“You won’t run or try to escape.”

“How do you know I’ll keep my word?” came the snappy response.

“If you tell me, I’ll believe you.”

Finn sighed and took a jerking step back and away. “I…”

Jazdon waited, the door gaped open behind him, but he made no move to block it. If Finn made a break for it, Jazdon would catch him easily. Only, he hoped like hell that Finn wouldn’t do it.

“What’s in it for me?”

“What?” Jazdon frowned.

“What do I have to gain by not running for it?”

Before Finn could step back, Jazdon took the man’s hand and linked their fingers. The swift intake of Finn’s breath told Jazdon that the man was not unaffected.

“Give me a chance to show you my world.”

***

The laughter of children could be heard coming from behind a door down the hallway and the sound brought a smile to Jazdon’s lips. Their numbers may have been dwindling, but they had managed to sire five little ones over the past decade. According to Maridous they should have had four times that many.

“Are those children?” Finn’s blue eyes turned curious.

Rather than answer, Jazdon pushed open the door to the school and followed Finn inside. The room was filled with empty desks on bright red and yellow carpeting. Merlon stood in the front of the room, and he nodded at Finn as they came in. The five little ones ranging from three to ten were sitting in the front row listening to Merlon go over dragon history.

“It’s the prince!” Ladonis shouted and leaped from his chair. The five-year-old sprinted across the distance and launched himself at him.

Jazdon crouched and lifted the little male dragonling in his arms and then tossed him high into the air before catching him again. Ladonis laughed when he was placed on his feet and then turned curious brown eyes on Finn. The rest of the children came crowding up behind Ladonis and pushed forward. Jazdon touched each and every one of them, cupping a cheek or ruffling the hair of the four boys and one girl dragonling.

“This is Finn.”

“That’s a cool name!” Stoy said shyly.

Finn crouched down to answer the dragonling.

“Thanks, I got that from my mother,” Finn said and the rest of them crowded closer. Jazdon didn’t blame them. Hell, he wanted to be close to Finn himself. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Stoy,” the boy told Finn. “And I’m seven.”

“All right,” Jazdon murmured. “Introduce yourselves, tell Finn how old you are and then Merlon needs your attention.”

A collective wave of “awwws” went through the group, but they dutifully went through the introductions.

“I’m Ladonis,” the boy said holding up five fingers.

Their only little female dragonling moved forward and with the help of Stoy, she was able to hold up three fingers with a wobbling thumb holding down her pinky.

“Tell Finn your name,” Jazdon murmured.

“Mariglad,” she said and then darted to hide behind Stoy.

“Nice to meet you Mariglad,” Finn said.

“I’m Fristen and I’m eight.” Said one of the two boys who’d stepped back.

“I’m Pac, and I’m the oldest. I’m nine,” the boy next to Fristen said pointing a thumb at his own chest.

“All right,” Merlon said with a clap of his hands and the children returned to their chairs. “Let’s return to our studies.”

Jazdon held open the door for Finn and then closed it when they stepped out into the wide hallway. He moved down the marble tile until Finn’s voice drew him around.

“Why?” Finn said coming to a standstill next to the closed school door.

“Why what?” Jazdon asked turning around and coming slowly back toward Finn.

“Why only five of them?”

“It’s complicated…”

“I think I can keep up,” Finn smirked.

“Our numbers have been dwindling for the past century. We haven’t had any new blood into our clan so our births are dwindling and will eventually cease altogether.”

“Why?” Finn looked confused.

“It’s our shifters’ built-in way to avoid inbreeding.” That’s the best he could do, and it wasn’t totally truthful. After speaking with Maridous and his father the other day, he’d started looking at the numbers and was kicking himself in the ass for not noticing how bad they were. It was his job as prince and one day ruler of the dragonkin to keep in the know on all aspects of the clan, but he’d failed.

“So how do you get new blood?”

Jazdon shoved fingers through his hair and then mustered up a smile. “I’ll tell you. I promise. Just not right now.” When Finn’s mouth opened as if to argue, Jazdon hurried on. “Today I want to show you my castle.” He held out his hand.

After a moment of hesitation, Finn took his hand.

“Are any of them yours?”

“The children? No.”

For some reason, Finn’s smile grew and Jazdon found himself giving a smile of his own.

“I hope this tour includes food. I’m fucking starving.”

A bark of laughter escaped Jazdon at the snarky words and he brought Finn’s fingers to his mouth. “What are you in the mood for?”

“I don’t suppose we could go out for pizza?”

“Not today.”

“You keep saying that a lot,” Finn eyed him.

“I’m just leaving you options to look forward to.”

“Pfsst,” Finn made a sound of disbelief, but he was smiling when Jazdon drew him into the deserted dining room.

***

“It’s not Dominos, but it’s pretty damned good,” Finn said around a mouthful of pizza and tossed down his napkin.

“Homemade is always better than fast food,” he agreed and polished off his tenth piece of the pie.

“Where do you fit all that?” Finn gaped at him and Jazdon gave the man a smirk of pride.

He never got the chance to answer because the dining room door was slammed open and cracked against the wall.

“My liege,” Maridous said with a short bow. “There’s a group of Parsmitt flying toward our border and this time they don’t appear to be veering off.”

“Where’s Vargla?” Jazdon stood with a shove of his chair.

“Already headed that way with several guards.”

Jazdon turned to Finn and opened his mouth. Finn was looking at him with an ‘I dare you to lock me up’ expression. Jazdon didn’t want to lock Finn up. Honestly though, there’d be no way in hell the man could get out of the castle, much less off their territory.

“I’ll be back,” he murmured.

“I’m coming with you,” Finn said with a tip of his chin.

“Absolutely not!” Maridous snarled at Finn. She did two things at that moment—she raised Jazdon’s hackles and made his decision clear.

“Watch your tone,” Jazdon warned her and reached for Finn’s hand to draw him out of the room. He matched his strides to Finn’s as he drew the man up the stairs at the end of the long, wide hallway. He shoved open the door at the end and stepped inside with Maridous on their heels.

“It’s a command center,” Finn whispered.

“We call it the War Room, but yes,” he smiled and released Finn’s hand to stride over to one of the monitors.

“Jesus…talk about high tech,” Finn murmured running his eyes over the monitors and computers.

“You thought we were stuck in the past?”

“Kind of… you know… swashbuckling, swords, and gun powder.” Finn teased.

Jazdon snorted, but he was pleased that Finn seemed impressed.

“Sir!” One of his lieutenants snapped to attention. “I have Vargla and the patrol in range.” The man pointed to the monitor and Jazdon strode over, very conscious of Finn at his side.

Vargla and his men were blue blips on the screen while three red dots hovering just off the coastline.

“They’re getting closer,” his lieutenant said.

“Who are they?”  Finn murmured.

“Those are Parsmitt. Night dwellers, who live in the upper area of Greenland.”

“More dragons?” Finn squinted at the screen.

“Yes, but they’re our traditional enemy and ruled by a dictator,” Jazdon said.

“A crazy savage asshole,” Maridous snapped before leaving the room.

The door closed with a crack, leaving Jazdon and Finn alone.

“Are you going to kill them?” Finn gazed at him through squinted lids.

“If they don’t turn around, then yes,” he said. “I will do whatever it takes to keep us safe.”

“How often do they come over?” Finn turned back to the monitor.

“They’ve been increasing their intimidation recently for some reason. Flying way too close to our border.”

“Why now?” Finn tossed him a curious look.

Jazdon held Finn’s gaze for a long moment but didn’t answer.

“Why now?” Finn said again and this time his voice meant business. Jazdon didn’t want to answer and have Finn freak out. Maybe he wasn’t giving the guy enough credit, or maybe it was time to bring Finn out of the dark and into what they faced as a clan.

“We think it’s because of you,” Jazdon said.