Chapter 16

With Lalani playing safely in her nursery with Ciel and Aurora, several members of the horde gathered in Khadar’s library. Oldrik arrived after the scotch had already been poured.

“Started without me, huh?” the blue dragon asked. “I had to stop for some news.”

“Are we going to like this news?” Khadar asked. He stood and crossed to the decanter to splash a healthy amount of the amber fluid into a glass.

Oldrik made them wait until he sampled the drink. “Not bad. The whiskey that is. The news is bad.”

“Out with it already,” Keres growled.

His appearance at the door had surprised Khadar. The black dragon had always been reclusive. When the horde needed him, he was always present, but to come to an almost social gathering was unheard of.

“Of course. I stopped at the chemist and received this report.” Oldrik pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “These are the results from the chemist’s analyst of the powder that, when ignited, has a negative effect on dragons.”

“Did he have any luck figuring out what made you topsy-turvy?” Ardon asked, leaning forward.

“There’s a grocery list of ingredients he was able to decode without all the useful machines that used to do this for us. Most of those are nonreactive ingredients usually added to bulk up a substance so it can be packaged. Some are the smoldering components to create the smoke.”

“And?” Drake asked, arching one eyebrow as if he were waiting for the biggest piece of news.

“And three things the chemist couldn’t determine. Those must be whatever affected me,” Oldrik shared.

“So, there’s no way to determine the source and eliminate it?” Argenis asked.

“Unless you have some idea I haven’t come up with. The first group of people can’t answer questions and the Peterson guy is roasted under a pot downtown,” Oldrik commented. “There is one more thing. It wouldn’t have to be dispersed in smoke. The chemist wondered if they would continue to try to distribute it in that way or if they’d switch to a powder or a liquid.”

“Whoever made this was diabolical. What’s the safest way to kill dragons? From a distance.” Khadar answered his own question.

“It had a particular smell. Even though I was completely thrown for a loop, I captured that smell in my mind by reflex. Here.” Oldrik pushed the memory out to the dragon’s minds around him.

Everyone reeled back with a painful expression.

“Could you warn us first next time?” Ardon demanded.

“Just be glad you didn’t have the extras that came along with that sniff,” Oldrik reminded them.

“So, we sniff everything?” Keres asked, shaking his head.

“That’s a potent scent. You can identify it now,” Drake suggested. “The Petersons. Are they completely out of Wyvern? Any lingering family members here?”

“The word at the passes is that each of them has turned away Barbie Ann despite anything she tries to bribe them with. She’s even tried to disguise herself and sneak in. It was brilliant, Keres, to mark them with permanent ink embedded in the cage bars you transported them in. Their black hands give them away at every crossing.”

“A simple gift that keeps giving,” Keres sneered.

“How many times do you think they washed their hands before they realized it wasn’t coming off?” Khadar wondered.

“Oh, it will come off in a few years. Anything inked on the inside of your hands usually does,” Keres admitted.

Drake cleared his throat. “The horde ruling over New York City has collected a number of subject matter specialists in an attempt to discover what caused the end of technology.”

“Collecting being an involuntary activity?” Argenis guessed.

“Dragons don’t ask for permission,” Drake smiled. “New York dragons are a breed to themselves.”

“Exactly. Did they actually share information voluntarily?” Khadar asked.

“Only because there’s no answer. They’re expanding their search.” Rogan strolled inside.

“And the red dragon joins us?” Khadar said, standing to welcome the newcomer. “Scotch?”

“Thank you. I was delayed by the arrival of the red dragon from New York. He just left,” Rogan explained. He took the glass Khadar offered him.

“What does a New York dragon want? Wyvern isn’t a bastion of scientific discovery,” Keres pointed out.

“A mysterious colored cloud killed two of their own,” Rogan explained.

“I don’t like this,” Oldrik muttered.

“Whatever caused the change, our purpose remains the same. Protect Wyvern. Protect our mates,” Drake reminded them.

“And those to come,” Ardon added, raising his glass.

One by one, the others lifted their tumblers into the air before drinking. The horde was in agreement. They would take advantage of any information, but their core objective was on the pact they’d signed so many years ago. Dragons didn’t enter an agreement without committing to it.

A movement at the door drew Khadar’s attention. Three mates were being naughty. He smiled as he lowered his glass. His mate had recovered now after her ordeal. He’d look forward to having her displayed over his thighs.

“Do you think they saw us?” Lalani worried.

“No way. Daddy would have called us out if he saw me,” Ciel assured her.

“They can’t get mad. We have to know what’s going on,” Aurora told them.

“Would you go back to how it was?” Ciel asked.

“Me?” Aurora asked.

“Both of you,” Ciel answered.

“Would I have met Khadar?” Lalani asked.

“Who knows? You would have been here for your birth mother. Maybe?” Ciel suggested.

“There were so many tools to help with all sorts of tasks. I mean, how do you vacuum carpets now?” Lalani said.

“How important is that carpet?” Aurora asked perceptively.

“Not at all. Really, all I care about is Khadar. Even if the world was the same, it wouldn’t feel like it now. Khadar would make it different,” Lalani confessed.

Ciel nodded. “Argenis makes me feel that way as well. He would make sure I’m happy and healthy, no matter if the floor was lava.”

Immediately, Aurora crawled on top of the table. “The floor is lava?” she asked dramatically and waved the other women up to join her.

When they all balanced on the small table, Ciel said, “You know our lives depend on saving Lettuce from the encroaching lava.”

“Oh, no! Lettuce!” Lalani cried out. “How are we going to save him way over there?”

“I bet we can take these chairs and space them out so we can walk across the seats,” Aurora suggested.

Ciel lifted one chair and set it as far away as she thought she could step. When she successfully made the leap, Lalani scooted the chair from one of the sides in that direction. With helpful advice from the others, she stepped over to stand crowded with Ciel before lugging her chair closer to the bed where Lettuce waited, looking scared.

“I’m coming, Lettuce,” she promised.

“I’ll bring the next chair,” Aurora said and got busy.

They all stood jumping on the bed, celebrating with Lettuce, when three dragons stepped into the room. “No jumping on the bed, Princess.” Khadar’s deep voice brought the action to a halt.

“The floor is lava, Daddy. You’re going to burn up!” Aurora cried.

The men simply crossed their arms over their chests.

“Maybe they’re safe because they’re dragons?” Lalani suggested.

“Dragons!” Ciel said and rolled her eyes so hard they practically made a sound.

A second passed as the women tried not to look at each other. Lalani slapped a hand over her mouth as reinforcement. Giggles escaped from Ciel’s lips, and she sat down on the bed, laughing so hard tears ran down her cheeks. Aurora was next.

“Stop! I’m going to wet my pants,” Aurora demanded, obviously squeezing her thighs together.

Drake walked forward to pick her up. He looked toward Khadar.

“To the right, halfway down the hall.” Khadar answered the silent question with directions to the restroom.

Watching Drake walk out of the room with soft footsteps as if he didn’t want to jar his mate into pottying, Lalani lost it. Roaring with laughter, she dropped onto the bed. Her impetus down on the mattress made it bounce Ciel up in the air. Her Daddy moved faster than Lalani thought was possible.

“Gotcha,” he assured Ciel as he caught his mate. He tossed her over his shoulder and patted her bottom firmly—not a spank, but a hard swat.

“Don’t drop me, Daddy. The floor is lava,” Ciel told him, giggling happily. She didn’t seem bothered in the least by his love tap.

“I’ll take this giggle bug home,” Argenis told Khadar as he walked toward the door.

“Come here, Princess. Let’s wave goodbye to your friends,” Khadar suggested as he scooped Lalani into his arms.

“I can’t go without saving Lettuce!” she protested.

Khadar rotated her body to hold her out sideways over the rumpled bed. He lowered her to grab Lettuce.

“Thanks, Daddy. The lava could have gotten him.”

“Pssst! He’s a dragon,” Khadar said with a perfectly straight face.

It took a couple of seconds for Lalani to process what he said. If Lettuce was a dragon and the lava didn’t affect Khadar because he was a dragon, then…

“He was safe the whole time? We worked so hard to save him,” Lalani said then dissolved in laughter at their unnecessary labor of love.

Her giggles set off Ciel’s and Aurora’s once again. When they finally climbed up on their mate’s backs, they were in control of their snickers unless they looked at each other. Drake and Argenis set off for their mountains, taking the long way around so they’d keep the two separated.

“That was a fun game, Daddy.”

“I’m glad you had a good time with your friends. I think I told you to stay in your nursery,” he reminded her.

“I don’t think you told me I was like locked in the nursery. We could go to the bathroom down the hallway, right?”

“It sounds like you’re prepping me for a big excuse as to why you were listening at the library door. That is in the opposite direction of the bathroom,” Khadar pointed out.

She could tell nothing she made up was going to get her out of this. She tried tears. It wasn’t hard to turn on the waterworks. Lalani just imagined how sore her bottom was going to be. Dashing her tears away with her fingers, she tried to look miserable.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t want to, but my guests wanted to hear what was going on. It’s not my fault. I had to be a good hostess, right?”

Khadar sniffed the air and smiled.

Crap! He can smell a lie!