Chapter Twelve

Elio

"He definitely doesn't remember," my dragon chuckled into my head as I lay face down on the landing field.

The scales on my back rose to the occasion to protect me from the heat and flames. I had hoped to talk to Fred before he lost his temper, but it seemed it had a shorter fuse than even Lotus had remembered. He was ready to cook me alive. The flames fell silent but their heat lingered in the air. I sucked in a deep breath, thankful that smoke was as good as oxygen if you were a Starscale. My heart pounded in my ears as wings swooshed through the air. I rolled onto my back. Fred was midair and swooping down toward me. I didn't want to fight him, but needs fucking must and it was turning out to be that sort of day.

"No old magic goes unpunished," my dragon murmured into my thoughts.

The orange asshole was fucking amused by my current predicament. The only one who might try to help me as the alpha dragon tried to roast me alive was Marsin. Even then, he was more of a computer dragon than the fighting sort. What had I done so terrible in a past that one of my true-mates wanted to roast me alive before even saying hello?

"He doesn't know he has us too!" my dragon's laughter echoed around my skull as I covered my face and rolled out of the way of another line of spitfire.

"DAD! WHAT THE HELL!?" Someone bellowed from inside the ship.

I didn't have time to wonder which of the kids he brought with him before another line of flame scorched away the purple star grass beside my head. The flames were hotter and coming faster. I couldn't see through the smoke and debris, but I was pretty damn sure he shifted when rage took over. How did I stop an enraged dragon who thought I bespelled him?

"Lotus sent me!" I tried shouting over the noise, but the flames kept coming.

How full of hot air was this guy to keep spitting out fire like that?

"She really did! Come on now! We're all civilized dragon's here, man!" I shouted.

I wasn't even sure he heard me over the roar of his own blaze. I crawled in the direction the fire was coming from. What the hell happened to alphas not going after their true-mates in this fashion? I'd rather he have ripped my pants off and claimed me in front of the whole Starscale Ruling Council than pull this shit. Embarrassment was more easily recovered from than being scorched alive.

The air shifted. Another dragon had joined him in the air. This one was shifted too, enough to block out the purple fog our sun let out to protect us from the lack of atmosphere outer space provided. Friend or foe? And to who? I didn't know. Whatever transpired between the flying dragons gave me enough time to roll onto my belly and shift. I roared as my star scale burnt even hotter in the new form. Taking a deep breath of smoke, I launched myself into the sky ready to fight or talk, whichever way the hot head decided to blow the wind.

"LOTUS SENT ME!" I bellowed through the smoke at the other two dragons.

The larger one knocked the smaller one behind him with his tail and let out another stream of fire. I dodged the stream, sniffing. The bigger dragon was definitely Fred, but I wasn't sure if the younger one was his kid or one of the other crew members of the Medwin 2.

"LIAR!" He roared back at me.

"DAD!" The other dragon tried to grab Fred's tail with his mouth and pull him away. He managed to latch on, but Fred didn't budge.

"YOU'RE NOT HER! WHAT WITCHCRAFT IS THIS?" Fred roared again.

"Dad! DAD! Stop it!"

"She sent me!" I shouted over the growling and snarling dragons. "Lotus sent me! We met in the Other World! You were there too! If you just stop and give me two minutes to explain---"

He cut off my words with another shot of fire.

"This shit is getting old!" I roared, dodging the flame. "This isn't how it's supposed to work!"

"LIAR!" Fred bellowed.

"I am not a liar!" I growled and charged toward him.

He blew another line of flame, but I sunk low, meaning to headbutt him in the place his neck met his chest. If I had been lucky, it would've been enough to knock the air out of him. I wasn't lucky. Fred lurched upward, dragging his son with him.

"Frost damn it!" I swore under my breath and lunged higher at his exposed belly.

He jerked to the left and breathed out more fire. Had he swallowed a damn elemental? He should've been out of fuel by now! No dragon has an endless fire!

"Dad!"

"Shut up, Teddy! Go back to the ship and wait for me there! As soon as I fry this liar, we're going back to Earthside!"

I lunged again, hoping to catch him distracted. He caught the tip of my wing in his massive maw. I yelped and fought against the urge to pull away. A torn wing would send me plummeting toward the ground. Our gazes met. How did I not look like a liar when everything inside his grieving heart told him I was?

"If you know her, prove it!" He growled through the teeth clamped around my wing.

I racked my brain. Lotus had told me so much about Fred before I ever met him, but most of that stuff could be public knowledge – all stuff he might believe anyone could just look up and use against him. Poly-mateship by gland wasn't as common as it's counter part of just having one true-mate. I wasn't sure why. Sometimes I thought it was just a Starscale thing, but from how Fred reacted to me, it was probably an Earthside thing too. True-mates could be poly and true. Only, most folks hadn't wrapped their heads around that.

"Don't make me embarrass you," I said, my draconic words coming out in an almost-whisper.

Despite his trying to cook me alive, I didn't want to hurt him. Not physically and certainly not emotionally. Ego was important for dragons. I'd much rather he nibbled my ear than tear off my wing, but he had the upper hand here.

"Ha!" Fred laughed.

"That's it! You want proof? You want to know something that only she would've been able to tell me? You have a freckle on the back of your scrotum, Fred Moonscale."

He let go of my wing and flapped backwards a few times. His massive head fell down onto his chest and for a second I thought he was going to cry or laugh. Then he plummeted like dead weight. Had I killed him? No, he was breathing. He'd either passed out or chosen to go into a draconic sleep.

"Help me!" Teddy roared, swooping in under his father and catching him mid-fall.

I joined and flapped upwards until we managed to get him level. Then another omega dragon joined us.

"That's Castor. He won't eat you," Teddy grumbled.

"Let's just get him down before we start a war," the newcomer muttered.

"This isn't the most violent true-mate reaction Starscale 1 has seen," I said, as together we flew Fred to the ground.

As soon as his scaley belly touched what was left of the purple star grass, he shifted back into his human form. He was even more beautiful than I remembered.

"Are they going to stop us from moving him back onto the ship?" Castor asked me.

"No, my uncle is laughing his ass off over the family link. He's such a cactus dick. I hope he laughs so hard he sits on his own nuts," I swore under my breath.

"I don't know what's going on with you and Fred, but I didn't know anything about whatever the fuck that just was," Castor said, wiping his sweaty forehead on his shoulder.

"We true-mate responded," I shrugged, hauling Fred's shoulders up while Teddy grabbed his feet.

"You're not Lotus," Castor stated the obvious.

"Because I'm not a girl?" I arched a brow.

"No, because he wouldn't have been yelling you weren't, if you were her reincarnation," Castor grunted at me before saying something into his earpiece.

"Fair enough, but I'm not explaining the situation to anyone except him," I shook my head.

"Cause trouble on the ship and I'll put you in the dungeon."

"Your ship has a dungeon?" I arched a brow.

"Yep," Castor nodded as a set of stairs descended for us to climb onto the ship.

"Kinky," I shrugged.

"Eww! He's my dad!" Teddy scrunched up his nose.

"Castor's your dad? You look like Lotus."

"No, him," Teddy nodded down to the unconscious Fred.

"Well, it's not his dungeon, is it?" I laughed.

"Not yet," Castor rolled his eyes. "He might call it home if he tries to burn the ship down."

"Only if he's on it," Teddy said, nodding in my direction.

"He'll come around," I grunted as I heaved Fred up the steps backwards.

"Watch your step," another dragon shifter touched my waist.

"Too low, kid," I shook my head. "I got it. We're not dance partners, don't touch my hip."

"Sorry," the guy said, stepping back with his hands up in the air like I might shoot him.

"That's Sonny. He means well," Teddy laughed.

"Did he mean well too?" I glanced down at my sleeping true-mate.

"Probably," Teddy nodded. "At least, I think so. He just wanted to honor Mom's memory."

"Well, cooking me alive, won't do that," I sighed as Castor led up deeper into the ship and the door of the Medwin 2 shut behind us.