6. Rehan

CHAPTER SIX

REHAN

I took a calming breath, reread Ogden’s text message, and pocketed my phone. Jay’s plan was set and ready to go.

I didn’t like it.

I’d been separated from Jay for over twenty-four hours. My last visual was of her being surrounded by fire and taken from me. The last emotion she’d seen on my face was confusion, not support. While I tried to have her legally released, Ogden and Tyson busted her out. What if Jay assumed I didn’t want her? The apparition who claimed to have ‘gifted’ us to her weighed on my mind. I believed my feelings were my own, but combined with Jay’s insistence they weren’t, doubt plagued me.

My dragon whined, still unable to fathom her being anything but our mate. But I couldn’t let his emotions blind me. Jay hit me hard and fast. She was a sea lion charging toward her prey. I didn’t know if I was at her side, in her way, or the fish she’d found for breakfast.

What scared me most: I would happily be any of those three if it meant kissing her even once more.

It was late. The sounds of soft snoring and the light rustling of sleep filled our wing of the EM building. Light still came from Tukaqu’s room. The easy peace I’d made with my grandad a few days ago still carried through the madness of the last few days.

I couldn’t help but feel my family waited for me to fail.

My dragon strained against my self-control, begging me to go to Jay, but I held him in check. Our brilliant mate came up with a plan, and I needed to do my part. I clicked on the attachment, and a rough map opened in front of me. Jay’s drawing was crude but informative. She and Ogden had spent the day gazing through a mirror, searching for Lux using a spell which linked one of his spare prosthetic arms to his essence. I’d heard of scrying before but never seen it in practice.

From what I could tell, it hadn’t entirely gone smoothly. Several parts of the castle were blocked from magical sight, while a few hallways ate magic. One of these rooms at the back of the castle had more activity than usual, including guards and a visit from Lux’s father.

Jay was confident enough about the unusual activity that we were going for it, tonight. Before Og’s spell on Lux’s tower failed and Jay ended up back in the clutches of the Air King.

The light in Tukaqu’s room clicked off. I shut my door and turned to the window, spilling moonlight into my room. After mumbling my incantation wrong twice, the entire window frame popped open. I wiggled out of it, only slightly bending the metal and sending a dusting of white mortar down the walls, which hopefully didn’t wake my sleeping family.

However, if it did, as long as I moved quickly, it wouldn’t be a problem. My only role tonight was to distract. Mate or not, Jay still needed my help, and I’d do my part.

Once through the window, I let myself plummet down and snapped my wings out to catch an updraft. The cool night air streamed past my human skin as I shot up and posed dramatically in front of the waxing moon.

Two unshifted air dragons zoomed toward me with their wings taught. I plummeted again, this time toward Lux’s dark tower. The two air guards easily guessed my trajectory and adjusted, joining their two friends already standing on Lux’s roof.

Unlike me, the four covered their human bodies in scales. Even in the dark, their various shades of white and gray caught the moonlight. I landed with an unmissable boom, sending a burst of water magic through the building to shake it and let my friends know it was go time. Stars twinkled above me. For a moment, I swear I saw the outline of a Ley Line in fluorescent-green, but I shook my head and forced myself to deal with the here and now.

“I need to talk to my mate,” I said, holding my hands out to show I was here in peace.

The four made a box around me. Directly in front of me, the shortest of the four frowned. Long, almost translucent silver hair settled on his shoulders. “You weren’t to leave your designated area, water dragon.”

I dropped my shoulders. “Do you have a mate?”

The shortest’s lips turned down, and he rocked uncomfortably.

I locked my gaze with his. Emotions I didn’t need to fake laced every word as I spoke. “A week ago, mine was ripped out of my arms, only to return to this shit show. Please, let me help you get her out of that tower.”

The short one shook his head. “You need to leave. Our orders are clear.”

“Wait,” a different voice came from behind me. “There are four of us and one of him. If he can get the human out, we can take credit for capturing her. It will guarantee promotion.”

I wasn’t a good liar. I kept my face as neutral as possible and my response as simple as possible. “As long as she’s not with that fire dragon.”

A low snicker came from my left.

I lowered myself to the floor, sitting in Jay’s favorite cross-legged position, and waited. The short one studied me before signaling to the other three. They gathered together, and after a good bit of whispering, the short one pointed at me.

“You get her out, she comes with us, and you return to your wing. If I even see a single scale on your skin, we will take you down.”

“As long as she’s not with fire,” I repeated, not needing to fake the anger and jealously lacing my words.

“And some think elemental dragons could co-exist,” the one who snickered added.

I clenched my fist and forced myself not to react.

I didn’t hate all fire dragons. One in particular frustrated me more than the others at the moment.

“They’ve blocked the door.” The short one gestured to a square plate just behind him. “Some spell we can’t penetrate. Those bastard earth dragons won’t lift a finger to help, and King Ryker won’t lend us any of his special forces.”

The ease with which this dragon mentioned the Fire King’s special forces rubbed me the wrong way. The cowled dragon driving fire’s boat into the Ley Line tugged at my memory. I’d only seen a few of the figures in my lifetime. They rarely left fire territory. This random guard knew about them and expected them to help? With Ley Line magic?

“Do they help you often?” I asked.

The one who snickered, snickered again. “You don’t even know how your island works, idiot water dragon.”

My dragon coiled, and my scales threatened to cover my skin at his insult. I flexed my back and rubbed my delts to keep my arms busy. The four immediately adopted fighting stances, knowing precisely what they’d done. I let my eyes shift into their dragon slits as my water magic burned behind my gaze. But I didn’t go further.

Tukaqu often said those who spoke little heard more, and I’d come to live by that rule. I gently reminded my dragon of how good a distraction we currently were being, with four sets of eyes focused on us. My dragon settled.

The shortest guard scowled at me. “You get her out and give her to me.”

“If I can’t, I’ll go.” I spread my hands.

“You’ll go either way.” The shortest took an aggressive step towards me.

I growled, puffing my chest. “I don’t suggest openly challenging the heir of water.”

The four guards began fanning out again, their eyes still glued to me.

The one who hadn’t spoken yet grinned. “He wants his bitch. She’s probably in heat and takin’ fire cock up the ass as we speak.”

My dragon rose again, but I pushed him down. They were baiting me to test my control. They knew once I had Jay, the chances I’d give her to them were slim. I needed them to be overconfident in their abilities.

A burst of warm wind blew a few strands of hair into my face. Energy filled the air, wafting off Ogden’s spells, I guessed, though I usually couldn’t feel magic. The air guards and I postured, flexing and studying each other. I dragged it out, needing to waste as much of their time as possible. With any luck, Jay, Ogden, and Tyson had already moved.

“We’re not letting you out of our sight,” the shortest guard strode forward, leveling me with a flat stare. “You know if you get in, we get in. We have orders to knock her out and transport her to a more secure location. Away from all dragons… including her supposed mates.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and growled. “As long as she’s not with fire.”

Snickers actually let out a little giggle this time, and the four relaxed.

A bit of motion below and to the right of me caught my attention. One of the guards noticed and started to turn. With a roar, I puffed out my chest and spit a line of cold blue flame into the air, forcing all their attention on me.

When King Ryker surrounded Jay in flame, I’d been in so much shock I hadn’t acted. Even when she passed out… it was Tyson who caught her. Not me.

I didn’t want to be the decoy, but it was the straw I’d drawn, and I wasn’t messing it up. I took a step forward and grew my tail, whipping it against Lux’s door. It sparked against Ogden’s magic dramatically. Pain shot up my body, and I absorbed it, almost relishing my punishment for my earlier failure.

“No more games. I need my mate!” I roared.

“We said no scales,” the short one grew his claws.

I crossed my arms over my chest and whipped my scale-covered tail through the air.

“You’re already breaking the rules.” The short guard said, some of the confidence leaving his voice.

The four guards finished boxing me in again; every bit of their attention focused on me. I let a satisfied grin fill my face.

“If you step out of line, we will defend with no repercussions,” the short one assured me.

I gestured around me. The top of Lux’s tower was a simple landing pad with nowhere to hide. Although a tingle of energy sizzled the air, making what should be the dead of night feel alive, we were otherwise clearly alone. A sudden memory of hurtling through the Ley Lines as a kid pushed to the front of my mind… put there by the slowly growing familiarity of the sizzle in the air.

I gritted my teeth as a bone-deep feeling of wrongness filled me. It wasn’t Ogden’s magic making me dance.

“Do you feel that?” I asked, no longer faking anything.

“The warlock’s magic?” the short guard asked.

Snickers balled his clawed hand and punched his scaly palm. “He’s just distracting us.”

In this question, I wasn’t. I couldn’t be the only dragon feeling the building energy. But if they genuinely felt nothing, then maybe I was being oversensitive. I cursed my paranoid grandad and focused. Jay.

“Are we doing this or not?” I demanded.

“Yes.” The short guard dropped his claws and pointed. “You two, stay on him.” He turned back to me. “Work your wonders, water dragon.”

I gave them orders, keeping their hands and magic assisting me as I assaulted the spelled landing. When the hatch didn’t give way, even with my purposely incorrect spells, I made the four work their air magic so I could float in front of the windows and try my ‘magic’ there.

The simple spell I’d used to escape my room made the window frame pop. My heart jolted. I grew my claws and sunk them into the stone of the castle and covered the window with my body. Not a moment too soon, as the air guards dropped their air currents so I’d fall.

For a tense moment, no one moved. The air guards knew they had a way in now. All they had to do was get past me. I messed up.

The energy sparking the air swelled. Og wasn’t in the tower. This couldn’t be his magic. The hairs on my arms rose.

The short guard cocked his head to the side. “Did you feel that?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah.”

The four dragons moved their gazes from me to the sky. I didn’t want to abandon the exposed window, but the prickling sensation crawled along my skin and scales. I climbed to the top of the tower and rolled myself up and over the edge, landing on my back. A few of the stars winked in and out of view. A low whistle pierced the quiet night before a boom shook the platform, leaving a small dent a few feet from the door.

Snickers screamed, not the roar of battle, but of unimaginable pain, and crumpled. I rolled to my feet, and my scales bloomed to life. A blurred outline made the world on my left haze. I blindly slashed out. Something thick and meaty shredded under my swipe, followed by a spirt of fluorescent-green blood. The hazy condensed into a creature I had no name for.

Something vaguely humanoid stood just below my height. Bright white bone stuck out between lumps of charred flesh. Lines of bright fluorescent-green magic crossed its body like spiderwebs. The same neon hue looked out of its glowing but otherwise hollow-eye human sockets. The smell of burnt flesh and acid filled my dragon senses, making my eyes water.

The creature let out a hiss and pulled out of my claws, only to drop like a martial artist and swipe my feet out from under me. I landed hard on my back. The air rushed out of my lungs, but the pain forced me out of my shock. I rolled as its hand stabbed into the stone where I’d just been.

It’s hand. Not claws. Although this thing wasn’t human, it definitely wasn’t a dragon shifter either.

I didn’t have a chance to dwell on it further as two more booms hit the landing. The sounds of the other dragons fighting filled the air. I focused on the horror in front of me and lashed out with my tail, slicing through what should be one of its calf muscles. Another hiss escaped its throat. It leaned sideways, only to catch itself and flip backward like a gymnast, which was uncharacteristic for its tortured body of bone and charred flesh.

Two more blobs of black turned into horrors on opposite sides of the tower. One of them looked at the door in the ground and bounded forward, almost like a dog. It hovered over the door before spewing a thick, fluorescent-green liquid out of its mouth. Instantly, the roof bubbled. Sharp hisses and pops added to the sound of battle as acid ate magic and metal alike.

Ogden’s spell died. Even knowing Jay wasn’t in there, my heart still raced.

Something hit my side hard. Too late, I realized I’d taken my attention away from the horror who initially attacked me.

I went down again, rolling toward the growing pool of fluorescent-green acid eating our haven. I came to a stop with one shoulder touching the edge, and a burning sensation I’d never imagined heated my scales. I flipped back to my feet. The taste of my melting scales thickened the air and filled my stomach with bile.

The horror came at me again, but this time, I was ready for it. We dug our grips into each other's arms trying to overpower the other. The thing was unbelievably strong. Even with my dragon strength, the horror didn’t budge. Our gazes locked—raw anger, maybe even hate, burned in the depth of its eyes.

The acid burning through the ground filled the air with a haze of chemicals and broken magic. The heat on my shoulder sharpened into pain as the fluorescent-green acid melted away one of my scales and seeped into my raw flesh. I gagged, and the horror smiled with the half of its lips still intact.

Like my shoulder, the fluorescent-green acid burned through stone and magic to get to what was below it. Jay. These monsters were here for Jay. But were they after her? Or at her bequest?

The dead air guard's eyes caught my attention as another screamed in pain. Right now, it didn’t matter. This thing killed a fellow dragon and needed to die.

I braced my legs and roared, finally bringing the horror to its knees. A guttural cry ripped out of my throat as I thrust all my force down. Suddenly, the thing went limp, causing me to tilt forward. The moment I lost my balance, it pulled, bringing us both down on the acid-covered ground.

Pain burned across my back. The stone under me groaned before collapsing and sending the two of us flying away from each other and down into Lux’s top floor. I hit a round pile of stone and rolled as if on fire, desperate to get away from the burning sensation before it ate more of my scales.

Unlike me, the demon landed lightly on the floor on all fours. It locked its gaze back onto me.

A bottle rolled toward me, smelling so much like Jay it cut through the rancid air. I grabbed it, tore open the stopper with my teeth, and poured the cool liquid over my shoulder. Pure sex filled my nose. Jay’s dried juices flaked under my fingers.

My dragon roared. Had Tyson fucked her with a whisky bottle?

The horror still watched me. I couldn’t stop myself. I licked the side of the bottle, tasting my mate, before taking a swig of amber liquor. It wasn’t whisky, something sweet, something better. I tossed the bottle onto the couch.

“Who are you?” I demanded of the horror.

The creature grinned again, and two more dropped into Lux’s tower.

I was outnumbered—the sounds of fighting from above raged. Only one thing could turn this battle. Whatever these creatures were, they didn’t stand a chance against a massive dragon.