10. Beckett

As Beckett walked down toward town to meet Arlo and Esen, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He glanced to his right and noticed a few men were raising their voices at one another, and the conversation seemed to keep getting more heated the longer it went on. Beckett stopped and observed the exchange, waiting to intervene if he must. Two of the men took a step closer to each other, their faces inches apart. Beckett could see that their skin was even turning a shade of red as they continued to yell at one another. Their voices were loud and speaking so fast that Beckett couldn’t even understand what they were saying. Both of their eyes turned black for a moment. A blink and Beckett would have missed it. He looked again, but their eye colors were back to normal.

What the hell is going on?

I don’t know. But I am still too weak to be able to help.

Beckett swore under his breath and continued to watch the men. He was thankful that two other men were trying to calm the ones losing their tempers. One of them stopped arguing, and Beckett heard the other scream, "Next time, look in the other direction. We don’t need no filthy dogs around here."

That’s when it hit him. Beckett knew the one who stopped talking. He was a Lycan who came here about a year ago. He was a nice guy, a generally pleasant person to talk to, even from what Beckett could remember. The other was a Terrain dragon by the name of Nathan. Another person who was not known to scream at people or even be prejudiced against others on the island.

Without the help of his dragon, it would be difficult to keep these two from killing one another if they chose violence. However, he was one of the people who governed this island. When Nathan grabbed the Lycan’s shirt and drew back his arm, Beckett made his decision. He couldn’t stand idly by while two of his subjects were close to killing one another.

"Hey. What’s the issue over there?" Beckett called out as he walked over to where they were standing.

Both of the men looked his way. Nathan still had his arm drawn back while the Lycan’s claws poked out of his fingertips. Beckett could feel their power now that he stepped closer, and something about it felt off. He could always feel when he was in the presence of his brothers and other powerful people, and he could feel that power and energy from quite a distance, especially when they were pissed off. These two didn’t register until he was five feet away from them. Beckett wanted to breathe easier, knowing that they weren’t powerful enough to really do damage to him unless they were very skilled fighters, but how their power felt against his skin made him question that. It almost felt like sandpaper, rubbing him in an unpleasant and worrisome way.

"Walk away, Beck. This has nothing to do with you," Nathan growled.

"I beg to differ. This has much to do with me since you two are under my care.

Nathan pointed his finger in Beckett’s face and was inches away from touching him, "Then you are the reason why these mongrels are still here!"

Beckett growled, "You need to walk away now, Nate, before this gets ugly."

Nathan let out a belly laugh that made Beckett’s blood run cold. This man never laughed like that. The undertone felt predatory, and Beckett’s hair on the back of his neck stood at attention. Without his dragon, there wasn’t even a way out. He poked his dragon to let out his wings, but there was no response.

"You have no idea what ugly is anymore. You sit at the top of this island and look down at us when you were once a child who treated everyone like they mattered. None of us want you four leading us. Especially now that you all seem to be trying to get your dicks wet with the same woman."

Beckett’s eyes went wide, and it made Nathan laugh more.

"Oh yeah. We’ve noticed. You all are chasing her like she is the only dragon any of you could get with. A Storm Dragon to boot! Willing to give up everything you have ever been told about them just for a piece of ass. You make me sick." Nathan spat at Beckett’s feet. "You don’t deserve your place here. Maybe I should put you out of your misery before that bitch rejects you and runs back to her Stormy boyfriend."

Nathan’s eyes flashed black before his face began to shimmer. The Lycan took the opportunity to run, and the friends around Nathan joined the Lycan. Nathan’s vibrant green dragon burst out of him, and his tail smacked into the building behind him. Beckett’s human form was still tiny in comparison, even though Beckett’s dragon was twice the size of Nathan’s. Beckett still tried to wake his dragon up to help him with any energy he had to give but was still met without a response.

Fuck me sideways. This isn’t going to end well.

Just as Nathan’s dragon’s eyes connected with Beckett’s, Beckett heard a powerful roar that was echoing with another above him. He looked up to find Esen’s golden dragon and Arlo’s brilliant green dragon descending toward him. He sighed in relief at their site and jumped off to the side in time before the two dragons landed on the ground. Nathan’s dragon roared at the two dragons, but Esen and Arlo’s didn’t flinch.

As much as Beckett wanted Nathan to be taught a lesson after everything that just happened, Beckett knew something was off. The only ones who would listen are his friends if he shouted about something like this and thankfully, that is who came to his rescue.

"GUYS! DON’T ATTACK!"

Esen and Arlo’s dragon’s heads both snapped in his direction. Both had fires in their eyes to defend him but now wasn’t the time.

"HE’S BEING INFLUENCED BY SOMETHING. HE DOESN’T MEAN IT! KNOCK HIM OUT!"

Nathan roared again, and rubble from the building was in the air as he controlled its movements. Beckett opened his mouth to warn them, but there was no time. Nathan threw the rocks toward his friends while their attention was on Beckett. Only Beckett didn’t have a reason to worry. They struck an invisible barrier instead.

Esen’s dragon looked over at Nathan’s first. Beckett could tell the Breeze dragon was thinking about his attack and whether it was worth it. Nathan’s dragon was barely half the size of either dragon, or they all knew he wasn’t even close to half their power. Nathan’s Terrain dragon, however, didn’t seem to care. He opened his mouth and let out a few tendrils of vines from his breath to attack the Breeze dragon. The Breeze dragon opened his mouth and let out a blast of wind, knocking the vines back at Nathan and whipping around him that seemed to choke him. The dragon fell to the group and tried to use his claws to cut the vines, but it was no use. They were powered by magic, and the only thing that would stop it was if the magic were called off. Beckett looked up at Arlo’s dragon, and he was staring at the vines. He was certain that Arlo took control of the vines after Esen redirected them. The person who could put a stop to this was Arlo.

"Arlo! Get the vines off him!" Beckett yelled while waving his hands toward the Terrain dragon.

The dragon looked at him with a bored look on its face. Beckett glared at him.

"Do it! We need him alive. He is infected with the same shit that got Kaida!"

Arlo’s Terrain dragon growled and looked over at Nathan’s dragon, gasping at the air as the vines tightened around his throat. Beckett noticed Arlo’s eyes flash green, and the vines disappeared. The dragon lay on the ground and slowly caught its breath. Beckett ran over to the dragon and checked it for damage. He was relieved to find none and even more relieved to see Nathan shifting back. When he was a man again, Beckett held out his hand to help him.

"Thought we lost you there for a moment, Nate."

"What happened?" Nathan asked as he rubbed his head.

His eyes looked as if he hadn’t slept for days. Beckett looked a little closer and saw no black inside of them either. Was it a trick of the light? Or did that black haze reach town already?

"You got into an argument with a Lycan. You almost got into a fight with him. You told him that he didn’t belong here and that you should get rid of him."

Nathan’s eyes bugged out of his skull, "I said that? To Larry? Why would I say that? He’s like my best friend!"

Beckett shrugged his shoulders, "I don’t know, man. I stumbled onto this in the middle. I don’t know how it started."

Arlo blew out a puff of air at him. Beckett shot him a look to keep quiet. If there was anything that he learned from being in charge around here, it was to keep certain things close to his chest. There wasn’t a reason to concern anyone about the black haze just yet. They didn’t know enough about it to answer any questions, and that would result in everyone panicking. That was the last thing that any of them wanted. Hundreds of Dragons, Lycans, Witches, Fae, and Vampires are in a state of panic over something that they don’t know will go away on its own or has already blown over.

Nathan rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head, "Excuse me, fellas. I need to talk to Larry. I need to apologize. I don’t know what came over me. Whatever it was, he needed to know that I didn’t say those things to him. Thanks for...kicking my ass?" Nathan said, chuckling, "I guess if you didn’t step in, I would have hurt my friend. Thanks for that."

"I’d say any time, but I don’t really want this to repeat. So... You’re welcome? Don’t let it happen again?" Beckett laughed nervously due to the awkwardness of it all. He had no idea what to say about any of this.

Nathan nodded his head and held out his hand. Beckett gladly shook it, and Nathan parted ways. Arlo and Esen looked down at him and gave him a look of confusion.

Beckett threw his hands up, "I don’t know. I think the shit that got into Kaida got into him. I’m beat. I can’t get into another tussle with my dragon healing. I’m going back to the house to get some rest. We will talk about it soon." Beckett looked around, and a thought occurred to him. "Can you two fly around and monitor the people? I don’t want more cases like this going on without us intervening."

The two dragons made grumbles in agreement and expanded their wings. Within seconds, both of them were airborne and flying around the area. Beckett turned back toward the house, replaying everything that had just happened.

If that shit infected everyone on the island, we would be in heaps of trouble.